Camp Wacko: The Drones of Summer

by Faith Wilkins

  It was clear they were tightening their hold on us, and if someone didn’t act soon, we would be forced to stay and endure whatever plan they had next.

  Ten minutes after the curfew, True and I were ready for action. We had decided to pack light, bringing only a few pieces of clothing, a flashlight, and some food and water we had taken from the lounge’s snack bar. Anything weapon related had been hard to come by, so we had to be a little creative. Thanks to a combination of Advanced Chemistry and Poison 101, we were able to transform regular cleaning fluids found in a few of the bathrooms into something a little less family friendly. Forks and knives had been lifted from the kitchens. Even plastic spoons were sharpened into mini-weapons.

  While True was occupied with making sure she had everything, I remembered to take the recording device from under my bed. I never did get to tell her about my involvement with the FBI. That didn’t seem to matter now. For all I knew, they had just left me here to fend for myself.

  I hadn’t been in contact with them for weeks. Anyway, I planned to hand over the device—along with a few choice words—once I got out of this place.

  At the designated time of 11:00 p.m., we were on our way. We didn’t have any problem leaving the dorm building. Getting across school grounds undetected was a whole other issue. I suspected that was why they didn’t really have any security in the dorm buildings.

  There were three buildings between the girls’ dorm rooms and the woods. Unfortunately, they were spread apart, leaving too much open ground to cover. This is why Jack had come up with the idea of using a decoy. A few brave members of the group had agreed to step in.

  Before True and I could approach the first building, the boys’ dorm, we had to make sure the path had been cleared. Right on time, we heard the whirring sound of patrol car wheels rolling along the grass at high speed. From our hiding place, we could see someone running away from the building as about two or three security guards went after him. Once they had passed, my friend and I hurried into the boys’ dormitory.

  Thankfully, no one seemed to have been awakened by the commotion outside. The lounge area was completely silent, the lights shut off. True and I slipped through, heading for the back door. Through the glass of the double doors, we found that the next decoys had already begun the chase, streaking past us with three patrol cars right behind them. With incredulous smiles, we made our way to the next building with ease.

  By the time we had reached the woods, every security guard was preoccupied with the chaos going on by the dorms. Here, with the sounds of shouting and sirens behind us, everything was strangely quiet.

  Jack, Candy, and two other people were already waiting for us by the thick ropes blocking the way. They nodded their hellos as we approached, informing us that the cameras had already been disabled. Jack cut the ropes with a nasty-looking piece of sharpened metal. We all passed through without a backward glance, anxious to get out before anyone noticed the ropes had been cut.

  The minute we stepped into the woods, it nearly swallowed us alive, enveloping us in a black hole. The flashlights came out one by one, our only source of light through the murky darkness. Jack and Candy led the way, shoulders bumping against each other as they walked. Tense and alert, we moved cautiously. There had to be a reason these woods were blocked off at night.

  “May I ask where we’re—” My question was cut off by a terrible bloodcurdling scream. Startled, we glanced around to see if it had been any of us. Nope. Within seconds of that first scream, we heard another. Whoever it was sounded like they were being tortured. I pressed my hands to my ears, unable to bear the horrible screeching.

  The terrifying sound went on for what seemed like hours as we were forced to continue to walk. No one could pinpoint the source. The noise came from every possible direction, ripping through my brain like a battle-ax. Our pace quickened to a nervous trot.

  Candy pressed her palm to one of the trees, shining her light on the bark to show that it had been marked with the carving of an S.

  “We’re almost there,” she yelled.

  “Almost wh—”

  Again I was cut off. This time it was by the sudden silence following the screams. They had been abruptly cut short.

  We all paused for a minute, straining to hear. The end of the screeching left a deafening quiet in its wake, which bothered me almost as much as the noise.

  It wasn’t quiet for long. There was a sharp whistling sound as something shot through the air at top speed in our direction. We all dove to the ground, blindly covering our heads in an attempt to protect ourselves from the unknown object.

  As I hit the dirt, I could feel it whiz past me, missing my head by an inch or two. I waited a few minutes before sitting up and grabbing my flashlight and backpack. The others had the same idea, checking themselves to make sure everything was still intact before reaching for their own cargo and standing up. Everyone seemed to be fine. No one had been injured.

  Jack ran his light along the ground, searching for the mystery projectile. Something silver caught my eye.

  “Wait, I think it’s over here.” I crawled over to get a closer look.

  Lying on the ground about twenty paces from where we stood was a small dagger. I picked it up gingerly, noticing a piece of paper had been attached to the handle. True peeked over my shoulder as I read the tiny writing:

  WE SEE YOU

  These three simple words caused my very scalp to tingle. My feet were moving before I could yell, “Run!”

  It didn’t take long for everyone else to follow my lead.

  Something zoomed past my ear, smashing through one of the trees ahead of me. I had only seconds to realize that it had been a bullet. They sprayed the air, only narrowly missing us as we weaved through the trees, feet pounding the ground.

