Kitsa Isles: Camp Metanoia!

CHAPTER 14: OUTDOOR SURVIVAL

Outdoor Survival was... something, to say the least. It was directed by one of the survivalist teachers, Mrs Bell. She is married to Mr. Bell. It was really odd, due to the fact Outstanders really didn't get married all that often, and they especially didn't have kids. But Mr and Mrs Bell had a five year old son named Bumblebee. He was out there with us, hiding behind his mom like a scared puppy. He had blonde hair and soft honey colored eyes. I guess they named him after his eyes, or maybe it was the blonde hair. All I knew is that he was a lucky little kid. His parents had stable jobs. Better yet, he HAD parents. He probably had some cool powers, since both of his parents were Outstanders. Although, unlike me, he wouldn't have to fear for his life and use those powers other than for fun. My third activity of the day was almost always Defense. They piled me and all of the other hypno kids into that room. They didn't even try to hide the fact that they were teaching us how to fend for our lives. Opal, Thomas, Greg, and August never got sent in there for third activity. They got to go for first or second, with all of the other slightly normal kids. Mint, Sasha, and I all went into the Defense hole for special little children. This was Outdoor Survival though, not Defense. Outdoor Survival was located in a small clearing pretty far from Camp Metanoia. I could see a large portion of the Camp from where I was standing, and it's grey and white walls seemed hollow and sad. I never noticed how depressing Camp Metanoia's back walls were. There was graffiti on the outside of the back walls that depicted violent hypnos ripping apart various teachers. I shuddered and took my view away from the melancholy view. I began focusing my attention on Mrs Bell, who was showing us how to build shelter from every kind of tree. She was part nature, and a very well trained one at that, so she could grow trees almost automatically. The first tree was a regular oak tree. "These trees are not good for a starter shelter, because they are difficult to cut down. However, their large branches and leaves provide the best shelter if you have nothing else." I watched in absolute shock as she practically sucked that tree right back into the ground it came from. "Next tree is a maple tree." She grew a maple tree in the spot where the oak tree once grew. "They are much smaller, so it's best to cut them down into branches and lean the branches against something to make a makeshift shelter until you have an axe. She pulled an axe out of her instructor bag and cut down some of the branches. She took each excavated branch and leaned them up against a much larger tree that she did not grow. There was enough crawlspace for a single person in there, but it looked sturdy enough to keep you safe for about 2 weeks. I thought she was finished, but she continued on and scattered the leaves over the branches. She binded them all together with vines, and then she was finished. "This is what your beginner shelter should look like. Now, moving onto the most important factor. Food." I didn't care much for this segment. I could just fish in a nearby river or a beach and be perfectly happy with it. She grew 3 different mushrooms out of the ground. "Two of these mushrooms are poisonous. Does anyone know which one is the good mushroom?" Thomas raised his hand. "I think the one on the left is the good one. It's blue. I like blue." Mrs Bell shook her head. "That is a poisonous mushroom. It is blue to alarm those who want to eat it. Animals see these bright colors and know to steer away from that mushroom. The good mushroom is the milky pink one." She picked it up and stuck it into her mouth. No hesitation at all. She just straight up ate that mushroom. "The grey mushroom is also poisonous. The only mushrooms on the Oustander that are edible are any shade of pink. Any other mushroom is poisonous and will kill you, unless you have any form of poison power. Poison cannot affect poison. All acorns and things of that sort are good to eat. Now, let's talk about healing herbs, saps, and pools of water." Healing waters? Never heard of that one before. If you thought the tree thing was weird, you should've seen the way she opened the floor and filled the ground with a pastel pink liquid. It was glowing and looked delicious. "This is what we like to call 'Milky Mist' because of obvious reasons. It produces a mist once it's settled in enough. It has healing properties, but unfortunately it's not strong enough to heal scars. She pointed at me. "Aqua, can you come here for a second?" Oh no. Oh no. Why? Why did she want me? I stood up and made my way towards her. "Scratch my hand a little bit please. Nothing drastic, I just want to show how it works. Everyone please gather around the pool." I unsheathed my claws and scratched her hand a little bit. My hands were shaking and I was pretty uncomfy. I watched as she stuck her bleeding hand into the water. When she took it out, the cut was completely gone. The water wasn't bloodstained at all either. "It can only heal fresh wounds, but it is very useful. We keep it around at the Camp." She looked a bit solemn. "Why don't you use it to heal the kids?" Greg asked. "We cannot. If you use it too much, the mist could become poisonous. We do not want to risk it." She closed up the pool. "It seems we are out of time. Please follow in a single file line behind me." As we walked back, I thought about what I'd learned. I figured it'd be useful if I really was going to get kicked out of this place one day.