PANIC ROOM • KENJI KON

XLV. Trade Secret

Chapter Forty Five:  Trade Secret

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Eva woke up to a light, muffled beeping. She slipped her hand under her pillow and shut off the alarm on her watch before retrieving it. 3:00 a.m. It was still quite dark, the sun not having woken up herself. The moon resided low in the horizon to the west, and surely would disappear below the trees in a few hours. Eva had time, and that was exactly what she wanted, despite how tired she felt.

She slipped out from under her comforter and hooked her legs around her bunk, looking around. Everyone was still asleep. Good. She missed the warmth her comforter provided from the cool air tickling her legs, but she only had a few hours to herself and she needed to make the most of them.

She hopped off silently, casting her gaze down to Brooklynn, who was curled into a ball fast asleep in her own bunk. Eva smiled slightly and sat down, and pulled on her socks and shoes.

3:04 a.m.

Eva strapped her watch to her wrist, then carefully climbed down the ladder. She turned, her heart jumping into her throat as she came face to face with Yaz.

Yaz stared up at her, her eyebrows raised and her arms crossed. Her lip jutted out and she was clearly wide awake, watching Eva's every move. Sammy, however, was barely keeping herself up, and kept yawning every ten seconds. Her eyelids drooped, and Eva could have sworn she was drooling, but it was too dark to tell. She was clearly tired— exhausted, even, and didn't want to be there. Which made Eva wonder why they were there, in silence at that, in the first place.

"Whatchya doin' Eva?" Yasmina asked in a low voice.

"Going for a run," she quickly responded, blinking the sleep from her eyes.

"In the middle of the night?" Sammy yawned again.

"Can't sleep," she lied.

"By yourself?" Yaz tilted her head. "I'll come with. It's probably not safe to run through the island alone— especially in the dark."

"That's fine," Eva brushed her off. "I kind of wanted to be alone, anyway."

"Nonsense. You're part of the team. We can't lose you."

"No!" she shouted, and then her eyes widened. She quickly calmed herself down— no use to anyone if she was freaking out over where she was really going. "I mean, look. It's late. Or early, depending on how you look at it. Sammy looks like a zombie— why not just go back to sleep? I'll be—"

"Back in a few hours? Just how it was twice in the last two weeks. Where are you going for hours on end? What are you doing?" Yaz interrogated.

"Nothing concerning—"

"Eva, if you don't fess up, or take one of us with you, I'm gonna follow you anyways."

Eva bit her cheek. Yaz seemed dead serious in her follow through. She thought for a moment, then glanced up at camp. "What about Kenji?"

"What about him?"

"If I get him to come with me, will that get you two off my back?"

"I—"

"Yes!" Sammy shouted. "Yes, Yaz—" she glared at her to shut her up, "— it will."

"Fine. But when he doesn't wake, it's me who's coming along."