Hamilton's Story | Chapter Two

Rose and Benedict have arrived in Rablarg. Phi and Alan on on thier trail. Benedict meets the girl that he commanded to kill.

 

     Chapter 2: Arrival in Rablarg’s Airport

                 

 

   “How many more hours?” irked Rose for the sixth time.

 

   “If I don’t answer will you stop asking?” Benedict grumbled irritably.

  

   “Probably not.”

 

   The plane was landing in three hours. For the last ten or so hours, Rose had slept. The other seven hours, to Benedict’s dismay, she had spent it asking Benedict how many hours were left in the flight. “Why don’t you go eat more bread or something?”

 

   “Oh, it’s much more fun doing this,” Rose grinned, “So how many more hours?”

 

   “This isn’t by any chance punishment for that lollypop story is it?”

 

   “Maybe it is, maybe it’s not.”

 

   “So what are we going to do once we get to Rablarg?”

 

  “Attend a summer camp. Follow her around for awhile then kill her.” Benedict casually said. “Flame and her brother Ryan are bound to be with her at the camp,” he added.

 

   “What are you planning to do afterwards?” Rose inquired as she nestled herself against the caravan’s wooden structure that was slightly shaking from the plane’s movement. “I’m going to go back to Hausa and just enjoy life for what it is. Enjoy my freedom.” Benedict’s voice contained a dreamy quality as he spoke. “What about you, Hamilton?”

 

   “I have no idea. Maybe I’ll go to another country and try to live a new life. I mean the chances of me being proved innocent are pretty slim. Even if I explain my story, I’ll have two problems. One, Tracey Fiher will probably tell them I brutally murdered her cousin. And two they’ll hold this entire charade as some kind of evidence.” She slumped alongside the wooden walls. “If my cousin didn’t betray me, then I might just stay with him.”

 

   “Ham, I think he did.” Benedict gave her an apologetic pat. “You can come with me again.”

 

   “I don’t think so, Romeo.”

 

   “A boy can always dream, can’t he?”

 

   “Hey Benedict,” Rose begin.

 

   “What?”

 

    “How many more hours?”

 

   “I can’t hear you.” Playfully placing his hands over his ears, Benedict laughed. “Don’t worry it’s only two more hours.”

 

 

   Pop went another bag of peanuts. “Wow, I didn’t know that you were into peanuts that much Phi.” Alan raised his brother a surprised eyebrow. Gobbling down his sixth bag, Phi proceeded to his seventh. Pop! “Do you have to open them so loudly? And that close to my ear,” as much as his cheerfulness had try to last twenty hours were starting to drain him. “Aw, don’t cry about it little brother. If you wanted some, you could ask.”

 

   “So how much longer is the flight,” Phi asked with a swallow of the crushed peanuts.

 

   “About another hour then we’ll be in Rablarg. What are we going to do once we get there?”

 

   “First thing we’re doing is check the gypsies.”

 

   “What if Loreas isn’t there?”

 

   “She’s there. Johnson, when we get there look for a blond boy.”

 

   Alan gave Phi a puzzled look. “Ecgurt’s tip was only half true. Loreas’ disguised as a boy but blond one.”

 

 

 

   “Finally the plane’s landing.” Rose was eager, although her legs were shaky from the long period of inactivity. “C’mon, we have to change.” Benedict was hurriedly taking off his robe, revealing his unclothed chest and frayed jeans. Grabbing his gray t-shirt off the caravan’s bench Benedict proclaimed to Rose, “I’ll be waiting outside.”

 

   Benedict exited the small room, leaving Rose blushing madly. “Got to get change,” she mumbled to the silent air. Stumbling to her backpack, she fumbled with its contents. Pulling off her puce robe in one soft whoosh, Rose thought about Benedict’s toned chest. Flustered at the thought that she had just thought, Rose finished dressing.

 

   “So what’s the plan?”

 

   “We’re going to take a taxi and meet up with one of my uncle’s associates.” Benedict immersed himself into the growing mob of people with Rose following him diligently.

 

   “Over there! Johnson! Follow them!” Rose turned her head in shock. The two police officers from the school had pursued them all the way to Rablarg. The taller one was pushing through the crowd, successfully knocking over many people in his haste to reach her. Johnson, the shorter one, was being more careful as he chased after the older officer.

