Where Nightmares Ride Read online

  Farley clapped, urging the campers to join him. They did.

  Taylor leaned toward Jack. “This is dumb. He’s just telling everyone what they want to hear. Never trust someone who flatters you when they don’t even know you.”

  Jack felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning to his left, a boy in a yellow t-shirt smiled at him from across the aisle. “I know we just had breakfast,” the boy said, “but would you and your friends like some caramel corn?” He handed Jack a gallon bucket of caramel-coated popcorn and pointed back at another boy sitting five seats away. “Joe’s mom made it. Pass it down.”

  “Thanks.” Jack scooped out a small handful and handed the bucket to Taylor. “Take some and pass it down.”

  “Awesome,” Taylor said. He grabbed as much as he could fit in his hand and handed it to Ming.

  Jack turned back to the row of boys next to him. They were still clapping, sitting up straight with their heads held high. All five boys were smiling.

  “Taylor,” Jack said, “have you noticed anything unusual about these people?”

  “Like what?

  “Everyone here is so, I don’t know, so perfect. I feel like such a loser.”

  “What’re you talking about, dude? We’re awesome. I agree it looks like they invited every football star and head cheerleader in the country, but what’s there not to like about that? So, we get to live in heaven for a week. Let’s have fun with it!”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

  Jack did a double take when Taylor handed him back an empty bucket a few seconds later. Glancing at the ground, he found popcorn scattered all around their feet. Tony, Carl, and Jorge each held large piles of popcorn against their chests, their hands being too small to hold all that they’d taken. They hadn’t passed the bucket on beyond themselves.

  “You know, Taylor, I take it back. Farley’s right. These people are winners, but I doubt he meant the guys in our cabin. We’re the only ones I’ve heard complaining or being rude or selfish.”

  “Give it some time,” Taylor said. “Once you get to know everyone, you find out they’re not all that perfect either.”

  Jack blushed when he turned and handed the empty bucket back to his neighbor.

  “Thanks,” the boy said. He glanced at the popcorn on the ground but said nothing about it. “Hope you enjoyed it.”

  Jack smiled and nodded.

  The clapping stopped, and Jack turned to the stage where Farley now stood, frowning and scanning the crowd.

  “I tell you,” he said, “your minds are a masterpiece. Yet I’d bet my house not one of you kids knows what is really going on in the cruel, merciless world we live in. Your government is hopelessly corrupt. They lie. They cheat. They’ll steal your last dime and expect you to thank them for it.

  “My goal is to teach you the street smarts you’ll need in life. You’ve probably heard it a million times and never believed it, but it’s absolutely true. Nice guys definitely finish last.”

  “That’s not true!” Alison stood up. All eyes turned to her. “Sure, there are corrupt people out there, but you can’t make blanket statements like that. There are plenty of good people in the world who aren’t ‘finishing last.’”

  From where he sat behind Alison, Jack could see the fury in Farley’s eyes. His expression softened. “Now that’s what I like to see. Question everything. You’ve stumbled upon the first step to survival. You have to awaken your animal instincts. You’ve been told your conscience is your friend. I, however, implore you to fear anything that has influence over your mind—including your own conscience. Your conscience creates guilt. You must overcome enslavement to guilt. Guilt is just fear, fear of that which is part of your true nature. I’ll teach you to rid your minds of this destructive indoctrination. Selflessness, by definition, will never be in your favor.

  “Power equals corruption. But we all desire power, don’t we? We fight wars to obtain it. We need it! We must, therefore, abolish from our minds this lie that suggests that we can have power and not be corrupt. People grow their businesses out of no other motivation than greed. Politicians are like demons, lusting to control the masses—to mold it to their way of thinking. Make no mistake about this! If you want power, your only option is to embrace that which the powerful have falsely labeled as corruption. How else could they keep you down?

  “Reject the deceptive whisperings of your own ignorant conscience. People who foster obedience to their guilt are the lambs upon which the jackals of the world gorge. The cruel man always gains the upper hand. The spoils go to the crafty, the manipulators who care nothing for what others think.”

