This story is based on both the book and movie. Stanley, Zero and our other famous D Tent boys won't be in it until later and that will be sometime in 97' or 98.' This story is going to be mainly focused on my own character Mark Pinules and there will be some back flashes of the past like their was in the movie.

There was a 13 and a half year old boy named Mark Pinules who was on the rusty bus being taken to Camp Green Lake; a place for troubled youth to build character. It was early May of 1995 and he had been on that bus for a long time. He was tied to his seat with restraints making it impossible for him to move much. All he could really do is look out the window. He had a bottle of water right next to him. The ice had already melted a long time ago but the important thing was to keep himself from getting too dehydrated.

There was also a backpack on his seat. He had packed a photo book filled with pictures of he and his mom, a sketching pad, a drawing pad and box of colored pencils, crayons, regular pencils, pastels, a few erasers and a sharpener. He also packed his Game Boy, batteries for it and a little box for the games he had for it. He also packed his Walkmen and headphones, a locket that was very special to him and important. Something that meant the world to him. Lastly, he had packed his tooth brush, toothpaste and a bar of soap.

The air was really hot, especially as they neared the desert. Since it was almost summer; the temperature of the heat was almost 95 degrees. As they were nearing the destination where Mark would be for the next four years and 18 months of his life; he saw a bunch of dried up dirt and holes. Lots of holes. This somehow intrigued Mark. He thought back to when he was at his uncle Kal's house. Mark would always dig holes in the backyard.

Mark had blond hair and blue eyes. He took after his mother Laura and didn't resemble his father John at all.

The driver pulled to a stop as they arrived Camp Green Lake. The guard took the restraints of Mark. "Let's go." He spoke to Mark in a gruff tone. He was used to dealing with troubled delinquents and he wasn't going to treat Mark any different. Why should he?

Mark saw a few run down buildings and some tents. Farther away, there was a cabin beneath two tall trees. Those two trees were the only plant life he could see. There weren't even weeds.

The guard unlocked his handcuffs and led him off the bus. He had been on the bus for nearly nine hours. He followed the guard to a small building. A sign on front said 'YOU ARE ENTERING CAMP GREEN LAKE JUVENILE CORRECTIONAL FACILITY.' Next to it was another sign which declared that it was a violation of the Texas Penal Code to bring guns, explosives, weapons, drugs or alcohol onto the premises.

Mark followed him into the building where he felt the welcome relief of air conditioning. There was a man at the desk and a few cigarettes were being carelessly tossed aside. He was just about to lit up another cigarette until he realized he had company. "I have an addiction. It's a bit hard to quit." He told the guard who laughed.

"I have a cigarette addiction too." He replied.

Mark noticed their was a small refrigerator behind the man's desk. He got out two cans of soda and handed one to the guard and the other to the driver.

"Nine hours here and now nine hours back." The guard grumbled. "What a day."

He and the driver left and the man at the desk had his full attention on Mark now. "Alright son, have a seat."

Mark sat down and waited as the man looked through Mark's file. "Mark Pinules. Attempted murder."

Mark said nothing.

"I am Mr. Sir and whenever you speak to me, you will address me by Mr. Sir. Do I make myself clear?"

Mark nodded.

"Good, this ain't the girls scout camp." Mr. Sir began to explain the rules to Mark. "You are to dig one hole each day, including Saturdays and Sundays. Each hole must be five feet deep and five feet across in every direction. Your shovel will be your measuring stick. Breakfast is served at 4:30." He eyed Mark seriously to make sure he was paying attention.

Mark was somewhere in a fenced area that was filled with dirt, digging a hole. He seemed really serious and focused on what he was doing.

"No one is going to babysit you. The longer it takes you to dig, the longer you will be out in the sun. If you dig up anything interesting, you are to report it to me or any other counselor. When you finish, the rest of the day is yours."

Mark nodded again. Mr. Sir checked his backpack and allowed him to keep it. He led Mark outside into the blazing heat. "Take a good look around you. What do you see?"

Mark looked out across the vast wasteland. The air seemed thick with heat and dirt.

Mr. Sir laughed. "You see any guard towers?"

Mark just stared blankly at him.

