Chapter Eighty Eight: It's What We Have To Do
~~~
The next morning, Yaz told Eva she was going for a run, and, surprising to them both, she invited the blonde out with her.
Eva couldn't remember the last time she ran without something chasing her. It was refreshing, reminding her of autumn in Rutherford. But then thinking about Rutherford made her think of Kenji, and she was mad all over again.
"Hold up, hold up," Yaz said.
The two girls slowed to a stop. Eva watched her friend curiously, wondering what was wrong. One second they were running through the woods freely, the next, Yasmina was pacing back and forth, lost in thought. Could she tell Eva was still upset over Kenji?
What's up?" Eva finally asked.
"Okay, um, do you remember on Nublar when you told me you thought you were in love with K-kenji?"
Eva's eyes lit up, instantly gathering what she was talking about. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! This is about you and Sammy, isn't it?!"
Yasmina looked taken back.
Eva took a deep breath and stepped back, instantly apologizing. "Take your time," she told the brunette. "I'm all ears, and incredibly excited for you!"
She sighed, cracking her knuckles. "You're kinda right, Ev..." Eva's eyes lit up, "—But calm down. It's not a big deal."
"Not a big— I'm calm," Eva reiterated.
"I just, it's, it's intense, and I can't talk to her about it because it's about her, and I wanted to tell you, I just wasn't sure how you would take it..." Yasmina took a breath, then continued, "But you seem to be fine, so, so I am. It's so confusing and overwhelming, but I, I really think I'm in love with her. Eva, her smile is all I can think about, and her laugh is music to my ears.
"I've only ever had crushes on boys before, though, so— so how do I know...?"
"That it's real?" Eva offered, slowly smiling. "It's real, Yaz. I've spent the last six months slowly watching you two fall in love, and hoping— praying— you two would realize it."
"I just, I don't know how to tell her."
Eva leaned against a tree. Trust your gut, and remember the moment may not seem perfect, but it will be to the both of you, and that's all that matters."
Yasmina held out her hands, pulling Eva into a short hug. "You're good at this, you know?"
When she pulled back, Eva joked, "Only when other people's love is in my hands. And mine? Mine was damned to hell."
"Come on, Eva, Kenji is..."
"He abandoned us. It's okay, though. I'm fine."
Yaz chuckled. "I don't believe that for one second."
Eva shrugged, turning away from her friend. "I'll be okay."
I have to be.
"Come on, Yaz. Let's finish this run. My legs are gonna be very pissed if I break up their work out for no reason."
Yaz's lips grew into a thin line, but she nodded, and the two girls took off again, headed back to the watering hole.
Where Yaz jumped Ben, Eva's foot caught on his knee and she tumbled to the ground, laughing.
"Eva! You okay, Fadoula?"
Yaz began laughing, too, turning to give Eva a hand up.
"Seriously... are you two okay?"
"I forgot how good it feels to run!" Yasmina grinned, ecstatic. "I mean, really run, for fun, and not because something is chasing us." She laid down beside Angel and propped her leg up on her knee, her hands behind her head.
Eva took a seat beside her, eyes trained on the clouds as the little white wisps moved across the sky.
"Can't say I can relate, but I'm glad you had a good time," Ben said, leaning against Angel.
"Better than good," she chuckled. "Being out there gave me the space to think. And, well, Eva had a hand in it... I'm gonna do it, Ben. I'm gonna tell Sammy how I feel."
Ben gasped. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Oh, I'm so happy for you!"
Eva drummed her fingers against her knees, squealing in delight. "I can't wait!"
"How? When?"
"No idea... I'll just, I'll do it when the time is right, you know?"
Ben and Eva high fived.
In the distance, Sammy was lugging a giant piece of meat across the ground.
"Well, how about now?" Eva asked.
Yaz slowly smiled, watching the girl she was in love with. The trio approached Sammy, stopping a dozen feet behind her.
Ben gave Yaz an encouraging smile, while Eva shot her two thumbs up. The brunette took a deep breath, then approached Sammy.
Eva shook Ben's shoulder, whisper shouting, "She's gonna do it! She's gonna do it!"
Ben shushed her, the two focusing on the two girls.
They watched as the girls were showered in meat chunks from the Eaties.
Please still confess, Eva mentally begged.
Eva jumped at the sound of a twig breaking, and turned her attention on the fast approaching Darius and Brooklynn. "Darius and Brooklynn!" she greeted, smiling through the pain.
"Uh, fancy seeing you here!" Ben added.
