Chapter 44: Gilbert, the Twins
Rain lashed against the windshield of the Rustbucket, the heavy droplets blurring the dark, winding mountain road ahead. Inside the RV, Klein rested his chin on his hand, watching the distorted reflections in the glass. He tuned out the noise behind him with the practiced ease of a seasoned veteran.
"Hey! Have you made up your mind yet?"
"Please, I have been planning this for months!"
Ben and Gwen were at each other's throats again, this time over the flavor of their shared birthday cake. Due to a bizarre alignment of circumstances this year, they were forced to celebrate on the exact same day. Naturally, their clashing personalities turned every minor decision into an absolute battlefield.
"I had everything mapped out perfectly," Gwen snapped, slapping a thick, color-coded notebook onto the table. A dozen neatly folded invitations spilled out from the pages. "The birthday cake, the indoor decorations, the guest list... why did you have to suddenly swoop in and ruin my schedule?"
"Who in their right mind plans a birthday party six months in advance, Dork?" Ben shot back. He had been completely oblivious to her obsessive scheduling, which explained why his choices were entirely different from hers.
To emphasize his total lack of concern, Ben kicked off his shoes, propped his bare feet onto the table, peeled off a pair of highly questionable socks, and began casually picking at his toes.
A foul, pungent odor immediately filled the confined space of the RV.
"Ugh! Gross!" Gwen clamped both hands over her nose and mouth, violently recoiling into the back of her seat to escape the biological attack.
Sitting right next to her, Klein had been quietly pondering what kind of birthday gift to get his younger cousin. The sudden stench yanked him out of his peaceful thoughts.
He wrinkled his nose. He had been seriously debating whether he should track down Hex and rob the dark sorcerer a second time. He was running low on magical artifacts, and aside from mystical trinkets, he honestly had no idea what a girl like Gwen would actually want.
'Hex should consider himself lucky,' Klein thought dryly. Ben had no idea that by simply unleashing his toxic foot odor, he had unknowingly spared the dark magic user from another brutal mugging.
Even Grandpa Max, sitting all the way up in the driver's seat, caught a whiff of the fumes. He reached into the glove compartment and tossed a small yellow bottle over his shoulder.
"Ben, catch. That stuff works wonders on any kind of fungus."
Ben snatched the bottle out of the air and squinted at the label. "Athlete's Foot Miracle Powder?"
Popping the cap off, he casually sprinkled a generous layer of pale yellow dust directly onto his bare feet and into his shoes.
Up front, Grandpa Max kept his eyes on the treacherous mountain road. Without warning, a small figure darted out from the dense tree line, stepping directly into the path of the speeding RV. It was a young boy, his face twisted in absolute terror, waving his arms frantically as if trying to physically push the massive vehicle back.
Max slammed his foot onto the brake pedal. The tires locked, screeching against the wet asphalt, but the momentum was too great. It was too late.
A sudden burst of blue and black light illuminated the cabin.
A blur of kinetic motion tore through the RV's door, slicing through the heavy rain. In a fraction of a second, the blur swept the little boy off his feet, carrying him out of the collision zone just as the Rustbucket skidded to a heavy halt.
Fasttrack stood on the side of the road, holding the trembling child. Klein had reacted instantly.
"Good job, Klein," Max breathed out, his hands gripping the steering wheel tight enough to turn his knuckles white.
Fasttrack carried the now-unconscious boy into the RV, gently laying him down on Ben's bunk. A quiet flash of blue light washed over the alien feline, and Klein stood in his place, his expression calm and unbothered.
The others crowded around the bed.
"Who is this kid?" Ben asked, leaning in.
"His name is Gilbert," Gwen stated matter-of-factly.
Ben blinked, looking at her in confusion. "How do you know that?"
Gwen lifted her chin. "Woman's intuition."
"He literally has a name tag pinned to his chest," Max pointed out, gesturing to the small plastic badge on the boy's shirt.
"Eww... what is that?" Ben pointed a finger at Gilbert's left shoulder. "That purple patch is disgusting."
A thick, fuzzy cluster of purple spores clung to the fabric and skin of the boy's shoulder. It looked entirely unnatural, pulsing slightly in the dim light.
"Looks like some kind of severe fungus," Max muttered, leaning closer to inspect it.
Klein stared at the purple growth, his eyes narrowing slightly. He committed the strange texture to memory.
"How did a kid end up all the way out here?" Max asked, looking out the window at the desolate, rain-swept woods.
"He is from Camp Opinicon," Gwen said, tapping the embroidered emblem on Gilbert's jacket.
"Let's get him back there first," Max decided, shifting the RV back into gear.
...
Camp Opinicon
The Rustbucket rumbled to a stop just outside the main gates of the camp. Max and Klein stepped out into the freezing rain first, leaving Gilbert resting safely inside the vehicle.
"It looks like everyone packed up and left," Gwen noted, stepping out behind them. She pulled her jacket tighter against the chill. There was not a single light shining in any of the cabins. The entire camp was swallowed by the dark.
