HOLLIS MCCALISTER SUMMER CAMP

by Keith McCloud

  “So he just took off. Do you think that’s crazy? If he was so in love like you guys keep saying, then why would the dude leave a pretty girl behind? Did he and Sandy have a fight, or he and Danny?” I ask.

  “Not that I know of. I think everyone was good with Cody, I think that’s why it was so hard on Sandy because he just left. Why are you so interested in him?” Kris asks and looks over at me.

  “Oh I am not, it’s just Sandy keeps talking about him and I just thought it was strange for him to just take off and leave her if he was so much in love with her like everybody says. Trust me, if I found my true love I would not be leaving her. I would be doing whatever it took to be with her and I wouldn’t care what anyone thought about it. Not even if her brother was the head of the Wasioux tribe. I read a lot of books, so I tend to ask a lot of questions about things. It’s like I am always interviewing people. My friends back home would always say I am psychoanalyzing them all the time. I am not, and I tell them I am not, but I do like to find out what I can about everyone. It’s like a hobby of mine and I do find the human mind very interesting and entertaining,” I say as I try to throw off suspicion.

  I need to get Kris on our side. He is going to help us and he is not even going to know that he is helping us. He is one of those real nice people that just don’t have a clue when people are taking advantage of them. This will be one of those times when we are taking advantage of his niceness. I can get information from him and I might even be able to get him to help us get around in that cave. Somehow we need to get in there and play lost and have Kris show us around. Just how are we going to get in there and look around without Danny knowing? I wonder if we can somehow drug Danny and maybe a few others. Maybe we can put something in that smoke pipe. Not sure how we would not get Kris to smoke any that day. Somehow we are going to need to not have him in the room when we smoke it, but get him back in the room when everyone has passed out. I have got to tell Stella and them what I have come up with as a plan, but they are going to need to make some kind of drug to put in that pipe that will put them to sleep for about an hour. Also, they can’t know that they have been drugged, so we can do it again once we are ready to get Cody out of the room. This would help us to be able to get to him and break him out. We still have a lot of work to do before that double moon. Heck, we’ve still got the first full moon to deal with. I am not looking forward to any of this.

  “Okay, we are here,” Stella says.

  “Kris, thank you so much for walking us back to the village. Now let’s hope no creatures of the night get you,” Stella says.

  “Ha, not a problem. I am not scared of anything. I will take whatever it is down. No, really I will be okay. Thank you, guys, for letting me tag along. Hey, Hollis, thanks for the talk. It’s good to talk to other people sometimes. It gets boring talking to the same people from our village, but you have worldly knowledge: you lived out there, so you know what goes on. We only see what’s right here in our bubble. Later, everyone,” Kris says.

  We all say, “Later, Kris.” He seems very happy to have people to talk with.

  Strange, but I feel good. I guess I can see feeling closed in around here. You live off the grid and barely have TV.

  “Okay, let’s get inside. We need to recap the day. It has been interesting for sure. Well, Hollis, what did you think about your first day in craziness town?” Stella asks.

  “I am not going to lie: it was different. I do believe I held my own. Thank goodness for all your training: if not, we would have been in trouble. I did figure out some weakness of Danny and I did also figure out he is easy to figure out. He at first challenged me mentally, but then he reminded me of someone from school and I can work with that. I think we need to somehow drug his pipe that he smokes. We need to be able to put everyone asleep for at least an hour so that we can give us some time to explore their caves. With what you guys heard and just the way Danny reacts to Cody’s name, I can guarantee that he has Cody locked up in his caves. Can you guys come up with a drug that we can mix in his pipe? We also need to somehow drug those wereboons and then we also need to not let Kris smoke it and have him show us around in the caves. We don’t have time to explore it all on our own, so we need to have someone show us around like we are on an exploring expedition. Kris will be all over that. Now he can’t see Danny and them asleep, though, or he will figure something is wrong with them and then he will not willingly show us around. I know my plan has holes in it, but we need to figure out the holes and figure out how to make this work. I think it can be done. So we have found out they have caves and we know they have Cody with them, and we found out today that Danny is weak to Anita Kay and he is weak when he smokes that pipe. Let’s build off of that,” I say.

  “I agree: we did find out some good things today. I knew once we started hanging out there that we would pick up on some things. I like the idea of drugging them and then looking around first so we can have a great plan to get Cody out. The first full moon is tomorrow. So really that leaves tomorrow to get into Danny’s room and to see how big the caves are. We need to get with Dr. Berg this evening to get us something that we can mix in that pipe so that they smoke it tomorrow and it puts them to sleep. So you’re saying only put them to sleep for an hour? Will that be enough time?” Stella asks.

  “Well, we don’t want them to get suspicious when they wake up and we need to be back in the room when they do start coming to. We have to be back there sitting talking and maybe not put them to sleep, but have them really out of it, and they don’t know what is going on. We also need something that is not going to affect us when we smoke the pipe. Also, I am not sure about Kris showing us around because he might wonder why they are all messed up and we are not. I think we will be fine looking around on our own. Now what will we do about those wereboons? We need to drug them also. Not sure how we will do that. We need to see what they eat and maybe Max can change into one of them and then give them something. We need to think about this,” Trevor says.

