PANIC ROOM • KENJI KON

XX. Left Behind

Chapter Twenty: Left Behind

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Eva laid with her back against the ground and a rock as her pillow. She was definitely uncomfortable, but too tired to move. They had spent the last three days searching for somewhere to camp out, and running from dinosaurs. It seemed all they did since they got to the island was run from dinosaurs. Carnivores mostly; allosauruses, pteranodons, compies, Toro, but also the hostile pachycephalosaurus, and a number of other herbivores that were either territorial, or the campers had somehow pissed off. The point was, they were constantly running, constantly hiding, and all Eva wanted was a fucking nap, and maybe some real food. Hardee's had never sounded so good before.

But that was the thing, she couldn't even nap in peace. They always had two people on watch, two people prepared to wake the others if they had to run, but Eva found herself constantly awake, even when she wasn't on shift. When it came to a giant animal trying to eat you, she couldn't trust the people she was with. She barely knew them, and the one she did know, well, he betrayed her in the past.

So, she was running on about seven hours of sleep over the course of three days, minus the times she was passed out and had to rely on the campers. Sitting against a tree, she could feel herself starting to drift, and that scared her. She had to stay awake. She had to. Falling asleep could mean death.

Picking up a relatively sharp rock, she forced the edge into her arm far enough she began to bleed. Sure enough, the pain woke her up.

She looked upwards to see Darius slowly coming back down the tree he was perched in. "Good news?" Eva asked, hopeful.

Darius finished climbing down the tree before addressing the campers. "The pteranodons are nesting on the eastern mountains, so that's out."

"Ugh, bad news," Sammy groaned as she removed her map from her bag and made another red X with a sharpie she had found.

Brooklynn walked up behind Sammy, peering over her shoulder at the map. "So, we can't stay on Main Street because dinosaurs. The mountains, grasslands, and jungle are out because dinosaurs."

"And Kenji's penthouse is out because he's bad at math," Yaz said.

"Hey, I- I didn't think my dad was serious about changing the locks if I failed algebra. Besides, if I'm taking some of the blame, then so is Eva!"

"Me? What did I do?!"

"Hm, I don't know, how about refusing to tutor me in algebra?!"

Everyone looked to Eva. She narrowed her eyes slightly, "That is true."

"Eva!"

"Evaaa!"

"No! Uh-uh! There was plenty of other kids that could have tutored him! This is not on me!"

Yasmina backed her up, "Yeah, this is still on you, Kenji."

"What? But, I—"

Eva shook her head. "You literally aced algebra one freshman year, I don't know how the hell you've forgotten so much you're failing algebra two, but this is not my fault."

The campers' eyes turned to Kenji. Kenji's eyes narrowed. "How do you know I aced freshman algebra?"

The campers' eyes turned back to Eva. "Mm, I don't know, maybe the fact that Mr. Lloyd pinned us against each other in that math contest?"