Camp Wacko: The Drones of Summer

by Faith Wilkins

  Devastation had hunched his shoulders, instantly aged his features.

  “Go on,” he said, voice scarily calm.

  I just shook my head. “Dustin—”

  “Say it!” he shouted, taking a step toward me. “Cameron’s dead because of me. I practically killed her.”

  I held up my hands, trying to calm him down. “Dustin, your father is crazy. You can’t be blamed for what he’s done. I didn’t mean to imply that…I just need you to understand how your father works. He thinks he’s doing something good, but he’s not. We both know that, and you need to help me stop it.”

  Dustin barked a laugh. “Don’t you think I know that?

  I’ve been living with the man my entire life. In a way he’s like a child. A crazy child.” He took out a black velvet box, staring at it. “I don’t think I can help you, Lily. I only seem to cause more damage. If we try to stop him and fail, my mother is dead. I can’t have someone else’s life in my hands.”

  He flipped the box open and I caught my breath. I had seen this ring before, in the box under Dustin’s bed. Still, its beauty amazed me.

  “Dad wanted me to do this properly,” he growled.

  To my great dismay, he wasn’t done. He began to lower himself down onto one knee. The words rushed out of him before he could think better of it. He didn’t look at me as he asked. He couldn’t. I admit it, I had pictured someone proposing to me once, but it had been a silly daydream and I knew I was way too young. Besides, never had I imagined such a morbid proposal.

  I couldn’t say it. I knew it was one simple word, but it wouldn’t go past my lips. Dustin finally looked up at me.

  Forcing a less than convincing smile, he slipped the ring onto my finger. I stiffened. Strange. His mother’s ring fit me perfectly. I supposed the size had been altered just for me. The jewelry glistened in the sunlight. Though the ring really was quite breathtaking, I immediately wanted to take it off and throw it as far away as possible. Of course I was too chicken to do this, afraid of what the reaction would be. It wasn’t really mine to get rid of anyway.

  “It’s beautiful,” I whispered, watching the colors dance across my fingers.

  Dustin’s smile was a little more genuine this time, but it didn’t light up his face. “I know. We should be heading back now.”

  Together, we left the safe haven of the woods and stepped back into the real world. As I returned to the sound of marching feet and the shouts of drill orders, I felt more alone than I had ever felt in my entire life.

  Change of Plans

  THE DAY OF the ceremony arrived far too soon, surprising me. Everything was going way too fast. Seamstresses and designers swirled around me in a flurry of fabrics and lacy ribbons. Half of the time I didn’t even know what they were doing. I just sat there while they worked.

  My hair had been straightened and now swept down past my shoulders in thick bouncy strands. They slipped me into a beautiful dress made of cream-colored satin and lace. My light makeup emphasized the beauty in youth. That’s what the makeup artist said anyway.

  I wondered how much she had been paid to keep quiet about preparing a fifteen-year-old girl to be bound to marriage. Or did she know? Did any of them know I was being forced to go through with this? Some of them must have known. They worked for the man, after all. It doesn’t take long to see him for what he truly is. Crazy.

  Finally they left me alone to stare at my reflection. A tiara rested on the top of my head, light and elegant. A long pearly white veil trailed back from it. The sleeveless dress took my breath away. Diamonds and beads had been sewn into the lacy cream bodice. A satin ribbon was wrapped tightly around my waist and tied into a bow at my side. The skirt fanned out in layers of silk and chiffon lace. The makeup aged me, but not that much. I was still too young to really pull off the stunning dress. A sparkling diamond necklace shimmered against my collarbone. The panicked expression contorting my face threw everything off.

  At this moment, I wished above all else that my mother could be there. She would tell me what to do. My heart raced. I could feel it pounding against my chest. Noticing my shaking hands, I shoved them into my pockets. (According to the designers, pockets were all the rage.) This all seemed like an awful lot of preparation for just a pledge. At this age we couldn’t be legally married. Could we?