  Alison jumped up. “This is outrageous! I’m not going to listen to this crap!” She scooted past other campers. Dozens of other kids followed her lead, each standing and shaking their heads before leaving.

  Farley smiled. “You’re welcome to leave, but if you think about what I’ve said, you’ll admit I am right.”

  An approaching helicopter sounded overhead. Farley’s face lit up.

  “I’ll have to let you go early today—free time until lunch. There’s boating at the waterfront. The archery is open, and there are crafts and art projects at the pavilions and at the lodge. Those of you on the research teams need to head to the research facility. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Farley left the stage, walking speedily toward the helicopter landing in the clearing.

  “Wow, this place is a dustbowl,” Ming said as a dirt storm wafted over the crowd.

  Taylor nodded. “Yeah, that’s pretty much why I left my A-Star chopper at home. They make such a mess.”

  Katie found the cabin to be nicer than she’d expected. It included little more than beds and a shower, yet it felt warm and inviting. Soft, brown leather sofas hugged the walls on either side of the doorway. Full-sized beds lay side-by-side on high wooden pedestals, three on each side of the room, with the head of each bed snug against the sidewalls. Pillows and comforters, decorated with images of plants and wildlife, covered each bed. Wooden side-tables with branches for legs stood to the right of each pillow. Rustic wood-paneled walls supported the pinewood beams that held up the slatted board ceiling. Beige curtains bordered the wide, sliding windows.

  Katie looked up from the largest of the three pieces of luggage on her bed and watched Clara spinning around and admiring her bright yellow dress. “That dress is too big for you, but it’ll have to work. Next, those pigtails need to go. We can’t have you running around camp looking like a five-year-old.”

  “Can we go to the research facility now?”

  “We just flew halfway across the country. I need a rest.” Katie heaved aside one of her black bags and flopped onto her bed.

  Clara dropped onto the bed next to hers and rolled onto her back, a smile ever-present on her face. “This bed is heaven. So’s this cabin. I love it here. And best of all, I get to spend a whole week with you without my mommy telling me what to do.”

  “Mom,” Katie said. “I told you, teenagers don’t say ‘mommy.’”

  Clara sat up and nodded her head. “I keep forgetting.” She gathered a stash of small rocks off her night table and studied them one at a time. “I collected these on the way to our cabin. Aren’t they beautiful?”

  Someone rapped on the door. “Hello,” chimed a cheerful soprano voice. “May I come in?”

  Clara jumped from her bed and ran to door, opening it for a portly woman with auburn hair and a warm, friendly round face.

  “You must be Clara,” the woman said. “I’m Sherry. I’m in charge of your cabin and just wanted to welcome you to camp. I also head the medical team, if you need anything.” She looked over at Katie. “And you must be the famous Katie Frost.” Sherry wiped her feet on a black mat next to the door before stepping onto the glossy hardwood floor.

  Katie stood up, looking like a model in her draped, mixed-print top, light-blue jeans, and open-toed, leather boots. “I’m about as far it gets from famous. Glad to meet you.”

  “I don’t know
about that.” Sherry turned to Clara. “Has she told you how they almost named this camp ‘Camp Frost’? It’s true. Her sister Abigail started it all.”

  “She did?” Clara’s eyes lit up.

  “Yep. This place would’ve been a much better camp if she’d lived. Anyway, the other reason I’m here is to invite y’all to the research facility. You’re both part of the research team and our first meeting is about to start. Would y’all mind following me?”

  Katie grabbed a water bottle off her nightstand. “What’ve we got to lose? Come on Clara.”

  They followed Sherry out the door and down a narrow gravel path. A chorus of songbirds echoed in the shivering aspens. Moments later, they turned down a switchback on the trail and a two-story, stone-clad structure peeked from behind spreads of vines and tall bushes. Its tiny windows made it seem massive, though its green metal roof rose only a few feet higher than the surrounding terrain. Curving river-rock walls sandwiched the steep path to the metal entrance doors.

