Fresh Start

Chapter 12
No Turning Back

It was lights out time in the Kea Cabin. Jessica had gone around one by one to all her special helpers and tucked them in. She’d pulled up their covers, told them what good boys and girls they had been all day and then pecked kisses on their cheeks or foreheads. A few even extended their arms, hoping for a cuddle, which she was always happy to give.

The kids were feeling particularly snug this night as they’d all discovered their trunks now contained nice flannel pyjamas. They were in various designs, most of the boys’ sports related. Matt’s were sky blue with giraffes and elephants decorating them. Like James though, he’d pulled his on right over his day clothes. Then he’d climbed in bed and slipped his headphones on. But not before jamming wads of toilet paper in each ear to block out the music as much as possible.

After pretending to pass out like the rest Matt lay as perfectly still as he could, not opening his eyes even a crack, not daring to peak. He thought he could sense Jessica’s presence moving about the room still. He tried to count the minutes but it was hard without a watch. He felt only three minutes had passed when a hand roughly shook his arm. He wondered if it might be a trick. Maybe the truly tranced kids felt nothing once they were under. He wasn’t sure if he should open his eyes, so he kept them shut tight.

The hand shook him harder and he decided that couldn’t be Jessica. Opening his eyes he saw James standing beside his bunk, looking urgently at him. Matt slipped the headphones off and yanked out the tissue. “Ready?” he whispered.

“Jesus yeah, let’s go before she gets back,” he whispered back.

Matt climbed down as softly as he could, quickly stripping off the blue pjs as they would be spotted easily. Abandoning them on the floor he kicked them under the bunk, noticing Tim was out cold, probably enjoying the music reinforcing his behaviour, rewarding him for giving in so easily and playing like a little boy.

“Move it,” James directed still in a hush.

They tip-toed across the cabin to the front. Brad, now looking about twelve himself, was guarding the front door. He had it open just a sliver, an eye to the crack. He glanced back at them and then nodded, swinging the door open slightly more and squeezing out. Matt followed and James took up the rear. Emerging into the night air Matt knew there was no going back now. He was officially on the run. He followed Brad, hurrying across the dangerous open ground to the side of Beaver Cabin, ducking into the shadows.

“Right,” Brad directed, “The main office in right on the other side of this cabin but we have to cross some open ground to get to it. I’ll go first, then signal you when it’s clear. Go as fast as you can and stay low.”

“How do we get inside? Won’t it be locked?” Matt asked.

Brad smiled and drew a small black wallet-like pack from his pocket. He flipped it open to reveal a lock-picking kit. “It wasn’t easy but I managed to stuff it under a mattress when we had to change,” he explained.

“You know how to pick locks?” Matt asked, wondering exactly who this kid was.

“I know lots a stuff,” he answered cryptically.

“Whatever, can we get this show on the road?” James interrupted. “In case you forgot, they’ll notice we’ve gone missing in about five minutes, tops. We need to have the keys and be out the gate by then.”

Brad nodded and led them along the side of the cabin, sticking to the shadows. In the distance they could see a counsellor walking along the side of Buzzy Bee Cabin with a torch, apparently conducting rounds. They just hoped there weren’t more of them out there. The distance of open grass between them and the admin cabin wasn’t that far, but it seemed enormous. A floodlight lit the whole patch, so there would be no cover of darkness. Brad looked left and right for any sign of movement, then took off dashing across the grass. Their little boy training came in handy here, bare feet on grass made little noise.

Brad made it across and disappeared into shadow. Matt held his breath, fully expecting a siren to sound or lights in the admin cabin to flick on. But there was nothing. Now it was his turn. He looked around and saw no one, but he waited for Brad to signal. A tense five seconds passed and then an arm appeared out of the shadow, waving him on. Matt lit out with all his energy, toes digging into the dewy grass, shortened legs pumping hard. He kept low as he could, sliding into the shadow at the other end nearly breathless.

A minute later they were all safely across and standing before the admin door. Matt and James kept watch on either side of the porch while Brad worked his magic on the locks. Matt stole glances at him every few seconds. It was like watching an artist at work. He operated on feel, switching instruments sliding the metal into the hole and twisting. All three locks were open in less than three minutes. Brad nodded and turned the knob. Sure enough the door swung right open.

With a quick thumbs up Brad let them know it was all set. James hurried to join him, but stopped Matt short. “You stay here and keep watch. We’ll only be a minute,” he assured.

Matt didn’t like being out there all alone, but he did as he was told. He scanned his field of vision left to right, right to left looking for any sign they’d discovered three kids were missing. But there was nothing. A minute passed, then two and then three. Matt was getting closer and closer to panicking now. Why weren’t they back? What if they keys weren’t there at all? Could they set out on foot instead? Brad could always hotwire the car but they’d determined that would take several minutes because they’d need to break into it first. There was no time for that now. What the hell was taking so long?!

Finally Matt could wait no longer. Abandoning his post he slipped through the door and into the cabin. It was dark inside so he had to keep his hand to the wall, stepping cautiously so as not to bash his toe into something. He felt his way through the pitch blackness until the wall fell away, the hallway making a right turn. As he took the corner he saw light coming from under a door just a metre down the hallway from him. He wondered if they were in there, but was too afraid to call out.

Matt reached the door and thought he could hear sounds coming from within. He tried the knob and found it turned. Taking a deep breath he swung the door open, wincing as the bright light within temporarily blinded him. As his vision corrected he saw that it was someone’s office. There were book shelves build into the wall, filing cabinets lined up to the right and a large wood desk covered in paperwork right at the centre. But Matt’s eyes weren’t on any of those things, they were on the room’s two occupants, James and Brad.

Both boys were kneeling on the floor and it was clear that something had gone terribly wrong. Brad’s shorts and underwear were abandoned on the floor just in front of the desk and they looked to be sopping wet as though he’d peed in them. The bare-bottomed boy had heard the door open and swung his head around. He was chewing on a bright blue rattle, a baby’s toy, his chin shiny with drool. The thief’s eyes were vacant, empty of any sign of cognizance. Right beside him James was lying on his back waving his legs around and sucking on his knuckles, a baby’s teething ring, wet with saliva, grasped in his other hand. Though he still wore his shorts they were also obviously pee-soaked.

Matt froze, unsure what to do. There was no sign of anyone else in the room, so how did they end up drooling infants? Matt wasn’t sure if he should help them or try to run. And if he did run whether to go straight back to the cabin or head for the camp gates on his own. Brad was still staring at him, shaking his rattle and starting babble loudly. He’d soon draw attention making all that noise. Matt saw no choice but to abandon his friends to their fate and save himself. He grabbed for the door to shut it and block out the noise-making big babies, stepping over the threshold.

He never saw the laser sensor of course. As soon as he stepped into the room a greenish gas blasted out of the sprinkler above him. Matt breathed in sharply in shock. It smelled like mint. He knew right away that he’d made a massive mistake, one that probably couldn’t be corrected. He knew he was going to end up just like the drooling, idiotic boys on the floor. It was just a question of how fast it would happen.

The gas he inhaled worked very quickly as it turned out. Matt didn’t even have time to step back out of the room. His leg muscles went into spasm and he felt dizzy, dropping to his hands and knees on the floor. He’d barely landed when he found the speech centre of his brain off limits, all his words gone in an instant. This scared him for a second before his memory was closed away as well, followed by all his higher reasoning abilities. Matt felt wet stuff run over his chin and warmth flood his pants and his only thought was whether to suck his fingers or chew on his knuckles first.