Chapter 9
“Wesley?” Amie asked, confused. They were alone in his office. Mr. Albrecht still dressed, though he was one of the few staff members to bother wearing so much. Amie herself had modified a rain-coat for the wettest days, but that was all. Within the first few days, “wearing clothes” had solidified as something the “camp” people did. Those who went out into the wild—hiking through mud and dirt and sometimes camping for a few days—wore only practical things.
“I know Wes, he wouldn’t cause trouble. He’s still pulling his weight with the other hunters.”
It was still a little intimidating to be around someone like Mr. Albrecht, who retained so much humanity despite all he had been through. At least a little inspiring, too.
Mr. Albrecht clicked his tongue once, disapproving. “I have heard otherwise. But that isn’t why I called you here. How much any one person can reinforce our food supplies is not the only concern. The issue is that we’re leaving untapped resources. I’ve spoken with Mrs. Sobol about this more than once. Your brother has some… unique mutations. His ability to overcome our limitations in diet might suggest… all kinds of things I don’t understand.
“I’ve called you here to make a request. Persuade him to volunteer with the nurse for ongoing study. He’ll be well-treated, and we’ll be able to get the information that might save all of camp from starvation. You know as well as anyone how likely we are to raise enough chicken eggs to feed this many people through winter.”
She kept her expression neutral. She could only hope that would translate to her emotions as well, because she had no way of stopping those from leaking out. Deep breaths. Stay calm. “So you’re saying he would… check into the clinic, and not help with hunting anymore?”
He nodded. “I know this might sound harsh, or unfair. He’s done nothing wrong. You have carried the weight of a dozen campers on your shoulders and more, with that hunting team you lead. But what are we supposed to do when faced with starvation in an alpine winter? We have to see what he has that we don’t. That means more intensive study.”
“I’ll talk to him about it,” she lied. “It feels like it should be his decision to make. I can’t force him to do anything.”
She couldn’t force anyone. There were at least a dozen campers missing now, along with a few staff. All had wandered down the mountain and never returned.
“That’s a good place to start,” he said. “You can tell him that. Persuade him to volunteer. But understand that if he doesn’t… it will get unpleasant for all involved. When it comes to the survival of the thousand campers and hundreds of staff, I am not gambling with lives.”
“I… yeah.” She shivered, rising from her seat. “I’ll go tell him. You want him to report tomorrow morning?”
He nodded once. “I’m sorry to ask this of you, Amie. You’ve been a tremendous service to Stella Lacus Adventure Camp since the Transit. I don’t know where we would be without you.”
She hurried out of his office, before she could reveal more than she already did. As soon as she was out onto the gravel road, she broke into a run, darting up the hill for the Pioneering building as fast as her footless stump-legs could carry her.
Her wings buzzed as she ran, and sometimes it even felt like they might lift her right off the ground and carry her through the air. But that was probably her imagination, dropping her back down almost as swiftly as she flew.
He must know I don’t like the idea. How much could he feel?
They couldn’t read minds, she had learned that much over the last month. But even basic feelings were a lot of information. Her dissatisfaction and rebellion couldn’t be invisible to him, right? He had to know what they meant.
But she heard nothing on the radio as she ran. She eventually grew breathless, slowing as she reached the building. The act of running was enough to draw attention from other campers, when stability was the chief good Stella Lacus provided.
Her hunting team would not be asleep, despite the hour. They had all abandoned even the pretense of sleeping, and used the time for relaxation or other social activities. With one exception.
She waved at her students as she passed, but ignored their obvious gestures to converse. She had something more important in mind.
She’d converted the building’s custodial closet to a bedroom for herself and her brother—which really just meant Wes, since she never slept more than twenty minutes a night. Mostly it was somewhere to keep her notes, and have some time to herself if the pressure got to her.
Wes was already asleep inside, curled in his hammock. She clicked the door shut behind her, before reaching up to nudge his shoulder. “Wes. Wes, don’t freak out. But I need you to wake up.”
He twitched, then sat up abruptly. At least he was a light enough sleeper that he didn’t completely freak out. “Amie? What’s up?”
“Still keep that bag of camping gear packed?” she whispered.
It took him a second to reply. While she waited, she flicked the light on, making him hiss and recoil in pain. At least those still worked, with the same power that kept the buildings warm. When winter came and they had nothing to eat, they would be warm behind comfortable windows.
“Didn’t have to do that!” His annoyance grew into anger. He was still groggy enough that confusion dominated over all. “What is this about?”
She hopped up onto the stool beside his hammock, speaking directly over him. “I just got out of a meeting with Albrecht. He wants me to ask you to volunteer for the nurse’s office.”
He groaned, but finally sat up. “That’s… bad? I don’t mind helping with sick campers. I know there’s some gross stuff in there too.”
