Chapter 27

Dinner was quiet at D-Tent's table. There were no jokes, there were no comments at one another's expense, there was no talk regarding Magnet's whereabouts or if he'd managed to jump on the supply truck. No one said a word. The only sound came from their occasional sighs and of food being chewed. Armpit had a habit of smacking his lips with every bite; Squid would've throttled him if he weren't so distracted.

Magnet showed up halfway through. Eyes to the floor, dirty, sweaty, walking slow as if his limbs were weighed down with lead. He made a beeline for the food, shifted his tray down the line to get his share of the not-so-stellar offerings, and plopped down at D-Tent's table, rattling their cups and utensils. His fork poked at the mass of meat sitting on the tray and the silence broke as he uttered, "Pass the ketchup."

"Good to see you, buddy," X-Ray said. His smile lifted on one side: half mocking, half sincere. A little chuckle escaped, and his eyes swung over to Squid, sitting at his right hand. As always. Eyebrows crinkling, he swatted Squid's arm with the back of his hand. "Didn't you hear him, Squid? Give the man some ketchup."

Grunting, Squid dropped his fork, grabbed the bottle from the middle of the table, and set it down in front of Magnet. Others would say he slammed it down with the way their trays shook. Ignoring their curious stares, ones that swung from Magnet to himself, he picked up his fork and continued eating, never breaking his hard glare from B-Tent's table.

No, he hadn't heard Magnet. What had started as a low buzz in his ear graduated to a roar which didn't seem to want to go away any time soon. Zigzag could have told him the moon was made of whipped cream and he wouldn't have heard a thing. His leg bounced beneath the table. His muscles tensed like a wind-up toy waiting to be released.

The only thing keeping him glued to his seat and not flying across the room to beat Eagle and the rest of B-Tent into bloody pulps was simple: Mouse wouldn't want him to. Even after all this time, she still had him wrapped around her finger. He stayed put.

X-Ray, however, was still out for blood. The minute Mouse got up from the table, so quiet she lived up to her name, he immediately dispatched Caveman and Zero to go with her. Squid gritted his teeth when B-Tent's eyes followed them out the door. Caveman may be larger than most of the tent, but he'd been losing weight recently and it wouldn't be hard to push him out of the way if something were to happen. He again reminded himself Mouse didn't want him to do anything.

"Okay, now that Magnet's back we can get back to work." X-Ray stated. He glanced over his shoulder at the counselors sitting nearby. Not that it mattered; the counselors only cared about getting paid and staying out of the sun as much as possible. They never cared about the campers. With a quick twitch of his finger, X-Ray, Magnet, Zigzag, Squid, and Armpit leaned forward, abandoning interest in their food. "Did you hear anything good?"

Magnet shook his head, the movement slow as he rested his cheek against his palm. "They weren't saying much when I passed by. Just talking about someone's pet snake." He put down his fork and pulled out the center of his piece of bread. Squid knew that trick; it made the food last longer. "Saying something about feeding mice to it."

"They're not exactly subtle, are they?"

"They're pissed."

"Good. That's where I want them."

Squid glanced at him. "Seriously?" he asked.

X-Ray gave a single nod. "Means they're more likely to make a mistake. We have a leg up on them now."

"Fine, but what are we actually going to do?"

"Well, that all comes down to Magnet."

Silence fell over the stunned table.

X-Ray smiled, popping a limp carrot into his mouth.

# # #

Squid could admit he wasn't the smartest guy around; his fists and strong sense of self-preservation made up for what he lacked. He liked to think he was a step above Armpit whose head swiveled between Magnet and X-Ray so fast Squid half expected him to lift off and take flight. It wasn't too hard to figure out: X-Ray liked to make plans. X-Ray liked having plans for his plans. Contingency may as well be his middle name.

Still, even he didn't see this plan coming: the lengths X-Ray went into getting this plan together, keeping it quiet, biding his time and waiting. Squid couldn't imagine how long X-Ray waited for this moment; for everything to line up just right to get the ball rolling. And, on top of that, he had no clue. He understood Armpit being left in the dark about the scheme but, well, Squid wasn't Armpit.

He crossed his arms and shuffled his feet, peering at the back of D-Tent in the not too far distance where their group had gathered after doing their best to continue eating dinner normally. Who could eat when X-Ray dropped a bomb like that? Apparently, X-Ray could with the way he carried on, joking and laughing. Maybe it was a cover for the counselors sitting nearby but Squid didn't doubt for a second X-Ray relished in the moment. Nothing filled him with more glee and smug satisfaction than having people hanging on his every word.

"Are y'gonna get to the point or what?" Squid all but growled. X-Ray had a very punchable smile on his face and, well, X-Ray wasn't Eagle but Squid could make an exception in a pinch.

