Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sunlight flickered through the dense woodland trees and onto Ray Garraty’s eyes as he gazed out the window. His mother with her hands clasped on the wheel drove slowly along the winding dirt road to the gates of the campground. 

A large wooden sign painted a once bright orange now faded and chipping read the words Camp Musketeer in equally faded black paint.

The camp had been there longer than Garraty had been alive. Taking kids in over the summer from all backgrounds and walks of life all you needed to do was enter the draw and hope they picked you that summer. Not Garraty though, his father forbid it. Anything ran my the Major and his goons was bad news in the eyes of William Garraty, especially a camp that in his father’s words “where indoctrination camps” 

But his father wasn’t around to forbid it anymore, and the money was more of use to Ray and his mother than the morels his father had drilled into him.

He had put his name in for the councilor job along with a hundred other boys in the country, the camp was dangerous and hard work but it paid extremely well for a reason no one quite understood. How hard could keeping a few teenage boys alive for nine weeks really be?.

The radio that had been playing the news dissolved into static as the two drove along the rough expansive dirt road. His mother kissed her teeth and switched off the mind numbing static in favor of a painful silence.

“It’s not to late to head back” Mrs Garraty tremored, swallowing a hard lump in her throat.

“Yes. It is mom” 

“We could tell them you’re ill” 

“They would check, mom the Major’s kids are gonna be here, he’s not gonna let one thing go out of his plan…” Ray rubbed the bridge of his nose. He understood his mother’s fear, being left along in the empty house for nine weeks with only a letter each week if lucky. But they had no choice.

They pulled into park alongside various other cars, they where told to arrive a day early to prepare and meet the fellow councilors before the campers arrived. The two Garratys waited in the warning car. Neither warming to leave the other alone, but with a deep breath Garraty forced himself out. His boots crunching against the firm earth below as he walked around to the trunk and grabbed his bag.

“Are you sure you have everything?” His mother asked, hugging herself. Garraty nodded giving his bag a once over before lugging it over his shoulder.

“This is it…I’ll send you letters I promise. My emergency cash is under-”

“No!” His mother interrupted, putting a delicate hand on his arm.

“No...I don’t need it sweetheart. I’ll be alright just…keep yourself safe please” her voice trembled at the as she pleaded her son to stay alive, stay with her.

He nodded, his lips pressed into a thin line before Mrs Garraty pulled Ray into a ridged hug. The smell of soft powder and ivory soap filed Garraty’s nose as he dropped his shoulders and held her close, gently rubbing his thumb along her shoulder.

“I love you so much”

“I love you more” Garraty replied. She chuckled and shook her head at that statement. A blasting order from the speaker phones at the top of the camp.

“ALL STAFF HEAD TO THE MESS HALL. ALL STAFF HEAD TO THE MESS HALL!” The speaker cracked and squeaked but they could hear it even from the road below the hill.

“Ok…are you sure you have everything?” his mother asked, forcing herself to let go of her son.

“I promise…I love you mom please be safe” he begged repeating her own words back to her.

With a sad smile and a breathy chuckle she nodded, joining the other parents, people who had taken the time and gas to take them up here to go knows where in Maine waving the boys off. 

Garraty leaned his head back, watching his mother tearfully wave her child off. He gave a soft wave back before walking along the sloping hill to the campground. 

The walk to the mess hall, a large peach colored log cabin with green panel windows was quick and steady going with five other boys of all shapes, sizes and colors each looking around at the expansive camp grounds. The mess hall doors where painted the same deep hunter green as the windows.

A large blond boy with a sour looking face held one of the doors as the strangers all clustered into the hall. Large green bench tables and benches sat side by side against the walls and in the middle. Each boy took a pew, most clustering onto one together at the front while the scowling blonde door holder and a native boy sat by themselves only a few feet away.

“So…” the dark skinned boy next to Ray broke the prickly silence. His face was scared yet he wore a smile like a fine tailored suit.

“Suppose we should introduce ourselves huh. Pete McVries” the boy placed a hand to his chest and looked over to Ray.

“Raymond Garraty. You can call me Ray” Garraty replied with a nervous but friendly smile

“Hank Olson' the name wilderness survival is my game” Garraty doubted that especially with that Boston accent. Garraty reckoned he’d never seen a forest in his life.

