Alex Reynard
The Library
Alex Reynard's Online Books
--Chapter Ten--
The young chipmunk ate his dinner in silence. Which was difficult because the cafeteria was packed wall to wall with noise.
Everyone was talking, and because everyone was talking, everyone had to talk a little louder than everyone else to be heard. The decibel levels were floor-shaking. It pounded in Cody's head like a tomahawk. Every facet of the game was dissected and discussed. Who'd gotten the best plays, who'd screwed up worst, which shots should have gone in, which side had cheated more.
Few Preykids held any ill will towards Frank or her players though. They'd received a heroes' cheer when they entered the cafeteria. Most everyone agreed that, even though the Preds had won, Frank's team sure as hell hadn't made it easy on them.
Cody watched everything around him. His nerves trembled. His teeth ground. His chicken sandwich was flavorless paste in his mouth. He was furious in a way he hadn't touched in quite a while. He looked across the tables at all the happy people and wished his gaze could have burnt them all to ash.
What the fuck were they celebrating for? They'd lost! To a bunch of Preds! Even worse was the fact that they'd agreed to play in the first place. Cody singled out Frank and watched her eat and talk with her teammates. 'You could have refused. You could've just sat down on the field and said, 'We will not tolerate murderers'.'
But she hadn't. No, the zebragirl, who he'd thought understood honor, had spent the game flirting with a fox. She'd put up a show out there of opposing him, but after what he'd seen when the game ended... after they'd looked at each other with hearts in their eyes and had practically kissed... She had to have been collaborating with him all along.
'Shit... what if the GPA got to her? Gave her a Newbrain, made her throw the game. Make the score just close enough to allay suspicion. Condition us to think that losing to the Preds isn't so bad.'
Kenny had been sitting beside Cody, not eating much. He felt kind of unsettled. The look in Cody's eyes was... not normal. "What's up, bro?"
Cody whirled around. "Huh!?"
Kenny actually flinched. His friend looked as tense as a bow string. "You're just really quiet. I was wondering what you're thinking about."
The chipmunk took a bite of his sandwich, still not tasting it. "Frank."
Kenny grinned. "That last kick of hers was phenomenal, right?"
Cody looked up at him like he'd just said the stupidest words ever uttered by sentient life.
"What?"
"Are you telling me you didn't see what she did with the other team captain right after the game!?" Cody shouted.
"Yeah. They talked. So?"
The chipmunk narrowed his eyes. They were ringed with red. "They didn't just talk. I saw them. They looked like they were ready to rip each other's clothes off and start fucking right there on the field."
Kenny grimaced in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
Cody looked down at the remains of his food, not even hearing Kenny's words. "I can't believe she'd betray me like this..."
Kenny felt a shiver of unease go down his spine. "What did you just say?"
"She betrayed us!" Cody snapped. "You and her were the last ones I thought I could count on! The ones I thought for sure wouldn't buy into the Preds' bullshit. And you're looking at me now like I'm crazy for being upset that she just gave us up for the other side!!"
Kenny put his hands up: 'calm down'. "Cody, you know I wouldn't. But... I haven't seen you talk to Frank once since we got here. I don't remember seeing you ever speak to her at all, actually. You just keep on saying all the time how much you want to. How do you know what she's thinking? You're assuming all this stuff and you don't even know her."
The look Cody gave him then gave Kenny chills. The rabbit thought he was about to get backhanded.
"Why the fuck are you making this about me?" Cody hissed. "I'm not the problem. The problem is how this place, and the Preds running it, are turning all of you against your own sanity one by one. They treat us so nice and tell us such huggy-sweet stories about how everything'd be perfect if we all got along. They are softening us up." He stabbed a forkful of salad and shoved it in his mouth, talking while chewing. "Then they spring a friendly little game on us. Just a friendly game. Bullshit. More indoctrination. More stuff to slide down our throats and convince us that the Preds are our friends." He pointed behind him in the general direction of the athletic field. "What I saw out there was a fucking disgrace! None of us should have allowed it! We just sat there and watched and didn't do a thing to stop it!"
A mouse walking by (the one Frank had pulled back from the bench, in fact), had to change course to maneuver around Cody's pointing arm. "Hey man, don't be a sore loser," he tossed off casually.
"FUCK YOU!!!" Cody screamed at him, loud as a cannon.
The cafeteria was suddenly silent.
The mouse stared at Cody, startled so much he was shaking. Everyone else stared too.
Cody was so consumed with fury he almost seemed ready to ignite. Spots swam like tadpoles around the edges of his vision. Bad chemicals were whirring around in his skull.
He stood up and stared back at all of them. He saw the shock and disgust and contempt in their eyes. And he began to consider that maybe they were his enemy too.
The mouse started to apologize. "Look, I didn't m-"
"I don't wanna hear it!" Cody barked at him.
Not looking back at his food or at Kenny, he stormed out of the cafeteria without another word, leaving confusion and unease behind him.
*****
He went to the pool. He felt like there were little maggots made of electricity burrowing around in his brain and he needed to do something to calm down. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this angry.
Well, yes he could. But this was still different. It felt out of control now. Like he could barely breathe. Like a big Pred fist was wrapped around his chest, squeezing. He ran towards the pool building, almost feeling like if he didn't get there quickly enough he'd explode.
'I have to defuse myself,' he thought with a strange laugh.
He knew where the pool was. Big circular building; looked like a giant aspirin. He'd considered going before, but hadn't had a reason to. Now he felt like water was what he needed. A lot of nice, cool water.
He pushed open the front doors and headed straight for the locker room. It was empty, thankfully. Most everyone else was still at dinner. Cody chose a locker and threw his shirt, shoes and socks inside. He skipped the shower and went straight to the pool.
