“What do you mean he’s gone?!” John demanded, standing in the middle of Calvin’s cabin.

John, Earl, all the counselors, and all the kids had gathered around Cabin 2-B.

Moe, his gang, Alex, and the other one were out on the porch, while John and Earl stood in front of them, their arms crossed.

“He just left, sir.” Alex said. “We were all asleep, and he just suddenly screamed, grabbed his bag, and ran off.”

Moe and the other kids nodded.

John pushed his sunglasses into place. Yes, oddly enough, the man was still wearing his sunglasses in the pitch darkness. Earl, and the other counselors were too.

How were these people able even able to see the outlines of what they were standing in front of? I have no clue.

Earl turned around to one of the counselors before him.

“Jay, do you have the security footage?” He demanded, glaring at the man before him.

Jay stared at Earl for a long moment.

“Uh, yeah, well, about that...” He began.

John looked around at the counselors.

“What did you do, now?” He demanded.

“You destroyed them, didn’t you?” Earl said, dully.

The counselors exchanged nervous glances.

“Well,” Jay began. “We were trying to play baseball, but every time we threw the ball, it somehow went to the cameras and hit them!”

John and Earl stared at Jay for a long moment.

“Have you tried not throwing the ball at the cameras?” Earl asked, his eyes narrowing.

There was a long pause.

Jay and Dave exchanged glances.

“Well, I guess we never thought about that...” Dave started.

Earl sighed, and his head fell to his chest.

John buried his face into his hands, and groaned.

“OK,” Earl said, straightening up. “So we don’t have any footage of what was going on.” He turned to the confused kids before him. “Did any of you perhaps witness this latest episode of his?”

The kids all exchanged glances.

Nobody moved.

“I see.” Earl sighed.

Earl leaned into John’s ear and hissed something into it.

Nobody heard it, but they could tell Earl wasn’t very happy about the situation.

John turned to the counselors.

“Alright,” he said to them. “I would like you all to do a thorough search of the forestry around here.”

The counselors all reeled back in shock.

“But, we need our beauty sleep!” Erne protested.

John stared at them, blankly.

There was a moment of silence.

“Well, let’s get started then!” Erne said, cheerfully.

“HOORAY FOR SEARCHING!!!” The counselors all yelled.

And with that, they all split up and went into the forest.

“As for the rest of you,” Earl said, turning back to the children. “I would like you all to go back to your cabins for the night. We have everything under control.”

“What if you can’t find him?” Alex asked, nervously.

Earl turned and stared at him.

“We’ll contact Search and Rescue. You say he only ran off half an hour ago?” He asked.

“Yeah, he’s been gone for about twenty five minutes.” Alex nodded.

“He can’t have gotten that far.” John said, turning and staring off into the forest. “It’s the middle of the night and the terrain is too rough to get through very quickly anyway. Now, I want you all to go to back to bed. We’ll have everything back to normal by morning.”

The kids exchanged worried glances, then went off to their cabins.

Moe and the other four kids also went back into their cabin, and closed the door, leaving John and Earl alone in the darkness.

There was a long moment of silence.

“What are we supposed to do, now?” Earl asked, turning to John. “This is just ruining everything.”

John rubbed his chin.

“If the crew doesn’t find him, we’ll be forced to call Search and Rescue to keep these kids from getting suspicious.” Earl said. “And then, everything will be out of our hands. I want to know what just happened, tonight, and I want to know how to fix it.”

John was silent for a second.

“They’ll find him.” He said, quietly. “The human body needs rest. With the kind of mountainous landscape around us and the fact that body naturally rests at this time, he can’t have gotten far.”



“OK, Hobbes, I’ll set the Time Machine on auto pilot, and it’ll steer us clear of any danger!” Calvin grinned, reaching into his duffel bag, and pulling out the cardboard box.

Hobbes stared at him.

“Calvin, are you sure this is a good idea?” He asked.

“Oh, would you rather run through the forest all night?” Calvin asked, turning to him.

Hobbes blinked.

“Well...”

“Good. Get into the box.” Calvin said, climbing inside, and pushing some buttons.