“Art Baker, pleasure to meet yall” 

“Christ you sound like my memaw Art. Names Gary, Gary Barkovitch, my friends call me barko” the scruffy boy who stank of weed at the end of the table snickered with a shit eating grin that faded as quickly as it came when he realized no one was laughing with him.

“The fucks a memaw?” laughed Hank, looking at the flustered big with a raised brow.

“Fuck off” Barkovitch snapped, his eyes glaring at the table and picked at his fingers with his stained nails.

“What’s your name there scribe?” Mcvrise chuckled as he asked the smaller boy with thick milk bottle glasses who sat across from Art. He lifted his head up from the notebook he was frantically writing in and smiled nervously.

“Sorry just writing down everyone’s names, so I don’t forget you know” he replied before closing the beaten up notebook. 

“I’m Richard Harkness” poor boy was shaking with nerves but he was still smiling even as anxiety didn't drip from his pores. How the hell did he get in? Garraty could only wonder.

“The fucks your name?” Barkovitch leaned back in his bench and howled over at the native boy who sat rested against the wall with a leg up on the bench. He looked both unbothered and as if he’d give anything to not be here. Made Garraty wonder why he signed up at all.

“Collie Parker” he said flatly. The other boys waved awkwardly as he ignored them all.

“What about you?” Ray asked over at the off putting looking boy who sat rather close to the door. He glanced over checking that he was talking to him before chewing the inside of his cheek and answering bluntly.

“Stebbins” 

“Just Stebbins?” Olson laughed earning him a scowl before Stebbins turned his attention back to the door. They where all nervous, each second felt like a decade. Any moment the Major would stomp through that door and talk to them like soldiers.

God if Ray’s father could see him now.

The group jumped out of their skin as if like clockwork a stout man dressed in a well pressed military uniform burst through the door like a storm. His eyes hidden behind aviator glasses and two armed men stood behind him on either side.

The boys all shot up from their seats, except Collie and Ray who sat frozen in their chairs from the chill of the Major’s presence.

“Sit down boys this won’t take long” growled the Major.

“Now as you all know you’ve been picked for one of the most important jobs of the summer. To teach and inspire the best boys from all over this great country, and I expect you all to hold the standard to its highest regard. This is not a get away from home this is prepare these young men for life serving this great nation” he spat each word like a snarling dog. Ray couldn’t help but sink in on himself with every pause.

One of the stone faced men who stood behind the Major pulled out a set of eight  thin folders and went around handing each one to them. The leather folders had; their names, ID, their cabin number list tasks, and rules.

“I expect you to follow these rules to a T. If you fail to do so not only will you be removed from the camp but you will sent to the squads is that clear.” The Major barked.

“Yes sir!” The boys all called out.

“Good. Now you have been assigned a roommate in your cabins if you have an issue with your roommate I suggest you keep it to yourself. Do me proud boys. Show the next generation what it means to work hard!” 

He left as soon as he came leaving the boys alone in the bitter air and their thoughts. It truly was to late to back out. This was their lives for next nine weeks.

Chapter Text

Each councilor had been assigned a cabin and a roommate along with it. Pete half expected them to all be bunking together in one big cabin like the campers but supposed they got special treatment.

Cabin one: Baker and Parker

Cabin two: Olson and Barkovitch

Cabin three: Stebbins and Harkness

Cabin four: Garraty and McVries

The cabins themselves weren’t much special, much like the ones the campers would be sleeping in with the same log built walls and green windows only far smaller with nearly any space to move  around in-between the two twin beds that sat side by side only inches from the door.

They had their own bathroom at least but it wasn’t much, just a toilet and a sink that had seen better days crammed together at the back of the log shack. Though it was far better than the group shared bathrooms the kids where going to deal with, those things where more like outhouses than real bathroom but much like the campers it seems they would be shower together in the staff showers that sat in-between the four log shacks.

With only a locker and whatever they could sit under their own beds to their names the two boys started to unpack and make a home if their tiny shack.

McVries stuffed his clothes into the skinny metal locker, threw his bag and shoes under the bed before finally taking a rest on the sharp, squeaky mattress.

The springs dug deep into his scared skin as he leaned back on his elbows. But a bed was a bed and Pete wasn’t about to complain about a free roof over his head.