The smell of chlorine surrounded him. The room was a huge half-moon with windows at the top of a high ceiling. Ripples reflected all along the walls. The water was an olympic-size sea-green rectangle. It looked incredibly inviting.
Cody didn't jump in. Instead he walked over to the metal ladder at the deep end and slowly began to climb down to the bottom.
Fully submerged.
He stood at attention at the bottom of the pool, feet flat on the tile, feeling the weight of the water all around him and above him. He'd started doing this when Dad had signed him up for swimming lessons one summer. It started as a game to see how long he could hold his breath. He liked how it felt to resist the pull of buoyancy trying to drag him back up.
He opened his eyes. It stung for a moment but he willed himself to get used to it. He hadn't checked if there was anyone else in the pool, but he thought he saw a pair of legs kicking far away in the shallow end.
He needed to breathe. He held out for a few seconds longer than he thought possible, then kicked off against the bottom, broke the surface and snatched in lungfuls of air.
Then it was right back down again.
The pool was warmer than he liked. It felt uncomfortably like he was swimming in pee. But overall, this was nice. This was calming him down just like he'd hoped.
Frank.
'Shut up. Don't start thinking about her again,' he scolded his brain. He'd been pissed and dejected and enraged by this camp so far, but somehow, seeing Frank get suckered over to the Pred side was the worst of it. He didn't know how it was possible. Just thinking of her and that Pred team captain standing together, holding hands... He envisioned a fire starting inside his stomach, lighting up the water, making steam rise out of him.
'That's what the water is for. To keep the fire down.'
He had to get his mind off Frank and onto something else. Something nice. Something that made him happy.
Aunt Cherise. Yeah. He'd been thinking about Dad a lot all through this kidnapping nightmare, but he definitely missed her too.
She was a chipmunk who looked like a chipmunk; soft and roly-poly. When she gave Cody a hug, she'd smash him into her generous bosom until he thought he'd suffocate. He chuckled at the memory. She really did love him. Every time Dad had to go away and she'd take care of him for a while, Cody could tell she really enjoyed it. She didn't have kids of her own, but she and Cody got along great.
Cody came up for air and went back down again.
Living with Dad was demanding sometimes. Dad ran the house like a boot camp. But he wasn't an asshole about it. He had schedules for Cody's chores and written guidelines for how they should be performed. If Cody came up with a better way, Dad changed the guidelines. That was what Dad was like. He believed in rules, but only to the extent that they served a purpose. He believed a strict daily routine gave a furson dignity. You kept yourself clean and you kept your living space clean. Not just because it looked nice, but because practicing efficiency and responsibility on a personal level extended to the rest of the day's activities. A furson who took care of themselves could take care of anything the world put in their way.
The Box's schedule had completely messed up Cody's personal routine, and this place had screwed it up even further. It was no surprise he was going slightly mental.
Staying with Aunt Cherise was a looser experience. He still made his bed and did his own laundry, but not because she made him do it. She was far from a slob; just more relaxed than her brother. When Cody was with Dad, he was a soldier in training. Being with Aunt Cherise let him simply be a kid for a while.
Another breath. As he sank down again, he thought about how the first thing he always remembered about Aunt Cherise's cluttered little house was the kitchen. She loved to cook and he loved to help her. He remembered the time they'd made peanut butter cookies and burned the first batch into little hockey pucks. They'd laughed their tails off as they scraped them off and tossed them into the garden. Then they followed the recipe more carefully a second time and the cookies had come out perfect. Cody could taste them now, the memory coming effortlessly. He remembered helping Aunt Cherise harvest her garden; making salads and pasta sauce with her. They'd made pie from the blueberry bush out back. It gave them both the purple runs the next day, but it had been so damn delicious it was worth it.
Cody remembered last November when Aunt Cherise had hosted Thanksgiving dinner for a whole bunch of St. John relatives Cody barely ever saw. She'd spent the entire day in the kitchen, making turkey and uncountable side dishes. Cody had been proud to help her. He had sat at the table, ever ready, and jumped up whenever Aunt Cherise needed him to stir something, take something out of the microwave, chop something up or rinse something off. The meal had been excellent that night. Everybody had congratulated Aunt Cherise, and in front of everyone, she had told them that Cody was the best kitchen helper any chef could possibly hope for.
That memory nearly brought tears to his eyes. He missed that. He missed Aunt Cherise and her kitchen, and even the lumpy little bed he always slept in. He missed her cat, Bell, and her loud old pickup truck, and all the bizarre little collectibles in the livingroom, and the huge backyard. He missed her taking him to the movies and going to the historical museum downtown. He missed just being able to hold her when missing Dad hurt too much.
Feeling so alone here was tearing him to shreds. He'd been trying for so long to do everything on his own. He had tried to stay strong and not let Dad down. Escape was so important and he had only himself to rely on.
He wondered if Dad had been told the truth about where he was now. The government might have lied about such an incredibly embarrassing incident. They might have told all the parents that there'd been a threat made against The Box, so the children had been moved to a secret location. Or maybe they hadn't been able to cover it up. Maybe that white fox had broadcast it all over the country that they'd snatched up the Prey leaders' children, nyah nyah nyah.
Maybe Dad and Aunt Cherise thought he was already dead.
Maybe they thought he was already sold to some Predator restaurant. Chopped up, grilled, served on a plate. His pelt hanging from somebody's wall. Maybe they thought they'd never see him again.
Maybe the Preds had killed Dad.
Cody shook his head, sending up a violent spray of bubbles. He shot up towards the surface and breathed in again. He didn't even know how long he'd been down that last time. He only knew his lungs were greedy for oxygen and he was sucking it in like he was dying.
