Disruption by Steven Whibley

me, smashing a fist into my face.
    “I got ’im! Over here!”
    It was only then I realized a girl had me pinned. “Are you kidding me?” I said. I bucked, but she drove her fist into my face again, and I thought I heard my nose crack.
    Panic took hold at that point, and I bucked again. This time she tumbled off. I scrambled to my feet and was mid-sprint when the girl grabbed my foot and screamed again for help. I shook my leg, and I must have hit her pretty hard because she toppled backward, but not before she yanked my shoe off.
    I heard other campers coming and cursed. I rushed back to where the girl was lying and pulled my shoe out of her hand. She was dazed, and there was blood on her lip. I spun to start running away, and the crazy girl grabbed my other foot!
    I was just going to swing around and pull my foot free. That’s all I wanted to do. She’d been on her back when I’d pulled my shoe out of her hand, and I assumed she was still mostly on the ground but had managed to grab my foot. But when I spun around, she was on her knees. I’d whirled so hard that my arms had gone out like the blades of a helicopter, which wouldn’t have been so bad since I was a couple feet away from her. But I was still holding my shoe, the one she’d pulled off already, the one I’d retrieved but hadn’t put back on yet. I was holding it by the laces, and in my hand, it added an extra foot to my arm, just enough so that when I came around the shoe smashed into the girl’s face. Her nose was like a smooshed cherry, and blood oozed over her face.
    That’s when more of her teammates came around the corner. They hesitated, and I realized it must’ve looked like I’d just taken my shoe off and beaten the girl with it. Before I could utter an apology, the girl screamed and grabbed her face, and her teammates charged.
    I sprinted across the camp, not looking where I was going, and suddenly, I heard more shouts and saw other campers, these ones wearing Fox T-shirts. I must’ve crossed into Bratersky’s area.
    I slowed down long enough to see several of Team Fox attacking Team Squirrel, but I also saw several Team Fox members point at me.
    I don’t know how far I ran, but I must’ve crossed each section twice. I couldn’t keep track of who was fighting who. I was pretty sure I’d seen every animal T-shirt, even Grizzlies, but my adrenaline was pumping so hard I didn’t stop even then, just in case I was wrong.
    Finally I found myself alone. I sprinted across the archery range and dived for cover behind some trees. I lay there for a few seconds, too tired to run farther but terrified I hadn’t been fast enough and someone had spotted me sprinting into the woods and they’d be scrambling after me any second.
    No one came.
    A few more seconds passed, then angry shouts filtered through the branches, and I peeked out across the range. Five Squirrel team members were backing slowly away from at least a dozen campers wearing Team Hyena colors. The shouts between the two groups intensified, and then all at once, the Hyena members charged, and Chase’s teammates turned and scampered away.
    This place is insane. I lay there catching my breath while I considered what kind of camp would let their campers protect their sections with that kind of violence. I also thought about that girl I’d hit with my shoe. I felt terrible about that. If my dad found out I’d hit a girl, he’d be furious. “Respect women,” he’d always said. “If you hit a girl, you’re not a man.” But I hadn’t meant to hit her. She’d attacked me first. I hadn’t done anything to her. I’d just wanted to get away.
    The forest stretched out behind me, and I knew that just a few short miles away there was a road leading to the highway. I could hitch a ride. I could just flag down a trucker and have him take me as far away from this place as possible.
    If I ran away it would serve my dad right. What had he been thinking, putting me in a camp like this? It