There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. Heck, it isn't even green. It was a vast, deserted wasteland in Texas. It used to be a town called Green Lake, but that was hundreds of years ago.
Now, all that was left of the lake was a giant pit filled with holes. Nearby were the cabins for the bad boys, the mess hall, and the rec area with the showers.
There is no shade at Camp Green Lake. If you were a bad boy, you spent the day out in the blazing sun digging your hole. The only shade in the whole area came from two oak trees, which had a hammock tied between them. These trees were next to the Warden's office. They didn't belong to any of the boys. They belonged to the Warden. The Warden owned the shade.
Out in the pit that used to be the lake, there are certain dangers. There are tarantulas and rattlesnakes. They would hide out in the holes, so the boys had to be careful. But they weren't that dangerous. You could get bitten by a tarantula, or even a small rattlesnake, and you'd live. Usually. If you got bitten, you got to spend a day recovering in your tent instead of digging.
Then there was the lizards. The lizards that came after the lake dried up. The yellow spotted lizards. They were called this because each lizard had exactly eleven yellow spots on its back. Other dominant features included blood red eyes, black fangs for teeth, and a milky white tongue. If you were close enough to one of these lizards to count the spots, you were probably dead.
All it took was one bite from one of these monsters, and you were done for. You'd die slowly and painfully. If you got bitten from one of these yellow spotted lizards, you might as well walk over to the Warden's cabin and sit in the hammock. It wasn't like there was anything anyone could do to you now.
Nine hours. Nine hours. That's how long Eddy had been on this stupid bus. The only other people on the bus were the driver and a guard sitting across from Eddy, a gun in his lap.
Eddy's right hand was handcuffed to the seat he was sitting in. The only item Eddy had with him was a small backpack, which contained his toothbrush and a big box of stationary. He had promised to write at least once a week.
There wasn't much for Eddy to do on the bus. All he could do was look out the window as the barren Texas desert he was being condemned to. It went on for miles and miles. Eddy rolled his eyes. This was certainly going to be a fun experience.
Soon the bus was about a half hour away from Camp Green Lake, and Eddy was still staring at the nothing outside his window. Suddenly, he sat up. He could swear that he could see a young pale-skinned girl, probably in her mid-teens, by the side of the road. She had dark indigo chin length hair, and cold white colored eyes. She wasn't smiling. She was wearing a cowgirl outfit, which consisted of a black shirt and pants, with a white vest, belt, and boots. Her hat was also black with white trimming.
Eddy shook it off after the bus had passed the girl, but he still thought it was a little odd. But then he saw something else. It was a wagon being pulled by a large fox. Holding the reins on the fox was a young boy, who also looked to be in his mid-teens. He had short spiky blond hair, with a dark blue headband wrapped around his forehead. Most of his hair was covered by the sun hat he was wearing. His eyes were blue and wide-eyed, and Eddy could swear that he saw marks on the boy's face that resembled whiskers. His outfit was an orange shirt and pants, with patches of dark blue on the shoulders and a white collar. His sandals were also dark blue. Like the girl in the cowgirl outfit, this boy had a forlorn look on his face.
The bus quickly passed the boy in the wagon, but curiosity got the better of Eddy. He adjusted his body the best he could so he could see behind him. His eyes widened. The boy in the wagon had disappeared. So had the girl in the cowgirl outfit.
The bus suddenly hit a bump. Eddy quickly turned around, and the guard, who had appeared to be asleep before, instantly sat up.
"Okay, that was weird," Eddy thought as the bus continued on the dusty trail. He wondered if the heat was getting to him. The bus wasn't air conditioned, so it was boiling.
After what seemed like another eternity, Eddy saw the bus pull into the middle of a series of buildings out in the middle of nowhere. As the bus screeched to a halt, the guard reached out and unlocked Eddy's handcuff.
It took Eddy about a second to find the feeling in his legs. When he finally was able to get up, the guard half-pushed him off the bus.
"Welcome to Camp Green Lake," said the guard as Eddy stepped onto solid ground.
Eddy looked around, wrapping his arms tighter around his backpack. The whole place was a dusty wasteland. All the other boys were walking around in dirty-looking orange jumpsuits with matching hats. Some of them were holding shovels.
"Where's the lake?" asked Eddy.
The guard just laughed, then led Eddy to one of the smaller buildings.
