R_S: Another update, and so soon! I dunno why I got a second wind with this fic, came out of nowhere, but I'm hoping I'll finish it eventually.

Chapter 15

Caged and Crowded

D-Tent was off the next day, given the drama of the night before. What was happening with A-Tent, none of them were privy to, but it was clear that yet again, Katrina would be remaining against better judgment. As final as the night before had felt, it was not. Instead, the counselors merely dug into the spare tents and tent parts kept buried in storage for materials. They would be used to increase the safety precautions around the girl's private quarters, but otherwise it seemed that little would change. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but she was getting used to disappointment. She was also becoming concerningly adept at compartmentalizing her trauma and shoving it away as her survival instincts continued to sharpen in that post-apocalyptic nightmare they called a camp.

Kat sat on the other side of the tent, leaning against Zigzag's cot with her boys lounging around her as the aforementioned safety precautions were installed. They were clearly out of their element with no idea what to say to her, even following last night's breakdown. On the other side of the room, Mr. Sir and Pendanski bickered over screws and metal tubing, creating makeshift caging to line the inside of her tent area. The tent itself had already been mended (she was made to sew it up herself, being the only one who knew how to in some cruel twist of irony), but now there would also be a series of vertical metal bars just too close to walk through straight, all connected by two lines of horizontal tubing evenly spaced. They might as well have locked her in a dog cage, it seemed, and Magnet had muttered as much.

Every so often, one would reach halfway out to her with the intention to comfort, but he would always draw the limb back in, uncertain how to approach the situation. She pretended not to see, staring emptily at the slowly constructed cage. They were nearly finished now. The work went more quickly once they completely focused on it. As Kat had sewn the tent earlier, and when they had first begun the cage construction, they took statements from the D-Tent boys as they worked, trying to piece together the events. It was pretty self-explanatory, it seemed. Some of A-Tent (most of A-Tent) had used a smuggled knife to slice and opening in the side of her tent. From there, they confined her with a sheet and forced her into their own area. Zero caught the very tail end of it, and scurried to wake the others as timely as possible, a challenge given his lack of vocal expression.

"Man, you did somethin' right for once, Zero." Armpit quipped, giving the smaller boy a little nudge. Zero said nothing, keeping his gaze down. Kat had tried to thank him, offering a few words and a weak attempt at a smile, but he disregarded her, so she stopped trying. Maybe, she figured, there really was not much going on up there. Maybe he was on the spectrum and just did not like the change in routine that not having her in the tent caused and that was why he woke the others. Regardless, she had too much stress to deal with to worry about him.

Just like after the last incident, Kat was kept in the tent for the remainder of the day. The boys, in an uncharacteristic show of solidarity, stayed with her for the majority of the time or took shifts so she would not be alone, even though she made no effort to communicate or interact with them. After only an hour or two of being alone with her, they all gave up on trying, save for Zig-Zag. He talked incessantly about everything to her and tried desperately to make her smile, but to no avail. The others kept to their own cots and their own devices, playing dice or giving one another shit. She entertained herself by drawing patterns on her bruises with a lazy finger. Only when dinner came was she alone for the first time in nearly 24 hours, a tray brought to her in the tent. They trickled back quickly following the meal- Squid and Zigzag first, followed by a steady stream of others.

Kat had still not moved from the center floor of the tent.

"I don't think that's the best place to sleep." X-Ray commented drolly from where he reclined on his cot like a roman emperor on his chaise. Her eyes flicked to him momentarily before returning to stare at her impending confinement. Zigzag walked over to it and climbed the bars like a monkey, eliciting the smallest quirk of her lips.

"Seems pretty solid," he said, jumping off, "I don't think no one's gettin' in, Bambi." She nodded but nonetheless did not move as the boys settled in to relax on the cots around her. She went widely ignored for the remainder of the evening- not that she could blame them. She told herself that the next day she would write Melanie and Brianna again- but only them. Wisely, she kept any mention of her unsafe conditions from her parents. It would only serve to worry them and there was nothing else to be done. The system knew- surely the warden was required to document and submit such goings on. Doubtless those with such abilities were in the process of plucking her from this wretched place. Now it was only a matter of waiting it out.

She was still naïve enough to believe such things.

The camp's free time ticked away endlessly to Kat, lost in her own thoughts. She hardly noticed when the boys stripped down for bed- they were far too used to her by then for modesty. Armpit reached down to poke her with a pudgy finger.

"You gotta move, Bambi; can't sleep right there." He said.

"Word," Magnet nodded sagely, "gotta face your kennel eventually." That earned a couple of annoyed comments and shirt to the face when she flinched. X-Ray quieted them all.

"He's right. Have Squid take ya to brush your teeth n' get to bed. We all gotta get back to work in the morning."