  “Can we trust this Dr. Berg?” I ask.

  “Yes, he is our uncle. He will be glad to help with anything he can. He is the one getting the bags of blood for you, Hollis. Actually he has them ready. I will go over and talk to him real quick before we eat dinner and tell him what we want to do. I know he will have something that will help us. I need to also pick up those bags of blood. We already have all of ours. I know for a while he has been trying to work on something to put in the blood bags that might make them very sick, or kill them, but they know blood really well and they will know something is in it that should not be in it. Then they would start draining us again. He is working on something that they would not detect when they smell the blood. Okay, I will go over there now,” Stella says and then she takes off out the door.

  “I think while Stella has gone over to Dr. Bergs we should start getting ready to eat. Now please don’t say all this at dinner: we need to keep this plan quiet. We don’t want to put anyone else in danger. I think we are starting to get a good plan together. We have had a goal and that was to get Cody out of there before the double moon. We have the full moon coming up and then right after that we have the red double moon. We cannot, no matter what, let Danny or any of the other Wasioux vampires bite Cody or you, Hollis, at that time. We have to have you safely locked away somewhere. Actually we already have a place to lock you away and they will not find you or smell your blood at all until the red double full moons go away. We call it our safe house. No, we really call it the library since it is built in the library. Then we can say we are going to the library and no one thinks any different,” Trevor says. “I was wondering why don’t they just drain Cody’s blood now and store it until the double moons? I mean they already have him and they have easy access. They could drain his blood and kill him and be done with it,” I ask.

  “It will not work for them if they do that. It has to come from a living human and it needs to be fresh and warm. If it’s cold blood it will not take for them. It has to be
perfect for it to work, or else it would be a waste. Even with the full moon coming they will not even try and get any blood from him. They do not want to take any chances biting him and then him getting an infection that could taint his blood. I am sure that cave that he is in is very clean, or as clean as it can be for a cave. One thing we do need to consider when we rescue him is that his legs might be weak from him sitting all this time, so at first he might have jelly legs. I am sure they are not letting him move around in that cave because again they do not want him getting hurt and then getting an infection anywhere on his body. We need to come up with a way to blast that cave wall to grab Cody and get him out of the cave and into our caves, and we really know our caves, so we will be able to get through them and to the library really fast. We do have some explosives that will be able to open up a hole in a cave wall. We had to use them before when we were making space in our cave walls,” Trevor says.

  “So my fun job is getting closer to Danny. You know I hate this, but he is weak and this will not be an issue,” Anita Kay says.

  “What, did you forget that I have to get close to Kris? That’s no picnic for me either. I am just saying to myself: do what it takes to save Cody, and play the game,” I say.

  “Ha, ha, that is funny. At least Kris is one of the good ones. Some of those Wasioux are a piece of crap. they were being well behaved today because you were there and Danny was trying to make a good impression on you. Right now they see you as extra bloodstock and they don’t want you to get mad and leave our village. They were on their best behavior. Trust me, they can get under your skin with their attitudes,” Trevor says.

  “I agree, and that’s why we usually stay away from their village. They think that we girls from our village are just supposed to fall all over them. Not all of them and, like Trevor said, Kris is one of the good guys from their village. They might be a little more loose tomorrow and then you will see how they really act,” Anita Kay says.

  We then walk from the living room area of the house to the back of the house to wash up for dinner. I smell the food the whole time we are standing there and it smells so good. I already hear Max slurping up water from the water bowl and I hear her crunching on food. She doesn’t waste any time making this her home. That’s good: out of all of us, she is the calm one. She just sits there all day by me and watches everyone. It is like she is scoping out everyone also. I know she is not taking her eyes off of those wereboons. I still can’t believe she can turn herself into one. Just amazing - a little freakish, but amazing. I hear Stella come in and go to her room. I can hear her and Anita Kay talking. Trevor and I walk back to the kitchen. Then a few minutes later in walks Anita Kay and Stella.

  “Hey, Mom, what have you been doing all day?” Stella asks her mom.

  “Nothing much. Did some sewing and went over to the community center and played some cards along with some bingo. The usual stuff we ladies do,” her mom replies.

  “Ha, the boys played some cards today also with the Wasioux. Trevor won a couple games as usual, and Hollis won like three games today. Anytime we beat the Wasioux at anything is a good day for us,” Stella says.

  “Remember to be careful around the Wasioux, I know it’s not a full moon yet, but I just don’t trust them. The only good one is Sandy and that Kris guy is polite. Other than that, they are not to be trusted,” Stella’s mom says.

  “We know not to let our guard down with them. We are going back tomorrow to hang out some more with them,” Stella says.

  “Hmm, for you to go over there a couple days in a row means you are up to something. You must have found Cody and you are trying to get him away from there. Again be careful,” Stella’s mom replies.

  “We can’t get anything past you, Mom. We haven’t seen Cody there yet, but we know he is there and yes, we are going to get him away from there. It’s just a matter of time. We will be very careful, don’t you worry about that. Let’s eat and take a little Wasioux break for now,” Stella says.