He held on to the slick tile at the side of the pool. 'He can't be dead,' he reassured himself. 'No stupid Pred could ever outsmart Dad. And he wouldn't just kill himself rather than be captured. He'd be like me; let them take him, then scope out the place from inside to see how much damage he could do.'
Cody heard footsteps behind him.
He swiveled around, ready to defend himself.
It was just a little seal kid. He'd been the one Cody had seen swimming earlier. He was maybe seven. He looked spooked. Like he thought Cody was going to attack him.
Cody winced. He gave the kid an apologetic look and pulled himself down to the bottom of the pool again.
'I'm too jumpy. I'm not gonna be able to relax until I get the hell out of here.'
*****
Cody spent as much time in the pool as he could possibly stand. He wanted to isolate himself below the water, block out every sound. Just be held by the warm water for as long as possible.
He'd even thought about looking around for some kind of hose so he wouldn't even have to keep coming up for air.
Eventually, hours had passed and Cody was so sick of the water it outweighed his reluctance to be near other people. He climbed out, feeling frighteningly wobbly on solid ground, and headed for the locker room to try to remember where the rest of his clothes were. There were a few other kids there now. Cody treated them like mirages.
He dried himself off by running. It was awkward at first since his body had gotten so used to being underwater. But he found a good stride eventually, thinking about songs with steady running beats. The sun had gone down. The moonlight was a little chilly, but that was okay. Made him have to work to keep warm. It also helped his alertness.
After tiring himself out he returned to the bunkhouse. Mostly empty except for a handful of kids who'd gone to bed early. Cody quietly checked the bookshelf for something else to read. He'd left his four other books up in the observation tower, tucked in a corner. He assumed they'd be safe up there. He hoped so. It didn't seem to rain very often here.
On a whim he got himself a chocolate bar from the vending machine. He figured something sweet would help his mood.
For a while he was able to make his surroundings fade away. The book was about a murder mystery on a space station, and it was actually pretty good. Cody could empathize with the hero, And it was nice to at least read about someone who was doing something about their situation.
Eventually more and more kids started shuffling in for bedtime. Cody tried to concentrate on his book despite all the shuffling of covers around him.
Then Kenny came in. Cody heard his distinctive rabbit-paw footsteps. He turned around and sat up.
Kenny had been just about to climb the bunk's ladder onto the top bed. He paused and looked at Cody with an unfamiliar blank expression.
Cody had never seen his friend look at him that way before. "Hey... At dinner..."
Kenny spoke softly but firmly. "Look, you're still my friend, but... Could you maybe just not talk to me for a while?"
It felt like a bullet to the heart. Cody blinked for a second, mouth hanging open, but then just nodded acceptance to Kenny and rolled over. He heard the rabbit ascend to the top bunk and settle in.
Cody was angered and saddened, but unsurprised. 'I guess I knew this was coming,' he thought to himself. 'Now I don't have anyone I can trust in here. I guess it won't be long before he's got one of those damn armbands like everyone else.'
Cody felt hollow as he realized just how fully alone he was now.
'This place. It's all this fucking place's fault. I'll get it back. I'll burn it. I'll find some way to just set everything on fire. I am so goddamn tired of feeling like this.' Wanting revenge so badly, and not being able to attain it, was like someone slowly tearing strips of flesh off his heart. He imagined it thin-walled and juddering, ready to burst at any second like a water balloon.
'Well, why don't I get revenge then?' He asked himself. 'What's stopping me?'
In truth, the more he thought about it, nothing was. For a while now he'd been trying to lie low to keep the Preds' suspicion off him. But hadn't he done that for long enough? Sure they knew he was defiant, but they probably weren't expecting any real resistance from him now.
'So, okay, what can I do?'
He tried to think of something practical. If he couldn't escape, maybe he could at least get away with some sabotage. What was the best thing to sabotage?
It suddenly became obvious. The Newbrain chair.
Those brain implants had to be a big part of the Preds' overall plan. If he could wreck that fucking chair, that'd at least slow them down.
And best of all, that stupid fox woman had told him exactly where it'd be all week! Right there in the classroom!
He allowed himself a small grin. All he'd need to do was sneak in there before breakfast and push it over. Smash it open. It could work. Then he'd just sneak back to the cafeteria and act as surprised as everyone else by its destruction when he went to class.
Wait.
...Why bother going to class?
Were the Preds forcing him to? That cat and hyena only came in to wake everyone up in the morning. After breakfast, there were usually other Preds who'd point the kids in the direction of which classroom they needed to go, but no one escorted them there in handcuffs.
Cody felt a sudden chill at the realization that he'd been going along with the Preds' schedule simply because he was conditioned to.
After years of grade school and middle school and his time in The Box, he'd gotten used to unquestioningly going wherever grownups told him to go. Simply because he'd always had to. Screw that. This wasn't school anymore. This was a P.O.W. camp. And if his captors were stupid enough to not enforce his movements, he'd damn well better start taking advantage of that fact.
Weirdly, there was a part of him that resisted the idea. He kind of liked going to class every day. Not because of the crap that fox woman regurgitated at him but because... He tried to put his finger on it. Because it was familiar, he supposed. It was something he was used to, and that was comforting in this nightmare place. 'That's probably exactly why they set it up that way,' he realized with a shudder.
Well, fine. If he was already cut off from almost everything normal and comforting, then why stop at 'almost'? If he stopped putting up with their propaganda classes, at least he'd be able to hold onto the feeling that he was doing something. Making his own choice. He could go to the observation tower instead. Yeah! He'd have to go back there for his books eventually anyway. Why not spend the whole day there? He could keep an eye on that gate to see if it ever opened.
