Camp Wacko: The Drones of Summer (16 page)

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 replied, “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.

I let Candy slip off my back, landing on the ground with a soft thud. True finally caught up with me, breathing hard.

“Sometimes you are unbelievable,” she gasped. “I told you there was no way out of this.”

“Excuse me for finding it hard to trust you,” I snapped, backing up against the wall.

“Nighty-night, Lily.”

This time she hit the mark with perfect precision. I was out within seconds.

Leverage

I AWOKE TO the picture of Dr. Wacko himself staring back at me. In this version he was an Egyptian pharaoh, complete with a golden false beard. His face had been drawn on the ceiling, right above the bed. This wasn’t exactly the first thing I wanted to see the second I woke up. It startled me, causing me to shoot up in bed. Ugh, head rush. I plopped back down, averting my eyes from the creepy picture.

Lying in this bed, I felt like I had fallen into the ocean. The sheets were all different shades of blue, blending with the mint green walls. There was a large window to the left of me, displaying a spectacular view of the sun rising over the treetops of the forest. My right arm was bothering me. I glanced down to find a bandage wrapped around my upper bicep, stained with a small red dot. I fingered the gauze, confused for a few minutes before I fully understood. The tracking device. They must have removed it. I couldn’t see the point. Didn’t seem like it had been working very well anyway.

“Disturbing, isn’t it?”

Dustin leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. His eyes were on his father’s painted face, a sense of disgust hidden in his otherwise emotionless expression.

“Long time no see,” I mumbled groggily, sitting up slowly this time.

Dustin stepped inside, closing the door behind him, then sat down in one of the plush chairs stationed by my bedside.

“I know. You’ve been busy since we last spoke.”

I smiled weakly, still tired. “I would have filled you in, but you weren’t exactly available.”

He looked past me and out the window, jaw tightening. “I’m sorry. I should have found a way to get to you, to stop you from doing this. There was just so much going on, and he was watching me the whole time…”

I held up a hand. “Wait, what do you mean, stop me? What happened to being dedicated to helping me escape? One moment you were promising me that you would assist in taking your crazy dad down, and then you were working for him, acting like you were just another instructor. What changed?”

He sighed, standing up. “You have to get dressed. The headmaster wants to have breakfast with us. Meet me outside when you’re ready.” He paused at the door. “The bathroom’s down the hallway and to your left. There are clothes in the closet there. See you outside.”

They had set me up in a little cabin. I even had my own mini-kitchen. I took my time in the bathroom, taking a shower before checking out the wardrobe. Like before, the closet had been filled to the brim. Out of protest, I chose the sloppiest outfit I could find. While getting dressed, I didn’t let myself think about anything. Not the sealed-in tunnel, the strange shed, the plight of the rest of my group, or even True’s betrayal. Nothing.

Dustin sat on the steps of the small porch. The cabin had been built on a hill set apart from the rest of the wooded area. A few trees surrounded the small house, protecting and imprisoning it at the same time.