Chapter 2: The Trip to Camp Begins

Korinne Alviva

Well, that was an interesting trip to the movies. First, I had to deal with the cute raccoon boy. Who turns out is into the same stuff as me. Then we saw an awesome Batman movie. Then my brother was annoying me. Then Damian seemed to get lost in thought. He had this look on his face and seemed to get paler than normal. He had this look on his face, and for a second, I could've sworn his eyes flashed a purple looking color. He looked up like he saw something flying above our heads. Then he caught a glimpse of a very attractive woman standing deathly, still staring at us. She had a young boy with her, unfortunately, we couldn't save the boy. She became some type of monster and attacked us. Damian did something we didn't expect, but he pulled out a scythe (not sure how he did that) and saved me and Max by killing the beast with it. It was an incredible attack, but that leaves us where we are now. We are sitting in an alley near the theater, and Damian doesn't seem to be doing too well.

"Hey, Damian. We should probably call someone and tell them about all this," Max said sternly.

"I don't think that's a good idea. The lady's body disappeared, remember? Not to mention, despite her killing… well Damian won't look too good for killing her. With a scythe of all things."

Damian was surprised but nodded and looked down at his phone. He had a look I can only assume was sadness, but this guy can be hard to read. He called someone, and we both looked in shock.

"Hello, mother. I um… something happened." He spoke calmly and tried to get everything out. He seemed to talk a bit differently when speaking to her. He spoke very properly, and I couldn't help but chuckle a bit because to me, he sounded like Bruce Wayne. He spoke like a rich guy. As he finished on the phone, he handed the phone to Max and rose slowly with my help.

"What's going on?" I whispered to him. He looked at me and seemed a bit off.

"Apparently, none of us can go home. We need to go to some camps just outside the city. She said she would go see your mom, so she needed your mom's info. She also said to keep our phones off as of now. Apparently, they attract more things like that lady."

When he finished explaining, I pulled my phone out and turned it off. Max walked back over and handed Damian his phone.

"I turned it off for ya, Damian."

"Enough for a night? Yeah," Damian responded as he walked down the alley toward the road opposite the theater since the commotion of police and stuff was still going on. We followed, and I leaned out to the left to see if anyone was looking at us. There wasn't anyone watching on my side or Damian's. Max walked out and started heading down the road, signaling to follow.

As we walked, we stayed very cautious. We kept our eyes on everyone who passed. Max struck up a conversation with a few people here and there, making sure we were headed to the right subway. Damian had pointed out that a subway would be the perfect path to get to this camp we were apparently supposed to go.

I was still reeling from the events of today. But mostly, the thing that was bugging me was how well I was handling all the events of today. It felt like I was just waking up in the morning from a wonderful night's sleep, and everything was so clear. Here I was walking down the street with my brother and his friend after having survived a monster attack (or killing one in Damian's case) and now instead of going home or something we are heading to some mysterious camp. It's such a weird day.

We walked down the steps of subway station nine and were greeted with a pretty empty and kinda gross station. There were homeless people and shady people all over the place. We walked over to a bench that was empty minus a few cups and an old thing of Chinese food, of which Damian promptly picked up and walked over to the trash can. We sat down with Max in the middle and me and Damian on the opposite sides of him.

As we sat and looked around, I looked over, noticing Damian was still holding his right side. "Your ribs are still hurting, Damian?" I said quietly, which made Max look at him too.

"I'm okay. Don't worry about me." Damian smiled and moved his hand, looking at us. He then changed his look to me. "How's the gash on your arm, Kori?" Max smirked a bit, looking back at me and winking like the insufferable dork he is. "Max wrapped it pretty well. It's not bleeding anymore. Thanks."

Max coughed to avoid laughing and then looked forward again. "Sounds like the train is almost here." He got up, and we hopped up to follow. Two old ladies seemed to appear out of nowhere next to us as the train slowed in front of us.

"Hello, dearies. Your children look a bit rough." The ladies were on my side, not Damian's.

"Ah yeah, we are just on our way to our friend's house. It's been a weird morning. Where are you ladies headed?" Max added, but the first lady seemed to be staring intently at me, and it took a second to answer. The lady seemed to be dressed for bingo or something. She had short white curled hair and a cute little pink visor that read 'game night'. She was old and wrinkled but smiled kindly at us. She wore a blue shirt that read 'Lizzie's Barbecue' with a little design of a cow. Her pants were high-waisted, which was typical of older people, and she had matching slippers with the other lady.