Hobbes looked around, nervously at the trees, then jumped into the Time Machine with Calvin.

Calvin kept pushing the buttons, and the motor began to hum.

“I’ll just set the coordinates to ‘avoid all flesh eating zombie freaks’, and then it will steer us back to the camp in the morning.”

“Are you sure?” Hobbes asked.

“Of course I’m sure!” Calvin spat. “Have I ever lead you astray?”

There was a pause.

“Yes, several times, actually.” Hobbes said.

“Well, this will be the exception. Put your vortex goggles on.” Calvin replied, pushing the GO button on the box.

Hobbes complied, and put the goggles on, along with Calvin.

VROOOM!

Suddenly, all of the buttons on the machine lit up and the motor began humming.

The GO button began glowing bright green.

Slowly, the cardboard box lifted off the ground, swaying slightly, as the humming became faster.

Leaves and small pieces of dirt flew out from the underside of the box, as the box raised higher into the air.

Then, the back of the box, which had two yellow circles drawn on them, began glowing, brightly, lighting up the forest.

BOOM!!!

With tremendous force, the box roared forward, dodging trees and bushes, but heading straight forward, towards the Pine Mountain Range.

Calvin turned to Hobbes.

“There, you see? The danger is clearly at the camp right now. The box is programmed to avoid it all night.”

“And then...” Hobbes began.

“Then it will take us back to that raging death trap.” Calvin replied. “Now, let’s try to get some sleep.”

“Calvin, how am I supposed to sleep comfortably in a humming cardboard box, that’s bolting through a forest?” Hobbes demanded.

“How am I supposed to know?” Calvin responded. “Use your imagination.”

And with that, Calvin reached into his duffel bag, pulled out his pillow and blanket, and curled up in the front of the box.

“Nighty night.” He grinned.

Hobbes glared at him.

The night wore on.

Around three in the morning, Hobbes finally managed to doze off.

Next time you get the chance to sleep in a flying cardboard box, don’t do it.



Susie laid in her bed, the covers pulled up to her head.

Slowly, her eyes came open, and she looked around the room.

The first lights of morning were shining through the windows, and thrown across the floor.

Susie sat up, and yawned.

She got out of her bed, and walked over to the window.

Her eyes popped open.

There were several yellow trucks parked along Camp Pine’s drive in.

Several people were gathered around the camp. They were all wearing yellow uniforms, and they were looking around the area.

John Chill and Earl were talking to two of the men, and Calvin’s parents, who’s eyes wide with fear.

The other counselors, however, were just standing around, grinning and staring off into space.

“What the heck...” She began.

Then, she remembered the events of last night.

“Oh... no..” She sighed.



“Mr Chill, what’s going on?” Alex asked, walking down the hill towards John, Earl, Calvin’s parents, and the two men in the yellow uniforms.

“Calvin’s run off.” John said, as Mom and Dad walked off with the two men. “I called Search and Rescue this morning.”

“Is he going to be OK?” Another kid asked, walking up.

“How am I supposed to know?” John asked.

“Well,” One man said, walking up to John and Earl. “Our team has searched the forest up to the base of the mountains.”

John and Earl stared at him.

“Meaning?” Earl asked.

“He’s not in the forest here on the camp. He’s went up the mountain.” The man said. “I don’t know what to make out of this.”

John and Earl stared at him.

“It’s hard. That’s all I know.” The man whined, looking up to the mountains.

John sighed.

“Are you going send your team up there to look for him?” Earl asked.

“Of course.” The man said. “We have a chopper on the way. Should be here in the next hour or so, they’ll go over the mountain and look for him, and we’ll continue looking on foot.”

“Good.” John said.

The man turned around.

“Alright men! You’re orders are clear! We have to scout the mountain side!” He shouted at some men stationed at the perimeter of the forest.

Several of them groaned, loudly.

“God, I love my job.” The man grinned at John.

John and Earl stared at him, blankly.

Calvin opened his eyes, and stared, sleepily around his surroundings.

He sat up, yawned, and rubbed some sleep out his eyes.

Then, he looked around in all directions.

