Boot Camp

Boot Camp [ 11 ]

Ryan Brooks

The grass was singed, the trees bare and charred. Goodwin's was one huge freaking mess. The tents and cabins were gone, no more cots, and the mess hall was, well.. a mess. All that stood of the building was the framework. You could make out the ovens and stoves and sinks, but they were all barely hunks of metal now.

Kris was showing me where he'd been working. In all the chaos, some of the campers had damaged the large fence that went around camp. "Goodwin's got the most of us on repairing the fence. For obvious reasons; he doesn't want any more campers running. Now that you and Lane are back, all eighteen people that were missing after the fire died down came back. Since then, six other have left and we haven't seen them." Kris shrugs. "Goodwin's got guys out there looking for them."

I let out a loud sigh and shrug out of the t-shirt I was wearing to put on my new black one. "I don't understand any of this shit, man. Why don't they just send us all home?"

"Free labor," Kris smirks. "Why send us home to rebuild when we can rebuild for them, while working on our sentence?" He throws me a pair of wire cutters and I catch them, narrowly missing cutting off a finger. I glare at him. "We gotta take out this whole section of fence and then, over there where the mess hall used to be, are new sections that we have to put up. It's a grand ole time, my friend," Kris smirks again and then begins cutting a part of the fence with his own pair of cutters.

I set up next to him, cutting wire and pulling out loose pieces. We work in silence, making our way down the fence. "If I were you, man..." Kris trails off with a humorless chuckle, shaking his head. I stop working and look his way. "I would have stayed gone, found a way back home."

I shake my head and turn back to the fence. "Couldn't," I state. "Had Lane with me."

Kris looks at me like I've grown a second head. "Your point? Take your girl and get gone, you dipshit."

I shake my head snapping a piece of wire with the cutters. "Nah, man. Lane's here under court order. If I brought her home with me, she'd be sent right back." I sigh and wipe at the sweat running down my temple. "I wasn't leaving her."

Kris turns to get back to work, cutting and pulling and cutting. "What went down when Sean found you? Kick your ass I bet, he's always hated you for some reason. Who was that dude in the truck?"

I sigh. "It's a long fucking story, man."

Kris grins at me and gestures to our right. "We've got a lot of fucking fence, my dude."

== == == ==

Someone's brought in food tents, picnic tables, sleeping tents and blankets. There are also flood lights set up around the perimeter of camp.

It had gotten dark and Kris and I have just finished eating our dinner. "Well shit," he says. "You fucking let her take the fall for you and she ended up here? No fucking duh she hates you guts, Ryan."

"Yeah, I get it, Kris."

"I mean seriously, if the girl I loved was about to take the fall for me, and come to this shit hole, I would've spoken up and said something, damn."

"Okay, Kris. Seriously. I get it. "

"Jesus H. Christ, man. If I was her I would've given you up so fast--"

"Kris."

"Sorry."

I stand and walk over to the garbage, throwing away my empty plate. "Where are we sleeping?" I ask.

"There's room in my tent for you. Just head over to the main tent over there and pick up some blankets and a pillow." And then he's gone, heading for the tent for some much needed rest. I sigh and head over to the main tent.