Day 42, The Reckoning

"Ivy slow down! If something's seriously wrong don't you think we should go to the authorities instead? If this is what you think it is then we shouldn't be going back, what could we possibly do?"

I stopped my half sprint to stare at him. "Are you fucking kidding me?! Our friends are there, your brother is there! We have to help them!"

"Don't you think I know that?! What I'm saying is, I think the authorities might be a little more equipped to take care of situations like this!"

"You want to go to the cops? Fine, go! While your doing that, I'm going to see what's actually going on and to make sure our friends are okay!" I said turning around and jogging in the direction of camp.

"Ivy! You can't just storm in there!" Parker yelled from behind, catching up to her almost effortlessly.

"What are you still going here I thought you were going to the cops?" I half scowled, half breathed at the lack of oxygen from running.

"Well I can't let you storm in there like an idiot on your own can I?!" He sneered.

Rolling my eyes I sped up.

"Ivy! Will you stop for a minute?! Jesus Christ!" He said, obviously feeling a little out of breath.

Or ill.
We did eat a lot at that diner and running like this is not helping my full stomach.

Deciding I should stop before I throw up, I slow to a stop and turn to him. "What?"

"Look, I still think we should go to the cops but since your head set on going back in there, how about I call them and then we go in?
That way if anything seriously goes wrong, they won't be far behind."

"Okay." I said after a moment. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

"Okay, now I'm going to call so wait a damn minute before you go running off like that again, okay?" He panted angrily.

"Fine, but hurry up." I glared as he turned around and grabbed his phone.

He walked away dialling 911 and lifting the phone to his ear. While I could see his mouth moving, I couldn't quite make out what he was saying. I could only make out certain words like hurt, kill, and leave. A few seconds pass before he let out a noise similar to a growl and clenched his phone tight looking as though he was fighting to urge to throw it.

"What did they say?"

"What?" He asked, seeming startled as if he'd forgot she was there.

"The cops, what did they say? You seem angry, is everything okay?"

"No. They- they thought it was prank. They're not coming."

Ivy stared at him. They were on their own. "Well, we better get going then. If the cops won't help, then we're on our own."

"You still want to go in there?" He asked, staring at me like I was insane.

"Of course I still want to go in there, now that the cops are out of the picture, no one is going to help them. That means we need to."

"And what exactly are we going to do, huh? Go in and ask the bad guys what their plan is and hope they don't kill us? We'd be going in blind, Ivy! It's a suicide mission."

"And what do you propose we do then, Captain America?" I asked tauntingly, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Go down to the police station and make them believe us!"

"Oh yeah, that's a great plan- oh wait." I said sarcastically. "What makes you think they'll believe us then if they didn't believe us just then?! We'd be wasting time-" I stopped sort and let out sigh.

"Look, I'm going in there regardless of what you say- our deal was you call the cops then we go in. I'm doing this; now  you can either come with and try help out friends and everyone else in there or you can waste your time going down to the police station where they didn't believe you the first time and possibly be held for wasting police time. It's up to you."

He stared at me with a pained look on his face. "There's nothing I can say to you to change your mind and not go in there- is there?"

"No."

He sighed, closing his eyes and running a hand through his hair. " You're too stubborn for your own good, you know that."

I stared at him as he stalked off. Not long after, he realised I wasn't following him, he turned to face me. "Well, what are you waiting for? You wanted to go back? Fine, lets go."

"Seriously? Your coming with me?"

"I can't let you go in alone, you might trip over your own feet." He teased, a small smile tugging on his mouth. "Come on." Was all he said before turning back around at going into a small jog.

I stared for a second or two with a small smile on my lips before shaking my head in disbelieve. This guy and his mood swings. It took me a minute to catch up- jogging up behind him I realise we should have at least somewhat of a plan instead of blindly running into the situation.

"I think you were right-"

"Aren't I always?"

"I think you were right about not running in blind, we should scope the camp a little before going in. Try to get some idea of what we're up against." I said, ignoring his interruption.

He slowed to a slow walk and turned to face me. "What exactly do you think we're up against?"

I paused. "Honesty? I have no idea. All I know is, there's a group of dangerous people in camp- doing god knows what to our friends and those kids, and; I need to help them- or at least try to."

He gave me a sympathetic look before glancing around us. "If I remember correctly, we're about 5 minutes out- I think this would be a good place to scope the camp out."

I gave him an incredulous look. "We can't even see the camp, what do you want us to do- fly?"

He smirked and raised an eyebrow. "Something like that."

With that he walked away.

"Parker, where the hell are you-" I stopped short when I say him jump from the ground to a branch in one of the thousands of trees around us, swinging himself to a sitting position.

