Tent City (12 page)

“Is that why you brought me here?” I ask, still trying to figure out what he’s all about. I adjust the sleeves, which are obviously too big, but I’m not going to complain. It’s warm and I’ve tamed the shivering.

“No, I wasn’t even sure I was going to take you here. If you would have asked me last night, the answer would have been no. I’m trying to find a way to trust you. There’s something about you that I can’t quite figure out.”

“I feel the same about you.”

At this, he lightens. “What do you want to know?”

Here’s my chance. “Well, for starters, who are those people who came in last night and where did they come from?”

 
He sits quiet for so long that I begin to wonder if he has even heard me.

“Well,” he begins, “you know how they started relocating the kids for the camps?”

“Yes.”

“Those are some escapees. They are so valuable to us! I haven’t had a chance to really talk to them, but they must be a wealth of knowledge.” As he continues to talk, he becomes more and more animated.

He goes on and on about how evil the government is and how he’s going to be the one to stop them. I find myself fascinated watching and the more he talks, the more he talks with his hands.

Finally, he has been talking so nonstop, he has to pause for a breath. He looks at me expectantly and waits for my reply.

“So? Aren’t you going to say anything?” he asks.

“I don’t understand Bentley, what do you want me to say?”

“It’s obvious, isn’t it? I’ve watched you over the last couple of days and I think you could be very valuable to us.”

“Valuable…how?”

“Don’t you want to help us defeat these pigs?” He asks and I am wondering if he really just said that, but he continues.

“I’m asking you to join the fight. I don’t ask just anyone. There are only about a dozen of us in the camp who even know what’s going on. How do you think we get all that food? I like to think of it as not only survival, but training on some level. We’re already beating them at their own game. The possibilities are endless. We will end this oppression. I will find a way. I just need to have enough trusted soldiers to walk with me.”

“I don’t understand, why me?” All I can focus on is how my face must look and I’m begging it not to reveal how uneasy I am. New words repeat in my head: pigs, oppression, soldiers.

“Seriously Dani, you really underestimate yourself. You are by far the strongest and fastest female in camp, and you have this affect on people. I’ve only known you for days and you already have a spell on me. I find that very intriguing, and I think the powers you must possess are endless,” he says, emphasizing the word “endless”, but I float back to the word “powers”.  He says it with so much conviction, I find myself blushing.

I don’t have the heart to tell him that in no way would I be a good soldier, or that I don’t want to have anything to do with his ambitions.

Obviously, that is the last thing Brody and I need. But he seems happier than I’ve ever seen him, so I decide to wait until later to break the news.

The run home is done in silence as my mind is spinning in disbelief.

How is it that I meant to come here to my family’s cabin for safe haven, only to be met with probably the most gorgeous madman to ever walk the planet?

How am I going to get myself out of this? Do Kit and I just pack up Brody and sneak out in the middle of the night? Maybe he won’t expect too much of me at this point. I am soon to find out I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Later that night, after Kit, Brody and I have just fallen asleep, I hear rustling outside the tent. Normally, I may have just slept right through it, but after today’s revelations from Bentley, I feel on edge and hear it as clear as a cloudless sky.

A few leaves crunch and a twig snaps before I decide to sneak outside without disturbing Brody or Kit. I hear her snoring softly and slip outside. It’s Bentley, standing outside my tent with four other guys I see him hang out with regularly.

“Ready for your initiation?” he asks with a smile on his face.

“What do you mean…initiation?” I ask. I’m zipping up my hoodie and brushing the hair out of my face when Bentley tosses a camouflage jumpsuit at me. Definitely not winning any fashion awards with this.

“We’re going on a raid. Get dressed. Here’s your headlamp. Time’s a wasting.”

And I’m not sure what happened to me, but I do as I’m told. I slip the suit on over my clothes and fasten the straps on my boots. Surely, I must be losing my mind.

What am I thinking leaving Brody to go only God knows where in more than likely a dangerous situation? If something happens to me, what will happen to him?

Quickly, I slip inside and write Kit a note. My stomach is in knots, but if Bentley thinks I have a power over him, surely it must be the other way around.

We walk over to Bentley’s cabin and the guys are already pushing the wheelers away from the cabins, careful not disturb the other residents. When we are a good ways away, they start them up and Bentley motions for me to hop on with him. Since all good sense has left me, I do as I’m told.

He thwarts my repeated requests for answers to where we’re going. He said raid, so I can only guess that this is what they do to get all those supplies they have stocked up in the cabins. I can’t believe he’s doing this to me. I have only just been told about this secret group and I have no training.

The careful part of me that was so strong just minutes ago seems to disappear as the miles pass by, and I find myself actually feeling excited, fearful, and well, mostly just alive. I decide to just stop asking questions, hang on tight, and enjoy the ride.

After what must be an hour and a half, the guys slow the wheelers and we all get off and start on foot. Bentley tells me we will do this for a couple more miles and then we’ll be there.

