Page 92 of Freak Camp
Tobias wanted to scream at Jake to run, not to believe a single word said in that cold, smooth voice, but he was afraid of breaking the illusion the Director was creating.He didn’t give a damn what happened to him, but what if Jake did something that made the Director see him as a threat?Jake was strong and had fought monsters tougher than Tobias would ever be, but there was no way that he could defeat the Director.Tobias lowered his head and focused on giving no sign that he knew the false cheer and charm was a lie.
“Indeed.”The Director changed tones smoothly.Tobias recognized the new one as one that asked questions, that looked for the right answer.Any other answer ended in pain.“You can imagine I don’t have much time anymore for hands-on work, but when I heard you were requesting a permanent removal of one of our inmates, I showed a special interest.Did you know this is the first one we’ve approved in over two years?”
“I do now,” Jake said.“But everyone hears rumors they get out all the time for bait permits.”
“Not at all.Well, I assure you there should be no problems with your new charge from our end, but if there are, know that we can always take him back or give you support.At any time, if the monster proves to be unmanageable, we will take him back.Just because you are signing for permanent responsibility for his actions doesn’t mean that we aren’t here for you, Jake.”
Tobias didn’t dare look up to see Jake’s reaction, and his voice betrayed nothing.He could have been anything from angry at the suggestion to honestly grateful.“I appreciate the thought, Jonah.”
“Good.”The Director sounded less than pleased, but he waved the woman forward.“Then I’ll leave the rest of the details to Madison, who is so much better at keeping the forms together than I am.Without her and the rest of the staff, this organization would combust faster than a salted ghost.If you have any more questions, don’t hesitate to contact me through anyone here or at headquarters.Good luck.”
With that the Director squeezed Jake’s hand for one last friendly shake, and then turned to leave through the door.
Only then did Tobias realize that Jake wasn’t just there for a visit.Jake was taking him away.
It was true.The Director had talked to Jake, the Director was walking away, and Tobias still stood near Jake, not leashed, not dragged back through the doors to Special Research.The Director hadn’t said a thing about Tobias to make it clear to Jake just how much of a waste of time he was, how much of a disobedient, useless dog.
Jake was signing papers.Jake was taking him away.It was real, all real, not a fantasy or hallucination.Jake was taking Tobias away.
Tobias closed his eyes, dizzy and breathless and so afraid he would show everything he felt, everything he had never expected to feel.Only distantly did he notice the Director pulling Lonny over, whispering a few words before he left.Only vaguely did he see the frightened glances the woman kept shooting him as she handed Jake page after page to sign.Every time she took the signed document and placed it back in the folder, Tobias felt lighter and lighter.He was dizzy imagining days upon days with Jake, every day a good day where only one person could hurt him (Jake never had, but he could and Tobias wouldn’t care), only one person he had to please, and being willing and happy to give that person any fucking thing he wanted.
Tobias kept from passing out only by taking a deep breath and reminding himself that this wouldn’t be forever.He was, after all, worthless—he knew that, it had been made abundantly clear—with few assets or abilities that would hold the interest of a man like Jake.But even a year, a month, a week,anymoment spent with Jake would be a time he could hold on to for the rest of his miserable, short life.It was even easy to believe in death, in peace and contentment, when heaven had come for him.
Jake and the secretary moved to one of the tables to finish the paperwork, but Tobias stayed where he was, watching Jake from under his hair, overwhelmed that Jake’s promise was coming true, that Jake had come back.What would Kayla say if she could see him now?He hoped she’d find out, that she would know he hadn’t just gone to Special Research.He could almost imagine her face (well, one of her faces) if she saw that Jake really had come for him.
He didn’t notice Lonny coming up next to him until he grabbed Tobias’s collar and pulled Tobias’s ear to his mouth.
“Don’t fool yourself that Hawthorne’s gonna make you a pampered pet,” he whispered.“He’s a hunter, and he’ll treat you exactly like you deserve—pimping you out to his dogs.And when you stop being a good little bitch, you’ll end up right back here.”
Tobias didn’t flinch.He knew that Lonny was just trying to rattle him, and it wasn’t going to work.He knew this wasn’t forever, he knew he wasn’t good enough for Jake to keep, but he wasn’t going to be thrown off by a threat that wasn’t true.Unless something big had changed in the last six months, he knew that Jake didn’t even own dogs.
Finally, the last paper was signed, and the woman put on the last seal and gave Jake a tense, hopeful smile.“That’s it, Mr—Jake.”
“We free to go now?”Jake asked, glancing back at Tobias.
She nodded, marking something down on the edge of one form.
Jake smiled at her.“Good.Come on, Tobias.”
Tobias hurried to Jake’s side, and they kept a steady pace through the last hall.
Leaving Freak Camp and taking those first steps outside the facility were so unreal that Tobias had trouble putting one foot in front of the other.When the last door swung shut behind them, Tobias had to fight to keep his eyes down on the loose gravel under his feet.The sky seemed bluer, the dry desert air fresher, though he knew it was the same air, the same sky, that he had known his entire life.
He would have known the Eldorado anywhere from Jake’s loving descriptions and photos, but the sleek black car looked bigger, more dangerous and alive, when the real thing gleamed before him in the sunlight.
He saw Jake’s smile out of the corner of his eye.He liked Tobias’s reaction.That meant Tobias was safe showing that he was happy.Just the idea of it beingsafeto be happy felt so fucking good.“I’m really glad you get to see her at last,” Jake whispered.
When they stopped next to the Eldorado, Tobias closed his eyes and took a deep breath.Being able to show happiness was one thing, but this feeling, this rush ...he was still close to passing out, and Jake hadn’t done a fucking thing to him but smile.
Jake was leaning against the Eldorado, arms crossed, grinning at him, when he opened his eyes again.“Well, Tobias.I did it.I got you out.Sorry it took so long.”
“It’s okay,” Tobias managed to say past the lump in his throat, the lightness in his body.“You came back.”
He loved to see Jake smile.He couldn’t believe that he was here, outside Freak Camp, standing beside Jake’s car, staring at Jake without fear because the guards were back behind the razor wire and he was all Jake’s now.
Jake couldn’t seem to stop smiling either.Then his eyes flickered down, and he frowned and pushed himself up from the car.“Hey, we should hit the road, but before we put this shithole in our rearview mirror, there’s something we gotta take care of.”
He opened the trunk and withdrew a pair of heavy-duty wire cutters as long as his forearm.Tobias’s brain immediately shut down as it braced him for pain.Not a new reaction or one he could help—it was the same automatic response he had when he saw the electric prod or the Director handling a whip.He was about to lose ...a finger?Maybe.Probably not his nose, Jake wouldn’t want him to look any more of a freak.He briefly considered his genitals—he’d been told often enough he didn’t need them to be useful, in every way, to a hunter—but everything he knew about Jake told him he wouldn’t cut something off Tobias just because it wasn’t useful to him, just because it would hurt.He wasn’t like the guards.