"How about an electric fence? There is no fence at all, is there? You want to run away? Go ahead, start running. I'm not going to stop you." Mr. Sir noticed that Mark didn't seem to be interested in the idea of running away. "Good thinking. Nobody runs away from here. We're the only place that has water for a hundred miles. You want to run away? You'll be buzzard food in three days."

Mr. Sir led Mark to another room where he had Mark remove his clothes to make sure he wasn't hiding anything. He was then given two sets of clothes and a towel. Each set consisted of a long sleeve orange jumpsuit, an orange T-shirt and socks. He was also given white sneakers, an orange cap and a canteen made of heavy plastic.

"You have two sets of orange suits. One for work and the other for relaxation. Laundry is done every three days and your work clothes will be washed. The other set will become your work clothes and you'll get clean clothes to wear while resting. You are assigned to D tent and your counselor will be Dr. Pendanski." Mr. Sir explained.

Mark just stared, not saying one word.

"Be careful for rattle snakes and scorpions. You don't bother them, they won't bother you. Usually. But you don't want to get bitten by a yellow spotted lizard. That is the worst thing that will happen to you. You will die, a slow and painful death. Always." Mr. Sir warned.

Mark just shrugged. to him, getting bitten by a yellow spotted lizard wasn't the worst thing that could happen to him. Cause the worst thing that could happen to him has already happened. He wouldn't care if he got bitten by a yellow spotted lizard. Life was slow and painful. He'd rather die in pain than live the rest of his life in emotional pain.

A seemingly happy and cheerful man came. "Mark Pinules! Hi. I am Dr. Pendanski. I know you have done some bad things but that does not make you a bad person. I respect you Mark Pinules and I'm gonna help you turn your life around." He explained. "Mr. Sir isn't really so bad. He just needs to quit smoking. The person you've got to worry about is the Warden. There's really only one rule at Camp Green Lake: Don't upset the warden."

Mark just glanced around as Dr. Pendanski pointed at all the buildings and explained things to him. He followed him into the building that was labeled Wreck Room. "This is the Wreck Room. You're probably wondering why it's spelled like that. Well a lot of the things in this room have been damaged."

Mark saw a punching bag, a weight lifting machine and a treadmill. The punching bag had a bit of a tear in it. There was also a pool table that had a dent on one side. There was a TV, nothing was wrong with it. In fact the TV show Friends was on and there was a nice sofa.

Two boys from B Tent were playing pool and they both looked competitive. Pendanski cleared his throat to get their attention. "It's almost 8:45, it's time for you to go back to your tent and get ready for bed."

The first B Tent boy scoffed. "You're not our counselor and we're not gonna stop until one of us wins."

The second B Tent boy nodded. "Yeah, we made a bet. If he wins, I have to let him use all my extra shower tokens for this whole weak but if he loses; he has to let me use his shower tokens."

Mark followed Pendanski to another building that was labeled Mess Hall, after that, they went back outside. "Tents A, B, C, D and E are for other campers but tent F and those trailers are for the counselors. Those are the showers. Everyone is only allowed four minutes and one of the knobs is broken so there's only one temperature; cold. That over there, is the Warden's cabin."

Mark followed him to D Tent.

"Who's the new guy?" A boy with a rebellious attitude asked.

"Oh, this here is your new tent mate, Mark Pinules. Mark, this is Jason."

The rebellious boy cut Dr. Pendanski off. "Dude, my name is not Jason, it's Bones." He hated being called by his real name and it showed.

Dr. Pendanski ignored him and introduced Mark to his other tent mates. "And this is Chester, that's Daniel, Lee, Eric and Randy."

"The name is Grim." Chester corrected Before saying the others' nicknames.

Daniel was Snapper, Lee was Speed, Eric was Chewy and Randy was Bomber.

"They all have their little nicknames but I prefer to call them by the names their parents gave them. Names that society will soon recognize them as." Pendanski explained. "Now I want you all to make him feel welcomed. You were all nervous on your first day. Even you Jason, though you won't admit it."

"It's not Jason, it's Bones." Bones was the leader of the group cause he's been there longer than any of them. Grim was his best friend who has been there the second longest.

"Chester, I want you to be his mentor alright. Now get some sleep. You have to get up at 4:30." Pendanski left the tent.