 

   “We have to reach the main doors before they do,” instructed Benedict raucously. Rose fought against the on rush of people, having more luck than the officer behind them. She passed patches of angry people, cursing after her. An overweight lady raised her purple handbag in fury as Rose knocked off her turquoise hat, the one with a single peacock feather. Another irate old man, shook his fist when Rose practically launched his cigar somewhere in to the teeming mass. Show casing great piles of snow, the main doors came into view.

 

   A waiting lone taxi had already situated itself in front of the airport’s doors. Swiftly claiming the taxi, Benedict swung the entrance open. Rose bent her head, sneaking a view at their pursuers. The non-Johnson officer was speedily catching up; his only obstacle was a train of businessmen carrying identical briefcases. Welcoming the warmth of the cab, Rose nimbly closed the mechanical door shut.

 

   Promptly, as if instructed, the driver raced down the vacant road. Benedict belched a fit of giggles. “Look out the back window,” he clarified. There at the entrance of the airport, stood an angry officer throwing quite a fit. Throwing his hat on the ground, most likely shouting profanities, and pale face turned red, yep, the man was mad and throwing a fit with the whole shebang.

 

 

   Wow, that was his first thought when Alan recoiled at the sight of his half-brother. He’s really lost it this time. “Now Phi, calm down.”

 

   “Calm down!? Our only lead is gone! And you tell me that I should calm down?!” Phi used a heated shout when he said that. “Sir, please come with us.” Apparently, someone had the sense to call a security guard. “Go with you! I don’t think so!” Phi pulled himself from the guard’s grasp. “Now, Phi come on. Just take a deep breath.”

 

   The guard didn’t wait for Phi to take a deep breath because he knocked out the poor brother. “Finally, someone knocked some sense into that poor boy’s head,” an overweight lady with a purple bag said in the background. “I’m his brother,” Alan told the security guard.

 

   The interrogation room. When I joined the force…I thought I would never be the one being interrogated. Alan sighed wearily and elucidated to the head of security about his brother’s, who was still passed out at the moment. 

 

   “My name is Alan Johnson. I am a citizen of Bosence. I work for the police over there; currently my brother and I are looking for a murderer. Have you heard of Fiher Industries?”

 

   “Oh yes. Fiher operates world-wide. They have helped our country a lot.” The interrogator spoke fluent Sence. “So I take it, that you were looking for the murderer here?”

 

   “Yes, and that would explain my brother’s, uh, actions. I also happened to catch the license plate number. Could you help us look for the certain taxi our suspect got in?”

 

   “Of course. But all’s good in time. First, we must verify that you are indeed what you say you are.”

 

   “We are very honest people. Is you’re government having problems?”

 

   “As a matter of fact we are. There are some ghost hackers that have been in and out of our system. Many bad people out there, Mr. Johnson.”

 

   “Well, I will bless my brother with the good news when he wakes up. Thank-you in advance for letting us use your database.”

  

   As if on cue, Phi awoke from his slumber.

 

 

 

   “Who’s he,” it was more of a statement than am inquiry. The gruff man wore a dark colored hoodie, covering his face. “A friend I picked up. Tell my uncle that he will be beneficiary to the mission.” Benedict spoke in a straight forward sense, almost cold and indifferent.

 

   “Whatever. I don’t care. You can tell him yourself.” The man awkwardly removed two envelopes from his plastic bag. Bit of snow melted when landing on the two parcels. “Money.”

 

   Grabbing the envelopes, Benedict dexterously shoved money into the man hands. Blending in the drifting snow, the stranger effectively disappeared from their view. “Who was he?” Rose was more curious about the envelopes, but asking about the man seemed more courteous. “My uncle’s associate.” Benedict replied curtly.

 

   “And the envelopes?”

 

   “They’re our imaginary passports, IDs, everything. Most importantly at the moment, our camp papers.” Tucking the vital package under his jacket, Benedict directed Rose over. “We’ll get to the camp tomorrow. But tonight we’ll have to catch a train to Iesemse. We should hurry.”

 

  Rose yelped, a hand on her ankle. “Please, kind sir, spare a ruuger for an old beggar on a cold night.” Benedict briskly dropped a group of silver coins that clinked as they gathered within the palm of the beggar’s callused hands. “Thank-you, kind sirs. May Feich look upon you with merciful eyes.”

