Chapter Sixteen: The last day of the camp

The two march through the forest. Lori looks like a soldier to Natasha's eyes with the Karabiner 31 in her hand. It's morning, and the walk to the camphouse is getting shorter and shorter. At some point they heard voices calling their names.

"Lori! Natasha!"

"Do you hear the?" asked Lori.

"Yes. Who is that?" Again they heard someone calling.

"Fuck goofs!"

Lori and Natasha smiled at each other.

"That was Eve."

"Lori!"

"And that was Leni."

"Come on!

"Wait! Are you crazy? I have to hide my gun."

Lori opened her gym bag and put her Karabiner 31 inside. Then she locked the gym bag and ran towards the voices with Natasha. And met Leni, Carol, Sam and Eve. All six girls were overjoyed.

"You're back!" Leni said and hugged Lori and Natasha at the same time.

"Never mind." said the other girls, and the triple hug turned into a group hug.

"I'm so glad to see you." said Leni.

"I'm glad we were able to end this argument." said Lori.

"You stopped arguing?" asked Carol. "It feels wrong to hate Natasha."

"Hey Carol. You have to...fuck! Look at Natasha's arm." said Eve.

"Right. Natasha, your arm." Natasha withdrew her arm.

"No."

"Well then."

Carol grabbed Natasha's wrist and pulled back her sleeve. There were a lot of cuts on Natasha's arm, which, although only a few days old, were still very bloody.

"I knew it. You hurt yourself with the razor I found in the bathroom."

"Yes." said Natasha quietly.

"And why are you doing this?" asked Sam.

"The argument with Lori brought back memories of the Middleton bullying."

Eve began to speak.

"I've been in therapy many times... shit! for Tourette's Syndrome. The best thing is to find someone you trust."

Eve's Tourette started snapping in front of Sam's eyes.

"Oh lord. Let's go." said Sam.

The girls made their way back to the forest house. There were, among others, the teacher, the ranger, Luan, Luna, Jackie, Mandee and Fiona. The girls approached each other. The ranger didn't seem to care about the appearance of Lori and Natasha. He spoke to the teacher with an extreme Southern accent that sounded like Florida.

"Well then I can go. Was a waste of time."

He went to an old army jeep and drove away. Everyone was stunned.

"And this is the ranger of this area?" asked Carol.

"I would never entrust my life to him." said Sam.

Lori and Natasha ignored this and went into the camphouse. Both went to the rooms, got fresh clothes and met in the bathroom. The bathroom had two shower stalls separated by simple partitions. Lori locked the bathroom door. Both hugged and cheered.

"We survived!"

Both parted the hug.

"I feel dirty." said Lori.

"Me too."

Both went into the showers one by one. After five minutes, Natasha knocked on the partition.

"Hey, can you maybe lend me some shampoo?" asked Natasha.

"Of course. Here."

Lori handed a blue shampoo bottle over the partition. Natasha started washing her hair. She looked at herself in a mirror hanging in the shower stall.

"It's unusual to see me with straight hair." said Natasha.

"Why do you think? Your hair is wavy."

"But not when they're wet."

"Good point. Can I have the shampoo back?"

Natasha handed it over the partition to Lori.

"I got a question." said Lori.

"And the question would be?"

"Jack had a machine gun with him. His gang is armed almost to army level. But how? How does he get a machine gun?"

"You mean the Buzzsaw? He must have acquired it illegally."

"Why do you call this thing Buzzsaw?"

"Remember the video I showed you? With my great grandfather and me?"

"Yes. The one who fought the Nazis."

"Exactly. He landed on the Normandy coast, and was greeted with this machine gun. Three people survived from his landing craft. And he said to me that some of his comrades were literally Cut in half by this thing. He called it Hitler's Buzzsaw. And I call it that because of him."

"Oh God."

They both finished showering and got dressed. Natasha and Lori came out of the shower stalls and looked at each other. Lori gave a thumbs up. Natasha took note of this. Lori put her dirty laundry in the gym bag, on top of her Karabiner 31. That's how it was supposed to stay hidden. Both walked down the hall to their rooms.

"Lori, even we can't say anything about These days to anybody, I will never forget what you did to save me."

"Me neither. We were just one step away from death."

Lori put her gym ashes in her room and went to the dining room with Natasha. There they sat down at a table with Luna, Sam, Leni and Carol.

"So, you have to tell us what was going on in These days? And where did you find Natasha?" asked Carol.

"She was in a cave, down the Valley. Over twenty kilometers away from here. She got lost and was hiding there. After one and a half day, i found her." said Lori.

"Wow. I hope it wasn't to cold Out there." Luna said.

"We managed to make a campfire." Natasha Said.

"But that took you so long?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. We got a bit lost." Lori said.

The group continued to eat. In the late afternoon, Leni and Fiona roamed the woods around the camphouse to find firewood.

"You were too hard on Natasha." said Leni.

"When?"

"The first day we were here."

"I know I should control myself. It's not my fault she's fat though."

"That's something you shouldn't say. What if she does the razor blade thing again?"

"Oh hell. You are right Leni. With the things i said, i hurted Natasha that much that she hurted herself."

