No one missed Daniel these nights. Fridays were sacred. The Rothschild residence hardly noticed his absence, even in light of the fact that Daniel talked the most and the loudest of all of his siblings. He didn't mind, though, even the nights they totally forgot his existence. Finding a place to sleep didn't come too hard; the town knew each other and some of the parents didn't mind, as long as it wasn't a school night. Tonight, Daniel didn't care much either way how he ended up sleeping, if he ended up sleeping, at all.

Today sweltered, heat roiling through the pavement - despite the laws of physics, heat in the valley never felt like it rose. Instead, the entire town of St. Stephens felt like a sauna. Today was no different with the humidity rising and rain looking like a godsend in the distance. Daniel always logged how hot it would get before the rain soaked it all up. Right now, his journal read a series of 80's and a few 90's the last few weeks. Daniel flicked the window in his room, eyes squinting to read the numbers on the thermometer. 92 degrees Fahrenheit; 33 degrees Celsius. Daniel recorded it alongside the other numbers in the chart, his tongue sticking out as he plopped onto the bed.

Sitting at the top of the Rothschild home, Daniel's room refused to reflect his personality. At least, not to the obvious viewer. Controlled chaos didn't satisfy Daniel as much as near OCD levels of organization. When it came to his stuff, he liked the neat and orderly. It took a good eye and consistent visits to notice that Daniel's room changed at random intervals. He liked moving things around - organizing different objects using different categories. To keep him from hurting himself, his mother helped him install a sliding shelf on one side of his wall, allowing him to section off parts of it or combine them all to make one large platform. At the moment, his books went by a color code. He shoved them along the wall and ordered them in a gradient row and deemed it close enough.

The rest of his room held a bed, made and tidy if a bit wrinkled from constant flopping. A desk previously laid against the wall now sat at the foot of Daniel's bed, with all of his supplies and documents (read: journals) piled in squared groups across the surface. A white, wooden chair sat a good few feet away from it, nearly against his closet door. Everything else was in the process of rearranging, though not tonight. Tonight he had some place to be.

"Cap'n." He saluted, grabbing a copy of issue 308 of Captain America along with Iron Man #197 and shoving them into a backpack for the night. He had to get the newest Uncanny X-men from one of his friends and hope they also had the New Mutants to finish his tie into Marvel's new Secret Wars II. He danced lightly on his feet and giggled before grabbing a random book from his shelf and some of his summer reading settled on his desk - he almost forgot his journal and a pencil on his way out. Once ready, Daniel raced down the stairs to barely collide into Helena.

"Watch it, nerd," she scoffed, shoving him aside and stomping up to her room. Daniel could only roll his eyes as he looked off into the living room, seeing his dad asleep on his Lazy-Boy with the TV sizzling static in front of him. Their living room had been the reason they'd bought the house, with how large it spanned. They forwent a dining room purely for a family room able to fit seven kids and two adults semi-comfortably. A wall divided the kitchen and the living room, allowing two arching entrances from said room and the hallway beside the stairs. Daniel shuffled inside, where his mother focused all of her attention in creating cake for some kind of potluck.

Daniel poked through the fridge for an apple and then the pantry for a few twinkies to shove into his backpack. "Hey, no more than two, Daniel," his mother spotted him, flicking a chocolate coated spatula at her son, "take a juice box too." Rachel knew the day and didn't bother bidding her kid a farewell as he waved and rushed out of the house. He couldn't hear her swearing as she slammed the front door shut, already shoving the apple in his mouth and peddling madly toward the Delaney residence.

Arriving there hadn't been much of an issue. Daniel had to pass only two streets before he spotted Debra's house. The bike tires squealed, skidding the drive way as he shoved it against the side of the house. He found the back entrance easy and slid in to spot Debra already prepped and ready. The apple crunched in Daniel's mouth and he plopped down on one of the love seats with a wrinkled noise. Still smelled like moss and spores. He shoved a hand through his backpack to grab a twinkie and promptly tossed it at Debra.

After everyone piled in and listened in on Debra's laid out plans, Daniel jolted from his reclined position to stare at the map and then Debra herself. "That musta been a lotta work, Debs," he said, just now opening his twinkie wrapper and stuffing the whole thing in his mouth. He talked through the chewed bits, "What about the adults? Convincing even one of 'em is gonna be a camp-licated mission itself, ey?" He smiled, teeth white and yellow. He attempted a laugh but that only served to shove twinkie bits down the wrong pipe. Daniel keeled over in his coughing fit, covering his face with the back of his pack.

"Sorry," he mumbled, "but it's a good point!" Daniel pulled out his pencil, gesturing to the tip for emphasis, "I don't think anyone's gonna wanna let us out there alone and even if we get a supervisor to camp with us, we don't know if we're gonna get Cecil's hawk eye dad or my 'gonna smoke for 2 hours' mom. But, I'm excited! I wanna do this. Just how we gonna pull the wool over our parents to even get to Madcat?"

---

---

Like most days, Cecil was late. Very late. He had taken his brother's boat out that afternoon with the intention of spending the night adrift, tucked away from family and friends aboard the Quantum Leap, and had only moments ago remembered that he had sworn to attend Debra's meeting and that he had duly sworn to bring Cheetos. He was now scrambling across the deck, switching the ropes attached to the ship's meager jib sheets left and right to account for the changing winds. He cursed to himself wildly, stringing off the longest list of curses he knew to make himself feel better -- It did, though only for as long as he knew curses. "Lord Jesus, why'd ya have to make me remember Debbie? I was having a nice lil' sitdown all on my lonesome, damn-near set up with cakes and coffee, radio workin' all nice, not no care in the world, dang old heart attack, jumpin' a foot in the air," Cecil began to trail off, muttering more and more incoherently until his rant devolved into grunts as he pulled the ship's gear to and fro. He nibbled on the edge of his pipe as he grumbled, tipping bits of hot ash onto his bare chest, causing him to swat it away as if it were one of the river's many skeeters, as he called them. "Coulda just remembered it wakin' up tomorrow, no time to do nothin' bout it, dang goddamn rememberin' ten minutes in, droppin' a cigarette in the water, summbitch couyon winds actin' up, damn near a mile away. "

After a few moments of exertion, Cecil adjusted the rigging to his liking, and leaned back to steer the tiny boat's tiller further from the shore, zig-zagging across the river in jagged sweeps. The swamp-rock station faded in and out of his portable radio's signal as he turned, periodically switching between Bad Moon Rising's ominisity and the tinny radio static. Frogs and toads, now invisible in the nighttime river, croaked rapid signals to one another as scores of crickets noisily chirped, joining together to drown out the droning buzz of summer cicadas and occasional mosquitoes. The cacophony of the river was one of the few things Cecil didn't mind about being confined to such a small body of water. It reminded him of home, for one, and it served as a buffer between himself and the rest of civilization, which Cecil didn't exactly mind. He squinted out into the distance, trying to make out Debra's house. For a girl who didn't know her ass from a rudder, Debbie -- It was almost exclusively Cecil who called her that -- lived surprisingly close to one of the town's three docks. The horizon had been a pink-blue sunset by the time he had remembered he was late, and it was now a dark inky blue. It took more searching than it would have taken had he been on time, though after a few moments of scanning the incoming stretch of river, Cecil found the pier he had been looking for. It was an old, small dock, probably built by someone who had long-since moved away by the look of its state of disrepair. It was what Cecil's Pappy would have called a Barnacle Grave. Still, barnacle grave site or not, he could see Deb's back yard from the dock, and that was all that mattered when he was as late as he was.

Cecil flung a noose-shaped rope overboard, and began to take down the ship's mainsail. After a few moments of hoisting it down, the youth wrapped the sail up, tying it to the mast with a small scrap of rope, repeating the process for the jib sheets. By the time the Quantum Leap began to draw close to the dock, it had been made completely immobile and was carried by little more than the force of the river's meager waves. Cecil pulled the wet rope from the water and wrapped it around one of the dockposts, hopping carefully onto the dock. He gulped. It was more broken than he remembered, and he cursed again for not having a proper anchor for the ship. He shrugged, and made his way up the hill towards Debra's backyard. The dock would have to do -- He hadn't even brought the cheetos, after all.

---

“Ladies and gen-,” Debra was cut off by a sudden knock on her backyard door. The room froze, and everyone suddenly made an effort to be as silent as possible. Debra said her uncle was gone for the night, then who could it have been? One of their parents? The police? The FBI?

"Debbie! I'm late, sorry! I was on a boat, I forgot the cheetos! It's Cecil! Open up, I gotta take a mean shit! There's no toilet paper on boats, Debbie! Hurry!"

Debra sighed, and raised a finger to signal to those in attendance that she would be back in a moment.

---

---

---

One of the few places where Phoebe could begin practicing without having one of her asshole family members annoy her.

The fourteen year old was able to display a surprising amount of maturity. Mostly because she was on her own out here. However, she wasn't stupid enough to go that far. Her household was pretty close to a forested area. Just one walk away. Not that anyone but the most curious of neighbors would pay any mind to her. While she would have to be a bit more cautious in the big city, St. Stephens was a small, close-knit community, and honestly, she wouldn't have it any other way.

Phoebe carried the guitar far as she could, before she sat her ass down on the edge of the forest. On top of a hill that went downwards into the nearly endless forest. That was the thing about this place, it was like an endless forest, with an endless mountain at the center of it. Odd. It would be the perfect place to hide and play the guitar, but Phoebe wasn't brave (nor foolish) enough to risk going into the forest alone.

