The New Ron - Chapter 46 (Patreon)

The sound and sensation of bursting tires woke me suddenly.

Kim, likewise, jolted upright from where she'd been leaning against me, snoozing lightly as the bus drove through the featureless rural heartland of America. Or,well, mostly featureless. The occasional copse of trees or patch of hills broke up the monotony of endless farmland along with a few one-horse towns huddling around the highway and clinging to life through the occasional stranded traveler, hungry tourist, or industrial plant that hadn't been phased out yet.

“Whazzat?” Rufus squeaked, scampering up to my shoulder as adrenaline jump-started my system and I snapped my head around to look out the various windows.

“Flat tire, looks like, buddy,” I stated, frowning and adjusting clothes from where they'd twisted at odd angles.

“Mmmh, yeah...” Tara yawned, reaching for the ceiling of the bus as she stretched and smacked her tongue against the roof of her mouth before grimacing and reaching for a water bottle.

Bonnie snored once, her head against a pillow shoved between her and the window.

“I see Bonnie still sleeps like the dead,” Kim grumbled, rubbing at her neck sleepily.

“Okay, people!” Barkin barked, standing from the driver's seat as the bus came to a stop. “Stoppable! You're with me! Everyone else, stay in your seats!”

“Roger that!” I called back, standing and popping my spine back into alignment.

A few quick side-shimmies to get past a few of the girls and various bags that had bled into the center isle over the course of the ride and I was free. The fresh air was scented with pine and late-afternoon asphalt that had been in the heat of the sun all day.

There was also an undertone to the smell, something that I brushed aside as it itched at the back of my mind.

Primarily because I was locked onto what was stretched across the road.

“Those are spike-strips,” I observed blandly, feeling adrenaline kick my awareness up another few notches.

“You always state the obvious, Stoppable?” Barkin asked, his own eyes roving the trees around the... road, hmm...

“So... first-timer here, but... your directions often involve back roads like this?” I asked, the hairs on the back of my neck beginning to rise.

American roads had various levels of quality and maintenance. A proper road in a good city was smooth blacktop with a few near-seamless patches or asphalt seals over cracks. Then you had progressively shittier roads as the patches became more and more obvious, giving a bumpier ride as they progressed. Eventually, you got to the point where no one bothered to fill in the potholes at all and things only got worse from there.

This road... well, someone clearly still gave a single shit, but only just barely.

It was mostly potholes, but they'd been filled in with rough gravel and leveled with dirt. It was definitely a rural road that hadn't been resurfaced in years, even after traffic dropped off. It'd probably looked pretty rough even a... decade... ago...

Another cold shiver up my spine.

“It's a shortcut – apparently – to avoid road work and traffic congestion,” Barkin stated tonelessly, a growl underneath his words as he crossed his arms.

I clicked my tongue and nodded. “Shit.”

“Language, Stoppable,” Mr. Barkin chastised mildly.

“You're absolutely right, sir.” I paused for effect. “Fuck.”

“Detention, once we get back to the school,” Barkin hummed rubbing his chin to not-quite-hide the twitching of his lips.

“Roger that,” I nodded, walking down the bus and slamming my fist against the metal exterior. “Kim! Tara! Mission bags!”

There was a pause, then Kim's voice snapped back. “On it!”

“Calling on your girlfriends already?” Barkin snarked, pulling at his suit and shucking it entirely before popping the maintenance panel on the bus and beginning to look through things.

“Can I see the directions you got?” I asked instead of answering.

“Knock yourself out, Stoppable,” the teacher grunted, pulling a folded stack of sheets from his coat and throwing them at me. “Damn, we only have two spares.”

Ignoring the older man's desperate search for something useful, I flipped open the map and frowned almost immediately. Next was my communicator. Even with Wade's network down, I still had a variety of local maps loaded in the device's memory. Nothing specific to our situation, but... a wide-out view centered on Middleton was good enough.

“Yeah... someone swapped roads on you,” I muttered, frowning as I turned the paper this way and that, trying to make sense of it. “Let's see, if that's actually the highway, then...”

I scowled.

I looked up, into the woods, still scowling, but my heart rate was picking up.

“We've got the jack, let's see...” Barkin sighed, taking his phone out and flipping it open, then sighing more deeply. “No signal, of course.”

I walked around the bus to the other side.

“Wuz-wrong?” Rufus asked, looking around.

My mind flickered back to something that was beginning to become half-forgotten as the days had turned to weeks and then months.

So this is it, huh? This episode...

“Ron?” I heard Kim ask, coming around the front of the bus. “What's wrong?”