  There was a soft knock on the door, letting me know that the time had come. This was it. I took a deep shaky breath before making the long scary journey to the altar.

  The ceremony was being held behind the guest cabin. A white altar and chairs had been set up, just like a real wedding. As I descended the back steps of the cabin and began to walk down the aisle, the famous march from Lohengrin began to play. Dr. Wacko obviously wanted to make this seem as real as possible. I held on tight to a bouquet in my hands, choking the life out of the poor flowers. I couldn’t have told you who put them there, for I was too dazed. Part of me still didn’t fully know what was going on.

  The attendants were mostly made up of the school staff. In the front row sat Dr. Wacko himself, grinning like a fool. To my surprise, True sat right beside him. She shot me a look of pity as I passed, her hands tightly clasped in her lap. All eyes were on me as I climbed the three steps to the altar. I tripped over the dress more than once.

  I faced Dustin. Handsome in his crisp black tuxedo, curly hair combed to perfection, he studied me for a second.

  The fear must have been plain on my face, because he flashed me a reassuring smile. Although he kept up the facade of perfect ease, I could see through the cracks. There were dark circles under his eyes. He kept wringing his hands, eyes slightly unfocused. The minister had been flown in from another country. He began to speak in a thick accent, asking us to kneel. We obeyed, clasping each other’s hands as we had practiced. I didn’t really listen until we had to say our vows. We both recited them without much feeling. My voice stayed monotone, pronouncing every word as quickly as I could. Really I just wanted to get this whole thing over with. Dustin seemed to feel the same way.

  The quack pastor turned to me, holding six white cords. “Do you, Lilith Mason, promise to stay faithful to this young man until the day you truly wed?”

  I reluctantly answered yes and the minister draped a cord over our interlocked fingers. And so the first binding was made. He asked Dustin a similar question before asking us both if we would share each other’s pain and seek to ease it as best we could. Dustin and I exchanged a few raised eyebrows before answering yes. The second binding was made. The pastor asked another round of questions, laying down the third, fourth, and fifth cords with each “I will.”

  Finally the last cord was left. He held it high above his head for all to see. Dustin and I were about to be officially bound together until we were old enough to properly marry. My only hope was in the lack of legality of this silly ceremony. If my plans to get out of here went well, then I wouldn’t ever have to undergo the real one.

  “Do you, Lilith Mason, agree to honor your future husband and stand by his side in times of battle? Will you seek to never break that honor in any way?”

  Battle? Suddenly I could not find my voice. “I…I…” Dustin watched my face, coaxing me with his eyes to go on.

  “Yes, I will.” A huge lump formed in my throat, making it hard for me to breathe.

  Now it was Dustin’s turn. The pastor asked him a similar question. We all watched him expectantly.

  “I…,” he began, a tiny smirk forming on his face.

  Why would he be smiling, now of all times? I didn’t know about him, but I was definitely not enjoying this experience at all. I wished he would just hurry up already instead of dragging it out. It was like he was trying to torture me.

  “. . . can’t,” he finished, his smirk growing into a full-blown grin.

  I blinked, wondering if I had heard him correctly. Had he just objected to his own pledge ceremony? I figured the audience was thinking the same thing. They all sat frozen in their chairs, transforming into perfe
ctly carved ice sculptures.

  Dustin stood up and I followed suit; the white cords fell to our feet. He turned to face the crowd. I did the same and nervously eyed the guards standing at the ready by the cabin, eyes trained on our every move. I didn’t even dare to look at Dr. Wacko. I was guessing he was not happy about this sudden change of plans. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement. True had slowly stood up, ignoring her master’s heated command to sit down.

  “There will not be any ceremony today,” Dustin announced, staring directly at his seething father. “My dad, the great headmaster of this school, has been pulling all the strings for a little too long. I think it’s about time we change that.”

