Endless Summer

The World has a Habit of Crushing You

Your lungs feel like they're on fire. Your legs burn from sprinting all the way from the seaside airstrip, trying to keep up with Estela. She makes it to the gates first. The last of your group makes it past the gated fence at the resort entrance. Estela, Sean, and Jake heave the heavy gate closed and back away. Thirteen pairs of eyes watch the forest in a tense, silent hope that the sabertooth did not follow. When nothing happens, everyone breathes out an exhausted sigh of relief.

Raj wipes his brow. "That's enough exercise... for the rest of my life."

"Estela?" Lila cries out. "Where are you going?"

You look up to see Estela slipping her small frame through the fence's bars.

"I got you back to the resort alive. You're welcome. But now I've got things to do."

You step closer to the gate. "Just be careful out there."

Estela meets your eyes and gives you a nod of respect. "I will, Y/N. Stay here. It's safe at the resort." With that, she vanishes into the rainforest.

Raj rubs the back of his neck. "That girl gives me the creeps but at the same time, I really, really wanna be her friend. Is that weird?"

"A little." Craig answers.

You suddenly feel a wave of exhaustion and emotion crash over you. All the adrenaline wears off so now you're really feeling that sprint through the jungle. You double over, hands on your knees, and try to catch your breath.

Sean places his hands on your shoulders. "Y/N, are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm okay." You take a steadying breath.

You close your eyes and focus on all the things you've seen. The tiger stalking you, the plane's gas tank catching fire, and fight past the surreal disbelief. Your focus calms you. You feel your heartbeat slow and your breath return.

Jake struts past you. "Suit yourself. Forgive me if I take a different tack."

Jake heads through the automatic lobby doors.
Curious, everyone follows. Inside, Jake reaches behind a small bar in the lobby lounge and snatches a bottle of spiced rum.

"Who could use a drink right now?" He asks.

Diego raises his hand. "That would be me."

"Seconded." Zahra adds.

Sean walks to the bar, shaking his head. "This isn't the time for that."

Jake grins. "Pretty sure alcohol was invented for times like this."

"Sooooo," Raj looks around at everyone. "are we gonna talk about what just happened?"

Diego rubs his arm. "You mean the part where our plane decided to celebrate Fourth of July with some fireworks? Or the part where Fantastic Mr. Fox over here went full Elsa on a saber-toothed tiger?"

The little fox tilts his head. Lila steps forward. "Could we all just take a deep breath and calm down? There's no sense getting upset over a little freak accident."

Jake puts down the bottle, hard. The sound echoes in the lobby. "It wasn't an accident."

Michelle looks to him skeptically. "And how exactly do you know that?"

Jake reaches in his pocket and slams a small metal cylinder on the bar. You immediately recognize it as the padlock.

"Y/N found this at the hangar." Jake looks to you with respect. "She risked her life to get it. Someone unlocked the doors. Someone went in there and tampered with my plane."