Chapter 3: Trouble

"MOM!" a young black boy exclaimed from a local park, as his big brown eyes searched around the streets for his beloved mother. Running past the yellow slide, he glanced down the street where the grocery store was.

"MOMMY?!" He called out again in fear as he paced the playground looking for his mother as the sky began to darken. Realizing that it was the night, the small boy walked over towards slide and crawled inside, using it as a sort of shelter for the night. He then began to hug his knees for warmth as tears began to roll down his cheeks as he whispered quietly, "Mommy why did you leave me alone?"

Waking up with a jolt, Zero glanced around the room realizing where he was. Shaking those long forgotten memories out of his head, He sat up and glanced towards all of his tent mates. Seeing that none of them were awake, he stood up and walked towards the opening of the tent and soon stepped out. That's when he began to wonder aimlessly into the desert bed. Zero kept on walking, trying to keep those memories out of his head, he did this by focusing on what was behind those mountains off in the distance.

Maybe it was a giant theme park with loopy roller coasters, or carousals, or maybe a giant beach with water as clear as the sky on a sunny beautiful day.

Shaking his head, he brought his mind back to reality as he heard a hiss not far from where he was standing. Ignoring it, he kept on walking in the desert avoiding holes that were splattered around him.

Taking one more glance up towards the mountains, he made a promise to himself then and there that was going to make it to those mountains no matter how hard it may be. In that particular moment, zero heard the shrill cry in fright. Jerking his head up, his brown eyes scanned the desert and soon landed on a bright fluorescent light coming out from one of the holes. Curiosity getting the better of him, Zero began walking a few steps towards the hole. He heard what sounded like to be a frustrated sigh, as he took one more step closer towards the hole, peering down into it.

"Grab my hand." Zero instinctively demanded causing a dirty blonde haired girl to stare up at him as her hand reached for his, feeling his wrap around her small wrist,

With not much effort on Zero's part, he finally pulled the girl out of the hole. Brushing her pants off from the dirt, the girl finally stood up straight and stared straight at the boy in front of her. At first glance one would say they are the same height, but in examination one could easily tell that the boy was taller than her by just a hair.

"Well thank you." She stated as her light green eyes stared into his brown ones.

"Name's Camille, Call me Cami." The girl stated as she held her hand out to be shaken.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, the girl soon dropped her hand.

"I guess I can't know the name of my knight in shining armor?" She asked causing the boy to suppress a smile.

"What were you doing out here all by yourself?" He asked ignoring her question, causing her to glance around the camp.

"I guess this is kind of an awkward situation, given that this is an all boys camp." She stated followed by a small laugh. Glancing towards the small cabin, she figured she might as well explain herself to this boy. Seeing as how, he can't be that bad.

"I was sent here so my lovely auntie who I haven't seen since I was 5, could 'sort' out my priorities." Cami explained using air quotes for the word sort.

"Your aunt is the warden?" The boy asked in amazement causing the girl to suddenly gasp as she raised her hand quickly to her mouth.

"I did not just say that. Okay, listen no one is supposed to know I'm here. No one, as in the campers. So don't tell anyone about this okay?" Cami asked with a plead in her voice.

"I guess so. But why would you be walking around the desert at night?" The boy asked causing the girl to pick up her camera.

"I like to take pictures." She added with a smile.

"Of the inside of a hole?" The boy asked glancing down towards the hole he helped her out of. Taking notice of the hole as well, the girl sighed loudly, and slightly embarrassed.

"No, I fell in the hole as I tried to get a close up of this lizard I saw." She stated flipping her camera on to show the boy the picture of the lizard up close.

"Those things can kill you!" He exclaimed at her stupidity.

"It didn't. Okay?" She asked as she glanced towards the hole again. Seeing someone walk by the tents she quickly grabbed a hold of the boy and pulled him down into the hole with her.

Feeling his intense gaze, Cami glanced up at the boy who was staring her down at the moment.

"Look, I know how scary Mr. Sir can be. What do you think he would do if he caught us both out here?" She asked as she stood up and jumped up to peek her head out of the hole to see him ring the alarm.

"How do you suppose we get out of this hole with all of the campers walking out of the tents right now?" the boy asked staring at her. Landing back down on the dirt, Cami turned slowly towards the boy.

"That's a good question." She stated aloud just as her cell phone began to ring loudly causing the rumbling of the campers getting their shovels and breakfast to suddenly stop.

Feeling the intense gaze of the boy on her again, Cami couldn't help but look down at her phone and flip it open quickly to answer.

"Hello?" She asked quietly while stealing a quick glance towards the boy.

"Camille, nice to see you up so early. It's great now you can start work earlier in the day." The thick southern accent stated, louder than normal, which caused Cami to glance up out of the hole as she felt another intense gaze on her.

Staring up into the cold blue eyes, Cami met the disappointed gaze of her aunt, The Warden.