It took the six of them a few minutes to break down the camp and get everything packed into the car. Jake, Ross, and Brock attempted to take care of the heavy stuff but, despite their bolstered muscles, none of them knew how to do all of that effectively. Instead, they mostly fumbled around like a bunch of pubescent teens who got five inches taller over the summer.
Not that the girls were immune from this body dimension confusion. Miranda had plenty of trouble trying to develop awareness of where her ass was supposed to be, how her balance swung, and not being prepared for how much real estate her tits monopolized. Chiara ran into similar obstacles but gradually corrected because of Barry’s innate uncertainty and hesitancy. Roxanne felt pestering frustration at her skinniness but soon pivoted to smaller items and crawling in the back to rearrange stuff.
Miranda quietly urged Ross to keep the water jug hidden beneath everything in the trunk. Ross and Brock settled into the backseat while Roxanne and Jake took the middle section and Chiara held the steering wheel in a death grip as the driver once again. Miranda remained the copilot.
The physical disparity again popped up as Chiara manipulated her seat to find a comfortable position. She wasn’t happy about the way the seatbelt pressed to her chest or getting her legs to adjust the muscle memory of the pedals. Furthermore, the amount of hair around her head bothered her. It took Miranda resting a hand on her shoulder to finally settle her down as they wobbled their way from the dirt back onto the bouncy, crude road.
Some notes of skepticism rose up from Roxanne and Jake about why they were following this creepy guy since he hadn’t give his name or who he worked for. Chiara considered trying to drive off but ultimately followed the black van to a modest ranger station. While about half of the group lingered back as they got out of the car and the strange man ushered them inside, they all ultimately did what they were told.
Chiara feared an interrogation room with mirrors, a steel table, and harsh lights. Instead of that, they were offered a long couch with several pillows. The strange man grabbed a rolling chair and sat facing them. He first asked if they needed anything, like water. The six of them looked at each other but no one spoke up.
“Don’t worry. No brainwashing solution. Just some refreshments.”
Through the main door stepped in immensely tall, bulky person who seemed to be a woman. She had the shape of a bodybuilder to put to shame what any of them had now or Joel before. A pair of dark sunglasses covered her eyes as the strange man glanced over his shoulder and asked, “Squirrel thing done?”
“Almost…” She answered, with a growl that almost sounded feral and vibrated through the room. The man raised a hand and the enormous woman stalked back through the door. Once silence settled, he gestured with a hand and explained, “That’s Rydia. She terrifies me. Now myself, I don’t think anyone needs to be scared of me. I’m just here to help. Agent Cerberus with…”
He unstrapped the strange helmet he had been wearing and set it down at his side before then removing his dark shades and tucking them into a pocket. The so-called agent rummaged around another pocket and came up with what looked to be a small Rolodex of cards. ”Hmmm… the Department of the Interior. Let’s go with that. Seems like you folks had quite a party going on. Illegal trespassing. Dumping. And so on. Now, I’m not interested in punishing you. I just want to keep things quiet. I want to know that when you head back to your school that you won’t tell everyone that you went to a strange little lake up here and saw things out of the ordinary. That’s all. I’ve had kind of a rough month. Eye irritation and a concussion. And that’s just dealing with people, not how crazy these woods can be.” The agent gestured to his glasses and the helmet.
He pressed them about whether they could keep all this quiet. Ross was actually the first to answer, firmly and flatly, “Yes.”
The agent clapped his hands together and celebrated her cooperation, emphasizing, “I’m so glad to hear that. You help me get all this squared away and I guarantee I can help each of you avoid so many headaches. Headaches that come from things that are a bit difficult to explain to most people. For me, it’s just a simple mouse click to remedy. Making sure there’s no name errors or confusing identities to the public record. Why… helping out the federal government like that might even mean a generous reward for each of you, assuming you all can be helpful and accurate in what you can tell me. Who did you tell you were coming up here?”
Ross blandly stated he didn’t tell anyone. For Roxanne, she mentioned probably the people in her dorm knew but didn’t leave them any specifics. The same went for the rest. The agent didn’t take any notes, he just eased back into the chair and rocked gently.
His next question was whether they took anything with them from the lake. He presented the examples of a fallen twig or a special stone or some other notable memento. Once again, Ross answered first, “Nothing. Just firewood for the fire and that’s back at camp. We used water that we brought because of myths about the water.” Ross looked over at Miranda, who hugged a pillow to her chest and shifted her legs. Everyone else in the group confirmed this. Chiara gulped and squeezed her hands together but played along.
The agent turned up his hands and smiled a gaunt, unsettling smile. “Excellent! That location is very special to the native people, so there are rules against removing objects from the land, like picking up a tourist trinket. And I am also glad that you brought your own water. There are all sorts of intestinal parasites out there. Wouldn’t want you kids to spend summer break sick to your stomach. One last thing, before we’re done. I’d like all six of you to confirm your names for proper documentation. Then, not only can we have all sorts of silly paperwork smoothed away for everyone… But I can make sure you’re all reimbursed for your cooperation. All I ask is that you don’t return to this place. Or you may have to spend some unpleasant time with Miss Rydia clearing things up properly. Sound good?” Towards the end, the agent sounded as though he were rubbing rocks together to create the sound of his words, but with the last question he perked up and cracked an unsettling smile.
All six of them agreed these were equitable terms. One by one, the agent pointed to them in turn and asked their names.
“B-baa… I mean Chiara Watson.“
“Roxanne Griffin.”
”Just Jake Butler…”
“Brock Eggers. B – R – O – C – K. E – G – G – E – R – S. Like the Pokémon guy.”
“Ross Hanover.”
“Miranda Rogers. No uncommon spellings. I can spell it out.”
The agent waved a hand and assured her it would be fine. He still didn’t write anything down as he clasped his hands and announced, “That should be taken care of by the time you return to your school [Roxanne realized then that they hadn’t told him what school they went to]. With that, you’re all free to go and have a wonderful rest of your vacation… Unless there’s anything… Anything at all that may have slipped your thoughts or just not come up of some pertinence. You can feel free to mention it now… if there is anything else…” The look he gave was unsettling but none of them cracked.
Without any further preamble, they got back into the car and drove the dirt road back. It was a little strange that the closed off area marking the entrance had seemingly vanished without a trace or any of the massive logs blocking the path. At least this meant that no one had to get out and push them, like when they first arrived. Only once they were back onto a regular two-lane highway with normal traffic did everyone start breathing again. Roxanne told herself that she wasn’t so much scared as unsettled by the so-called agent’s nature. Her best way to describe it was feeling like he wasn’t entirely human, despite the fact he wore the guise of a man. Same went for his hulking associate.
Miranda pressed her hands together and thanked everyone for not mentioning the water. Ross shrugged and noted, “He didn’t bring up the water, even though we mentioned it, so if it’s a problem then it’s his own fault. I just hope he doesn’t screw us over. If he can fix our paperwork then that’ll help so much. No matter what happens, I’ll take care of what I have to…to make a new life for myself.”