A/N: Okay guys, this chapter is very, very angsty. I'm warning you now. Nothing to laugh about here. Oh, and those Muse things about Artemis and her bikini last chapter, that was done with credit to Legs, who writes an awesome story called "A Voice and a Future of a Racetrack." It is very good, and I recommend it to all of you. Once again, there are two sequals to this story. NMR: Artemis's story by Artemis-Chan of Redwing and NMR: A Camper's Story by Spottysgirl. Please read them, because they are fairly interesting parts of the story done in totally different perspectives. Thank you guys all so much for giving me 200 reviews! This makes me so happy, you don't even understand. I LOVE ALL OF MY REVIEWERS!!!!! And I love anyone else who is reading this story, though I do wish you'd review if you read. ^_^ Lata Dayz!!
Chapter 26: Vash's Jealousy Revealed
Thursday Night, Part Two
Vash strode down the last path. Someone had just blown a whistle. He had watched the staff members creep back toward Orchard from whatever it was that they had been doing. He allowed them to get fairly far ahead of him, and then he continued his trek next to the trail so that his huge boots did not make quite so much noise as he lumbered along.
He stopped at the cabin. Lights flowed out from the windows. He could see several staff members huddled around a dripping Nike. The disgusting creature snorted again.
"OHHHHhhh."
Vash's head snapped toward the direction of the noise. It came from near the canoes, on the banks of the creek. Smirking to himself, the hairy man lumbered in that general direction.
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From the cabin, the staff members assembled there heard voices shouting at each other rather loudly.
"FLAMING HOMOSEXUAL!"
"DICK-HEADED PIG!"
"HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT TO MY BOYFRIEND!"
After a moment of confused looks, they all rushed out of the cabin. Nike clung to Dave's chest and went after them. It took only a few seconds to reach the start of the disturbance. Gryffin stared as Spot and Vash circled one another on the wet stones, shouting at the top of their lungs. Race was on the ground, his neck red with hickeys and the scratches of someone's fingernails. He looked as if he had been thrown there and was too stunned to get up. Nobody was sure if it had been Spot or Vash who threw Racetrack down, and at the moment it did not matter.
"Vash!" Gryffin yelled, annoyed. They had already made so much noise anyhow, that it did not matter now how much they screamed. Hopefully, her Trail's End staff would just ignore the noise, and maybe nobody else would hear. "Just go away! Don't you understand that we don't want you around?"
"I don't have to leave!" the bigger boy yelled back. "I could turn you all in now and you'd all be fired." Vash's pig-like face turned toward Gryffin. His eyes burned with more hatred than anybody could fathom. The gross, unshaven chin jutted out like a child's when they did not get their way.
"Oh come ON!" Kristan shouted at him. "Do you really think that they'd fire US for being out of bed looking for Nike when they didn't fire YOU for playing with yourself in public?!" A shudder ran around the group, as it always did when the subject was brought up.
"Jus' leave 'im alone," Spot said, obviously taking command of this group. He took a step backward and pulled Race from the ground. Spot carefully brushed off his own shirt before looking at the monster again. "He ain't worth the time. Come on. Le's jus' get outta heah."
Spot lowered his piercing gaze from Vash and turned resolutely. Nobody was sure why Spot had decided to show him mercy. Nobody knew that Spot knew the meaning of the word mercy. For some reason, Spot saw that this boy was so helpless, so unloved, so completely disgusting to his coworkers. Once things have been realized in our minds, we cannot unrealized them. Spot could not unrealized that Vash could not stick up for himself, in any useful manner at least, and that nobody else would ever do it for him. They were lucky; they had each other. Vash, the smelly, dirty, disgusting pig of a man, had nobody. They should leave him to his misery rather than dig it deeper.
Spot slid his arm around Race's waist and started to walk back up the path toward the cabin. His glare was fixed on the rocks beneath his feet. Spot had been very different all week long. This place... it seemed as if it were doing something to him. It kept him from hurting other people. He wanted to live and enjoy life, and he wanted to do so freely from the ridicule of others. With that wish, he realized that he would have to give some, and let others live freely as well. Even Vash.
Apparently, Vash did not see it that way.
"Run away, Spottie," Vash breathed heavily, putting extra emphasis on Spot's name. "Take your precious boyfriend and run. Because I know, Spot. I know that you're scared of me. And you know what? So does everyone else."
