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Marc continued to talk to the younger girl when she didn’t respond. “I’m Marc, remember?”
“Sorry,” she said. “I was just...looking...”
“You’re with the doc, aren’t you?”
“Have you seen him?” she asked.
“Not yet,” he said. He looked over his shoulder as I passed him to be able to keep up with the others already headed down the slope. I was more focused on not getting lost and looking over the numerous other people.
I didn’t know why, but this…all of this, it made me angrier.
So many younger people.
This was the Academy?
This? This was it? I’d thought Dr. Green to be strange to be so young and be a doctor. I thought Lake…and the kids Raven was teaching to use guns. I didn’t know…I didn’t know that their Academy could literally have been a school for how many young ones there were.
I looked back once, noting the younger girl joined Marc, following him. She was looking a little lost, too.
Marc was being sweet, walking with her, offering her the seat next to him when we got to a row and sat down.
I wondered where Lake had gone off to. I lost track after finding Axel.
“Kevin,” Axel said.
I perked up, finding Kevin sitting on the other side of Axel.
Kevin looked perturbed, his arms crossed over his body. “Hey.”
Axel didn’t say anything. I looked at my feet.
“Good to see you,” Raven said to him.
Kevin didn’t look at him. I hadn’t noticed he was sitting there until Axel said something. Did he sit here on purpose near him?
He was probably mad at us. I hadn’t heard from him until now.
I wondered how his fiancée was doing.
Maybe after people getting killed, maybe that was the last straw for him. I couldn’t blame him.
That was when I saw Dr. Roberts in the pit, centerstage below us. He looked a bit tired. I wondered why he was here. Who was back at the hospital with Blake’s family and the new baby?
Someone near him lifted an air horn and used it, loud and blaring, to get everyone to pay attention. I shivered, the noise giving me a slight headache. We’d been a quiet group for so long that the chatter and the horn together was a bit much.
Dr. Roberts waved his arms, motioning for people to sit.
An elderly woman, thin with cheeks a little gaunt, stood beside him. She was a cute old lady, looking like a cheery counterpart to him.
She was holding the airhorn, beaming like she was enjoying the power. She blasted it once more, shorter this time, looking ready to laugh about it.
The crowd found seats quickly and settled down. Everyone fell silent enough we could hear the trees rustling in a light breeze. It did surprise me that unlike when I was in high school during class or assembly, everyone knew to get quiet and listen. Everyone was so focused, even the youngest kids.
Dr. Roberts and the older woman took several steps back, allowing an older, dark-haired man, with white patches at his temples, to take centerstage. The group of them on stage did appear older. Were they…was someone the leader? Was it this one that came forward?
He waved hello. “Welcome, everyone!” he said into a microphone, a huge speaker on the stage blaring out his voice. A few in the crowd waved back but everyone remained silent. “I am Mr. Duncan. My associates and I would like to welcome you to camp. Thanks for coming. I know we’re all anxious to get on with camp activities. I’m excited to let you all know we do have an arts and crafts section set up in a picnic area. Archery, hiking, fishing and some of the other usual activities: first-aid training, et cetera. are all available. You know the drill: do a circle around the camp, find a flag, it’ll take you to a station to learn something new.”
A murmur rippled through the crowd, and then everyone settled down.
Camp. He was acting like we were all at camp. Like a normal one. In December. When it was cold. No one questioned this? No one wondered why there was a last-minute request to get everyone out of the city?
“There’s no need for appointments,” he continued, “or to even stay with your teams. This is your vacation, a chance to learn new things and even meet a few new people. You don’t need to try to get to everything, but I encourage you all to try something you’re not familiar with. You never know; you might find something new you enjoy.
“We’ve got several new people, whom I want to welcome...”
A thunderous applause erupted. My heart was beating just as loud. I wondered if from among all of them, they could tell when someone was new. That I didn’t belong.
The man with the microphone waved once and the crowd settled. “You can meet them all through the week,” he said. “I just wanted to say hello.”
