Camp Wacko: The Drones of Summer (20 page)

BOOK: Camp Wacko: The Drones of Summer
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True lunged at me, dragging me down. We were already kicking and punching each other before we even hit the ground. She was startlingly strong, pinning me down with her hands wrapped around my throat. I rammed my fist right across her jaw, throwing her off me just long enough for me to jump back to my feet. I made sure she stayed down with a swift roundhouse kick before running for the spear.

She grabbed my ankle, giving it a hard yank. My chin hit the ground hard, teeth cutting into my lip from the momentum. Spitting out blood, I reluctantly turned my attention back to True, jabbing my heel into her face. Her grip loosened a little, but she refused to let go, digging her nails into my skin.

I fought back an anguished cry, realizing that this was probably what she wanted to hear.

“Why are you doing this?” I screeched, struggling to wriggle out of her clutches.

She let out a wild cackle, sounding like a maniac. “I can’t believe you never saw it. For someone so smart, you can be really dense. Everything was always about you, wasn’t it? The Girl, destined to join the headmaster’s son in ruling the Wackerson kingdom. Well, guess what, Lily? No one factored in another variable. A smarter, faster, stronger, better variable. A sister.”

I stopped fighting for a second to stare at her. “A sister?” She grinned, removing a knife from her right pant leg. (Was it me, or did everyone seem to love using blades around here?) “That’s right, Lilith. Dustin and I are brother and sister. Well, half siblings, to be exact. I’d explain, but I think the concept would be a little too mature for your innocent ears.”

True shoved me down to the ground, pressing her knee against my chest. She continued to add pressure until I could hardly breathe. Gasping desperately for the air that no longer filled my lungs, I could only stare at her with wide eyes as she brought the knife high over her head. I tried to move, but the girl was stronger than she looked. She seemed to be thoroughly enjoying this, having all the power for once.

In that moment, with that crazy smile spreading across her face, I caught a glimpse of Dr. Wacko. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t been able to detect it. She looked just like him.

“Lily!”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a boy running straight for us, his shirt in tatters. He shouted something else, but I had started to go unconscious. I wondered why True didn’t just stab me already. It would be better than this slow painful suffocation.

The pressure suddenly left my chest, sending the oxygen rushing back to my deprived lungs. I rolled over to my side, absolutely dizzy with coughing spells. Someone gathered me up into their arms, cradling me like a baby. I looked up to see who was carrying me. It was the boy I had borrowed the weapon from. He stared straight ahead, walking swiftly to the hidden back door to the mansion. But where was Dustin? I twisted in his arms to look behind me. Dustin and True were fighting now, Dustin wielding his sword and True holding her own with just a dagger. In one magnificent motion, True knocked the sword out of his hand, throwing him to the ground. He was getting up, but it didn’t look like he was going to be fast enough. His sister had already taken his sword and was about to use it on its previous owner.

“Put me down, now,” I demanded.

The boy pretended he didn’t hear me, continuing to open the door.

“I said, put me down. I command you to put me down!” I screamed, beating against his chest and nearly breaking my hand in the process. It was as hard as a metal plate.

“My orders are to take you to the security center. No stopping.”

He threw me over his back like a potato sack. We entered the shimmering house. From inside, the scene outside seemed like it was underwater. Most of the guard drones had been defeated, their bodies twitching on the ground. Two figures had not yet finished their battle, but it appeared to be almost over. One had beaten the other down with a fury of punches and kicks to all the important places. The opponent fell to his knees, his tattered shirt completely gone now.

“Please, I’m begging you to put me down. You have to save Dustin. Your commander. He’s in danger. Do you hear me?” I was screaming at the top of my lungs, not caring if we got caught anymore.

The boy soldier paused for a second, giving me the chance to jump out of his arms and go crashing through the glass door. True dropped the sword altogether, grabbing her trusty dagger instead for a more personal kill. Using the rest of his strength, Dustin grabbed her hand, trying to stop her. She kneed him in the stomach, forcing him to double over in pain, and stabbed him in the arm. He cried out, falling back. However, she wasn’t done yet. She stabbed him again in the abdomen, kicking him to the ground to finish him off.

My legs weren’t as fast as the boy soldier’s. He was on True in a second. Finally, someone who was stronger than her. I didn’t pay attention to the fight. My eyes were only on the boy bleeding out on the ground. His face was covered in cuts and bruises, and one of his eyes was already starting to swell shut. There was blood everywhere, mixing with the sweat and dirt glistening on his chest.

“Dustin!” I shrieked, falling to my knees beside him.

“Don’t worry. I’m…fine. Just flesh wounds,” Dustin wheezed, his eyes unfocused. “The mansion. Everyone’s in the mansion. Candy and her friends. Basement.”

Thinking fast, I grabbed the bloody knife now lying next to him and cut at the ends of my already tattered dress until I had a good strip of fabric. Then I separated this into two smaller strips. First I looked at the less scary wound at the shoulder. It was not a pretty sight. So much blood. Fast as lightning, I wrapped a fabric strip around the wound, tying it tightly. The more pressure the better. Dustin winced and coughed, but otherwise remained silent. Then I examined the stab wound on his side. Despite Dustin’s claims, it looked deep. Of course there was no way of knowing how deep it was with all of that blood in the way. Trying hard not to gag, I lifted him a little to get the fabric around his waist. To make sure both of the lacerations had enough pressure, I hacked off more of my dress and tied on more layers of fabric. Realizing that this wasn’t the most sanitary way of dealing with his wounds, I knew he needed professional help and he needed it now.

By now the boy soldier had True in a headlock on the ground. She frantically grabbed at his arm, but to no avail. There was no way he was letting go. Her face was growing red. Her eyes locked with mine, filled with such rage and hatred it scared the crap out of me.

