R_S: I kinda like this one, even though not a lot happens in it. I think it still develops the growing relationships pretty nicely.

Chapter 8

Hell Week

When Kat woke up the next morning, she felt as though she was slowly dying. Her entire body ached all the way down to her bones, and her hands hardly moved. In fact, most of her body did not seem to move properly. The bend of each joint took herculean effort. A tiny hiss of pain escaped her lips as she turned over, the faux trumpet sound vibrating in her head. A looming shadow appeared against her curtain.

"Hey girl, y'all up?" Zigzag demanded gruffly. She made a weak moan in the affirmative and heard laughter behind him.

"You know she's feelin' it today." Magnet, it seemed, the one who was always kindest to her, still found joy in her misery.

"C'mon, new girl," she could practically hear X-Ray's shit-eating smirk, "get dressed n' come on out so we can have a look at ya." Her joints did not seem to be waking up with her, but Katrina did as told regardless. With mechanical, pained movements, she pulled on the dirty orange jumpsuit. After a day's wear, it was already starting to smell like the boys', and the harsh material scraped agonizingly against her sunburn. She tried to put more lotion on, but it burned at her hands. Her boots felt heavier and took an extra attempt to tie up properly with her blisters hot and raw on her palms. With shaking hands, she grabbed her toothbrush and stepped out. She kept her eyes down.

A low whistle was cut off with Magnet's voice. "I dunno how she's gonna do it, homes."

"Well damn, look at ya- you're a mess." X-Ray laughed, "Always said first hole's the hardest." Armpit made some side comment she did not catch and clapped her hard on the shoulder, causing her back to cave and arch away. More laughter. She shuffled out toward the spigots, their laughter echoing behind:

"Look at 'er, she can't barely even walk!"

"Yeah, that's how sore she'll be after a night with me!"

Similar comments were thrown during her trip to brush her teeth and back.

"Damn, she's gonna get less n' less hot by the day, man. Better hit that while it's still fresh."

"What's wrong, princess, can't handle man's work?"

"You need a good rub-down, beautiful, you come see me, yeah?"

"Aw, one hole too much for ya?"

By the time she got back to the tent, a couple of the D-Tent boys had walked out, brushed their own teeth, and hung around her slow gait to escort her back, wary of the leers accompanying the commentary. Squid shot them a hard glare. Kat was D-Tent's girl. They could rip her a new asshole, but no one else could.

"Damnit, hurry on up!" He growled at her with a firm push on the small of her back, "You're gonna make us late." She tried to keep up with all of them heading out, but it was still pretty pathetic. Squid in particular kept pushing her along insistently, much to Zigzag's amusement. His laugh tittered like the Joker, eyeing her with his wild gaze. Usually she felt fine next to Squid and Zigzag, but that morning they were quickly becoming her least favorite people.

Mr. Sir wasted no time in getting his jabs in. "Well good morning, girlie! How ya feelin', hmmm?" She bit back tears and shrugged.

"I'm fine, Mr. Sir." She answered in a quiet voice. The boys snickered. Traitors.

"Well I done warned you this wasn't no Girl Scout camp. You kids think you can come in here all the time…" She tuned out his tirade, nibbling on her meager breakfast and shuffling along out to the holes. Again the boys made sure she kept up to pace with hard jabs, mocking the way her shovel dragged on the ground and the awkward stiffness in her walk. As the group was placed for their holes, Kat noticed that the boys had gone from being all on one side of her to all on the other. Apparently they did not want her too far and had placed her strategically for her 2-day hole.

Thus began the new worst day of her life, the one that left the day before completely in the dust- literally. If her first day was a slow dig, the second was a snail's pace. By the time Zero finished, she was barely more than a foot further down. Her whole body ached, muscles too sore to move properly. The skin of her hands rubbed raw, oozing and bleeding. As one by one the boys finished, they sent her mocking glances. She did not need to be psychic to read their minds; they found her pathetic. Digging half as much as them she could not keep up. It only served to remind her that the only thing keeping her safe in camp was whatever special treatment she could garner them. She would have to up that game ASAP, she thought, as Zigzag hocked a loogie into his hole and strolled away. Only Armpit and Squid remained. Armpit was always the last one done before her, but Squid's presence was surprising. It seemed, however, from a cursory glance at his dirt pile that his area had an impressive abundance of rocks that day. He certainly looked pissed enough as a result.

Still, even with the excess heavy lifting, both were done before her. Squid shook his head dismissively at her as she gazed up and them in defeat. She did not have much more to go, but the wear of the work was showing on her. She stared after them, watching the pair's departure sadly. The last thing she heard fading away were their heavy steps punctuating the conversation.

"Squid, man, that girl is all eyes. S'creepy. S'like- like a baby or somethin'."

