"Hey look! Fresh meat!" A boys voice howled as all of his friends around him dropped their shovels and gasped.
The girl walking before them was the first girl (with the exception of the warden) they had seen in months. Not to mention she most certainly was NOT ugly.
The teenager hung her head as more shovels dropped and more boys looked up at her, whistles and several gross comments shouted out at her.
With a wave of the guard's gun, the boys turned back to their digging, whispering amongst themselves.
- - - -
The guard led her to the office of Mr. Sir, a cranky man who was a little woo woo in the head ever since he quit smoking.
The girl was shoved down in a chair, which she was grateful for. Her feet felt like led balls, every step taking more energy and more of an effort. Her mouth was dry and she was EXTREMLY dehydrated, feeling light headed and unable to focus on anything. A thin layer of dust covered her body, clinging to the sweat that slid down her forehead.
Mr. Sir glanced up at the two, spitting out several sunflower seeds before swinging his feet off of the desk and shuffling through the hundreds of paper and folders piled on top of it. He pulled out one of the clip boards off of the bottom of one of the stacks, cursing wildly when the land slide of papers slid onto the floor.
Once he calmed down and quit stomping and kicking the papers around, he sat back down and began to read; "Amanda Miller, age 15, height 5 foot 6 and a half, weight 125 pounds…." He stopped and glanced up at the girl when she muttered something under her breath.
"What was that?" The guard growled, shifting in his seat.
"Nothing. I just said I don't go by Amanda. Only three people ever got to call me Amanda and that was my family." She murmured, feeling stupid when Mr. Sir snorted and began laughing, spitting several sunflower seeds at her.
"Well my name is Mr. Sir. Whenever speaking to me you will call me by my name, is that clear?" He said, his voice holding a commanding tone to it.
Amanda couldn't help but smile at the name. Wow, I wonder how long it took for his mother to think of that one. Her thoughts snickered.
Mr. Sir nearly tripped on the corner of his desk as he TRIED to swagger around to stand in front of her. Once he righted himself and moved over to her, she couldn't help but laugh.
His hand angrily shot out, grabbing her by the throat and pulling her up to her feet. "You think my names funny do you?" He sneered, pulling her close to his face, his breath beating down on her, making her cough at the horrid smell.
"N-no Mr. –cough cough- Sir. N-not –cough cough- not at all." She croaked.
He pulled her even closer, and for a brief dreaded moment she was afraid he might kiss her, but instead he threw her back down into the chair at full force, causing the chair to flip backwards and crash to the ground.
Amanda landed on her back, the wind knocked out of her at the unexpected force of the chair hitting the ground. She remained still for several minutes, her arm throbbing. "Whoa" She muttered, shifting uncomfortably, trying to ease the pain, though the handcuffs made it nearly impossible.
She continued to squirm for several minutes until the two men snapped their eyes away from her chest and bent down, pulling her up by her arms which withdrew another small whimper as her bandaged wound was once again brushed against. "Stop touching my damn arm!" She groaned, trying to shake loose of their sweaty hands.
The guard slowly un-cuffed her once they had pulled her to her feet. She brought her arms around immediately to look at her now raw, red, and bleeding wrists, cursing quietly.
Dirt and dust had ground into the gashes, leaving her with a painful and infected mess. Puss already forming around the edges.
Mr. Sir grabbed hold of her wrists, making her wince as he glanced them over. "Mmmmmmm" He rumbled deep in his throat, reaching over and grabbing his bag of sunflower seeds.
Amanda grimaced. The thought of eating something so salty and dry when her throat was already dry as a piece of sand paper and her lips were cracking and in desperate need of moisture made her nauseated.
She watched him pop a few into his mouth, moving his hand back to her wrists. At the mere brushing of his salty fingers over her wounds made her flinch and jump away.
He raised his eyes to look at her, spitting the sunflower seeds into a small jar before finally speaking. "This ain't a Girl Scout camp missy, no ones gonna come in here and baby-sit ya." He said bluntly, moving around his desk again as he muttered several of his own comments under his breath, chuckling softly.
He motioned for her to sit down again. She gladly obliged.
The guard shifted, pulling several folded papers out of his back pocket and handing them to Mr. Sir who grumbled and unfolded them quickly. He glanced it over before signing at the bottom, returning the papers to the guard who folded them and replaced them in his pocket.
"You got any sodas left?" He asked. "My throats as dry as the desert itself and I've still got a 10 hour ride back to the next town. Not to mention the two friggen mile walk back to the bus first." He grumbled darkly.
Mr. Sir nodded, reaching under his desk. The sound of clinking and rattling bottles could be heard and several seconds later he produced two bottles of soda, water dripping down the sides.
He handed one to the guard, popping his own open quickly.
Amanda licked her dry lips, her wrists beginning to pulse with pain.
After several minutes of silence, Mr. Sir pushed his chair back, making the teenager jump slightly. He stood up, smacking the bottle back down on the table and moving around to stand in front of Amanda once more. "You ain't in the Girl Scouts no more. Your gonna have to learn how to take care of yourself understand?" He grumbled, spitting a seed in her face before pulling her to her feet. "Huh?"
"Y-yes Mr. Sir." She whispered, keeping her eyes on the floor.
