//------------------------------// // Camper's Intro // Story: Super Camp // by Rudefeline //------------------------------// He kept a hand on his hat. The wind blew in the evening. The scrubby shrubbery leaning sideways. He carried the sack over his back. A thing of potatoes from the trader up the road. It had been a hard month. The shack was falling apart and the storms seemed to just be getting worse. The place seemed to be as sturdy as a tree when he was a kid. Dad was a space marine. Mom was from a world not so far from here. She always talked about going back there one day. Said it was her soul. A land she described with the people who she lived with. The ocean, she told them about the ocean. The seagulls squawking and the stoney beaches with groves of seaweed. She had an old picture album on her holotape. Photos of a crab in the mud, and Dad by her side. Then the time rolled around. When it all went east. Where the sun rises. He had a mattress hidden in the leaky basement. He curled up on the thing and ignored the cutting wind. Pain was no longer a thing he cared about. He woke every morning, his back aching, leg bleeding, and nearly frozen. That trader said he was lucky to be alive. He didn’t agree. Waking up, he felt better than most nights before. He knew that he had to leave his home. He grabbed up his revolver and pushed open the back door. The sky was blue and only a few clouds rolled on by. All that gravely sand looked yellow from here. It took an hour of walking to reach the healthy valley beyond the shack. He stood at its apex looking down on the herd of gollopogoose. He extended out his two arms keeping the revolver’s sights trained on a thin one. The deer-like creature was colored a drab yellow and had a single cavernous nostril on its muzzle. The soft flat-headed skin at the nostril looked raw. He aimed for its center of mass of one, a prosperous stud. He took a shot and sheltered his eyes from the sun. The gollopogoose ran for a hundred feet in plain view and collapsed next to a bit of scrub. He sighed and picked up his legs in the direction of the goose. It was a hot day and even he was sweating. Over years of living about his planet, he had grown a resistance to the heat, but there is no immunity to the harsh orb above. He used a bandana to rub away the sweat on his brow as he treaded the final stretch before the carcass. He jogged to the goose’s flank and said “You went down easier than I thought ya would.” He talked to himself because he knew his voice needed the exercise. He took his knife and stooped down next to it. He made a cut along its stomach. But that’s when he heard the hiss. The slithering in sand next to him. He froze up and his hand sweated and dripped down the knife’s grip. He slowly shifted his head towards the snake, but the thing flared into his eyes. He clenched his eyelids shut and felt the hot scales on his forearm and tried pulling the long thing off. He felt this horrible stinging in his nose. He tossed the snake away, and covered the burning sensation that begun to permeate from the bridge of his nose. He needed to cry, he wanted to keep his eyes shut. The sun turned to gleaming diamonds with a heaping of nearly white yellow sand. He stared at the sun, his mind wandering the valley, chew the branches. After a meal of leaves he woke up. Sun leaning on his red ankle. He struggled to his feet, wiping his nose, his hand returned with crimson pooling in its palm. The Wheels of Confusion took ahold of him when he was hurt. Knocking him around a different world, they were not always strange, some were fairly normal. Like the one he entered, it was more or less the same. Everytime he awoke from being caught in the confusing spokes his wounds were, for the most part, healed. He still bleed, but the poison did not kill him. He resumed butchering the goose. Later he got his pack, returned to the carcass, and bring it back to the shack. After that, he could sell some of the goose’s parts to the old guy. But lunch first. He sat at the firepit prodding the cooking meat. It was roasting to a pleasant smoky brown. He stabbed the thing and set it on his dish he washed last night. He cut and forked away for an hour till he was stuffed. He resolved to picking himself up and walking to the trader. He wanted that generator. The generator he had been working towards for three years. The trader once offered to give it to him, he would not take it. He resented the trader for a few weeks, not going to sell the stuff he had, but eventually he had to return. And on this day he was going to accomplish that goal. He was only a few local dollars away from buying it. The horns sold for double what he needed.   