She swore under her breath. “I don’t mean like that. I mean they’d be studying you.”
“Oh.” He sighed. “What more do they want? I already let them poke me and take samples and x-rays and everything.”
“Exactly! Whatever it is… Albrecht thinks you’re the key to saving camp. He got all ‘greater good’ with me. I don’t want to believe he would do anything to hurt you, but it sounds like he’s willing to do anything to learn what makes you different.”
Wes’s annoyance and anger were gone by now, replaced with raw, powerful fear. Now he understood why she’d forced him awake in the middle of the night. How could he argue? “I’m screwed.”
“No.” She nudged his shoulder with her nose. “If he wants you, he’ll have to get through my dead body first. Get up, get your jacket, and any camping supplies you have. We have to get out of here.”
He was still sluggish and sleepy, but Wes obeyed. He stumbled out of bed, then over to the dresser. His bag was already packed. Hers always was, since she left on frequent hunting trips that sometimes took her overnight. She shrugged it on, then took a few extra moments to pack away things she usually left behind. A few books brought from home, a picture of her parents, her phone charger… all went in along with the camping supplies.
Wes stopped in place, watching her. Tears welled from his eyes, and he stammered a few seconds before finally managing to speak. “Y-you… you’re coming with me?”
She felt something overwhelming next. It was the greatest, most filling meal she’d ever had. She felt his love, gratitude, and loyalty, flowing so freely that they were almost solid in the air. These were feelings as deep as any human could experience, coming from someone who thought they were doomed. “You don’t have to do that. Everyone loves you here. You have campers depending on you. You’re—”
She wouldn’t have changed course even without the strange feeling. Amie put one hoof on his shoulder, meeting his eyes. “You’re my brother, Wes. And you’re only at Adventure Camp because I pressured you. No matter what happens, I’m bringing you home.”
She tossed his modified jacket off the hook for him. Then she bent down, tightening the straps around his shoulders with her mouth
“You think th-that… we can really get away? There are so many people in Stella Lacus. They know the mountain, they have the jeeps! And there’s the helicopter…”
“He’s not taking all that fuel just to look for you,” she said, patting his shoulder. “I’ve watched Albrecht work. He explores every option. Investigating you isn’t our last hope, it’s one of many different things. He’ll find another way to help Camp Stella Lacus.” And he won’t have either of us along.
The incredible energy emanating from Wes wasn’t dimming as the seconds passed. She soaked it in, washing away her tiredness, and replacing fear with anticipation. Her wings tried to open, but the saddlebags kept them closed.
Then her brother noticed. Wes tilted his head to the side, and discomfort soured whatever energy he was producing. “Is something wrong, Amie? You’re looking at me funny.”
She shook her head vigorously, clearing it. “Something just happened, but we’ll figure it out later. Escape first, yeah?”
She opened the door, and came face to face with half a dozen hunters. They weren’t dressed for war—some of them were in their pajamas. Most wore nothing at all. Every single one of them had their mouth hanging open, looking like they’d been standing outside a feast-hall at the world’s best holiday meal.
They seemed to stare through her to Wes, fangs out and drooling. And why shouldn’t they be? One meal a day just wasn’t enough for any of Stella Lacus’s residents. Hers were a little better off than some, since they “accidentally” lost (then cooked and ate) meat that went above their expected quota.
“Hey everybody,” she said, a forced friendliness in her voice. “Don’t mind us. I’m just going out for a night hike with my brother.” She moved to step between them, and they parted easily. But they were closing in around him, just as quickly.
Shit.
“He can’t hunt,” said Marcus, from across the room. He was one of the few who hadn’t risen from his seat. There were several makeshift traps on the table in front of him, along with her spare radio. It glowed faintly red, and hissed with the occasional burst of static. “You should tell us the truth, Amie. It’s about that order the camp director just put out.”
Order? Her own radio had been off that entire time, tucked away in her bag. Of course she should’ve been listening! Mr. Albrecht had been dumb enough to ask for her to get involved. But once he felt her rebellion—
She pushed Wes back, keeping herself between him and the other boys. The longer they waited, the more his feelings of gratitude were transformed to fear, and the more aware the hunters looked. This wasn’t a pool of ravenous piranhas. Like those fish, the fierceness of her hunters was greatly exaggerated.
“Did he say something about arresting me?”
That did it. Several hunters looked up, seeming confused that they were even standing up. They backed away from her, while others near the open doorway made their way in.
“Just him. They want Wes brought to medical. Said he’s… infected with a deadly, contagious disease.”