 

 

 

   “This is the place?” Phi was composed now. He had lost his hat though, and that still slightly irritated him. Presented in front of him were thirty taxis, the number was small compared to back home. Mentally Phi had would’ve called home the police station of Latona, Bosence. Latona was a big city, festering with crime; perfect to keep a cop like him busy. Still having to check every single taxi to see if the number’s match is going to be troublesome. Alan handed him a slip of paper, enclosing the number’s he would have to tiresomely match. Alan hadn’t spoken to him much since the breakdown.

 

   After he had roused, a dull ache projected from the back of his head. Rushing back too, was how he reacted as he saw the taxi dash out of sight. Alan had miraculously convinced the security to let him go and help with the investigation. “Over here.” Phi crouched down to the license plate, examining it. “Who’s the driver?”

 

   “Andrew Tessune. He just got off his shift though.” Alan informed Phi.

 

   “We’ll just have to come back tomorrow. Come on, little brother, let’s go find a hotel and we can deal with Tessune later.”

 

     The hotel was old. Not just ancient or kind of old. Just plain old. Sure, there was peeling paint, and floor boards were creaking and groaning but it wasn’t like random pieces of wood were falling from the ceiling. Another dilemma of things that are old is that old things tend to be broken at times. Like for instance the heater. Broken heaters are not meant for place like Rablarg, with its constant fridge climate.

 

   Another thing not meant for Rablarg was a certain policeman who at the moment was desperately trying to sleep in the cold room. That policeman was Phi Jackson. And he was not happy.

 

   “Mornings still your weakness, bro?” Alan chirped contently from his own borrowed bed. Tugging on his boot, it was apparent that Alan had wakened up long before Phi. “Get dressed. I talked to Tessune already.”

 

   “Maybe later,” whined Phi, clutching a pillow.

 

   “No now, you have some actual police work to do.”

 

   “If I was an actor, I could sleep late,” Phi proclaimed absentmindedly.

 

   “Two things: One, you would probably still have to wake up early. And two, we both know you would never quit being an officer.”

 

   “Who knows? Besides what’d you get out of Tessune?”

 

   “Warr Drive, he said he dropped two kids yesterday from the airport there.” As Alan brought Phi up to date, they entered the frozen streets.

 

   Phi shivered as his body made contact with the chilly air. He grimaced realizing that the inside of the taxi was warmer than the hotel’s rooms. “Warr Drive please.”

 

   “Actually, we need to go to the station.”

 

   “What?” Phi gave Alan a confused look.

 

   “Well I did some more police work for you, knowing that you would end up probably sleeping half the day.”

 

   “So what’d you find out?”

 

   “One of the beggars, a man, said that two kids were at Warr Drive yesterday. And that they met up with this other man, the other man left. Then the two kids said that they were going to Iesemse for some camp. He also heard them talk about fake passports and IDs.”

 

   “Did he get the names for the fake stuff?”

 

   “Nope.”

 

   “Oh well. How many camps are there in Iesemse?”

 

   “Only about ten camps.”

 

   Phi sighed; this was going to be one long case.

 

 

 

 

   “So what’s plan after we get out of the train?” Rose was munching on a small muffin as she spoke.

 

   “Go to the camp. I go find Kira. Follow her around a bit, then lead her into a secluded place and shoot her. As for you, you’re going to go find your cousin and if you don’t you can come with me. And hopefully, my uncle might pull some strings and help you out.” After speaking Benedict ate the last of the muffins.

 

   “So let’s say I don’t find my cousin, and go with you. What if you’re uncle does help me?”

 

   “Like I said, hopefully. Honestly I doubt he’d help anyone but himself. But if he helps you, I’d count you as innocent the moment he says ‘yes, I’ll help you.” Benedict finished his sentence in a deeper tone.

 

   “Are you really going to kill her? I mean you’re all the way here in Rablarg, how can your uncle possibly catch you? I just don’t get it, why don’t you run away.”

 

   “Hamilton, it’s not like I haven’t tried. I actually tried a million times, and each time he caught me and I was punished.”

 

   “He can’t possibly catch you now! You’re a whole country’s away!” Rose exasperated. I just don’t get it. He acts like there’s only on option. Kill or be killed.

 

   “If you don’t believe me I’ll show you, gosh.” Benedict turned away from Rose and lifted his shirt, revealing a mixture of white and pink scars. Speechless, she could only observe the marks of the embedded upon Benedict’s tan skin. They were all vertical, creating overlapping X’s.

 

   Lowering his shirt, Benedict spoke in an angry clenched voice, “Are you happy now?”