  A few of the guards had started to advance toward us, their trusty tranquilizer guns in hand. I noticed that True reached for hers as well, watching Dustin as he spoke. Before anything could be done, Dr. Wacko held up his hand, signaling everyone to stop.

  “How do you plan on managing that, my son?” he asked, genuinely interested in what he had to say.

  Dustin merely looked past him and out toward the cabin. Suddenly coming to life, everyone turned to see what had captured his attention so quickly. Marching two-by-two in perfect formation, legions of child soldiers spilled through the cabin’s back doors, ignoring the startled cries of the guards and the ceremony attendants. Their faces resembled blank sheets of canvas as they surrounded the perimeter.

  Joe A-1, a.k.a. Benjamin, paraded right down the aisle, halting at the foot of the altar.

  He didn’t show any signs of recognizing me as he saluted Dustin. “Standing by for orders, Commander.”

  The rest of the army mimicked their leader. The crisp sound of crumpling fabric filled the air as they brought their hands up to their foreheads as a sign of respect for their newest commander.

  Dustin gave an answering salute, standing a little taller and squaring his shoulders.

  “Joe A-1, stand down,” Dr. Wacko demanded, finally rising from his seat.

  The boy did not stand down. Nor did he turn around to acknowledge his former master. His back remained turned as he looked to Dustin for the next order.

  “They only answer to me now,” Dustin muttered, kneeling down to whisper something in Benjamin’s ear. He spoke so softly even I couldn’t hear him.

  When he stepped back, the young lieutenant sprang into action, yelling for his soldiers to detain Dr. Wacko and the others.

  Dustin took my hand again, urging me to run. We flew down the altar steps, legs pumping in nearly perfect unison as we headed for the trees. A group of the child drone soldiers broke away from the chaos to fall behind us, watching our backs as we ran. In the background I could hear Dr. Wacko’s angry cries for his former loyal recruits to stop.

  A terrible screeching filled the air, grating against my eardrums relentlessly. A few of the guards had escaped to chase us down the hill, shouting in vain for us to stop running. Like that was gonna happen!

  Dustin shouted orders, and the soldiers at our left flank dropped behind to stall them while the rest stayed with us. There was no time to look behind us to make sure the guards had really been stopped. There wasn’t even time to think.

  After what felt like a millennium of running, the tree branches finally welcomed us with open arms. Every part of me warned me to stop, spasms of agony ripping through my abdomen. Of course there was no stopping. The sound of gunshots penetrated the usual silence of the forest. I had the sense that this was the real deal. If we got hit by one of those, we’d probably be put to sleep for good, if you know what I mean.

  Dustin led the way through the dense foliage, explaining in between short puffs of breath that there was a trail up ahead. The others weren’t tired at all, their breathing even.

  It was like they were almost invincible. I remembered what True had said about their brains having been infused with computerized technology. Something else had to have changed. Even if they no longer had completely human minds, they still inhabited human bodies. Didn’t they?

  Our legs were finally able to slow once the shouts grew more muffled, eventually dissipating within the forest. I insisted on taking at least a five-minute break, and my legs turned into pools of Jell-O the second we stopped moving. The wind had totally been knocked out of me. Never had I run that fast and that far. Everything had gone numb and it felt like someone had stabbed me in the chest about fourteen times. My heart had lodged itself in my throat, ramming against the inside of my body like a caged animal.

  The drones finally displayed a few signs of fatigue when we took a break, their breathing slightly heavier than normal. A few beads of sweat had collected just above the eyebrows of one kid, a girl around thirteen. She wiped it away absentmindedly, leaning against a moss-covered tree. There were five of them left, tense and poised to move at any time. They appeared to not have any weapons in their possession, but I wasn’t fooled. The multiple pockets sewn within the fabric of their uniforms probably held many nasty tools they were fully capable of using.

  “Since when were these guys on our side?” I panted, struggling to keep my balance as I took off the god-awful satin slippers they had forced me to wear.