As he perched the final descent before the sturdy building of the trader, he noticed the van parked several hundred feet away, on the highway’s curb. He shuffled down the hillside and hugged the back of the building. Keeping his revolver closed to raised. He moved across the gravel and rocky sand with care. Deftly using his boots to approach the front door. The sound of foreign voices bounced off the metal walls. He shook his head and ran back up the hill, little dusty rocks falling down the incline. He ran all the way home, quickly dipping in and stomping down his stairs. He was in too much of a hurry and a loose step gave way under his heel. He tipped sideways “F-” his head cracked off a rusty nail and gushed blood. The dirty stake was halfway into his head. He retreated into the wheels and spokes again. ` They held her hoof as she waited. Her eyes were puffy and red. “It’ll only be a minute.” The nurse assured her. “I’m sure it’s nothing, but be prepared.” She sat in a bustling waiting room. Sandshell looked up to the nurse. The nurse looked away embarrassed “Sorry… just the hospital has been busy. Humans have been getting it like nobody’s business. It's a minor affliction, it’s basically just a subtle mental disability.” She put a hoof on the other mare's “No way a pony can get it. Don’t worry.” “Where’s my father?” “He’s been informed, he’s on the way don’t worry, Cutie Pie” “Thanks.” “It’s my job.” She held Sandshell’s hoof for a while, but then someone called her into a room with a man who was writhing. “Just wait here, I’ll try to be right back.” She trotted into the room and pulled the blue screen closed. She couldn’t shake a bad feeling in her gut. She felt sick too. Headache firmly in effect, she was used to them. When dad had to work and she was sick, she’d stay home by herself, simply dealing with the pain. But lately her father has been much more attentive. Sandshell’s head beat like a drum. More than normal. She held her temples. Dad was dashing down the hospital hall, looking at his baby. Something channeled through her mind. She fought it back with all her might. She fell sideways off the chair. Head matted with sweat. Dad came near and spoke panicked “Baby, what’s wrong?” “My head hurts!” “We’ll get you some medicine. Doctor!” “Oh god!” He picked his daughter up with his magic and carried her to a room. He placed on the bed and doctors filtered in. They were much more casually dressed, carrying cases. Some ponies, some humans. They moved with practiced speed as they set their devices in the room. All of this was over in a gust of wind. Her eyes scrunched and moist. Brown furred, she was nearly a mare. Her father hovered nearby, waiting for a word to be said. A stallion in glasses asked while attaching a few things to Sandshell. “So she started this just yesterday?” “Yeah, no warning. Head hurting when she was near the other students, ponies or people in general.” “Can you think of anything sir?” “No.” They fixed the last wire to the machine and the display next to the hospital bed turned on. It was an image of the brain’s frontal lobe and its interaction with the other pieces. One of the stallion’s eyes went wide and he looked at the head doctor “Do you see that?” The waves of energy of course went to the spine and communicated passively with her limbs, but there was also something else in the middle of her chest. It wrapped its tentacles around her heart. A disgusting black mass that absorbed every wave of red energy sent to it. “Couldn’t be, but it is.” He practically put his eyes on the screen. “Ponies don’t get the parasite.” “Alright, the humans get medicated for them, can she?” “I honestly don’t know. That's the largest parasite I have seen. And we've never tried the medication on ponies.” “What’s wrong, Doctor?” Sandshell spoke and struggled through the beating. He was totally thrown off guard. “She shouldn't be able to talk.” He walked to her side. “Go to sleep, it’s better that way.” He silently motioned for another doctor to get some anesthesia. “No! It hurts so bad, my brain is going to explode.” She cupped her ears and tears swelled from her clenched eyes. “Shit.” He looked at the display, as the other doctor was injecting the drugs in her backside. The red energy started to culminate rather than be absorbed, a new purplish blob formed. The screen went black and he turned to her. Her body was floating, the items around the hospital table too. She kicked at the air. He screeched and Sandshell’s face grimaced. Her father ran up and tried to bring her to earth. Wrapping his hooves and pulling “Sweetie, please!”   The lights all went a pure godly white, the sun like diamonds, gleamed and reflected its radiant heat. It sizzled and then it burned, then the inferno encircled her entire body. Then came the sound of screaming, she kicked at it, it scared her. They were all bad! Her ears must have been deaf after that. She felt her fur burn. Terrible smelled whisked away by incineration. The spell had passed. She awoke in the ashes of a city and her father’s too. ` His fingers flicked and lit it. The two spritely sprinted out of the dark room. “This some crazy shit.” “It’s only the beginning. We have forever.” The shed exploded into a million little pieces, smoke pluming up into the beautiful blue sky. A perfect day. His mouth agape in a huge smile. His short cropped blonde hair falling to the side of the head. The red Slam-a-Cola t-shirt he wore on the weekends. Johnny WaBuxom, neighborhood legend. His little brother next to him, Jimmy WaBuxom. Jimmy was the kid to get into anything, and he loved his afternoons with his big bro. They hanged a mile or two behind their house. Taking their allowance to their uncle, Jack WaBuxom, and having him buy their bottle rockets. But that was not a bottle rocket, that was a