Enough of that, Phoebe entered a state of tranquility as she channeled her inner-guitarist. She played a little cover of the hit "Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding. It was a shame the man died. He was a genius. But, Phoebe was going to do her best to pay tribute to this amazing song. As her fingers pulled the strings, she realized that her rendition was a little bit more... tropical, than she liked. She adjusted, but all she did was ruin her tempo. Actually... she was going to give this a break.

Debra wanted to gather everyone for something. Phoebe didn't know what (and knowing that girl; neither did Debra). Only that her uncle's going to be out for the night, and they were free to do as they pleased. Phoebe was hoping it wasn't anything perverted. Well, given that Debra was kind enough to invite her, and Phoebe didn't have any plans, she figured that she might as well go. Phoebe got up, and started walking over towards Debra's house.

---

Arriving at Debra's house, Phoebe figured that she takes the front door. This was probably unnecessary, but Phoebe knocked on the front door. Just for formalities. It would be rude to just barge in. It wasn't long before someone approached, and opened the door for Phoebe.

She walked in, and once she made it to Debra's basement, she certainly had some kind of plan going on here. A big one. She called it Operation: Madcat...

... It's hard not to snicker at that one. Lameness aside, Phoebe was always willing to hear out Debra for the sake of doing something new. From what she can tell, Debra wants to go on this big trek through the woods... she unfortunately missed the reasoning behind this. Honestly, Phoebe was just down with it.

"Yeah, girl, I'm down," Phoebe said. "But, this Madcat better be worth it if I'm going to risk being found in a ditch somewhere."

Daniel spoke of a few points... while Phoebe finds that boy annoying as hell, he had a point. There's no way in hell anyone's parents are going to let a bunch of stupid kids wander the woods.

"Well, whatever we tell them, it better be good," Phoebe was quick to say, a bitterness was in her voice. Her parents didn't really give a shit what she did. "Honestly, my parents don't give a shit regardless, so I'm in either way."

Emily spent the entire Friday afternoon reading Stephen King's Pet Semetary in the living room, lying on the prehistoric green suede sofa that was covered with a blanket to obscure the rips in the fabric, surrounded by the smell of naphtalene and baby powder. She only had to raise from the sofa when Eddie’s infant son Robbie sobbed from the corner of the room: first she had to feed him and then to change his diapers - she did not like doing this dirty work, but she felt proud of herself for performing it much more graciously than Eddie ever did.

Finally, she had to soothe the baby with a lullaby after chainsaw noises outside the house startled him out of his sleep. She was surprisingly good at this - the baby felt safe in her strong, wide arms, and her voice, although raspy, had an undercurrent of warmth that the child apparently responded to. Emily loved the baby, but was sure he would grow up to be the same kind of shithead Eddie was before he met his girlfriend Jenny. Even his surroundings were a wrong place to raise a child: above his crib from the log wall hung a trophy of a deer and it looked at Robbie with its empty eyes and its mouth half open. Children should not stay so close to dead things. Or Eddie.

When she finished, the cuckoo clock beside the trophy showed the hour of the meeting. So she ran to the door of her and Jessie's bedroom, rapped on it as softly to avoid startling the baby, and told Jessie that its his turn now to watch the baby. He was sitting by the desk, nose-deep into some astrophysics handbook. She told him to watch over the baby, and he said okay, but also reminded her that she needs to clean her side of the room before aunt Edna barges into the house in all her nosiness. After resisting the urge to smack Jessie on his head, she started cleaning her mess, which took her something like ten minutes.

She ran out of the house, taking her walkman, a mixtape of Metallica, Slayer and Exodus songs, Radar O'Reilly headphones and a cigarette pack that had a Marlboro logo on it but contained three bootleg cigs that her brother Eddie left for her. The sun was fading, and she was already hearing the owls howling from the forest behind her house.

So she marched fast, the soles of her boots thumping to the fast rhythm of the drums, with her head down and her shoulders hunched, the headphones warming up her ears and their wires dangling by her Ride the Lightning shirt. She left behind her a trail of smoke from the cigarette hanging from her mouth and she buried her hands deep into the pockets of her army pants. Her long, disheveled black hair, the headphones and the boots - all of it felt heavy on her, and she liked it that way.

Yet when she reached Debra’s house, she regretted that all this weight and her decision to wear black in the summer temperature ensured that she would make it to the meeting sweating all over. She washed in the morning, but now it was all for naught. She also regretted that she did not have the time to comb her hair, but then she was not coming there to attract boys.

Standing by the door, she spat out the cigarette and smashed it with the sole of her boot. She did however also make sure that the Marlboro pack is visible protruding from her pocket. She thrashed on the door with a closed fist and opened it.

‘It’s me, Debra!’, she shouted in a coarse voice, leaning into the room.

Emily entered the room and looked around. If she ever stood with her back straight, she would be towering over most of the kids gathered here.

“I’m sorry”, she mumbled. “It’s because of that little shithead”. She was not sure whether she meant Robbie or Jessie.

She sat on a stool, hunching and crossing her arms, with a scowl on her face. Yet when she finally heard Debra’s plan in its entirety, she could not help but smile with a corner of her mouth. Now she had a chance to show what badass she really was. The only thing she had to do was to, of course, drag Jessie by his hair and make him watch over Robbie all day. Jessie’s physics olimpiad was not nearly as important as the baby’s safety and comfort and, of course, a young girl’s chance for adventure.

It had been an unfathomably long day for Eliza. She battled her way through leagues of battalions of villainous soldiers wishing nothing but the worst upon her. It was a great day spent overcoming impossible tasks and challenges, of course, even with all the work she had done saving the world, it seemed everyone else was completely ignorant to the fact. Her parents would interrupt the most intense pinnacles of her battles to make sure she finished her housework and was ready to leave for Felix's house. How ignorant of him. Her father expected her to save the world and do chores at the same time? It was always an uphill battle in her life. Mind racing all over the place 24/7, but at least she had something to look forward to. It was one of those boring back and forth times where both of Eliza's parents dragged her to and from each other's homes. Long car rides were one of her least favorite things. Eliza was never one of those composed children with the ability to sit still for long periods of time, but it was finally time for all that to stop. It was time to spend the day at Felix's house. After a day well spent with her best friend, Felix and Eliza were going to go to Debra's hosue to talk about 'the plan'. Eliza had been excited for the special meeting all day- all week even.

The two had been great friends for a long while now. They kept each other up in down times and were unstoppable together. With all this, it was hard to separate Eliza from her best friend for long periods of time. The two could spend hours in each other's company. Eliza, in recent time found herself falling victim to boredom quite easily, and it was her friends that rectified that, Felix being one of the best at the job. With Jake gone and Eliza being an only child splitting her time between two split and working parents, her friends were a great solace and comfort for her, and she, of course, made sure this was well known to the lot of them. That was why today was going to be so wonderful with everyone gathering at Debra's. It wasn't until she and Felix were getting ready to leave that problems arose.

Hours and hours were spent inside their fort, playing a variety of different games, saving a variety of different universes, and frankly Eliza was completely exhausted. Sometimes Eliza wondered how Felix managed to keep up with her. Sometimes she wondered how she'd been able to always be so energetic. Of course, this energy didn't come without its down moments. The palpable excitement that was almost emanating from Eliza was all that kept her going on her and Felix's journey to their friend's house. Well... She kept going for a short bit of time. After that, the only reason that Eliza was still moving was Felix basically carrying her to their destination. Complaints ran rampant the entire journey there, as if all that Excitement was completely replaced by an extreme fatigue, but that all flip-flopped when the pair arrived at their destination.

---

Eliza struggled to her feet when Debra's house was in sight. Upon her hasty arrival in Debra's driveway, Eliza stopped her running, bringing a hand to her chin. With Felix at her side, she started to think aloud. "The door's closed..." There was no doubt that the door was either unlocked or the two of them could simply have knocked, but Eliza had other things occupying her mind. At this point it had to be rather obvious to Felix that Eliza was thinking up another dumb idea. No matter what he had said, Eliza took off towards Debra's backyard showing no signs of dissuasion from her plan. This wasn't unusual for her, however. Just another of her idiotic schemes.

It wasn't more than a few moments after that that the current inhabitants of the Delaney household would hear a rather abrupt thudding from the first floor. It was definitely not the sound of the door opening and closing, likely leaving a few curious thoughts in the minds of the children. The source of the noise was soon uncovered as a scuffling and struggling was heard up the basement steps followed by a faint voice. "It's just me! It's Eliza! I'm here!" After a few moments of fixing anything she might have knocked over during her super stealthy entrance around the window and brushing herself off, Eliza hurried down the steps to meet the ever gathering group.

Scurrying into the large space, Eliza sped into a hop upon one of Debra's stools, landing upon her knees with the stool teetering just enough to stop before it fell on its side. "I am here, Commander." She directed her interrupting words towards Debra, obviously very enthused for the plan the group was hatching. During the planning, though, she didn't truly bring any useful information to the table. Perhaps an odd interruption here or there that didn't help with the plan in the slightest, but that was all. Listening to Madcat was one of Eliza's favorite pastimes with her friends. She was one-hundred percent convinced that Madcat was a wizard and there was no way anyone could dissuade her from that fact.