"She plays up that innocent act anymore, I might actually vomit."

After they left, she only got worse. Work grew slower without anyone to maintain appearances for. It took her longer to finish two feet the second day than it took her to do the first three. Her head felt light, her body ached, and Kat was certain she looked like hell. By the time she was done, she had settled into a steady silent cry through her dig. Mr. Sir enjoyed driving by with a mocking comment here and there, but she could barely even muster up the energy to 'yes sir, Mr. Sir.' During the walk back, she was certain buzzards were circling.

In the tent, the freshly cleaned D-Tent boys lazed. She had a feeling they waited for her to get back just to be sure she was alive. The day before, they made it adamantly clear they enjoyed the special treatment having a girl around granted them. There was a certain comfort in that. No matter how much they hated her (and Katrina was quite certain that they did), they would do nothing to mess that up.

"You survived!" Zigzag grinned darkly, "We were startin' to think you was buzzard food." She mumbled some kind of response that hardly made sense to her own ears and shuffled back to her cot to grab what she needed for a shower, ignoring their mocking titters. Blood stained her palms and mixed into clumps with the dirt on her jumpsuit. She thought she felt the guys eyeing it, but she was too tired to pay much mind. At least, she reasoned, most of the other campers had left her alone through the day. Maybe they were getting bored of the novelty of her and her shower would be quiet.

She could not have been any more wrong.

If anything, more boys had congregated around her shower stall than the previous day. They loitered with smarmy, secretive grins that made her skin crawl. It was difficult to ignore, and the walls of the stall served as a welcome relief, the one area where she still had a semblance of real privacy. She turned to lock the door behind her.

"Shit." She cursed quietly, tears welling. Metal of the closure had been twisted and bent, some broken off. The stall no longer locked. She stepped back out, bustling back toward the tent.

"Aw, sweetheart," someone called from behind her, "no shower today?" Raucous laughter echoed at the comment. She quickened her pace, all but jogging up to the tent. The comments gave her a second wind. The group was readying to go to the Wreck Room.

"What," the leader asked, one unamused eyebrow raised, "you forget somethin'?"

"They… someone broke the lock off my shower stall." That caused him to freeze. Eyebrows shot up around the room.

Squid scowled, "N' they're waitin' for you to go in? Fuckin' pricks." He threw down what was in his hands and stood up, stalking past her. "C'mon." Confused, she just did as he ordered and obediently followed. He led her back to the shower area with an angry, looming gate. He stopped in front, jerking toward it with a nod of his head.

"Go on. I'll be right outside." And without waiting for her response, he turned his back to the small wooden confine and crossed his arms with legs spread aggressively. Some sounds of complaint came from the other campers, but his glare swept across the sound to silence them. Almost immediately the small crowd began to disperse. Squid looked back at her, annoyed.

"Well, get to it! I ain't got all day, girl." She nodded haltingly and dove into the stall. Luckily, the door closed behind her. She stuck in the token and washed, dressing hurriedly when the ten minutes were up. He was right where she left him when she exited, though stance somewhat more relaxed. He had not ventured an inch closer to the stall, maintaining a respectful distance. She appreciated that.

"You get ten minutes to shower?" Were the first words out of his mouth. She flushed and nodded. "Damn." He muttered and began to walk away, ostensibly toward the Wreck Room where she assumed the rest of D-Tent had gone.

"Thank you," she scurried to keep step, stumbling from the pain coursing through her body, "for doing that."

"Whatever, princess. Sorry your royal chamber didn't come with a guard."

"You… you could use it too." She offered weakly, feeling guilty. He stopped and glared at her.

"No, I can't. You heard the warden; we ain't allowed."

"Well…" she searched for something to say to make things up to him, but she found nothing, deflating. "Well thank you anyway… I'll go talk to Mr. Sir now about fixing it so I don't keep being a bother."

"Won't matter, they'll just break it again anyway. But hey- s'your shower." He shrugged and stalked off, leaving her behind. He had taken a round-about route, though, dropping her at the tent. So, Katrina thought, he was being almost nice.

The third day was not any better than the second, though she was assured that it would end with a repaired shower. The night before, the campers received a serious lecture in the mess hall regarding destruction of property and respecting others. Squid looked annoyed until a handful of extra shower tokens were dropped beside his tray- Kat had made a point of mentioning his gentlemanly behavior. She hoped it would assuage his caustic attitude, and it did- minorly. It gave him something to lord over the other boys at least, which he always enjoyed. Still, the next day she could feel the annoyance rolling off the rest of D-Tent in palpable waves.

