The Night Owl Patch

The sun had set just a few hours ago as she stirred awake. She roused the three other girls in the cabin as she got her things together and wandered in to the shower. Not even the adults were accommodated like this at the camp. The lights never came on in this building, and its occupants never left during the daylight hours. Some of the younger girls in the camp teased them and called them vampires, but they knew that these girls were the best at what they did. As they finished getting ready, they could hear that everyone outside starting to settle in for a good night’s sleep, and they would make sure it would be uninterrupted.

Though they didn’t leave the camp, they still wore their sashes. Instead of the typical taser, these girls carried tranquillizer guns. They were all in the top five percentage of marksmanship in the camp. These girls were trained on moving and non-moving targets, close range and long range, and could easily distinguish threats from friendly targets. If they couldn’t, they shot both. But the thing that made these girls so special was their ability to see extremely well at night. Raised in an environment of darkness due to a rare disease that they all had in common, Xeroderma pigmentosum. They were basically allergic to sunlight.

Their meals were delivered by one of the older girls. For some reason, she liked visiting them and this was the only time it was allowed. Danni could easily pass for a fourteen year old, but she was about to turn nineteen. She wasn’t very good at a lot of the training in the camp; her sash was only half full. Though she wasn’t good enough to go out on the field trips, she was great at helping around the camp. She was like a big sister to everyone. And when she visited it was always a fun time chatting away like they were normal girls. As they finished their meals Danni collected the trays and wished them a quiet night as usual. They were always a bit sad to see her go; she hadn’t been coming around as much lately. But couldn’t dwell on things like that for now. It was time to start their duty.

The night was humid and hot, the hottest of the summer so far. Their shower was wasted as soon as they stepped out the door. Their cabin was a few yards from camp in a small clearing. They could easily see the rest of the camp from where they were. The line of cabins where the Brownies bunked. The youngest girls that still weren’t accustom to camping. There were a few windows where they could still see faint signs of light, most likely flashlights as a few of the girls huddled under their blankets with each other telling ghost stories. Between the cabins and beyond were row upon row of tents. These were for the Girl Scouts. Most of these had three girls to a tent. Only a select few were allowed their own tent. You had to be extremely good at what you do to get such amenities.

They set the alarm and locked up, these girls were extremely cautious. They all walked together through the short trail to take up their positions. They never thought anyone would be dumb enough to try and come into the camp, but you never know. The oldest of the four, Anya, did her rounds of the Brownies first, as always. The other three continued to their areas. They came up to the mess hall and offices next. Jen broke off this time and started checking her area. Being the youngest, she was in charge of the area where there would be others around to help. Beth and Yui headed towards the tents where Yui started her rounds. Beth continued over to workshops.

The moon was a barely visible crescent, not bad for these girls and not good for anyone trying to sneak into camp. It has been three hours since the sun set and almost everyone in camp was asleep. Anya talked a bit to two of the girls in bunk two that were waiting up for her, Mindy and Charlie. They had a bit of a crush on the older girl. They wanted to be just like her, though they didn’t quite understand why they couldn’t help with her rounds. She tucked them in and continued her checks.

Jen stalked through the mess hall. It was a bit creepy at night. Rows and rows of tables and benches, the walls lined with screened windows. Not a single curtain in site. She often dreamed about being able to eat with all the other girls. She grabbed the cookie that the chef always left out for her and continued over to the offices.

Beth surveyed the workshops, which bored her to tears because she could do this all at one glance. They were all opened areas and if someone was sneaking around they make such a racket that it would probably wake the camp. She picked up a piece of wood and began whittling to pass the time.

Yui had the toughest job of the four. There were so many rows of tents and you couldn’t see over all of them. Not to mention some of the girls snoring made it impossible to hear someone coming. She started coming up on the medium tents that held the Field Trip leaders; she had to all around because she could not see over them. She came up on the last one and stopped. She could have sworn she heard a zipper. She came around the front, slowly, and noticed the heel of a foot barely protruding from the flap. Pulling out her tranquilizer, she aimed through the doorway and lifted the flap quickly. She didn’t even think before pulling the trigger. The target fell shortly after and the girl in the tent awoke sharply. The pigtailed girl almost shot Yui with her taser but quickly changed targets to the boy passed out beside her.

The pigtailed girl got up and went to get her troop to take the boy to a secure location. Yui stood there watching him just in case. She pulled out a little device and pressed the button. It vibrated in her hand. The devices of the three other Night Owls did likewise and put them on the alert that an intruder had been found. They search their areas really good and Beth would join Yui and search the tents for the rest of the night. Jen would keep an eye on the mess hall and cameras at the office, and Anya would exhaustively keep her eye on every single entrance and exit to the Brownies, locking every door with gun in hand. She dared anyone but her to get near them.

The rest of the night went very fast. Just before dawn they made a report of what happened and locked it in the office safe. They got back to their bunk and got ready for bed. As the sun came up they could just barely hear the sounds of the camp coming to life as they started drifting away to dream.