PANIC ROOM • KENJI KON

I. Dinosaurs Are The Reason We Can't Have Aliens

Chapter One: Dinosaurs Are The Reason We Can't Have Aliens

~~~

"Why are you so convinced there's no extraterrestrial life out there?"

Eva sidestepped two girls who had their lips pressed together that were blocking her path to the cafeteria. She hurried past small groups of students exchanging their books for food and to Kai's side.

Kai stood still, waiting for Eva. A tall boy nearly ran into them, curting around the side at the last minute. He muttered something, to which Kai flipped him off.

"Thanks," Eva muttered as her steps fell into line with Kai's. Kai shifted their books from one hand to the other, and gave Eva a pressing look. "Um, zero contact, and you know, there's no scientific proof of extraterrestrial life. No proof of aliens, sorry, Kai."

"Bullshit," they laughed. "There's no proof there isn't aliens. There totally could be. Little green boys or six foot tall rats, listen, it's totally plausible." They left the English hallway and turned down a ramp that led to Ivy Hall, one of the cafeterias open to students. "Besides, if they were looking through a telescope, they'd just see dinosaurs, so maybe they're waiting for evolution to run its course, in their eyes."

"But evolution has run its course."

"Okay, well, what if there's an intergalactic war going on, and they're not involving us because they think we're just lizards down here? What if they're just waiting for their war to be done to come visit? Still, it means we're not completely alone in our universe."

Oh, here they go. If Kai keeps talking, they'll start rambling about the multiverse.

"Even if they looked at us in the future through a telescope, they're gonna see endless wars over stupid things, and then the lizards will be back!"

Kai pushed open the right hand door and waited for Eva to pass through before following.

"So you're saying genetics is the reason we'll never meet aliens? Damn, fuck the dinosaurs, then."

Eva patted her pockets in search of her meal card, laughing. "I don't know, dinosaurs in the modern age is kinda badass."

Kai swiped their meal card. "All those people that were eaten alive would say different."

Eva opened her wallet, then the front pocket of her backpack. "If they could speak. Damn it, I think I lost my meal card."

"Again?"

"Shut up," she laughed. "I swear I put it on my lanyard, but I don't... Okay, I may have left my lanyard on my bedpost."

"Loser. I'm hungry."

"Yeah, sure, leave me here alone, starving—" she gave the worker behind the card swipe a grin. The worker returned her grin with a deadpan stare. "Yep, I'll just, walk across the entire building back to the dorms for my lanyard." The worker raised an eyebrow. "Alright, Kai—"

And, Kai was gone. Eva spotted her in one of the food lines, adding mashed potatoes to her plate. She chewed on her bottom lip before sighing. Head hung low, she exited Ivy Hall, heading back the way she came.

As she entered the earth science hallway, a hand wrapped around her hair and tugged her downward. Her face came into contact with a knee. She stumbled into the lockers on her right, eyes trailing over long pale legs to a navy blue skirt, up a buttoned white shirt and to honey brown eyes.

"What?" She muttered.

Her head spun. Something wet and sticky gushed from her nose and down her lip. The hallway seemed to fall silent around the two girls. Jayla, the brunette with vengeance in her eyes, stared up at Eva.