Part of him was energized by this plan and part of him was calling chickenshit. He honestly didn't know if he'd have the balls to go through with these plans or not. He supposed he'd know in the morning. And it wasn't like he had to do it immediately. If he didn't feel up to it right away, he could wait until he felt ready.
Oh, but it'd be so easy to use that as an excuse to not do it at all. He knew himself too well for that.
'I'll decide tomorrow,' he settled on. It was possible that choice might open the door to pussying out, but it was also possible he'd wake up feeling terrible tomorrow, with gummy vision and slow thoughts, and be in no condition for commando games. He'd need to be perfect. So tomorrow he'd see whether or not he could make himself perfect.
Cody returned to his book, reading by moonlight. He figured he'd keep it up until he finished the story or felt sleepy, whichever came first.
*****
Many chapters later, it was clear sleepiness wasn't coming first.
That was okay actually. Cody was lying on his side, a couple dozen pages away from the ending . He doubted he could stop reading even if he wanted to. He was wide awake, brain humming, desperate to know whether he'd predicted the killer's identity or not.
The bunkhouse was near-silent except for kids' snores and the occasional papery scrape of Cody turning pages.
Then, just as the story was reaching its peak, Cody heard the bunkhouse door open.
He froze solid. The sound had come from behind him. He'd have to roll over to see who it was.
If it was a Pred, any noise might alert them.
Cody very, very slowly dog-eared his place in the book and set it down. He heard cautious footsteps behind him on the wood floor. Eyes wide open, he began to turn. Slowly. As carefully as possible. Every incremental rustle of fabric sounded loud as a hacksaw.
Cody first saw the moving shape in his peripheral vision. It was in shadow, but it still seemed distorted. Elongated.
'Maybe it's aliens.'
'Shut up, brain. Not helpful.'
Molecule by molecule, Cody rotated himself around just a little bit more, to fully see the intruder. He knew it could have just been a Preykid who'd gone out for a midnight jog. Or maybe to check out the wiredome like he had. But his instincts told him it wasn't. He took in a deep breath through his nose and was sure he caught a whiff of Predstink.
The figure was obscured by the long row of bunkbed posts. Cody could only see fragments. But it looked like the Pred was turning towards one of the bunks. Yes, it definitely was.
The figure was tall. It might have been one of the GPA, unable anymore to resist the temptation to snatch away one of the Prey campers. For what? Meat or rape? Both?
Cody could not let this happen.
For a moment he hesitated, still frozen in fear. He tried to fight through it, but it kept him paralyzed. He imagined himself punching through a wall of ice. If he could just make any part of himself move, he could jump up and run at the intruder, fists out and ready to kill.
His body refused to cooperate. He was a statue.
He screamed at his stubborn, stupid brain. 'MOVE! MOVE, FUCK GODDAMMIT! MOVE ANYTHING, YOU COWARDLY CHICKENSHIT ASSHOLE!'
Cody moved his foot.
An instant later he was out of his bunk, running across the floor at the stranger. The only sound he made was the drumbeats of his footsteps.
He slammed into the someone and drove them to the floor.
"What the hell!?" Frank hissed.
Her voice snapped Cody into confusion. He looked down. The voice hadn't come from her. He'd tackled that skinny fox kid from the soccer game. Frank was sitting up in her bed looking horrified. She got up and walked over.
Then she said the cruelest thing to Cody she could have possibly said:
"Who are you!?"
Before he could respond, the skinny fox shoved Cody roughly off of him. "That hurt, dammit," he growled. He started rubbing his upper arm. He'd landed on it pretty hard and it was throbbing.
Cody got to his feet and looked at the two of them in bewilderment.
"What do you think you're doing!?" Frank demanded. She tried to keep her voice low so as to not wake up anyone else, but it was clear she was furious.
Cody stuttered, "I saw... I mean I heard... He came in and I was just..."
The zebragirl went over to the maned wolf and helped him stand up. "You okay?" she asked. He nodded to her. "I invited him over," Frank snarled at Cody. She wasn't just pissed, she was humiliated. She'd been ready for an exciting little moonlight meet-up, possibly including some making out, and then this little nobody had run in and ruined everything.
Cody felt his guts rearranging inside him. Like someone had reached in and started twisting them up, making balloon animals out of them. He looked at Frank and the Pred standing there in the moonlight and shadow. Holding hands. Looking at each other like Cody was the asshole for breaking up their little rendezvous. "I just... I thought you were in trouble."
"Well I'm not," Frank spat back. "I'm fine. Would you mind going back to bed so I can see how bad you hurt Ethan?"
"I'm fine, really," the maned wolf told her, a little embarrassed. "He just knocked me over."
Cody stood there feeling like someone had poured all his blood out and replaced it with pure liquid disgrace. He'd just tried to do the right thing. "Listen..."
"No," Frank cut him off. She took a step towards him, nailing him to the spot with her glare. "I guess I understand why you got scared, but you didn't have to. I'm fine. We're fine. Just go the fuck back to bed and leave us alone, okay?"
Cody wanted to reply back with something vicious. He wanted to slap her. Instead he turned away and started to walk back to his bunk.
Shame stabbed at him with a thousand tiny needles. He felt foolish and stupid and worse than useless. 'You dumb bastard,' he thought at himself.
Then from behind him, he heard her laugh.
It might not have been about him. It might have been about anything. But the mere possibility that she might have been laughing at him hit Cody like a lightning bolt. In half an instant, every atom of his humiliation had turned into rage.
He stopped walking. He curled his hands into fists. He very slowly turned around.
He saw them standing there smiling, talking. Then they both looked at him and got quiet. They both looked confused for a second. Then scared.
Good.
Cody started walking back towards them, wordlessly. He let them be uneasy. Let them not know what he was about to do. Let them think that this guy who'd so rudely interrupted their romantic midnight tryst wasn't just stupid, but insane.