Each morning it seemed she awoke more sore than the last. Honestly, Kat was not sure how she was going to survive any longer. It seemed impossible, as though at any moment she was about to break down and give in. There must have been a better way, she told herself. If she passed out, maybe they would stop making her dig holes. Maybe she could get away with just food and laundry duty or something. Realistically, she doubted it, but hope sprang eternal.

That unspoken dream was all that kept her going that morning. Her head was clogged from dehydration, every breath and sound echoing across her brain. Her vision swam vaguely, but she ignored it in an effort to push through. At some point, she noticed she had started crying, but it felt distant. The wetness did not register palpably against her skin. It was like her mind was wrapped in cellophane, like she was looking at the world through an opaque curtain or glass wall but never really participating.

"Girl, you ok?" Somewhere behind her she heard the question called, but it was too distant to respond. Instead she kept digging. Only then did Kat notice that she was not digging. When, she wondered, had her arms stopped moving?

"Hey… hey guys, something's wrong with her."

"Kat… hey, Kat! Katrina!" Slowly her head turned vaguely toward the sound, and then her body crumpled. Her last conscious thought was about how everyone eventually ends up in a hole.

After Katrina's fainting spell, she was loaded into Mr. Sir's truck and brought back to camp. Zigzag, who had been the one to place her in the vehicle, was allowed to come- evidently there was some rule about any male non-medical worker being alone with her, due to liability concerns. Somehow, the blond commented bitterly to Squid beneath his breath, he did not think that Mr. Sir was going to rape her, but he hardly had a leg to stand on. She would be fine – just a bit of dehydration – but he would be sent back on his hole an hour, and that did nothing for his mood. The boys only began to worry somewhat when dinner rolled around and there was still no sign of her, but it was still concern kept quiet and disregarded. If it was that bad, they would send her home.

Kat had come to in the afternoon to find herself with a wet towel across her forehead and lying in the infirmary- a lean-to that looked like a giant tin can and was hardly more than a tent but that the staff called a 'building.' It was kept locked up tight and held all the medical supplies for the camp, along with a couple of sickbeds. She tried to say something, but all that came out was a half groan that scratched against her sore throat. She licked her dry, cracked lips to no avail and slowly sat up. Beneath the back of her neck was damp compress that had likely once been cold but was now heated from the warmth of her body. Her head still swam, and her body ached. A dull pounding had set into her brain as she looked around with bleary eyes. It was worsened by the low scratch of Pendanski's uneven snores from across the room, where he leaned back in a chair with his feet up. The door was kept wide open, probably so they did not count as being 'alone' in the hut.

Glancing down at where she was sitting, Kat noticed the stains that dotted the mattress and grimaced. Evidently she was far from the first to get sick at Camp Green Lake. She shifted to the side to avoid a fresher looking spot, causing the bed to creak. Its sound jostled Pendanski awake with snort, and he all but fell out of the chair. His head flipped around wildly until it found her.

"Katrina!" He greeted far too loudly for her pounding head, "You're awake! And how are you feeling?" She winced and again tried to answer, but nothing came out right.

"Oh of course, let's get you some water, hmm?" He handed her the jug she was made to carry around with her. Despite the warm dirty taste of the water, she gulped it down greedily.

"Be careful now," he warned, "wouldn't want ya to get sick. Here, saved you some lunch too." He held out a bag with a smashed sandwich and some graham cracker crumbs, likely the rejects that the boys did not take. It hardly mattered, her stomach felt hollow and desperate, and she attacked the food with equal fervor.

"Thank you." She muttered weakly, through a mouthful of food.

"Gave us quite the scare, little lady." He commented, "But now ya seem just fine, don't ya?" Was that accusation in his voice, she wondered. Her big eyes lifted to look at him, and he stared back thoughtfully. Something was working its way around his weasel-like little head, but she had no idea what. He jabbered mindlessly about strength of character and how she should feel proud to have fought so hard out in the sun that day as she finished her food. She felt full and sick afterward and laid back down, still nodding obediently.

"Well, ya'll get some rest now and drink plenty of fluids. We'll come get ya when they think it's time to send ya back." Before he was even out of the room, Katrina was back asleep. She dozed on and off (though mostly on) for the entire day without ever feeling rested. At some point, she wondered if she should go back, but she assumed they would let her know. In actuality, they forgot about her. Mr. Sir finally flung the door open, realizing it was still unlocked from her stay, long after the sun had set.

"Go on n' get, girlie." He barked, "Y'already missed dinner." He said something else to her, but she paid no mind, allowing herself to get shoved out roughly.

She stumbled back to the tent on uneasy legs as the boys readied for bed, not bothering to stop at the showers or spigot. She was welcomed back with snarky comments about Sleeping Beauty finally awake (she really hoped that would not become her Green Lake nickname). Ignoring such snide remarks and the appraising looks they fixed her with, she ducked into her area, peeled off her clothes, and went straight to bed. As if she had not spent most of the day unconscious, she fell instantly into a deep sleep.