Finally, after trekking around in almost complete darkness, with our only light being the headlamps, we come upon what must be the desired target.

“Have you been here before?” I ask.

“Ya, but it’s been a couple months, so they won’t be expecting us.” He smiles. I know the look on his face. It’s the same one I must have had right before the jump at the waterfall.

One of the guys named Grant, waits for instructions from Bentley and he simply says, “Same drill. I will keep Dani with me.”

At the mention of my name, I can see Grant is annoyed I’m here. I can’t say I blame him. I don’t really have any business being here. As they start to separate, Bentley gives hand signals in order to place the guys where he wants them.

We are sneaking upon a building that looks run down, but there is a small amount of light coming from one of the windows, so it must be inhabited by someone.

Through whispering, I learn that this is an undercover hideout for the government employees who are searching for what the government calls “defectives”. My pulse is starting to quicken as I realize what we are about to do.

Bentley is armed with a pistol. I’m sure the others are too, but I don’t feel better about that. If anything, I feel worse. What if it comes to that?

My hands are producing a tiny tremble that reminds me of my grandpa’s Parkinson’s and I realize I’m much more afraid than I let on. Bentley notices and takes my hand in his and whispers in my ear, “It’s okay. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

I’ve only known him such a short while, but I decide to trust him. Not that it’s done anything for the pit in my stomach.

Just as all the guys seem to be in position, more lights turn on in the dilapidated building and my breath catches. I fight the urge to beg Bentley to go back, but I can see from the look on his face, he’s determined, and he continues on.

It’s funny, because just as I have decided to follow him anywhere he goes, he tells me to stay put. He instructs me to stay hidden behind the pine trees and continues his stalk forward.

From what I can see in this darkness, Grant is now on the roof and a struggle has broken out inside. I’m a good distance away, but I can still hear what sounds like bodies being slammed into the wall and some muffled shouts. A squirrel scatters in a tree above me and that scares me more than anything. I force myself to take short steady breaths.

At the commotion, Bentley picks up his speed and arrives at the door and without hesitation he kicks the door down. I see him pull something out of his back pocket as he creeps inside.

I’m so busy concentrating on what’s going on inside the building that I fail to see or hear someone who has come up behind me. Before I know it, he’s got a hand over my mouth, stifling any screams I could have made for help.

For a second, I’m frozen in terror and he’s telling me not to move, but whatever instinct I have tells me to fight.

I pinch, and scratch and even try to bite, but nothing is working. I make feeble attempts to swat at him, even though he’s now got an arm around my neck. His arm slips and I manage to get a garbled scream out.

“Bentley!” was all I could manage before he flung me around and smashed his hand into my face, not rendering me unconscious, but definitely dazed.

It’s as if a giant star of white light has landed on my eye, and instead of illuminating, it’s blinding. There’s a mixture of pain and fear because now I can’t see. I’m overtaken with it and the panic leaves me paralyzed.

He could have easily killed me by now. I am not sure what he’s waiting for. He is grunting and panting as he pins my arms down with his knees. I don’t know why he’s putting so much effort in keeping me still.  At this point, I’m not putting up much of a struggle.  

I’m fighting the urge to kick, scream, yell, to do whatever I can to free myself. My vision comes back speck by speck and I see Bentley and Grant bounding up.

“It’s Rigby!” Bentley shouts to Grant.

Relief floods through me when I realize that Bentley and Grant are here before my attacker has a chance to take this any further.

Bentley knocks the guy off me and I’ve taken some of the blow.  I’m stumbling up frantically in order to get out of the way. I wince as I take another scrape to my arm when I trip over a tree.

I’m trying to assess the situation as fast as I can, fighting against the lingering white spots eager to keep me in the dark. There’s something in the way Bentley’s face looks that has my alarm bells going off.

It’s him, but his face is focused, and zeroed in on the boy who attacked me. It is a boy, now I realize, probably around the same age as us. He’s large, but no match for Bentley’s intent.

Before I can stop Bentley, he is on top of the boy with mud on his face and in what must have been less than the time it would have taken me to blink, he has snapped his neck.

“Run Dani! Run!” he yells, and he continues in hand to hand combat with some other boys who have come up, now raging at what they’ve just witnessed. If they hadn’t seen Bentley actually do it, the boy could have appeared to be sleeping.  

Bentley and Grant are outnumbered until the others can come and help. I look around to find something to fight back with. The adrenaline is still pumping and my vision has almost returned completely.  

“Get out of here. Go as fast as you can. Now!” he yells again.

I don’t think about it long. Like a coward, I run. I tell myself that maybe I can draw one or two of them off to come and catch me. I might even be able to convince myself that my being there would have only hurt them.

Although I’m afraid for Bentley and Grant, I can’t stop hearing that snapping of bone. The sound bounces off every tree I run past. It’s alive in the forest. Maybe if I get far enough, I can outrun it.