09 - Welcome to Camp Nightmare (11 page)

The circle of campers tightened around him. We grew silent. A bird squawked
noisily in a nearby tree. Somehow it reminded me of my plan to escape.

Was I about to be really sorry that I hadn’t made a run for it?

“Two girls escaped from the girls’ camp last night,” Uncle Al announced in a
flat, businesslike tone. “A blonde and a redhead.”

Dawn and Dori!
I exclaimed to myself.
I’ll bet it was them!

“I believe,” Uncle Al continued, “that these are the same two girls who
sneaked over to the boys’ camp and hid near the waterfront a few days ago.”

Yes!
I thought happily.
It
is
Dawn and Dori! They escaped!

I suddenly realized a broad smile had broken out on my face. I quickly forced
it away before Uncle Al could see my happy reaction to the news.

“The two girls are in these woods, boys. They’re nearby,” Uncle Al continued.
He raised his rifle. “Your guns are loaded. Aim carefully when you see them.
They won’t get away from us!”

“Huh?” I gasped in disbelief. “You mean we’re supposed to
shoot
them?”

I glanced around the circle of campers. They all looked as dazed and confused
as I did.

“Yeah. You’re supposed to shoot them,” Uncle Al replied coldly. “I
told
you—they’re trying to escape.”

“But we can’t!” I cried.

“It’s easy,” Uncle Al said. He raised his rifle to his shoulder and pretended
to fire it. “See? Nothing to it.”

“But we can’t kill people!” I insisted.

“Kill?” His expression changed behind the dark glasses. “I didn’t say
anything about killing, did I? These guns are loaded with tranquilizer darts. We
just want to stop these girls—not hurt them.”

Uncle Al took two steps toward me, the rifle still in his hands. He stood
over me menacingly, lowering his face close to mine.

“You got a problem with that, Billy?” he demanded.

He was challenging me.

I saw the other boys back away.

The woods grew silent. Even the bird stopped squawking.

“You got a problem with that?” Uncle Al repeated, his face so close to mine,
I could smell his sour breath.

Terrified, I took a step back, then another.

Why was he doing this to me? Why was he challenging me like this?

I took a deep breath and held it. Then I screamed as loudly as I could: “I—I
won’t do it!”

Without completely realizing what I was doing, I raised the rifle to my
shoulder and aimed the barrel at Uncle Al’s chest.

“You’re gonna be sorry,” Uncle Al growled in a low voice. He tore off the
sunglasses and heaved them into the woods. Then he narrowed his eyes furiously
at me. “Drop the rifle, Billy. I’m gonna make you sorry.”

“No,” I told him, standing my ground. “You’re not. Camp is over. You’re not
going to do anything.”

My legs were trembling so hard, I could barely stand.

But I wasn’t going to go hunting Dawn and Dori. I wasn’t going to do anything
else Uncle Al said. Ever.

“Give me the rifle, Billy,” he said in his low, menacing voice. He reached
out a hand toward my gun. “Hand it over, boy.”

“No!” I cried.

“Hand it over now,” he ordered, his eyes narrowed, burning into mine. “Now!”

“No!” I cried.

He blinked once. Twice.

Then he leaped at me.

I took a step back with the rifle aimed at Uncle Al—and pulled the trigger.

The rifle emitted a soft pop.

Uncle Al tossed his head back and laughed. He let his rifle drop to the
ground at his feet.

“Hey!” I cried out, confused. I kept the rifle aimed at his chest.

“Congratulations, Billy,” Uncle Al said, grinning warmly at me. “You passed.”
He stepped forward and reached out his hand to shake mine.

The other campers dropped their rifles. Glancing at them, I saw that they
were all grinning, too. Larry, also grinning, flashed me a thumbs-up sign.

“What’s going on?” I demanded suspiciously. I slowly lowered the rifle.

Uncle Al grabbed my hand and squeezed it hard. “Congratulations, Billy. I
knew
you’d pass.”

“Huh? I don’t understand!” I screamed, totally frustrated.

But instead of explaining anything to me, Uncle Al turned to the trees and
shouted, “Okay, everyone! It’s over! He passed! Come out and congratulate him!”

And as I stared in disbelief, my wide-open mouth hanging down around my
knees, people began stepping out from behind the trees.

First came Dawn and Dori.

“You
were
hiding in the woods!” I cried.

They laughed in response. “Congratulations!” Dawn cried.

And then others came out, grinning and congratulating me. I screamed when I
recognized Mike. He was okay!

Beside him were Jay and Roger!

Colin stepped out of the woods, followed by Tommy and Chris. All smiling and
happy and okay.

“What—what’s going
on
here?” I stammered. I was totally stunned. I
felt dizzy.

I didn’t get it. I really didn’t get it.

And then my mom and dad stepped out from the trees. Mom rushed up and gave me
a hug. Dad patted the top of my head. “I knew you’d pass, Billy,” he said. I
could see happy tears in his eyes.

Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. I pushed Mom gently away. “Passed
what!?”
I demanded. “What
is
this? What’s going on?”

Uncle Al put his arm around my shoulders and guided me away from the group of
campers. Mom and Dad followed close behind.

“This isn’t really a summer camp,” Uncle Al explained, still grinning at me,
his face bright pink. “It’s a government testing lab.”

“Huh?” I swallowed hard.

“You know your parents are scientists, Billy,” Uncle Al continued. “Well,
they’re about to leave on a very important expedition. And this time they wanted
to take you along with them.”

“How come you didn’t tell me?” I asked my parents.

“We couldn’t!” Mom exclaimed.

“According to government rules, Billy,” Uncle Al continued, “children aren’t
allowed to go on official expeditions unless they pass certain tests. That’s
what you’ve been doing here. You’ve been taking tests.”

“Tests to see what?” I demanded, still dazed.

“Well, we wanted to see if you could obey orders,” Uncle Al explained. “You
passed when you refused to go to the Forbidden Bunk.” He held up two fingers.
“Second, we had to test your bravery. You demonstrated that by rescuing Larry.”
He held up a third finger. “Third, we had to see if you knew when
not
to
follow orders. You passed that test by refusing to hunt for Dawn and Dori.”

“And everyone was in on it?” I asked. “All the campers? The counselors?
Everyone? They were all actors?”

Uncle Al nodded. “They all work here at the testing lab.” His expression
turned serious. “You see, Billy, your parents want to take you to a very
dangerous place, perhaps the most dangerous place in the known universe. So we
had to make sure you can handle it.”

The most dangerous place in the universe?

“Where?” I asked my parents. “Where are you taking me?”

“It’s a very strange planet called Earth,” Dad replied, glancing at Mom.
“It’s very far from here. But it could be exciting. The inhabitants there are
weird and unpredictable, and no one has ever studied them.”

Laughing, I stepped between my mom and dad and put my arms around them.
“Earth?! It sounds pretty weird. But it could
never
be as dangerous or
exciting as Camp Nightmoon!” I exclaimed.

“We’ll see,” Mom replied quietly. “We’ll see.”

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