"What were you saying?" He smirked, letting out a small laugh at my baffled and awed expression. "Now it's your turn." He gestured to the tree opposite him, the branch an inch or two lower than his.

I looked from him to the branch and back again, my mouth gaping. "I'm sorry, unlike you, I haven't been bitten by a radioactive spider giving me the agility of a cat. If I try to jump up there, I'll either break my neck or just really embarrass myself- and currently, I'm not to keen on either of those options so I think I'll stay on the ground this time Spiderman."

He let out a loud chuckle before ascending further up the tree. "Suit yourself."

"Wait, Parker stop! What are you doing?! If you fall, you'll kill yourself." He was so far up the tree I couldn't see him anymore.

He poked his head out the side of the tree. "Well then I guess it's a good thing I have the agility of a cat, we always land on our feet." He laughed. "Or maybe I'll just use my web slingers and grab onto another tree to lower myself to the ground."

"Parker this is serious!" I shouted over his laughter.

"Would you relax? I'm climbing a tree, not a cliff, I'll be fine. Besides, from up here I can see-"

He suddenly stopped talking.

"Parker?"

Silence.

"Parker? This isn't funny come on-"  I let out a small squeal as he came hurdling down the tree, swinging off the lowest branch and landing on his feet beside.  "You dick! That wasn't funny-"

"Ivy."

"-You scared the shit out of me-"

"Ivy"

"-I think I just had a mini heart attack-"

"Ivy!" He shouted, grabbing my wrists.

I stopped and looked at him, sighing. " What?"

"I saw the camp."

"... and?"

"This is worse than I thought..." He mumbled, turning his head away from me. "Ivy we can't go in there." He said louder this time, facing me.

"What?! Parker we've been through this-"

"They have guns Ivy, a lot of them. There's too many of them, if we walk in there, they could shoot us on sight."

I gulped. "We knew this was a possibility- honestly, deep down I kind of expcted that."

Parker scrunched his face up. "Ivy  don't think you're getting this- If we go in there, we are dead."

"And if we don't, everyone in there is dead! That includes Felix, Tilly- Your little brother for crying out loud!"

"We don't know that they'll kill them-"

"Oh don't be so dense, Parker! You're  the one claiming they will kill us on sight, what makes you think they won't kill them too?! Why else would they have brought guns?!"

"Intimidation? Look, I don't know. What I do know , is I'm not letting you go in there-"

"Not letting me?! You can let me do shit! News flash, you're not in charge of me Parker! I can do whatever the hell I want-"

"I can't see you get hurt!" He screams over the top of me, shutting me up. Breathing heavily he talks just above a whisper, "As much as I hate to admit it, I care about you, and I can't see you get hurt Ivy, not when I could've prevented all together by getting you to say out here."

"Parker.." I trailed off, keeping eye contact, my vision going a little blurry. "I can't just sit here and do nothing; If something were to happen to Felix or Tilly, or anyone for that matter, while I sat out here with my tail between my legs, I'd never forgive myself.
I can't promise that we won't get hurt- truthfully, if we go in here, there is a chance we could die, but I'm not letting that stop me.
We have to do something.
We have to fight."

"How are you not scared right now?" He whispers.

I let out a humourless laugh. "I am scared- God I'm terrified. I'm scared that once we walk in there, everyone could very well be dead.
I'm scared for Felix and Tilly.
I'm scared for the children and the other counsellors.
I'm scared that if I drag you in here, you could get hurt.
So yeah, I am scared. But I need to at least try to do something." Tears were streaming down my face now, matching the unshed ones in Parkers eyes. 

Without saying anything, he pulled me into a bear hug, resting his chin on the top of my head. We stayed like that for what felt like hours before we pulled apart. I don't know who pulled away first.

He stared at me, nodding. "You're right." He let out a long breath. "You're right."

Silence washed over us.

"How are we going to go about this?" I finally ask, looking up at him.

"They have men circling the camp, maybe 9 or 10 from what I saw. Another 4 at the front gate, 2 at the lake and the rest are in the main hall or guarding the outside. From what I saw, there's at least 20, not including those inside the main hall. Not to mention there could be more in the other cabins or ones I just couldn't see.

There's only one way to go about this; we sneak in through the west side- I found a hole in the fence a couple years ago, it's covered with brush so they shouldn't have found it. Felix and I used it to sneak in and out of camp after curfew. It's about 5 minutes from our cabin, if we lay low and stay quiet we should be able to get there unnoticed. Once we're inside, we'll decide what to do."

I let out a long breath. "We're really doing this?"

"We're really doing this."

"Okay." I nodded and let out a shaky breath. "Lets go."

~*~

**unedited**