“Let her go!” I shouted, using my strongest Commander voice. “Help me with Dustin.”

The boy immediately dropped her. True crumpled, already unconscious. The other soldiers had finished with their battles as well. Eyes sweeping over the fallen, I counted four of our own twitching on the ground with the others.

The others came over to where I sat next to Dustin. He was trying hard to keep his eyes open, wincing with every intake of breath.

“I need you to watch him for me until I get back. Do whatever you have to do to make sure he stays alive.” I pointed to four of the soldiers. “You guys come with me. There are still some people we need to rescue.”

I gave Dustin’s hand a squeeze. “Stay awake, OK? I’m going to get you help.”

He could barely nod, flashing me a weak smile.

I gave his hand one more squeeze before heading for the mansion door. Nobody paid attention to the unconscious girl on the ground, simply stepping around her as we made our way through.

The basement of the mansion resembled a prison. With cement floors and dim florescent lights hanging from a cracked ceiling, it formed a harsh contrast to the rest of the building. Cells lined the pathway, thick irons bars allowing only a centimeter of spacing between them. The smell of wet dirt mixed with a different unpleasant odor filled my nostrils. The whole place remained eerily silent. If anyone was down here, they were either asleep, unconscious, or worse.

It hadn’t been easy getting down here. The mansion had its own security system, complete with booby traps and lasers. All five of us were covered in cuts and burns, but we had finally made it. The entrance had been cleverly concealed behind one of the many creepy paintings of Dr. Wackerson. Luckily the soldiers had been programmed to know their way around this place, their clever brains detecting every trap door. They even had built in flashlights on the lapels of their jackets, leading the way down the winding steel stairwell. I could really get used to these guys.

The soldiers silently followed as I made my way down the pathway, eyes scanning the cells for any sign of life. They all seemed to have been uninhabited for a long time. As we almost made it to the end of the line, I started to wonder if Dustin had made a mistake by sending me down here.

A crashing sound turned my attention to the very last cell. Tendrils of smoke seeped out between the iron bars. I hurried to find out who or what had caused the commotion, struggling to see through the smoke.

When it finally cleared some, Jack was doubled over on the floor, coughing up a storm. His clothes were filthy and ripped in several places. A dirty white patch of gauze had been wrapped around his arm, another one peaking out from under the collar of his bloodstained shirt. A long cut had formed above his left eye, dried blood matting his eyebrow.

“Jack,” I pressed my face up against the iron bars. “Where are the others?”

It took him a few minutes to form a coherent sentence between coughing spells, but he was finally able to straighten up. “Don’t know. They took Candy away a few hours ago.

She was in a cell further down the line, I think. I never saw the others. They kept us separate.”

I noticed a small cylinder the size of a pen rolling on the ground a few inches away from Jack’s feet. It was still smoking. “What is that?”

He followed my gaze. “I was able to lift it from one of the guards. Not without getting this, though.” He pointed to the gash over his eye. “I just figured out how to use it when you showed up. Unfortunately, it wasn’t powerful enough to do anything to those bars. They’re indestructible.”

I backed away from the cell. “We’ll see about that.” I turned my attention to my robotic companions, who had been standing motionless behind me, waiting for orders. “Can you get him out of there?”

Wordlessly, they all pulled out yet another gadget from one of their many pockets. This time it was a small blue tinted gun. Together, they pointed their weapons at the iron bars. Jack silently moved out of the way, watching them with interest. Red hot lasers shot out of the nozzles as they all pulled the trigger at the same time, cutting through the bars as if they were made of Swiss cheese.

Incredulous, Jack waited until the bars had completely melted before stepping out of the prison cell.

“Amazing, aren’t they?” I asked, thanking the soldiers with a nod of acknowledgement.

They merely put the laser guns back into their pockets before standing to attention, hands clasped in front of them.

“That’s one word for it.” Jack agreed, eyeing them warily.

“There’s one more thing I need to ask of you. I need you to take me to the security center.” I told the soldiers.

They promptly turned on their heels, leading the way back up out of the dark musty basement.

The security center was a vast room filled with computers and video monitors, wires running down the walls and across the dark gray ceiling. The sight of so much technology in one room disoriented me for a second. I had no idea how to get in contact with Agent Cooper. Dustin was supposed to help me. The thought of him lying on the ground bleeding compelled me to figure this out for myself. We needed help.

Each video monitor showed a different section of the campus. Some showed children still in the middle of training, unaware of what was going on behind the scenes. Others revealed that there was yet another army of guards, headed right for the mansion. Shoot.

“Don’t just stand there. You’re supposed to be part robot. Help me find the interfering frequencies,” I barked, eyeing the giant computer in the center of the room.

With Jack on my heels, I headed for the large black keyboard sitting in front of the computer system. It was about the size of a kitchen counter. One of the soldiers followed, fingers gliding across the board as if it were a piano. A different scene appeared on one of the monitors. It was Agent Cooper, hard at work at his desk.

The soldier pressed another button, and I suddenly had sound. There were people working all around the agent, the shuffling of papers and phone calls loud through the speakers.

“Agent Cooper, can you hear me?” I said.

The agent looked up, staring directly at the screen. His eyes widened. He could see me. I could tell from the look on his face.

“Lily,” he breathed, moving closer to see. “Where are you? According to your tracking device, you’re in a hut in Spain. We sent our men to get you, but you weren’t there.”

“That’s because I’m not. I’m still in California. They messed with the device. It’s a lot to explain, but please, I need someone down here. It’s Dustin. He’s hurt really bad.

His father has sent an army of children—”

BOOK: Camp Wacko: The Drones of Summer
10Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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