Camp Driftwood

Chapter 32 - Ascendant

Chapter 32 – Ascendant

"There must be something we can do," Kaylee muttered, if only to try and keep Evan's spirits up. The boy hadn't said a word since they'd been put into Hale's office, guarded constantly by John, who stood at the door, watching them in silence.

"It's over Kaylee," he replied, staring blankly at the wall, "It's over. We're going to die here."

"No we're not," she muttered, low enough for John to not hear, "We'll get out of here Evan, I promise."

"We're going to become the new managers," he continued, not even acknowledging her attempt to comfort him, "We're done, Kaylee. We're dead already."

"The fight is never over," she murmured.

"I don't want to die here Kaylee," he whispered, voice cracking, "I need to see my brother again."

With a slight creek, the door opened and a small figure stepped though. The girl, barely twelve years old and with fiery red hair, couldn't bring herself to look at the two attendants on far side of the room.

"Mr Hale wanted me to tell you that they're almost ready," Judie told John quietly, "He needs your help with some of the kids."

John considered this momentarily, eyeing Kaylee and Evan, before nodding. "Stay here, don't move," he told Judie.

The man left, and Kaylee heard a small click as he closed the door behind him, locking it. Kaylee, Evan, and Judie were left along in the room.

"Judie, why?" Kaylee muttered, looking at the girl. There was no reply.

"I don't care why," Evan replied, getting to his feet and pulling something from his boot that he had stashed before they'd been caught. The improvised knife. He advanced on the small girl, knuckles white as he clutched at the sharpened piece of metal.

"Evan, no!" Kaylee almost yelled, holding him back as best she could.

"A while back, just before Kaylee got here, Mr Hale let me talk to my mother on the phone," the girl replied, not even reacting to Evan's aggression, it almost seemed as if she was welcoming it, "She said that I had to trust Mr Hale, she said that he was going to test our faith, and that I had to tell him everything."

"That wasn't your mother, Judie," Kaylee shook her head, processing what the girl had said. "If it was anything like the phone call I got, it was a trick. It sounds like someone you love, but it's not really them."

"I know that now," the girl nodded, still not looking them in the eye, "Mr Hale said— he said that you wouldn't be hurt. He said nobody would get hurt if I was honest with him."

"And you believed him?" Evan's voice shook with rage as he broke from Kaylee's hold, advancing until he was face-to-face with the little girl.

His free hand shot forward, grasping her by the throat and lifting her into the air, pressed against the back wall of Hale's office. Judie quivered in fear, clutching at the hand, yet she didn't fight back. The acceptance in her eyes unnerved Kaylee even more than Evan's rage, and it took her a moment to react to what was transpiring in front of her.

"E— Evan," she barely whispered, raising a hand and laying it on his shoulder gently, "Evan, put her down. Please."

"You've killed us," the boy glared at her, the knife held in his spare hand shaking almost as much as his voice. He held Judie off the ground with barley any effort, his muscular form dwarfing her as he held her at eye level.