CAMP ALPHA-OMEGA
By: Wolf6pack
CHAPTER I: From Sactowne with Love
The coliseum was packed with the happy faces of parents, family, and friends. The Valid Victorian was ending her speech along with the ceremony. I looked to my left and noticed that one of my close friends, Addy Pulse, was in tears, so I put my hand on top of hers and gave her a smile. These past four years at Sactowne High was an endless wave of emotions, whether bad, or, good. From fights, to my first love; then joining the Archer’s Club and becoming ‘First Shooter’ in my 2nd year. It shaped me into the man I am today, the type of man that makes his mother smile through the stress of working twelve hours daily.
We tossed our red and black caps into the air and exited the crowded building in an unorderly fashion. I met with my mom who squeezed the life out of me, “I’m so proud of you,” she said while gripping my face with both hands, “your grandfather would also be proud,” Addy and my other friend Peter Reyes walked in our direction; Addy still sorrowful in the eyes, Peter the complete opposite. “Mr. Wolfe, you have just survived four years at the best school Sactowne has to offer, what are your plans?” I decided to play along, “well Mr. Reyes, with all those migrants from Cali filling up every job position here, I guess I’ll just mooch off you since you’ll be making thousands over at Arcadius Labs.” Jobs were extremely scarce here; nowadays you would be lucky to find an open position for ‘Burgertowne Burgers.’ “How about you, Addy?” I asked, “I start at the Hospital with your mom tomorrow,” It didn’t daunt on me until now that I was the only one without any means to provide; I spent most of my time providing for my Grandpa while he was sick.
The next day I woke up to a glass breaking in the kitchen, so I quickly ran to the noise and seen my mom staring off blankly while holding some papers, “is everything alright?” I asked, she quickly folded the papers and responded, “yes, everything’s fine. Just bills.” It was June 10th, my mother has always paid on time; something was off, but before I could question anything, she set down my plate of breakfast and cleaned the mess. I noticed she hid the papers within a book she kept in her room. She returned with a little black box and placed it in my hand; “I was going to just put it in a case, but I figured, he would’ve wanted you to have it,” I opened the box and revealed it was a wolf’s head necklace; the black necklace had metal outlining the head, making a little heavy. I put it around my neck and thanked her. Once she left for work, I frantically searched her room for the book, it was hidden behind a stack of Tribal books. I pulled out the papers, unfolded them, and began to read them: To my dearest daughter, Lioa, if you’re reading this it means I have succumbed to my old age, finally. I knew you’d be the strongest out of the tribe and I am honored to have trained you. But now it is time to give the role of Tribe leader to the boy. He’s every bit of you, and can be so much more if he was placed in the right environment, the secret reservation has been brought by a good man and turned into a Camp to teach young Native adults what it takes to be a fearless leader. I believe Leon should attend, I believe Leon has what it takes to carry not only himself but the Pack he gets placed in, to victory. Before I passed, I was able to get in touch with some acquaintances at the Airport, his flight leaves on the morning of June 17th. I left sentiments behind for the both of you; the necklace should be worn by Leon only after he returns from the reservation in New Mexico. As for the currency, it is all yours, my child. It isn’t much, but it’s more than what you have. I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise of one last hunting trip, but in my afterlife, I promise to repay Leon for the months wasted nursing my health. Sincerely, Dogo’o (Doh-goat). Under the letter was a sheet of paper that read an address and a side-note, “6722 Camp Onawo. Sometimes the reward is meaningless compared to the journey.” I purposely left the papers on her bed and headed to the library to research the Camp. Nothing came up when I typed in the address, I’m assuming it’s because the location was secret. Secrets weren’t uncommon with my family. After an hour of no success, I decided to meet with Peter to tell him about the letter, “are you going?” He asked, “its what he would want,” he got this concerned look, “-but, what would you want?” I thought about briefly. “I want to go. How many people can say they got secret training at a secret reservation?” We laughed at the idea, “I think you should tell your mom that this is what you want to do, it’s not like you have a future here,” he taunted. Peter paid for our lunch and dropped me off at the small apartments before returning to his job. I played around with my bow until I quickly got bored and chose to reread the letter; after reading it for the fifth time I heard the door open, I peeked around the door to my room and seen my mom with a box and tears in her eyes, I quickly approached her and took the box that was filled with her desk supplies from her hands, “they replaced me,” she managed to mumble through the shakiness of her voice, I wrapped my arms around her, feeling my shirt absorb her tears. She sat at the table with her head buried into her hands, I got this sense of confirmation that I should tell her about the letter, so I laid it in front of her and waited for her to notice it. Once her glossy hazel eyes focused on the paper, she immediately said “no,” repeatedly, no matter how much I tried to get her to listen to me, she wouldn’t listen, “I have lost my mother, my father, your father. I won’t lose you to that camp,” I was beginning to get frustrated, but I tried not to fight with her; “dad walked out on us, he’s the reason we’re here. Grandpa believes in me, I believe in me, why won’t you?” She took a deep breath, “I believe you can do whatever you want to do; I just want you to choose your own path and not one your grandfather painted for you,” I understood what she was saying, but honestly, I didn’t have a path of my own before reading the letter. “If this is what you want to do, I won’t hold you back,” I gave her a smile and responded; “you’ve never held me back. I promise I’ll come back in one piece,” her frown expanded into a smile and she ruffled my hair playfully, “you better, or I’m grounding you for snooping through my room.”