---

---

Felix paced around his room, causing the whole house to shake. His mother had told him to hold the fort down while she was away for the morning then he could go play with Eliza. Felix was always the type to become antsy while waiting on something, he rarely could sit still. It felt like ages since his mother had left but it was actually five minutes. In that time Felix began to clean the small apartment he called home, so when Eliza came over it would look decent. The energy wrapped up inside of him was waiting to burst at the seams, causing him to go a bit overboard as he did with most things. Felix saw everything around him as a challenge taking the hardest route possible to a simple problem. Cleaning the living room? Felix pulled out the bleach and began scrubbing walls. The kitchen? Hand washing every dish until it was spotless, as germs were foes who needed to be sanctified immediately. The world through his eyes was one full of ratification. Before he knew it, his mother walked through the door carrying groceries chiming with her soft voice “Felix dear, won’t you help me unpack the bags? It will be much quicker with you helping me!” Dashing into the kitchen, Felix set the broom down he was just using as a sword. His mother let out a laugh, “Were you being a knight again?” her question caused Felix to blush and swiftly put away everything with his mother’s direction. The two spent the morning giggling and having a jolly time before his mother ruffled his hair and giving him the okay to go play with Eliza.

It was his favourite thing to do, spend time with his best friend. Her endless imagination kept him so entertained, himself becoming swallowed up by her creativity and thrown into roles of constant saving the world and fighting evil doers. Although today was even more special as the two of them had to be at Debra’s later in the evening. Felix was pretty excited for whatever she had to tell them, apparently the whole lot was going to be there. It wasn’t unusual for them to meet up but Debra had stressed the importance of going so he couldn’t help but to wonder what the girl had up her sleeve this time. It was times like these he was happy to live where he does, a warm feeling spread in his chest as he sprinted to their fort the two of them built together some time ago. It was hidden away from everyone else, their own sanctuary to be the heroes.

Soon the two spent hours, creating new worlds and situations to be put in. With perfect practice Felix had picked up Eliza’s pace of play, as the girl would often throw others for a loop, being all over the place and such. But Felix had no care for that, he merely enjoyed it all, he was always impressed by how brave the babbling girl was inside of her own head. It was all the more reason he felt like he should protect her. Eliza had nearly tackled him, reminding him of the meeting at Debra’s house. The duo soon left the fort and made their way to the house, giggling and chatting about what she could have to tell them. Felix’s heart raced as he spoke of all the possibilities, both of them full of energy. Or at least… Felix was for the most part, Eliza had her excitement washed away with exhaustion causing him to carry the complaining girl all the way there. He was still spouting off positivity between her droning complaints, to which he soon found it was nearly impossible to get her to stop once she started and shut up leaving her to it.

---

Felix set Eliza down, her babbling no longer negative and it was as if a switch had flipped between them. She was running around with excitement whereas Felix dragged his feet behind her. He was utterly wiped of energy holding onto to Eliza’s wrist to be dragged to the driveway. Eliza promptly spoke up, "The door's closed..."

Felix nodded in agreement. ”Seems that way.. Is there another way in?” The two both looked over the fact they could have knocked. Or walked in. Eliza was quiet and before Felix could process it, she had that look on her face. The look of she was about to do something stupid. Not like he could defend himself, if it wasn’t her with that look it was him. Despite their chemistry they both never looked far beyond their own noses, often looking after each other. Eliza had taken off without a word, causing Felix to give chase. ”W-Wait!!! Eliza!” Felix witnessed Eliza climbing through the window, making his heart ram in his chest. She had wiggled her way through and landed with a thud. This forced him to climb from the outside and land much more gracefully inside of the house, almost soundlessly. Felix gave a loud sigh and he ran a hand through his hair, double checking for any sort of mess they may have made. The basement door was open indicating Eliza had gone down without him already, poking his head from the top he laughed weakly. ”I am here also! Sorry about that!” though Felix could only assume that it wasn’t much of a surprise they arrived together, they were basically inseparable.

Skipping steps as he jogged down to the bottom, he landed almost as gracefully as he did upstairs. But it wouldn’t be a Felix arrival without him getting a bruise, he landed on his one knee and gave a thumbs up. Quickly he scrambled into a chair next to Eliza and began listening to the long speech about Operation MadCat. He was excited and nervous about the idea. He had gone camping before with his mother and it was a lot of fun and he doubt his mother would care that much if he was going to be with a large group of people. But Felix couldn’t help but to worry about Eliza and how she would handle a trip like that. Shaking his head he focused once more on the points being brought up and he nodded in agreement. Just because his mother wouldn’t mind doesn’t mean everyone else’s would feel the same. Though he couldn’t really think of an excuse to give them all, lying was not in his nature. ”Well I mean.. Don’t some of you guys have older siblings? Can’t you ask one of them to join us? Or is that a hassel..?” As an only child, Felix never really understood the whole sibling dynamic. The closest he could think is his relationship with Eliza but from what he understood, siblings didn’t get along as well as they did. Sighing, he just simply listened to them all.

---

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Near silence. It was a common thing in the Duval household, especially in the evenings. Nothing but the sound of the pan's soup bubbling and the wooden spoon stirring. Reine, or Val as she preferred to be called, stood there stirring her soup in silence with a solemn face. Not a hint of emotion, seemingly unusual for a girl who spent a lot of her time conversing with others. With a smile on her face, too.

After she had turned the stove off, Val set the soup aside and scrubbed furiously at the remaining chopping boards and such at the sink. The water would come gushing out in gallons, almost disturbing - or rather, in a way saving her from - the house's irritating silence. The entire house was already rid of pesky germs from Val's intense cleaning and dusting session she had finished only about an hour earlier, but no matter how busy she kept herself it seemed that nothing could possibly break this household quietness. It put a small frown on Val's face and an even deeper frown inside whenever she knew there was nobody home, but this particular lonesome day left her face less crestfallen than usual. Debra, one of Val's closer friends, had initiated a get together for the whole group this evening. Just that in mind and the possibility of chewing on some Cheetos when she got there formed a little smile on Val's lips. She always found these types of things fun.

One of the only problems was that Debra lived quite a distance from Val. The girl didn't have a bike either, so the only way to get there was by foot. And the only way to conquer St Stephens’ scorching summer sun was by bringing a trusty bottle of water with her. Of course, Val had prepared in advance before she left the silent household. Such an organised person the girl was.

Unfortunately, she had no time to make any snacks on this occasion. She was pretty sure that with this searing heat, whatever she made would melt through her fingers anyways. Val wasn't going to risk coming home with a messy lunch box again. It happened in the past, and she wasn't willing to repeat it.

As expected of her, Val arrived a bit earlier than the others, of course greeting Debra with a lovely smile. By now she had gotten used to the… state Debra's meeting place was in, especially with all the interactions with the rest of the group keeping her distracted from her surroundings. If there was one thing that distracted Val the most, it would have to be keeping up with her quirky group of friends. It still surprised her how she had been drawn to this weird bunch, but she was by no means unhappy about it. Val was undeniably grateful. Almost nothing else in the world could make her smile more than being around those lot.

Once more continued to file into the basement, Val greeted them with her usual cheery smiles and hellos. Her smile was truly genuine, now that a majority had made it to this small meeting. But secretly, deep down inside, Val was still waiting for someone to burst in saying that they had Cheetos on them.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today for a very important reason. Operation: Madcat. It's happening. We start on Monday.”

The whole plan was like a wave of worries washing over Val. A hike up Kalispel Hill? Unsupervised? For a day and a night? Now, Val had to think deeply about this. Her father would most likely freak out at the idea at first, but probably after a bit of persuasion he would agree. Her mother?

Nope. No way. Nooooooo way.

As much as the idea intrigued her, Val was already starting to predict the outcome - a complete rejection from her mother.

"What about the adults? Convincing even one of 'em is gonna be a camp-licated mission itself, ey?"

Val snorted. Daniel's terrible puns always got her. As the small boy was sent into a hellish coughing fit, Val patted his back to see if that would do any good.

“Everyone does have some decent points,” Val chimed in with that infamous British accent of hers. “I doubt that we'll all be allowed to go hiking by ourselves without adult supervision. Felix made a good point though; maybe if someone's older sibling would be willing to keep an eye on us, then some of our parents wouldn't be so against the whole idea. I mean, as much as I would love to go with this plan I think my parents would be a little… worried if myself and a group of fourteen year olds were going out and sleeping for one night in the wildernesses alone."

Friday wasn't a special day of the week for the Castille household. Orland & Luiza Castille were working at the local hospital as usaul, since the emergency room is always full. The town respected their services since they started to work there a couple years ago. Orland would often find out that someone paid his coffee at the local diner as a way of giving back. At the market, someone would always offer to help out Luiza. They often get annoyed by the overkindness of the citizens. When they aren't working at the hospital (which isn't often), Luiza would help out at the elementary school during a book fair or a science fair. Orland was also the treasurer of the local catholic church, where the whole family goes on Sundays. Noah won't make a big deal about going as it only last about two hours before high noon.

Noah Castille spent the day reading some history book about America while hearing the news on the television in the living room. Nothing interesting happened besides Elizabeth Hart checking up on him once a while. Elizabeth would often show up to the Castille household with some drinks from her drive thru business. He only wanted a large cup of water with crushed ice. She's a cool person to hang out with as she was still single and planned on being single until she was in her late forties.

Before she left, Noah asked her if he could go over to Debra Delaney's house. She said it was fine as long as she notified his parents. He was fine with it and started to head towards Debra's house; however, he made sure that everything was off and the doors were locked. The keys to his household were put in his pocket as he started to walk.

