Chapter 8: Look to the Leader
We returned to camp devastated. I just never knew something like this could happen so quickly. It was just blind flashing. Tonight was also the ending of our first semester. I went to sleep with my 3DS, but that mattered to none. Next morning, I returned home to my unpainful lifestyle full of videogames and stuff and whatever.
“Do you think that he’s going to be OK and what not?” I asked. I don’t know I had mentioned this before, but dad and I made a deal that I’d only go to camp for one semester.
“I don’t know.” he said. “All we can do is hope.” he said. “And I could open up a can of beer for you.
“Your advice is making less sense than David’s at this point. Can’t their family pay for the damage done to him? I feel like it’s my fault. He almost died. He almost died to save me. Someone who if fell of of that clive would not live.”
“They would pay for his well being if their summer family buisness wasn’t in critical jeapordy.” said my dad. “It’s already going to take a miracle to get them out of that situation. The only way to do that would be to win next weekend’s final round which is an all camp capture the flag. But you’re not going.”
“I know i’m not, but now I feel like I should have signed up for two semesters, or even no semesters, because I was more of drag on the team than a help. I turned on the TV to watch the news. And there it was. I saw every thing that had happened that night. It was exactly as I’d viewed in jail.
“Dad.” I said. “Sign me up.” Just then, the police knocked on the door. I heard David opening it. I dove under the TV. All you could see were my eyes. Then I heard something.
“Oh yes.” said my mom. “Jake is here. JAKE!”
“Yeah?.’ I asked with my heart beating rapidly and my bladder thinking about contracting.
“Can you come up here? A police man wants to talk to you.”I ran up the stairs to get this over with. I looked suspicious because there was really nothing to get in jail for.
“May I help you?” I asked.
“Yes.” he said sternly. “I want to know if you were involved in Christopher Zelo’s injury. Did you do it on purpose?”
“No.” I said. “But I was there.” I told him the whole story of the mountain climbing incident and the helicopter that shot him.
“Let me get this straight.” he said “A helicopter shot him down while he was climbing a mountain?”
“Yes.” I replied. “He did it trying to save my life. I’m surprised he didn’t die.”
“Looks like you are off of the hook.” he said. I wanted to sign up for camp again. When I told dad this, he of course said yes, but on one condition. I had to win the Campetition and get the money. I thought about it for a few minutes, and said yes. I had to train for it so hard. my Dad went to the camp with me a day early though.
“Can we help you guys with anything?” said my dad. “With your dad gone, you probably need all of the help you can get.
“You’re going to have to talk to my older brother.” said Mac Zelo. My father and I went over to Gale who was in a meeting with Millie and one of her friends.
“Let me just say that I’m so,so,so,so,so sorry that your father was killed.” said Gabby. “All of us, we all look to you.”
“Yeah.” said Millie. “I just know, we can win this Friday’s Campetition. We trust you so much. We know you won’t let us down.” said Millie.
“I agree.” said Gale. I know I have a lot of pressure on me, but we’ll get by. We did it before. I walked in.
“Hey guys.” I said. “My dad and I want to know what we can do to help. With your dad gone, I’m sure you need all the help you can get.”
“Oh, hey Jake.” said Gale. “Very interesting you should show up here. Does this look familiar to you?” He held up a newspaper saying “Jake, you..”.
“Oh yeah.” I said. “If my memory serves me correctly, I’d say those were the two words he said to me before he hit the ground.”
“I knew it.” said gabby. “You killed him. My eyeballs sprang open.
“WHAT!!!???”I yelled. It was the type of yelling that would make crows fly away.
“Arrest him now, officers!” said Millie. She was always so demanding. I mean like c’mon. Anyway, I was led away with handcuffs and had stones heaved at me. My dad was shocked at what he thought I had done. At least I thought that, because my dad was demanding evidence of my crime.