 

   “Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I didn’t think that it would be that serious. Sorry.” Near tears, Rose curled away from Benedict. Immediately, Benedict felt guilty for making her cry but his stubborn conscience was only thinking: Well she wanted to see, she wouldn’t believe me and now she does.

 

  Following his conscience, Benedict remained quiet. And so for the rest of the train ride, they both remained silent.

 

_______________________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

    “How many more pictures do we have, Johnson?”

 

   “Well, let’s see. There are about thirty to fifty staff pictures for every camp and another hundred to two hundred camper pictures, so then we multiply that by the ten camps we have to investigate. So I’m guessing about-“

 

    “Okay I get it Johnson. There are a lot of camp pictures we have to go through. But we have to narrow it down.” Pausing Phi, started to deduct which camps were most likely going to lead them to Loreas and their mystery guest.

 

 “Okay, so first we know that they’re taking the trains to get to Iesemse. So which camps are the closest to the station at Iesemse?”

   “Uh,” shifting through a mound of papers Alan found the information that Phi needed,” six of our ten camps.”

 

   “Okay. So…Now that we’ve narrowed it down. We have to find the reason why Loreas is going to Iesemse for a camp. Is she going to go meet someone? Is she going to kill another person? Is she going because of her mystery boy?” Phi thought aloud.

 

   “Guess I should’ve told you earlier but Loreas’ cousin Ecgurt is in a camp in Iesemse.”

 

   “What?! Well spit it out, Johnson, which one?” Phi’s eyebrow was slightly twitching. This was the third or so time that Alan had withheld information from him. Important information.

 

   “I don’t exactly remember but it was some kind of survival camp.”

 

   “How many are here in Iesemse?”

 

   “Four, but they all don’t disclose customer’s information.”

 

   “Damn.” Phi paused, deciding what to do next. “Guess we'll just have to visit the camps for ourselves.”

 

 

   A gentle gust of snow lightly kissed Rose’s face as she exited the train’s doors. “Look Benedict, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude on your life. Sorry.”

 

   “It’s okay, Ham. I shouldn’t have been so straight forward with you anyways.” He gave Rose a small pat of comfort. “Well off to camp!”

 

   Later at the camp:

 

   “Your references are in order and you two seem like good boys. Welcome to the Camp.” Myra Knabs greeted the two boys, who were now new counselors at her camp. “You two will be in charge of Cabin Eight.”

 

   “How will we find Flame and Kira? This place is huge.” whispered Rose.

 

   “The occupants of Cabin Eight are Kira Kray, Fredrick Ecgurt and Ryan Kray,” read Benedict loud enough so that only Rose would hear. “You shouldn't ask stupid questions, Hamilton.”

 

   “Laugh it up all you want but you had the paper. So how am I supposed to know if you had the papers? Don’t say stupid things, Benedict.” replied Rose.

 

   Arriving at Cabin Eight, Rose asked Benedict, “So how are you going to get Kray to follow you?”

 

   “Why I’m going to get her to trust me of course,” scoffed Benedict. Opening the doors of Cabin Eight, Rose prepared herself for the confrontation of her cousin. Instead she was surprised by happened next. “Are you two the new camp counselors?” Flame observed the two new arrivals, and reached out a hand to the blond one, “I could’ve sworn I’ve met you before.”

 

   “You’ve forgotten,” a shocked mumbled answered Flame as Rose shook his hand. How could he have forgotten me?! He came up with this entire disguise, Rose panicked.

 

   “Excuse me?” Flame finished shaking Benedict’s own hand. “Well I’m Fredrick Ecgurt, but everyone calls me Flame. He’s Ryan, and that’s Kai.” Two brunettes sitting next to each other waved their hands in recognition. “We usually get free time until dinner, so may you two should get aquatinted with the camp. I can show you around, if you want.” Flame suggested.

 

   “We’ll be fine. But Flame can I talk to you?” Rose gestured Flame outside, “Flame, what does the name Rose Loreas mean to you?”

 

   “She’s my cousin. She’s also the murderer on the loose, but I know she didn’t do it. We were close and I still don’t think, even with all they’ve said about her, that she did it.”

 

   “Oh, I was just wondering. I guess me and Benedict will go around the camp now.” He wasn’t acting either! At first I thought he was just keeping it a secret from his friends and stuff. But he seriously doesn’t remember me. Those thoughts ran around Rose’s mind as she rushed over to Benedict. “C’mon we have to look around the camp.” she said nervously.