Katrina stood slowly as Squid tied his jumpsuit back up to keep it from falling, remaining shirtless. Zig-Zag rose as well for a moment but sat back down as Squid waved him off; he would do it. She approached her area with caution, as though entering a minefield, but did not hesitate in her motions. Nothing was said between the two to or from the spigot. Only one or two of the other campers were out, and though they looked and whispered, neither engaged. It could have been because of how much trouble A-Tent was presumably in or because of the deadly expression on her escort's face. Either way, she honestly did not care, as long as they left her alone. On the walk back, he moved to place a guiding hand on the small of her back, as usual, but thought better of it. To her surprise, she missed it. Back in the tent, everyone else was in bed, and he moved swiftly to his. She sat wordlessly on her cot, eyes trained on the floor. Her new cage did nothing to offer any comfort. He eyed her thoughtfully.

"You ain't gonna be able to sleep, are you?" She shook her head. Without another word, Squid grabbed his cot and dragged it over so the head jutted out into the entry to her area, nearly lining up with where her own head would lay. If anyone walked into the main area, they would have to brush by his head to get near her, and even if the bars had not been there, he was close enough to hear it if anything like the previous night's events ever happened again. He did not look at her as he climbed into bed, ignoring the uncertain looks of their tentmates. They were forbidden from rearranging the tent areas, technically, but no one was going to stop him. Zigzag even pulled his a little closer to the other side in what seemed like a show of solidarity. X-Ray nodded approvingly but otherwise did nothing, and they all settled in for the night.

Kat thought it would be hard to relax with a boy in such close proximity, and it was… but not for that reason. Squid, with his tough-guy posturing over secret tears and his southern gentleman manner that peaked out, did manage to assuage some of her unhappiness with his presence. The sound of his breathing was close but not unpleasant, like a reminder that she was not alone in the dark prison her mini-tent now felt like. She could listen to its rhythm, hear it slow and tell the exact moment he fell asleep. In… out… in… out. She matched her breathing to his, hoping it would calm her. It did, but he was bigger than her, with longer, deeper breaths, so the rhythm was difficult to maintain. Still, the sound carried her into a light, fitful sleep.

"N' just what in heaven's good name is this?!"

It was Dr. Pendanski's dulcet tones that awoke D-Tent the next morning in lieu of the usual trumpeting. He had come in early to check on Kat but stopped to stare flabbergasted at the rearrangement her two closest boys had finagled. Zigzag's move was hardly noticeable, but Squid cot was nearly in her doorway. The boys sat up or fell out of bed with varying levels of shock and hilarity. The only girl popped up with a startled gasp, backing up against the caging of her tent. Squid flipped over to lash out with one arm, looking around wildly, and Zig-Zag rolled forward to check on her as the others' heads whipped up to look for any signs of intruders. Pendanski raised a brow at that.

"Oh, I see." He said, crossing his arms and eyeing the group thoughtfully.

"I-I was just so scared…" She tried to explain, taking great pains to make her eyes extra big and wide. That worked to get him off topic, and he gave the group a short lecture about how safe Camp Green Lake was and the various protocols in place.

"Now, I'm not going to punish you too severely, since I know you were just doing it to protect our girl like you're supposed to." She hated the way he said that – 'our girl,' as though he had some hand in taking care of her each day. He never looked out for her and certainly not with the loyalty that Squid had been ever since the beginning. Kat had never noticed it before, too nervous or distracted or oblivious perhaps, but Squid was the one who had been there for her throughout camp. He started watching her the moment she showed up, walking her protectively to the spigot and guarding her showers and warding off the boys who looked at her the wrong way.

"I think a loss of shower tokens for the day is in order." He continued, earning sounds of annoyance from Squid and Zigzag (whom Pendanksi probably would not have noticed moved his cot, had he not drawn unwarranted attention to himself).

"And for you, missy," he added with a wag of his finger, "you'll be on dinner duty all week."

To her surprise, X-Ray voiced his own opinion. "Now don't be like that, Ma." He drawled, "You can't imagine we'd leave her all alone in a cage like that? 'Specially when it didn't seem to me A-Tent got much of what was comin' to them."

"Well, Rex, since you seem so keen on defending Katrina, you can give up your shower tokens for the day to get her off dinner duty. Now you boys put these beds back where they belong; it's perfectly safe here for our little girl. Trumpet sounds in 5 minutes, so don't even think about goin' back to bed, you lot. Early bird gets the worm!" Without another word, he marched off into the half-light of the morning with far too much pep in his step, leaving the group to rub their eyes and bitterly lament their loss of those last 5 minutes of sleep. But Pendanski was right; there was no point in going to back to sleep for such a short time, so they dragged themselves out. They felt well-rested, considering the day off, but the looming return to digging kept spirits low.

Kat tried to apologize to X-Ray, who was looking at her like she was the devil incarnate, but after half a syllable she took the hint he was sending her. She tugged her curtain closed, blocking her into the cage for the first time since its completion. The experience was unsettling. Dressing as quickly as possible, she reopened the flap once everything was covered. Even his hatred was easier to face than that claustrophobic confinement. To be fair, Zigzag looked nearly as annoyed, but he had a tendency to undermine his negative attentions toward her by getting distracted by her feminine appearance. He was easy enough to assuage most days, anyway, with just a little contraband sent from home. The other, however, was not so easily appeased. He hated her guts from day one, and nothing she did seemed to lesson his distaste for her person. Kat bit back tears, sitting on her bed with her head down. She did not need the additional stress of his attitude right then, not at all.

