Camp Wacko: The Drones of Summer (19 page)

Dustin led the way through the dense foliage, explaining in between short puffs of breath that there was a trail up ahead. The others weren’t tired at all, their breathing even.

It was like they were almost invincible. I remembered what True had said about their brains having been infused with computerized technology. Something else had to have changed. Even if they no longer had completely human minds, they still inhabited human bodies. Didn’t they?

Our legs were finally able to slow once the shouts grew more muffled, eventually dissipating within the forest. I insisted on taking at least a five-minute break, and my legs turned into pools of Jell-O the second we stopped moving. The wind had totally been knocked out of me. Never had I run that fast and that far. Everything had gone numb and it felt like someone had stabbed me in the chest about fourteen times. My heart had lodged itself in my throat, ramming against the inside of my body like a caged animal.

The drones finally displayed a few signs of fatigue when we took a break, their breathing slightly heavier than normal. A few beads of sweat had collected just above the eyebrows of one kid, a girl around thirteen. She wiped it away absentmindedly, leaning against a moss-covered tree. There were five of them left, tense and poised to move at any time. They appeared to not have any weapons in their possession, but I wasn’t fooled. The multiple pockets sewn within the fabric of their uniforms probably held many nasty tools they were fully capable of using.

“Since when were these guys on our side?” I panted, struggling to keep my balance as I took off the god-awful satin slippers they had forced me to wear.

Dustin offered his shoulder as a leaning post. “My dad’s been having me train them for weeks now. I was able to figure out how to reprogram their systems without using my father’s method, electrical shock controllers. You see, I—” He paused, noticing the wave of confusion spreading rapidly across my face. “Let me explain. One part of the Drone Mission experiment is to insert tiny wires in their brains, especially the brain stem. The scientists use these to program them with certain messages, continuing to send each one until it remains there. If there’s any sign of resistance or a different thought from what they are supposed to be focused on, their bodies are shocked with electricity. The shocks are small at first, but they get harsher as they go on. That’s why only a few survived from each session.”

Horrified, I looked back at the child soldiers, who didn’t find any interest in our conversation at all. They continued to scan our surroundings, their senses seemingly on high alert.

“How were you able to get rid of that kind of control?” I asked, continuing to stare at the young troopers.

“I didn’t,” he whispered. “I only tweaked it a little. A little hypnotism mixed with the combat training worked long enough for me to really get into their minds. I was able to get them to like me enough to start trusting me. Once they trusted me, it was surprisingly easy to gain their loyalty. Soon it was under my orders that they obeyed my father. Until now, of course.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I thought you had given up. Why didn’t you tell me you had these guys up your sleeve the whole time? And what about your mother?”

Dustin wasn’t given the chance to answer. One of the soldiers, a boy in his early teenage years, alerted us that he could hear them coming and that he estimated they were only a few hundred yards away. Thank goodness the energy had almost been fully restored to my body. Slinging my shoes over my shoulder by their satin laces, I hurried to keep up with Dustin as he began to move again.

Just as we reached an actual trail, shots were fired, missing our heads by mere centimeters. The crunching sound of twigs snapping underfoot soon followed. We had been spotted.

Ditching the trail altogether, we plummeted into the cover of trees, going as fast as humanly possible without bumping into anything.

Even with the speed of our flight, people were still on our tails, shooting blindly and narrowly missing their mark every time. There was no way we could go on like this forever. We were going to have to find another way of getting rid of our pursuers.

“Up into the trees!” I exclaimed, slowing down just enough to grab hold of a branch.

Dustin heard my suggestion and was right behind me as I began to climb. I was surprised to find that the others were obeying my command too, and were already halfway up trees of their own choosing.

Luckily, our tree contained a plethora of thick branches, producing thousands of leaves. Dustin and I were almost completely concealed, high up in a world of green. We sat on different branches, facing each other. A few pieces of fabric from the skirts of my dress had been ripped off, relieving me of a little bit of the burden caused by such a heavy nuisance.

What was left of my dress fluttered around me, spilling out over the ends of the strong branch.

There was a loud commotion from down below as our pursuers came running through. From the bits of quick conversation I could hear, they were trying to figure how we could have disappeared so quickly.

“Hey, I found a piece of Lily’s skirt. They can’t be far.”

My eyes widened as I recognized True’s voice. Dustin locked eyes with me, pressing a finger to his lips.

A few of Dr. Wacko’s henchmen hurried ahead, promising to give a signal if they found anything. I couldn’t tell how many stayed behind, if any. They had all gone completely silent. However, I couldn’t recall hearing True leave with the others.

A cry of pure agony filled the air, followed by a loud thump. The limbs of our tree rustled violently, nearly causing us to lose our balance. Dustin stood up, using the tree trunk for support. He motioned for me to climb down. He would follow.

We dropped down into complete chaos. One guard was already on the ground, the hilt of a digger sticking up from his chest. A stream of blood poured from his whitened lips.

The members of our group were tirelessly fighting a band of armed men and appeared to be winning the battle. True was nowhere to be seen.

Dustin and I had no choice but to leave them. From what I could see, they would be catching up with us in no time. One of the guards saw us and tried to break free from the child soldiers. He managed to shout, alerting the rest of his crew that we had been spotted.

I could already hear the answering cries coming from the other direction. We bolted out of there, turning back into prey as we dodged yet another spray of bullets. Would this ever end? I wondered. There wasn’t much more I could take before I would collapse from absolute exhaustion.