The two continued to look for firewood. At the campfire site, Lori, Natasha, Eve and Mazzy were hanging around. Lori tended the campfire with Natasha.

"Remember how I did it in the cave?" asked Lori.

"Yes. You made a tent-shaped pile of wood."

"Exactly. Now do it like this."

"Okay."

Natasha began to stack the wood.

"Like this?"

"Yes. Looks good."

Lori gave Natasha a lighter and she lit it. Both felt the warmth of the fire. Lori and Natasha looked at Eve and Mazzy.

"Watch out for the campfire." said Lori.

Eve's Tourette answered.

"No, I will put out the fire."

Lori and Natasha went into the camphouse and entered the kitchen where the teacher, Luan and Maggie were preparing the food. Sausages and burger meatballs.

"Why are you helping here?" asked Natasha.

"So that we can finish in time." answered Luan.

"Do you need help?"

"You can cut the vegetables."

Lori and Natasha washed their hands and started chopping the vegetables. Towards evening, when the mountains were illuminated by the evening sun, we had dinner by the campfire. Lori sat next to Natasha. Leni and Carol sat very close to the two. The girls each had a burger and talked.

"What did you like the most here?" Leni asked.

"We were hardly here." said Natasha.

Before they could talk any further, the teacher got up and started talking.

"Even during the time when our two ladies were missing, there was also a program that took place with the other teachers. But we could not fulfill the wish for a place to swim. But apparently there was a spring two kilometers away from here. Yes Since we're going home tomorrow, this info will come rather late, so... Please don't take it amiss."

"And you only found that now?" exclaimed Luna.

The others were rather disappointed, and a select few were impressed for reasons unknown to Lori. After an evening program, the students went to bed. Natasha changed in the bathroom. Gray t-shirt and gray trainer pants. She went to her room and lay on her bed. Then she saw Fiona looking down from the bed above her.

"Insult me. That makes you happy, doesn't it?" said Natasha.

"No. That's not what I want. I never wanted you to hurt yourself over it."

"And yet you did it."

"I didn't know you would do something like that though."

"You're not stupid. In fact, you're smart. If you carry on like this, you'll hurt everyone you know. Everyone will avoid contact with you. It will happen. Think about it. You know I'm right."

"Could you forgive me? I never wanted that to happen."

"It actually wasn't only you. There is just too much going on in my life."

Natasha held up her hand and Fiona took it. They both held hands for a few seconds, and then let go.

"Glad we're ending this." said Fiona.

"I agree. But now, go to sleep. I'm tired, you're tired. We both should sleep."

"Okay good night."

"Good night."

Natasha turned off the light and went to sleep. Lori got into her bed at the same time. Carol looked over at her.

"It was kind of a good thing that you two went away."

"I guess I know how you mean this." said Lori.

"And how?"

"I guess because I ended that fight with Natasha?"

"Bingo. Good night."

"Good night Carol."

Both went to sleep.

Lori woke up in the middle of the night and went to the bathroom. When she finished and washed her hands, she wanted to go back to her room, but then she saw Natasha sitting on a chair on the balcony. Lori went to her. The floor of the balcony was cold, and Lori noticed that pretty quickly. She pulled a chair next to Natasha and sat down. Natasha looked across the valley. It was like she was in a world of her own.

"I can't get it out of my head."

"What are you talking about?" asked Lori.

"The Guy i shot. I can't forget what happened. How i pulled the Trigger."

Lori felt bad for Natasha. She tried to say encourage something.

"Tasha, you had to defend yourself. You had to defend your life."

"I don't think you understand me."

"Why?"

"Because you never killed someone."

"Yes. I never did that."

Both looked over the valley. Then to the starry sky.

"Looks nice." said Lori.

"Yes. Its Beautyful."

Both looked up. Lori got up.

"Come on. We have to go to sleep."

Natasha stood up without a word and they both went to their respective rooms. In the morning Natasha woke up and went to the bathroom. After going to the restroom and washing her hands, she went back and met Lori in the hallway.

"Good morning. How did you sleep?" asked Lori.

"Not great, not terrible."

"Why not good?"

"I don't think I have to explain that to you."

Natasha went back to her room where Leni and Fiona were packing their bags.

"Remember to pack your bags." said Fiona.

"I haven't forgotten that." said Natasha.

"I know. I just wanted to make sure."

Meanwhile, Lori also packed her luggage. Jackie and Mandee offered to help Lori.

Lori's gym bag was pretty full. But Lori refused because nobody should see her Karabiner 31. Lori tried a few times, and finally succeeded.

"I'm ready."

All the students went in front of the house and got on the coach. Natasha sat next to Leni again, and Lori next to Carol. The bus left. Lori and Leni were talking.

"Now that you and Lori are friends again, you don't need a backup boyfriend anymore." said Leni.

"Nope, I'll keep you as a friend.

You can't help but be too friends with you."

"I'm friends with myself?"

"No. I meant... forget it."

Lori and Carol were also talking.

"There is a much better situation between you and her." said Carol.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, almost a week ago, you hated her. And I mean you really hated her."

"Well that's true."

"I'm happy that you are friends again."

"Me too."

Carol looked out the window.

"Bye West Virginia."

End of Chapter