Chapter Five-Epic Failure

Sylvie French opened her eyes. She could feel the blood coming out from a gash in the side of her head. I’m going to die, she thought. She saw two dark figures emerging from the shadows, one boy and one girl. “What do you suppose Damien would want us to do with this one, Ana?” The boy said. He looked young, maybe in his mid-twenties. The girl, Ana, sighed. “Lukas, what did Damien always say?” Lukas sighed. “If they’re gonna die, turn them, then bring them to Damien. If they’re not hurt badly, just bring them to Damien. In all cases, bring outsiders to Damien.” Lukas said. Sylvie groaned. “She’s still alive. You know what that means.” Ana smiled devilishly, putting her pale, slender arm to her lips. She bit down hard, piercing her own skin until it bled, and forced the bloody arm into Sylvie’s mouth. Sylvie squirmed but Lukas held her down firmly until she cooperated. She stopped fighting as she realized her wounds were beginning to heal. Then, as Sylvie began to rise from the ground beneath her, Ana placed her cold hands on Sylvie’s neck and there was a sickening snap as her neck snapped and her body fell limp onto the cold, hard dirt floor of the underground world.

After an hour of chasing squirrels and deer and hunting whatever animals crossed my path, I finally remembered my prior task. I found Tegan and Travis playing games on their iPods near the campsite. “So, about that location.” I leaned up against a tree. “Right. It’s latitude 5.69964- ”
“Travis. Human words.”Travis sighed. The little shrimp of a boy was getting on my nerves. We might as well get this over with as quickly as possible. “Somewhere near the campsite we were supposed to go to. I can map it out for you if you’d like.” Travis suggested. I nodded and walked over to the guys’ tent. Sean, Chris, Ryan, Sam, Matt, and Mark were playing poker with acorns. “Ryan. Mark. Sam. I have a mission for you guys. Come with me.” Ryan, Mark and Sam stood up and exited the tent without asking any questions. “I need you to go talk to Travis about a tomb somewhere near here, After that I’ll need to see if Tegan has any vervain left.”
“What’s the point of this, exactly?” Sam asked.
“It’s complicated. For now I’ll just call it ‘operation doppelganger’. I’ll explain later. Just go find Travis!”

It was a few hours later and Tegan, Sam, Ryan, Mark and I had discussed the plan.


OBSERVATIONS REPORT
a report by Tegan Levi, Sam Dalton, Ryan Masden, Mark Keith, and Kieyra Gordon
At approximately 13:26, Operatives Levi, Dalton, Masden, Keith, and Gordon (Hereafter referred to as “the angry pickles”,as suggested by Operative Dalton) discussed the following mission:
At 13:35, Operatives Dalton, Masden, and Keith would make their way to the location indicated on a map provided by Travis Nixon. Meanwhile, Operatives Gordon and Levi would remain in a secluded area of the woods. Operative Levi had been instructed to tie Operative Gordon firmly to a tree with chains found in the back of the remains of the school bus. This action was performed on account of a)to stop Operative Gordon from wandering and preventing Operative Levi from observing any effects of the following mission, and b) to keep Operative Gordon from doing something about “those killing people feelings”.




Once the Angry Pickles have completed the first task, Operatives Keith, Masden, and Dalton must use the following materials to injure the occupant of the tomb:
- Vervain
- Wood
- Sharpened Pencils
- Rocks


The purpose of this operation is to see if Operative Gordon is connected in any way to the occupant of the tomb, hereafter referred to as “KP”.

“How much longer?” I whined to Tegan. Things get boring when you’re tied up to a tree. Plus, the chains are super uncomfortable. Tegan rolled her eyes. “I don’t know. Sam will call any minute now.” Tegan glanced at the walkie-talkie in her hand. “The Pickles have landed. I repeat, The Pickles have landed. Over.” Sam buzzed on the walkie-talkie. Tegan rolled her eyes. “What mode of torture should we use first?” Sam asked. “Vervain. Over.” Tegan said. The boys had made “Vervain grenades” with the help of Travis. They’re little balls with vervain water in them that explode on contact. Pretty cool, huh?

Not when you’re the one who may or may not feel their wrath.

“The door’s open and we have visual on the subject. Repeat, we have visual. Preparing the Vervain Grenades. Over.” I made a small sound that sounded like a whimper. “Grenades ready. Launch on 5...4...3...2...1" Another second and my face, legs and arms were burning. I screamed. The guys launched another grenade and the pain got worse. “Stop, STOP! Everything you’re doing to her is hurting Kieyra, you’re hurting Kieyra!” the wounds caused by the vervain were healing. The boys had stopped. We heard muffled talking coming from the walkie talkie.
“...dropped the talkie...”
“...before the vampire chick gets it...”
“...went in the tomb...”
“...supposed to get it back now, dipwad!”
There was a new voice on the walkie-talkie now. A girl’s voice. Laughter. Then the guys came in again distantly. “What are you doing with that stick?” I heard Mark ask. More innocent girl laughter and a sharp pain like a knife being dragged across my arm. Words were being spelled out across my arm, like in that Harry Potter movie where the teacher made Harry use the “Special Quill” that wrote “I will not tell lies” on his hand by cutting it. First an “I”. Then “Am.” the last word was longer, so I couldn’t read it as quickly.

Finally, “I AM KATHERINE” was engraved in my skin. Then, the girl’s voice came from the walkie-talkie again.

“Hello, Kieyra.”

“ABORT MISSION! ABORT MISSION! THIS CHICK’S A PSYCHO!” I heard the guys say.

Well, that mission was an epic failure. But at least we learned one thing:

Don’t bleep around in a tomb near a psycho!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!