This choice: Your not in the mood for talking about it • Go Back...Chapter #6Base Camp by: imaj   You sit on the hood of Frank’s truck, hugging yourself tightly in a weak attempt at keeping warm in the cool late afternoon air. The little lay-by is just off the road, screened from the traffic by a line of young trees. Not that there are many cars taking the Saratoga Falls to Cuthbert road in early February, but you need a little secrecy for the next part of Rosalie’s plan.
“What do you think is keeping them,” you call at Frank, who is pacing in his shirtsleeves several metres distant. He is seemingly unaffected by the cold.
“Knowing my brother he got lost,” answers Frank.
“How could he get lost,” you shout back. “There hasn’t been a turn off for miles.”
“Then he’s stopped to eat.”
“And nowhere to stop and eat either,” you yell. Frank’s reply is lost, as the hire car Rosalie picked up in Saratoga Falls finally turns into the lay-by. You see Rosalie at the wheel – Joe is glowering in the passenger seat. She carefully parks next to Frank’s truck and the pair exit their vehicle.
“I still don’t see why we left my car in Olympia,” says Joe, apparently to the world at large, as he slams the door shut.
“It stands out too much Joe,” answers Rosalie wearily. “And there’s a good chance it would end up being chop shopped anyway.” She turns back to Joe and gives him a little smile. “I know how much you love it.” That seems to knock the wind out of Joe’s sails. He mumbles his thanks.
“So,” says Frank, ambling over to parked cars. “What’s this master plan of yours?”
Rosalie flashes a wide smile. “Will,” she says, nodding at you.
“You know,” says Frank to you, a little surprised.
“I’ve been asked to prepare some things,” you reply, hopping off the hood of Frank’s truck and walking round to the trunk. “Rosalie hasn’t told me exactly what for though.”
“Those suitcases,” asks Frank.
“Yeah,” you answer, popping open the trunk. The first thing you take out is a small wooden box. You handle it reverentially, almost ignoring Rosalie as she starts to talk.
“We’ll set up a base at the campsite in the Drury hills,” she explains. “That’s close enough to Cuthbert that we can rush in when the time comes, but far enough away that we won’t get too much attention at first.”
“I hate to bring this up,” interrupts Joe, “Because apart from this it’s an excellent idea, but what kind of idiots go camping in February?”
You pop open the wooden box revealing three polished masks. Since you have the sigils from the Libra within you, you can make masks yourself without using the book. It’s just that you’d prefer not to usually. That said, you made an exception for the request Rosalie has made of you. You examine the reflected image in the surface of the mask and hand it to Joe.
He examines the mask himself. “Ah, high school seniors,” he says with a rueful little smile. “Those kind of idiots…” You hand out the other masks to Rosalie and Frank before starting to unload the suitcases. “I know you like making up life stories for your identities Will, you come with something for these?”
“For you? Beyond the fact the body and clothes will make you a jock, and that you’ll be Rosalie’s boyfriend nothing. You could use your own name if you wanted to.”
“Not a good idea,” interrupts Rosalie. “The Shabblemans will recognise them.”
“You made something up for yourself though, didn’t you,” grins Joe.
“Of course I did,” you almost laugh. The identity you put together for yourself hovers nearby in your minds eye. You pull it close, twirling the imago round you and turning it into your disguise. The world suddenly seems a much larger place as you sink into the five foot nothing frame you’ve designed. “I’m Amanda Lane,” you bubble effervescently with an infectious cheerfulness you’ve modelled on an almost forgotten girl you went to school with what seems like a lifetime ago. “Mandy to my friends,” you add pointing at Rosalie. “We’re like taking our bee-effs,” you continue, pointing at Frank and Joe in turn. “On a romantic camping weekend. It’ll be cold up in the hills but that just means we have to snuggle up close to keep warm,” you gush.
“You get too much into this,” says Frank levelly, clearly not thrilled at the idea at having you hanging off him, no matter how pretty your disguise is.