Gryffin could see Spot's muscles tense around Race's waist. Race tried to keep walking, but Spot held him where he was. Spot turned around slowly, his eyes dancing with some indistinguishable mixture of fire and ice. His piercing blue eyes swept over everyone there, finally coming to a rest on the boy who doubled his own size, at least. The look on his face seemed to melt the stinging nettle back into the forest. Gryffin's skin began to crawl just seeing the look in Spot's eyes. She would hate to be on the receiving end of it.
"Just stuff it, Crack Boy." Nike's words were barely more than a whisper. None of the sarcastic remarks or witty comments could brake through the dark cape of reality that had been dropped over the group at the edge of the Connie throughout the serious events of the night. Spot spoke again. His words were venomous as he spat them at Vash.
"Spot Conlon ain't scared of anyone. You aren't even competition."
"No no, of course you aren't. Just walk away all nice like with your little boyfriend. Tell me one thing, Conlon. When I get done kicking your ass, do you want me to fuck you in it too? Because God knows, I'm a better lay than that snotty Italian bastard."
Spot's fists shook with anger. Race placed a hand in the back of Spot's waistband, hoping to calm him down.
"Even the sheep don't want to be fucked by something as foul as you."
"Shut your mouth, fag boy."
That was the last straw. Though it was perfectly true that Spot liked men, being called a fag is the worst insult that can fly between one boy and another. Spot flew from Race's side. Hew as on top of Vash in less than a second. Vash swung hard. Spot, blinded by his rage, did not duck in time in his hurry to get as many of his punches to land in the other boy's chest. The heavy fist connected with Spot's head. Gryffin heard a sharp crack as blood spewed from Spot's mouth. The four girls who were there would have normally began to fight for Spot themselves; the Newsies knew better than to get involved in Spot's fights because he would be mad at them for it later. But nobody moved anyhow, because Vash had just landed a punch on Spot Conlon. Spot Conlon, the best fighter any of them had ever seen.
Spot was thrown to the ground by the sheer force of the impact, but he was up again in a flash. The blow had landed him back into reality, and his instincts took over rather than just his blind rage. Spot's punches were sharp and quick. Vash swung wildly at the smaller boy. Spot ducked and began to use his sharper reflexes to his advantage. Vash moved to pick Spot up. Spot elbowed the hairy boy. The cracking of his ribs echoed through the night. Vash doubled over in pain. Spot brought his fist up one last time, connecting with the heavy jaw. Vash fell up and back in an arc. His head hit the rock-strewn ground first, followed by the crash of the rest of his now battered body.
Spot snorted as he kicked some of the looser dirt onto the boy on the ground and turned around. He stood staring silently at something that nobody else could see in the woods. Spot's venomous rage still emanated from his body. Race put his hand on Spot's shoulder. The rest stood frozen. Gryffin watched Vash's dark blood run out from under his head. It sparkled in the moonlight and mixed with the tiny streams of water that flowed between the rocks from the rain. Snipeshooter voiced the question they all did not really want to know.
"Is he dead?"
The question was met with dead silence, except for the Connie running steadily in the background.
The small group looked nervously at each other for a moment. Nobody moved for what seemed like an eternity.
Finally, Kid Blink pulled his arm out from behind Gryffin and walked forward slowly. Artemis latched the hand that was not occupied by Snitch's side onto Gryff's arm. Marks from the girl's deadly fingernails were already forming in Gryffin's flesh. Neither of them noticed.
Blink tilted Vash's bloody head to the side and felt for a pulse. They watched with baited breath as Blink stood up and sighed.
"'E's dead."
Spot closed his eyes and exhaled heavily. For all the fighting he had done in his life, not even he had killed anyone. Kristan began to cry softly. Race, sensing that there was nothing he could do to help Spot at the moment, removed his hand from the boy's shoulder and went to comfort his friend instead.
Gryffin felt her chest heave while her eyes became moist. No sobs escaped her. She was too old to cry, in her mind. She did not cry. She had cried for Blink, but she would not cry for this. Now was the time for maturity. Now was the time for seriousness. It was not the time to cry. One tear slowly rolled over the brink of each eye. They left wet tracks down her dirty face. Kid Blink seemed to appear out of nowhere at her side. He wiped the stray tears from her face and pulled her to him. Though there was no way that he could have been sure of what was going to happen himself, the gesture was comforting.
When Gryffin tried to move to hug him back, she realized that Artemis was still holding onto her arm. The little lifeguard removed her fingers. Puddles of blood formed on Gryffin's arm where Artemis' nails had pierced her skin.