“Camp Wannaweep,” I replied, nodding at the woods in front of the bus and the mock totem poles. They were rotting away, covered in vines, but still had flecks of the bright paint left over from five years ago when the place had shut down.

My heart was hammering in my chest.

So this is a panic attack, huh?

…

“So... we're caught up in some crazy scheme by one of Possible's crazy people, then?” Bonnie asked, a return to her classic scathing attitude.

The cheerleaders all looked at each other in various states of irritation and trepidation.

“So, like, what do we do now?”

“I can't get reception? Anyone got a bar?”

“Wait! Does this mean we're going to miss the cheer meet?”

“Ugh, idiot! There never was one!”

Kim clapped her hands loudly. “Okay, girls! Here's the situation! “Cells reception is out, we're marooned on an extremely rural road to a defunct summer camp, and we've got about... another twelve hours – bare minimum – before our parents start trying to figure out where we are. So we find shelter, hold out until then, and wait for someone to pick us up. So grab your carry-ons and file-out!”

“Why don't we just stay on the bus?” Hope called out. “Isn't that, like, the first rule for this kind of thing?”

“Unfortunately, someone set a trap for the bus,” Kim stated pragmatically, crossing her arms. “So whoever did it is going to know exactly where we are. So we need to get out of here before they come back to check.”

“So where are we going to go? You said this was a summer camp?” Jessica spoke up, flipping her blond hair over a shoulder.

“Thankfully, we seem to have a guide on-hand,” Barkin grumbled, looking to me.

Which made everyone else do the same.

I sighed and pushed off the bus, ignoring Rufus' squeaks of concern. “Alright, guess that's where I come in. Welcome to my personal childhood hell: Camp Wannaweep.”

There was a round of blinks as the girls looked between each other. Liz, a redhead a few shades lighter than Kim, cautiously raised a hand. “Um... is that actually what it's called, cause...”

I sighed. “Yeah, basically... the name is a transliteration from a Potawatomi-Indian phrase that described the area. It was actually... 'the place so beautiful that it makes one want to cry.' Or something like that. I think someone was just a smart-ass-”

“Detention,” Barkin muttered under his breath, but I kept speaking regardless.

“-who decided to make a joke out of it,” I finished with a shrug.

A few murmured in acknowledgment, a few snorting at my language.

“So, first rule of Camp Wannaweep,” I frowned, rubbing at my chin. “Don't drink the water. Don't eat anything off the bushes or trees. You probably shouldn't have too much physical contact with too much of the vegetation, to be perfectly honest.”

Unsure looks were exchanged.

Kim frowned, then snapped her fingers as her eyes widened. “Wait, I remember this part! The lake is toxic, right?”

I pointed at my partner and nodded. “For those wondering why this rule exists, it's because Camp Wannaweep actually had about a half-dozen separate... I dunno, 'activity centers' around it, each one technically its own thing, but it was all basically one big 'camp.' I was in the wilderness one, which was... wood cabins, arts and crafts, hiking... that sort of thing.”

I rolled an arm and gave them a shrug to emphasize it was a broad pool of standard 'summer camp' stuff. “Then there was the telecommunications camp, the science camp, the band camp, the clown camp-”

“You sure you didn't go to that one, Ronnie?” Bonnie asked, grinning.

Tara made to shush her, but I simply smirked instead. “Nah, but I thought I saw a girl that looked like you there a few times.”

Bonnie and Tara both blinked as Kim smothered a laugh along with a few more of the girls. Rufus, on my shoulder, licked a foreclaw and touched it to his hindquarters with a sizzle-hiss sound effect.

“Watch it, rat,” Bonnie replied sharply, but without real heat.

I didn't bother to ask whether she was referring to myself or Rufus with that rejoinder. Knowing her, it was probably both.

“Back on topic,” Barkin grumbled, casting his imposing gaze over the group of girls before returning to me. “The water, Stoppable?”

“Right, right... so, yeah, there was this big scandal that the science camp area was dumping toxic and radioactive material from their experiments into the lake. The whole local water-table is contaminated and that does some weird things to the local wildlife. So, yeah, super avoid drinking or eating anything around here unless you manage to find an old vending machine or something. Even then, be careful.”

“What kind of wildlife 'weirdness' are we looking at?” Barkin asked, narrowing his eyes. “Anything aggressive?”