It took awhile before he was nearby the street where Debra lived. The Castille lived on the wealthy side of the town away from the southern part of town, where druggies would hang out and live. Orland and Luiza dealt with several overdoses in the recent months as the problem got worse. Noah knew all of that because he often read paperworks when he was at the hospital, despite his parents grabbing it before he got to the good part.

Noah knew that summer had arrived as he felt like he was going to melt on the concrete. Thankfully, he still had the drink by the time he got to Debra's house. He finished it and went to their trashcan, where he threw the cup away before walking to the door. His family always taught him manners towards everyone from opening doors for people to knocking on the door of someone's house. Well, his father mostly taught them to him as he didn't want his son to be like the pothead teenager that lives with his 'friends' at the trailer park.

He knocked on the door and waited as someone approached, and opened the door for Noah. He was told that Dreba was the basement with her friends. The basement was small for a group of six people to fit in, not eleven as he remembered the time that they watched The Thing. He still remembered the ending as he knew that something was about to happen before the credits roll.

At the basement, Noah heard that Operation: Madcat was going to happen on Monday. He heard the plan and saw the map in person. The group of eleven people would have to take several hiking paths to get to Kalispel Hill. The name made sense, because anyone who thought that this plan was great is a 'madcat'. He silently laughed as he thought of the terrible pun before he heard Daniel and Val saying something about being adults or an older person along. Noah agreed as someone could easily get lost in the forest while trying to follow the trail.

“I agree with both Daniel and Val's suggestions. Unless the plan includes us getting lost in the woods and meeting a grizzly bear, I think having someone who's older won't hurt our chances in meeting Mr. Madcat.” Noah supported the idea of bring an older person with them. He didn't have much to say about Mr. Madcat other than he doesn't trust him, but the others do and he doesn't want to deal with arguing whether Mr. Madcat was insane or not.

Before the others could speak up, he realized that he might know someone that can watch over them: Elizabeth Hart. “I think that I know someone that could watch us on Monday.” he answered Felix's questions before continuing the conversation, “Do you guys know Elizabeth Hart? She's a close friend to my family and has been watching me since I was a kid. She's the manager at the drive-thru, but I think that she can take off of work for a couple days as she recently hired several new workers. Plus, she's a cool person to hang out with.”

Emily nodded in agreement as Debra laid out her plan of dealing with adults. She might have found Deb's reverential nature towards official authority incredibly lame, but overall she had the right idea.

"No adults needed, I agree. Trust me, I'm all the protection you need guys", she said. She leaned towards Danny, looking at him with narrowed eyes: "And Danny, you better listen to Debra, cause otherwise you will have to deal with me".

If you asked Emily, getting the permission of the adults and the dangers of unsupervised camping were not nearly the biggest problems here. For her, it was listening to Phoebe's musical abominations and Danny's jokes. She was sure Deb would scoff at her if she heaped too much abuse on that annoying boy, so she made a resolution to keep herself in check.

It had to be said that the person whom Emily really wanted to smack on his head extra hard was Cecile. It was not because she hated him, as in her estimation he was, if not cool, then at least slightly less lame than other boys. He was tall, lanky and he had a funny accent, but most importantly he had something that most of the kids lacked - he had character. She did not mind his dirt and his bruises, as they showed that he roamed the city on his own and got into scrapes and she that thought the way he talked with a cigarette in the gap between his teeth was kind of gross, but also kind of cool.

Too bad he seemed completely oblivious to all of this. When she elbowed him slightly, smiling with a corner of her mouth, his eyebrow rose quizzically and his jaw went slack so that the gap in his teeth revealed itself in all its ignomy, encouraging her to try to get rid of all of his teeth. She visited him once when he was fumbling with his boat, and while he was happy to bum bootleg cigs from her, he barely looked at her as he excitedly told her the plot of the last Western he watched on TV while looking over his only real love, the motherf***in' Quantum Leap.

Whatever. It's not like she really cared. And hanging with Cecile would probably mean hanging with that little pest Danny, and that could be too much for her.

"I think Madcat has been kidnapped by the government, he just knew too much. They are probably torturing him in an underground lab." Halfway through the statement, she realized that it would not exactly improve the group's morale, but by then it was too late.

Emily enjoyed Madcat’s broadcasts quite a bit. The astronomy stuff was interesting to Jessie, while for her it quite literally went over her head, but the conspiracy theories were right up her alley. Her dad’s younger brother Ted was drafted to Vietnam and came back a political protester, and she listened to enough of his drunken rants to develop a healthy dislike for the government.

She might get kidnapped by the shady government guys herself, but that was no reason to chicken out.

---

The Big Rock with the surrounding park was quite an important spot for the Nutter family; Eddie used to wander around there with Jenny and their little fella was quite possibly conceived there. Emily herself loved to go there on winter afternoons, staring at the stars while listening to Metallica’s Call of Cthullu, the smoke from her cigarette darting through the lamplight.

Emily was always a bit of a free-range kid, so she had no problems with getting her dad's permission for the trip. Jessie grumbled when their dad told him that he will be the one looking after Robbie for the next two days aided by Aunt Edna who agreed to visit them on afternoons; he thought that because he was primed to become the first Nutter boy to go to college, he was exempt from such mundane tasks. Their dad was quite firm on this as he appreciated Emily's babysitting efforts and he thought that she deserved to have some summer fun.

Emily arrived at The Big Rock as early as possible, her posture even more hunched than usual as she carried an enormous backpack containing a raincoat and tons of canned food. Also a pack of cigarettes, but she would not let Cecile bum a single one.

When everyone arrived, she spoke to the crowd:

"If you feel your backpacks are getting too heavy, you can give some of it to me to carry. I can be your mule guys.” She looked at Cecile. “What’s up? Your boat hadn’t sunk yet?”

Noah wasn't the biggest supporter of the 'not adults allow' plan. Since no adults were going to show up, his parents will most likely say no to him going to a camping trip. Even if the Chief of Police said that they would be safe, his parents would most likely refuse to let their only child go to the woods. His father was the biggest problem in going with his friends outside the city limits. Orland was born and raised in the Philippines until he moved to America with his wife, Luiza. He lived in a strict, religious household with his family.

He took their advice and training to heart when Noah was born. Luiza didn't live in a strict household during her life, but her family was also religious. She wasn't as religious as Orland was, but she believed in God. They just want Noah to be safe and careful. If they find out that he was going to some forest with a couple of his pre-teen friends, then they would of told him that 'forests aren't a safe place for a group of teens to stay.' Noah would either have to keep this trip a secret or just tell his family and hope for the best.

Unlike Emily and the other kids, Noah didn't like Debra at all. She would swear so often that he thought that those words were part of her vocabulary. His father didn't like Michael Delaney, her uncle, because of the time that he said 'Fuck Heaven' during a church service. Orland kept the hate towards Michael in private, but Noah knew that he didn't like the man. And she would often see Debra as the 'problematic student' at his school as she would often yell back at teachers. But, he likes her honesty towards others (even if she isn't that honest) and she's good at D&D.

The meeting kept going as Noah was getting more tried as the meeting went on into the night time. After the meeting was over, he went home and fell asleep on the living room couch. He was execited and scared at the same time of this camping trip, but it was better than staying at home and watching the television while his parents were at work.

---

Monday was already here and he had his things ready for the camping trip. He told his parents about the trip on Saturday night, during dinner, and they had a ton of questions. Noah quickly answered all of the questions, but Orland wasn't ready to send his only child in the woods. He made sure that his son had the equipment needed for the camping trip with his friends. Orland even went to the store to buy more equipment that Noah didn't have for the trip. His mother was fine with the whole thing and talked to her husband, trying to calm him down.

After a moment of talking in private, his family was fine with him going out to the woods as long as he brought a walkie talkie and use it to call his father in case of an emergency. With his camping gear in the camping backpack that his father got, he got a ride to The Big Rock. Elizabeth gave him the ride to the place and made sure that he had anything that he needs. His parents spoke with Elizabeth earlier and told her to give him a ride to the place. She knew where The Big Rock was and even went there during her years as a teenager. So, she knew the whole area.

At the parking lot nearby The Big Rock, she stopped the car and let Noah out of the car with his stuff. She soon left the parking lot and started to look for his friends. He was one of the last people to arrive at the location as he had a ton of stuff to carry, but he could handle it. Noah soon arrived to the location as Debra said something about doing a headcount. “I am here.” he said to the group as he set his things down and waited until it was time to move. Noah was ready to explore the woods and find Madcat before he left the area for good; but, he was scared about how Madcat will react to seeing a dozen kids at his doorstep.

Regardless, this trip was going to be one that he would remember for a long time.

The Stuff was a dangerous thing; and that wasn’t code for some type of drug, either. The horror film was just released last month, where Xander had forced Daniel and his mother - since they were too young to get in but he enjoyed her company since she let him and Niel cut up - to go see it. The young boy instantly fell in love with it, having showed his enthusiasm by constantly nudging and even slapping Niel in the arm, not able to stop himself from whispering in the other boy’s ear about how he recognized how they did this or that, how he could see similarities between the director’s, Larry Cohen’s, previous works and the new movie. Somehow, magically by Xander’s thought process, Niel had gotten him a VHS copy of The Stuff. That was how Xander missed the important meeting at Debra’s house last Friday evening. The Stuff was dangerous because he had gotten so caught up in watching it on repeat, his mother humouring him by joining him in his obsessive indulgment, that he had lost track of time. That, and Niel hadn’t bothered coming over and reminding him, nor did he call him, so he was totally putting a lot of the blame on his best friend.