Frank opened her mouth to say something.
"No," Cody said clearly.
No to everything she might have possibly said. No to everything she and this repulsive Pred were about to do to each other. No to everything about this disgusting situation.
"No," Cody repeated, looking Frank dead in the eye. "I'm not gonna be the one who feels humiliated over this." His voice was quiet and calm. Underneath it though was the sound and heat of a thousand demons pounding to be released.
Frank backed up a step. This kid was nuts. She should not have said a single word to him. She should have just grabbed Ethan and walked back to his bunk like he'd suggested in the first place. 'No way,' she'd said. It was safer for him to come over to the Preyside. Safer. Ha. The look in this chipmunk kid's eyes... If she'd seen him on the field, she would have known in a heartbeat that winning meant so much to him he would pull any cheat to accomplish it, including murder.
Cody focused his contempt into a blade and carved into her with it. "Do you know what happened to me a second ago? I'm lying in my bunk and I hear the door open. I hear footsteps behind me. I look, and I see a Pred walking around in the bunkhouse. Stalking around. Where we SLEEP!"
The word was spoken so sharply, several kids nearby were jolted awake.
Frank and Ethan took a step back.
Cody took a step towards them.
"I did what anyone with a conscience and an ounce of courage would do," he snarled at them. "I got up and tried to PROTECT you. You say you invited him over? Was I supposed to know that psychically, huh!? Was I supposed to magically know you were just fine with him looming over your bed like he was going to lean in and start taking bites? Like what any SANE mind would assume a Pred would be doing in here!?"
Frank held up her hands. "Okay. I'm sorry," she said very quietly. Ethan nodded too.
"You don't get to say you're sorry," Cody sneered at her. "You LAUGHED at me!! I was willing to RISK MY LIFE to protect you, and you LAUGHED AT ME!!!"
By now quite a few kids were awake and wondering what the hell was going on.
Frank looked terrified and Cody couldn't be happier. She looked like she thought he was about to haul off and punch her lights out. Hilarious. Cody knew she deserved it, but he didn't have to get physical to hurt her. She shamed him? He'd shame her. Have a little of her own bitch medicine.
He suddenly turned his wrath on Ethan. "GET OUT!" he screamed. "You turn around and run out that door right now, because if you don't I will break both your skinny arms. Believe me?"
The maned wolf hesitated for just a second, looking questioningly at Frank.
Cody took a stomping step forward. "Can't you LISTEN, Pred!? I said RUN!!!"
The force of Cody's scream propelled Ethan more than anything. He turned and did exactly as the chipmunk ordered.
"RUN!" Cody called after him again. "Tell all your Pred buddies that a Prey ran you off like a scared little mouse!" He grinned. Seeing that bastard run so fast felt fantastic.
He turned back to Frank. The zebragirl was standing with her arms clasped tightly around herself, looking terrified and ready to cry.
Cody gave her a look like she was the filthiest thing he had ever seen. "Go back to bed, whore."
And with that, Cody turned around and headed to bed himself. He heard Frank let out a choked sob, but he didn't look back.
Cody smiled; a smile that felt like it wrapped all the way around his face. He hadn't felt this good in weeks.
Other kids stared at him as he walked by. He got looks of confusion, annoyance and outright hatred. No one said a word though.
Cody returned to his bunk and pulled the sheet and blanket around him, still smiling. Then he effortlessly slid into a sleep of perfect peace.
*****
The next morning, familiar classical music echoed throughout Camp Carnivore. Cody woke to the sight of a book lying inches away from his face.
He wondered why it was there for a second. Last night was nothing but a hazy smear of emotion at the back of his mind. Then he remembered the story he'd been reading. He'd been so close to the end. Why had he stopped?
Oh. Right.
Suddenly, everything came back in a single flash. The door opening. The Pred. Frank's reaction. His anger. The word he had called her.
Cody felt for a moment like this couldn't possibly be reality. It had to have been a dream. He'd never call Frank a name like that. But it slowly dawned on him that, yes, he definitely had. For a moment he couldn't fathom how he could have done something so inexcusably ugly.
Then he remembered how his rage had felt. Last night, something new had happened to him. In that instant when he'd heard her laughter, his rage had overwhelmed him. It had overtaken him completely.
He'd been standing there feeling so much humiliation and helplessness and outrage that it paralyzed him. And then his rage had tapped him on the shoulder and asked politely if it could take over for a moment. It was like he'd given over the driver's seat and let rage step in to take his place.
He had never felt it permeate him so completely as last night. He'd been angry before, obviously. Sometimes so intensely it hurt. But this was anger so pure it almost wasn't anger at all. It was like suddenly, effortless knowing exactly what to do. Cody didn't think; he simply reacted. His purpose was to target those who had hurt him, and then hurt them back. Hurt them so devastatingly they'd feel it forever. Like a bee-sting in the eye. There was no mercy, no hesitation and no backtalk from his conscience. He had a purpose: he fulfilled it.
It had felt good.
It had felt powerful.
It also kind of scared the shit out of him. He wanted to feel that feeling again, but it was like letting a second self take over. One he wasn't in control of. No thought, just action. That was unsettling. But he remembered watching the skinny fox run out of the bunkhouse as if Cody had been chasing him with a shotgun. And he'd done that to the fox with just his voice! A little chipmunk had run off a Pred with nothing more than words and body language. This new thing, scary as it was, was also undeniably useful.
Cody sat up in bed and yawned. He felt more rested today than he had in a while.
Kenny plopped down a moment later.
Cody looked at him.
The rabbitboy gave him a short, disappointed shake of the head and walked away.
'Fine,' Cody thought. 'You want to hold a grudge? I'll let you. And I can hold out longer than you can.'
