Sacrifice

I'll Look After You

A/N: Excerpts read from the same book as previous chapter (these past few chapters have been longer to not drag out this plot turn too much and I personally don't like dragging things out if I don't have to).
————————————————————————

Flipping the pages, Louise kept reading, more to herself but she was still reading out loud, wondering if Kenji was listening as he was resting his head on her shoulder, his still wet strands of hair tickling at her neck. She was actually learning a few things....Kronosaur, meaning Kronos lizard.

Styxosaur, meaning River Styx lizard....Even though she had no idea what the hell a Kronos or River Styx lizard was and she still couldn't find out what Orthocone meant, but maybe it just meant big cone, judging by the picture draw by Dr. Dimitri.

Kenji sneezed beside her, "Bless you." Louise said, not thinking that him sneezing was a bad sign.

"Thanks, Lou...." Kenji sniffled, snuggling up in more of the blanket. "What are we doing here?..." Kenji asked. "We're just staying here until you feel better." Louise glanced over at him, he was beginning to talk more, so that was a good thing.

"But where?..." Kenji asked, his voice still sounding rough and hoarse.

"We're in some underwater lab, Kenji." Louise answered. "Lab?..." Kenji questioned.

"Mhm, I haven't done much looking around, but that's where we are." Louise replied.

"How are you feeling?" Louise asked.

"Everything....hurts." Kenji murmured against her. "You're going to feel better by tomorrow." Louise smiled softly at him, closing the book but keeping her finger in the spot she had left off. "You think so?..." Kenji asked, "Maybe not 100% better but, you'll be back to your old self soon." Louise replied.

They could stay in the lab for a day or even two, but two was pushing it. Louise knew that the others realized that the both of them were dead, via Mosasaurus stomach or water ingestion. And they were all freaking out over losing two friends at once.

Louise just thought of Ben, how both her's and Kenji's "death" would effect him. "Can—Can you keep reading?" Kenji asked, looking up at her before he sneezed again. "Bless you, and sure, I suppose I could read a bit more..." Louise replied.

"I noticed you skipped a few pages..." Kenji produced another low, dry, almost painful chuckle.

Louise sighed but she couldn't help but smile at his stupid observation, "The idea that there might be unknown creatures or 'sea monsters' inhabiting the oceans of the Earth has been around for centuries, probably from the time that wooden ships were first built and sailed out of sight of land. In those days..."

Louise kept reading from the same book after she flipped back a few pages cause she had actually skipped them like Kenji had caught her doing.

"Put yourself in the shoes of one of the first sailors to venture far from shore, and then imagine your thoughts and fears at seeing a giant blue whale surfacing for the first time, without any prior knowledge that such a creature existed." She read.

"You skipped all the fun parts..." Kenji commented.
"And read all the nerdy parts like Darius," He added.

"I could not read any parts, Kenji." Louise sassed.

"Yeah, yeah..." He muttered with the smallest smirk.

Louise kept reading this book about sea monsters to Kenji, who kept making comments, but interrupted her halfway through, "Louise—I..." Kenji began. And she looked over at him, realizing that he had abruptly sat up from her side, letting the blanket slip down to his waist. "I-I'm gonna be sick...." He said.