Chapter Twenty Six

It had been two days, and Caveman and Zero still weren't back. Everybody, but TC and Stranger, were positive that they were dead in the middle of a desert. Stranger was more realistic than TC though; TC was still under the allusion that Caveman would be back any second. Stranger knew that there was a great possibility they weren't coming back, but she hoped.

We were digging our holes, we were now being observed by Mom, so the rest of us wouldn't run away also. Since Mom was there, we couldn't talk freely. And since we couldn't talk freely, we didn't talk at all. The guys were just concentrating on getting their holes dug. I was watching TC to make sure she wouldn't have another meltdown. TC and Stranger would just look up every once in a while and scan the horizon to make sure if Caveman and Zero were coming back they would know. Hype, Princess, and Dutchess were also watching them and the horizon. I couldn't imagine if Squid ran away, and I already threatened him that if he did and he made it back; I would pound him into the ground. All he did was laugh and kiss my forehead. I looked toward the 'road' and I saw a police car and a Jaguar driving up to the camp. I was finished with my hole, and walked back with Squid, who had patiently been waiting on me.

"I wonder who that is? Did y'all ever get a visit from the police before?" I asked him.

"No, maybe they found out Caveman ran away," Squid said.

We took our showers, and decided to see what was up with the visitors. One was a woman, and she was yelling at the Warden. The other was a cop and he was just making sure nothing got out of hand probably. We couldn't here what the Warden on the woman were yelling about, but when she walked out of the office she yelled back to the Warden. She said something she would be back in the morning with a court order. The Warden came out of the office and saw me and Squid.

"Well, what are you two doing? Go to the Wreck Room or something," she said harshly.

"Yes, ma'am," Squid and I said hurrying off.

I saw the rest of the gang coming up to us. TC ran up to me.

"Why were they here? Was it about Caveman? Tell me what you know!" she said shaking my shoulders.

I couldn't help it; I slapped her. "TC get a grip. I'll I know is that she is coming back tomorrow with a court order. I don't know what for, but she is coming back." I walked into my tent, Squid was following me close behind.

"Do you want to explain why you just slapped TC?" he asked sitting down on my bed.

I was walking around the tent. "She doesn't shut up about Caveman. I know she is worried about him, but still they weren't even together. I swear if she asks me one more time about whether he is coming back or not I will just tell her that he is dead. I don't care anymore. Why do they come to me with their problems? I don't know everything. I just want them to start acting normal again." I said sinking down next to him. I put my head on his shoulder and asked, "Is it wrong that I want TC to stop grieving for Caveman just because they weren't together? I mean I could act that way if you left."

"Well, yes, it is kind of bad that you want that. Don't give me that look; you know I'm right," he said bluntly.

"I know, I know! I'm a horrible person! I should be comforting TC and Stranger, not slapping them! I need to go apologize, thanks Squid," I said running out of the tent. I ran all the way to the Wreck Room, found TC, ran to her and hugged her. "I'm sorry TC, I have no idea what you are going through, and I shouldn't have slapped you."

"It's okay Twist. I needed a good slap in the face," TC said prying my arms off of her.

"Sorry," I said looking up at her.

"Don't worry about it," TC said smiling at me. "But, to make it up to me, you could let me beat you at pool."

"Deal," I said grabbing a cue stick.

Again, I lost, but I didn't care. TC and I were cool again. I also have issues with being mad at people if you hadn't noticed. We ate 'dinner' and went to bed.

The next morning Mom and Mr. Sir came to each tent and told us that we didn't have to dig today if we just went in the Mess Hall and kept quiet. I was perfectly fine with this, because I could just sleep there. Wrong. People would not shut up. 'What's going on? Do you think something happened? Why are we in here?' I have answers to those questions: Nobody cares but you. Of course something happened you idiot. Because something happened. I looked around at everyone and rolled my eyes. I knew we were going to be in here for a while, because we had already been in here for an hour. Then something struck my thoughts.

"Hey, what if we're in here because they found Caveman and Zero?" I yelled over everybody in D-Tent.

They all looked at me. Nobody said anything.