Mark put his backpack, change of clothes and towel in his crate. He went to his cot and lay down on his stomach. After ten minutes of just laying there, he finally went to sleep.

Mark and his uncle Kal were in court and Kal was trying to explain something to the judge. "He's been through a lot sir. He just went through something tragic and people have been tormenting him since he was little."

"We'll what Mark nearly did is way worse than a bully taking your lunch money in the cafeteria."

At 4:30 in the morning, Mark and his tent mates were awoken by a loud trumpet. "Get up! Rise and shine D Tenters, get your honey covered tortillas and your shovels! Come on, come on! The early mule digs the fastest hole!" Pendanski shouted.

Mr. Sir was outside as well. "Move along, this ain't no Girl Scout camp!" He began to assign people to their digging spots. "You'll dig here." He told Mark. "Now listen up good. If you find anything interesting, you are to report it to me or Dr. Pendanski and if the warden likes what you find; you'll get the day off. You're digging to build character. You take a bad boy and make him dig all day in the hot sun and it turns him into a good boy." He left.

Mark had no idea what the Warden was interested in. He jammed his shovel into the hard ground, then jumped up and down on it a few times until the ground cracked. He took a bite into his tortilla. It wasn't that bad to him. He kinda liked it. He got started on his hole after finishing his tortilla.

Since the sand was so hard because it hasn't rained there in over a hundred years; the digging was a bit harder for Mark. He was used to hard sand cause it didn't rain much at uncle Kal's but this sand was a lot worse. It actually felt like Mark was trying to crack a big rock.

By the time his hole was 2 feet deep, it was going on 8. Despite that it was so early, it was already hot out and he was drenched with sweat. Sweat was dripping from his forehead, ears and neck. He was sweating all over. He didn't care.

At around 11, his hole was nearly four feet deep. His hole was a lot bigger than his tent mates. Bones who wasn't too far away, was watching with jealousy, disbelief and anger. He couldn't believe Mark was already almost finished with his hole. Before Mark came to this camp; Bones would always be the first to finish his hole. In an hour Mark's hole would be finished.

Bones growled with anger as he slammed his shovel against a wall of his hole. "Who does that newbie think he is?" He muttered to himself.

At 12, the water truck arrived. Mr. Sir was driving it. "Alright, line up everyone and get your water! Come on! I ain't got all day Girl Scouts!"

Mark's canteen was half empty and he helped himself out of his hole. As he made his way to the water truck; Bones pushed him to the end of the line. "I don't think so new guy." He spoke with hatred.

Mark took a sip from his canteen to give him some energy to speak. "Um, Mr. Sir, I think I'm almost finished with my hole."

Mr. Sir looked surprised. "Already?"

"Show off." Bones muttered.

After Mr. Sir refilled everyone's canteens, he checked Mark's hole. "Well what do you know?" He chuckled. "Better be careful Bones, looks like you have some competition." He joked. "He's a faster digger than you."

Bones growled furiously and whacked the ground with his shovel.

In a few minutes, Mark was done with his hole and unknown to him; Bones was still watching furiously. "Well would yah look at that fellas." He told the other D Tent members.

"What?" Grim asked.

"This new comer thinks he can just come into our terrortory like he's better than all of us." Bones was angry.

"Ooh, someone's jealous!" Bomber teased.

"Shut up Bomber! I have no reason to be jealous of this new fool. He's not even that tall. He's like only 4 foot 8 or something."

Bones was right. Mark wasn't that tall for his age. He was 4 foot 8 to be axact. Ever since he was younger; he was always the shortest kid in his classes and they'd make fun of him.

One day in the sixth grade when 11 year old Mark got home from school, he plopped on the couch depressed. He was made fun of for being only 4 foot 5. Most of the other kids in his school were already almost 5 feet. His Dad John was home and just gave him a cold look before walking upstairs.

Mark's mom Laura was in the kitchen and saw how depressed he looked. She became concerned and walked over. "Mark, sweetie, what's wrong?"

"Everyone at school is teasing me cause I'm the shortest." He sighed as he looked down at himself before looking back up at her. "Mom, why am I not getting any taller already. I'm already in middle school." He had just started middle school a few weeks ago after labor day.

Mark really hated middle school and a lot of the teachers there were cruel and not understanding.