The only reason Xander realized his slip-up was because Niel had came to his house afterward to stay the night - Xander’s parents were cool enough they didn’t mind the child randomly popping up last minute seeking a place to bed down - and Niel had asked him where he had been. Which led to Xander being confused, and that led to Niel filling him in on the details on the meeting. Xander felt bad, because it wasn’t something he should have missed, but he was partly relieved. Debra’s smelly basement always gave him a headache; he didn’t let it stop him from going there but when he forgot something and didn’t go, or just couldn’t, there was some relief that thrummed through him.

Now, he was packing to go on this short camping trip, his excitement building the more rushed around to get stuff together. Though, there was the matter of what to tell his parents. He couldn’t say he was staying at Niel’s. It’d be too easy for them to figure out that lie. He exactly didn’t want to lie to his mom, either. Niel mentioned just sneaking out if it got too hard, coming up with something, but Xander had immediately denied it. He couldn’t do that to his mother. He’d be missing a whole night. She would be in a panic and he would never want to cause her that if he could prevent it. At the same time, he didn’t want to tell her what he was doing. While he knew he could convince her - he acknowledged the fact he was spoiled and got his way more often than not - he also didn’t want her worrying an intense amount. But if he said he was staying over at another friend’s house - Debra’s would be the best, since she had not only had an Uncle as a cop, but as the Chief of Police - then he knew his mother would call that household up to check in. Then again, he would only be staying one night if he went that route, so maybe she’d trust him enough to believe him and not call - until he didn’t show up the next day, which he was sure he was going too. He doubted they’d get lost enough to get eaten by a grizzly bear or taken by the government to become lab rats or something.

He had stared at his school backpack but it seemed like a hassle in the long run; instead, he rolled up his snacks - Shark Bites Fruit Snacks, Fruit Rolls Ups, and Cheez Balls, because junk food was life - his flashlight, and his extra outfit just in case all wrapped in his favorite blanket into his sleeping bag and secured it firmly. He looked down at his Casio Databank Calculator Watch and noticed he had almost an hour to pass before he had to leave for the meeting place. Which he had to go over and see if Niel was packed and ready, and he had to say his goodbyes. Just in case a grizzly bear does eat them or the government does turn them into lab experiments, he wanted to make sure he said bye to at least Lovecraft and his mom, since his dad was at work already.

“Are you gonna be a good snake when I’m gone, hmm?” Xander asked as he took Lovecraft out of his tank, smiling as the milk snake began to curl around his arm. “I won’t be gone for long, promise. Unless I get eaten… or kidnapped… or I just die. I might, trying to protect Niel from some of the more questionable people of the group.” he rolled his eyes, gently running the tip of his pointer finger down Lovecraft’s head and part of his body. It wasn’t like he hated anyone in the group of friends; just some could be a bit… brash and that wasn’t something he enjoyed. “But besides that, I’ll be back soon! So be good for mom and dad, okay? Mostly mom, since she takes care of you more… but don’t forget who always takes care of you. I’ll tell you all about it when I get back. I trust you to keep secrets.” he rambled happily before holding Lovecraft up to his face. “Now give me goodbye kisses, I still gotta stop by Niel’s before going on this secret mission!” after getting a few “noodle kisses” from Lovecraft, Xander returned him to his tank, watching him slide into his home that Xander made himself, before frowning.

“I’m gonna miss you…” he mumbled and his face lit up with a sudden idea. He yanked open the top drawer of his short dresser, where Lovecraft’s tank sat, and pulled out a tin. He opened the top and looked down at all the shedded snake skins inside; about twenty, since baby milk snakes shed a lot more than adults. “I’d bring you if I could put a leash on you but we know how well that worked that one time soooooo. I’ll bring a part of you! Kind of creepy but it’ll make me feel better,” he murmured the last sentence, gently digging through the snake skins until he found one that felt like the right one to bring. He put the tin back, tucking it underneath his underwear, before gently rolling the snake skin tighter, making it a small circle. “Bye, Lovecraft! Love you!” he said excitedly as he carefully slid the skin into his front jean pocket, before he snatched up his sleeping bag by the strap it had and rushed out of his bedroom. Now, he had to confront his mom, and he was still torn on what exactly to tell her. He would wing it, like he did with a lot of other stuff in his life anyway.

He found his mom in the kitchen, scrubbing down a counter. She didn’t glance up as he came in. “Next time your father is off work, I’m going to let the kitchen build up in grim again and make him clean it,” she said, voice mildly annoyed, but Xander knew she wasn’t angry or anything too serious. She paused in her scrubbing, looking over at him, eyes zeroing in on the sleeping bag, like she sensed it. Or smelt it. Xander had theories she had some scary mother powers that could smell when he was up to something. Her mother senses were tingling. Xander blamed Niel for him knowing about superhero stuff, since he, himself, wasn’t that into it - he did pretend to be really stupid about it just to get under Niel’s skin. Speaking of powers, his mom also had eyes in the back of her head, he firmly believed that one. “Where are you off too? Danny’s?” she said teasingly.

Xander puffed up a little. “I am gonna go to Niel’s but we’re going somewhere else.” he said, trying to fight off a smile; considering he was the only one who called Danny Niel, his mother liked to tease him for it, and it was always hard to act defensive and not amused like he actually felt.

“Oh? And what are you two up too?” his mom asked, ripping off her yellow gloves and tossing them onto the counter to give Xander her full attention. It was one thing that made Xander preen, the fact his mom always rained him in attention, and coddled him when he wanted it. Spoiled little shit, that he was, and he didn’t want it any other way naturally.

“Uh, well, that’s the thing… you love me, right?” Xander said slowly, shuffling his feet and tilting his head down a little to look at her through his eyelashes, sticking his bottom lip out a little.

His mom immediately frowned. “Xander, what are you up too, seriously? And wipe that puppy dog look off your face before I do it for you. I’m not falling for it.”

Fail. Xander dropped the act with a dramatic sigh. “Okay, before I say what we’re doing… there will be an adult!” he lied smoothly, bringing his sleeping bag forward to squeeze it to his chest. He didn’t like lying to his mom but he did it plenty enough so he was pretty good at it. “But we’re gonna go on a camping trip… for one night! Somewhere where the tourists like to go so it isn’t, like, really secluded or something…”

His mother’s eyes didn’t waver from him as her lips pursed, obviously in thought. She turned to start to make herself a cup of coffee since the pot was still fairly fresh since earlier this morning. “Who’s the adult?”

“Um,” Xander fumbled for a split second, knowing that can make or break this lie, and quickly tried to recover. “Elizabeth Hart!” the name came out of nowhere, and he can vaguely recall Noah at one time mentioning the name, even overhearing it in conversations between adults. She was supposed to be cool, right? Or he just really messed up supplying.

He began to get nervous over his mother’s thoughtful look before she broke out in a smile. “That sweet thing that manages the drive-thru?” she said, putting sugar in her coffee before sitting at the little table in the kitchen. She kept eyeing Xander, even as she took a sip of from her teal-colored mug. “She’s really going to be there tonight?”

“Mhm!” Xander nodded, bouncing on his toes in excitement. “Really! And it’s just for tonight. I dunno what time I’ll get home tomorrow but I’ll be home tomorrow, swear it!” he said, rushing over to hold his fist with his pinky out to his mom, a big grin breaking across his face. His other hand was hidden, fingers crossed, as his mom fondly rolled her eyes and did a pinky promise with him.

“Okay. Just be careful and get home as soon as possible tomorrow.” she told him firmly and he nodded before throwing himself into her chest.

“’Kay, I will! Thanks, mom, love you!” he shouted as he rushed out of the backdoor, having barely given her time to hug back, and she returned the ‘love you’ with a smile and headshake at her child’s energetic behaviour. Xander ran through his backyard and crossed into Niel’s, rushing up to his backdoor and not hesitating to shove his way in. They had been friends since practically birth; he had never knocked on Niel’s door, like Niel had never knocked on his. Unless it was locked but during the day, it rarely was. The kitchen was empty and, with a grin, he immediately went to the fridge to start digging into it, stealing a cherry Squeezeit. He assumed Niel was in his bedroom so, after twisting the top off the Squeezeit in the kitchen to be able to throw it away, he made his way towards it.

Holy shi - shoot. Holy, uh, cow. Daniel rose from his bed, groggy from his nap, but his eyes wide in alert. He was forgetting something. What was he forgetting? He’d called Xander not too long ago after coming home - they’d stayed up way too late for kids his age - and then went up to take a quick nap. His eyes spotted the clock next to his bedside table and his heart stopped pounding in his chest in order to slow to a nice crawl. Thank God. He had just enough time to round up his things, grab Xander and make a break for it in order to arrive as soon as he could. Maybe be the first - no, that’s not a likely outcome.

Groaning, Daniel gathered a clean pair of clothes, a flashlight, a pair of journals and a whole handful of pens, along with a compass he shoved into his pocket. Never know how useful something so simple could be deep in the woods. The rest went into his backpack and Daniel immediately shot out the door, only to collide headlong with Xander. His immediate thought wasn’t exactly on his friend’s safety and rather the Squeezeit in his hands.

“Hey! Who told you that you could have that?” Daniel said, pointing and frowning at the offending object in Xander’s hands. He snatched it, took a swig of it, and shoved it back into Xander’s chest. “Come on, nerd, we’re gonna be late! If we don’t beat Debra then we risk getting called losers!” Danny didn’t bother waiting for a reply, simply dragged Xander down the stairs and into the garage where his bike waited.