"Sorry," she choked in a whisper. Gryffin just nodded and let Blink wrap himself around her. Snipeshooter stood by the cooling mound of flesh, still young enough to have the twisted pleasure of examining a freshly dead body. Spot faced the woods so that nobody could really see what he was doing. Race sat with Kristan, trying to keep her tears away. Nike, who was still cold and her voice still lost, rested with her head against Dave's shoulder as they sat against a rock. Snitch and Arty took turns comforting each other. It was hard to tell who was more distressed, though neither looked worse than Kristan. She happened to be at the wrong age for something like this. She was just old enough to understand, but not old enough to have gotten used to that understanding. She had not had enough of those late nights where one sits in bed and wonders about being put in jail for some reason or another, or ponders how they could get out of various situations. She had not had enough time to think about what would happen to her after she had seen death.
They stood like that for a long time. Their minds both stood still from the shock, and reeled with memories and random thoughts that bordered on insanity. Seconds slipped by into minutes. Minutes piled up and slipped into eternity. Still, they sat lost in their own minds.
After a while, Davey cleared his throat. The noise sounded infinitely loud in the silence that had fallen over them.
"What are we going to do with the body?" he asked bluntly. They were not in the mood to play mind games figuring out what another person was saying anyhow. Dave had taken to being blunt lately.
"We should call the police," Artemis replied.
"No," Race said firmly, looking up. "Not da bulls. You'se can't call dem. Dey'll take Spot an' put 'im away. Spot didn' do nothin' wrong. 'E wasn' tryin' ta kill da stupid bastard. 'E was jus' tryin' ta teach 'im a lesson."
Race's comments were met with silence. What else could you do with a corpse if you did not take it to the police?
"He's right anyhow." Gryffin pulled her face away from Blink's chest. "We'll all be in trouble for it. We'll all go to court. We won't be allowed to work at camp anymore. We'll never get accepted to education programs. We'll never get teaching certificates with a death on our records. This wouldn't just be going to jail. This would mess up our entire futures."
Artemis considered this for a moment. Everyone knew that the comment had been made mainly for her sake. Artemis wanted to stay at camp forever. The others knew that some day they would have to leave, except for maybe Kristan. It was well known around camp that Gryffin and Artemis were going to work there forever and that the only career that really allowed them to take off the entire summer to retreat to a communications void in the ground was teaching. Finally, she nodded her agreement.
"Then what do we do with it?" Nike asked. Her voice was raspy and dry. Silence engulfed them once more.
"We can't bury him," Kristan said. She was the expert on police, having watched every episode of CSI ever made. "They'll come looking for him eventually, when Happy reports him missing tomorrow. They'll bring dogs and such out here. They'll find his body and start asking questions. It could have been an accident, but how would you explain the bruises and cracked ribs?"
Nobody had an answer. The sounds of the Connie-Q bubbling over the rocks and the trees that it had claimed as its new land since the rain storm began to beat upon the brain. The nerve-wracking, constant all consuming water. All Consuming... Water... Connie...
"The Connie," Gryffin said, looking up from Vash's sprawled form. "We can put him in the Connie. He'll float away. Far away, since it is so high from the flood."
"And those injuries could have been from his falling in the water, or bumping along against rocks and roots along the way," Kristan said, as if solving a puzzle. It would have to work. They had no other real choice. "They'll think he fell and smacked his head off of a rock, and then he drowned.
"So who'll move him?" Nike asked, eying the boy who was disgusting even in death.
"I'll help," Race volunteered.
Gryffin, Blink and Kristan agreed to move him into the water too. Davey walked up to join them, a look of utter repulsion on his face. Blink shook his hand and slapped him on the back.
"Wait!" Kristan yelled in a whisper. "Don't touch anything. Just hold on until I get back." She disappeared into the darkness that covered the path. Gryffin heard the door to the cabin slam once... twice. The foggy night muffled the sound. It seemed to Gryffin as if these nine other people were the only people in the world right now. Kristan came back out of the woods.
"Here," she said, holding out her hand. She held a few pairs of disposable, plastic gloves that were used for cleaning. Orchard had tons of them, as they never did any cleaning. "I've watched CSI one too many times. I'm not getting caught for something as stupid as fingerprints, even though the water would probably wash them off anyhow."
"Good thinking," Race said as they all pulled on their gloves. "Okay. Now on da count a tree... one, two, tree."
They all pulled, getting his legs off the ground. Vash's heavier head and chest refused to move. They tried again, raising the body a few inches before they were forced to drop him again.
"Move ovah, Race," Spot said, stepping toward the body. They all moved quickly. Nobody was quite sure of Spot at the moment.
