Chapter Ten!
Camp Fear - Part 1 (From Season 2 Episode 7)
It wasn't long after they left the motel that the heavens opened up and lightning, thunder and rain began to fall. Max had to drive slowly than he already was. The problem was that he was taking the mountain pass, assuming it would be faster than the main roads and the highways, with people going on holiday. It didn't help that Harry and Gwen were fighting with each other once again, this time over their birthdays and what they were going to do about it since they shared the same birthday. Since they were on the road trip their options were limited, so they were fighting over what to do.
"Kids, be quiet back there I'm trying to drive." Max told them, "You two have shared your birthday for ten years now, one more won't kill you." He tried to keep his eyes on the road as the weather worsened. The two preteens fighting with each other wasn't helping. "And your birthdays have already been sorted out."
"What do you mean Grandpa?" Harry asked as he removed his shoe and began scratching his foot once again, an act he'd been doing off and on since that morning.
"Yours parents wanted to spend the day together on your birthday." Max explained, leaving out the long talk the parents had planned for the two cousins that was a long time coming. "So we'll be meeting up on your birthday to celebrate. Oh, here Harry, for your feet, it might help you." He added as he threw Harry a bottle. "If it's what I think it is, that powder can get rid of it. It gets rid of all kind of fungal infections."
Harry caught the bottle and read the label, "Athlete's Foot Powder... hey, if it'll stop itching I'll try anything." As he said this he shook some of it onto his feet and into his shoes. His itching was gone almost instantly, to his surprise and elation, which gave him a chance to move on to his Grandpa's other announcement. He would have liked to have spent his birthday playing laser tag, or paintball, but spending it with family was just as good. "I don't know about you Gwen, but I don't mind sharing if we have a big family get together." He said with a relieved groan as he put his shoe back on.
She hummed in agreement, eyes glued to her laptop as her fingers rapidly tapped the keys and slashed across the mouse pad.
With that sorted out Gwen went back to her laptop while Harry grabbed his Gameboy and played his newest game, Sumo Slammers. Now that the two had stopped arguing Max could get back to driving in peace, something he needed seeing how bad the weather was. It was a good thing too, because as they passed around another gentle curve a kid in sports gear appeared out of nowhere and cried out, "They're coming, help me!"
Max slammed on the breaks, an act that made the Rust Bucket slide across the road and miss the kid. It helped that the kid also dove out of the way, but this ended up being a mistake as he slid over the cliff and barely managed to catch himself on a branch to stop himself from falling.
With the Rust Bucket stopped Harry jumped out of the RV and, seeing what was up, decides to use Stinkfly, as it would be the right tool for the job, remembering what Gwen told him the night before. After he transformed, he flow over and caught the boy just as he lost his grip and started to fall.
No good deed goes unpunished though, and when he landed the other boy took one look at Harry and shrieked like a girl before passing out. Harry sighed, "Should have seen that coming…"
"Come on, let's get him into the Rust Bucket and out of this rain." Max instructed as he picked up the boy and took him into the RV. Harry waited until he timed out before entering the Rust Bucket again. He was glad he'd transformed right before saving the other boy, because his wings became so wet he couldn't fly with them in under a minute of standing outside.
o0OoO0o
"How is he?" Harry asked as he climbed into the RV.
"Just a few scrapes and bruises. He'll be okay," His Grandpa explained, "but he's out cold."
"So do you know who the kid is?" Harry wondered.
"His name is Gilbert." Gwen supplied.
"How do you know that?" He asked incredulously.
"You can call it a woman's intuition." Gwen said with a smug smirk.
"Or she knows it because she saw the name tag." Max said with a chuckled as he moved the towel to reveal the name on the boy's light green shirt.
"Grandpa, you're no fun," She pouted at her Grandpa, "I was going to tease him a bit longer. Anyway, by the logo on his shirt he must go to Camp Opinicon."
"How do you know that?" Harry asked.
"My parents were thinking of sending me there before they decided I was better off going with Grandpa." Gwen shrugged
Harry waited until Max was looking over the boy more closely before he leaned in and whispered, "Considering the food Grandpa is giving us I can't tell which was the better decision; larvae for lunch or whatever mysterious event that caused that kid to run from camp."
Gwen only nodded before Grandpa Max said, "I saw a sign not far back for the camp, it isn't far and they should have a Nurse there to help him."
"She might even be able to help with this gross looking rash of his." Harry added, pointing towards the rash peeking out from the boy's short sleeved shirt, not willing to touch it just in case it was spread by skin contact.
"Looks more like some kind of fungus to me." Gwen said thoughtfully.
