Still, you can bet Carmen was first in line when Pittman started giving out that next round of tags.

“Good work, guys,” she said. She handed me an orange washer, and Carmen got a purple one.

The real surprise came about a second later, when everyone else was starting to make lunch. That’s when Fish clamped one of his big Fish hands on my shoulder.

“Let’s take a walk,” he said.

I didn’t like the sound of that.

“What did I do?” I said. “Am I in trouble?”

“Not exactly. We just have to talk,” he said, which isn’t the kind of answer you want when someone like Fish is marching you off into the wilderness.

“Where are we going?” I said.

“Just keep walking,” Fish told me.

The next thing I knew, we were heading up into the woods away from camp. Even worse, he was walking me away from Pittman and all the other kids. Also known as potential witnesses to whatever horrible punishment was coming my way.

And all I could think now was—Uh-oh. Dead kid walking.