Tranny

six. how to make friends with rotten logs

Daniel was split apart from Carlos and Chrissie almost immediately. They'd been called into separate groups long before Daniel. He shouldn't have expected to stay with them aside from eating, and bunking with Carlos, but he had unintentionally made them his safety blankets and now he was alone and unprepared for it. So of course he still hoped they'd be grouped together and he wouldn't have to meet new people. 

He stood with Charlie's group, finally being chosen near last. He felt bad for whoever was left but he didn't know them, he could only feel so bad for strangers. He'd spend the day with these people and he didn't recognise any of them. Eight strangers, eight potentially awful people who would call him out on every flaw, every inconvenience he caused them. He tried not to worry too much. 

They started walking into the woods, following Charlie as they walked and talked much too chipper. One of the kids stopped suddenly when Charlie did, not noticing they weren't moving, causing everyone else to stop abruptly and Daniel to fall against a girl in front of him. 

"Sorry," he mumbled uselessly. She waved it off, offering a carefree smile. He didn't feel any better about it. 

Charlie stepped off the path, walking through the tall, thin, twiggy trees and low ferns. They only walked a couple feet, just enough for everyone to get off the trail fully. They motioned for them to form a sort of semi circle around them. 

They didn't speak, though. No one did. Some had been before, idly chatting to pass the time with someone they were lucky enough to know from earlier, but they were silent now. It was an eerie silence, the kind that accompanies every horror movie in existence. Daniel hadn't realised, but he was shaking a bit. He was waiting for a generic scream to come from somewhere else in the forest, as if they were in a horror movie and someone was about to die. 

This, this is why you shouldn't watch those damn movies. You shouldn't have watched them, but you did anyway, in the dark! No wonder you're so frightened, idiot, he thought, telling himself to calm down. He began to wonder exactly why they'd been brought into he woods. If they'd just done a great job at pretending they were safe and accepted, just to kill them once they started trusting them. 

He'd ditched the possible idea of being 'fixed.' There had been a short period of time where he wanted that option. He wished they could do something to change him and fix him so he was normal, but it had only been a passing thought and he knew how dumb he was for thinking he needed to be fixed. 

Then the rain started. It wasn't heavy, hardly more than a sprinkle, but heavy enough to notice. It made a loud noise against the trees, however, and Daniel looked up trying to see it. It was near defining against the silence they'd created. 

Everyone immediately made noises of displeasure, practically cursing each individual drop of water. Half of them were wearing shorts and t-shirts, and none of them had any jackets or coats. Charlie didn't seem to notice at first, just smiling and walking back to the trail. As creepy as it was, none of them questioned it and just followed them back. 

They kept walking deeper into the woods. Daniel glanced away from his feet, the only place he would look as they walked, listening to the sound of the mud squelching against their shoes, watching the pebbles embedded in the path move way as they walked over them. 

"We're going to play a game," Charlie said as they walked. "First, you're going to partner up. And no groups of three, there's an even amount of you, so partner up!" 

They'd reached a dirty stump conveniently in the middle of a little clearing, barely large enough for Charlie to stand on. They were only a couple feet taller than them now, but they looked as if they were a giant compared to the group. Daniel hadn't noticed how much the counsellors worked to make sure they were on the same level with everyone else, never being higher in any sense.