 

   “What was that all about?” inquired Benedict.

 

   “He doesn’t remember me. Not one bit.”

 

   “What do you mean he doesn’t remember? He made the disguise and everything. I think anyone would’ve remembered helping out their cousin hide from the police.”

 

   “Well he doesn’t and I don’t know why. What am I going to do now?” Rose kicked an innocent pebble.

 

   “Honestly, you didn’t have much to do in the first place. But the offer still stands; you can come with me if you like.”

 

   “That reminds me; I thought Kira Kray was in there. Isn’t Kira a girl’s name?” Cabin Eight was filled with three boys and that was it. Flame her cousin, Ryan the chubby kid with brown hair, and Kai the kid with the glasses.

 

   “She’s going under the alias Kai Ross. Her dad, Vick Kray, convinced Flame to make her a disguise to in order to trick my uncle. That’s how I figured out you were a girl so quickly, I recognized the mask designs.” As Benedict explained, Myra approached them.

 

   “Are you two settling in alright?”

 

   “We’re fine thank-you.” Politely thanking Myra for her hospitality, Benedict gave her a sunny smile.

 

   “Well, I forgot to hand you two the camp’s schedule for tomorrow.” Myra handed them the two envelopes and ran off.

 

   “I have a question. Let’s say that Kray was sent to another cabin or camp, what would you do then?”

 

   “Easy, my uncle would just send me over there. He has his ways.”

 

   “You make him sound like he has the power to rule the world.” scoffed Rose.

 

   “He does,” Benedict answered bluntly.

 

   “Right,” mocked Rose.

 

   Benedict didn’t answer. This made Rose feel either worried or regretful. Benedict’s uncle seemed to be a touchy subject for him at times but sometimes he joked about him. She didn’t want to make Benedict mad, not after the train incident. She was worried too, his uncle sound like someone very powerful. Sometimes having too much power could make one a little crazy. Was Benedict a victim of his uncle’s delusional state?

 

 

   “I’m sorry sir, but I can not give you the information you need, no matter who you work for.” The camp director was obviously on his last nerve.

 

   “But please, can’t you help us find this murderer and bring her to justice? All we needed are the name of your campers.” pleaded Alan.

 

   “For the last time sir, I can not disclose information about our campers.”

 

   “Please.”

 

   “Fine, I will allow you to ask questions around the grounds. But only if you promise me that you will leave the camp alone after you finish your questioning.”

 

   “Thank-you!”

 

   Alan exited the camp office content, triumphantly announcing his success. “See I told you if I only asked the camp people a million times that they’d let us.”

 

   Phi rolled his eyes. “You owe me five ruugers. No one can resist my charm.” Rolling his eyes again, Phi begins to scout the camp grounds for a red headed boy.

 

   “What if the boy’s not here?” Following Phi was quite a task for the much shorter boy.

 

   “Well, we’ll just have to go to the other camp.” Phi drew nearer to a lanky blonde boy about fourteen or thirteen. “Hey you!”

 

   The boy turned, and pointed to himself. “Yes you, have you seen a red head kid about thirteen? His name should be Flame.”

 

   “Nope haven’t heard of a kid named Flame, you might want to ask Johnny though. He’s the kid wearing the hood over there.”

 

  And thus begin the circle of kids Phi interrogated, who all kept in a circle for the remainder of the day. This is going to be a very long day, he thought detestably.

 

 

  

   “Everyone up!” Rose shouted enthusiastically. Benedict already awake, commenced to pull the covers from each boy’s bed. An ensemble of groans responded to the lost of warmth.

 

   “It looks like you boys have kitchen duty today.”

 

   “Well have fun.” Benedict said leaving.

 

   “I don’t think so; counselors participate in whatever activity their designated campers have.” The confident voice of ‘Kai’ spoke sassily.

 

   “You had fun saying that didn’t you?” Benedict retorted.

 

   “Yes, I did.” ‘Kai’ stuck out his tongue. “We’ll just have to see how long you last, counselor.”

 

   “We’ll just have to see how long you last, you little twerp.”

 

   The small group, led by Flame, entered the kitchen. “You the onion cabin?” a strong hurried voice commanding to know yell over to them.

 

   “Yes?” Rose said slowly.