  “That’s an odd building for a summer camp,” Katie said. “You’d think they built it to withstand a nuclear war.”

  Sherry nodded. “You’ll find this camp is full of surprises.”

  “Katydid,” a male voice called from behind them. Katie turned to see Damien Murdock strutting down the path, his eyes on Katie. He stepped past them, arriving first to the building’s front doors, and slid an ID card from the left breast pocket of his black blazer. He passed it in front of the infrared scanner mounted on the wall near the door frame. A slight electromagnetic buzz preceded the sound of large bolts sliding back into the door.

  Sherry held the door open while the others entered.

  “Wow.” Clara’s mouth hung open. Sunlight from the clerestory windows reflected off the polished marble floors. Warm cherrywood clad the walls and ceilings of the air-conditioned building, matching the stile and rail-wood doors. Clara darted past the lobby to try out one of the soft brown-leather benches that lined the wide hallway, then she stood up and darted to admire a series of abstract paintings hanging on the walls: large Jackson Pollock canvases, Hans Hoffman studies in fields of green and red paint, and works by Mondrian with their bold primary colors divided into rectangular areas by thin black lines. A life-size bronze statue of Carl Jung posed in the middle of the lobby.

  “Only Montathena Research would waste this kind of money on a summer camp.” Katie gave a wry smile and shook her head.

  “You’re in a good mood,” Damien slowed down to let Katie and Sherry move on ahead. “I haven’t seen you like this in years.”

  “I feel like a new person. It’s been so long since I’ve been out from under my dad’s thumb. I feel like they released me from prison. Montathena has been smothering me ever since my mom left. I can’t do anything without them tagging along. I even dream about their operatives watching me. I’ve started having nightmares the last few months and I’m sure it’s because of stress caused by my dad’s business.”

  “Nightmares? Wait, that’s the first I’ve heard about that. Have you told anyone?”

  “My dad won’t let me enter the research lab in my own basement. Why should I tell him anything? He doesn’t care about me.”

  “Of course he cares. You should’ve told him. What happens in these nightmares?”

  “It always starts with my dad’s people guarding me, same as when I’m awake. I try to hide from them out in the gardens, but then some old Asian woman shows up. Next thing I know, I’m in some dark place where the woman’s followers are holding me down and encouraging monsters to attack me. At some point, a boy shows up and the old lady orders him to save me. The boy loses the fight every time though, then he disappears in a burst of fire.”

  “Do you know you’re dreaming when it happens?”

  “That’s what’s frustrating. I never remember in the dream that I’ve had a similar dream before. I don’t know what it means.”

  “You should’ve said something. We have tech that could’ve helped you.”

  “I don’t want your technology. For all I know, my dad’s experiments are causing my nightmares.”

  “If you hate the technology so much, why did you offer to come here?”

  “Why did you? Two years ago, you were threatening to run away from home. You hated your dad’s company. Then he sent you to this camp and you returned with a completely different attitude. I never understood it. But my father opened my eyes. He made it sound like I might not survive this camp. But I don’t care. Either it’ll kill me, or I’ll learn to be happy about it like you seem to be. Anything’s better than what I’ve been going through.”

  With glistening eyes, Katie turned and rushed down the hallway towards a set of blue-carpeted stairs where she’d last seen Clara.

  Jack plopped a juicy red grape in his mouth and savored its sweet goodness, waitng for Taylor and Ming to finish filling their plates. The boys from Jack’s cabin, and three girls from the cabin next door to theirs, hovered over an assortment of fruit, crackers, and exotic cheeses on a green marble countertop at the back of the circular room. Jack, Taylor, and Ming took their plates of food and melted into the soft chairs at the back of an arrangement of soft leather couches and lounge chairs. Derek stood at the front of the room studying his watch and leaning back against a stone fireplace next to a big-screen TV.

  “Finally, a taste of the good life,” Taylor shoved a triangular slab of Zamorano in his mouth and rolled his eyes in ecstasy.