"At the meetup spot?" Darius questioned. "Yeah, who saw that coming?"
"Hey, guys," Sammy greeted, standing to her feet. "Any luck?"
Brooklynn nodded. "Yup! I managed to set up a drone to patrol the perimeter of the island. Now we'll get an alert as soon as the Kons return."
"Nice!" Yaz walked towards the group, Sammy nonchalantly pulling her into her side. "And we made sure all the dinos had something to eat, so they won't go after each other. We did that, and I don't mean to brag. Except I do, because it's beautiful, and we should be proud."
"You're right," Darius agreed. "Not that there's anyone around to appreciate it."
"Time to change that!" Brooklynn pressed a few buttons on her tablet, the small device beeping. She held it up, panning the camera so all the campers fit inside the frame. "Whoever's watching this, get ready to be amazed! By these guys! Some of the most incredible people I have ever met."
"Are you recording us?" Sammy asked, knowingly.
"Yeah! Because someone needs to know that we survived Nublar. And that we're here now, and that we protected dinosaurs from big game hunters, and..."
"A horrible hybrid," Yaz said.
"Two horrible hybrids," Darius added.
"Technically three horrible hybrids," Sammy corrected.
Ben pulled Darius into his side. "A lunatic that wanted to force dinosaurs to fight!"
"And we even got carnivores to play nice with herbivores," Eva bragged.
"Yeah! So, wave to the camera, people. You're kind of a big deal."
"Don't you wanna be in the shot?" Sammy asked.
Brooklynn slowly shook her head. "Nah... that doesn't feel like me anymore."
"I guess we've all changed a lot since we first got to camp," Ben emitted.
Darius slug his arm over Ben's shoulders. "Oh, yeah. If I told the old you that you'd survive in the jungle, and become best friends with an ankylosaurus..."
"I'd probably have a heart attack," he laughed.
"Yeah, and I didn't want to talk to anyone, like, at all," Yasmina said next.
"Except for me!" Sammy exclaimed. "Well, really, I kept talking to you, and eventually, you had to respond."
"Meanwhile, Kenji never stopped talking," Eva joked. "He was so..." She faltered, realizing she was about to start talking about him— about her ex, about the boy she was still hopelessly in love with.
The campers all fell silent, unsure of what to say.
"So, uh, I-I've been thinking..." Darius said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "We've done everything we can to prepare for when they come back, but why are we waiting for them to act first?"
~~~
"We're the ones with the upper hand," Darius explained as they walked through the tunnels. "Even if he knows we got out, Daniel has no idea Brooklynn shut the drones and the BRADs down, except the one Sammy and B ran into. Or, that we moved most of the dinos to the forest biome."
"Yeah," Sammy agreed, "He's totally underestimating us! A big mistake," she slapped a fist against her open palm, making a smacking noise.
"I'm guessing you have a genius plan to take him by surprise?" Brooklynn smiled evily.
"Yeah, we trap them in here as soon as they land," he answered dejectedly. "Take their drone plane, go to the mainland, and get help."
"It's a good plan."
Ben agreed, "We just have to figure out how to get the doors to stay shut. It could work."
"And if it does, we've trapped Kenji."
Silence settled over the group, and Eva caught Sammy staring at her, to which she rolled her eyes and looked away.
"We don't have a choice. Besides, he locked us up first, I guess it's only fair," said Darius.
"You're right, Eva admitted quietly. "It's what we have to do."
~~~
"Well, I can get them to close, but not automatically," Brooklynn said.
Brooklynn stood in front of the keypad next to one of the doors. Ben and Darius watched her work closely, meanwhile Eva was a dozen feet behind them and on the ground, lying out like a starfish with her eyes closed.
"Option A, you show us how. Option B, can't we just short out the console?" Ben asked.
Yasmina wandered away, calling out for Sammy. If Eva had to guess— if Sammy was in trouble, they'd be hearing her screams of panic, so Eva took it as her queue to stay on the ground.
"Guys!" Yaz complained from around the corner. "If you're testing the doors, a little warning would be nice!"
"That wasn't us!" Eva shouted, standing. Just as she got to her feet, the ground began to jolt and shake, throwing the campers off balance. Eva fell into the wall, groaning as her shoulder hit the metal.
Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic, she repeated to herself like a mantra.
She remembered the last time she was in these hallways, unable to breathe, grasping for anything, and Kenji was right there beside her, helping her through it. How had everything changed so quickly in the span of a few days?
