X-Marks The Spot

Huff, huff, huff! Hector, Stanley, and Star each ran as quickly and as stealthily as they could back to Camp Green Lake. There was still no sun rising in the East, yet the moon was already starting to disappear into the night sky; the stars were starting to disappear as well. A purplish-blue was now becoming the color of the morning sky.

"There…!" Stanley whisper-yelled to the two after they hid behind a hill of dirt. "That's it right there!"

"The weird-lookin' rock, right?" Star queried through uneven breaths. "I'm pretty sure nobody's touched it since you found that bullet."

Hector quickly stood up. "Then let's book it!"

With a bag of onions in Hector's, a shovel in Stanley's hand, and nothing whatsoever in Star's hand, the three started sprinting right toward the hole. Likewise, when Stanley was the first to reach the hole, he skidded across the ground to then fall into it, immediately starting to hit his shovel against the ground. Star and Hector stayed kneeling above the hole, sending each other a knowing look.

"It's gonna take too long, man!" Hector said while the early morning wind ruffled his hair. "I gotta go get another shovel."

"Okay, go. I'll stay here and watch," Star stated, patting Hector on the back as he stood up. The girl then looked back down at Stanley, who was still hitting away at the ground. "You okay, Stanley?"

"Yeah, I just… I just need to find this," Stanley breathed with a dire expression on his face. "If I don't, I don't… I don't know what I'll do."

"Then… Let me help you dig faster," Star remarked as she teasingly sat on the side of the hole. "What do you wanna talk about, Stanley? Anything at all."

"Maybe…" Stanley let out an annoyed huff. "Maybe about what the hell happened to you while I was gone."

Star tilted her head innocently. "You mean what D-Tent did while you were-"

"No, I mean with that hickey on your neck," Stanley interjected in a stern tone, making Star's eyes instantly widen and for her to slap a hand over her neck.

"A-A what on my what!?"

"C'mon. Which of the boys was it, Star?" Stanley then asked instead of answering Star's ever-growing confusion. "I mean, I knew they'd all fall in love with you eventually, but which one did you let do that to you? Unless someone did it," Stanley's eyes turned scary, "without your permission."

"N-No, that's… I didn't even know that was there!" Star yelled, still trying to figure out what the hell was going on. "When would… When would any of them… be able… to…"

"Was it Magnet? Twitch?" Stanley only continued asking questions. While, on the other hand, Star was finally putting the pieces together. "X-Ray? Arm- …Wait, no. It was totally Zigzag, wasn't it? Only he's crazy enough to-"

"I-It was Squid." But when Star admitted this without thinking, it was Stanley's turn for his eyes to widen. "Oh my gosh, I didn't even know he…! That's what a hickey feels like!?"

"What?!" Stanley seethed back with pure astonishment. "There's… There's no way you and Squid… Really?"

Star gulped with a blush on her cheeks. "I-It's not like the way you're thinking."

"Then what the hell is it?"

"We're…" Star looked away. "We're something I don't understand. And whatever this is," Star moved her hand away from the mark, "probably means nothing."

"And why would you think that?" Stanley questioned, throwing some dirt onto the ground above him. "I mean, Star, you're pretty good at reading people. So if you don't think a hickey means anything, then… what the hell does it mean?"

"I don't know," Star said as her arms wrapped around her body. "All I know is that… there is no way it can mean that Squid… That he… It's impossible."

"You mean that it's impossible that he likes you? Like, like-likes you?" Stanley queried and then let out a sigh when she nodded. "Oh, Star… Why do you gotta be so oblivious when it comes to your-"

"I got it!" Before Stanley could finish, though, the two abruptly heard Hector's voice off in the distance. And once Star looked over to get a good look, the young boy had already reached them. He slid into the hole, giving Stanley a smirk when he saw the ever-growing hole. "Woah, man, you've really been workin'! Maybe you have gotten faster!"

"Oh, shut up, dude," Stanley bantered back while the two started getting to work. "My anger is a good motivator, I guess."

"No one saw you, though, right?" Star asked worriedly, making Hector shake his head.

"I don't think so, no. I heard Mr. Sir and Pendanski fightin', though."

"Well, still, I'll keep an eye out," Star acknowledged with her keen eyes scanning the horizon. "I'll try the best that I can."

"...Stanley, I don't think Kissin' Kate Barlow would have buried her treasure this deep," Hector then muttered after a few moments. "Would she have, Star?"

"Honestly, I don't know." Star shrugged. "That woman lived her life so nobody could guess her next move. She could have buried it one foot deep or one-hundred."

"C'mon, we gotta make it wider," Stanley murmured regardless of their words, but this made Hector only let out another argument.