  Jack savored a slice of Comté cheese, then smiled and nodded. “I don’t know what this is, but I like it.”

  Carl, Tony, and Jorge stacked their plates high before wandering to their seats. Travis, dressed in white slacks and a white sports jacket, held his plate as though it were a glass of wine at a high-end party. He leaned over from behind Jack’s chair. “Just so there’s no confusion, I have dibs on the Frost chick.”

  Jack scoffed. “Is that the rich girl that arrived on the helicopter this morning? I’ll be surprised if she gives you the time of day.”

  “That goes for all of us,” Ming said.

  “Are you kidding?” Travis smirked. “I don’t know about you guys, but I intend to leave this camp flying to my new job at Montathena Research, in my own helicopter, enjoying hors d’oeuvres and a foot massage from Katie Frost.”

  “Getting a head start on the dream tech are we, Travis?” Taylor shook his head. “Where is she, anyway? The sooner this class is over, the sooner we can go shoot some arrows.”

  Alison turned around. “No doubt Her Majesty deems herself too mighty to join us today. You should’ve seen all the bags they lugged to our cabin. She’s probably never seen dirt before.”

  Marina bent forward and peered around Barbara. “Come on guys. Give the girl a break. We’ve hardly had a chance to get to know her.”

  “Don’t defend her,” Alison said. “People like her think they can do whatever they want.”

  A thumping sound echoed on the blue-carpeted stairs. All eyes turned to a bright-eyed blonde girl skipping into the room. She circled the room, taking in every detail, her braids flipping back and forth in time with her steps.

  “This place is amazing!” She grinned wide. “Oh, look at that fireplace.” She ran to the front of the room and slid her hand slowly across the rocky surface.

  Sherry arrived and dropped into a chair near the stairs. “Katie will be here in a minute.”

  “Great. Let’s find a seat, everyone,” Derek said.

  Barbara raised her hand. “Could I just ask one question before we start?”

  Derek nodded. “I don’t see why not.”

  “I just want to know, why did you select us, of all people, for this research team? I’ve seen some impressive people here, but I don’t see what makes us so special. I’m just sayin’.”

  “That’s just it. You’re not special in most people’s eyes. Montathena Research looks for kids with significant personality flaws, but who also have the type of mental abilities needed to improve th
emselves. You’ll be using dream technology to overcome your character defects.”

  “Character defects?” Alison’s face turned red as her hair. “Who are you people to judge us? This is ridiculous!”

  “It isn’t personal. Everybody has defects.” Derek pointed at Travis. “Some of you are egotistical. Narcissistic.” He then pointed at Ming. “Some are self-centered. One of you is afraid of bats.” Then he waved a hand toward Jack. “And some are afraid of enclosed spaces and are cowardly, unwilling to fight their own battles. But these are common flaws, nothing we can’t handle. We’ll either help you overcome these defects or help you learn to accept them. That’s what we do here. By the time we’re finished with you, you’ll be unstoppable.”

  Every face stared at Derek. Jack felt stunned and turned red with embarrassment. How could they know about my claustrophobia? It bothered him that the camp knew enough about his private life to judge him as a coward. They couldn’t have found that info on the Internet. Somebody gave it to them. He felt betrayed.

  “If everybody is just as defective as we are,” Jack said, “how’d you get our names?”

  “People recommended each of you to us.”

  “Seriously? Who recommended me?”

  “In your case, Jack, the person asked to remain anonymous. I’m sure, however, Montathena wouldn’t have invited you if they thought you wouldn’t benefit from it.”

  Jack became distracted when he caught sight of an attractive girl, who he surmised to be Katie Frost, entering the room from the stairs and stepping softly behind the crowd. The girl blushed when she found Clara piling her plate high with crackers and cheese, and she rushed over to her.

  “This is the best stuff I’ve ever tasted,” Clara said. “You’ve got to try this.”

  “You’re taking way too much,” Katie said. “Put some back and come sit down. I told you, you can’t act like this.” Shaking her head, she waited for Clara to return some of the food before guiding her to a chair.