"Well, never mind," I said putting my head back down. I didn't think it sounded that ridiculous.

"That might actually be it," Lewis said. We all looked at him.

"See, I can make sense if I want to," I said lifting my head.

I looked at TC, she was thinking about how much of a possibility that was.

"Yeah, that could be why," she said slowly.

"No, there are probably just yellow spotted lizards around the Library," Magnet said.

That was a more logical situation, but why would they make us stay in the Mess Hall. We all went silent and just sat there. In a hour, I heard the Warden's voice outside. I got up and looked out the window to see what was going on. I couldn't believe my eyes.

"Squid, look out here. Do you see what I see?" I asked. They all got up from the table and looked out the window with me.

"Oh my God!" TC screamed and ran out of the Mess Hall, with Stranger right behind her. I looked at Hype, Dutchess, and Princess and ran right behind TC and Stranger. When we got outside TC was kissing Caveman, and Stranger was hugging Zero. I couldn't tell what Caveman was thinking, but Zero looked surprised but happy.

"Hey, Caveman! Hey, Zero! Is that really you guys?" Squid yelled. TC and Stranger pulled away from them. I elbowed Squid in the stomach. He was ruining TC's and Stranger's moment. Soon, we were all surrounding Caveman and Zero.

"Good to see you, man," Armpit said, shaking his hand. We thought you were buzzard food."

"Stanley is being released today," said Mom.

"Way to go," said Magnet, hitting him on the shoulder. We all looked at Caveman.

"And you didn't even have to step on a rattlesnake," Lewis joked.

Even ZigZag shook Caveman's hand. "Sorry about…you know."

"It's cool," said Caveman.

"We had to lift the truck clear out of the hole," ZigZag told him.

"Yeah, and y'all needed our help to lift it," Princess laughed.

"It was really cool," Twitch said.

"Guess what?" Squid said, glancing at Mom. "Mom says we don't have to dig any more holes."

"That's great," Caveman said.

"Will you do me a favor?" asked Armpit.

"I guess," Caveman agreed, somewhat hesitantly.

"I want you to-" He turned to the woman, "Hey, lady, you have a pen and paper I can borrow?"

She gave it to him, and Armpit wrote down a phone number which he gave to Caveman. "Call my mom for me, okay? Tell her…Tell her I said I was sorry. Tell her Theodore said he was sorry."

Caveman promised he would.

"Now, you be careful out in the real world," said TC, about to cry again. "Not everybody is as nice as us."

Caveman smiled. The Warden came out of the office. The cop was right behind her.

"My office is having some difficulty locating Hector Zeroni's records," the Warden said.

I looked at Zero. "You're name is Hector?"

Zero looked at me and nodded.

"Cool," I said.

"So you have no claim of authority over him?" asked the woman.

"I didn't say that. He's in the computer. We just can't access his records. It's like they've fallen through a hole in cyberspace," the Warden exclaimed.

"A hole in cyberspace," the woman repeated. "How interesting. When is his release date?"

"I don't know."

"How long has he been here?"

"Like I said, we can't-"

"So what are you planning to do with him? Keep him confined indefinitely, without justification, while you go crawling throught black holes in cyberspace?"

The Warden looked at her. "He was obviously incarcerated for a reason."

"Oh? And what reason was that?"

The Warden said nothing.

Caveman's lawyer took hold of Zero's hand. "C'mon, Hector, you're coming with us.

As they were walking to her car, thunder sounded. We walked out from under the walkways roof. It's started to rain. The guys were ecstatic. They had been here the longest and the rain was probably like a dream come true. Squid wrapped his arms around my waist and spun me around in the rain. When he stopped, I was dizzy and wet. I looked at his face, he looked like a little boy who was told Christmas was coming early. I stood on my tip-toes and kissed him. We all watched as Caveman and Zero were taken away. I had a feeling we would see each other really soon.

Hey, y'all! That was the last chapter. I hope you liked it. I have a sequel in mind. But, I'll only write it if y'all want me to. I'm going on vacation soon, and if most of you want a sequel I post it when I come back.

Love always,

Dee