Page 1 of Freak Camp
PART ONE
Chapter One
September 1990
The gray concrete wallsof Freak Camp weren’t as tall as Jake had expected them to be, considering all the monsters held inside.He craned his neck to look up at the razor wire on top as his dad, Leon, stopped the car before the guard post.
“Hawthorne?”
Jake looked over, surprised to hear their real last name.The guard bent over to squint through the car window, looking curious and skeptical.
Dad stared back, implacable.“What’s it to you?”
The guard shrugged.“Didn’t expect to see you around here.Thought you steered clear of the ASC.”
“There a problem with my hunting license?Unless you changed the rules in the last hour, any licensed ASC hunter has access to the FREACS facility.”
The guard still hesitated, his gaze moving to Jake.“You got a license for the kid already?”
Dad snorted as Jake glared.“Like the Dixons never bring their kids here.Don’t bullshit me.He’s with me, and he can look out for himself.”
With a final shrug, the guard stepped back and waved them through.Jake smirked, sitting back.Gravel crunched under the Eldorado’s tires as they rolled forward into the small parking lot.
Even this far north in Nevada, the late September heat stifled the air as they walked from the car to the heavy metal door, where they paused under a camera for a beep that allowed them to enter.
Following his father, Jake stepped through the spirit-detection scanners, across the pentagrams, and gripped the silver-and-iron turnstile to push through into the lobby.He tried to look like he’d been there before, that this was all routine, as they headed to the reception desk with a grim-looking middle-aged woman stationed behind a reinforced plastic screen.Really, it had only been in the months since his tenth birthday that Dad had let Jake join in a few hunts instead of leaving him alone in the motel or with a babysitter.Well, sometimes his job was only to guard the Eldorado while Dad went after the vamps inside the warehouse, but that was still a really important job.Jake knew how to use the radio to call for help if things got ugly.
And now Dad trusted him enough to bring him intoFreak Camp.Jake was more than ready to see real monsters in the light of day and not just the aftermath at midnight in a trashed house.
Dad wrote their names into the register, and the receptionist pulled it toward her to scan them, her eyes widening.“Mr.Hawthorne.Is this your first time visiting FREACS?”
“Suppose it is.”
She looked at Jake.“We don’t usually have minors loitering in Reception, but he could wait here—”
“No,” Dad interrupted.“He’s coming inside with me.No use sheltering him.As long as you don’t have the inmates running the show.”His tone was scornful, a challenge.
Her mouth pursed.“Certainly not.Well, this is not a situation that’s arisen before, but ASC leadership leaves it to parental discretion.I’ll call a guard to escort you in.”
***
Victor Todd had beenworking at FREACS for less than a year, so he still found himself tagged for grunt jobs like escort duty.When he heard the summons over the walkie-talkie, he rolled his eyes and left his patrol of the Workhouse to head for Reception.At least the chance to give a tour to a jaw-dropped, barely-eighteen hunter could break up the monotony of the week, he reflected as he punched the code to open the security door.
The door swung open to reveal a grizzled middle-aged man, face as hard as the most experienced guards and hunters Victor had met.As he stepped through, a young boy jumped after him, his own gray-blue eyes wide and scanning the yard before them.
Victor took their measure, then cleared his throat.“Welcome to Freak Camp.I’m Officer Todd, and I’ll be your tour guide today.”
The man didn’t look away from his cool study of the camp.“Hawthorne.”
Victor did a double take.The boy beside Hawthorne imitated the man’s posture, feet apart, one hand resting on a short-sheathed knife strapped to his jeans belt.This was Sally Dixon’s son?No one had caught a glimpse of him since his mother was killed in the Liberty Wolf Massacre six years ago.His father had disappeared with the boy before the end of the funerals.
The kid couldn’t yet be in junior high.He looked about the same age as Victor’s youngest cousins.The only weapon they could handle was a baseball bat—though they’d be scary with one—and Victor would go to work bare-ass naked before he let them set foot in here.
With effort, Victor refocused on the man before him.While his son was a mystery, Leon Hawthorne was a legend among hunters and those within the Agency of Supernatural Control.He was a man who went alone, with only an ax, after monsters that other hunters tackled in groups, armed with machine guns.
“This is your first time here, is that right?”Victor asked, and Hawthorne gave a short nod.“Well, welcome to America’s number-one most secure and only facility for housing supernatural creatures—whatever monsters under Timmy’s bed we can drag out and haul here.I’m sure you’ve heard a lot of nicknames, but the official name is the Facility for Research, Elimination, and Containment of Supernaturals.Built and named five years ago by Director Elijah Dixon, founder and head of the ASC—”
Victor broke off with a cough, realizing he was talking about Hawthorne’s father-in-law and the boy’s grandfather.Neither of them looked at him, but Victor thought the grim lines around Hawthorne’s mouth and eyes tightened.