Seeing his former friend headed towards the showers, it gave Cody an idea. He suddenly remembered something else from last night: his sabotage plans. He felt fantastic this morning. There was no excuse not to go through with his idea. And a great way to start it off would be hiding in the shower room while everyone else went to breakfast.
He stood up and stretched. Unavoidable armpit reek poked him in the nose. 'Ew.' A shower might not be a bad idea on its own merits. He looked down at the endtable and there were freshly laundered clothes lying right there. 'I'll have to thank Jayden next time I see him.'
He took the new uniform and walked towards the showers. He glanced towards Frank's side of the room. He saw her sitting on her bed, but she didn't look up and see him. Probably a good thing. He didn't want her stomping over and whining at him.
'Actually, she'd be more likely to wanna kick my ass,' he realized. Something else he didn't want to have to deal with.
In the shower room, who should he run into but Walter.
The bobcat was combing his fur in the mirror. And impossibly, when he saw Cody in the reflection, he turned to talk to him. "Um, hey..." the cat started, not quite making eye contact.
Cody stopped in his tracks and gave the Predboy a look that said, 'You are making a mistake right now.'
Walter either didn't notice or chose to go on anyway. "Look, I... You woke me up last night and I saw what happened."
Cody grimaced. The last thing he wanted was some lecture about how he'd disturbed poor kitty's catnap.
"No, I'm not angry," Walter said, reading the chipmunk's expression. He moved a step to the side to let some other kids pass. "I actually... I thought it was mean what you said, to Frank especially, but I thought you were in the right."
Wait, what? Cody felt like he'd just been smacked in the head with a baseball. "Excuse me? I didn't hear that right."
"Yes you did," Walter replied calmly. "I might not have seen all of it, but I heard the 'thump' when you tackled that maned wolf kid."
'Huh. I'd thought he was a fox all this time. I guess Preds know their own kind better. Makes sense.'
"He really shouldn't have come in here without expecting something like that to happen. There could've been a panic, a stampede," Walter continued. "And if Frank invited him, she should've known better too."
Cody thought about the situation he was in. Walter, the Pred in Prey's clothing, was inexplicably agreeing with him. It was a nice thing to do. Maybe the kid was trying to extend an olive branch. Cody felt a tickle at the back of his mind. His friend Rage was there, asking if it could take over and play again.
Why not? Why not give it another test run and see how it felt?
Cody's muzzle curled into a slight smile. "Do you know what you just did there, Walter?"
The bobcat didn't like Cody's tone. He'd hoped to maybe fix a little of the rift between them. He preferred having as few enemies as possible. But he could tell already that he had somehow just made everything worse. "...What?"
"You broke our agreement," Cody said, smiling more. "Remember that? You leave me alone; I leave you alone? You forfeited your half, which means I'm released from mine." The chipmunk stepped a bit closer and put his paw down on the sink uncomfortably close to Walter's.
Walter jerked his paw back. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything more than... I was just trying to, I dunno... make you hate me less."
Cody chuckled. "The only way you could possibly make me hate you less," he whispered, "would be to let me string you up and skin that Pred fur right off of you. Although you'd like that, wouldn't you? You'd be hoping there'd be a cute bunny pelt underneath."
Walter felt a momentary pang of hurt. But then his timidity vanished and numbness took its place. He'd been through this too many times. He stood up taller in defiance and looked Cody directly in the eye. "You know what I hate?" he asked softly.
"Yourself?" Cody guessed flippantly, still smiling. "My attitude?"
"No," Walter said sadly. "I hate feeling stupid whenever I let myself have a bit of hope about someone, and then they stomp on it."
Cody felt his slick, heartless confidence waver for just a second, but then it came back even stronger. He grinned and replied, "You must feel stupid a lot."
Walter narrowed his eyes in disgust.
Cody thought for a second that the Bobcat might slap him. Oh what fun that'd be! He'd get to wail on this little bitch to his heart's content, then tell the Preds when they showed up, 'He hit me first and there's a dozen witnesses!'
Walter didn't slap his adversary. Instead he took a breath to calm himself. "I'm sorry, Cody."
"Sorry for what?"
"Sorry for you," he replied, and that last word had a knife's edge to it. "I've known a hell of a lot of people just like you. Even in my own family. I've seen them at every age. They all had that look that's on your face now like, 'I'm so cool! Look at how much I don't care how hurtful I am!' You know what happens to them, Cody?"
"What?" he asked challengingly.
Walter's tone became quieter, more deliberate. "They get old. And after they've spent their whole lifetimes hating everyone and feeling so great about it, they have no one left. My Grandpa looked at me and talked to me exactly like you just did. And he died. And he was such a vicious old man that his funeral lasted less than thirty minutes, including the drive to the cemetery. The only people who were there were the people who had to be there. Out of politeness. We went to dinner afterwards. And nobody talked about what a great guy he was. Not one of us. It was like he'd never even been alive.
"That's your future, Cody. Enjoy it."
Cody's mouth felt dry. His words were all gone.
He was about to try to respond when Walter simply walked past him and left the room.
Cody's arm trembled. His fingers curled into a fist.
Right then, all he wanted to do was run after that little fuckhead and hold him down and punch him in the mouth again and again so he could never say another word as long as he lived. That ASSHOLE! That prick! That little shitsmear! What the hell did he know!? 'I've got a family that loves and cares about me! Fuck your stupid dead grandpa! Fuck your whole family! Maybe Preds just don't love each other the same way Prey do! Ever think about that!?'
All of these things went through Cody's head, but he said none of them. He just kept on standing in the middle of the bathroom with people giving him dirty looks as they detoured around him.