The next weekend I prepared my suitcase for the long Summer I had waiting for me at the Altidude International Airport. I packed my Bow in its case and headed to the kitchen where mom had just finished cooking, she set down our breakfast as we sat across from each other; “you don’t have to worry, mom, I’ll be fine,” she smiled and replied, “I always worry about you. I just want you to be safe out there,” I held out my fist and she touched knuckles with me. The taxi pulled up and honked its horn, I grabbed my suitcase and my Bow-case, then walked outside. Before I got inside of the yellow cab, I took a final look at the small apartment complex and whispered “donadagohv i.” (doh-nah-dah-goh-hun-i)
The driver was an older Hispanic man with a nametag that read ‘Luis.’ Luis was nice and talkative man who made conversation throughout the entire ride to the Airport, “so, what’s in New Mexico?” He asked; I explained to him that I was going to a camp to prove to myself that I could come out victorious by the end of the Summer. “Sounds like you have a lot to prove in ninety-eight days,” he replied comically. After a moment of just the radio playing he decided to start another conversation; “How long have you been interested in Archery?”, “my mother and grandfather used to take me hunting every Winter when I turned thirteen. I got my first doe kill on my first attempt. After that I never put it down; it became a part of me.” Luis took a brief breath before asking about my father’s presence. I haven’t mentioned anything about him to anyone other than my mom, “he was never home during the day, and sometimes mom and I wouldn’t see him for weeks. He kept a lot of secrets from us. One day a woman knocked at our door, and he left with her. We never saw or heard from him again after that.” Luis’ facial expression changed, and he spoke in a serious tone; “sometimes in life, it’s the ones who are supposed to love you the most, that do the most harm to you, and the only way to cope with it is to make them regret not being there for your success. I believe you will be very successful, and make your mother and all of your friends very proud.” His words inspired me even more to work harder towards me achievement. We finally arrived at the large and heavily populated Airport, as I left the cab, Luis yelled out, “good luck!” And drove off. I lifted my suitcase with one hand, and the Bow-case with the other, then, headed towards the entrance.
“Welcome to the Altidude International Airport where the staff is as fly as the planes; may I see your ticket and I.D.?” I gave the blonde Airport Director what she asked for; she slid it into a machine and a voice began to speak from it: “Thank you, Leon Fleche Wolfe. You may take The High-Roller plane located at Terminal D. I set my luggage on the conveyer belt and stepped forward to be searched, “can you remove the necklace, sir?” The male TSA agent asked. I lifted the necklace from my head and placed it in the palm of his hand, but something strange happened. The agent’s arm went limp and he fell to the ground as if I handed him a heavy weight. We both had confused looks painted on our faces, but after a few more seconds of puzzled exchanges he allowed me to pass through the metal detector, and then let me retrieve my necklace from the ground. I gathered my luggage and quickly walked to the terminal.
