Camp Mendinghell Part 10/?
Rated: T
Disclaimer: I don't own the O.C. characters or actors. This is a work of fiction and not meant to infringe on any copyrights.
Summary: This is an AU in which Ryan meets the Newport kids at a tough love wilderness camp.
Unbetaed: (Because I don’t have one.)
A mile turned out to be as far as they would get that day.
They stopped at the stream and filled their canteens; Seth tried not to think about the parasites he was ingesting as he gratefully gulped down the cold water, and splashed some on his face to cool himself off.
Ryan drank eagerly too, although half of what he took in dribbled out the corner of his crooked mouth. He caught Seth’s eye, and both boys started to laugh in spite of themselves.
It was ridiculous, really- all of it.
Ryan loosened the laces on his boots and eased them off his feet. He peeled of the dirty remnants of fabric that used to be his socks and dipped his aching feet in the water.
Seth took his shoes off too, his socks were soaked in blood, and he winced as he slowly pulled them off.
His feet were swollen and raw-looking, and Ryan whistled with sympathy, remembering an old pair of steel toed boots he’d been handmedowned from Trey when he was younger. Working construction in boots two sizes too small had made his feet look like Seth’s, and walking had been very painful.
Rest was the only thing that helped, and he knew that he couldn’t go much further himself anyway. He was too hot in the blazing sun, and just breathing seemed to be a challenge.
Seth tried to fashion the ripped tarp in his bag into a shelter of sorts, but with no string or pegs it was inadequate. Ryan walked slowly, painfully around the area, looking for somewhere to spend the night.
His jaw was too painful to eat, and he wanted nothing more than to lie down and forget about his mouth, and his ribs, and his circumstances.
He explored a recessed area in the rocky landscape, throwing stones inside to ensure it was unoccupied.
Less cosy than a tent, but it would keep them reasonably warm and dry.
He tossed a pebble at Seth, and gestured to the boy to follow him.
“You’re not talking at all now?”
Ryan shrugged apologetically, but didn’t say anything.
“You don’t want your teeth to fall out, huh?”
He nodded with a little half smile, and Seth grinned back.
“I can respect that… oh, cool man, a cave!”
Seth crawled in the opening and spread the tarp on the ground.
It was a little smaller than the Batcave, but it would have to do.
…
Bob’s office was filled to capacity, and he had to ask the parents of the missing teens to move to the mess hall so he could speak with them away from the hubbub of officers and electronics.
Looking into the small but angry sea of faces, he found himself wishing he was the one being held hostage; it was easy being the victim- all you had to do was obey your captor.
Wriggling out of this would take some finesse.
…
They were writing in their journals again.
Anna found the assigned task odd after the recent stabbing of Oliver Trask, but felt it was best to cooperate in light of the present circumstances; besides, she had yet to experience her Mendingwell epiphany.
Taylor put pen to paper and seemed to be forming words, despite the inner chaos of her psyche.
Ryan and Seth being ‘freed’ had been a mixed blessing- they were no longer in danger of being stabbed, but she doubted Ryan was in any state to make the journey back to camp. She didn’t know if he was safe anymore; hunger, injury, bears…
She knew Seth’s heart was in the right place, but she also doubted if he was up to filling the joint position of tour guide and protector to her special someone.
Summer tried to shake off the nagging feeling of déjà vu, and concentrate on her entry.
‘What character trait sets you apart from your group?’
Taylor was the smart one, and Anna was brave and spunky.
Before they’d confiscated her makeup and dressed her in a sleeved sack, she would have said that she was the pretty one, but stripped down to basics she knew that Anna and Taylor were just as beautiful, and ‘prettiness’ wasn’t even a character trait anyway.
Luke was more of a physical presence, but that translated into a sort of leadership quality as well. Ryan was considerate and hard working, and possessed a kind of selflessness that didn’t come along that often.
Oliver had been the crazy one, and Seth was just Seth.
She laid down her pen for a minute, and thought about Seth; he’d really won her over in the last few weeks. His smile, and quirky sense of humour, his Sethness was unique and made her feel common, like a stock character.
…
“If we had a PlayStation, this would feel just like home,” Seth said with a yawn, stuffing all his dirty socks into a dirty t shirt, and calling it a pillow.
Seth was being sarcastic of course, he probably lived in a really nice house that his parents owned instead of rented.
But the statement rang nearly true for Ryan. He’d lived in some pretty shady places, and sleeping on a lumpy mattress amidst vermin and insects was not completely unlike camping.
He would rather have had a lumpy mattress than stones and dirt, but he’d also choose Seth over A.J. any day of the week.
…
Bob Cameron stood his ground, taking round after round from the firing squad; he had known it was coming, and that he deserved it.
“You said my son was released, so where is he?” a blond woman wanted to know.
“Well, presumably he is making his way back here-”
“Seth isn’t much of an outdoorsman, what good is his release if he gets eaten by a bear?” the woman demanded.
“At least your child is safe from that lunatic ‘counsellor’. Anna is still very much in danger,” another man pronounced gravely, and the other parents nodded in agreement.
“This program wasn’t exactly moderately priced- if I spend more than five grand on summer camp, I expect some kind of security! You fucked up Cameron, and if anything happens to my daughter…” the woman’s botoxed face belied no apparent emotion, but when one of the other mothers turned to comfort her, she dissolved into tears.
If Taylor was disfigured in some way, she’d never get married, Veronica Townsend thought mournfully.
“What kind of establishment is this? Don’t you do background checks? How could this happen?” another parent asked.
…
“How long can we go on like this?” Summer asked quietly.
“As long as we have to, they’ll find us Summer, we just have to hold on a little longer,” Luke responded, not entirely believing his own words to be true.
He’d been dabbling with the idea of a surprise attack himself, but after Oliver’s grisly end he was rethinking that plan; maybe if he had a fit Ryan, or at least a Seth to back him up, but one on one he didn’t stand a chance against the larger man, even with the element of surprise.
He couldn’t afford to be stupid, the girls needed him.
Summer didn’t believe him.
She knew that a bullet would continue along a given path until it met resistance; A.J. was a weapon, with miles of rocky terrain before him.
Looking in the distance to make sure there was no sign of their ‘leader’, Summer went into the Lions’ combined super tent.
Anna came in to see what was going on, and Summer whispered conspiratorially in her ear. A grin spread over the other girl’s face at the beacon of hope that had been presented to her.
They grabbed what they needed and hurried back to the others.
…
After an unsuccessful berry picking expedition, Seth tried his hand at making a fire.
The temperature dropped dramatically in the evenings, so any heat would be welcome. Ryan’s injuries and his own tattered feet meant they were probably sitting tight for a few days at least.
He’d seen it done on television and knew it was possible in theory, but actually igniting tinder without a match was much harder than it looked.
He remembered a neighbourhood kid in Berkeley who burned ants in his driveway with a magnifying glass, and wished that one of them wore glasses.
After trying for over an hour without even making smoke, he decided to forgo the fire and at least make them visible by air. Hauling hundreds of rocks from the trail, he smiled at the irony of moving stones of his own volition.
He painstakingly placed them in the giant, clichéd ‘SOS’ arrangement, before gingerly climbing up the hill to admire his own handiwork.
He ducked into the Batcave to give Ryan a status report, and was surprised to hear the other boy speaking, or at least making noise.
He called his friend’s name, but Ryan didn’t respond; crawling into the shelter, his own worst fears were confirmed.
TBC