"Mark," Laura began to stroke his hair. "There's nothing wrong with you. Everyone is different and you are getting taller, slowly. Some people take more time to get bigger, there's nothing wrong with that."

"Even my gym teacher Mr. Ray picks on me for being so short." Mark had a problem with Mr. Ray ever since the first day of school and Mark hated him and gym.

Mark sucked with gym and his gym teacher; Raymond Archiot who everyone called Mr. Ray was a real jerk. He was a tough and heartless desensitized bully and he always made fun of Mark and bullied him since the first day.

Mr. Ray noticed how mellow he was and it bothered him. He also didn't like how Mark wasn't good enough at any of the activities they were doing.

It got to the point where Mr. Ray would yell At him or even push him if he didn't run fast enough on the track or when they were doing laps. Mark also had trouble doing his push ups and balancing on a wobbly board without tripping. His balance wasn't too good.

A lot of students were intimidated by Mr. Ray but once they got on his good side, they had nothing to worry about. Mark however was never good enough for Mr. Ray and he really hated Mr. Ray.

"Mr. Ray is just a bully." Laura replied.

Two weeks before this; Mark also found out that he really didn't know how to play basket ball like he thought he did and he couldn't play the 'right' way. His way was easier. Mr. Ray taunted and belittled him after he figured it was hard for Mark to learn Fast enough. He also told Mark he was useless and should give up with his dream while he can.

Mark came home crying that day. He went in his room and tore off every poster he had of famous basketball athletes on his wall. After that, he went out in the yard and picked up his basketball, staring down at it. Ever since Mark was a little kid; his dream was to someday be a famous basketball player.

The conversation he had with Mr. Ray, played in his head.

...

Ray: That's not how you play basketball.

Mark: But I always play like this.

Ray: Well that's not the right way to play. This is how you play, big shot.

Mark: I can't do it Mr. Ray, I can't play this way. It's too hard!

Ray: You're just a pathetic wimp who can't do anything right. Completely useless and you want to be a basketball star? (He chuckled) You're more like a wannabe to me.

Mark: What's wrong with playing how I want to play?

Ray: That's not how a true basketball star or any player for that matter plays. You never knew how to play basketball and they'll never except unprofessional wannabes. You're useless Mark. You'll always be good for nothing. You should just give up your dream while you can before you humiliate yourself in front of the professionals.

...

Laura watched Mark from the kitchen window, just staring down at his basketball.

Mark glanced at the basketball hoop and after a moment of hesitation, he lifted up the basketball and threw it over the fence. Laura gasped as she saw this.

"I am never playing basketball ever again!" Mark yelled loud enough that the entire neighbor hood could hear. He ran back inside, into his room and slammed the door shut.

John was sitting on the couch watching TV. "Could you get the damn kid to shut up?" He asked Laura annoyed.

She gave him a dirty look and ran upstairs crying Mark's name. "Mark!"

John just shook his head wondering why she cared about Mark. To John, Mark was nothing but a loser and a big mistake. He never even wanted to be a father in the first place.

Mark had his face buried into his pillow, crying nonstop and Laura rushed in. "Mark! What's the matter?" She looked around and saw that all the posters were torn off his wall.

"I suck at basketball."

"What are you talking about? You're great. Who told You this?" She asked.

"Mr. Ray. In gym when I was playing basketball, he told me I was playing the wrong way and I can't play the way he taught me." He explained.

Chewy laughed. "He's the shortest guy in this entire camp."

"Yeah, that's right. He's just a little boy compared to us hard working men. You can teach him a lesson." Snapper told Bones.

Mark made his way to the shed and put his shovel away. After that, he went to go take his four minute cold shower. He didn't like warm showers much cause he didn't want to have a warm and caring heart. He wanted to be cold hearted and completely frozen inside. What was the point of having a heart anyway?

Life was cruel and it was always the kind hearted people that had to suffer and go through pain and grief. Mark realized almost a year ago just how terrible and evil life really was. People were born to suffer, go through hell and eventually die. That's the way things were meant to be. That's what life wanted.

People and things were created to be destroyed. There was no purpose for anybody. People work hard for nothing. People live for nothing. If something good happened, it didn't last for long, it got taken away. What Mark went through almost a year ago made him think like this.