He skimmed over his folder once again reading out his tasks as a councilor.

Seems he was relegated to; swimming at the lake every Friday when warm enough, meal duties every Monday and Sunday, wilderness survival with Parker on Wednesdays, hikes on Thursdays with the whole team, and clean up duty on Saturday. Just like always a free bed and free meal wasn’t free from strings and hard work. But it was doable. Pete had done factory work for the past few years even though he had to lie about his age to get that job but that was neither hear nor there.

Pete looked over at the ginger in the bed across from him who was putting down his roots in what was to be their new home till the end of summer, pinning up a small black and white picture to the wall next to his pillow.

It was of Ray with two women. One he recognized from the drop off, the sweet women he could only assume was his mother and a pretty blonde girl who Garraty had his arm wrapped around.

“That your girl?” McVries asked from behind his folder with a sly smile. Garraty chuckled, thumbing his nose as he looked down bashfully.

“Yeah. I mean-… she was. Didn’t wanna leave her hanging for so long once I got the letter so you know” a mixture of guilt and sadness his roommate’s face. Even Pete could tell he cared for the girl.

“I’m sure she’ll be waiting for you the second you get home mark my words Ray” McVries chuckled waving his finger at Garraty like a teacher giving a warning.

Garraty laughed with him and shook his head.

“No no I royally screwed it up…what about you McVries you got a girl at home?” He asked looking over at Pete. In truth he’d screwed up far more than braking up over moving for work, things he could only pray to be forgiven for. Either by Pris or by god himself.

“Nah” McVries replied trying not to drop that smile that clung to his scared face. Garraty raised his brows in shock as if he didn’t believe a word Pete said. That look, the look of shock that a pretty girl wouldn’t be waiting at the window for a man like him even with a scar from his eye to his lips, even with every flaw that was baked deeply into his bones like charcoal. It caused a burning warmth to scatter over McVries’s face.

“Truly I don’t” he laughed, hiding his his blushing face in the folder.

“so what’s your schedule?” he asked, trying his best to change the subject. Garraty flipped open the folder, skimming over the pages of identification for if you where to go missing and even longer pages of rules to follow till he got to the sliver of paper with the schedule and tasks for each weak.

“Um. I got meal duties on Mondays and Thursdays, clean up on Saturdays, Self defense on Wednesdays, and survival crafts with Stebbins on Sundays what fun” Garraty huffed with a smile. Seems Pete and Ray would be seeing a a lot of each other thanks to their given schedules lining up. 

If McVries played his cards right and the stars aligned. He reckoned He and Garraty would make good friends.

The boy was yanked from his train of thought when a knock rattled the thin green door loud enough to make the two jump from the sound echoing through the tiny cabin.

“Y’all descent?” Baker asked gently on the other side.

“Yeah come on in Art!” Pete hollered back, Baker opened the door  with Olson in tow behind him. Art leaned his tall frame against the door way, the green paint flaking under his touch.

“Room for two more?” Art laughed, that warm Louisiana laugh that invited company in for a warm meal and a chat that lasted till sunrise and then some.

“Afraid there’s no more room in the inn” Garraty snickered as he shifted on his bed, squeaking each rusty spring as he sat back against the wall.

Art filled the room with that warm laughter while Hank piped up.

“I guess you won’t be wanting your ration pack for tonight huh?” Chirped Olson. He held up a large brown paper bag, shaking it like he was beckoning a dog to dinner.

“Its got real meat in em, bread, and…god knows what in concentrate” he goaded in a single song voice as if it was the finest meal they had to offer but a meal was a meal in McVries’s eyes.

“We’re gonna eat by the lake before the kiddies show up and piss in it you coming?” 

Mcvrise looked over at Ray with a raised brow and a pursed lip. Garraty let out a breathy laugh and nodded, leaning over his bed to grab the boots he had thrown off 

“Sweet. See you guys down there” Olson smirked leaving Art’s side yelling out to the other nearby cabins.

“Hey fuckers we’re eating at the lake if you want your dinner get down here. Or starve I don’t fucking care!” The boys shared a laugh and shook their heads as Olson’s voice grew further away.

“This is gonna be a long summer huh” McVries mumbled.

