hybrid on the run #wattys2018

chapter 20. Camp Flaws

When I wake, I open my eyes to a room bathed in early afternoon sun, giving the furniture the appearance of light grey shadows. I first check my own house for signs of stirring life. To my disappointment, I find none. I instead walk around the camp grounds, taking in the scenery. I look around at all that we've accomplished with pride and begin thinking of ways to improve further. Poking my head into Red Cabin, I find Luke awake, sitting crisscross on his bed. We look at each other awkwardly for a moment before I give him a small apologetic smile. He smiles back.
"No one's awake yet. Care to walk with me?"
He smiles wider and gets up from his position on the bed.
We make our way to the Blue Cabin, where we find Jade already up and meditating. We sit in the floor beside her and copy her stance and breathing for about an hour. I hear one of the girls' stomach growl and turn to Luke.
"Would you go wake the boys to hunt? Nothing big, just enough to make a lot of bacon. How hard could it be?"
He gets up silently and wakes the boys of Red Cabin. I get up and walk to Orange Cabin to wake Gavin, Adam, and Parker. Adam wakes groggily but the others won't budge just yet. He rolls over and looks at me.
"I'm sorry to disturb you, but the others will be waking soon, and I would imagine that they'll be hungry. Red Cabin is bringing back meat, so we're going to need something leafy as well. Fresh berries, or anything else that isn't toxic. And if it's not too much trouble, maybe a few robin eggs? If you bring back some kudzu, we can start on basket weaving this evening."

The others wake when he yanks the covers off of them, and that's when I hear his own stomach growl. I give them each a small back pack. He assigns Adam to berries and Parker to Kudzu and plantain. His job is to gather the eggs. They wear the same clothes that they had slept in and I make a mental note. We all need more clothes. We can make them from either the kudzu fibers or the animal hides. They leave out groggily, and I walk through the camp checking on the others. As I walk out, I start seeing campers walking around, taking in their surroundings. A few of the younger ones are climbing the trees. My own cabin wakes, and Colby finds me asking for food. I tell him that I already have people on it.

1 hour later

The boys all come back at roughly the same time. Red Cabin has brought back 3 bucks and a few rabbits, Gavin has brought 2 dozen bird eggs, Parker has a sack of kudzu and plantain, and Adam has brought wild carrots, blueberries, blackberries, wild garlic cloves, small wild onions, and a few branches of chokecherries. I make another mental note to add in a farm for fresh fruits and vegetables. They boys quickly skin the deer while I hang the skin out to dry for hunter's clothing. I take the bones for extra crafts later. The lower legs are taken, cut open, and had their tendons removed for sinew. In 24 hours, I will finish the process. The girls of Blue Cabin build a fairly large fire with tall rocks while I wittle the unused bones to fashion a grill top. The meat cooks pretty quickly, and  we put a large smooth flatrock over the fire against the other rocks to cook the eggs. Willow scrambles all of them together. Mental note, we need dinnerware. Eggs, deer meat, and assorted berries. Not too bad for a last-minute breakfast, even if we have to eat with our hands. As I'm finishing my breakfast, I see little Oliver hobbling over to one of the healers. I laugh as Emily just rolls her eyes smiling and wipes away the blood, golden magic sparks coming from her finger tips as the wound heals itself. Boys will be boys. He seems awestruck, and I watch in what feels like parental curiosity as he sits in front of her crosslegged, starting a conversation. His eyes are glued to her eyes and every word coming out of her mouth. I'm startled when Luke comes up behind me and asks me what I'm staring at.

"Oh nothing. Oliver got a scratch, and he was fascinated by Emily's healing magic. He's a very curious boy. I was the same way when I was young. Prepares you for life."
H

He chuckles knowingly.
"Yeah. He's always been that way. He always wants to know everything he can about everything. He once asked me why we had dark skin, and it ate me alive when he wouldn't take 'our parents had dark skin' for an answer. I couldn't tell him the scientific reason behind it."
I let that soak in. None of them have a decent education. I always took my schooling for granted, and there are people like Oliver that would die to go to school. Next thing I'm going to do is start teaching them what I know about the human world. This is going to be difficult without the proper supplies, and I don't have money. I hang my head slightly in defeat. I only want what's best for my pack.

"So um, a few of us were wondering when we can go to the human world."

"First I'm going to teach you guys what you need to know. Then we are all going to attend human school. Get the cravings in check and learn the basics, get normal clothes, then we learn to blend in."