Ok, so I’ve been in prison for 4 days, and let me tell you, it was a tremendous travesty. I think that the cops purposely put stuff in that greul to make you sick. I hated it. On Thursday, I was having dinner, which was a shoe and a piece of meat fat. Then, I looked up at the news. It was Christopher and his accident. Could he really be dead? I know I couldn’t have been reliving my vision because I didn’t see Gale or Yoko being framed for this either, but then it occurred to me. Gale was being such a jerk. i knew others would be in here too. Plus, I was right. I saw Steeler and Zipline and went over to talk to them.
“Guys.” I said. “We have to get out of here! Now!” Zipline held me down.
“You’re supposed to be carrying the police cheif!” he yelled. “GET BACK TO YOUR POST OR I WILL!”. I didn’t want to hear what would come next, so I walked back to the police cheif. Someone however, stopped me in my tracks.
“I have come to help you, boy. Your father was my best friend until he didn’t turn in his homework. He was a bad man. But you, you’re different. You can still be a good person. I will het you out of jail, if you join my camp and help me win the Campetition tomorrow. So is it a deal?”
“Wait a minute.” I said. “You were the one who killed Christopher Zelo weren’t you.
“Yes.” he said. “Yes I was. Now, what I’m about to tell you is really important. HELP! HE’S TRYING TO ESCAPE!!!!” Cops surrounded me.
“UH oh.” I said. ‘Time to go.”
Chapter 9: A Fight Not to Lose
I ran and grabbed a prison cart. Riding it, I picked up Steeler and Zipline.
“You again!” said Steeler. “Will you please tell me what’s going on?”
“Yes.” I said. “We’re getting out of here. I made a left turn for a dark hallway with prisoners. Guards were chasing us. “Wow.’ said Steeler. “I guess since we’ve been in here for so long, we’ve lost our sense of freedom. Hit that button!”
“Yes sir.” said Zipline. He took a hammer and hit a button that said “Prison Release. All of the prisoners ran out of their cells. “That should hold them off.” Three minutes later, we busted out through the prison’s main doors.
“We did it!” said Steeler.
“I knew we could!” said Zipline. “ But now what do we do?”
“We should go to the hospital where Christopher Zelo is.” I said. “If there’s anyone who could help us at all, it would be him.’
“Perfect!” said Zipline. “We go to the hospital and ask for him to help us. He knows we didn’t kill him.”
“Don’t mean to be such a debbie day downer or whatever, but we are 60 miles from the hospital that he’s in, and he’s dead.” said Steeler. “Even if he does wake up, what chance do we have of getting there before tomorrow night and making sure that our camp wins the money. We have quite a reputation.” Suddenly, a van pulled up.
“I will.” said David. “I can tell, you three didn’t kill the guy.’ All three of us ran into the van.
“Start the car!” yelled Zipline. Suddenly, two cops came out.
“Come out with your hands up!” they said.
“Sorry.’ I replied. “We’re very innocent. And it’s a van, Zipline.” David immediately took off. Let me tell you, it didn’t take a short amount of time to reach the hospital. David took a major scenic route. In fact, we spent the night sleeping at a gas station and painted ou van black, so the cops wouldn’t recognize us. David has a red van to have people stop to look at it when he goes by. In the morning, we bought some food for breakfast. It tasted like heaven because of the food I’d been eating for the last four days. Finally, we arrived at the hospital. It was not fun. A cop spotted us.
“Hey you!” he said. “Get back in your jail.
“RUN!” said David. “Run for your lives!” The cop chased us. We grabbed a map of the hospital and followed the direction for his room. When we made it there, we went in and locked the door.
“Barricade all of the doors and windows.” said Steeler. “I’ll find Christopher and revive him with a shot.”
“Where did you get the shot” asked Zipline.
“Found it at the crime scene.” Steeler said. We barricaded all the doors while Steeler looked under the covers of the bed.
“He’s not there!” said Steeler. “You led us to the wrong spot!” The cops banged on the door.