Xander totally did not let out a high-pitched squeak when Niel was suddenly colliding into him. He managed to stay upright, only stumbling back a few steps, and somehow also managed to not let the Squeezeit get shot everywhere from the short impact. He gave a - fake - offended gasp at Daniel’s question. “This is practically my second home and you dare-” there was no point in finishing, because Daniel decided to grab him and start dragging him downstairs. Not that the other boy minded being manhandled, since Niel was a hands-on type of person, so he had gotten used to it. He simply kept pace and drank from the Squeezeit until two gulps were left. Once they were in the garage, he almost rolled his eyes at himself. He had been so excited, and relieved he got away with a half-truth, that he forgot to grab his own bike. “Here,” he said, shoving the almost empty Squeezeit bottle into Niel’s hands, “Gonna go grab my bike, loser.” he only tacked on the loser as a comeback for being called a nerd earlier.

It didn’t take long to retrieve his bike; it was in his own garage, on its side and looking pitiful with the beginnings of rust since he was so rough on it and didn’t bother with the care of it. He was doing circles on it in front of Niel’s house in recorded timing, the sleeping bag strapped tight to his back. “I’m gonna get old out here if you diddle daddle, c’mon, punk!”

A sleeping bag! That’s what he forgot. Daniel mildly cursed, hopping on his bike instead. Maybe someone would be willing to share. He gave Daniel a pout as he biked passed him and trailed down toward the destination. The ride there was mostly quiet, with Daniel and Xander peddling along side by side. They talked in quiet voices along the way, about recent movies they’d seen - realizing they watched them together - or the comics they read. An entire discussion consisting of why Scott Summers was an asshole finished their conversation and bike ride.

Xander always enjoyed when their bike rides were quiet and slow, not that he’d quite say so aloud. But nonetheless, when one of them didn’t challenge the other into a race or doing something stupid - like build a questionable ramp on the dock Cecil’s, as he claimed it, boat was at and attempt to jump onto it only to fail horribly (at least Cecil was clueless about that little adventure) - the bike rides were slow and steady, with soft conversation that they often engaged in during late nights together. He messed with Daniel at first, pretending to get Scott and Alex Summers mixed up, but he knew who was who, and the conversation consisted mainly of how much of an asshole Scott Summers could be. Though, Xander still liked him, and he wasn’t going to look into the why too deeply.

They found a few of their friends milling about, waiting likely for Debra. Daniel immediately spotted Milly with a pack of smokes and Daniel’s brows pinched, as did the rest of his face. “Those’ll kill you,” he started, readying up a rant, “I’ve have newspaper clippings my dad’s got from California saying just what those things can do to you!”

Daniel paused for a moment, looking Emily straight in the eyes. The corner of his lips twitched slightly, “Ci-gar-rette of it. Eh...heh… you know like ‘So. Get. Rid of it?’ AHA.” Daniel doubled over, nearly tipping his back and face planting into the concrete. He looked at Xander and repeated himself, “Cigarette of it!” and then turned toward Noah’s arrival, “Cigarette of it! Oh my gosh, I’m gonna pee myself!”

Sadly, Daniel hadn’t dropped it by the time others trickled in and was still doubled over when Debra came sliding in next to them. He exclaimed one last time, “Cigarette. Of it!!”

Xander stayed perch on his bike once they reached their group of friends, resting his feet on the ground and leaning onto his handlebars. His lips twitched upwards when he realized Niel was about to get started; he was probably the only one out of the group who could stand Daniel’s rants and puns without batting an eye. He had grown up with it, so his patience level for the other boy was very high. Maybe he was the only one who found Niel hilarious, too, because that boy had the best jokes and puns Xander had ever heard with his own two ears. He did agree with Niel about the smokes Nut-Nut, as he called her, had on her. He nodded his agreement rather than made it verbal. He only got verbal when Daniel made that pun, and he snorted before covering his mouth. But when Niel looked at him, making brief eye contact, and repeated it, Xander ended up in a similar boat as Daniel. Beginning to laugh against the palm of his hand, trying to muffle the sound, but Niel just had to keep repeating it, and each time, it got funnier to the point he had to drop his hand to grip at the handles on his bike.

“Stop i-it, you punk!” Xander said, nearly falling off his bike as he leaned too much weight onto one side, almost not catching himself. He did last minute, but it resulted in him having to hop off his bike, where he proceeded to double over, hands on knees, and get his laughter under control. He sucked in a few deep breaths before straightening up and punching Daniel in his shoulder with a wide, toothy grin. He enjoyed Daniel’s company too much, the other boy was always the cause of him having fun. He almost didn’t notice Debra’s arrival, or what she had said, and snorted a bit, choosing to focus on Emily for the moment. “But Niel has a point. Those are bad for you. How do you get ‘em, anyway? You are fourteen, right?” he said then waved his hand in Nut-Nut’s general direction. “Nevermind, I don’t wanna know. Your business, blah, blah, but still, they stink. Ci-gar-rette of it,” he totally only said the last bit to be able to repeat Daniel's pun, beginning up another set of muffled laughter against his hand as he fell against Niel in his little fit. Only Daniel could make him behave this way and he had no shame over it.

"Mowww." Whined a fat, grey rain cloud of a cat. His name was "Boogie", who he was a stout Maine coon riddled with bits of dried muck and fleas. He belonged to none other than the Delacroix family, and as much as this vexed him, it came with a few perks -- Namely, he was free to hunt, scratch, eat, piss, and shit where ever he pleased, and his speed allowed him to occasionally seek vengeance against his captors whether or not he was caught. This would be one of those mornings. "Mooowwww." He whined again, as if to warn his target. Today, it was the boy. The very same boy who pulled his tail as a screaming infant, the same boy who would drag him onto boats, and who would stuff him in a stinky, cramped bag to bring to places filled with other screaming children. The boy who once shaved all but his head, paws, and tail, and the same boy who would bring him to bright, metal rooms to be poked and pierced with needles.

Yes.

It would be the boy today.

Boogie slowly reached forward, waving his paw in front of the sleeping boy's face for a moment as he rose to his hind legs, zeroing in on his target as his pupils tightened with the synchronicity of a stalking puma. In a single fluid motion, he struck the boy's face and turned to run, sprinting with a speed befitting his true jungle cat ancestry, bounding and leaping over piles of soiled laundry and trash. The boy rose up instantly, grabbing his face and shouting, though by then, Boogie was a room away and heard only a muffled yowl. The hunt had been successful.

It was a good day to be Boogie.

---

"Where ya goin' looking like dat, bebette?" Bo growled, sucking his teeth and pointing at Cecil's scratch with a long, muscular arm. "You tryin' get CPS to thinkin' ya papa some saleu, boy?" He sucked his teeth again, though he didn't rise from his armchair. He couldn't rise from his armchair, to be fair. Around him, in the Delacroix trailer's living room, were an assortment of boxes, plastic bags, and bits of scattered trash -- They were not cluttered with it by any means, though there was just enough to tell of the family's poor state of affairs. Indeterminate brown and grey stains lined corners of the walls, and each doorway was blackened with unwashed handprints and dust. Bo sat in his chair, a torn green armchair backed into the corner of the unlit room, which gave him a silhouette more imposing than he already was. Though Cecil couldn't see, the room stunk with the smell of beer alongside the usual sickeningly sweet stench of rot and tobacco that clung to the still air. Cecil absent-mindedly wondered how his father could see his face, but he could not see his father's.

"Cat scratched me, I ain't goin' to school or nothin' though, so ain't no one lookin' atchu bad, papa."

Bo paused for a few seconds, sinking into his chair. "Where you goin', Cecile?"

"Movies." He lied.

"You got money for movies from your mama?" He raised a brow, his voice turning deeper and angrier. He extended a long, tattooed arm through the shadows once again, tapping his palm with two fingers. "Give it. You don' need no foutu movie. You dumb enough without, ya pickney."

Without hesitation, Cecil reached into his pocket and pulled out the few bills he remembered he had brought, stepping forward and placing them in his father's hand, as if placing an offering to some malevolent, vengeful deity. "Thassa good boy. Run 'long now, ya couyon." Cecil nodded again, and turned and left the trailer as quickly as he could, hiking his backpack further up his back with a heave.

He walked through the familiar road of the trailer park, which was unpaved and only kept from growing plants by the years of spilled chemicals and trash that lined it. He noticed a neighbor of his, Tommy Gorda and his younger brother, hanging around and biking in circles. As soon as Tommy saw him, he pointed his presence out to his brother and the two drove forward, cackling with no visible reason. "You ain't got no bi-ike" sang Tommy to the tune of La Cucaracha. He had long since believed Cecil was actually Spanish rather than French -- His logic being that French people did not live in trailer parks -- and would sing most of his taunts to this tune. "You ain't got no bike, You ain't got no bike, ay-ayayay," He continued, circling Cecil. His younger brother, who was not fully in on the joke, rode a few feet away squealing "No bike! No bike!", pointing at Cecil.

"Shut up Tommy. That's why your daddy got hit by a car and gets government money." Cecil squinted at him, raising his head a bit as he responded, trying his best to emulate a John-Wayne retort with what little he knew about Tommy's home life.

Tommy's eyes widened, and he dismounted his bike, throwing it down. "You take that back, you fuckin' ar-tard!" His brother followed suit and threw his bike to the ground as well, scattering bits of gravel towards Cecil and puffing out his chest a bit.