  Dustin offered his shoulder as a leaning post. “My dad’s been having me train them for weeks now. I was able to figure out how to reprogram their systems without using my father’s method, electrical shock controllers. You see, I—” He paused, noticing the wave of confusion spreading rapidly across my face. “Let me explain. One part of the Drone Mission experiment is to insert tiny wires in their brains, especially the brain stem. The scientists use these to program them with certain messages, continuing to send each one until it remains there. If there’s any sign of resistance or a different thought from what they are supposed to be focused on, their bodies are shocked with electricity. The shocks are small at first, but they get harsher as they go on. That’s why only a few survived from each session.”

  Horrified, I looked back at the child soldiers, who didn’t find any interest in our conversation at all. They continued to scan our surroundings, their senses seemingly on high alert.

  “How were you able to get rid of that kind of control?” I asked, continuing to stare at the young troopers.

  “I didn’t,” he whispered. “I only tweaked it a little. A little hypnotism mixed with the combat training worked long enough for me to really get into their minds. I was able to get them to like me enough to start trusting me. Once they trusted me, it was surprisingly easy to gain their loyalty. Soon it was under my orders that they obeyed my father. Until now, of course.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “I thought you had given up. Why didn’t you tell me you had these guys up your sleeve the whole time? And what about your mother?”

  Dustin wasn’t given the chance to answer. One of the soldiers, a boy in his early teenage years, alerted us that he could hear them coming and that he estimated they were only a few hundred yards away. Thank goodness the energy had almost been fully restored to my body. Slinging my shoes over my shoulder by their satin laces, I hurried to keep up with Dustin as he began to move again.

  Just as we reached an actual trail, shots were fired, missing our heads by mere centimeters. The crunching sound of twigs snapping underfoot soon followed. We had been spotted.

  Ditching the trail altogether, we plummeted into the cover of trees, going as fast as humanly possible without bumping into anything.

  Even with the speed of our flight, people were still on our tails, shooting blindly and narrowly missing their mark every time. There was no way we could go on like this forever. We were going to have to find another way of getting rid of our pursuers.

  “Up into the trees!” I exclaimed, slowing down just enough to grab hold of a branch.

  Dustin heard my suggestion and was right behind me as I began to climb. I was surprised to find that the others were obeying my command too, and were already halfway up trees of their own choosing.

  Luckily, our tree contained a plethora of thick br
anches, producing thousands of leaves. Dustin and I were almost completely concealed, high up in a world of green. We sat on different branches, facing each other. A few pieces of fabric from the skirts of my dress had been ripped off, relieving me of a little bit of the burden caused by such a heavy nuisance.

  What was left of my dress fluttered around me, spilling out over the ends of the strong branch.

  There was a loud commotion from down below as our pursuers came running through. From the bits of quick conversation I could hear, they were trying to figure how we could have disappeared so quickly.

  “Hey, I found a piece of Lily’s skirt. They can’t be far.”

  My eyes widened as I recognized True’s voice. Dustin locked eyes with me, pressing a finger to his lips.

  A few of Dr. Wacko’s henchmen hurried ahead, promising to give a signal if they found anything. I couldn’t tell how many stayed behind, if any. They had all gone completely silent. However, I couldn’t recall hearing True leave with the others.

  A cry of pure agony filled the air, followed by a loud thump. The limbs of our tree rustled violently, nearly causing us to lose our balance. Dustin stood up, using the tree trunk for support. He motioned for me to climb down. He would follow.

  We dropped down into complete chaos. One guard was already on the ground, the hilt of a digger sticking up from his chest. A stream of blood poured from his whitened lips.

  The members of our group were tirelessly fighting a band of armed men and appeared to be winning the battle. True was nowhere to be seen.

  Dustin and I had no choice but to leave them. From what I could see, they would be catching up with us in no time. One of the guards saw us and tried to break free from the child soldiers. He managed to shout, alerting the rest of his crew that we had been spotted.