Chapter Sixty Five: When Would They Finally Be Free?
~~~
"Look, there! That could totally be our way out!" Eva cheered as she ran up to a crevice in the ravine, blocked by rocks. "Well, maybe. Maybe if we could just..." she trailed off, searching for the best possible hole to climb through. "Kenji, come up here and gimme a boost."
When he didn't move or make a noise, Eva looked down at him to see him lost in thought.
"Kenji? Are you okay?"
"Hmm? Yeah. Yessss... sss... sss... sss..."
"Pretty Boy," she tried. Kenji zoned in on Eva.
"C-coming."
He walked closer, using a rock to stabilize himself as he took Eva's outreached hand. But the rock gave and tumbled outwards as he fell back, taking Eva with him. She landed on his chest, wincing in pain.
"I'm so sorry!" he quickly shouted, hands going to her forearms.
Eva gave a crooked smile, smiling down at her boyfriend. She leaned in quickly, pecking his lips. "You're fine," she acknowledged as she picked herself up. She glanced at the large gaping hole in the wall that Kenji had created. "Knight in shining armor, much?"
"Only for you," he grinned, taking her outreached hand.
"Are you implying I'm a damsel in distress, in need of saving?"
"Only when swimming's involved," he joked.
Eva scoffed, grinning. "Let's get going before the others kill us for being gone for so long."
Once on the other side, Kenji slung his arm over Eva's shoulders, guiding her in the direction he considered to be leading them to safety— according to his gut, anyhow. Eva smiled the entire way, her hand upreached to hold his. They stopped half way, where they found a small pond surrounded by tumbleweeds and berries, to quench their thirst.
"Oh my god, you have no idea how thirsty I was," she laughed.
Eva cupped handfuls of water to wet her arms, which were dusty and roasting under the sun. The cool water felt nice on her skin, much to her joy. She smiled as she worked, dabbing water over her clothes, too, until she looked up at Kenji, who was watching her intently. He tilted his head, giving her a look she couldn't read.
"Come on," he eventually said. "We should find the others, before they decide to kill us."
Eva stood and took his hand, which he was wiggling his fingers at her for. She brought his knuckles to her lips, kissing them softly.
"I love you. You know that, right?"
"I know," he said. "But keep telling me. It just makes me love you more." He pecked her forehead, the two following the path to freedom, when suddenly they heard voices.
Following the voices, they noticed Ben and Darius next to a wall of rock, with the others standing a few feet away, not yet noticing them.
"It's all my fault," Ben said as he slid down the rocky wall, burying his face in his hands.
Darius walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey. Um, at least..." But he trailed off, unsure what to say.
Eva didn't blame him. They were once again stranded, but this time without any real hope of escaping. They're essentially on a seemingly deserted desert island (save for the water pipes), and their friends haven't looked far enough to the right to see Kenji and Eva standing there. So, they must be feeling pretty useless not knowing how to find them. Good thing Eva and Kenji did all the hard work.
"That's the best 'at least' you can do?" Kenji said, making the pair known.
"Lame!" Eva called.
"Kenji!"
"Eva!"
"You guys!"
They all shouted. Ben was the first to the pair, pulling them into a tight group hug. Eva gasped in surprise, before hugging him back.
"Yep," she grinned, pulling back. "Strongman Kenji pushed an entire boulder out of the way."
Kenji chuckled nervously. "It was nothing. Not a big deal."
Darius's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Wait, Kenji's not taking credit for something cool he did? Eva, what'd you do to my boy?"
"Aaand, on a more pressing matter," Kenji butted in, "We've got some pretty kickass news if I do say so myself!"
They led the other campers to the pond they found as Sammy handed Eva her Rutherford hoodie. They gasped, all rushing forward to drink water.
"I've never been so thirsty in my life!" Sammy cried.
Kenji nodded. He ended up on Eva's left, casually slipping his hand into hers. "Weird thing is, we heard water pipes in the caverns. It's— somebody built this."
"But, why?"
"And where are they now?"
Eva shrugged. "No idea, but if we can find that shiny thing, maybe we'll get some answers."
For once, there was hope, and it wasn't something Eva could ignore. For once, she believed they had a real chance of finding something useful— a clue, a hint— anything that could get them out of here, off of this island. Anything that could get them home.
"Hey." Eva looked to Ben, to see his eyes light up. He ran over to one of the berry bushes. "Hey, guys! These are just like the berry bushes on Nublar. Same leaves and everything!"
