Chapter Thirty-Three - Suspicious Camp

They could have explored the Camp from their corner of the bar, but Alice didn't feel like being smoked in. Besides, she suspected that Crystal needed some time outside, walking under the sun.

Like a dog that needed walkies.

Crystal blinked and turned towards Alice. "What made you giggle?" she asked.

They had slipped out of the back of the admin building and were now walking in a small mostly-abandoned park next to it. There were a few fenced-off courts, for tennis and basketball. One of them was actually maintained, and a trio of young men were playing a quick pick-up game of basketball. The net was missing, but there was a hoop still.

"Nothing important," Alice said. She reached over and patted Crystal on the head, which only made the girl smile wider. "So, notice anything strange?"

Crystal looked around them, as if expecting strangeness to jump out at her. "Hmm, I've never been to a place so abandoned yet not? Like, this is meant to be a school of some sort, right?"

"A campus, and dormitory," Alice confirmed.

"Yeah, it feels like that, the way it's laid out, the buildings. Only it's like it was lazily turned into a military base." She gestured to the far end of the park where a guard tower had been built out of scaffolding and tin plates. A man was sitting in there, full-face mask on, binoculars in hand and a rifle hanging from a peg next to him by its strap. "There's tents here, even if there are probably enough rooms for ten times as many people as there are here. It's almost military."

"Almost because it lacks the... formality?" Alice said. She had to fish for that final word, and she wasn't sure if it truly fit to describe what she meant, but it was probably close enough. The Stalkers here strutted about with ease, talking to each other, laughing, sharing cigarettes and stories. Others, often a little younger, often equipped a little less well, were brushing the pavement clean or washing windows. Alice glanced into one of the windows near the edge of the park and saw a pair of men chatting as they worked on oiling an entire table covered in disassembled guns.

"It's less an army and more a militia, but even that's not it," Crystal said. "Look at that guy over there, in the light green coat."

Alice followed Crystal's directions and found a man in a pale green coat. A coat very clearly made from the remains of a hazmat suit, cut and tailored into something more comfortable to wear. He had a pair of guards with him, tough looking men in gear a little cleaner than the average.

"He's not a Stalker," Alice guessed.

"I don't think so. There's a sign spray-painted onto the back of his coat. The same sign we saw at that water-treatment place. I think he's a scientist with bodyguards?"

Alice nodded. "You're observant today," she said.

"Thanks!"

Now that Crystal had pointed it out, Alice could see the factions too. It wasn't just the scientist. A trio of Stalkers off to one side had armbands made of a deep blue material. Another group were all armed and dressed in army gear. Their rank insignia had been ripped off, but that was the only concession they made to say that they weren't just particularly dirty soldiers.

"I suppose we were told that it was a meeting spot," Alice said.

"Weird that it's not better defended, then," Crystal replied.

They watched as a man set down a heavily-laden backpack in the central courtyard in front of the admin building, then he quickly jogged in and returned with an unfolding table. A minute later he was setting things down onto it. Cans of food, some knives, TV remotes, a few strange and misshapen skulls. A few minutes later another man came out and did something similar, only this time selling guns, and with a pal standing close by with his arms crossed to deter anyone who might get ideas.

"No, this makes sense," Alice said. "You don't need good security, because attacking the Camp will anger several factions. If we started blowing things up, we'd catch people from different groups in the crossfire. It's a neutral ground. They still have people policing it, because it would be irresponsible not to, and I'm sure there are some factions here that are way stronger than others, but it's otherwise still a neutral space."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"That just makes the cult idea I had even weirder, then," Crystal said.

"Hmm?"

Crystal gesticulated, which didn't help anything except maybe it helped her think. "Cults don't do outsiders. It's like… a big part of making a cult work. You need systems to make it so that members punish themselves and abstain from stuff--for whatever reason, and you need things in place to make outsiders look all spooky and evil."

"You know alot about cults," Alice said.

Crystal shrugged. "My first big adventure as a magical girl was fighting a cult of creepy necromancers in New Zealand."

"Ah, I'd forgotten," Alice said. "In any case, you're right, this place feels too... multicultural for a cult to form. For a given definition of that word. Multifactional, perhaps?"

"Yup. Plus I'm not sensing anything too weird in the basements," Crystal said.

"First place you looked too?" Alice asked. She'd scoured the basements with her darkness already and had found a few strange things--notably a mouldy old box of magazines that ought to be burned--but nothing too strange. The basement was stuffed full of blackboards and desks and school equipment shoved out of the way.

Crystal nodded. "Of course. If I was up to some shady stuff, that's where I'd do it. Second place would be up high. I mean, if doing the shady stuff in a giant crystalline palace isn't an option, I mean."

"Of course," Alice said. When it came to shady-stuff aesthetics, she suspected she had most of their compatriots beat. Well, perhaps not Screaming Bioplague. A towering building made of shadows turned solid was pretty good for shady activities, but buildings made of living meat were up there as well.

"Are you thinking silly thoughts?" Crystal asked.

"I've never," Alice replied. "So, what do we know, exactly?"

"Kuzma probably-maybe wants us dead," she said. "Mostly because we're girls, which is taking misogyny to a whole new level really."

Alice glanced around. "There aren't any women here."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't want to be a normal girl here either. Bunch of sweaty guys who don't know to keep their paws to themselves. I bet there's an all-girls faction out there."

"Maybe. In any case... that doesn't feel natural. Some of these people are clearly ex-military, some are seeking their fortune, but some are scientists and doctors. There are nurses and cooks and plenty of other traditionally feminine jobs too. The military might recruit men more than women, but even they'll accept willing help. And people who make a home somewhere make a home with family."

"Right, some of these guys feel like they've been in this camp for ages," Crystal said.

Alice nodded. She'd spied into some of the rooms. They were decorated, had that lived-in feel that meant that the occupant had been there for more than just a few nights. "Anyone staying in a place like this for this long would have family. I see seven dogs, and a lot of cats with collars. There should be women and children too. This place isn't a military base, it's too lax."

"Mhm!" Crystal agreed. "Want to..." she paused.

A moment later, Alice saw why. A trio of ATVs were coming up the downwards sloping road some ways away, they were escorting a tiny pickup, one of those square-looking trucks that was likely better suited to ferrying milk around town than this kind of rough environment. The ATVs parked off to one side, but the truck rolled around the back of the admin building. Two men jumped out, then they helped a third figure out of the truck.

"That's a girl," Crystal said.

The third had her hands bound together with rope, and she was wearing a sac over her head.

"That is a girl, yes," Alice said.

Maybe that was one mystery that was about to be solved. She wasn't sure if she liked the direction that was going in, however.

"Should we follow?" Crystal asked.

"Definitely."

They turned around and started back towards the admin building. Thanks to her senses already being extended, Alice noticed a pair of men looking around the bar where they'd been. They were asking about her and Crystal.

So, Kuzma wanted to see them as well. With how things were going, she suspected he'd be seeing a lot of them very soon, and then he'd be answering some questions for her.

***