I blinked, frowning as I considered the question. “Well... the fish tend to glow in the dark, there's some two-headed snakes, but those might still be hibernating... uh, oh yeah! There are these rabbits about the size of a... bulldog, I guess? And they have antlers. Not big ones or anything, but they can do some damage to you if they make contact. Still, they aren't aggressive, so it should be fine as long as you don't get too close to them.”

Oh, now they were all staring at me.

“Ron... are you joking, or...” Tara asked, her brows furrowed.

I shrugged, Rufus giving a squeak of offense as I moved the shoulder he was on this time. “Sorry, buddy. Anyway... Bonnie, you're the most critical of everything I do up to and including my very existence as a human being. Valid?”

“Don't think you're special or anything, Ronnie,” Bonnie rolled her eyes, a light blush on her cheeks at becoming the focus of attention so suddenly. “You're below Kim on that list anyway.”

“Buuuuu~uut?” I drawled out, making a rolling motion with my wrist.

She sighed through her nose. “Fine, yes. Valid. Why?”

“First year of middle school, coming back from summer,” I told her, making the girl blink and get a look of faraway contemplation. “Was I freakier than normal or what?”

“You were...” Bonnie squinted into the middle distance and then blinked suddenly, as if surprised. “Okay, yeah. I remember you being really freaky after that summer. Like, you spent one of our class periods hiding under a desk and you had the most horrendous BO-”

“That was not body odor, thank you very much,” I crossed my arms. “That was monkey-repellent spray that I bought online after being forced to room with a real – live – chimpanzee for the entire month-long duration of this goddamn fucking-”

“Language, Stoppab-”

I turned on him, my patience snapping, “NOT RIGHT NOW, STEVE!”

Barkin jerked like I'd slapped him, his mouth dropping open. In fact, most of the cheer squad's mouths were hanging, including Kim's. Bonnie, though, looked-

Huh, right, that's arousal for her. Yeah, not surprising, girl has issues.

I folded the unproductive anger back where it came from and took a deep breath, then clapped my hands once. “Anyway. Ground rules. Don't eat or drink anything that didn't come with you on the bus. Watch out for jackalopes, but they aren't aggressive. The poison ivy, oak, and sumac in the forest is all very mildly radioactive and the rashes it gives you are between blue and green and usually persist for a week or more. The fish in the lake glow and I heard a rumor that they started biting with actual teeth towards the end of camp. Oh, and there's fire ants. Nothing weird about those, but... very painful and irritating. Best avoided.”

I took another calming breath and smiled a touch too widely. “Any questions about the dangers of the camp?”

One girl, Marcella began to raise her hand, but Liz reached over and slowly pulled it back down.

“Great, now... Kim, you mind if I take the lead on this one?” I asked, turning to her.

She shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. “Your turf, it's yours if you want it.”

“Okay, so... Kim, Tara, Barkin and I are going to lead you to my old haunt, Cabin 13. On our way there, we can hit up the bank of payphones for the camp. In the unlikely event they're still connected and haven't been sabotaged, we can call out and get someone here to pick us up. After leaving you all at the cabin, Kim, Tara, and I are going to make our way to the head office, which is the next most-likely place to find a working phone. Mr. Barkin, any suggestions?”

Steve looked up at the sun. “Distance?”

I turned and stared at the woods. “Five miles. One through the forest, the rest should be on a path.”

He nodded firmly. “Alright. Possible is right. You know the terrain, you've got lead. I'll take up the rear.”

I nodded back, “Cool. Just watch out for followers. Someone flattened those tires and trapped us here.”

Kim hummed, stepping up. “Actually... good point, Ron. Any clue who? Since this is probably about you?”

Eyes turned back to me and... okay, without the meta-knowledge that it was probably still Gil Moss – yes, he had a real last name – then the possibilities were... “Off the top of my head? The Camp Director if he's broken out of the loony bin. There were a couple of guys who didn't like me for various reasons... and I guess I'll throw in Bobo the Chimp. The camp's mascot. If he got hit with a smarticle accelerator or something.”

Tara snorted. “Smarticle Accelerator? Good one, Ron.”

“I aim to please,” I smiled, feeling some of the tension drain out of me before I took a breath and nodded. “Okay, get your stuff and let's go. Day bags only, please. We're traveling light and, one way or another, we'll only be here overnight.”

As we packed up to begin moving, Bonnie shouldered her backpack and asked, “How're you so sure about that?”

Kim cleared her throat and waved her kimmunicator. “Our tech guy, Wade? Once his system finishes rebooting, he'll notice we're incommunicado. Once that happens, help will be on its way.”

The cheerleaders looked relieved at that, an air of quiet dread that had been hanging over them since the bus blew its tires lifting somewhat.