“And because they lied over the radio, no one can tell he’s full of shit,” she finished. “Nothing like that.” She looked urgently between them, clearing the way for her brother. There was only a single doorway, but at least it was open now. “Listen. They want to study him, maybe dissect him… I don’t know. But I’m getting him out of camp. Are you going to stop me?”
The hunters shared a look. Nerdy Rick, on his laptop, confident Marcus, and several others. She knew them each by name, just as she trusted them to go hunting with her up into the mountains.
As one, they cleared the path to the exit.
“I don’t want you complicit in this,” she said. “So I’m ordering you to get out of our way. Let us go! If my brother had a disease, then…” Yes, she could use that stupid lie. “It makes sense I want to take him away, to quarantine out in the woods. You were so used to listening to me, that you obeyed.”
Marcus reached out, switching off the radio with one hoof. Then he stood. “You sure you don’t want us to come with you? If this is what’s happening in camp, maybe we should run away too. We could feed ourselves easy.”
He wasn’t just thinking about food, though. She was only a year older than Marcus, she could sense how he felt. And if she wasn’t so busy trying to survive, she might’ve reciprocated. Would he feel that too?
“No,” she hissed, hurrying across the room. “I know you could. You’re all twice as good as the other campers, maybe three times. That’s why you need to stay. Without you, they might starve. I need you to keep this camp going while I’m gone. Find ways to bring in more meat, keep everyone alive until I can… bring back some help.”
“If there is anyone,” someone muttered. But they were quickly drowned out by acknowledgements and agreements from the rest of the group.
Rick gestured to her backpack. “You have your phone in there?”
She nodded. “And my brother has a solar battery. It’s not great, but we’ll be able to stay in touch on the intranet if we’re close.”
He hurried past them to the wall, removing a carefully folded piece of metal and some wires, all stuffed into a plastic bag. “Take this too! Wes knows how to use it—it should seriously boost your range. It’s dependent on weather conditions and transmission power, so you’ll have to experiment. But better to have it than not.”
“Right.” She unzipped her bag, letting him shove it in. They might’ve said something else, except that she heard a distant engine. The jeep was coming—probably with a show of force from Albrecht’s security team aboard. “Marcus, keep everyone safe until I get back. Everyone else, listen to him. He was already in charge half the time anyway. I’ll… try to find a way to help, once my brother is safe.”
Before she could second-guess herself, Amie wrapped one hoof around her brother’s, then dragged him out into the night.
She cried as she ran—bugs could still do that.
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im pretty sure she made a good choice here. if they are already lying openly about what is going on then it can only get worse
I've litterally just started and finished all the chapters so far and didn't expect a new chapter so soon. Anyways, thanks for the new chapter and it's been good so far.
Albrecht thinks that survival is more important than retaining some humanity. The only reason this doesn't turn out worse for the camp is because Amie cares about everyone there but he will probably ignore that revelation and continue downward on the slippery slope. I hope Amie and WEs are far away by the time Albrecht jumps off it.
I can't help but think there were several tactical errors made in this chapter. Errors that could have been averted with a simple, "My brother being happy at me makes me not hungry," or something to that effect. Well, I guess we now have our antagonist for this story, though I'm honestly surprised at how quickly Albrecht devolved. Maybe I missed some context clues in previous chapters, but until this chapter, he seemed to me like a mostly rational and decent human being.
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Then again, it has been a few weeks. Amie's proximity to Wes might mean that she has no idea how close to starvation (and whatever lines they might be willing to cross) everyone else is.
Well, looks like Albrecht is losing himself.
And so we have an antagonist, but he doesn't seem evil to me. Albrecht is in a tough spot here, a genuine trolley problem. Is it better to sacrifice the one camper likely to survive for a chance to save a thousand, or to let things continue towards the imminent starvation of everyone else. While the "greater good" argument is often used as a cover-up for a power grab or selfish motivations, it seems that Albrecht genuinely has the well-being of his campers at heart here. Furthermore, he doesn't seem to view Wesley as subhuman or lesser than the other campers. That doesn't mean sacrificing him is the right choice though, however with the limited information that Albrecht has, it may be the lesser of two evils. Furthermore, lying about it doesn't paint him in a great light, but not enough for me to view him as completely in the wrong here. Of course from that perspective, Amie's choice to run with Wes, even though she is providing a lot of the food for the camp is also morally ambiguous. In order to save her brother's life, is she condemning the thousand other campers to starvation? From her perspective, perhaps not. Consider that Albrecht is at the point of starvation himself, and views this as an imminent danger, whereas Amie is not, and doesn't quite seem to have realized that everyone else is...
Overall, I'd probably have to side with Amie here, but that doesn't make this any less of a grey area, especially considering their limited information.