The more he went on, the more my heart raced. Was this to keep the younger ones calm? Don’t worry kids, no one is coming to hunt us down here…I was sure they hadn’t been told the truth. Most of them thought this was just a get together.
It made me scared at how I hadn’t known the risk I’d been taking before.
All of them.
All these kids.
And the Academy thought they’d dabble in the world of drugs with Blake like when we first met them? That they didn’t pull back more when Alice appeared and people were getting kidnapped?
Maybe I had been risking them, their lives, but I hadn’t known. They’d all known. They could have told me what was at stake.
Mr. Duncan continued. “New people, this is your chance to get to know us. You were invited to our Academy for a reason. You’re smart. You’re capable. You have a desire to help others. It’s that simple, folks. I know it looks complicated from the outside, but this is your chance to learn it from the inside. We’ll help you find your place and then we’ll all work together to help others.
I glanced down at the ground, at my feet. I wondered how much I would have changed my actions prior had I known anything at all about them. But now they were showing me?
So I wouldn’t risk them any more?
“I don’t want to take up any more time unless we have any announcements?” He turned, looking at Dr. Roberts, who shook his head, but the older woman started signing at him. Her hands moved fast, and I had no idea what she was saying.
“Oh, right,” the man said and turned once again to the audience. “Most of your team and family leads will be in the cabins as we need to go over new protocols and train new leads for the year. If you need them, find the cabins. Maps will be handed out to you as you leave here. Grab two. Remember the rule of two.”
Rule of two? Have two just in case you lost one?
How long were we supposed to be here? Were they going to keep me here?
“Before everyone leaves,” he continued, “I need all the new people down here with us. We’d just like to say hello and get to know you.” He clapped his hands over his head and then spread them out. “I think that’s it. Emergency information is on the map. We’re all family here. Have fun.”
They had to be kidding.
“Camping?” I cried out, trying to keep it between the guys but unable to control my shaking. “Are you serious?” I motioned to Axel. “Team leads, is that you? Are you in a cabin? What is this?”
Marc approached, and the others circled around me.
“It’s not that bad,” Corey said. “It’s an Academy introduction thing. Gets new
people to know what we’re about. It’s good. They’re wanting you to find out so you can see if you want to join.”
“Isn’t this just a cover for what happened?” I asked. “There’s people getting killed out there…”
Corey looked from me to Axel.
“Yes,” Raven said. “Same.”
That’s when I got distracted by Dr. Roberts pointing at me. “Miss Winchester. Would you please join us?”
I frowned, leaning into Axel. “I’m a new person so I have to stay?”
“Protocol,” he murmured. “Just go with it for now.”
I didn’t want to, but I allowed it for now. I used the benches as steps as people had cleared out, the center was busy with people talking and leaving.
At the last one, I jumped off the bench and shifted to stand next to Dr. Roberts. I didn’t know anyone else.
The girl that Marc had spoken to, she came up, using the center isle and squeezing around people, and stood next to me.
She looked embarrassed to be there, blushing. She must be new.
Like me.
There were lots of kids that were leaving. They must not have been new, but something like fifty of us were left behind, waiting to hear whatever this part was.
Axel, Marc, and the rest of the guys hadn’t moved, and sat on the benches together, watching and waiting.
I kept my arms folded, feeling ready to run off if this was stupid.
I shouldn’t be here playing camping. My brother was back in Charleston. My father saved some of us from getting wrapped up in the police. Was he allowed to go home? Would Alice find him?
Blake was gone and the baby… I wanted to know what happened there.
Mr. Duncan clapped his hands, and we all turned and focused on him.
He smiled. He had a broad body, wide shoulders, and a protruding stomach, like a younger Santa without the beard. “Welcome,” he said. “I know you all must be really confused.”
He had to know. I guessed he was in charge, maybe?
“Tell me about it,” one of the younger teen guys said. “I’ve got questions.”
“Me, too,” one of the young girls said. Most of the ones that were new were younger than me, or appeared to be. She stood tall and put her hands on her hips. “Why are we here? And what are all these rules they can’t tell me about?”