"Okay, okay, calm down there, tiger," X-Ray said, clapping him on the shoulder. Squid swatted X-Ray's hand away. "Geeze, eat less red meat." X-Ray laughed. "Would make you a little less high strung." He laughed again.

"Man, c'mon, I gotta catch up on my reading," Zigzag said. Squid made a face. As if his outdated TV Guide was going to suddenly change. Zig could only be so lucky.

"Fine. I tell you man, can't rely on suspense around here anymore," X-Ray said. When Armpit made a step towards him, X-Ray held up his hands. "Alright! Alright!" He eyed Armpit who took a step back, putting him an arm's length away. Squid strained to keep from laughing. X-Ray may be the leader, but Armpit was bigger than him. If Armpit ever got his wits about him, he could have X-Ray on his back flat in five seconds. "B-Tent, always been on our asses, right? They're bigger than us…well, most of us. Stronger than us. Older than us. So they throw their weight around. There's only so much they can lift in the Wreck Room, right? They wouldn't give us anything actually heavy just in case someone bashes our heads in. But, then you gotta wonder, how they still look like that. All hulked up and everything. Right? Right." X-Ray didn't bother to wait for any of them to reply. He began to pace as he spoke. "You don't get muscles and strength like that from digging. Well, not just from digging. They need some help, of the medical variety."

Squid's eyebrow furrowed. His heart beat a stuttered step and his stomach gave a painful lurch. A scuff of his boot to the hard, dry dirt. Zigzag's head tilted to the side, his wild hair making him resemble a troll doll.

"Now, the question is," X-Ray continued, "how do they get anything to help satisfy their urges all the way out here?" Armpit grunted at X-Ray's phrasing; X-Ray didn't slow down. "The answers simple: hidden in plain sight."

"Huh?" Armpit uttered. He blinked and shook his head. "How do you hide something in sight?"

"He means by doing something so obvious no one questions it," Magnet spoke up. It was the first he spoke since dinner. With hands shoved in his jumpsuit pockets, he kept his gaze out on the horizon where black slowly bled into the purple sky.

"Right!" X-Ray jabbed his finger in Magnet's direction. "And how do they do that? By working in an area of camp where no one would suspect they were doing something."

Everyone slowly nodded their heads, except for Armpit. "Supply truck," Squid said, erasing the brief confusion which flashed through Armpit's eyes. Armpit pressed his lips together and nodded as well.

"B-Tent's the only tent on supply truck duty. Or kitchen duty. They've held that position as long as I can remember. Whatever they wanted, they could get it before anyone else came into contact with it."

"But what about the counselors? They get to the truck before B-Tent does," Armpit said.

"They're probably in on it," Zigzag said. "Whatever B-Tent gets, they get a cut? Maybe they're the go between with their supplier." X-Ray snapped his fingers, pointing at Zigzag. "Okay, so what does that have to do with Magnet?"

X-Ray stared at Zigzag as if he were crazy. "It has everything to do with Magnet."

"Okay?"

"If there's anything B-Tent is looking for on those supply trucks, Mag's the one who can get it." It was the first time Squid had seen Magnet smile in some time. It wasn't a big smile but the pride oozing through was hard to miss.

"So…what, you planned for Magnet to hop on the supply truck and try to escape?"

X-Ray laughed. "Of course not! Magnet did that on his own. But I knew it'd only be a matter of time until he tried. Everyone's thought of it. Like Squid and digging a hole to China?" Squid turned his eyes to the sky. As if it weren't plausible! "Who hasn't thought of jumping on their one-way ticket out of here? You can't get on the bus; the drivers would notice someone leaving and an extra person getting back on. There're too many windows, not enough hiding places. But with the supply truck, they don't check the back once it's been emptied. They have no reason to. The drivers don't care that much. They barely stick around when to let it be cleared out in the first place." X-Ray's eyes began to shine. "So whether or not Mag actually got out of here, I knew he'd be able to get something if something indeed was being brought into the camp. We don't call him Magnet for nothin'." Armpit's arm shot into the air. X-Ray's eyes cut to him. "Pit, we aint in school, you don't have to raise your hand."

Armpit's arm fell back to his side; a plume of dirt floated off his jumpsuit. "I don't get it," Armpit said. Squid snorted, exchanging a look with Zigzag. "What do they want?"

"Drugs, Pit," X-Ray replied. "They want drugs."

"But…drugs aren't allowed here."

"Somethin' tells me they aren't exactly buddy-buddy with the DA's office around here." X-Ray tilted his thumb in Armpit's direction, as if silently asking where did they find this guy? There was a reason Squid and Armpit were just hired muscle.