Too bad Amie doesn't seem to have consciously realized that she is feeding off of his emotions. If Albrecht had that information, while he would still want to perform tests and see if this can be spread to the other campers, it would be significantly less likely to result in Wesley's death, and significantly more likely to involve Amie's cooperation. Also, maybe then they would realize the importance of reaching out to the town 50 miles away.
If anyone so far is doing wrong, it is SMILE. Of course, their perspective may depend on where on the timeline they are. Regardless, even if the appearance of changelings spooked them, just a single day or two of spying on them should have demonstrated that these are not vicious monsters, and should have at least made contact by now... it's been two weeks. Maybe when they return to the story we'll get a proper explanation for this.
well crap.
Well, looks like we have our answer. He's a good man, but unfortunately more so of the pragmatic, "for the greater good" archetype, when push comes to shove. As the others have said, though, it's possible that the situation is more dire than Amie and Wes realize. Since Wes is less dependent on emotions to feed, and Amie is fed through constant contact with her little brother, whom she would never even consider abandoning for any reason, and avoids leaving him alone for any length of time, they probably have little notion of the desperation of the rest of the camp. I do feel bad for Amie's batch of campers, though; once they came to, they seemed surprised, and even a little put out by their own actions. They're loyal enough to their leader, and probably generally decent enough people, to realize that this was potentially a bit beyond the pale. Also, it seems like Marcus might have feelings for Amie? At least, I think that was how I was meant to read that bit...
Aw...poor bugs...
Time to run. Perhaps there's another way to save the camp.
I doubt you can glean much with so little equipment and understanding of changeling biology.
Even if it wasn't a threat, it would still be true. People would question why Wes hasn't submitted to testing as his contribution to camp.
Good thing they haven't submitted to their hunger yet.
We can only pray that the camp can hold it's own until the two can get help.
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A good number of people would consider humanity a luxury during a truly desperate situation. Regardless of how little could be gained from testing, there's no doubt Amie's actions also stemmed from a similar desperation into keeping her brother safe at the cost of the camp's only serious lead into saving everyone. She wants to save everyone but right now she doesn't really have a plan to do that.
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Albrecht is likely being pressured from the coming winter. No doubt realizing the river you're on ends in a waterfall will do wonders to your mental health.
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Probably the biggest factor influencing her. It'd be easy to conclude Albrecht is resorting to extremes too quickly if she isn't as hungry as they are. Would knowing be enough to keep her from fleeing? Likely not, but she might have tried to find an acceptable way to increased testing for Wes first.
Maybe there's reason to be concerned now? The two would be safe should the Equestrians arrive in force to raze the camp.
I'm a bit boggled that he went for "sacrifice one of our own" before trying out "make contact with that town we've been able to see since day one". Sure, we know the latter might not go so great, but how doesn't he even try to get outside help before pulling the trigger on this?
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Changeling predatory instincts messing with him, perhaps. Changelings are hardwired to feed on sapient life, after all...
More generally: The starvation is also going to be messing with the sanity of the camp members. That would also explain any irrational moves by Albrecht. Also, with the other campers entering the room... If they had gone full Thorax with uncontrollable hissing, that would have been even more freaky xD But to think, they're the relatively LESS starved ones...
Amie is lucky her campers care about her. This is a difficult situation. That camp won't stay standing for long if this keeps up. Changeling instincts almost kicked in right at the end, and Amie still hasn't made the connection that she's feeding on emotions.
I'm more curious about what happened to the other campers that left previously? Where they captured by royal guards, integrated into the nearby town?
Oh boy. That definitely could have gone better, especially handling the propaganda. Yes, the radio announcement hid any mendacity, but the hunters can spread the truth as gossip… which may not do Mr. Albrecht’s tenuous grasp on his principles and sanity any favors.
Also, Amie should really think about that burst of nourishing energy when she has a moment. Right now, she’s running for her brother’s life.
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Desperation can turn the most civilized person to behavior they were never imagine doing under normal circumstances.
Damn. 1000 survivors left. I wonder how many survive by the end?
I was going to comment on how extreme her jump to conclusion is, but if everyone was staring at her brother like a slab of meat I guess it's understandable.
Sigh
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To be fair, when it comes to saving literally a thousand kids, I honestly can't fault his decision. I also can't fault her for running. This is a situation where everyone is in the right. It's a trolley problem where you're flipping a switch from a thousand lives to only one, but with only a small chance of saving the thousand lives. There is no correct ethical solution because everyone has different values.
Sadly, her decision might have killed dozens or even hundreds. But it's also understandable. Ethics is hard when you're living it, and even harder when your family is the one that might suffer for the many.
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Considering he already had a basic medical exam on him if they didn't get invasive there was nothing more they could check out. But this is her brother and making him a Guinea pig wasn't okay.
Well, it is not like he could feed everyone else. Running away was probably for the best.