full-fledged Boom Co. Bunker Buster. Not mentioning they always had to slip uncle some extra for a brew. He ran headlong through the woods a few moments after the big boom, because he thought he heard dad in the distance. “C’mon, hurry up, Jimmy!” He pointed to the old shelter they found a few days ago. The green had overtaken the concrete walls on the sides of the stairs. Above, the big-top oaks created eerie shadows on the steps. The little shadow leaves lightly swaying in the cool breeze. Thick smell of decaying leaves. “No, Johnny. It looks scary.” “Don’t be a puss.” “Don’t call me that!” “Shh!” He used a finger to separate his lips into two symmetrical pieces. “Whatever…” He stepped down the stairs, carefully. His old jean overalls dragged the dust on the cuffs of his feet. Johnny pushed the door and it opened with a funny creaking sound. Jimmy clung to Johnny’s side as they pushed further. They explored the shelter for an hour. Finding old canned food, broken bottles, cigarette butts, fire pits, smoky ceilings, and broken toys. Till they neared the last door in the dank place. Johnny plugged his nose and without even smelling he followed suite. “There’s something in there. Smells like a dead mouse, worse.” Johnny put his hand on the door and pulled it towards him. The thing swung open and a bout of light met the thing. It was skin colored, but there was a sure presence of a rotting greenish grey color. Johnny threw the thing shut again and held his forehead against the door. “Get dad.” He was breathing heavy into his cottony sleeve. Jimmy spoke up, disturbed “W-what was that?” “Go ya nitwit!” Johnny yelled. Jimmy ran as fast as his feet could take him. Shoes getting all scuffed up. He felt hot tears at his eyes. He jogged up the stairs and ran till he tripped. His knee hit hard off an old root and scratched up the fabric of the pants, blood seeping through. He shed wet tears right there. He couldn’t help thinking about what was back there. Just asking himself, Was that a body? Was that a body? Was that a body? A bundle of leaves crunched under someone else’s feet and he looked up to the shadowy silhouette above. He recognized his father anywhere. If you didn’t know him, he was a quiet guy, but being so close to him brought out his best side. He cared and made them laugh when he needed to. But he was always worried about his other family members being around the youngsters. He didn’t like their snide remarks. Always talking about what a boy or a man is. That his kids needed to learn manners. “What’s the problem, Buster?” “J-Johnny found something out here.” He used his dry palm to wipe away the tears on his red cheeks. “What kind of something? Bad?” Jimmy nodded. His father’s name was Elias. He kneeled down and picked little Jimmy up. His hair was black and pressed down. Elias asked Jimmy where to go, his son pointed the way, he set Jimmy at the top of the stairs, and walked down them. Jimmy waited a long time above. He heard Johnny yell something he couldn’t quite understand. Jimmy’s feet were trembling. He saw dad walking quickly up the stairs, he was grabbing Johnny’s wrist. “Get off me!” Johnny yelled. “We gotta go!” Elias pulled Johnny off his feet and dragged him up the stairs. Elias screeched and stopped in his tracks. His hand was burning and turning to embers almost immediately. His face tensed up and looked in awful pain, he smacked his hand on the wall and it turned to ashy bits. Elias got angry, but didn’t know what to do on that staircase. He ended up running, asking them to follow along. The journey through the meek forest took several extra minutes before they arrived at the stoop. Elias using his shirt to wrap the wound. It had started to crack and gush along the way. He was paler than they had ever seen him. Their mother caught the boy's footsteps and threw open the storm door. “What in Sam Hill is going on?” Her jeans clung to her and her hair was wrapped held in a bandana. She looked at the two boys expectantly, but caught sight of the bloody shirt Elias was holding between his knees “Eli?” She crouched down and took his big arm. The shirt was ripped, torn, and soaked in blood. “What happened?” “I don’t know, Sheena, bu-” “It was me.” Johnny interrupted with shimmering eyes and his cracking voice She frowned, slapped him hard across the forehead, and took him by the hair. He whined, but resigned as she spoke a few decisive words to him. Elias stood to walk into the garage. “Don’t you need the doctor, Dad?” “No, no. No doctor could ever help your old daddy.” He plucked a cigarette out of his jeans pocket and planted it between his lips. He smoked it for a while near the crank phone, thinking about something. Jimmy secretly hoped it was to call the ambulance. Jimmy kept himself busy with a wrench. “That’s not a toy, Jim.” He kept his eye on the garage door to the innerhouse. “Sorry, Daddy.” Elias picked up a bottle of alcohol on the mechanic’s shelf nearby. He undid the cap. The whole time, yelling bled through the walls. There was a bang inside and Elias dropped the bottle it shattered and he stepped with his bare feet through it. Blood trailing behind every step he took. He pushed open the garage door. The smell of wood burning pervaded the kitchen the garage