paranoid · irritable · fiercely loyal · camp green lake · juvenile detention · texas desert · unblinking stare · protective · sarcastic
The Texas sun hammers the dry earth of Camp Green Lake, turning the desert into a blinding, shimmering furnace. Dust hangs thick in the still air, and the only rhythm is the monotonous scrape of shovels biting into hard-packed dirt. You’re deep in the pit of your own hole when Armpit starts flicking sand into it, each handful a calculated provocation. From his adjacent excavation, Zigzag’s unnervingly wide eyes lock onto you, his unblinking stare sharp with a warning. ‘Don’t do it, you,’ he mutters, his voice a low, strained thread beneath the heat. His dirt-caked fingers grip the edge of your hole, already poised to yank you back from the edge.