"C'mon, Bambi," Magnet summoned, "we headin' out."

She followed obediently, allowing the group to escort her up to the breakfast line. They had to leave her there, but it was obvious they would keep her within eyesight for as long as possible. She appreciated the sentiment. An E-Tent boy took one of the tortillas and saluted her with it, offering a wink. It gave Kat an idea.

"X-Ray," she sidled up beside him, shoulders tense, "here." She slipped him an extra serving of breakfast, careful not to be seen. He grabbed it aggressively from her hand but still glared directly into her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she tried, unable to tear her eyes away from the angry gaze he held, "if I'd known it would get you in so much trouble, I never would have-"

"Whatever," the leader sneered, "we gotta go dig. Try not to cause no new trouble this time, yeah?" She looked down, shying away from the feeling of his eyes on her.

"Yeah," she whispered, trying desperately to quell the tears, "yeah, I'll see you later."

Kat did not lift her eyes to see the pitying, worried looks the other boys gave her, but she did not have to. She could feel them well enough. They burned into her, like a brand that she could feel still sizzling on her skin well into the day's work. Only once did she see any of the A-Tent members, a quiet fidgety one that had hardly been involved, Catfish, but it still made her blood run cold, despite the oppressive heat. She quickly fled back into the laundry room, away from his observing gaze.

Katrina made the wise decision to keep to herself for the remainder of the day. She kept working until she knew the guys were finished showering and then retired to the tent while they headed to the Wreck Room. Being there alone was unsettling, and she could not quell her anxiety enough to reach any form of sleep, but the solitude was an oddly welcome comfort. Still, every laugh and muffled comment that echoed outside the tent shot stiffness up her spine until it passed. When sleep would not come, she slipped out and snuck alone over to the kitchen early just to find work to do. X-Ray was not pleased.

"Damnit," he snarled over an oddly well-cooked dinner, courtesy of the girl's restlessness, "I ain't tellin' you again that you better stay with us anytime you're goin' somewhere. I don't have time to deal with your shit." She meekly nodded, assuaging his anger with concessions and apologies; anything to alleviate his brutality. The others did not come to her support, simply stared down at their food. No one said anything else after she agreed to all of the leader's stipulations. It was as though every one of them was afraid to say something to incur the wrath of the beast.

She licked her lips and tried to break the awkward silence. "So… how was diggin' today?"

"It was fine." Magnet answered gently, and X-Ray snorted in agreement.

"Yeah; we didn't have to fight nobody, for once."

"X…" Zigzag started carefully, but a single look from the superior boy silenced him immediately. Behind him, laughter echoed from A-Tent, and she caught them smirking at her.

"I don't feel well." Kat announced suddenly and dropped her fork to dart from the cafeteria. If they called out after her, she did not hear it over the pounding in her ears. It was Squid who caught up with her just outside the tent.

"Jesus, didn't we just talk to you 'bout this shit, Bambi?" His snarl was half-hearted at best, she noted. He still felt too sorry for her to be mad.

"Sorry," she answered, slipping into the shelter, "I just couldn't stay..."

"S'fine; I was done anyhow…"

"Thank you," she said, "for last night. I'm sorry you got in trouble." He only shrugged. A silence fell between them. He had something else to say, she could feel it, but trying to force that boy to talk was like trying to milk water from a stone.

"X… he was wrong to give you a nickname like Bambi." Squid admitted to her quietly, like a secret shared in the dark. "I mean, don't get me wrong, it fits, it just… it was already dangerous havin' you here. No question someone was gonna mess with you after that. I think he kinda did it on purpose. That's why he's bein' so weird; he feels guilty."

"What do you mean?" Her own voice was soft and scared, even to her own ears.

"He didn't want none of this to happen, but… you also give us cred, y'know? 'Specially X-Ray. The guys in camp, they come up n' try to talk to him 'bout you a lot, think if they ever have a shot it'd have to go through him. That's important 'round here- but we were never gonna, like… trade you or nothin'. You know that, right? I kinda think that's why those guys went after you; they knew it wasn't gonna happen. But he made sure everyone knew you were helpless, that you needed us… he shouldn'a done that. I'm sorry."

After that night, that conversation, Squid became like her shadow. Maybe it was guilt or some sense of duty to her, but Kat never had a spare moment to feel the full brunt of her fear or entirely uncomfortable anymore. He was always there, just behind her or at her side, acting casual but always on guard. It must have been exhausting for him, she thought, though he never seemed to mind. He seemed to sleep comfortably at night, arm hanging out of his cot to lie just at the entrance to her cage in lieu of pulling his cot aside. Pendanski had taken to random checks to ensure no more rules were broken, though he called them 'safety checks' for Katrina. They did not bother her, not with the comfort she found.

And, if Squid was being honest, he found comfort in it, too.

End of Chapter

R_S: If you have time to review, it would be greatly appreciated ^_^