"Either way the camp Nurse should be able to help, so let's get there quickly." Max said as he went to the front and started up the engine.
o0OoO0o
It was about ten minutes later and they got to Camp Opinicon and ran into the hut marked by the sign marking it as the camp infirmary. Confirming no one was there they moved on to the mess hall, only to find it abandoned with food and chairs all over the place. "What happened here, it looks like this place was abandoned," Harry said as he looked around, "and quickly by the looks of it."
"Yeap, definitely abandoned." Gwen said as she crossed her arms.
"They got out of here in a hurry too." Max pointed out as he waved a hand over the food to check for heat. "The food is still warm."
There was a flash of lightning and the lights went out. Max pulled out one of his flashlights and pointed at Gwen to see if she was okay. She scowled back at him for being shined in the face with the light, so the older man moved on to search for Harry, only to find him inhaling the spaghetti dinner they found on the table."What? It's late and I'm hungry." Harry said defensively.
Max shook his head and gave Harry his spare flashlight, "You and Gwen can have this one to share."
Before anything more was said, they heard a sound from behind some doors. They looked at each other before deciding to check it out. The three of them went through the doors to find themselves in the kitchen. Once again they found no one inside, just an empty room with pots and pans still steaming.
Harry waved the flashlight back and forth to scan the room when he suddenly caught sight of a strange glowing set of eyes. He yelped, jumping back in fright and surprise, dropping the flashlight on accident. The cylinder of light giving plastic and metal rolled across the floor until it stopped, illuminating two small kids, a boy and girl, looking about eight years old, hiding in a closet. The kids, seeing as they were caught, hesitantly stepped out of the closet with a shaky, "Is it safe to come out now?"
"Are you two okay?" Max asked gently.
"For…" Began the boy.
"…Now." The girl finished morosely.
"What happened, where did everyone go?" Max questioned.
"We were in here getting something extra to eat…" The girl explained.
"…When we heard something outside, but…" The boy added hesitantly.
"…But we were too scared to come out and so we hid."
"I'm Andy by the way," The boy said.
"And I'm Mandy." The other sibling revealed.
They put their arms around each other and said together in a seemingly rehearsed routine, "We're twins." That's when the lightning happened again, and the two jumped and ran and hid behind Max for protection.
"Where's the Camp Nurse?" Grandpa Max asked kindly.
"Don't know, gone…" Andy whispered.
"…With the others…" Mandy said sadly.
Max frowned at this, wondering what happened here and went to try the nearby phone. "Phone's down." He said as he picked it up and heard complete silence. "Looks like the storm took down the land lines." He moved on to check his cell phone, only to be met with similar results, "No cell phone reception either. Let's get back to Gilbert and we'll drive back to town and call the police to find out what's going on around here."
The rain had picked up, and the hurried journey back to the Rust Bucket soaked all of them. Max retrieved as many towels as he could find, only to find three one them. Tossing a towel at each pair of siblings he apologized, "Sorry, looks like we only have three clean towels. Looks like we need to do some laundry." He explained.
"Thanks." The four said in unison as they accepted the towels.
Andy and Mandy immediately huddled together, wrapping the towel around them for warmth, having gotten quite cold huddled in the closet.
Harry dried his hair quickly, having shorter hair, before handing it to Gwen, who did the same, taking a bit longer due to her longer hair. Once that was done they looked at each other for a few seconds before they followed the twin's example and huddled together, blushing as they wrapped their arms around each other.
That drama finished just in time for Max to come back into the Rust Bucket, having checked the engine to see why it wasn't starting. "Ah, looks like the engine is covered in some kind of strange fungus." He told the kids, rubbing the back of his head. "Looks like we'll be bunking down here for a while."
As the group of five left the RV, as it wasn't big enough for all five of them and the sleeping cabins where they'd placed Gilbert weren't too far away, they didn't know they were being watched by a group of sinister figures, slanted mouths filled with pointed teeth open and hissing at the intruders.
TO BE CONTINUED!
Author's Notes: Here ends Camp Fear arc Harry Tennyson, this one is canon but is brought forward with small changes to it. Now that you spent the time to read this story, could you spend a few minutes to review and let me know what you think of the story? Positive or negative, I would like to hear what you think and what you would like to see happen next. Also, if you have any suggestions for a better title, please let me know.
I would like to ask what episodes you would like to see and not see within this story, and ideas for new aliens, what they look like, powers, where they come and things like that to make it easier to write them in. I'm planning to use a few aliens from Star Wars.
If it's not obvious already, I won't be following the same episode timeline as the show, they'll be all over the place to fit into this story, so if you think of an episode that could be shown sooner than it did in Ben 10 let me know and I'll add it if I is it fits with my timeline.
Omake's are also welcome, or even just suggestions for scenes you'd like written out if they're funny but you don't feel confident you can write them out yourself.