PANIC ROOM • KENJI KON

LXVII. Unauthorized Life Form Detected

Chapter Sixty Seven:  Unauthorized Life Form Detected

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The woman glanced up, her sandwich dropping from her mouth. She looked around, then quickly ran over to them, her sandwich forgotten. "You're trespassing," she said in a low voice. "What are you up to?" She gasped, then, and pulled her tablet close to her chest. "Are you here to spy?"

"Yes, we're an elite band of teenage secret agents," Kenji replied, sarcasm dripping from his voice like an icicle.

"Ooh, I'd totally watch that show," Eva commented.

"Are you crazy?" Brooklynn whispered. "You're eating a sandwich in the middle of a T. Rex fight?"

"First of all, they're not fighting, they're pla—"

"Playing!" Darius whispered enthusiastically. "Cranio- facial biting! It's true!"

"Uh, yes. Don't change the subject!" The woman snapped.

"Lady, we don't wanna be here, either," Yaz butted in.

Eva grabbed Kenji's hand again, and began playing with his fingers, whilst staring down at the ground.

She didn't want to be there any more than the next camper. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to be alive or not, and the fact that this woman was doing nothing to help them— but instead accuse them of being spies— well, things could be a lot better.

"We just wanna go home," Eva mumbled.

"Oh, yeah, we'll see about that," she said with a scoff. "Follow me."

The campers slowly trickled after the woman, with Darius and Brooklynn taking the lead, and Kenji and Eva taking the rear. Kenji nudged her with his elbow, then whispered, "Hey, Eva?"

"Hm?"

"Got any feelings about this woman? Any distrust?"

I don't even care anymore.

"Um, not yet. Maybe if I knew more about what was happening here, where we were, I could read the situation better, but I just... I just don't know."

"That's okay," he whispered. "We'll figure this out, together."

Eva nodded weakly.

She tuned in to Darius relaying their struggles and survival to the woman at the front of the group. He talked about their six months of survival— which still sounded unbelievable to Eva— and their crash landing on this new island due to the Mosasaurus.

The woman scoffed. "You really expect me to believe that children survived alone on Isla Nublar for six entire months?"

"Trust me, it's hard for us to believe, too," Brooklynn said.

"Mmhm... I suppose you must be telling the truth, because who would make up such a crazy story if they didn't have to. Not saying that you don't have to, or that you're crazy, but who knows? I don't know you, you don't know me for that matter. Am I yammering on? I've been out here for the better part of a month with no one to talk to, and I guess I had more to say than I realized."

"You look so familiar," Darius commented out of the blue.

The T. Rexes' roars echoed throughout the trees. On instinct, Eva stopped in place and looked around, her chest aching.