"But how do we know not one of her gang didn't already come back for the treasure, man?" he questioned, stopping his digging. "It was a lot, right? If I was in her gang, I'd totally come back for-"

Thump! But then they heard it: a thump come from where Stanley hit his shovel right underneath where Star stood. The three instantly found each other's wide eyes, their heartbeats starting to race.

"Y-You guys hear that?"

"Yeah…" Hector answered Stanley. "What was it?"

"Dig," was all Star could say. "Guys, dig."

Thump, thump, thump! With each hit of their shovels, the ground started thumping even more. Their heartbeats quickened with each noise, and all either of the three could do was hope for the best. But then, only moments later, the three didn't have to hope or pray anymore. A hole opened up where Stanley and Hector were digging, showing them a clear view of a wooden handle. Almost immediately, they pulled on it, and it wasn't very long until the three saw a dirty chest come into their view.

Finally, Star thought. Finally, Stanley had found what was rightfully his! And before she could even stop herself, Star started singing under her breath; soft enough so neither Stanley or Hector couldn't hear over their happy shouts "'If only, if only,'" the woodpecker sighs. 'The bark on the trees was as soft as the skies.' As the wolf waits below, hungry and lonely, he cries to the moon, 'If only, if only.'"

Oh, but poor Star, Stanley, and Hector were way into their celebration to even notice… the three people sneaking in from behind.

"AH…!" Star let out a scream instantly when her hands unexpectedly got yanked behind her in a tight hold. But when she whipped her head around to see the person now holding her hostage, her eyes widened in pure fear. "M-Mr. Sir…?!"

"Well, I thank you, boys!" But then, when the Warden's voice chimed in, it made the three kids instantly feel even more dread. She walked up to stand beside Mr. Sir, shining her flashlight down at a frozen Stanley and Hector. "You've been a big help!"

"…St-Stanley! Hector!" However, when Star screamed next, it wasn't to further express her anxiety over the situation. This time, Star screamed in horror after she saw multiple (seriously, multiple) yellow-spotted lizards suddenly climb onto the two boys' bodies. "Don't move!"

"Oh my… It won't take long now…" the Warden then said with an intense expression on her face. "It won't be long at all."

Star could only shake her head. "A-Aren't you gonna help them?!"

"We got many holes to choose from," she replied unsympathetically. "We'll put Zero in one, and then give Caveman's body to that attorney…"

"A-And then what?!" Star barked, a scared expression on her face. "You get to keep the treasure?! You would let them die for it?! Seriously?!"

"You don't understand the Warden's desperation, Star," the girl abruptly heard Dr. Pendanski's voice beside her. And when Star looked to her left, she saw the man with a still bloodied face. "You don't understand nothin'."

"Do you know how long I've been waitin' for this?" the Warden further questioned as her curly hair danced in the wind. "My granddaddy owned the whole lake, then it dried up. He drove himself crazy out there diggin' holes. Made me dig, too…" Star looked away. "Even on Christmas."

The lizards climbed all over Stanley's and Hector's bodies, yet only the three adults dealt any damage to the three kids. With the Warden's cunning eyes, Dr. Pendanski's unpleasant comments, and Mr. Sir's tight grip on Star's wrist, Stanley, Hector, and Star seemed to be drained of any more luck. However, only time would tell the wonders that would happen next.

"Man, why do ya think they're keepin' us in here?" X-Ray eventually asked the question everyone was wondering. It was much past sunrise by then, and the camp hadn't even started digging yet. Oddly enough, the adults had kept them back in camp until they were told otherwise; even weirder, though, was that Mr. Sir, Dr. Pendanski, or the was Warden were nowhere to be seen. So now, the six boys were sitting at their normal Mess Hall table, yet… had no food in front of them. "What do ya think's goin' on?"

"Maybe the attorney lady came back?" Magnet implored with a shrug. "Or maybe they're gettin' sick of everyone runnin' off?"

"That could be it…" Twitch mumbled. "But I swear I never saw her car."

"Plus, even if Zero and Caveman ran off, she's never locked us up like this before," Zigzag added. "Whatever it is, it must be somethin' new."

"Somethin' that's crazy enough to stop that crazy lady from diggin' holes," Armpit scoffed while shaking his head. "I'm honestly scared what the reason could be… What do you think, Squid?"

But when Armpit turned to Squid sitting beside him, all the boy in question could do… was shrug his shoulders. "I don't know."

Yeah, the poor kid had been depressed ever since Star left, even more than the rest of the boys. He barely talked, barely ate his honey-covered tortilla, and barely ever looked up from the floor. Alan just felt so guilty, y'know? He had never been so protective over someone before, so the teenager had no idea how to deal with that special person not being in his line of sight. Or by his side. Or right next to him. Or…

Or touching him.