Now, the other woman was very different to look at. She had a very intense look. She had an annoyed scowl on her face and had gray hair that was tied up in a bun tightly. She wore a similar shirt as the other woman, but hers was red, and she wore a leather jacket over it. She seemed to be annoyed at our existence.

When the kind-looking lady responded to Max, she merely responded, "Bingo night, dearies. You should be careful. It's getting late, and it can be dangerous to be alone."

The door opened as she finished talking, and Damian grabbed my hand, pulling me and Max behind him into the Subway. We went down to the back where there were a few people sitting, and we saw the little old ladies sit down in the train car in front of us. As we sat down, I looked at Damian, and he said quickly before I could ask.

"I had a weird feeling about them." We both made fun of him a bit about old ladies being scary before the train took off.

"If anyone is tired, get some sleep. I'll keep watch," Damian said

as he leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees. Max just laughed and said, "Oh yeah? Are you sure? You don't look so hot. Maybe sleep would be good for you." Which Damian kinda just chuckled and looked over.

"Trust me. I wish I could. Just rest up, guys." He didn't have to tell me twice. I leaned on the end of the seat and drifted off quickly. As I did, I couldn't help but feel bad. Clearly, Damian had trouble sleeping.

As I drifted off, I was sitting on something fuzzy suddenly. I had always been able to lucid dream or whatever they call it. I knew I was dreaming most of the time and could control it. I looked down to see that I was now sitting on a giant dog with three heads. I recognized the creature from history class, but he seemed a bit cuter. He was a three-headed dog kinda like Cerberus, the hound that guards the underworld from the Greek myths. I had always been fond of the idea of a big, mean-looking three-headed puppy.

I rolled around in a meadow with the big dog and pet all three heads. He had a German Shepherd head on the left. A Doberman head in the middle. And a Husky head on the right. We played, and he licked me. He towered over me, but he was gentle. As we played, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Poppy flowers had begun to sprout around us. This wasn't uncommon, but it had always confused me.

I looked around because I heard Max yell and saw something weird. I saw the inside of the train car behind me. So I turned and saw Damian was pinned down by the mean-looking older woman. She had claws and feathers now and was much uglier if that was possible. The nice lady was coming for me and Max, but Max was dodging under the big, weirdly nice-looking bird monster. She would swipe, and he would slide under it. He was moving so fast that it was kinda hard to follow. I looked at my dog and had a weird urge.

"Sick 'em, boy," he jumped forward and launched into attacking the nice bird monster. The shepherd head bit her left wing drawing blood, and the Doberman bit her shoulder holding tight. The Husky head was reaching and biting the ankle of the mean-looking one. She turned to help the other but got caught up in the fray. I woke up to see the big dog was still attacking. I went over and helped Damian up with Max. We turned and ran for the exit.

As the door shut, we backed away and watched the dog fight for a bit longer before it disappeared, leaving a burst of mist. We watched the injured monster try and get to the door as the subway pulled away. I turned to the boys who were looking at me in awe.

"What the hell just happened?" Damian said, and Max nodded in agreement.

"I-...am not sure. I was dreaming of the dog, and it appeared."

Max looked at me in complete confusion. "Kori, that -" Damian cut off whatever Max was gonna say and pointed to the exit.

"Come on, guys. Whatever just happened, let's take it as a blessing and get outta here." Max nodded and bit his tongue before running over to look up the stairs. Damian looked over to me and smiled a bit. As we walked to follow.

"Thanks…," I said sheepishly.

"Of course… you seemed a bit overwhelmed." He smiled at me again, and it made me feel a bit better. We all walked up the stairs and looked around.

"Ya know, I wanted to stop and rest, but maybe we should keep moving..," Max said as he stretched his neck a bit. We agreed with him knowing that we would probably have more trouble if we slowed down.

We walked down the road looking for a bus stop or anything. The traffic was pretty heavy, but not many people were out in this area. We finally found a bus stop and sat there waiting for the bus.

"Hey… thanks for whatever that was, Kori… you really saved us back there. Same to you, Damian. You guys are really keeping us afloat out here…" Max spoke softly as he looked away. I could hear the shakiness in his voice. I wasn't exactly sure what to say that would help him, so I hugged him, but Damian spoke.

"We wouldn't have lasted this long without you, Max. You are quick on your feet and seem to know where to go. Not to mention your perceptiveness. You saw those old ladies coming way before I did… you are keeping us alive, man."

I felt Max take a deep breath and turn back to us. "So. When am I gonna get superpowers? Kori made a huge dog. You have a super cool scythe." He joked and stood as the bus pulled in front of us. We all piled on the bus and sat in the back. As we drove, I drifted off again, dreaming about rabbits.