Chapter Text

The five boys all clustered by the lake, save for Stebbins who didn’t seem to want his suspicious meat and hid out in his cabin. 

Even Barker sat close by. Well close enough to be within arms reach of the food but not sit with them as group. Barkovitch could sense a burning anger resting up against that cold wall he put up but there was no way in hell he was getting around it.

“Don’t be a fucking litterbug Garraty it’s bad for the mother fucking ozone layer” Olson snapped as Ray chucked an aluminum paint tube filled with what they assumed was meant to be a cheese onto the ground missing the trash can but about 3 inches.

“Hank there are beer cans floating in then fucking water right now” Ray hummed leaning back on his elbows as he flatted out onto the earth that was as solid as rock, even so close to the water, Gary could feel every bone in his backside roll against the solid dirt as he shifted and pulled out his camera, getting a few shots of the fire flies dancing over the waters edge.

“Thought alcohol wasn’t allowed here?” Art asked before taking a swig of his canine.

“It’s not but I doubt the previous councilors gave a shit” replied Pete who sat with his arms rest in his knees.

“Good way to get squaded” Olson added.

Barkovitch snickered under is breath as he pulled out a joint from his coat pocket.

“Are you fucking stupid?!” Garraty looked at Barkovitch as if he’d grown a third head. 

“Relax it’s to take the edge off, you’re allowed cigarettes up here. I see the ones in your pocket scar face so don’t give me shit” Barko snapped. The animosity lingering in the air so thick you could cut it with a knife.

“I’m not gonna smoke it in front of the kiddies so don’t get your panties in a twist fuckers” Gary muttered with the joint in his moth as he lit up and took a deep hit the buzz hitting the back of his brain and soothing out the fear he had about fucking up this day. The others already thought he was weird. Now he feared they would rat on him.

Till Barker held out his had. Not saying a word as he asked for a hit.

“Christ not you too” Olson signed, tightly pinching his nose. 

“Grow up we’re showering tomorrow relax” Collie muttered as he took a hit not even flinching or coughing like Barkovitch did.

“You better that shit sinks” Olson continues to whine. The group sat in silence, listening to the wireless that croaked in the forest. The quite only broke by the clicking shutter of Gary’s camera and the passing of the joint.

“Never thought I’d be so terrified of kids” Art said  solemnly “I got a huge family but I not responsible for their lives you know?” The boy shrugged. Barkovitch snickered, he had so many siblings and cousins it could fill up the whole state of Florida. To him this was gonna be no different to his babysitting jobs he had over the summer for his aunts.

“kids are ruthless. Let’s hope none are stupid enough to cause fights” said Garraty with a laugh and a kind eye to Baker. 

“And that we don’t end up loosing a couple of em” McVries added, his own grin crinkled and lopsided.

“They’re kids, feed em, water em, keep em entertained” Collie huffed as he stood up from the ground. Stretching out his arms and back enough to hear a soft crack with each turn. Olson chimed in with a snorting laugh 

“They’re not plants Barker” but Collie ignores him and began walking back up to the cabins.

“Hey that’s- hey that’s one asshole!” Barkovitch called out. Swiveling in his spot as the boy walked away with his joint in between his lips.

“Mother fucker…Hey!!!” Barkovitch threw his hands in the air in frustration looking to the other boys for help but get just laughed amount themselves like geese.

“Please put that out before you go inside!” Art called out earning him a noise of acknowledgment as Barker walked out of sight.

“Fucking asshole. I’ve got a make that shit last!” Gary whined. He only brought a few to tide him over for at least three four weeks, six of he spaced it out enough.

“Cocksuckers” he snapped, rising to his feet and stomping away from the lake, his boots scraping against the rocky dirt.

“Fucking assholes…” Barkovitch muttered to himself before smacking the side of his head.

He didn’t need them. Be just needed to do the work and go home a richer man. Was he really that stupid enough to think he’d make any friends out here. 

He saw Collie putting out the joint on the ground. Snuffing what was left of the downer out under his shoe before slithering away into the cabin out of sight but still very much in mind.

It took everything inside Barkovitch not to bang in that door and call out that tall thieving ass, demanding who he thought he was to act so above it all. But he slapped his head once more and stormed off to is own cabin, slamming his door loud enough to make the sleeping birds scamper to take flight off the roof in a panic.