Camp Wacko: The Drones of Summer by Faith Wilkins Page B

Her smile faded and she leaned in a little closer. “You and your friend are right about me, you know.”
    I nodded slowly, lowering my voice. “Have you guys made any headway?”
    She smirked. “Nice try. I have a friend who would like to meet you. Both of you. I’ll let you know when and where later.” Then she was gone, lost in the sea of hungry kids.
    As it turned out, the rumors had been correct. Right after breakfast, a selected group of us were ordered to pack up our training gear and follow the counselors into the forest. This time, True and I made sure not to lag behind. We were just as eager as everyone else to see what waited for us at the end of the trail.
    We came to a small clearing that was obviously man-made. Where the tress stopped, clusters of stumps began. However, that wasn’t the main focus at the moment. Standing before us in perfect formation was the little army I had seen the other night. Their leader stood at the head, hands clasped behind his back and mouth curled into a permanent grimace. To his right, nearly as expressionless as the other soldiers, was Dustin.
    The other counselors stepped forward to join them, creating a wall.
    “I guess you are all wondering what you’re doing here.” It was Dustin who had spoken. “You have all been chosen for a specific training course. This is meant to test your combat abilities. Bring you to your limits. We are very close to the end of training and the beginning of our ultimate mission.”
    He began to pace. “Get into a line.”
    A few of us just stood there, wondering just who put him in charge. What I wanted to know was why he had started parroting his father again. One moment he was talking to me about getting out of here and shutting this whole thing down, the next he was acting like he owned the place already. Sometimes I couldn’t keep up.
    He turned to face us, eyes in slits. “Did I not make myself clear? Get into a line.” His voice had turned to ice, hard and cold.
    We quickly formed a line without a word. True stole a glance at me, raising her eyebrows slightly. I shrugged, eyes quickly scanning the rest of the line and finding Candy amongst the group. She was staring a hole into Dustin’s head, probably wondering where her boyfriend had gone.
    “Now that’s more like it.” Dustin began to slowly move down the line until he reached me.
    “You will all be paired with a few different sparring partners. We will see how you do and start from there. But first”—he turned his attention to me—“Lily, would you please come forward and face me for a moment?”
    Confused, I did what I was told, trying to search his face for answers. I found nothing.
    He turned his attention back to the line. “Lily and I are going to demonstrate a little bit of what you will be doing for the next week or so.”
    We faced each other again. Pressing his right palm against his left fist, he slowly bowed. I did the same, keeping my eyes trained on him. My heart had begun to beat faster in anticipation.
    The second he straightened back up, in one fluid movement he came at me. Fortunately, I was ready for him. In a flash, it was as if we were back in our old routine as teacher and student. Only this time the student had upgraded. I knew practically every move he was about to make and had an automatic defense response to each one. He knew my moves as well, blocking them easily. I really didn’t see the point in this. We could go on for hours without stopping.
    Something hard slammed into my back, sending me flying into Dustin. As a reflex, he caught me. We locked eyes for a split second before he pushed me back upright. I whirled around just in time to see a fist sailing straight for my nose. The world slowed to a crawl and I ducked, swinging my leg out in hopes of tripping them.
    I succeeded in tripping Dustin, but the other guy kept coming at me. It was the boy I had seen riding in the patrol car with Dr. Wacko. His face was absolutely emotionless as he