“No I didn’t.” I said. “There is a duct leading to the dying room, which he’s in. We’ll wake him up from there.” I pointed at the duct. I opened it, and all four of us climbed into it. we closed it seconds before the cops burst in. I locked it too. We climbed down a few floors and ended up in the dying room. I opened the duct and we ran over to Christopher.
“On one, two, three, NOW!” yelled Steeler. He injected the shot into Chris and woke him up from a dreamless sleep, though he was in pain.
“Need to defeat Mr. Beasley and get him arrested for this.” said Christopher.
“Could you explain it in a full sentence this time?” asked Jake.
“Fine.’ He replied. “Jake, you need to stop Mr. Beasley, for causing my possible death. he is a cruel man.
“That was what you were going to say to me?” I asked. “Yes! I knew it! We have proof that we’re not behind your injury. And you’re alive!”
“Don’t mean to be such a Debbie day downer or anything, but who’s going to rescue us now?” asked Steeler.
“I will.” said a mysterious voice. “That would be me.” He walked across the tiled floor and arrived at Chris.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“I,” he replied. “Am your long lost father.” Chris’s eyes shot open. He had been told that his father had been killed in a car crash many years ago. His father piloted a chopper for a living (and still does, even at his old age).
“I can rescue you 4 and take you someplace far away.” he said.
“That’d be great, but we need to go to the Campetition to save your son’s camp and pay for his injury.
“Fine.” he said. “It’s an hour away, but I can manage it. We’ve got to go right now.’
All of us jumped through the window and into the helicopter. Our battle was about to begin
Chapter 10: This is it!
Some time passed.
“Okay.” I said. “Drop the three of us on the night field so we can get the flag. make it be in the middle. David and you can wait in the audience.” In 15 minutes, we were half a mile over what looked like a battlefield.
“Drop the ladder down now.” said Zipline. He dropped in down, and we climbed down it and jumped onto the battlefield looking Capture the Football game.
“Okay.” I said. “We are going to get the football and bring it back to our side. Steeler tagged a few intruders.
“And let that be a lesson to you!” he said.
“Maybe we should just try to have fun and show camp spirit.” said Zipline. Steeler was already running to get the flag.
“I think we should do the same.” I said.
“Fine.” he replied. “I’ll catch up with you in a minute. someone’s trying to steal the flag.” Then, I came face to face with Girl.
“Oh hey.” I said. “How’s it going?”
“I’m calling the cops!” she yelled. “You’re here to hurt us aren’t you.”
“No I didn’t kill him.” I replied. “In fact, they’re stealing the pin.” She turned around and tagged the guy, but I was gone. I eventually caught up with Steeler, but not before being spotted by 100 kids.
“GET HIM NOW!” said one of them. I thought I had seen his face before. I ran away from the m just in time, but it required me run up a ramp to get away from them. I met Steeler over by a tree.
“Look!” he yelled. “Gale’s in trouble! We have to rescue him before he gets destroyed!” I agreed with him, but also knew this. Gale is always the one who always wants to be a hero and get a girlfriend. I knew he was trying to save Millie, but he now was about to die. I ran over to him, but then I saw, that it was not some kid who was trying to get him it was…
“Mr. Beasley wait!” said Steeler. “Aren’t kids the only ones who can play? And please don’t use a staff to tag him.”
“Actually, Camp Directors are allowed to play!” he said. “Maybe you should bring yours. Oh, you don’t have one!” He went back to destroying Gale. Just then, I grabbed him and rolled both of us out of the way. He missed.
“You’re back!” said Gale. “You three didn’t try to kill my father did you?”
“Come back here you little…” he yelled. Mr. Beasley put his staff in the ground again. In this time Zipline flew to the prison to rescue the captives using a pair of glider wings he found in the helicopter.
“You’re free to go people.” he said.
“You didn’t kill our camp director did you.” he said.
“Of course not.’ He replied, “ This camp is love and life.” He tried to fly away, but when he did, a kid shot his wings.