"Water and food? What is it, our birthdays!?" Sammy exclaimed as she took a handful.
Eva inspected a berry before putting it in her mouth. Flavors burst the longer she chewed before swallowing, and smiling. She eagerly pushed more berries into her mouth, sighing in content at the sweet-sour combo the berries produced.
"Don't eat them! Stop!" Ben ran between each of them, knocking berries out of everyone's hands.
"What the fuck?" Eva muttered as Ben tossed her berries into the air.
He ran to Kenji next, explaining, "What if I only think they're like the ones on Nublar, but they're really poisonous?"
Kenji spit his half-chewed berries out.
"What if I'm wrong?" Ben asked himself.
Eva shrugged and went back to the berry bush. Suddenly, Ben was in front of her and smacking the berries out of her hand again.
"Dude!"
"I know you're crazy but you're not stupid," he said. "Don't eat them."
"Dude, I already swallowed like a dozen of them. One more isn't going to be the thing that kills me."
"Puke it up!"
"Excuse me?"
"Puke it up, right now!"
Ben lunged forward, reaching for her mouth. Eva's eyes widened as she fought him off. The two wrestled, somehow ending up on the ground with Ben on top, and Eva holding him back by the wrists.
Kenji swooped in to pull him off of Eva, who grunted and rolled to the side, away from her friend.
"Hell's wrong with you?" She muttered as she got to her feet.
"Everything will be fine, everything will be fine," Ben whispered. He began to pace, continuing telling himself everything would be fine, so long as they found the metal thingy.
"Okay... it can't be too far now," Darius said, clearly bewildered.
Brooklynn nudged Eva, and lowered her voice. "Are you okay?"
"Fine," she said.
Brooklynn nodded, but looked like she didn't believe her in the slightest. "Okay..."
Darius continued, "Let's try to find it before the sun goes down."
"Great, that gives us about ten seconds," Yaz said.
"Come on, guys, we gotta move!" Ben snapped, running out of the ravine.
The other campers followed close behind, running for the shiny thing, which Eva could finally see. Panting, they came across a giant metal plate.
"A metal rectangle? That's all it was?!" Kenji said in disbelief.
"Maybe there's more!" Ben began looking around.
Darius kneeled next to the metal plate, while Brooklynn and Eva wandered to the left, next to a suspicious pile of bones.
"There's also these um... animal bones?"
Eva kicked a bone. "I don't know, that one kinda looks like a human femur."
Brooklynn gagged, "Absolutely not."
"Whatever it was, could have died of natural causes," Yaz said as she approached. "Yeah... not a huge plus."
"No people, no help, just... questions," Ben wallowed.
~~~
"At least there's no storms here to cover the field of stars," Eva said, cutting through the silence.
No one said anything.
Night had fallen, and they all sat in a circle around a fire Sammy and Brooklynn had built.
"At least it's not hot as balls out still. Point one for the desert," she continued.
The sky was stunning; stars glistened and sparkled like a million distant dreams. The Milky Way conquered the sky, so much so Eva wished long distance space exploration was a thing. She wished she could touch the stars. She closed her eyes, and, for a moment, made a silent wish to the heavens.
When she opened her eyes, she noticed Sammy standing tall, almost triumphantly, staring up at the sky. And then, she screamed.
Eva watched her friend closely, the dull ache in her chest becoming known again.
Yaz stood up next, yelling at the top of her lungs.
Darius joined, and then Brooklynn, Eva, Kenji. All yelling, screaming into nothingness.
Sammy helped Ben up, raising her hands. Yaz got the memo, and soon all their hands were connected, all screaming for their difficult situation. They escaped one nightmare island only to end up on another. When would it end? When would they finally be free?
Eva always thought her freedom would start when she was no longer living under her Opa's rules, under his roof. She thought she got that freedom when she first arrived at Camp Cretaceous. But everything that's happened to them over the last six months has just been one hardship after another, taking their impotence to the extreme.
Eva was so done with everything. With the surviving, the fighting, the running. She wanted to go back to living, but at the rate of their bad luck, she feared she'd never get there. She missed home. She missed her bed. She missed her cat.
The idea that her family and all her friends think she's dead, but she might as well be. She almost was, anyway.
Eva looked at Brooklynn from the corner of her eyes. It wasn't the pink-haired girl's fault for reviving her. It was Eva's fault for wanting to stay dead.