…

“So... that just happened,” Kim informed me firmly in a quiet undertone, Tara taking up my other side and Bonnie trailing immediately behind us.

I grunted, poking the long stick I'd found ahead of me at a suspicious pile of leaves.

Nothing, good. We kept walking.

“You... okay there, Ron?” Tara prodded me lightly.

“Nope!” I chirped, adrenaline still running high as my eyes flicked around to follow each and every sound. Rufus, loyal and steadfast animal companion that he is, was atop my head pointed in the opposite direction.

Watching for monkeys.

“Oh boy,” Kim sighed. “Ron... please give us something? You looked about ready to strangle Barkin and called him by his first name.”

“Normally, I can take his bullshit,” I muttered, stabbing another pile of leaves and getting no response. “Today is not normal. I'm in Wannaweep.”

I was honestly pretty surprised the whole experience was affecting me as much as it was, but... well, not in the way it was. Ron had reacted to panic like this by being silly, cracking jokes, and spazzing out to bleed the stress. Me? I got angry. Tense. Irritable.

The trick, I'd learned long ago, was to channel that impulse productively.

Constructively. Not destructively.

Don't snap, if you can help it. Find an onerous chore involving heavy lifting and do that until your arms and legs started to shake and you exhausted the anger inside you.

Stab. Leaves. Nothing.

More walking.

“And we're here with you,” Tara soothed. “But you have to let us be.”

I paused for a moment and took a breath.

Constructive, not destructive.

“Girls, I appreciate what you're trying to do and I'm grateful,” I told them, giving them each as much of a non-manic smile as I was able to right now. “But I am in super-duper caveman mode at the moment.”

“You have a caveman mode, Stoppable?” Bonnie asked, the slightest edge of disbelief in her voice. “You, really?”

“Unga-Fucking-Bunga,” I replied dryly, grinning as both Kim and Tara giggled despite the seriousness of the situation.

Also, Ron's memories were fucking with me more than usual. Trauma would do that, I guess. And, contrary to the bad experience in the show, what Ron had gone through was... bad. Just... absolutely miserable.

I stopped, holding out one arm to stop Tara and my walking stick to stop Kim.

“Huh?” // “Wha-?”

I poked the pile of leaves two feet in front of us.

SNAP!

“Fuck!” Tara jumped, eyes wide. Kim had more self control, seasoned combatant that she was, but even she shifted into a subtle martial arts stance, her body locking in.

“What was that?” Bonnie asked, stepping around us to watch as I pulled my walking stick out of the leaves... the end half-broken and clamped between two steel jaws.

“Bear traps!” I grinned too-widely once again. “That means we're close! The director used to put these around the outer perimeter of the camp.”

“Jesus,” Kim whispered, looking between the bear trap and my twitching expression. “You didn't say anything about bears.”

“Never saw one during my entire month here,” I replied, my face suddenly solemn and expressionless.

Kim's eyes widened, then darkened. “Right. You said the camp director put these here.”

“Good ole' Director Raving,” I nodded, looking around and picking up another trusty stick before poking the area nearby as a few of the girls behind me watched carefully, looking around their own feet.

“Director Raving,” Tara echoed dumbly. “Like...”

“Isaac Malcolm Raving,” I confirmed, narrowing my eyes and stabbing-

SNAP!

“Okay, we should be good now,” I nodded, grabbing for another stick. “He was kind of a cheapskate, so the traps weren't ever very dense. This area will be fine to walk through now.”

Then I cocked my head and knelt down, looking at the traps a little more closely.

“Oh... crap,” Kim sighed, noticing what I had, as well.

I hummed in agreement.

“What?” Tara asked, bending down with me to look them over too.

“You leave a steel trap like this out in the woods for a few years, it rusts,” I tapped the lightly-tarnished metal.

Tara was quiet for a moment, then nodded. “So... they were put out here recently.”

“Which means we're heading into trouble,” I nodded, standing and wiping my hands on my pants.

And it also means that, Archer or not, something's changed.

~~~

Alright! Properly starting the Camp Wannaweep Arc!

Here's where things are going to start substantially diverging from canon, be warned. Also dipping into AU here and there.

As with the previous chapter, I'll warn you that I'm embellishing some of Ron's trauma both for detail and for effect. A great deal of what he experienced is totally true to canon, but some of it will be for this story only. Just FYI.

Next update will be... a surprise!

It's my birthday on Thursday, so I'm going to write whatever I want to this week. No idea what will show up! Hope everyone's having a great weekend so far and thank you again for all of your support!