*****
Cody was glad for his plans. It gave him a reason to go to the farthest end of the shower room, turn on the water, and just stay there until everyone else left. The water blocked out the sounds of other people. As he showered, he kept looking down, expecting to see blood running down his fur and trickling down the drain.
Fuck Walter. Fuck that smug little shit. All that stuff he'd said about Cody growing old and being so full of hate his family would turn their backs on him... Bullshit. He imagined his Dad and Aunt Cherise burying him and being glad to be rid of him. NO. No, that couldn't happen. That could never happen.
'Then why is your heart pounding so hard?'
Cody willed his inner voice to shut up. But he knew, inarguably, that Walter had cut him in half with those words. Walter had beaten the shit out of him. Cody had triumphed last night only because Frank and that Pred were surprised. Taken off guard. Walter had been through enough bullies by now that he was ready for anything. Walter had gathered up all of Cody's meanness, shaped it into a bullet, and shot it right back at him.
'No,' Cody denied. 'I'm just... He just got lucky. But it's not my fault. I wasn't ready.'
'So what makes you think you're ready to take on the Preds like you planned, dumbass?'
'SHUT UP! I can still do it!' He knew he could. The plan was smart and solid. One simple act of sabotage with a getaway hideout already planned. He could do this easily.
Cody stayed under the shower's soothing, pulsing spray for as long as he could. He didn't even remember to wash with soap, he simply stood and grappled with his inner self.
Eventually though, he thought to look around and check if anyone else was still here. He looked out and scanned the shower room. It seemed quiet enough. Just to be sure though, he pumped some liquid soap into his paws and scrubbed himself down. That helped him feel a little better.
He turned off the water. He took his fresh, clean uniform out of the plastic envelope and slipped it on. It felt nice. Even smelled nice. He left his dirty uniform where it was, since, if all went well, he wouldn't be here tomorrow so he wouldn't need Jayden to clean it.
The shower room was silent. The bathroom was too. Cautiously, he listened at the doorway for any sounds coming from the bunkhouse.
Nothing.
Excellent. He crept out into the long, bed-filled room. Nobody there. No cat and hyena. He glanced at the clock: breakfast was well underway.
Food. That reminded him. If he was going to spend the whole day in the observation tower, possibly several days, he'd need some nutrition. He looked over at the vending machines. The single granola bar his thumbswipe would get him wouldn't be enough.
His rage popped back in. 'I have an idea!'
And it was actually a pretty good idea.
Cody looked around for any uniform shirt anyone had left lying around. There was one beside the bunk right next to him. How convenient! He tied off the neckhole and sleeves, making himself a handy little grocery bag.
Then he looked around for something heavy. He could maybe go outside and find a big rock, but that'd be unnecessarily risky. And time-consuming. He looked at the bunks. Immovable. The bookshelf. Ditto. The endtable by his bed.
Oh, perfect.
He walked over to it and pulled out both dressers. He spotted his unfinished book. A bit of good luck; he might've forgotten it otherwise. He tucked it in his grocery shirt. Then he braced himself and prepared to lift the waist-high wooden table.
'Whoop!' It was lighter than he'd expected. Nice.
He turned and looked towards the vending machines. One had drinks, the other snacks. So he'd have to do this twice. He hoped to hell the table wouldn't just bounce off and hit him in the lip. That'd be real dignified.
'Well, he who hesitates is a douchebag,' he thought. He got as good a grip as he could and went running at vending machine number one.
He hurled the table with all the strength accuracy would allow.
SMASH!!!
Triangles of shattered glass went everywhere. Cody wobbled back a few steps. Then he almost burst out laughing at the sight of the table wedged diagonally into the guts of the machine with chips and candy bars scattered all over like internal organs.
Cody wasted no time. That crash might've alerted someone. He had to be fast. He ran back to his bed, grabbed his makeshift sack, then rushed to the machine and started filling it as fast as he could while being mindful not to slash his hand open. Thankfully, he'd completely missed demolishing the granola bars! A miracle!
He filled his shirtbag only half full. He'd need the rest of the space for liquids. And as warm as it had been the past few days, he'd need plenty. He gave the endtable a mighty tug and nearly toppled over. It was caught in the big spring-shaped coils that had held the food in place. He tugged wrathfully for a few seconds before stopping and giving himself a mental slap. 'Be smarter, idiot.' Instead of pulling like a dumb ox, he looked closer and figured out what the table was hung up on. He pulled carefully and managed to dislodge the stuck spring. Though he managed to scrape his finger open doing so. 'Ow!' He put his finger in his mouth and tasted blood.
'No time for this,' he remembered. He lifted up the table and, considering the ease with which he'd succeeded before, decided he might not need a running start. Making centripetal force his pal, he simply swung in a circle at the drinks machine.
SMASH!!!
'Home run number two!' Cody thought. The endtable fell out by itself this time. Dodging arterial sprays of soda, Cody reached in and collected as many water bottles as he possibly could. He also grabbed a fair amount of orange juice, since he thought he remembered hearing somewhere that citrus didn't spoil and ferment like other fruits.
There almost wasn't room in his shirtbag. Cody jettisoned some chips and chocolate bars. The less junk the better. He had to get out of here. Now. Someone who'd heard the first crash might've assumed it was none of their business. Hearing it again would undoubtedly bring someone curious. Or someone in a GPA uniform who'd tackle him to the floor and beat his brains out.
Cody got a solid grip on his shirtbag and ran out the north door. He looked all around outside. He didn't see anyone. No guards running. That was a-ok. He checked his position relative to the other buildings, gauging the fastest route to the classroom. He headed off like a bullet. He made sure to duck behind objects and walls whenever possible.