Max pushed open the door to the main lodge, his heavy boots echoing on the wooden floorboards. Klein, Gwen, and Ben followed closely behind.
It was pitch black inside. Max rummaged through his pockets and pulled out two heavy-duty flashlights. He clicked them on, the beams cutting through the gloom, and looked back at the kids.
"I only have two of these. How do you want to split them up?"
"Klein and I can share one." Gwen spoke up instantly, stepping closer to her older cousin. In truth, she could have easily summoned her Anodite mana to light up the entire room, but the eerie atmosphere had her spooked, and she preferred the excuse to stay close.
"Hey! That is exactly what I was going to say!" Ben complained, crossing his arms.
"Alright, settle down. Ben, you stick with me." Max handed the second flashlight over to Klein.
Klein took the heavy metal cylinder in his left hand. His right hand was currently occupied, trapped in Gwen's surprisingly tight grip. He glanced down at her. She was trying to look brave, but her knuckles were white. Knowing she was scared of the dark, he decided not to tease her about it and simply kept his pace steady.
Max swept his beam across the room. It was the main dining hall. Tables and chairs were shoved aside haphazardly. Half-eaten meals sat abandoned on the tables, and spilled food stained the floorboards. It looked less like an evacuation and more like a blind panic.
Walking over to the nearest table, Max hovered his hand over a plate of messy spaghetti and meat sauce. He pressed a finger against the ceramic edge.
"Hmm... the plate is still warm. Whatever happened here, they left in a hurry, and not too long ago."
Klein led Gwen deeper into the lodge, sweeping his light across the dark corners. The heavy silence of the room pressed in on them. Gwen pressed her shoulder against Klein's arm, her eyes darting at every shifting shadow.
Suddenly, the flashlight beam caught a reflection. Two pairs of eyes stared back at them from the absolute darkness of a hallway.
"Ah!"
Gwen shrieked, instantly abandoning all pretense of bravery and burying her face into Klein's side, hugging his arm like a lifeline.
Klein let out a quiet sigh, awkwardly patting her shoulder to calm her down. He kept the light steady on the figures.
They were just children. A boy and a girl, maybe six or seven years old, standing perfectly still. Their faces were practically identical.
"Are they gone?" the little girl asked, her voice entirely devoid of emotion.
Hearing the scream, Max and Ben came sprinting around the corner, flashlights bouncing wildly.
"Hello. My name is Andy," the little boy said, staring blankly ahead.
"My name is Mandy," the little girl echoed.
"We are twins," they said in perfect, unsettling unison.
Max lowered his flashlight slightly, trying not to blind them. "Where did all the adults go, kids?"
"We do not know. They all ran away," Andy and Mandy replied, shaking their heads at the exact same time.
"Something bad definitely happened here," Max muttered, his expression grim. He spotted a public payphone mounted on the wall near the kitchen and hurried over to it. He picked up the receiver and punched in a number, but only dead air greeted him.
"The storm must have knocked down the phone lines. We have zero signal out here." Max hung up the useless plastic phone and shook his head at the group. "We need to get these two and Gilbert into town."
Max led the way back outside. The rain was coming down harder now. Ben held a large umbrella over his grandfather's head while Max popped the hood of the Rustbucket, trying to figure out why the engine refused to turn over.
Max shined his light into the engine bay and froze.
"The entire engine block... it is completely covered in some kind of fungus."
Thick, pulsating purple vines and spores coated the machinery, identical to the patch on Gilbert's shoulder.
Realizing they were stranded, Max closed the hood. He hurried into the RV, hoisted the unconscious Gilbert onto his broad back, and with Ben holding the umbrella, they all sprinted back into the dry safety of the camp lodge.
Once inside, Max shook the water from his coat and looked at Klein and the others waiting in the hall. "Looks like we are going to have to bunk here for the night."
Guided by Andy and Mandy, the group relocated to the camp's main lounge area. The room was lined with rows of sturdy wooden bunk beds.
Max carefully laid Gilbert down on the bottom bunk of one of the beds.
Klein took a seat on an adjacent mattress, leaning back against the wooden frame. His mind was racing. He replayed the image of the purple spores on the boy and the identical growth strangling the RV's engine. That was no ordinary mold. It was aggressive, fast-spreading, and highly unnatural.
Across the room, Ben plopped down onto a bed, immediately taking off his shoes to inspect his toes again.
Mandy tilted her head, staring at his feet. "Athlete's foot?"
Andy nodded slowly. "Everyone here has it."
Max clapped his hands together, breaking the strange tension. "Alright, you kids rest up here. I am going to check the kitchen and see if I can rustle up something for us to eat."
Max turned and marched out of the bunk room, his heavy footsteps fading down the hall.
Gwen watched him go, a look of pure dread washing over her face. "Grandpa? Going to find food in an abandoned camp kitchen?"
Ben shuddered, abandoning his foot inspection. "Just thinking about what he might cook up is terrifying. There has to be a first-aid kit or some stomach medicine around here somewhere."
Before anyone could say another word, a sharp, blood-curdling scream shattered the quiet of the lodge.
"Ah!"
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