 

   “Well, come on no time to waste. The onions are over there lads.” The stout lady pointed to a room in the back. “Peel them, and then put them in the buckets, simple as that.” She rushed over to the other catastrophes of the small kitchen.

 

   Pulling over one of the aprons already placed in the room, she picked up a knife and started to peel. After an hour with the only sounds of the onion’s thumps from landing into the buckets, there was an awkward 3 minutes of some ones squealing Benedict’s name.

 

   “Oh my god, I haven’t seen you in forever sweetie pie.” The two girls were in unison with every single word. They both had long blond hair and were about Flame’s age. Wearing tan t-shirts and green skirts, they were taller than Rose and shorter than Benedict.

 

   “So how have you been,” one of the twins flirted shamelessly in a high squeakily annoying voice in Rose’s opinion.

 

   “Oh, who’s your friend?” the other noticed Rose and stated in an equally irritating pitch.

 

   “I’m Rachel and she’s Rebecca.”

 

   “And we’re free anytime, baby.”

 

   Rose blushed, turning her head away and focusing on the onions. “Hah! Like either of them would be interested in you two ugly dogs.” exclaimed ‘Kai’.

 

   “I’m going to kill you one day Kia Ross,” declared Rebecca from Benedict’s side. 

 

    “What is this I’m hearing about killing each other?” Myra appeared from behind the door. Rachel and Rebecca immediately straightened themselves out. “Nothing ma’am.”

 

   “Now you girls act civilized. We don’t need some rowdy girls to add up with the problematic boys we already have.” Myra gave Ryan and ‘Kai’ a look.

 

   “I hope that they didn’t cause you any trouble.” She directed her attention to Benedict. As if on cue Flame snuck behind Myra holding an onion up. He gave ‘Kai’ and Ryan thumbs up. Ryan shook his head, while ‘Kai’ lurched forward grabbing the onion out of Flame’s hand. “Why you little–“Myra started, but stopped as she clasped ‘Kai’s arm. “You’re coming with me.”

 

   “Where do you think she went?” Rose questioned Benedict after the chore. The group was now in their cabin, resting after the long day.

 

   “Let’s go find out.” Rose raised an eyebrow at Benedict’s request, but tagged on anyways. They circled around until they located Myra’s cabin. There was a sole window, above both of tier heads.

 

   “Hey, Ham give me a lift.”

 

   “Are you kidding, you beat me by at least seventy pounds. Let me go up, I'm smaller and I weigh less.” Benedict chuckled, “Fine whatever.” He bent down, waiting for Rose to perch on top his shoulders. “Okay, ready?”

 

   “Yeah.” Finding her balance on top of Benedict, Rose peered into the lavish room. ‘Kai’ was seated on a maroon stool and Myra was tinkering with a music box.

 

    “You can take off you mask now.” Myra said calmly.

 

   “What are you talking about?” There was surprise then panic within ‘Kai’s face.

 

   “I know you’re a girl, I’m going to tell you one more time. Take. Off. The. Mask.” Myra was slightly agitated now. ‘Kai’ was backing up to the door.  “I. Don’t. Think. So.” She matched Myra’s mono-tone voice. Pulling the door open, Myra tried to grab her, and when she couldn’t Myra inject ‘Kai’ with some kind of drug.

 

   “Benedict let me down now.” As soon as Rose was put down, Myra screamingly demanded, “Catch him!”

 

   “Well, we should oblige the lady.” Benedict hooted as he chased after ‘Kai’. Rose sprinted after him, as he entered the forest. She didn’t have to go far. “She just passed out.” clarified Benedict.

 

   “Why are you two boys out so late?” Myra was instructing them to go to the infirmary, for the girl’s side of the camp.

 

   “Jet lag,” lied Benedict without hesitation.

 

   “Kai Ross won’t be in your cabin anymore, he’ll be transferring.”

 

   As Rose left the infirmary with Benedict, she noticed Benedict’s fidgeting state. “You okay, Benedict?”

 

   “I have to ask my uncle for help.” He said through clenched fists.

 

   “Don’t worry; after all you did kind of expect this to happen.”

 

   “I guess,” he removed a cell phone from his pocket. “Hello, Uncle. Kray has–“Benedict looked surprise then outraged, “Okay then, thank-you Uncle.”

 

   “Well then?”

 

   “He has someone watching me, so he already knows. Uncle told me that Travis will be convincing Myra to transfer us over to wherever she’s keeping Kray.”