When the classroom building was in sight, Cody considered whether the door might be locked. Not insurmountable. His Dad had taught him once how to kick down a door in case of emergency, like if there was a fire or someone was trapped. Cody thought he was definitely full of enough fucking adrenaline right now that he'd have absolutely no trouble pulling it off.
He reached the door. He set down his supplies. He took a moment to pull in a deep breath and remember the procedure. 'Plant yourself. Aim for an area near the lock, but not the lock itself. Kick at waist-height and lean into it.' He rocked back and forth, psyching himself up, trying not to imagine what would happen if he twisted an ankle doing this.
'Check to see if it's unlocked first, retard.'
Oh. Yeah. He should probably do that.
He checked, and it was unlocked.
Well, that was ridiculously easy. 'Thanks, Preds!'
He dashed through into the nothing room, closing the door behind him. He checked the class door. Unlocked too. 'Home run number three!'
The classroom was dim, lit only by the sunlight streaming in through the windows. The rows of desks awaited students. The digital blackboard was dark.
And there, right beside Miss Vera's desk, was the Newbrain chair.
Cody stepped closer, panting, and sized it up. It looked even uglier now. The sun glinted off all the metal's curves. All the tanks and nozzles and screws and shit.
Cody didn't know exactly how to destroy the hateful thing, but he figured a good strong kick would be a decent start.
He walked over to it, as close as he had ever been to the machine. The machine that had made zombies out of his friends. The machine the Preds needed to carry out their assassination plot.
"Plant myself. Aim. Kick from the waist and lean into it."
He leaned back, then plowed forward.
The nightmare chair went skidding diagonally across the floor a good few feet before crunching into the ground with incredible force. Something clearly broke inside, because seemingly gallons of sparkly silver Newbrain fluid went cascading across the tile.
"Holy shit!!" He'd actually done it! "Bleed, you motherfucker, bleed!!!"
"Excuse me! What are you-"
Cody did not wait to see who was speaking. He turned like a clockspring breaking loose and shot towards the door. It was the hyena guy. Cody did not allow himself to waste time on fear. He simply moved as fast as he possibly could. He dodged the hyena's slo-mo grab and slid like a slippery bar of soap past him into the nothing room.
He shouldered the outside door open with a bang and burst into the sunlight again. He paused only a second to snatch up his grocery bag. Which he'd left by the door like a dope. 'Which is probably what alerted that guard, you indescribable genius.'
He heard the hyena shouting, but he was already streaking like a guided missile straight towards the observation tower.
If he'd ever run this fast before, he couldn't remember it. He knew he was fast. Dad challenged him to races sometimes, and he sure as shit did well in gym class. But this time he was running for his life. His legs felt like metal pistons pounding at the ground in rhythm. He was pushing himself so hard he almost expected his tendons to start snapping like guitar strings. He was gonna be blindingly sore when he reached the tower. But that was for when he got there. He told his body, 'You can put me through as much pain as you want when we're done, got that? When we're safe, then you can punish me. Deal?'
He was past most of the buildings now. He was in the more forest-y part of camp. Just a dirt path cutting through the trees.
And suddenly, up ahead, Rick was running towards him.
'OH SHIT!'
He didn't know how the elk had been alerted to his crime spree, but he clearly must have been. He was directly in Cody's path.
The elk had just been out for a jog before his shift. Suddenly there appeared a furry streak of lightning careening towards him. Rick was barely able to tell who it was, and had no idea what the hell was chasing the boy so fast.
Cody was not going to let anyone impede him. Not even someone who had tried to be nice to him. 'I'm sorry, Rick. Sorry it had to be you.'
"Wait, stop!" Rick cried out.
Cody adjusted his aim directly at the elk. He looked at the man's armband. That blurred white circle within the red. The symbol of his enemy. That made it easier.
Without a millisecond of hesitation, Cody threw all his momentum into a jump-kick directly at the elk's knee.
It was a bullseye.
Rick screeched out in agony. He swore he'd heard a crack of bone splintering. The nerves throughout his leg were screaming in electric pain. He and Cody tumbled to the dirt in a heap, but only Cody was ready for it. The boy actually stepped on Rick's shoulder to leverage himself up and back into a run.
"Wait! Wait!!" Rick shouted. "WHY!?"
That word stunned Cody for a brief moment. It didn't stop him from running though. He kept on as hard as before, but let himself consider that maybe Rick hadn't been pursuing him. Maybe Rick had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
He felt bad about that. A little. But it was the elk's own fault. He'd chosen to wear that armband. And if he honestly hadn't known what Cody was up to, then Cody couldn't have guessed that before he attacked. Rick had been wearing the enemy's colors. That was that.
Cody made it to the tower with no one else seeing him. He paused and looked around for a few seconds just to make sure. He listened in every direction, drew in a deep breath through his nose, and scanned all around for movement. No sounds, no smells, nothing to see. He transferred his shirtbag to his teeth and started to climb.
Halfway up, there was a terrifying moment when Cody's grip suddenly turned into a handful of paint flakes, wood splinters and air.
But he held on tight with his other hand and both legs. There was only a heart-stopping instant where he thought he might fall, but then it was over. He hugged the side of the wooden tower like it was his dad putting him to bed at night.
Then he started climbing again.
Once more he had to do his trick of threading himself through a hole in the beams to get at the hatch under the observation platform. This time it opened easily. Finally, a small relief.
Cody pulled himself up and inside.
He took a single second to look in the corner and check that his books were okay. They were.
Then he collapsed on the floor, spread eagle. Every limb burned. His heart was hammering against his ribs. He felt like he was breathing in sheets of gasoline. Every single one of his nerves was calling him a colossal bastard for what he'd put them through.
But he was safe now.
He spat out the grocery bag and just waited for the ache in his legs and chest to subside.
*****