"Good" He grunted, pushing her ahead of him as he moved them towards the door.
Amanda slung her back pack over her shoulder, moving slowly, her stomach growling and her feet aching.
She had only been out there a day and already she loathed the thick grimy heat. Her nose burned with every shallow breath, the dust stinging her face and eyes.
When the door was opened, immediately they were blasted with a whole new wave of dust, the dry, still heat making her choke.
She lifted her eyes slowly as Mr. Sir continued to lead her over to a small little shack in which the clothes and supplies were kept.
"Hey honey, drop by my tent once you're finished. Tent B. I'll show ya the meanin' of a GOOD time here at Camp Green Lake." One boy called out, his friends snickering behind him.
She shot him a dark look, though it didn't stop the many comments and whistles escaping from other boys mouths.
Mr. Sir looked up at them. "I'm warning you!" He growled, waving his gun around. The boys fell silent and Amanda stared at the gun as he replaced it in its holster. He followed her eyes and grunted. "Ahhh don't worry, I wouldn't waste a bullet on you." He said, tapping the holster. "Look around Miller and tell me what you see?" He ordered rather suddenly.
"What?"
"Tell me what you see." He repeated.
She glanced around, not sure exactly what kind of answer he was looking for. "N-nothing Mr. Sir."
"You see any guard towers?"
"No Mr. Sir."
"How about electric fences?"
"No Mr. Sir."
"You wanna run away? Get goin' I won't stop ya." He shrugged, resting his fingers in the belt loops of his jeans.
She looked at the empty waste land of nothing but sand and dirt for as far as the eye could see. "I ain't gonna run away Mr. Sir." She murmured.
He turned to face her. "That's right Miller no body runs away from here you wanna know why? Them buzzards'll pick you clean by the end of the third day." He grinned. "We've got our own little oasis out here. We've got the only water and trees for miles!" He said, pointing to a cabin, larger then the rest of the buildings around them, a single tree standing on either side of it, a satellite dish not to far from those.
Amanda glanced at it, then back at Mr. Sir who smiled down at her. "C'mon, I'm not finished with you yet." He growled, moving towards the shack once more.
Immediately he began to shuffle through several piles of orange jump suits on one of the shelves nearest the door once inside, pulling out two neatly folded jump suits and handing them to her, followed by a dusty beat up old water jug, a pair of thick white gloves, a pair of goggles and a faded brown hat. She looked at the things piled into her arms, beginning to question whether or not the hat had originally been brown to begin with.
"Here at Camp Green Lake you will dig one hole each and every day. Every day that hole will be 5 feet deep and 5 feet in diameter. Your shovel is your measuring stick. " He said out of routine, having recited the same words to hundreds of kids before her. "Breakfast is at 4:30, we start you digging early to avoid that hottest part of the day. No ones gonna be out there to baby-sit ya. You stay out there till you finish your hole, then the rest of the day is yours to do with what you want understand?"
"Yes Mr. Sir." She nodded, pausing a moment before opening to mouth again. "I have a question. If its called Camp Green Lake, then where's the lake?" She asked.
He turned to face her, his eyes narrowed into two slits. "Don't get smart with me girl, or the warden'll hear about it and you'll be in BIG trouble." He growled.
She nodded slowly.
"Our philosophy here at Camp Green Lake is that you take a bad boy…uhh…kid, you make them dig holes all day, and it turns them into a good kid." He explained.
She wanted to question him on it, but knew it would be stupid. After all, he seemed moody enough as it was.
She watched him move over to another shelf, pulling off two pairs of stained white socks and a pair of white sneakers. Everything smelled like soap, which was a lot better smelling then the bus she had recently spent 10 hours on, so she wouldn't complain.
"Now one set of clothes is for you to work in, the other is for relaxation. Laundry is done every three days and on that day your work clothes'll be washed and your relaxation cloths will become your work clothes." He said, looking her over a moment, debating what to do.
Though he would have like to simply say "Okay undress." And stand there to watch and make sure she wasn't hiding anything like he had to do with all the other boys, he knew if the warden found out she'd be furious.
"Alright, you change here, I won't watch, but if you're hiding anything, I'll find out. You'll see. I've got eyes in the back of my head." He growled, mumbling to himself after a moment of debating, taking her back pack out of her hands and turning his back to her as he shuffled through it, making sure she wasn't bringing anything illegal with her.
She changed quickly, cursing the jump suit quietly as she slipped it on, leaving her crimson red tank top on underneath. She left the top 4 buttons undone, to lazy to wrestle with them as she slipped on the socks and the tennis shoes. Wadding her clothes up and picking up the others as well.
Mr. Sir turned around to look at her, handing the bag back to her and looking her over happily. "You thirsty?" He asked, pushing past her to the door.
"Yes Mr. Sir." She nodded, her hopes rising slightly.
He turned to face her, a cruel smile playing on his lips. "Well you better get used to it. You're gonna be thirsty for the next fourteen months." He grunted, stepping out the door quickly.
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So sorry that took me so long to update, it doesn't have a whole lotta action in it, I know it sucks, I'm having severe writers block right now, but don't worry, chapter 4 is going to be a whole lot better! And it will be posted sooner! Please read and review! Thanks so much for those of you who have reviewed; it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Tee hee, jkjk.