Dig It Up *A 'Holes' Fanfiction*

Pringles, Coke and Zero's Return

Chapter 29

         It was so well. Squid and I hadn’t looked each other in the eyes for the past two days. I tried to hint to him to talk privately, but he would either ignore me or just stare and blink.

“Fucking hell!” I yelled as I shoved my shovel deeper into the earth.

“What’s up?” Charlie asked. We were the last two digging our holes, even Twitch out ran us. To make things worse for me, Charlie was almost done and I knew she wouldn’t wait for me.

“Ugh, nothing…” I scooped up the dirt and flung it over my shoulder. Around twenty more shovel-fulls then I’ll be done!

“Tell me what’s going on.” She commanded.

“I miss Squid.” I said.

“Well that’s obvious, seriously what else?”

“I have this feeling that he likes me still…”

“Well that’s obvious too.” She sat on the edge of her hole.

“Really?” I was surprised.

“Duh, I saw him looking at you all the time you turned away with sad eyes. It was so cute!” She said.

“Really…” I wondered out loud as I took my last scoop.

“Yes really!” She exclaimed. “Now hurry up I wanna have a shower.” She turned and walked off. I clambered out of my hole dragging my shovel out.

“Hey!” I said jumping on her back. She immediately pushed me off.

“What?”

“You said ‘wanna’.”

“Oh my god really?”  She was astonished.

“Yeah, maybe you will get that Texan accent.” I pointed out.

“Yeah…No, defiantly not. It will take longer than a month to get rid of this accent.” She sighed as we walked past the tents.

“I can’t believe it.”

“Believe what?”

“It’s been a month. Longer for me at least two or one and a half!” I guessed.

“Wow, that’s creepy.” Charlie said as we walked into the tent. Magnet and Squid sat on one bed and looked deep in conversation. They pulled away from each other as we stepped further inside. Magnet got up and gave me a smile. I ignored it.

“Where’s the others?” I asked.

“They’re in the Wreck Room.” Squid said. Good sign? It was the first thing he said to me before the break up. Break up. I’ve never loathed two words before. He then walked out the tent.

“Thanks.” I called after him. Then I noticed that the dinner bell was going off.

“Dinner?” Magnet asked following Charlie out the covers.

“Nah, I’ll eat my snacks.” It was real unhealthy but it was better sitting at the awkward table. For the past three days every night was Pringles, Coke and a Mini Mars Bar to finish it off. Tonight was Cheese and Onion. It really smelt bad and I swear that they went off. If chips can go off…but I ate them anyways. I downed the warm Coke and engulfed the chocolate. I lay down on my bed and plugged in as I usually do. I stunk of onion so bad that I tried to cover it up with Charlie’s spray. Now I smelt of flowery onions. Not good. But, I didn’t care that much. I just took Charlie’s book at tried to fan myself off. I placed it carefully back into the same position it was in before on her bed just so she didn’t expect anything. She didn’t like people touch the precious Pride and Prejudice. Then I lay down and waited for the others to come back. The bad seemed quite comfortable as I got under the sheets and tuned out.

         I think I fell asleep because by the time I came back to reality everyone was getting ready for bed.

“Good evening.” Charlie said dressed in her pajama shorts and tank top. The boys were already lying on their beds. At the corner of my eye I saw Squid sitting and staring.

“Hello there…What time is it?” I yawned.

“Bed time! Good night everyone!” Pendanski jumped into the tent and switched out the light.

“What? Aw, well back to sleep I go…” I said. But I couldn’t. I lay wide-awake in bed. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t go back to sleep. I rolled about in the scratchy cot, trying to get in a comfortable position. It seemed impossible. I sighed and sat up, stretching. Suddenly I heard a noise. I faint shuffling noise. It has to be ThLump trying to get revenge! Did he see us do it?  My first reaction was to wake someone up and go out and beat the hell outta ThLump. But, then I thought I should do it myself. Teach that bastard and his gang a lesson. I slowly pulled the thin white sheet off me and stood up in slow motion. The shuffling had gone to the back of the tent. I peered out of the flaps. It was still dark out. I went back in, got my flashlight, and went out again. I made my way to the back of the tent. A shadow flicked past and I pressed my body against the green fabric and held my breath. Then and small figure stood before me. I squinted. The figure anxiously put a finger to his lips and signaled to be quiet. I was stunned at who it was.

“Zero?” I asked quietly. “Wait-What? Y-you…I thought you were gonna die out there!” I almost shouted.

“Shhh!” He hissed. He was dusty and looked weary. He held a shovel in his hand. What was he doing with that? “You have to be quiet! Pendanski and Mr. Sir are still about.”

“But how are you still alive? It’s been like…I dunno… a real long time!”

“It’s a long story…” 

“I can hear it once you come back inside and everyone can then hear it!” I grabbed him by the arm and started to drag to towards the front of D-Tent. “I can’t believe you’re alive! What happened to Stanley? I hope he died out there…what are you doing with that shovel?” Words spilled out of my mouth.

“No. I can’t. Stanley’s alive. We think we found something.” He shook me off. I went wide-eyed.

“Dammit, he’s alive.” I joked but I went serious. “What do you think you’ve found?” He smirked.

“You know what.” Zero said. I was stunned.

“Seriously? You found it!” I almost screamed.

“Yeah, we have… I think”

“Can I help?”

“If you really want to…just go get a shovel and I’ll flash your flashlight when I see you so you know where we are.” He walked away towards the sea of holes. I went my own way to the shovel cupboard. It was quite scary all by myself wandering my way across the silent camp. I felt someone was watching me…from somewhere. Many times I spun around, expecting someone to jump away or worse, jump on me. But, no one was there. I sung to myself and picked up speed. There was someone out there, I knew it. I leapt into the shadows out of site where the shovels were. I grabbed the nearest one and felt my way along the Mess Hall. I then sprinted all the way until I was at The Warden’s cabin. I calmly walked past. A light inside turned on. I froze. I looked to see if I could hide, but I was frozen in place. The front door opened and The Warden stepped out gun in hand wrapped in a robe. She stared at me with cold eyes then realized who I was.

“Ember? What are you doing out at this time?” She asked walking closer. I noticed that the gun had fallen to her side but still pointed at me.

“Oh, well I…I was-I heard a noise outside. I thought someone was trying to break into your place so I got this shovel here and prepared to hit some burglar?” I didn’t sound sure of myself but maybe it was enough.

“Really? Oh why thank you!” She said in a happy voice. It didn’t sound happy though…very fake. “Here, dear, come inside, you must be traumatized.” She ushered me inside, although I protested. I needed to find Zero and Stanley. The Warden looked behind her and scanned around before she shut the door.