"Okay, stupid question," Eddy thought as he stepped into the building. He also knew something else: This was not going to be pleasant. As Eddy walked in, he noticed a posted sign that said that firearms, drugs, and alcohol were prohibited inside the camp grounds. "Uh, duh!" ran through Eddy's mind.
Inside the building, it was air conditioned, which was a relief for poor Eddy. There was a desk in the single room. Behind it, a young man was seated. He was wearing a black suit, with a blue dress shirt underneath. He had short blonde hair that covered his left eye, also concealing the left half of the sunglasses he was wearing. In his hand was a can of soda. When Eddy spotted this, it only reminded him of how thirsty he was.
Beside the desk was a giant burlap bag.
"What's that?" the guard asked, pointing to the bag.
"Sunflower seeds," answered the guy behind the desk. He spoke with a Brooklyn accent. Eddy wondered why the heck a guy like this was out here, in the middle of nowhere. "I just quit smoking. I used to smoke a pack a day, but now I eat half a bag of these every day."
The guard laughed.
The man reached under his desk and revealed two cans of soda. Eddy hoped that one of them would be for him, and he was greatly disappointed when the man gave one of them to the guard and kept the other for himself.
"Nine hours to get here, and now nine hours to drive back," said the guard, sipping the soda. "What a way to live, huh?"
Eddy actually felt a little sorry for the guard and the bus driver. A little sorry.
"I'm sure," said the guy behind the desk. "You can go now. I'll take it from here."
Eddy began to panic a little as he watched the guard leave the room. He didn't know what this other man was going to do to him.
"Eddy Ydde, right?" asked the man.
Eddy nodded. His throat was too dry to speak.
"The name's Mr. Sanji," said the man. "And when you talk to me, I expect to be referred to as so. Got that?"
"Yes, Mr. Sanji," Eddy answered, his voice cracking from being so dry.
"Now then, time to get to work," said Mr. Sanji. "Let's see what's in that bag, huh?"
Eddy cautiously handed Mr. Sanji his backpack. Mr. Sanji looked through it and declared it safe. Then he had poor Eddy undress in front of him, to make sure he wasn't concealing anything in his clothes. This embarrassed Eddy the most. Why did he have to be so short?
Then Mr. Sanji gave Eddy an orange jumpsuit and a hat like the ones Eddy had seen earlier. Eddy quickly put them on. The hat had a strip of cloth in the back to protect Eddy's neck from the sun. Mr. Sanji explained how Eddy was to wear this suit when he went out and dug, and after he was finished, he would change into another suit, his "relaxing suit." Then after three days, his working suit would be washed and his relaxing suit would become his working suit.
Mr. Sanji led Eddy outside. Eddy clutched his backpack, now containing his clothes, to his chest.
"We dig holes here, Mr. Ydde," said Mr. Sanji. "Every morning, we wake you up at 4:30, and then you go out and dig. You are to dig one hole each day, five feet deep and five feet wide. After you're done with that, you have the rest of the day to yourself." Mr. Sanji looked down and saw the look of bewilderment on Eddy's face. "You heard me. 4:30 A.M.. It's the coolest part of the day." He looked up again. "Look around, Mr. Ydde. What do you see?"
Eddy looked where Mr. Sanji was looking. He didn't see anything.
"Do you see a fence?"
"Uh . . . no. . ." Eddy stammered. ". . .Mr. Sanji," he quickly added.
"Do you see any guards?"
"No, Mr. Sanji."
"There's nothing there, is there?"
"No, Mr. Sanji."
"So there's nothing there to keep you from running away from here."
Eddy looked outward, then at Mr. Sanji. What game was he playing?
"Run away if you want to. I'm not going to chase you."
Now Eddy was really beginning to panic. He had spotted the gun slung around Mr. Sanji's hip.
"You're looking at my gun. Relax, kid. That's for yellow spotted lizards. I wouldn't waste any bullets on you."
"I'm not going to run away," Eddy heard himself say.
"Good," said Mr. Sanji, a smug grin appearing on his face. "You know why? 'Cause we got the only water for 10,000 miles. If you ran away, you'd be buzzard food in three days."
Then Mr. Sanji told Eddy that it was time to assign him to a cabin. Eddy cautiously followed this somewhat creepy man.
"What's going to happen to me?" This question lingered in poor Eddy Ydde's mind. What was going to happen was an adventure beyond his wildest dreams. But first, he would have to survive his first day at Camp Green Lake. Could he do it?
Well, that's the second chapter. And to make things interesting, I'm not going to update again until I get a good amount of reviews. Until then, happy reading! ;)