“That’s not fair.” said Steeler.
“C’mon Zipline.’ said Gale. “I wanted to rescue Millie.”
“We’ll that’s sweet of you.” we heard her saying.
“Let’s get the pin and outta here!” I said. We ran to get it.
“Oh no you don’t!’ yelled Beasley. He threw the staff at my leg. I knew it still didn’t count as an out, luckily, but my leg killed me. I had to drag myself. right before I was tagged, I painfully jumped to my feet I ducked my head to avoid a kids hand.
“Help!” I yelled. Zipline and Yoko ran over to me and picked me up to my feet. They dragged me back.
“I knew you to didn’t kill Gale’s father.” said Yoko.
“Gale’s dad is alive.” replied Zipline. Gale grabbed the pin and dodged like 5 hands in a row. In capture the football, you could throw the pin to get it back to your side. Steeler knew too.
“Throw it here!” said Steeler. Gale threw it and Steeler caught it. Steeler ran a few yards, and then threw it to Girl, who sneered at me. She ran 6 yards and threw it to Zipline, who caught it. My leg was feeling better now so I let go.
“Somebody stop this madness right now!” yelled Beasley. Zipline threw it to Hags. Hags threw it to Tom. Tom threw it to Pom. The other team had trouble, but got smart.
“Everyone get someone to run after!” said one of them. This forced us to move. Yoko caught it. He ran 9 yards and threw it but was pushed to the ground which made his throw go off.
Mr. Beasley laughed. Then, the words echoed in my head. “Jake, you must defeat Mr. Beasley.” Of course. He knew I could win this, he knew Steeler would wake him up. I stopped standing around and ran up the same ramp I did before. This time, I jumped in front of the pin, about to touch the ground, and did something remarkable. I kicked it up in the air, keeping it off of the ground with my still injured leg, which hurt a lot more. I fell to the ground and closed my eyes tightly because of the throbbing pain I was in. I still heard what was going on. The ball was flying onto my side with Millie all set to catch it and be the hero. Gale was putting it all on her. His dad, his camp, and his future. It was all in Millie’s hands. I opened my eyes. Millie had her hands out and…… she …… missed!
“That was all you could do!?” asked Mr. Beasley. He was evilly happy and angry. He loaded my friends up into the team jail mat.
“ATTACK!” he yelled again, causing crows to fly away. Campers busted onto our side like a swarm of bees.
“Get that flag!” he yelled. We were hopeless.
“It still going!” said one of our campers. It indeed looked like it. Now, it was on Gabby. The pin was 5 inches away from the ground. Campers attacked her, but out of all odds …… she …… caught the pin.
“We did it!” yelled Gale. “We WON!” We Were cheering like crazy. It was done.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” yelled Mr. Beasley. Suddenly, the cops came in.
“Nobody move!” one yelled. I suddenly jumped up and ran.
“You’re all right kid.” he said. “All three of you are off of the hook. Of course, I’m ignoring the fact that you started a mass breakout, but we caught em all.”
“The cops grabbed Mr. Beasley and dragged him away.
“What are you doing?” he said. “Take your hands off me this minute. I hate you dumb kids. You will pay for this!” The crowd booed him out of the ring, and we won the money.
“I can’t believe it!” said Millie. “I knew Gabby would have my back!” The good thing was,since badguy was arrested, we owed nothing to their awful, awful, awful, awful camp. We spent the money on the well being of Gale’s father. Dad came.
“Are you okay?” asked.
“Never better.” I said. “Just one thing. can we do this camp like every summer?”
“Yes!” he said.
“Yes!” I screamed in joy.
Epilouge:
So, my summer turned out pretty great. I made a lot of friends and David had a good time at the camp reception. Gale’s dad recovered within a couple of weeks. Millie ended up hanging out with Gale a lot more. Finally, when I went to my list at the end of summer, I didn’t follow my ideal list, but I completed a greater one. One I could say, I had a perfect summer with them. They were like family to me.