God, how fucked up is that? She was angry at someone who saved her life. All this time saving each other's lives, and why was she suddenly angry now? Why was she hoping something else would kill her, like the berries? How fucked up is that?
Eva screamed harder. Louder. Her throat was raw, her mouth dry, and still, she screamed. She screamed for Brooklynn. For herself. For the berries. For drinking the water. For her injuries. And for Kenji, who didn't even know about the demons haunting her nightmares.
~~~
Eva choked, gasping, her eyes flung open to stare at the sea of stars. She grasped at her throat, sitting up quickly, and she began to panic.
Why couldn't she breathe?
Why couldn't she breathe?
Why couldn't she breathe?
She continued to fight for her life, tiny tears stinging the corners of her eyes.
A hand laid on her wrist, and someone asked if she was okay. Yaz.
No.
"What do you want me to do?" She whispered. "How can I help?"
But Eva simply shook her head, hands clawed around her own throat. A sob worked its way up her chest, but she didn't want to cry here. She didn't want to wake her friends, who were sleeping peacefully, mind for Yaz, who was making her way to Sammy's side.
Sammy looked around confused, till she spotted Eva crawling away from the others, a dozen feet by now.
"Hey, hey," she said as she approached the blonde. "You're okay," she reassured, arms reaching around her body, and pulling Eva into her embrace. "You're okay. You're having a panic attack, Eva."
"I can't breathe. I can't breathe," her voice cracked.
"Look at me," Sammy said quietly. "Look at me, Ev. Just focus on my voice."
Eva tried to nod, but could only manage a tremor. Tears welled up in her eyes.
Sammy kneeled in front of her, taking her hands into her own. "Listen to me, Eva. You're stronger than you think. You've faced challenges, and you've always come out stronger, okay? You're resilient."
You're resilient.
"Now, are you going to let a little panic scare you off?"
Eva shook her head, though her breathing was still panicky.
"Ev, take a deep breath with me, okay?"
Sammy took a slow, deep breath, and Eva followed suit, their breaths slowly synchronizing.
"That's it, Ev. In and out. You're safe here."
Eva's eyes stung with fresh unfallen tears as she pushed into Sammy's arms, wrapping her arms around her torso. "Thank you," she murmured into Sammy's chest.
"I got you, Ev," she said, running her fingers through Eva's short hair.
Ben gasped awake, and Eva jumped in Sammy's arms. The trio of girls looked over to their friend, who was looking around confused, frightened.
"Ben?" Yaz whispered. "What is it?"
Ben blew on the hot embers, in a desperate attempt to keep the long dead fire going. Smoke billowed upwards as he shook the others awake.
"What's up?" Darius asked, half asleep.
"There's something out there," Ben worried.
"What's going on?" Kenji asked through a yawn.
"I— I heard a noise."
Eva stayed still, focusing her ears for anything out of the ordinary. But all she heard was the wind whistling past them, and her heart, which beat ferociously in her ears. The hot embers crackled. Sammy breathed heavily. But there was nothing. Nothing.
"Are you sure, Ben?" Darius asked. "Maybe this is like yesterday, with the berries."
"I'm sure. At least... I think?"
Leaves rustled, and instinctively, everyone gasped. Sammy wrapped a hand around Yaz's, keeping her in place, furthest from the bush that was suspiciously making noise.
Something growled, then out pounced an animal on all fours. It was both striped like a tiger and spotted like a cheetah, with two, several inch long tusks pointed downwards. Its paws were black, wereas its coat was a goldish brown shade. Eva had never seen anything like it in person, but that was the thing. She could have sworn this animal looked like a saber toothed tiger. But those were extinct, right?
Ben picked up the last burning stick from the fire, illuminating the animal.
"What is that?" Brooklynn asked.
"A saber toothed tiger," Darius answered.
"How? I thought saber tooths were extinct?!" Eva panicked.
The tiger paced around the campfire, eyes on the others. But just as quickly, it turned its attention span to Yaz, Sammy, and Eva, who had now stood, but were huddled off to the side, hand in hand, neither wanting to stand in front of the other.
At least with dinosaurs, they knew how they'd act. What they'd eat, why they'd attack us. Darius was a built in encyclopedia for all dinosaur facts. But a saber tooth? They knew nothing about it. Other than the fact it looked ready to pounce on the girls.
"What do we do?" Sammy cried, pulling both girls closer towards her.
"Hey! Toothy! This way!" Ben shouted, before taking off. He drew the tiger's attention, and it quickly pounced after their friend.