Alan just wanted Star's soothing touch every moment of every second. He wanted her sweet smile, and her happy eyes. He wanted her everything, yet… she was already gone. It had only been a night, yet the first-time-ever-falling-in-love boy was dying. Alan was suffering without Star. He just wanted to be with her, so…

So did she feel the same?

"You really like her, don't you, man?" X-Ray eventually asked as he nudged his friend's side. "Like a woman?"

"I don't even know when it happened," Squid sighed, hitting his forehead against the table. "I just… I couldn't deal if she ever got hu-"

"Well, well, well… What do we have here?" Just then, however, a terrible voice unexpectedly cut into the table's solemn mood and turned it sour. Well, more furious than sour. Since, when D-Tent looked at the group of boys now smirking down at them, plus the lump of shit talking, they each let out a growl of annoyance. "Where'd yer little girlfriend go off to?"

"Oh, fuck off, Lump," Zigzag hissed with no filter whatsoever. "We don't need your stupid face lookin' at us right now, okay?"

"We got enough goin' on," Armpit commented as well. "So just go on yer merry way, and we'll forget your fugly face ever-"

"Y'know, I always thought that that bitch was fuckin' blind for rejecting me, but now I actually feel thankful for it." But once those words, plus the words he said next, left Lump's mouth, the six boys' expressions only became worse. "'Cause if that girl was dumb enough to chose you lot, then she's more of a dumb slut than I thought."

The boys were so angry that they couldn't even respond. Not even when Lump continued or his posy laughed at his horrible jokes.

"Pfft! I mean, what girl in her right mind would pick you worthless losers?!" Lump then taunted, his insecurities finally being let out into his very thought-filled speech."Even for bein' a slut, though, she must've ran away from you for a reason, right? Are you guys really that bad at pleasuring a girl that even a stupid whore wouldn't even want your asses? Or, maybe, is it just the girl herself? I mean, with the way she's been cryin' and screamin' these past couple of weeks, I'd throw her out, t-"

BAM! Lump fell into the ground before he could say the simple, short word of 'too'. But now, with a nasty bleeding lip, the boy with the same scar in his lip now glared down at him the nastiest of looks. This boy getting every single word out, though.

"You have no right to call her that," Alan clicked his tongue, "you piece of fuckin' filth."

The Mess Hall then turned into a War Zone. With D-Tent's feelings of loss and sadness pushing their every decision, they took down Lump's tent before any adult could stop them. However, that B-Tent had actually done something good for D-Tent by being the bullies they were that day: they managed to get the six boys to pass the stage of anger.

Then Bargaining.

Then Depression.

So now, all they had left was acceptance.

Then, ultimately, finding meaning in their friends' departure.

All the way across the desert, however, a rare phenomenon was going on. Stanley and Hector were still in that hole, covered with yellow-spotted lizards, while having the treasure chest protectively on their laps. None of the reptiles had made a single move to bite the boys or even act remotely knowing of the boys' presence other than things to climb on. Star was now freed from Mr. Sir's grasp, yet the gun still in his hand kept her silently in place; the Warden was looking rather irritated, and Dr. Pendanski was merely staring back at the camp.

It was already past eight o'clock, Star concurred as she stared up at the now sunny sky. How time flies.

"Maybe we should just shoot 'em." But when the Warden abruptly stated this, Star immediately snapped her head in the older woman's direction. "Shootin' 'em would make this go faster, right?"

"But who're we shootin'?" Dr. Pendanski asked once he turned around. "The lizards or the kids?"

"We don't wanna shoot any of those lizards," Mr. Sir replied with that crazy look in his eyes. "They'll start leapin' all over the place."

"I just wanna know why they haven't been bitten yet," the Warden then acknowledged, making Star let out a sigh.

"It's because they've been eating onions."

Almost instantly, the Warden shot Star an eyebrow raise. "Excuse me?"

"Lizards don't like the smell of onions, and the two of them reek of the vegetable," Star furthered. "It's too potent for their sensitive senses."

"...Oh, crap…" In the next moment, though, something caught Mr. Sir's eye. "We got company."

"Oh, for Pete's Sake!" the Warden yelled in annoyance after seeing it as well. "That can't be her already!"

"We ain't sellin' Girl Scout cookies…" Mr. Sir sighed from behind the woman, causing her to let out a much longer one.

"Alright, keep the boys in the Mess Hall - tell 'em not to talk to anyone. As long as they keep their mouth shut, they won't have to dig holes anymore. But if they talk," the Warden turned a glare to Star, "they will be severely punished."