PANIC ROOM • KENJI KON

LXIX. Peer Pressure

Chapter Sixty Nine:  Peer Pressure

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Whoever the fuck decided Eva gets put on T. Rex duty is on thin fucking ice. Eva was alerted as soon as she woke up about the plan, and wasn't even given a chance to rebut it. Instead, she found herself on a platform thirty feet in the air— hello, fear of heights— overwatching the sleeping carnivorous dinosaurs that could totally eat her, and contemplating her life.

She sat with her back to the tree trunk, and her ankles dangling off the edge of the platform. A permanent frown was etched into her face, with her arms crossed. Mae sat between her and Kenji, and maybe that was a good thing considering she had no idea who sold her out to be put on dino duty, and was righteously mad at all of her friends.

Mae tapped on her tablet, then said,"According to their QEEG's, they—"

"They're what now?" Kenji interrupted.

"They're uh, um, uh, maps of their brains. Yeah, see, look—" Mae showed her tablet to the two teenagers, showing off a blue screen with little buttons and a sketch of the dinosaur brain. "They're in a light, but restful stage two sleep. We just have to be sure to keep extra quiet."

On queue, Kenji started coughing. Eva leaned forward and muttered, "Dude, stop. You're gonna wake them."

"I had a tickle," he defended. "Won't happen again."

Not a moment later, he cleared his throat. And kept clearing his throat.

"What?" Mae asked.

"It's happening again," he whispered.

Kenji coughed, loud and clear, and the tablet bleeped. The bigger T. Rex slowly got to her feet, dipping her head down to the smaller's body.

"Oh, no! Poor things, they're still hurt," Mae said.

The younger T. Rex tried to stand, only to collapse again.

"They should've received medical attention by now. Let me put in a request for a Med BRAD to come."

Kenji knealed off to the side, still coughing.

Eva's face softened. "You okay, mausebär?"

"Yeah, I just—" he sneezed again.

The momma T. Rex looked around before heading off in the direction of the feeding platform.

"Shit, we gotta warn the others," Eva said.

"We'll meet you on the other side of the feeding platform."

Eva nodded. "You guys stay together, and stay out of sight." She clambered to her feet, then slid down the ladder, gritting her teeth as she pulled a splinter out of the pad of her thumb.

Taking off, she hauled ass through the forest and in the direction of the feeding platform. The good news was that the T. Rex didn't know they were racing, and was simply walking over; which gave Eva a chance to get there first.

"Time to go!" Eva shouted as soon as she spotted Ben, Darius and Yasmina.

The boys quickly took off, but Yaz froze, staring fearfully in the direction of heavy footsteps. Eva backtracked and wrapped a hand around her friend's forearm before pulling her away to safety.