"Okay, so what did Magnet get?"

X-Ray lifted his chin in Magnet's direction. Magnet removed his hands from his pockets and pulled out a small, Ziploc sample bag. It fit in his palm; a piece of paper covered the front with an intricate design on it. At the sight of it, Squid sucked in a sharp breath. His heart rammed against his chest, his stomach dropped, his fingers twitched by his side, and dread crawled slow and steady up his spine.

Zigzag and Armpit shuffled forward for a closer look. Squid took a step back. X-Ray shot him a look and Squid rubbed the heels of his palms into his eyes. No matter how hard he scrubbed it didn't go away. Shit! This wasn't a dream.

"What is it?" Armpit asked.

"C'mon, man you don't know?" Zigzag asked, nudging Armpit in the shoulder. A scoff fell from his lips but, form the way he looked around the circle, Squid knew the answer escaped him too.

"Didn't any of you watch the news before you came here?" X-Ray asked, shifting his attention. "Or ESPN? It's all over there. There've been so many tests for these things." X-Ray snatched the package from Magnet and, with a quick pinch and pull of his fingers, popped the Ziploc. Turning the bag over, he dumped the substance into his palm. A few yellow capsules rolled out, nestling in his cupped hand. "Ball players are being watched for these things. Even Clyde Livingston."

"Steroids!?" Armpit outburst earned him an elbow to the gut from Zigzag.

"Yeah," X-Ray said. He turned his hand over to Squid, an eyebrow raising. "Something tells me you know what these are."

Squid nodded, crossing his arms again, tucking his shaking hands into his pits. No sense in denying it at this point. "Androstenedione."

"Bless you," Armpit uttered.

"It's a performance enhancer," Squid continued as if Armpit hadn't said anything. His voice came out in a monotone drawl, his eyes staring hard at the pills in X-Ray's hand. "A lot of ball players in the major leagues use 'em to improve their battin' and fieldin'. Pumps y'up like crazy."

"How'd you know they were on steroids, X?" Magnet asked.

"I didn't. But I knew they were on something. Those painkillers couldn't have been the only thing they were popping with how much that calmed things down for a while."

"So…what are we going to do with them?"

X-Ray's answer faded out beneath the increasing buzz in Squid's ears. He pressed his lips together, fighting to swallow the lump growing in his throat amidst struggling to breath through the vice grip tightening its hold on his chest. The pills shook and shimmered beneath his steady gaze, what he hoped to be a mirage in the heated wasteland pulsed a threatening beat.

Squid blinked and he saw the pills, but as they were before, nestled in Brett's hand months ago, a lifetime ago. They stood in his basement, Brett swigging from a can of Miller Lite as he looked over the pills in his hand. Alan stood nearby, eyeing him, a cigarette hanging out the corner of his mouth.

"It's all there," Alan said. Smoke billowed out his mouth as he spoke.

"Sick. This'll get me scouted this year for sure," Brett said, "this is my last chance." Setting the beer can down on the green felt, he dumped the pills back in its small pouch. "Thanks for all your help, man."

"Yeah, yeah." Squid rubbed the smooth sole of his worn converse against the impossibly plush, white carpet. "So this is done, right? Everythin's square?"

"Yeah, we're square. You got me my stuff; I'll get you your insulin." Brett shoved the small bag into his pocket. "Money should be cleared by the end of the week."

Alan nodded. "Great, thanks." He removed the cigarette from his mouth and shoved it into the bowl sitting on the wooden edge of the pool table. Ribbons of smoke curled up from the tray, joining the near-constant haze lingering in the air. "I'll see you later, man."

"Whoa, what's your rush?"

Alan jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "I gotta get goin'." Colton didn't like to be kept waiting, especially when his money was on the line. Brett was Colton's best customer but also Colton's flakiest. Alan was the only one who could get money out of Brett but, then again, Brett had Alan on a short leash as well. Insulin wasn't cheap. And he knew it.

When Brett suggested he stay for a drink, a joint, and a round of pool, Alan did as he was told. He had no other choice.

Squid may as well have sold his soul to the devil twice over. All for the medicine he needed to do something with his life. But what kind of life could he life with chains on his feet? Just when he thought he'd been freed from them, this happened. All the way out in the middle of nowhere.

"Squid?" He blinked, looking over to X-Ray who'd pushed his arm. Squid looked around, spying Magnet's, Zigzag's, and Armpit's retreating backs. "You good?"

"Yeah." Squid nodded. "I just…I gotta talk to Mouse."

a/n - After forever and a day I finally updated! And look, I'm two away from 100! Didn't think I'd reach that in 2021 but I'm super excited to see people still enjoying this fic. Hope you liked this update, please read and review.

CM