"Yeah, well then your mom cheated on him for bein' so fucked up and had your brother out her butt. That's why he got so many freckles. 'Cuz he an ass-baby." Cecil continued, pointing at his scowling younger brother. This insult happened to be one too many for the older Gorda, who rushed to quickly swung at Cecil, who expectantly rushed to lean back quicker. Cecil reached out and tugged the boy's over-extended arm, sending him crashing to the ground with a spin, though Tommy grabbed Cecil's arm quick enough to bring him down with him. The two boys wrestled on the ground, punching, scratching, and kicking one another as the younger Gorda began screaming a high pitched wail, standing frozen in place. After a few moments of this, as quickly as the fight started, the boys rolled off one another, and Cecil stood up victorious, grabbing Tommy's bike by the handlebars and pedaling away as fast as he could.

It was a good day to be Cecil.

---

“What’s up? Your boat hadn’t sunk yet?”

Cecil shook his head, snapping out of his recollection of the day's events. He wasn't accustomed to the ease of carrying his things on a bike, and had been spacing out more than usual that day as he coasted alongside his fellow adventurers.

"Nah. Unsinkable." Cecil shrugged. "'Sides, Tommy let me use his bike a while, he ain't gonna miss it none."

Eliza, being who she was, had no qualms with the plans everyone was creating. Would her parents allow her to go on the venture? It wasn’t anywhere near likely, but she would manage. The little lass smirked a bit as Felix spoke to her. He wanted to sneak out, and for some reason believed Eliza incapable of doing so. “I’ll just meet you at your house before we head up to the woods!” She showed a devilishly imaginative grin as she sent her best friend a wink. That would be the easy part, at least, if everything played out how it did in her head. Fighting off whoever was holding their favorite radio host hostage and performing vile experiments upon him… That would be the hard part. Hard for the others, that is. Eliza was prepared.

Eliza let out a bit of a giggle as Emily spoke up about Madcat being tortured for knowing too much. Eliza had all too often thought that her friends would simply shrug off her whimsical theories as pure imagination, but this scenario seemed to have everyone excited for a real adventure! ”Then we have to go save him!” Eliza was always quick on the draw with her exclamations and plans. Even now, while the group was all planning the journey out, her mind had no room for a single thought of the repercussions that the adventure might bring with it. Perhaps she was a bit headstrong, but the thought of venturing out to find Madcat had been such a wondrous idea it seemed to inhibit her rational thoughts. Well, that is if she ever had any rational thoughts to begin with. Eliza really didn’t help at all with the planning. She left that to the pros like Debra. She did occasionally try to throw out an idea, but it was usually and entirely pure nonsense. Typical Eliza, of course.

---

Escaping her home early posed no struggle for Eliza. She was quite the inventive one after all, though perhaps she over thought the difficulty of the task. She and Felix typically played early in the mornings and late into the nights. It wasn’t like Eliza had better things to do than hang out with Felix on a daily basis, and simply telling her father that she would be over at Felix’s house for a few days had her covered on the camping aspect. Now came time for the real struggle: getting all the way to Felix’s house without dying in the desert heat that seemed to immediately hit her in the face. Yes, Eliza wasn’t the most endurant, but there were times when she would manage.

After the grueling journey Eliza had spent speeding through the neighborhoods, she finally arrived at the rather familiar house, and it was as if she was completely re-energized upon arrival. Of course, this energy would only last until she and Felix had to travel once more. Gently turning the knob to the door, Eliza completely circumvented any attempts to be polite. Felix and his family were used to that by now, though, and how could anyone be mad at little Eliza? As she turned the knob just enough to crack the door, Eliza then planted her foot firmly upon the center mass of the wood, causing it to swing open rather dramatically. ”Felix! I have arrived!”

It appeared Eliza’s friend was quite the planner when it came to packing for a trip. She was greatly the opposite in this aspect. A simple drawstring bag was flung over her shoulders with an assortment of random and meaningless items and she considered herself ready. She had imagined Felix was used to this and did packing for her as well, considering every item she brought would pose no assistance in any sort of camp situation. It was really all just toys and trinkets she had managed to collect over the years that she and Felix always used in their magical games. ”I won’t be able to carry you much this time around since I have my hands full already.” Eliza gave a sly giggle. Felix would cave. He always did. As the two exchanged pleasantries and spoke about the trip, the hurried off, as it was likely Eliza wasn’t going to be able to keep up and Felix would have to slow down. Leaving early was a trend for the pair that Felix had graciously managed to adopt for his partner in crime.

The trip was shorter than expected for Eliza, or perhaps her excitement and Felix’s chatting distracted her from worrying about the constant and gruelingly slow passage of time. Eliza was her usual tired self until they made it to the edge of woods. It was almost like a game once they were there. She would hop off the sidewalk into the woods and run ahead only to meet back up with Felix. Getting to the Big Rock was a rather simple task. When Eliza had the energy it was a fantastic park the pair loved to play games and hang out in. Once she and Felix could see the park, Eliza hurried ahead to meet her friends. Almost skidding to a halt, she tipped the plastic army helmet upon her head that she had borrowed from one of Felix’s past Halloween costumes. This was ‘coming prepared’ for Eliza. They had arrived just after the group was doing a headcount.

”Eliza present and reporting for duty! Let’s go save Madcat from the evil.” Mocking a salute, she stood proudly next to her friend.

---

---

Felix listened to the ongoing words being passed between everyone. He was usually more social in their little gatherings but he decided to stay silent this time around. Crossing his legs in the chair, he rocked back and forth thinking about he was to tell his mother. If Debs had said her uncle was okay with it and he’s pretty well known in the community he didn’t see why she wouldn’t agree. Giving a side glance to Eliza a warm feeling spread in his chest. She was going to have so much fun, and so was he! It was another adventure she could write about. For him something like this was just another excuse to play around. Although everyone was taking it seriously he was more so focused on the playful aspects. Traveling through the woods, exploring new things and reaching their final destination. All the exhaustion he had felt earlier was gone and replaced with a newfound rush of energy.

The meeting had wrapped up everyone had a range of emotions written on their faces, from worry to excitement and everything in between. Felix looked at Eliza, giving her a grin. ”Aren’t you excited?! I just hope your parents will be alright with it.. If anything, we could…” He stopped and bit his tongue. Lying was something he wasn’t all that good at so coming up with an excuse on the spot proved to be difficult for him. Placing his hands on his hips he scratched his head. What were they to do if they had said no. It was always a guessing game with those two, but Felix didn’t want to casually suggest she sneak out.

She piped up and her words caused a sinking feeling in his stomach. ”What do you mean you will meet me at my house...That is going to be a long walk..” Felix sighed and realized rationalizing with her was not going to do him any good. With another huff, he had walked Eliza home listening to her senseless chatter all while worrying himself into oblivion.

---

Monday came all too slowly, Felix had been anticipating it and his mother would laugh and tell him father time made everything slower just for him. Felix always had an interest with time and clocks, he enjoyed taking them apart and looking at the inside so the fact she teased him with that made him really nervous. Maybe father time really was messing with him. Not that it mattered, Monday was here and Eliza was on her way. As he expected his mother took the news well, she was even excited for him. Going so far as to help him get the camping stuff and even prove to be an alibi for Eliza had her parents called at all to check up on her. It wasn’t the first time she stayed over his house but they were always kinda weird about it. He really never understood why but not like he cared enough to question it. His mother was even kind enough to lay things out for Eliza that she couldn’t covertly bring with her. Felix was up before the sun and was pacing around the house, he even went to the fort for a while to clean up their mess from the weekend.

At his house he finished packing a large bag. He was always prepared for everything, wanting to play hero regardless if it was Eliza, Phoebe or Danny who got into trouble. First aid kit, snacks, extra pillows, more snacks, blankets, knife, and lots and lots of water. Felix knew the lot of them could take care of themselves but he knew that they could always use a little help. Eliza would take longer since she had to walk a bit….and he couldn’t help but to worry for her as he always did. Val was always another person he treated with extra care but Eliza was the type to fall over on the side of the road from exhaustion in a dramatic fashion. Then babble to a stranger who were to come and help about something or another. Shaking in his ratty shoes he paced about more causing his mother to wake and smack him repeatedly with the morning paper.

The two waited and before they knew it, Eliza’s voice rang throughout the house along with a thud from the door, ”Felix! I have arrived!”. Felix just let out a long sigh and ran his hands through his hair. ”Alrighty then. Looks like we can leave then.” Gathering the bag and two sleeping bags in his arms he gave Eliza an apologetic look, ”I won’t be able to carry you much this time around since I have my hands full already.” Though he already knew he would end up carrying her anyways, he figured it wouldn’t hurt to mention the fact even if it was futile.

Felix and Eliza set off with Felix’s mother watching them before they were out of sight. They let out some mindless chatter about the trip and how they were both very excited for it. They arrived at the meeting place shortly after to find some others were already there but not everyone. Eliza was brimming with excitement running all over the place, Felix was only waiting for her to scratch herself or fall, but he was at peace being surrounded by his friends. Debs arrived shortly after them calling for a head count, ”Felix checking in!” His cheeks reddened from the funny words leaving his mouth but gave a cheeky grin anyways. They were going to see MadCat and he couldn’t wait. It was the adventure of a lifetime!

---

---

---

---

All right. It wasn't going to be that hard. All Val had to do was tell a minor lie. Something as simple as that wasn't that hard to pull off, right? She'd done it before a few times. Well, maybe just that one time. And that one time wasn't even that severe either. Trying to get her parents to let their daughter sleep out in the wilderness with a bunch of teens? That was going to take some major convincing, if not a truckload of lies that Val would get trampled on if she somehow ever got exposed.