 

   “Who’s Travis?”

 

   “My babysitter at the moment, he supposes to be giving me a call when it’s done. We better get back to the cabin and pack.”

 

   On their way back to the cabin, Benedict’s phone rung. He paused and listened. “Travis took care of it now, we just have to go get our stuff and meet Myra over at the girl’s camp.”

 

   “No need little man.” announced a deep voice in the shadows. A fat man dropped two bags to the dirt ground. 

 

   “Hello Travis,” Benedict said coldly.

 

   “Still bitter? You know, you did kind of bring this on yourself.” Nimbly Travis materialized to Benedict’s side, throwing his thick arm around him making Benedict stumble.

 

   “Leave, we can make the rest of the trip by ourselves.” Uncaringly he threw Travis’s arm from his shoulder. “Well I’ll be watching, little man.” shrugged Travis, disappearing into the darkness.

 

   “Whoa, where’d he go?” Rose asked astonished.

 

   “He’s just fast, we better hurry.” Benedict jogged ahead of Rose, his duffel bag bouncing along. Sighing Rose chased after him, muttering about how Benedict was being secretive again.

 

   “You Eric’s nephew?” Myra asked frankly.

 

   “Yeah, my friend is in this too.” He gestured to Rose.

 

   “Whatever, Eric just told me that I should transfer you over here to help me. My daughter is here in the camp, and she’s being a bit difficult. So I need you to make sure she doesn’t make a run for it, basically bodyguards. Right now, you two should get some sleep; your new room is over here.”

 

 

   Phi rubbed his head; they had finally left the first camp with only three more migraines to come. After surveying about fifty campers, each who held their own distasteful personalities, he concluded that Loreas was not in that particular camp. Damn, only three more to go, sipping his coffee Phi thought bitter thoughts.

 

   “I bet you another ten ruugers that I can get the next camp to let us investigate.” Alan smirked as he gratefully drank the steaming cocoa. “Deal,” said Phi giving into Alan’s youthful nature.

 

   “So who do we have the pleasure to talk to now?” sarcasm coated Phi’s voice like sugar laced his coffee. Quickly, Alan’s eyes roamed horizontally to the paper he was holding. “Some lady by the name of Myra Knabs, been working on her camp for years now.”

 

   Then Alan was silent, an occurrence that was rare and meant bad things were to come. “Alan, what’s wrong?” Using his first name meant that Phi was severely concerned. “She has connections with Tu.”

 

   “Oh.” Eric Tu was a subject touchy for the both of them. Tu was known for numerous illegal acts, yet he was never brought to justice. Every single time another excuse was formed. One of the cases that dated twelve years ago involved a bombing. The result was sixteen deaths, fourteen injuries and no one to blame. Though Tu was not actually in the bombing, he was the obvious instigator. Alan only seven at the time was then handed over to a foster home. After awhile, he sought out for his half brother informing him of their father’s death. Taking action Phi, who was only eighteen at the time, tried to arrest Tu for extortion but was only rewarded with the loss of his then current girlfriend.

 

   “You don’t think Tu’s involved in the Fiher murder do you?”

 

   “I don’t know, maybe. Pull up information on Tu; see if we got any new dirt on him.”

 

   Gracefully typing, Alan followed Phi’s commands. “Let’s see. He has some kind of relative, a boy seen around one of his mansions about three months ago.” He turned the laptop, to fit into Phi’s view.

 

   “It’s the kid that was with Loreas back at the airport and with the gypsies. If he’s with Loreas and related to Tu then something big bound to happen. We have to find them before he makes his move. Hurry!” Phi excitedly pulled on Alan’s sleeve.

 

   With a roll of his eyes Alan calmly enlightened Phi on the weather outside, “Phi, there’s a snow storm outside. We can’t go anywhere. So just enjoy your self in this nice cozy warm diner.” Then the lights went out. “What happened to enjoying myself, Johnson?”

 

 

 

   Benedict was not sure if the girl was being stubborn or that she just couldn’t sing. “Do! Re! Mi! So! La!” croaked Kira. ‘I think I’m deaf now.’ mouthed Rose who also had to sit through the torture with him. Maybe a little humor will liven up the mood, considered Benedict. Silently he mimed a theatrical opera singer bellowing out the same notes as Kira. Giggling Rose joined him.

 

   “Are you two mocking me?” Kira said with a scowl.

