PANIC ROOM • KENJI KON

LVI. I'll Do Whatever It Takes

Chapter Fifty Six:  I'll Do Whatever It Takes

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Eva helped Yasmina move Sammy under the cover of their base to keep the rain off of her. Brooklynn brought a pillow down from her bunk, and positioned it under Sammy's head. Yaz sat on Sammy's left, her two hands wrapped in the clammy, pale one of Sammy's.

Eva slipped her hand into Sammy's other hand on her right, rubbing slow circles into her palm.

What else could she do? Sammy was injured— she was dying, and there was nothing any of them could do for her besides make her comfortable.

"Sammy, we're here. Everything's gonna be okay," Yasmina said through tears.

Brooklynn gasped loud enough to catch Eva and Yaz's attention. "The video on Wu's old lab! He was attacked by the Scorpios, and they were giving him this shot from a red vial. I think they said antidote, I'm not—"

Yaz was quick to her feet and to Brooklynn's side. "Where is this lab?" She demanded.

Brooklynn pulled out a map with an under construction symbol circled on it. "Near the raptor paddock."

Yaz studied the map a moment longer before shoving it back into Brooklynn's hands. "Take care of Sammy until I get back."

Is she going for the antidote? Who am I kidding, of course she is.

Yaz pushed through Darius and Kenji, running for the gate.

"Wait, Yaz! The Scorpios went that way!"

She turned on her heel, "I don't care what's out there! I'm saving her!"

A ball of jittery darkness settled into Eva's gut, and then her feet were moving before her brain could process. She slipped out of the gate, heading in the same direction as Yasmina. Her footsteps pounding against the mud and her heavy breathing was all she could focus on. Her friends shouted after her, but they didn't matter right now. Yasmina did. Sammy did. And Yaz couldn't do this alone.

Eva let Yasmina lead the way. She kept pace with her, but let her lead them to the lab. Yasmina was breathing heavily when the Scorpios' roar echoed through the open air.

How far away was it? Or how close?

Eva pulled Yaz behind a tree, but she shook her head. "We have to keep going."

She started, only to skid to a stop next to a rapids river. She paced a few feet of the riverbank, looking across it and back.

"We have to jump. You ever do long jump in track?"

"Once when I was twelve in a phys-ed unit. It's gonna be like that, isn't it?"

"Worse. Back up. Back up." Eva stepped backwards about twenty feet, where Yasmina stopped her. "You first."

Eva nodded, and let out a chilling breath before taking off. Her arms pumped beside her. As she neared the river break, the voice in her head screamed at her to back out, but her legs continued. At the last moment, she pushed off the river bank and flew over the river. One hand wrapped around the stem of a plant, using it as a handle. The other dug into a rock to keep her from sliding in the mud and falling into the river.

Her shoes up to her knees soaked in cool, rushing water. Eva put everything into pulling herself up the shore. When she removed her hand from the rock, her nails were bleeding, and when she removed her hand from the stem, a thin cut was spread across her palm, drawing blood.