Cascadia's Fault

Lunch as a Full-Contact Sport

Johnny dumped his bag on the lower bunk in the cabin he'd be sharing with twenty-five other guys and one camp counselor for the duration. CJ kept close since the meeting in the main hall. Once the other buses had arrived and everyone had been accounted for, everyone shuffled off into their cabin groups. Their sisters had disappeared to the other side of camp where the woods hid the girls' cabins from the boys with the community areas in the middle.

After the tremor, the crazy run through the trees and up the hill while carrying Caz, who had lain limp, sprawled in his arms, his shoulders ached, and his legs wobbled with exhaustion. CJ took the top bunk and was now sorting through his books and clothes.

Each bunk had a chest of drawers on either side beneath the bottom bunk to use for their clothes and other belongings. There were hooks and notches, not all of which made sense to him, but they'd only been given an hour before they were supposed to have lunch then gather in main hall again to go over schedules and activities.

God, he was hungry.

Especially after never experiencing such terror.

It wasn't the tremor that scared him.

Nope.

It had been watching that huge backpack hit Caz squarely on the side of her head and watch her eyes glaze over so completely. CJ had commented on how fast he had moved, and he was right. He flew, not even realizing how fast he'd moved until he was there with Caz blinking blindly while he tried to listen to the camp counselors holler directions on how to get to the meeting place in case of tsunami.

She never moved while he'd made sure Jem and CJ stayed together.

He'd never been so panicked in his life.

"You done?"

Johnny turned from tucking the last of his things into the drawer. CJ was closing the lid on one of the under-bed boxes stuffed with gaming books. Johnny forced a half-smile, "Yeah, Minion, let's get this over with and find some food."

It was pandemonium.

Which shouldn't have been surprising considering no one had eaten, and it was about two hours past lunch. Johnny was surprised it wasn't a riot. Bodies crammed into the line, grabbing trays, reaching for pre-packaged sandwiches, salads, and puddings. He wasn't much better, but he shoved CJ in front of him, and body-blocked anyone who tried to shove him aside. Even as they shuffled their way through the line, he kept scanning for the spikey hair he knew so well, but in the sea of bodies, their sisters were nowhere to be found.

The long tables were burgeoning with hungry campers, digging in and waiting for no one. Johnny finally gave up and just elbowed his way in for a place for him and CJ. The roar in the room drowned out any possibility of conversation without shouting, which he figured was just as well as he wasn't even sure if he would bother chewing his food. CJ was hunched over his tray and shoveling it in with a singlemindedness he had to admire for such a skinny guy.

"Hi!"

Johnny spared a glance at the girls across from them. "Hi," he shouted back.

"I'm Noa," she yelled, flashing a wide, bright smile, "is this your first time here?"

He had the good manners to swallow his food first while CJ just nodded and kept chewing, answering, "Johnny, this is CJ, and yeah."

"Really? Your brother?" Noa turned the full wattage of that smile on CJ.

Johnny pounded CJ's back as he tried to laugh and choke at the same time. "Um, no. This is my friend's brother. We're waiting for our sisters to find us."

Noa twirled a lock of long blonde hair around a finger as she nibbled her salad. "Newbies, then? My older sister, Lulu, is around here somewhere, too. I'm the youngest of seven girls, and all of us have been coming to this camp since we were old enough to join. This is Lulu's last year since she'll be a senior in the fall. It can be fun. I think you'll like it," she added with a toothpaste commercial worthy smile.

Johnny shrugged. Up until a few hours ago, summer camp of any sort had never held much appeal. "I guess we'll see, won't we?""There you are!"

They swung around to see Jem and Caz threading through the crowds of people while trying to balance their trays of food above the heads of the seated. Johnny was a little embarrassed to admit he was relieved to see them and see that Caz had gained back some of the color she'd lost again while sitting through the first round of dullery in the main hall. Her scowl was back and that, crazily enough, was also a relief.

The boys shoved at the bodies next to them, hinting not so subtly at everyone to make room. Caz stood, looking for all the world like she was waiting for CJ to make room for her on the other side of him since Jem had copped the space between the boys. When that didn't happen, she huffed and plopped down next to Johnny, who made the introductions at just shy of the top of his lungs. He managed to hide his grin when Caz did little more than offer a quick nod in Noa's direction before turning her attention to her tray. He imagined that Noa's cheerleader outgoingness would get on Caz's nerves in two minutes flat. Jem might be a social butterfly, but at least she wasn't perky, he thought.

Shudder.

Noa, meanwhile, oblivious to Caz and CJ pointedly ignoring her, chattered on – how was that even possible at that volume? – about all of the activities that were offered: horseback riding, weapons and archery, arts and crafts, natural medicine, history lessons, and plenty of time at the beach with bonfires.

Johnny tried to keep nodding at the appropriate times, and hey! Archery and bonfires sounded fun. However, even he jiggled his knee impatiently as he waited for Jem and Caz to finish their food. Noa had finished her meal and showed no signs of leaving or being interested in finding her sister. Johnny felt the tension that had been building between his shoulder relax when Jem swiped up her tray and aimed a sunny smile at their lunch companion, "It was so nice meeting you! We'd better get going. Don't want to be late for our first big, official meeting, do we?"

Caz picked up her tray almost untouched. It was pretty obvious to Johnny; she'd been doing more moving around of food than actual eating of it. However, their little party all gave varying degrees of goodbye's. They made their escape, leaving the chaos and noise of the mess hall behind. The camp, nestled in the woods, but with a clear view of the ocean beyond, had a sound all its own. Voices, calling to one another or just a murmur of muted conversations mixed with birds all underlain by the steady coming and going of the surf.

Johnny found it both soothing and invigorating.

Even if he was freezing.