  Lights from some unknown source ignited the forest, assaulting my eyes. I came within seconds of slamming right into a tree before swerving to the left. Somebody screamed. This time it was one of us. I couldn’t turn to see who it was, listening as their body hit the ground with a groan.

  I could just make out the outline of a building up ahead. Short and squat, it had to be a shed. Any form of shelter would work at this point. Shouts and another round of bullets filled the air. Glancing around, I noticed there was no one else beside me. I let everything else fade to the background as I focused on the shed.

  It was almost impossible to stop running by the time I had reached the building. Willing my legs to stop, I skidded to a jerky halt in front of the metal double doors. In an instant, everything came back into focus. The yelling; the gunshots; the lights. There really was no other choice but to go inside.

  I grabbed hold of one of the rusty door handles and tugged, using my whole body weight to get it open. The door moaned, swinging open to another chasm of pure darkness. Great. I had dropped my flashlight a while back, leaving me with nothing but my own pair of eyes enhanced by my glasses. I was about to do what all the stupid characters in those cheap horror films do. You know, the ones who get killed off first. I was going to enter the creepy abandoned building by myself without a flashlight.

  At least I had managed to keep my bag with me. I unzipped one of the compartments and took out one of the knives we had been able to take from the kitchen. For once, I was grateful for kitchen duty. Now we hadn’t been able to get our hands on the good stuff, like the meat cleavers, but I did obtain a few of the sharpest slicing knives I could find.

  With a strong grip on my weapon of choice, I slowly entered the dark room. Even with my eyes adjusted to the lighting, I could still only see the outlines of whatever machinery was being stored in there. The place was cluttered with the stuff. I was bumping into things left and right.

  A slight shuffling of feet startled me. I paused, certain that despite my clumsiness, it hadn’t been me.

  “Hello?” I whispered, feeling like an idiot.

  A beam of light flickered on, blinding me. “Lily?”

  Shielding my face, I rep
lied, “Yes, it’s me. Now could you please point that thing somewhere else?”

  The light left my face and I was able to see the one other person in the room, Candy. She made her way over to me effortlessly, stepping around every obstacle without so much as a sound.

  “Is there anyone else with you?” she whispered, voice laced with hope. “I lost Jack on my way here. I don’t know what happened to him.”

  I shook my head sadly. “No, it’s just me. I’m sure he’s fine, though. They all escaped. I’m sure of it.”

  I’m not a very convincing actress. Neither of us believed this at all. For the time being, we were the only ones left.

  Candy swept the flashlight over our surroundings. We caught eerie glimpses of the odds and ends of dangerous machinery. There were chains, drill-like tools, operating tables, chairs connected to a strange tangle of wires, and a countless number of other weird things. Nothing we saw really made much sense. What was this place anyway?

  Sharp barking noises caught our attention. They had added dogs to the search. I was guessing they weren’t the friendly kind.

  “We have to go,” I muttered, beginning to move in the direction of the door.

  Without a word, Candy followed, shedding a light on the path ahead of me. I took a peak outside before opening the door. A few members of the search party were just beginning to pass by, some of them holding leashes around the thick necks of ferocious pit bulls.

  There was something off about these dogs. Their eyes appeared to have permanently rolled back in their sockets. Their legs were muscular and tight, like they had been doing some doggy weightlifting or something. They were all about the same height as an average pony. Each one had a red tag on its left paw.

  One of the dogs must have caught our scent or something—it started barking like a maniac and dragging its handler behind him as he bounded right for the shed. Swallowing a scream, I frantically signaled for Candy to cut the lights. Thank goodness she understood, turning off the flashlight immediately. We only had time to back up a little bit before the dog was slamming against the door with such strong ferocity, it could have been possessed.

  The door came swinging open. By that time, we had both dived behind the closest piece of machinery available. As the man raked his own flashlight across the room, I closed my eyes tight, praying we wouldn’t be caught. The dog was going absolutely nuts, pulling his owner inside. I could only listen as he came crashing through, causing my heart to stop for a few seconds before continuing to beat against my chest with a loud boom.

  The pit bull made a terrible raucous as he searched the area, sniffing everything in sight. I struggled to keep my breathing at a steady pace, but was losing the battle quickly. That thing was going to find us and, by the sound of it, rip us to shreds. Candy gripped my shoulder. I could barely see the glint of her eyes in the darkness. She was just as scared as I was. All hostility I had ever felt toward her was lost as we sat huddled together.

  There was shouting from somewhere outside. Grunting, the dog’s handler was able to yank it back in the direction they had come. He muttered angrily as he continued to pull the little beast until it chose to give up the fight and obey, snarling loudly. There was a snap of teeth and a yell, followed by a sharp buzzing and a pained whine. The snarls stopped and the man closed the door behind him, leaving us in silence.

  We waited until the barks and shouting from outside dissipated before slipping out through the large double doors, stepping back out into the night.

  “Come on.” Candy didn’t pause to see if I was following before running in the direction of the men and dogs.

  I had no choice but to follow, wondering if I had teamed up with a crazy person.