I was paralyzed in amazement when first glimpse at the Sci-fi-esque plane. It was gigantic and in a triangular shape, the white and orange on the exterior blared brighter than the sun. “-Move it!” Someone yelled from behind me; I continued to board the plane; the interior was unlike anything I’ve ever seen, the walls were chrome, in front of the seats were huge touch-screen monitors that had movies and video games playing, and there were female Flight Attendants with beautiful sky-blue dresses on assisting people to their correct seats. I was sat next to a Native female who gave me a smile and introduced herself as “Moira Roe,” I shook her soft hand and responded, “Leon Wolfe.” Within half an hour we learned that the two of us had a lot in common like: we both enjoyed Bow Hunting, late night runs, and spending more time at gyms than at home. “How long have you lived in Sactowne?” She asked, “I lived there all my life; my life is basically Sactowne,” “-what brought you to here?” I added, “I had second family in California that I went to go visit, but, when I got there it looked like the place was wiped out by the Apocalypse. I was stranded for days in a charred city until someone told me the residents migrated South n to Sactowne.” We discussed conspiracies about the fires for a while until the attendant from earlier approached us, “would you two like to try the Lover’s Lunch for our complimentary in-flight meals?” I nearly spat out my sparkling water, but Moira grabbed my hand and intertwined her fingers with mine, “yes we would,” she said with a wink. The attendant nodded her head and proceeded to unlock our monitor, then pressed a button that turned our seats into a reclining sofa with a table that laid lightly across our laps. Almost immediately a team of waiters walked the aisles and prepared our table, ending with a small vanilla scented candle. As each dish was set down, the attendant named it; “Dived scallops, Lobster Agnolotti, and those are Love Bites,” The smells were good enough to practically taste. A man in a tuxedo set down a pair of glasses, filled it up with a pink liquid coming from a diamond bottle, and then dropped a tablet in each glass causing them to briefly fizz, “did he just roofie us?” I asked, the attendant assured us that everything was safe to consume. Without further conversation the entire group returned to the kitchen. Moira had her glass already in hand, “we’re adults now, Wolfe, no more ‘what ifs,’ for now on, let’s do whatever our instincts tell us,” we clinked our glasses and drank the berry-flavored drink. Things began to move slow and colors became more vivid, I looked at Moira and she seemed to be in a trans as well. My insides would get this warm pulsing sensation that forced a smile on my face. Before I knew it, my mind was somewhere else, and I was enjoying the high. We fed each other the food as if we were really a couple; each bite made my taste-buds cry tears of joy, and my eyes roll back in delight. Once the food was completely gone, the attendants cleared our table and dimmed the lights as we laid back enjoying the trippy lightshow playing before our eyes.
I felt the plane come to a halt, so, I opened my eyes, it was now morning, and Moira fell asleep with her head on my shoulder. “We have now arrived in New Mexico, thank-you for flying with A.I.A, have a safe trip.” Moira and I exchanged numbers before parting ways at the bus station. “6722 Camp Onawo,” I said to the driver, he just stared at me until I handed him about forty-dollars; he gave a thumbs-up and drove off. As I walked to my seat, the old men gave me strange looks, as if they could smell the outsider on my black joggers and white t-shirt. My mother was raised by her grandfather and his tribe in North Carolina, but after he got sick, she moved to Sactowne where she met my dad whom was a doctor at the hospital she works at currently. Three years later, I was born.
The bus stopped at my stop, I retrieved my Suit and Bow case and exited the bus, still feeling tension focused on me. Instead of the bus driving straight, it took a 3-point turn, and sped off, leaving a thick cloud of orange dust from the sand. Not knowing what else to do, I began walking in the direction that the bus decided not to. After what seemed like forever in the smoldering Mesa, my mind became flooded with thoughts that the bus driver dropped me off at a random location, yet I kept walking; suddenly I seen the outline of what seemed like water, or, it could’ve just been a heatwave. As I got closer, my hopes became elevated, it was in fact a river. A wooden sign was nailed into the ground that read ‘Camp Grounds: Follow the Flow,’ under that was a warning reading ‘Once on the river, there will be no return without victory.’ I unlocked the latch on a wooden crate that was sat by the river, “Checkpoint Crate?” I repeated as I opened it, inside were plastic boogie boards piled on top of each other, I grabbed on and rode the river’s slow-moving current. Eventually I ended up in a forest with trees so big it completely blocked the sun from giving any light, “were you attacked by anything?” A man’s voice said, making me jump a little, I looked in the direction the voice came from and seen a man wearing traditional Native clothing and a group of people holding the plastic boards, “no, I wasn’t,” I replied while exiting the waters, he shook my hand with grip and introduced himself, “Chief Apex.”