Just as this thought reached my mind, we finally broke through into a small clearing. About twenty yards away, shards of sunlight splintered off the glossy walls of a house. We had reached the Headmaster’s Mansion.

Sacrifice

WE WERE ALMOST there. I used the last ounce of my strength to push myself to keep moving until we reached the lavish house, but we were stopped short.

True materialized out of nowhere, standing right in front of a back door that hadn’t been there a few seconds ago. Nearly the entire house was made of a strange kind of glass, but the spectacular display of its contents was obviously a facade, set up to trick people into seeing things that weren’t there. We hadn’t seen True coming until she was already outside, blocking our way.

Dustin and I only paused for a second before continuing for the mansion. True was one girl. We could get past her easily. She smiled, holding up a hand and fluttering her fingers as if to say hello. In a matter of minutes, we realized what her strange gesture had really meant. On her signal, guards came marching out from behind the surrounding trees. Others came from the mansion, moving to stand in front of True, blocking our view of her.

The boulder-like team of men and women made a solid line in front of us, making it impossible to pass. There was something off about their harsh features, a blankness I recognized from the child soldiers. Backs straight and hands held stiffly at their sides, they strongly resembled robots. My stomach somersaulted about a thousand times before settling back down, creating a sick feeling that crept through my body like a slow deadly disease. Dr. Wacko hadn’t made drones out of just his students.

Dustin’s jaw set into a tense line. He hadn’t seen this coming. Just how were we going to get out of this one? My ears perked up to the tune of yet another set of marching boots. This time it was coming from behind us. Dread taking hold of my throat, I turned to see that it was our own protective drones slipping through the trees to take a stand in front of me and Dustin. An addition had been made to our original team of five soldiers. Ten of them now served as our personal human wall. The new members must have followed us after defeating the guards back at the cabin.

In perfect synchronization, they all pulled out foot-long metal rods from their left pockets. With the press of a button, the metal rods elongated into large staffs. Sharp cage-like spearheads cradling a strange blue electrical energy sat at the end of the rods, transforming the metal tools into weapons of death. The blue electricity crackled and spit from within each cage.

The older, scarier human-robot hybrids had their own weapons of choice, double-edged swords with glowing green tips. I had a hunch that the weird green stuff was some kind of poison. Even if it wasn’t, I sure didn’t want to be on the other side of that blade.

Dustin and I pushed through our human shields and stood in front, refusing to hide. They were here to protect us, but they were not going to die for us. They seemed to understand this to some degree, tensing for battle.

“You ready?” Dustin asked, speaking in a muted tone so only I could hear.

I turned my attention to the soldier closest to me. It was the boy who had alerted us about our pursuers back in the forest. He stared straight ahead, determination squaring his broad shoulders.

“Do you happen to have an extra weapon in one of those pockets?” Wordlessly, he automatically pulled another metal rod from his pocket and handed it to me. This time, it transformed into something a little smaller, but just as effective. I thanked him, and his answering salute actually made me smile a little.

I turned back to face the human wall. “I am now.”

Dustin slipped his own dagger out of his jacket pocket. “Attack!”

There was no hesitation as they charged silently for the other side, their feet hammering the ground the only sound. Dustin and I weren’t far behind, adding a little more drama with our own battle cries.

We collided with the drone guards at top speed, wielding our new dangerous toys. I faced my first opponent almost immediately. He swung at me with his scary sword. I ducked, jabbing at him with my electric spear. He dodged this as well, coming at me again, this time aiming for my head. I jumped out of the way, but not fast enough. The sharp edge cut through the front bodice of my dress, disintegrating the fabric and exposing a patch of skin. Screaming with a mixture of anger and disbelief, I swung the metal rod, clocking the guy in the head. He was disoriented for a split second, giving me the chance to drive the spear right into his chest.

The reaction was immediate. Shuddering violently, he fell to the ground. Writhing with the jerky movements of a malfunctioning robot, he started muttering meaningless drivel, eyes rolling back in his head. The scene had an uncanny resemblance to what had happened to Benjamin during our training. I almost felt sorry I had caused it.

However, the thought soon left me when another adult drone came grabbing for me. This one had lost her sword. From the corner of my eye, I could see Dustin fighting off a guy about two times his size. He had lost his tuxedo jacket; his white shirt was in tatters. He had ditched the dagger and picked up a sword from one of the fallen, jamming it right into the leg of his attacker.

I finished off the burly woman with another jab to the chest. Like the other guy, she was immediately disabled, eyes twitching. Sweat drenching whatever clothes I had left on my body, I ran blindly, expecting the relentless attacks now, having an almost automatic response.

Finally I had reached the back door to the sparkling mansion. I didn’t even look behind me to see if the others had gotten through; my soul purpose was getting into that building.

Something heavy slammed into the back of my head, throwing me to the ground. Spots filled my vision for a few seconds before I was able to focus again.

“Not so fast.” Pulling me by the collar, True yanked me to my feet, holding a knife to my throat.

“Just what’s so important about that mansion, huh?” she spat, pressing the blade into my jugular until it drew blood.

“None of your business,” I growled, eyeing the spear lying a few feet away.

She laughed, shoving me in front of her. I whirled around to face her, my eyes still wandering over to my fallen weapon. True smiled, kicking it away.

“Come on Lily. Let’s go. I’ve been waiting a long time for this.” Throwing her knife to the ground, she slipped into a fighting stance.

I stared at her, confused. She wanted to fight me, girl-to-girl? Why? We circled each other, waiting for the right time to throw the first punch. All the while the same question flashed through my mind. What had I ever done to her to make her so mad?