The box had landed in a heavily wooded area. There was a small trickle of water running down a small animal trail, and most of the trees blocked out the morning sunlight. Pine cones were falling all around them, and the chattering of an annoyed chipmunk reached Calvin’s ears.

He turned around.

Hobbes was curled up in a ball, sleeping silently in the corner of the box.

Suddenly, Calvin’s eyes popped open.

He spun around, and examined the buttons and screens on the box’s front panel.

Then, his eyes fell on the fuel gauge.

Oops.

Calvin looked up, and stared ahead.

He saw... rock slides, fallen and standing trees, dirt trails, and several pine needles and cones, which littered the ground.

Hoo boy...

Calvin leaped out of the Time Machine, and rushed off down the trail, looking around in all directions.

Nothing.

He spun back around, then ran back up to the box.

He started fighting his way through trees and bare bushes, looking for some sign of Camp Pine.

After the tree branches got to thick, he turned back around, and started running back for the box.

He arrived back at the Time Machine, and looked around frantically.

North. Trees. South. More trees. East. A small dirt trail. West. A large rock slide.

Calvin rubbed his chin in thought.

“Wow, wasn’t expecting this.” He sighed.

Suddenly, a large yawn reached Calvin’s ears.

He whirled around, and stared at the box.

Hobbes was stretching all four paws, and yawning loudly.

“What... what did I miss last night?” He smacked, looking around.

There was a long moment of silence.

Calvin rubbed the back of his neck.

“Uhhhh... yeah,” He began.

“You got us lost, didn’t you?” Hobbes asked, turning to his companion.

“Well, lost is such a strong word...” Calvin began. “How about marooned?”

Hobbes stared at him.

“Right.” Calvin said.

“Ignoring the fact that this is completely your fault,” Hobbes began. “What do you propose that we do, now?”

Calvin reached into his duffel bag, and pulled out a compass.

“Well, I propose that we should head, uh...”

The needle swung around several times, and then halted, pointed forward.

“I think we should try and find our way back to Camp Pine before anyone notices we’re missing!”

Hobbes stared at Calvin for a long moment.

“Yes, because clearly no one noticed us leaving.” He growled.

“Oh, quit being so negative.” Calvin sniffed, walking over to the box.

Hobbes stepped out, and Calvin pushed the box back into his duffel bag.

“I say we strike out a course northward!” Calvin said, pointing ahead of him. “That will either get us back to Camp Pine, or lead us to some angry, famished animal!”

Hobbes heaved a sigh.

An hour passed.

Calvin and Hobbes climbed over rocks, jumped fallen trees, and crossed swollen rivers.

Around them, small blue birds flew above them, and chipmunks leaped from tree to tree, large ferns were scattered across the forest floor, the bright summer sun shone brightly through the trees, and landed on small cuts of the ground.

Calvin and Hobbes continued walking, the duffel bag’s strap draped around Calvin’s shoulder.

It was the first flat ground they had gotten to walk on for over forty five minutes, and they were grateful for it.

Suddenly, Calvin stopped walking.

“Hey, Hobbes!” He said, excitedly, looking ahead.

“Hmm?” Hobbes asked, stopping in front of him.

“I see a clearing ahead! Maybe we’ll be able to get a fix on where we are!”

Hobbes’ eyes lit up.

“Really?” He asked, hopefully.

“You bet!” Calvin grinned. “Let’s go find out where Camp Pine is, and set a course out for it!”

And with that, Calvin and Hobbes began running over to clearing in the woods.

They burst from the forest, and ran over to the edge of the hill they were standing on.

They stared forward at the their surroundings.

There was a long, throbbing moment of silence.

“Oh, my...” Calvin said, thoughtfully, tapping his chin. “Wasn’t expecting that.”

Hobbes groaned.

They looked all around, but saw no difference in the surrounding area.

Everywhere they looked was just giant mountains. Stretching out for miles. Miles and miles of snow capped and or forest filled mountains.

There was no sign of Camp Pine. No sign of any Search and Rescue helicopters or units. No sign of any clearing at all.

Calvin and Hobbes were in the middle of nowhere.