Camp, Sweet Camp

When we got to our “camp,” it looked pretty much identical to “woods” to me. There was a stream nearby, and some rocks on the ground where you could build a fire. And also there were trees. Lots and lots of trees.

“Camp, sweet camp,” Sergeant Pittman said.

I think that was our rest break.

“All right, cockroaches. Packs off and let’s get you divided into two teams,” Fish said. “I need four volunteers for fire with Pittman, and four for shelter with me.”

“I’LL DO FIRE!” everyone said at the same time.

“What a surprise,” Fish said. “Diego, D.J., Thea, Burp. Come with me.”

That put me with the snake girl, the cranky musclehead, and the one who didn’t talk. But I guess it could have been worse. I could have been with Fish.

Sergeant Pittman marched us up into the woods to go peel birch bark and look for dry twigs and branches.

And of course, there were some more rules to hear about too.

“We work the buddy system out here,” Pittman said. “Nobody goes anywhere alone. Ever.”

“I got a question,” Arnie said. “What if we have to go to the—”

“Come see me first,” Pittman said. “And no making number twos until we show you how to dig a cat hole.”

I was pretty sure I knew what she meant by “cat hole,” but at the same time, I wanted no part of it. Some things are just meant to be flushed.

“All right, everyone pick a buddy,” Pittman said, and I felt a punch on my arm.

“Ow!” I said.

“Me and Rafe,” Carmen said. “We got this.”

“We do?” I said.

“All right, you two start on birch bark,” Pittman told us. “Veronica and Arnie, you start with kindling. That’s small twigs and other lighter materials. And remember, keep an eye on each other. If your buddy goes missing, it’s on you.”

“Do we get one of those tags for doing this?” Carmen said.

“Ask me when you’re done,” Pittman said. That probably meant yes, but not until we’d sweated a little. Or a lot. “Now, everyone get to work. I’ll be right back. Shout out if there’s a problem.”

She picked up a log that was about as big as me and started carrying it back over to camp.

Exactly two seconds after Pittman was out of sight, Carmen started walking the other way.

“Where are you going?” I said, starting to follow her. “We’re not supposed to split up.”

She turned around and stared at me like you might look at an old lump of gum on the sidewalk.

“Oh, you’re one of those,” she said. “Always sweating about the rules?”

“No,” I said. “That’s one of my main problems. I’m not. How do you think I got here in the first place?”

That made her smile. And her smile scared me just a little. Then she said, “You’re kind of cute, you know that?”

Right before my jaw dropped down to the ground. If Carmen was trying to short-circuit my brain, it worked.

“I’ll be back,” she said. “I just got to talk to Veronica.”

“Well… uh… yeah… uh… okay,” I said.

Not that she needed my permission. She was already gone.