When the trumpet recording sounded the next morning, Kat found herself in the exact position she had fallen asleep in, much to the chagrin of her aching muscles. She still felt weak and uneasy on her feet, but she dressed smoothly and went with X-Ray to brush her teeth. He eyed her from the side a couple times but otherwise wholly ignored her presence. She did not interact with anyone that morning, hardly registering the usual comments sent her way by the campers. She nibbled on a tortilla, shuffling up the line, and took a shovel weakly by the shaft, only to have it ripped from her lackluster grip a moment later.

Mr. Sir gave her a cool look. "Get to the kitchen, girlie. You ain't no good out there like this."

The look of pure hatred that earned her from every single member of D-Tent (save, perhaps, Zero) almost tempered the joy that thrummed in her heart… almost.

The day off had been a welcome respite, but the following morning found her digging beside the boys once more. She would only dig four-by-four holes from then on it was decided, still over the course of two days. The warden was less than thrilled by the decision, based on the yelling that echoed from her cabin following the incident, but there was nothing to be done. Katrina was not physically capable of doing any more, and she needed to dig close to the group; having her alone in the desert would be too dangerous. The boys were nothing but bitter about her free passes, jealous of the day off and even more so of her increasingly lightening workload.

Kat gritted her teeth and bore it, trying not to engage any more than necessary. If the roles had been reversed, she reasoned, she would have been pissed too. She ignored their glares and dug with as much fervor as she could muster- which, to be fair, was not much. The lining of her glove rubbed roughly against her hand, bringing tears to her eyes. It hurt, threads cutting into the blisters on her hands and the soft untouched flesh between. It was nothing, she told herself. She could handle it.

But she was far from the first camper to wear those gloves, and as she dug deep into the earth, the seam of leather and cloth gave way. The threading broke apart, sliding the curve of her hand harshly against the worn wood of the shovel. It sliced through, ripping open her hand to leave a bloody gash that spilled into the hole.

And that was it. For little Katrina, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. With an animalistic growl lower in bass than she had ever thought her body capable of making, she threw her shovel and kicked the side of her hole. It was unsatisfying, as she lacked the strength to make any impact. There was nothing left for her to do but cry. She crumpled into a ball, sobs shaking her body as she broke. So wrapped up in her misery, she did not hear the boys stop their digging, some cautiously making their way over.

"What," Squid glared down at her, "you break a nail?" That only made her cry harder.

"Shit, dude, not now…" Zigzag muttered, "S'loud, n' we don't wanna make it worse."

"Somebody make her stop before Mr. Sir hears it n' blame us!" X-Ray ordered harshly. The boys paused their digging and went over, looking down at the sobbing, bloody mess of a girl with obvious reticence.

"I told you she was loco." Magnet muttered. Some moved to sit on the edge of the hole to get a better look.

"It's not fair," she sobbed, "I don't wanna be here! With the stupid holes and nothing but boys who break the locks and it's scary and-"

"Well I hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but you picked this." Zigzag scoffed.

She shook her head softly, hiccupping. "I wouldn't have if I'd known."

"They… they didn't tell you this was a boys camp?" Magnet asked hesitatingly. She shook her head again, this time emphatically.

"I-I didn't know until I got off the bus. They just said it'd be a shorter sentence, so I took it. Nobody told me why, not until it was too late."

"Well shit, no wonder you skittish as a baby deer!" X-Ray sniped, tossing down his shovel. Armpit shook his head.

"That just ain't right, man."

"I-I just…" she could not find the words and devolved further into hysterics. Uncertainly, Zigzag reached out a long arm and delivered two awkward pats to her head. It only made her cry harder, the fact that even if the present company wanted to comfort her, they had no idea how.

"Look, Kat, it ain't… it ain't so bad." Squid's voice cut in unsurely, looking for the words. "We got food here, somethin' to do with our time. N' hell, might actually be better'n prison- we don't know. S'only first convictions here. It sure ain't worth cryin' over either way." She sniffled softly, slowly calming herself, and nodded.

"Yeah… ok, yeah, you're right." Her voice was small, like she was more trying to convince herself than anyone else, but they would take it. "It's just a lot."

Magnet shrugged, "It is." He conceded matter-of-factly.

"N' all that for somethin' you didn't even do." X-Ray added blandly, returning to his digging.

"Yeah-" she cut herself off, looking over at him with narrowed eyes.

"What'd you just say?"

He met her gaze evenly. "You heard me."

"Who- who said I didn't do it?"

"Oh no one has to." He told her bluntly. The boys moved back to their holes silently.

"You're wrong." X-Ray laughed.

"You're a rotten liar, girl."

End of Chapter

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