A loud alarm began blaring as flashing red lights filled the corridor.
"Well, can you open it?" Ben shouted over the noise.
"I'm— I'm trying! The whole system is malfunctioning!"
Eva's heart ached, reaching for Brooklynn's shoulder. The younger girl understood her struggle, and carefully wrapped their hands together, pulling her towards the jungle. The others followed, and soon the whole group was manuevering around the shaky ground, headed for the outside.
The sky lit up, glitching between bright blue and grey, then showing a red triangle with three exclamation marks inside. An automated voice loudly announced, "Geothermal energy core. Critical malfunction."
The campers took off running again.
"Do y'all think these earthquakes are what's making the core malfunction?" Sammy asked.
"The core gets its power by drilling down into the earth," Brooklynn explained. "But if that drill is near a fault line, it could be causing the earthquakes."
"Great, any ideas how to fix it?" Ben questioned.
"Nope, but we gotta do something, because—"
"Geothermal energy core. Critical malfunction."
"We can't listen to that forever," Eva complained.
"Remember, that BRAD-X is still down there. And that nothosaurus," Yaz reminded.
"At least that alarm'll make it harder for them to hear us?"
"Flip side: it will also make it harder for us to hear them," Ben reminded.
Brooklynn and Darius led the way, each camper equipped with a flashlight from Mae's cave— why she had six flashlights in the first place, god only knows.
"Keep an eye on the walkway and the water," he suggested.
Eva gagged at the scent of the air. She pinched the bridge of her nose and rolled her eyes, blindly following the others through the sewers.
"Is it just me, or does it smell worse than before?" Brooklynn asked.
"Don't know, but—" Sammy coughed, "Don't breathe through your mouth, either, or you'll taste it."
Sammy and Yaz burst into laughter.
"So gross!"
Darius pointed towards the red glow in the distance, alerting the campers they were almost there. Darius turned the corner first, yelping and jumping back behind the wall. Everyone else jumped, covering their flashlights and hiding. Brooklynn turned the flash and camera of her tablet on, then aimed it around the corner, showing off a broken BRAD-X— more specifically, the one that was chasing them the last time they were in the sewers.
Brooklynn sighed in relief, picking up her flashlight. "We're okay, guys. Look."
Eva slowly peeked around the corner, not at all comforted by the broken BRAD-X. She felt as though its eyes were following her as she walked past it, headed for the core.
"What happened to it?"
"I'm guessing it lost a fight with the nothosaurus," Darius answered nonchalantly.
If the nothosaurus could do that to a BRAD-X, what will it do to them?
The room began rumbling and an alarm began blaring, much to everyone's dismay. Eva covered her ears as they headed deeper into the room, up to the core itself. Brooklynn stopped at the control panel. She pressed a few buttons, and the alarm shut off. Everyone sighed in relief.
Eva migrated to Brooklynn's side, trying to help figure out what was happening.
"The drill was out of alignment," the pink haired girl told her. "The whole core is overheating."
"Fantastic," Eva grinned sarcastically. "Really, I couldn't have hoped for a better outcome."
Metal clattered, and the campers heard a distant growl. Eva shone her light in the direction of the noises, waiting for something to jump out at her.
Instead, the nothosaurus came from the other side, diving on Yasmina, who tripped on a pipe and fell to the ground. She kicked the dinosaur in the face, before finally climbing to her feet and running away into Sammy's arms.
The nothosaurus roared once, then collapsed.
"It's the gas! Don't go near it!" Darius advised.
The pipe burst, sending more green gas into the room. The campers quickly ran from the room, heading to one of the hallways connected to the sewer.
"It's a by-product of the energy core. Could be poisonous. Even worse, the core is overheating," Brooklynn explained to the campers.
"If the pressure builds up enough, the whole thing could blow," Eva said, picking at a hangnail.
Brooklynn nodded in confirmation.
"So then it's lights out all over the island?" Ben asked.
"More like there wouldn't be an island."
"Or us," Eva added.
"If I could find a way to breathe in there, I could try to fix it from the console..."
"Okay, to stop the gas, we have to tape up that pipe. I'm pretty sure there's some in the medbay."
"But we can't just leave the nothosaurus here to die, right?" Sammy asked.
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today's my first day of clinicals so I have regrettably been up since 4am getting ready and I am anxious mess although I already stabbed someone (for their blood) yesterday during orientation (phlebotomy) BUT that's okay to be anxious because I'm a student and I'm still learning :)
hope you enjoyed!!
- atha