  “Sounds great to me, I have had all I can deal with today of them,” Anita Kay replies. We then begin passing around the food and getting lots of food to eat as usual here. I may be gaining weight with all this food we are eating. We get done and clean up the kitchen and then go into the living room, the four of us and Max.

  “Okay, Dr. Berg is making what we need. He will bring it over in the morning and then we can take it with us. He is making powder that will go in the pipe and then he is making some like chicken bones that he knows the wereboons will eat because of the smell they have. So let’s plan on how we are going to do this. We have to be able to sneak the powder into the smoke pipe without them seeing it. He is going to give us some pills to take just in case we inhale it: that does not let us have the same reaction they will be having. We have to get Danny to invite us into his game room. This drug will have them tripping for about an hour before they start coming down off of it. That will give us enough time to wander around the caves and find out where Cody is at. Now, once we are in the caves, Max is going to need to shift into a wereboon, and then Max, you are going to need to get them to eat the chicken bones. Hopefully the only wereboons in the caves are the ones in the room with Cody. I believe there are only two in there with him. Sandy says that when she does the headcount each day there are always two missing in her numbers. Also she said all her family is always accounted for and they are always with Danny. One or two will disappear throughout the day, but she believes they are checking on Cody and taking him food to the cave. She said yesterday she had spotted them taking food into Danny’s room and she knows they are then going to feed Cody. So who are we going to get to put the drugs in the smoke pipe?” Stella asks.

  “To me, I think we should have Sandy do it. When he asks for the pipe we will need Sandy to volunteer to get it. They will not suspect her at all. She will have to be willing to do this for us. We will have assured her it is not to hurt anyone,” Trevor says.

  “Oh, she would be more than glad to help. She hates her brother, remember, and if we can save Cody, then she is all for that. Dr. Berg said once they smoke this drug, they will for sure want it again because it can be addictive. Also we do not need to blast the wall out because on the day we go to rescue Cody, Hollis can just transport Cody through the wall and then they can’t chase us because there will be no hole in the wall for them to climb through and follow us,” Stella says.

  “You are right. I forgot all about transporting Cody out of the room: that is even better. We would have a big head start on them getting back to the library in time to get to safety. That is a great idea. Do you need to practice on transporting again, Hollis?” Trevor asks.

  “Actually, I think we need to practice once in the caves so we can make sure I can transport myself and someone else through the cave walls. They seem to be pretty thick and we do want to make sure because if we cannot, then we will need to be able to blast through the wall and we would need to prepare explosives prior to that day. We also need to have the team ready to rescue us on the other side of the wall. We need to practice that also,” I reply.

  “Okay, then, in the morning before we go to the Wasioux village we should go into the caves and practice transporting through the walls and then, once transported, how do we get Cody up and running? We should also practice carrying him since we do not know how he is going to be once we do get him. He has been captured for some time now: we do not know how his mental and physical states are. He might not even know us at first and try and resist us, or he could be very weak and will need assistance. These are the things we can practice in the morning. I like it when we have a plan and we have tested the plan out. The only thing I am not sure on is this drug that we are going to be using. Dr. Berg, or I should say Uncle Bill, swears by it. I did not ask him how he knows this, but I trust him - heck, we all trust him. He has saved many of us before from bites and other stuff. He knows what he is doing. The unknown still to me is how are they going to react to the drug. We need all them to be tripping
on this so we can do what we need to do,” Stella says.

  “Well, I am a firm believer in Uncle Bill, if he says it will work, then it will work. I know we have that small chance of something not working, but he has never steered us wrong. You know Uncle Bill, he always gives a percentage, so what percentage does he give for the drug to work?” Trevor asks.

  “He gave a ninety percent it would work,” Stella says.

  “Oh I can see why you are concerned, that is a low percentage for him. Well, that’s the whole reason we are giving it a trial run to make sure it’s going to work. Hopefully it will work on everyone in the room with us. Also you and Sandy have to get invited into the game room with us. We need everyone in the caves searching and searching fast. It needs to be more that just Anita Kay, Hollis, and myself searching. We also need you guys with us,” Trevor says.

  “We will get invited because Anita Kay will make sure of that. She will tell Danny that she’s not going without us and he will give into her and let us in. Then hopefully, once in the room, that’s when he will want to smoke the pipe. I think we should all go to bed now. We need to get up early and go into our caves and let Hollis try to transport one of us between walls. We also need to make sure we get the drugs from Uncle Bill. He knows what’s at stake here. He is rooting for us to get this done. He said I do not want to have to deal with an immortal vampire. So again let’s go get some rest,” Stella says.

  Then we all walk away and go to our rooms.

  “Well, Hollis, you have been taking in a lot lately. Man, you picked up on those cards fast. I love how you act like you didn’t know how to play, then you ended up beating us three hands in a row,” Trevor says.

  “You’re right, I have taken in a lot and, as for the cards, remember you already showed me the poker-face and I have at my house played some on the computer,” I say.

  “I forget about that computer since we don’t really use them here, especially to play cards on,” Trevor says.