The Chief was a thin but muscular man, with a mohawk that made him a bit more intimidating; he sprinted through the lush, green forest while jumping through the air and swinging on vines as if he was Tarzan. The group and I tried our best to keep up but were soon met with a two-way path. Discussion of direction broke out, but all the words conversations mixed making it hard to comprehend. Footsteps rapidly came towards us, I followed the sounds of leaf’s crumpling and noticed the giant grey wolves fill the space behind us, “everyone stay still,” I ordered quietly as the wolves sniffed us and our dropped luggage. A larger black wolf howled, making the smaller wolves retreat. It stood in front of a little girl standing next to me. Her breaths were rapid and heavy, and that set the huge wolf off. It opened its mouth exposing the knife-like teeth, I quickly grabbed an arrow from my case and lodged it in the neck of the wolf, “run!” I yelled to the eleven campers. Some of us scattered to the left; others escaped to the right. I made girl run ahead of me once I noticed the black wolf was the only wolf chasing us. It was picking up so much speed; running was no option. I stopped in my tracks, ready to receive any harm it was willing to deal. Instead, the wolf stopped and snarled at me, “we don’t have to fight,” I said nervously, hoping in some sense the wolf could understand me. It glanced at the girl, then, to me, before howling and dismissing itself. “Thank you,” the brown-haired girl said, as she kneeled for a breather; her ponytail drooping down in exhaustion. We caught our breath before searching for the trail, “do you think everyone else is ok?” She nervously asked, “I’m sure they’ve escaped by now,” I replied. It took a long time, but eventually we found a trail that lead us to the rest of the group and Chief Apex. Some of the people were in torn clothing and were slightly bleeding. Chief tossed us a bottle of water as we stood with the rest of the group; “-that was just scratching the surface. This camp is no ordinary Summer Camp, everyone one of you are adults, and I will be showing you what it takes to truly be an adult,” I looked at the little girl questionably, “India, what is the first rule of Camp Alpha-Omega?” The girl walked next to the Chief and recited: “Rule number one: everyone in your circle, move in a circle,” “-and what does that mean?” He asked her, “it means, no matter what, the circle has to decide in unity. If there is no time for a team decision, there is no team at all.” Everyone in the group put their heads down, “starting today, there will not be anymore mistakes, because mistakes costs lives. If this was a real, and not an exercise, my daughter or any of you could have been torn to shreds,” India whispered to her father, and he spoke once more, “I will now introduce you all to the rest of the camp, this time keep up.”
We followed Chief Apex and his daughter to the perimeter of a waterfall, then through a path containing trees that were arched, making a tunnel to the camp. The campsite had two rows of tents that were separated by a line of manmade campfires, there were wooden cabins behind the tents used for bathroom facilities and some sort of special housing. Chief Apex sounded an alarm that caused people to leave the tents and cabins, they gathered around us and faced the wooden platform where Chief and another man stood. The man was bulkier than the Chief, he had a shaved head, and his skin was a bit darker than mine. “Welcome to Camp Alpha-Omega, as you already figured out, this is not a camp for fun and games, but, that does not mean we can’t have fun. Nevertheless, there will be no games; every decision you make from today to ninety-three days from now, will not only affect you but it will affect everything you stand for. My name is Brick Johnson, but to everyone else, I will be addressed as Captain Johnson, I am the leader of The Omegas here. Joining the Omegas mean you fight on your own terms, but, even though you fight alone, you fight for everyone in your squad.” I noticed a group of camper’s high-five each other with mischievous grins. Chief Apex took the bullhorn and spoke, “I am Chief Onawo Apex JR. I am the Alpha to the Alpha’s, joining me will teach you how to perform in Packs, and you will complete each activity as so.” The two leaders spoke amongst themselves before turning their attentions to us once more, “Alphas, your tents and facilities are on the left,” Chief explained, “Omegas, we will be located on the right,” Captain Johnson said. People began dividing into their sides, obviously I chose Camp Alpha.
We all sat at the various campfires later that night as we were given a tray of bread and soup, “Captain Johnson and I have come up with thirty activities that will push every one of you to be all you can be to reign a victory to your Camps, each victory will be rewarded with a key to one of the Checkpoint Crates, while the unsuccessful Camp will have to decide which one of their campers will be boarding a flight home empty handed.” Chief explained, “you will have one day to learn of the activity, one day to practice the activity, and on the third day you will be competing in the activity. The activity will be located on the Activity Board of F.U.N, India, what does the acronym for FUN stand for?” He asked, “FUN, stands for: Fierce. Unity. No killing.” Before we could eat and talk among ourselves, Captain Johnson ascended the Camp’s flag from the pole. One side of the flag was red, the other blue; and an Alpha symbol was in the center, with the Omega symbol combined with it. “Welcome to Camp.”