Page 34 of Freak Camp
Chapter Five
Fall 1993–Summer 1994
It wasn’t easy to convinceDad that Jake was serious about picking up a photography hobby.Jake ultimately won twenty bucks playing cards with some of the dumb kids at the next junior high—no one his age could beat him in poker—and bought a disposable camera himself.Taking pictures as they traveled through Arizona and New Mexico was a lot more fun than he expected, and Dad finally caved and helped him pay to have the photos developed.They looked pretty good, Jake thought, as he stored the packet of photos at the bottom of his duffel bag until they turned, inevitably, north again for Nevada.
Of all the things he’d smuggled into Freak Camp, the photographs were among the easiest.He tucked the envelope into the back of his jeans, under his jacket, with a bag of candy in each pocket.He smirked at the guard as he strolled through the metal detectors, heading out the exit to the yard while Dad continued on to Special Research.
One of the guards—a newer one, Jake might have seen him once before but didn’t know his name—was pacing aimlessly, swinging his club in an arc.Jake stopped him.“Hey, I’m looking for 89UI6703.”
The guard gave him a skeptical look, but lifted his radio.“Karl, send Baby Freak out.Hawthorne’s kid is here to see him.”An affirmative crackled through the air, and the guard jerked his head toward the building behind Jake.“He’ll be out in a minute.”
Jake nodded curtly before turning away.
Sure enough, Tobias trotted out the side door a minute later.Jake, who had hung back to watch all the doors, jumped forward to meet him.“Hey, Toby, just wait until you see what I—dude, what’s up?Are my shoes more interesting than my face?”
They always went through this—Toby refusing to look him in the eye for the first few minutes of a visit—but normally Jake got a peek of his face and a smile at the start.This time, though, Tobias had his chin tucked close to his chest until Jake’s words snapped his head up.
Jake sucked in a breath, grabbing Toby’s chin and barely noticing when Toby flinched.“What the hell happened?”He leaned in close to examine Toby’s black eye and split, swollen lip.
Tobias swiped his tongue over his cut, fidgeting without pulling away.“Monster fight.It’s not so bad.”
“Shit.”Jake touched his thumb to Toby’s lip, drawing away when Toby winced.“You need some ice.”
Toby tilted his head, confused.“What for?”
“Just ...”Jake sighed.“Never mind, probably too late now.”
Toby blinked at him with his one good eye.“Doesn’t hurt anymore.”
“Well, that’s good.”Jake smiled crookedly, then reached around Tobias’s shoulders as they walked around the building to one of their secluded spots.“Did they get their ass kicked?The monster who did that to you?”
He felt Toby’s shoulders shrug.“He got hurt too.We all got in trouble.”
Jake blew out his breath.“Yeah, well, that’s bullshit, going after a kid your size.There are plenty of bigger monsters here to pick on.”
Toby’s mouth tugged in a smile.“Monsters don’t care, Jake.”
“Yeah, of course they don’t.”Jake squatted down against the wall, only then remembering the bulge tucked into his back pocket.“Oh, yeah—got something for you.”He twisted to reach back behind him.
Toby brightened, sitting up.“Chips?”
“Nah, M&Ms this time.”He stopped to dig into his pocket and toss a bag to Toby, who quickly tore into it and tossed a big handful into his mouth.Jake grinned.“You like those, huh?”Toby nodded, chewing happily, and Jake pulled around the photo packet.“This is the other thing I brought you, what I promised last time—pictures I took over the last month, when we were down south.”
Toby’s left eye went very round.“Youtook these?”
“Yep,” Jake said.“Wasn’t that hard.”He spread them out and launched into explaining what was taken where.Here was one of the stuffed jackalopes he saw in the gas station where he bought the camera.One later, outside that same stop, of Dad scowling at him while leaning against the Eldorado.The next six were of different angles of the Eldorado—Jake hadn’t been able to decide what was the best to really show off its glory to Toby.
Next was one of Independence Rock—from pretty far away, Dad hadn’t wanted to stop.And then a view of the Rocky Mountains, the Eldorado again in the foreground.Jake hadn’t realized how many pictures he’d taken until they were all laid out in front of them and Toby was staring down at them, fingers cautiously reaching for their edges.
“What the fuck you doing, freak?”
Tobias jumped, and Jake reached automatically for his knife—a bit awkward, because he and Tobias had pressed together to look at the pictures, and Jake’s knife was wedged between his hip and Toby’s—but none of the guards were looking at them.The same guard that Jake had talked to earlier was heading toward a shapeshifter, who looked terrified.
“I’m talking to you, freak, you think you can just ignore me?”The guard snagged a hook in the shapeshifter’s collar, jerking him off his feet, and then he saw Tobias and Jake.He smiled nastily.“Look at that,” he said to the shifter, but kept his eyes on Jake.“You’re bothering Hawthorne’s kid.I think we ought to have a chat.Sorry about that, boy.”He pushed the shifter around, and they moved out of sight, the shifter stumbling along.
“My name’s Jake!”Jake called after him, angry and unsettled.The guard made no reply, but Toby’s hand clenched on his jacket.