  Candy moved swiftly through the forest, seemingly pressing her palm against every tree she passed, until she came to an abrupt halt in front of one with the carving of an N on its trunk. She dropped to her knees, beginning to dig at the foot of the tree.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, crouching next to her.

  “Digging. A little help would be nice.” She frantically dug with her hands like her life depended on it.

  “Not unless you tell me what you’re doing,” I insisted, hands on my hips.

  Exasperated, Candy let out a sigh as she continued to dig. “There’s a tunnel under here. We’re not sure where it leads to, but I know it’s to the outside world. Why else would they deliberately have a tunnel here?”

  “How did you do find out about this?” This time I took out a few of the sharpened spoons we had taken as weapons and helped her dig.

  She wiped sweat from her forehead, smearing a little dirt above her brow. “A friend of mine. She disappeared for a few days, and when she came back, she was…different. She acted like she was fine, but she wasn’t. About a week later, something I said triggered something. She started saying things, crazy things that didn’t make sense. She mentioned a tunnel they had transported her through, in the woods by a tree marked with the letter N.” Candy nodded her head in the direction of the tree trunk. “Then she started having a seizure. We were in our dorm room. I alerted the dorm leader and suddenly our room was swarmed with guys in white coats. They carried her out and that was the last I saw of her. I didn’t believe her at first, but I decided to check it out. It took me forever to find it without getting caught.”

  I frowned. “When did this happen?”

  “Last year.”

  She uttered an excited cry. We had hit something hard like metal. I dropped the now useless spoons and used my hands as well, brushing away the rest of the dirt. Candy’s friend had been right. We had uncovered a manhole. We each grabbed a handle, and worked together to tug it open.

  We had just loosened the top when Candy abruptly stopped with a jolt. Before I could ask what was wrong, she had slumped over, falling against the tree. Panicking, I checked her pulse. Steady. Her chest moved up and down slowly. She was asleep. I noticed a small glass dart-like object filled with a blue liquid sticking out of her neck.

  A twig snapped. My head turned instantly. I jumped to my feet, scanning the woods. Dropping back down on my knees, I continued to unloosen the top of the manhole. If I could just get it open, maybe I could—

  “Lily!” I jumped, looking up to find True standing a few feet away. Her hair was disheveled, her clothes were ripped and covered in dirt. Expression wild with fright, she limped toward me, one hand in her pocket.

  “True,” I breathed. “Where have you been?”

  “I was hiding in one of the trees. They almost caught me,” she panted. “What’s that?” She pointed at the manhole.

  “Candy was telling me about this tunnel her friend found. It’s here. Someone shot her with a tranquilizer. I-I don’t know where it came from. It didn’t make any sound.

  We have to get her out of here,” I explained, continuing to loosen the top. “Help me get this open. The sooner we get out, the sooner we can help her and stop whatever’s going on around here.”

  True didn’t come over to help me, but I was too focused on getting the top open to notice the abnormality in this.

  Suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my right shoulder. I cried out, my hand flying to the source. My eyes widened when I felt the bulbous shape of the same kind of dart that had knocked Candy out.

  “Oh shoot, I missed.”

  True was still standing a few feet away from me, but now she held a gun. The contraption was a mixture of glass and stainless steel. The transparent barrel of the gun displayed the contents inside, about five of those little dart bullets. At the moment, they were all pointed at me.

  “What the heck are you doing?” I removed the one she had planted in my shoulder, tossing it aside.

  She laughed. Yes, laughed! “Oh, Lily, there are still so many things you don’t know. There is no way out of this. You will do what Headmaster Wackerson has planned for you.”

  From behind me, I felt for the lid of the manhole. It had finally come free. “Really? Just how do you know that?
”

  True’s smile was almost sad. “Trust me.”

  Like that would ever happen again. I swung the heavy metal lid forward, releasing it with as much force as I could muster. True shouted, throwing herself out of its path. I took the limited opportunity to grab Candy’s flashlight and shine a light into the large hole I’d uncovered. A rusting ladder was the only way down.

  Within seconds, I had thrown Candy over my back, securing her arms around my neck. Holding the flashlight between my teeth, I began to climb down the ladder. Her dead weight was slowing me down tremendously, but I couldn’t just leave her behind. Whatever was in that tranquilizer bullet had left her nearly comatose.

  My feet hit hard ground. Holding Candy piggybackstyle, I hurried down the tunnel, managing to point the flashlight ahead of me so I could at least have an idea of where I was going. All I could see was cool wet rock all around me, the ceiling dripping with what I could only hope was water. Even with the light, the path ahead of me appeared to be endless.

  By now, True had recovered from my attack and had come scrambling after me. I could hear her as her feet smacked against the concrete. She didn’t bother to shoot. Right now her only priority seemed to be to catch up with me. There was no way I was going to let that happen. I pumped my legs harder, sweat running down my face and into my eyes.

  My only source of light showed me something that caused my heart to sink. There was a wall. I smacked into it, hoping my eyes had deceived me. I pressed my palms against it, feeling for any kind of button or trigger to make it go away. There was nothing. The wall was made of a thick steel that was impossible to break through. I was trapped.