 

   “Kimberly Ann, please focus.” Guessing that Kimberly Ann was the fake name Kira had given Myra, Benedict was still trying to figure out why Myra kept her here. But then he was probably thinking too hard, besides it was more convenient.

 

   Later that night:

 

   “I was wondering something.” Rose placed her book onto the table that centered the room. “Those two girls that came in the other day and Kira, they all seem to know you already.”

 

   “Well they do. I told you that my uncle offered me freedom about two months ago, well a month ago he sent me to meet Kray. I moved to another house, one that was across from Kray’s. So her dad had this Welcome to the Neighborhood party, and I ended up spending the whole evening with this group of kids. We had some wicked fun too, vandalize the entire Lampting Lane and ended up having the cops drag us home.” Benedict sighed, that was a truly good memory even if it was created from lies created by his uncle.

 

   “Wow, sounded like fun.” Now it was Rose’s turn to sigh. Her entire life she never had more than the small fragments of happiness from her days with her parents. After they had died, she ended up trying to please Flame’s parents, trying not to be a burden.

 

   Abruptly Benedict jerked forward, alert. “Did you hear that?”

 

   “I don’t hear anything.” Shushing Rose, Benedict deciphered what or who was invading their cabin. There was another faint crack, most likely a tree branch. Then there was a knock. Swiftly picking up her book, Rose stood behind Benedict.

 

   “What are you going to do? Read them to death?” he teased. Swinging open the door, Benedict and Rose was exposed to Kira. “Help me.” she whispered. Rose was caught off guard, why would Kira need their help in anything? Apparently Benedict thought this too, as he beat her to the questioning.

 

   “Help with what?’’

 

   “Escaping of course,” Kira said rather cheekily for someone that was requesting help. Rose thought this over; maybe Benedict planned this some how. “And pray tell why should we help you?” Okays maybe he did, Rose guessed by the mocking tone he used. But then, he didn’t seem to have any other tone besides that one.

 

   “Because...if you don’t then I’ll scream that you raped me” Kira smirked knowing that he would most likely give in in the end, “and if you don’t I’ll die. Not to mention there’s some crazy lunatic coming around the corner, and he seems trigger happy. He keeps yelling your name too, Benedict.”

 

   Rose looked over to Benedict, reading his face. He had gone a shade paler. “We have to go now.” His voice was rushed, as he dragged Rose behind him. Clumsily he pulled a set of keys from his pocket.

 

   “Red truck, it’s at the end of the lot, hurry.” Kira lifted her long dress, following Benedict’s orders. Benedict charged ahead, leaving Rose struggling to catch up.

 

   BOOM! A shot was fired from behind them, bouncing into the dirt ground. Rose panicked. Where’s the red truck? I don’t see it anywhere. Her breath became ragged; Kira was just a few meters ahead. Benedict was nowhere to be seen. Another boom resounded. Except this time it didn’t hit ground. Overwhelmed with the pain, Rose slipped.

 

    “Stop!” Kira yelled.

 

   The shooter was still far behind. Benedict came into view, picking Rose up. “S**t.” Blood flowed down her wounded calf. Another shot launch and missed. Taking this chance for the shooter to reload, Benedict hastily carried Rose to the truck. Carefully placing her in the backseat, he shouted to Kira. “Kid you know how to drive?”

 

   “I’m twelve, what do you think,” Kira finally got a glance at Rose, “holy crap did the b*****d actually get a shot?”

  

   Benedict gravely nodded. The throbbing in her leg had worsened making her groan. And the shots were getting louder, a sign that whoever was shooting was getting closer. “I know enough to get by on,” Kira quickly added.

 

   Throwing the keys Benedict said “I’m going to try to stop the bleeding as best as I can back here. Just hurry out of here.” Rose felt the truck lurched forward. Everything had a soft edging to it now, the throbbing had advance to her ears. She listened to the pounding and began to feel herself sink into certain darkness.

 

   “Ham! Stay with me,” Benedict screamed to Rose. He pushed on the wound. She mewled at Benedict’s actions, jerking at the new found pain. The trees flew past at a speed that was not safe. Closing her eyes, Rose tried to find peace. When she opened them she heard Benedict yell at Kira. “WATCH OUT FO-“Then there was a blinding white light, melting everything into nothingness.

Author's Note

In my actual story, this isn't all of chapter two. But I don't to drown people when they read it here. Once again R&R please.