bordered on. He called into the house “Sheena? John?” Johnny ran out of the hall, completely an infero. Like a burning ballet dancer twisting through the kitchen space. Elias sprung to the sink and filled a bucket with water. He barely turned enough and thrusted the bucket at the boy. The flying water broke the flames only for a moment, although Johnny screamed in response. Elias screamed at Jimmy to leave, but he was frozen watching his brother since birth roast in a fury of flame. Elias huffed and ran to Jimmy picking him up in his arms. Jimmy’s head still over his father’s shoulder watching the wall burst to flames and an arm reaching towards him. He reached back. Elias ran around the house and found Sheena backing away from the house, tears draining the makeup around her eyes. He stared back, he could see the flames through the melting plastic screen window. He took he to the front and sat her on the curb. Jimmy said “A neighbor called the fire station.” Elias ruffled his hair, Elias’s eyes also teary “Good boy.” He looked at his wife and barely uttered what he had to “What happened?” She looked up. She looked directly into his eyes “I don’t know.” They all turned around and watched the blaze blaze. It was an hour before the flames were tamed. The firefighters had beat the fire back swiftly and searched the house’s innards. They dragged out a body, a black ashy body. Sheena ran with tears falling like streams. She skirted her son’s body and looked at him. His flesh was surprisingly not burned. She lit up and called back to Elias “He looks ok!” “Missus, he died from smoke inhalation.” “No, look at him!” The boy’s chest raised and fell. The firefighter tore off his helmet and brought an ear to Johnny’s ashy heart. The signature heart beating met his hearing. He stood and ran over to the paramedics. Johnny’s eyes opened, they were all red and bloodshot. His chest shuddered, he sat up, and coughed up coaly-black mucus on his hands. Elias looked down onto his son as if he just been given a gift “WaBuxoms don’t die.” He picked up a rag and wiped some ashy black off his cheek “‘Cept when they do.” Time passed so fast then on. Johnny was in an interrogation room before he bat an eyelash. He was then forced to show the police his powers. A flicker of fire between his fingers. Nothing more than that normally. He was special somehow. They told him about a place he could learn better about his powers. Where they would teach him to control the strange effects. But he abjected. They made him sure it wasn’t going to be optional. He said his goodbyes to his parents and held his brother’s hands. His brother’s hands trembled. Johnny looked him in the eyes and spoke sagely “This is only the beginning. We have forever.” ` The wheels started to sputtering and halted to a stop. He felt the nail push out of his head. Clank on the wood and roll away. There was a greasy bulb hanging above on a single stringy wire. It was bright and yellow.  He stared directly into the orb. A southern twanged voice sound off a few feet away from his right ear “Gross power.” “Interesting, I think.” A sweeter voice spoke with a more educated tone. He sat up as quick as he could, reaching for his belt. Nothing was there. He rolled off the table without looking and impacted on the carpet. He got one glance up and caught the trader’s indifferent brown eyes “Calm down.” He kneeled down and used an arm to bar any escape. He sat the kid up in the chair. The kid frowned and looked disinterested. “What do you people want?” “Ponies, right now.” He looked and saw two colorful horse sitting on two different chairs, next to each other. One had a blonde mane that swooped over two emerald eyes and an array of freckles. The other horned one had a dark blue and pink highlighted mane with purple eyes to match her fur. He blushed and turned away. He had not met a pony in years. “Would you like to live somewhere you’ll be provided for?” Asked the studious mare. “No.” “I understand wanting to be alone, survive for ya self, but it’s a lonely life” Applejack spoke sweetly too. “No.” Twilight swiftly followed up. “We want to help you understand what happened.” He looked the lavender mare in the eyes “What do you know?” “Some military men came by one day, couldn’t find anybody, not the woman who had a child there, nor the marine, and especially not the poor baby surely by himself.” Twilight looked into his eyes. “What do you want me to do?” “Go to camp, a few hundred miles away. There’s gonna be kids with powers like yours, not exactly like yours, similar.” “Alright.” “I promise you answers along with some help with the strange powers.” “How did you know I had powers?” “You’ve had a brush with the law.” “I don’t remember that.”   “We’ll see about your memory too.” “How did you get here?” Twilight quirked her head, “A van.” “No. In your position in life.” “Oh, I see.” She place a hoof under her head. “I wanted to help kids who couldn’t help themselves.” “There are hundreds of kids without powers that could be helped.” “I feel bad about the tragedy that seems to follow the powered ones, they need the most help.” “Other kids?” Twilight smiled “Yeah, you’re first we’ve sought.” Joseph asked sheepishly. “Ok, can I keep the gun?” ...Camper(‘)s End