But for some reason, the truckload of lies seemed like the most appealing idea to Val.

By the time she had gotten home it was still light out, the sun beginning to make its journey below the mountain landscape. To her relief, Val could see none of the lights from the front view of the house on, a clear sign that nobody was home yet. She would quickly run inside, clean the place up just a little bit, and waited for night to fall. Perhaps her parents would come early enough to be able to discuss the whole forest camping matter.

But at least she would have time to plan out the biggest lie she would probably ever have to tell.

•••

Monday had come earlier than Val had ever expected, though she had already began secretly preparing and scheming for the hike ever since she had arrived at home on Friday evening. First came the scavenging; going on a trip like this in a summer dress - well, in one of Val’s summer dresses - was almost unthinkable. All she could find in the depths of her frilly wardrobe was her only pair of leggings that now barely passed her knees and an old skirt that now barely touched her knees. She had even managed to find a pair of old boots half a size too small for her ever growing feet, but they weren't that tight nevertheless. It looked like Val had hit the bizarre jackpot this time around.

But coming in second was probably the most difficult and ‘need to plan this whole thing thoroughly because if I mess up it's the end for me’ step for Val. She had decided to go and persuade her parents to let her embark on a sleepover to a ‘friend's’ house rather than on a journey to visit some isolated radio station. Although the task at hand would have seemed rather simple for anyone else she knew, for a person who literally hadn't lied in what seemed like forever, this was going to take some preparation. She knew full well that her mum would ask an endless amount of questions, despite the fact the person who Val was supposedly sleeping over at lived only a few streets away, so she had to have in mind which questions she would be asked and how to answer them without giving away the whole hiking trip.

Twenty minutes. Twenty solid minutes of having questions thrown at her that Friday night. Val had her fingers interlocking with one another behind her back throughout the whole persuasion process with her mother; and although Jocelyn was being very persistent and pushy at the idea of her daughter just going to a friends house for a night and a day, she eventually said the much wanted yes. But recalling the whole conversation on the day she was supposed to leave would be a mind sore. Still, she was freaking ecstatic on the inside, more excited than she had actually ever been before.

Due to a few complications with a dodgy oven, Val had arrived worryingly later at the Big Rock than expected of the girl. As the headcount began, Val's sweaty self ran in, slowing herself down so that she wouldn't crash into anyone. She had her back hunched, hands on her knees, panting and with her last minute ponytail sticking to her neck. The girl most likely hadn't looked this… bad in front of her friends ever since... Heck, she couldn't even recall such an event, like, ever.

“I'm…” she gasped, taking a deep breath before speaking again. “...here, Debra. I had… to deal… with some things… sorry that… I'm late…”

After regaining her breath and composure, Val tried to put on her brightest smile. The girl certainly wasn't late for no reason. Pulling out an old (but clearly washed) plastic lunch box, she clicked it open and displayed its freshly baked contents to the group.

“Brownies, anyone?”

---

---

Debra couldn't help but grin as she noted everyone as present, even the latecomers. Then again, she couldn't be judgemental over that when she herself was delayed. There was no such thing as fashionably late, and she could only apologise for it and move on swiftly.

"Ugh, you're the best, Val." Debra took a brownie, asking the same thing her uncle did whenever grandma made them in the same wicked tone of voice, with the same sly raise of an eyebrow. "There's nothing extra added to these, right?" Unsurprisingly, she moved swiftly on before someone with a little more knowledge and know-how (Cecil or Emily, maybe; anyone with older siblings) called her out on it.

But with that, she scanned over the group, counting twice. She wasn't the latest, thankfully, but with Val here now that meant everyone who promised to show up had done so. Most seemed prepared. Debra felt as though she needed a helmet like Eliza's right now, and she gave her one stoic, appreciative nod, one soldier to another.

We're going to get so much shit for this from our parents. It's gonna be like 'Nam.

Lying for purposes such of this would be okay, Debra reasoned earlier, so long as it was just the once––and as long as it didn't hurt anybody but themselves. No second thoughts. She was blessed in that she wouldn't even be questioned as to where she was going, but she could only assume that Val would have had more of an issue gallivanting off into the woods without parental permission than herself or Phoebe would have.

"Alright, ladies, gentlemen! We leave no man behind, but we're gonna try and get there before sundown. Let me know if you need to stop or––" she interrupted herself briefly to flex, though nothing as impressive as The Nut could surely manage, "––or if you want me to carry your bags, of course. Emzo's not the only one who's willing to do that. But if there's no questions or complaints, let's get to it. Onwards!"

Cecile, The Nut, Val, Feebs, Xander, Felix, Eliza, Noah, Daniel.

Herself.

And soon, Madcat.


Champlain Forest was tall. The boundary between it and St. Stephens was lined by skeletal trees, the type that had lost their leaves to some freak accident or greenery-eating disease but were left standing like tombstones. Four minutes into the hiking path, they thickened out, and six minutes after that, when the route took a slight incline downhill, the town they had left behind disappeared behind foliage. This was the edge: teenagers came out here often to carve their names and true loves into trees and start bonfires in clearings where the grass wouldn't burn properly, it had been scorched so many times.

Those were the unofficial markers of the trail itself, and occasionally their guide at the head of the group would run her fingers along one. At the very least, it gave her a splinter to pick out of her thumb on the easier––boring––stretches.

The morning dew on the grass evaporated quickly as the temperatures rose. The skies above were an almost cloudless blue, and even through the thick canopy of the forest's towering trees, the sun was hot; the type to need sunscreen and water to prevent heat stroke. It wasn't a dry heat. Humidity nipped, growing stronger as the morning progressed into afternoon.

Lunch break would follow shortly, Debra decided, but not until they had cleared the creek that bisected the designated path in two: the easy part, and the Hard Bit.

But first, to cross the 'river'. To say that the path they were walking along disappeared suddenly was an understatement. A small picnic area with a large rock used as a bench for no doubt hundreds of historical asses stood at the end of it, and that's where the land started to dip into a sharp overhang of precarious ground.

Water, fast enough to be pulled under, deep enough to drown in. Deeper than it should have been for the time of year.

"Right! Now I know we're going the right way," said Debra, with a tone of voice and a smile on her face that were both completely reassuring. She probably shouldn't have joked about that, in hindsight, but she'd walked all the way up to Kalispel Hill with her uncle what seemed like hundreds of times (but was probably closer to fifteen). Debra knew it well enough to serve as a guide.

She hoped so, at least.

The creek was too far into the forest to have a proper bridge built on it. The logistics of that sounded like a nightmare even to a thirteen year old. As a result, the only way to cross the bridge––outside of a slightly more dangerous option with a much higher risk of death––was a makeshift log embedded in the soil at both sides as it had been for what must have been decades. Better than the rope-swing just a minute's walk downstream.

The tree it was made from had a thick trunk, the same width of the largest in the forest if not even more so. There was plenty of room for one and almost enough for two, though the log certainly at first glance seemed sturdy enough to support both. "It's completely safe, guys. Scout's honor." Debra took off her cap as if to swear an oath but ended up swatting away a bug with it instead. Even if she couldn't convince her friends to cross, the sign of numerous, reasonably fresh boot prints on the wood was surely a comforting sign.

She was sure she saw one of her friends gulp. The danger of slipping off the uneven, rounded edges of the log to Certain Doom was daunting enough to counter all of her enthusiasm.

---

---

---

Unlike the other children, Phoebe didn't even have to come up with a lie. Her parents gave so little shits that she was able to just walk out the door and they wouldn't give a shit for days at most. Convenient... unless, she gets kidnapped and brutally murdered. The amber alert won't go out for days until it's too late. Oh well. Phoebe was one of the first people there, in fact. She brought everything she needed in her backpack. Water, snacks, food, a flashlight, and most importantly....

... Her guitar.

She left the backpack at her feet as she leaned up against a tree. While everyone was talking, Phoebe was playing with her guitar barehanded. She was playing quietly enough that she wouldn't bother anyone. Even if she did play a little louder, it would become background noise soon enough. Phoebe was just passing time, since she had little to say to the group.

... Until Val came by with some brownies.

Phoebe immediately slung the guitar over her shoulder and skipped over to Val. "Oh, I'd love some!" Phoebe said as she politely grabbed one of the brownies. She took a bite, when Debra spoke, it reminded her of one of the times her older siblings brought some "brownies" home (and Phoebe was tripping balls the entire night.

"They seem pretty clean to me." Phoebe said to Debra. Smiling at the girl as she looked her top to bottom and smiled even wider.

It wasn't long before the big adventure began. On cue, Debra lead the group into the deep woods, and Phoebe followed right behind her. Playing on her guitar as she took steps through the woods to provide a deep ambiance. Honestly, this is the most of the woods that Phoebe has ever seen, and has ever planned on seeing. The place was beautiful... honestly, she would love to come out here every day and look at the plants.

Then, their little forest adventure hit a snag when the group ran into a river. With no bridge. Perfect. Phoebe stopped playing the guitar as she looked for a way around it. Debra had the same goal until she had settled on... a log. Just a log. This was going to be a good one.

"I don't know, Debs," Phoebe playfully said as she held the guitar in both hands. "I think we can swim for it-" Phoebe clapped her hands together with the guitar hanging off her neck before her hands went back it. "-who wants to swim for it?!"