With Spot's help, they carried Vash's body into the swirling, murky water. The feel of it was cool and refreshing against Gryffin's legs. Once in the water though, one had to be very careful so they were not swept away.
The teenagers released him gently. His body floated away, over the place where there should have been a dam and downstream. They stood silently in the flood water, watching as it quite literally washed their problems away.
"What about these gloves? We can't just throw them out now that they've got blood all over them."
"There's some Purge in the cabin. That stuff takes the rust off the sinks and showers; it should be able to remove the traces of wet blood." Kristan shuddered as she spoke. This would take some getting used to from all of them.
The small troop trudged up the path from the docks and into the cabin.
"Someone's gotta go tell the people in Trail's End that we're not dead," Gryffin said as she blinked to get used to the sudden light of the cabin.
"Snipeshooter, you go," Kristan said, kicking the small boy. "You have to. You're the only one who is not drenched or covered in blood. Tell Taylor and Sky we found Nike, but she hurt her ankle but she's going to bed now and she'll be fine in the morning. Tell them that we'll be over as soon as we can, but don't wait up. And if anyone asks about the shouting, tell them that it was David, Race and Spot because Dave is sick of seeing them making out all the time. Okay?"
Snipeshooter nodded and headed out the door. Dave rolled his eyes at Kristan's explanation of the shouting.
"So what now?" Blink asked after they had Purged the gloves and thrown them out.
"Now?" Gryffin said sarcastically. "Now we pray to whatever Gods you believe in that we are forgiven and that we don't get caught."
End Twenty Five
Shoutouts!
Yank: I'm so sorry to hear about Chipper! How much longer will she be in the hospital? Could you e-mail me an address there so I can send her a letter? I would love you forever if you could. My email is on my profile. I hope that last chapter made her day a bit better, but I'm afraid that there is nothing to laugh at in this chapter. Luv ya hon!
Artemis: Yes, you've read this chapter, but there is a bit more in the beginning now that wasn't there before. You could read it again anyway, because now it will make a little bit of sense. Am I actually making Dave and Nike believable? Because I'm not sure if I am. You need to not be the responsible one for a day or so and relax for a while. It would make your life so much easier. Nobody likes Vash. That is the point of this chapter, and the last chapter too. Nobody likes Vash. It is kind of sad when you think about it, but I'm not going to be the one to be his friend, because I can't stand to be around him. Spot and Race make me giggle too. Yay for Slashyness!!!!!! I love you Arty! Ti amo!
Pyrotic: Yeah, falling into the Connie is definitely a bad idea when it is flooded. Falling into any polluted, disgusting, foul creek is a bad idea when the water is moving fast. The Connie Q is just a creek, not technically a river, though I think it makes the requirements in size when it is flooded like that. Not sure though. I'm glad you like the story! Keep reading!
Christine: CHRISTINE, YOU ARE REVIEWER #200!!! Well, your illegal second review was #200... but that's okay because I luffle you anyway. I'm glad that I can continuously impress you. That is hard to do sometimes. You WILL kiss Mush, I promise, you just aren't in this chapter. You have to wait for morning, at least. I'll make sure to put a little side note in there somewhere... You are the only friend I have who is not a Slashy Lady. We'll convert you yet, you'll see. ^_^ The whole Death thing was rather random, but I suppose it worked. I wanted to make the story seem more serious, but without depressing my readers. I'm glad you liked the Muse's conversations. I liked them too. A/N means Author's Note. What is up with Nike? Alright, see ya later!
Brownie: Yeah, I don't know what came over me last chapter. Someone who can actually write some sort of funny stuff must have possessed my body and written the chapter. The whole happily ever after was the entire point to that chapter. I couldn't find out any other way of getting Nike and Dave together, because they are so incredibly different. Glad you liked it! Luv ya lots!
Kristan: Steeling Arty's line to Maddie... That's all you write, this is all you get. Thanks for reading, and I'm glad you are enjoying yourself.
Cassie: I like your story. You're review sucks. Thanks for reading and I luffle you!
Maddie: Yeah, well nobody is really sure of what is going on with Vash and Yo-Yo, though Nike threatened Vash's life if he touched her. Happy told us one night that when they were cleaning Vash's room... **shudder** maybe I'll put that in the epilogue, I can't stand to talk about it as if it were real. ***shuddershuddershudder*** That part of the story never happened, it was completely made up. ^__^ yay for me actually having a plot that was not real life!!! I'm sorry about your dream. Luv and Newsies!