“Since it arguably saved my life in China, I think I’m justified,” you reply bouncing over to him before looking up and smiling at his face. “You won’t need to do much acting though. I guess you could just pretend to be the stoic type for a couple of days,” you titter. “I can talk enough for two anyway.”
Frank stares at you with hooded eyes. “Are you sure you didn’t take Viritrilbia as your second ousiarch,” he says flatly. “It’s bad enough having one of you.”
Joe bursts out laughing and Frank glares at him. “Better two of me than two of you,” says Joe cheerily. “Let’s see who I am,” he adds inspecting his mask closely, looking for the reflected image.
You pull Frank’s head down to whisper in his ear. “He won’t be laughing in a few minutes,” you whisper in his ear. He gives you a quizzical look. “A little revenge for the make out scene in China: I might have given his mask a tiny cock.”
There is a moment of silence then Frank laughs uproariously, a laugh that only continues louder when Joe asks him what’s so funny.
*****
Frank stiffens a little as you wrap your arm round his waist and lean your head on his torso. There is a moment of hesitation before he places an arm on your shoulder, seemingly still uncertain of the role he has to play. You both stand in silence for a moment, staring at the tent Frank has set up beside the truck.
“That looks really snugly Jon sweetie,” you say, giving him a little squeeze. He barely stops himself from jumping out of your hands. Jon is the name he’s chose to give himself for the stay at the campsite. It’s the name of one of his teammates from his time on the Eastman High School basketball side and therefore completely lacking in imagination.
“Yeah,” he says monosyllabically. This kind of play acting isn’t really his thing, but you decide that Mandy likes her boyfriend to be quiet as it gives her more time to talk.
“I’m really, really, looking forward to trying it out,” you say in a poor attempt to be coy. Mandy isn’t going to be very clever you think. You look to the side where Joe and Rosalie, now going by Ian and Emily, are still trying to get their tent up. Though you really want to poke fun at Joe for his effort, it doesn’t fit with Mandy’s character as you see it. “Don’t worry Ems,” you say slipping clear of Frank and skipping over. “I’m sure Jon will give Ian a hand.” You turn round to face Frank. “Won’t you sweetie.”
Joe gets a couple of syllables into an expletive ridden response before he is drowned out by the sound of a car pulling up. When you turn round, what you see makes you draw close to Frank again. This time he hugs you back instantly.
It’s an old car, noisy as a result of poor maintenance. Spots of rust show here and there through the drab green paint. On the door the words ‘Sheriff Dept. of Cuthbert’ are painted in fading gold lettering. The car grinds to a halt and the driver kills the engine.
A tall man unfolds himself from the driver side door. He pulls on a wide brimmed hat before resting his hand on the gun holstered at his hips. He gives each of you a long hard stare in turn before finally finding an insincere smile to favour you with.
“Evening folks,” he says with an unlikely friendliness. “Odd time of year to be out camping. Winter gets cold up this way.”
“We’ve got ways to keep warm,” you squeal, hugging Frank tightly.
“I’m sure you do,” says the tall man dryly. He gives you another long look. “Well, I’ll be stopping by to check you’re alright. Don’t be afraid to call if you run into problems.” He smiles like a shark, leaving you in no doubt that asking for his help would be a very bad idea.
*****
“That was Nate Shabbleman,” says Rosalie, her voice sounding a little tinny. “At the very least he’ll have left a watcher.”
The tents are Nash’s work. You and Frank are in one, Rosalie and Joe in the other. One enchantment lets you talk to the occupants of the other tent as if there was a phone between them. The second hides what is happening within them from prying eyes, whether they are using mundane means or occult.
“But it can’t see us in here,” you state. In fact anyone trying to watch the tents will get quite a different picture of what’s happening inside them. As you said earlier – you have ways to keep warm.
“As far as they know we’re just a bunch of horny high-schoolers,” says Joe. One bit is right there you suppose.
“Tomorrow we’ll make a scouting run into Cuthbert,” says Rosalie. “Will, you’ll be going of course. You and…”
  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
| Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author