Reconciling With The 90s (A Camp Camp Fanfic)

Returning to Spooky Island

That was it. 

That was what he needed.

But where was it? Where did he leave it?

It was dire that he would find it.

He scuffled down the ladder into the Mess Hall, greeted by a herd of children who looked at him like a bear who'd waddled out of its cave for the first time in decades. A handful payed no interest to him however, but they were the handful who were perfect for this. Them complaining about stuff was the norm, so it wouldn't raise any suspicion he was getting children to do tedious errands for him (and he wouldn't get charged with another "child labor" penalty). 

He shuffled over to Max, Neil, and Nikki, who were reluctantly eating the slop on their plates the Quartermaster apparently called lunch. Boy, he was glad he wasn't them. Then again, if he didn't order pizza from that one takeout place nightly, maybe the camp would actually have enough money to serve food that was actually edible to the children. Oh well!

"Heyyy, you three. I've got a job for you."

Neil groaned. 

"What is it?"

"I need you to go get something for me, it's really important. Just go over to Spooky Island and-"

"Oh no, I'm not doing this again! You DO realise that there's practically nothing left of the island anyway right? It's been burnt down to the ground from the last time you made me go there. It's  a Saturday, so go away." Max folded his arms and looked at Campbell with disgust. 

"No no no! It's fine! Trust me, I promise! Plus, I guarantee it'll be easy to find! It's in a fireproof box that looks golden, okay? Just don't open it and it'll be fine!" Campbell responded frantically.

"What's in it for us? Just go get it yourself if it's so easy." Max argued.

"Listen, I'll give you a second chance to get something from the contraband box, all three of you! You're all friends, right?"

Before any of them could nod in response, the man kept on reasoning.

"Great! Yes! See, you'll even get a better chance of getting the prize! I'd get it myself, but-" 

David bounded into the Mess Hall joyfully.

"Gooooood morning campers! Hey Mr Campbell, are you ready like we discussed yesterday?"

He skipped over towards the four of them.

"Oh, I'm glad to see you all getting along! Talking to the campers willingly; I'm impressed already!" He grinned.

"Yup, we're getting along great! Isn't that right kids?" Campbell fixed his eyes on the trio.

"Perfectly." Max responded through his teeth, Nikki also responding to Campbell with a silent growl.

"What are you two even doing anyway?" Neil pondered, his focus shifting between David and Campbell.

"Well, more training to be a better person of course! He actually thought and agreed to it, with a little convincing! But this just proves he's getting better!" His smile seemed to grow impossibly wider as he went to lead Campbell out of the Mess Hall. Campbell looked back at the three children before he left, gesturing in the direction of the island and giving a thumbs up before he was dragged out of the building by an eager camp counselor. A few other kids noticed their conversation and were muttering to themselves. 

"That was random. I doubt we'll find shit there though." He clinked his fork on the empty plate in front of him repeatedly, almost in a rhythmic pattern.

Nikki thought for a moment.

"Wait, we can take anything from the box, right?"

"That's what he said." Neil shrugged.

"Are you guys not getting what I'm saying? Imagine all the cool stuff in there! What if there's old timey treasure, ooh, or a skeleton!" She clapped her hands hopefully.

"Nikki, it's just another errand Campbell wants us to do disguised as an adventure or a fun challenge. He literally pulled off the exact same stunt like, a week or two ago." Max scowled, was Campbell serious? They weren't that dumb, even he should know that. 

"I wanna see the island all burnt up at least, it'll be cool. Aaand, a little contraband on the side of an adventure isn't a bad deal. Let's just go to the island to look around for ourselves, and if we happen to find the box, we take it!" Nikki was eager to explore the ruins of what was once a nightmarish pocket of land in the middle of the lake. 

"Considering my test mice were in the contraband I can almost guarantee there's a few skeletons in there for you Nikki. As long as everything there's burnt to a crisp I don't see why we shouldn't go; there shouldn't be a doubt that all the Quartermaster's.. stuff.. is destroyed. I mean, it's not like we're doing anything interesting here, so we might as well." Neil considered.

Max was grumbling to himself. He really was surrounded by idiots wasn't he? Neil was right though; there's nothing better to do here besides annoy Gwen, but she's prepared for an attack from him constantly nowadays, it wouldn't hurt to lay off the hi-jinks for a while until her guard fell a little more.

"Okay, let's go."