by Sergio Gomez
“According to the notes Mister Buckley provided us, we should be there in just a little while more.” Emeril said, glancing down at the directions splayed out on his lap. “Are you prepared for what we might encounter?”
Molly’s mind went to the revolver sitting in the glove compartment. “Yeah, I guess so.”
Then she looked out the window and gulped. The trees were endless out there and packed together tightly like an unopened pack of cotton swabs. And the more they drove, the deeper the woods seemed to get. Which meant the more likely it was that anything could be hiding out there.
“We will be fine,” Emeril assured her.
“We will be.” She said. Then with a weak smile on her face added, “Just make sure you pull your own weight, Emeril.”
“I will try to push these old bones as much as possible.” Emeril returned the smile.
Those were the last words they said to each other until they reached their destination.
Chapter 31
They found the girls in the game room around the ping-pong table. They were holding the paddles and hitting the ball back to each other, but it was more of an activity they were doing between drinking mimosas rather than actually playing. Sound effects from the SNES Wayne and Dalton were playing in a corner of the room filled the air. Over all, the den had the feeling of kids partying bright and early without a care in the world.
Gavin burst through the door. “We’re going hiking! Who’s coming?”
His announcement stopped the girls’ game, and Noelle caught the ball mid-air as they all turned their attention to him.
“What?” Brooke said.
“We’re going hiking,” Gavin repeated. He unfolded the map Fletcher had found and held it up for them to get a look at it.
The girls looked at one another in confusion as they tried to figure out what was going on.
“Fletcher found this map,” Fred started to explain.
“We’re gonna loot the fuck out of these cabins,” Gavin said proudly, but this just confused the girls more.
Fred ignored him and snatched the map out of his hand. He laid it down flat on the ping-pong table. The girls came around to where he was and crowded around it, peering over his shoulder.
“Someone drew in a campsite that isn’t on our map,” Fred told them, tracing his finger along the added trail. “We’re gonna try to find this path and follow it. See if we find this campsite.”
“What if we get lost?” Brooke said.
“We won’t. We have the map.” Gavin said. “We traveled through these woods out in the dark last night, didn’t we?”
“Yeah, I think we’ll be fine,” Fred said. “And if I’m looking at this map right, we weren’t even that far from the campground when we were at the lake last night. If it seems too hard to follow, we’ll turn back.”
Noelle looked out one of the open windows, and saw the sunrays were still shining down bright through the treetops. She started walking away from the table. “I’ll take a raincheck on this one. I’m way too pale to be out in that bright sun.”
“Put on some suntan and you’re good,” Gavin said, but he sensed there was another reason she didn’t want to go, and it probably had something to do with her confession to Fred at the lake last night.
She shook her head and looked over at the TV screen where Wayne was trying to guide Mario through Bowser’s Castle in Super Mario Bros. 3 with a series of expletives flying out of his mouth. “I think I’d rather stay back here and chill with them.”
“Whatever,” Gavin said. “What about you two? Bet you could get some dope pics for your Instagram, Vanessa.”
“What if we don’t find anything there?” Vanessa said.
“We’re still hiking through the beautiful woods. We’ll get something.” After last night’s trip, Brooke was excited to explore more of their surroundings, and she really wanted Vanessa to come along with her.
“Yeah, true. Alright, I’m in,” Vanessa said.
Fred was blown away by Gavin’s persuasive tricks working once again. He really was a natural at it.
“What about you Dalton?” Brooke said to him across the room.
He turned from watching Wayne playing. “I’m sorry, what?”
“You want to come hiking with us?” Brooke repeated the question.
Dalton held the controller up to his cousin and shook his head. “My turn is up next.”
“Mister Fun Guy of the Year.” Gavin said under his breath. Behind him, he heard Fletcher laugh.
Brooke shot him an icy glare that made them both go silent. “I take it you’re leaving Wayne?”
“Why the hell would I want to take him?” Gavin said.
Before their squabble could turn into anything more, Fred started moving. “Enough messing around. Let’s go hike off these burritos.”
No one protested this, and they all started for their rooms to grab what they needed for the hike.
“You two really brought some buzzkills to this trip,” Gavin teased Fred and Brooke.
Fred didn’t much feel like defending Noelle. He was still feeling strange about everything that happened, and somewhere in that odd whirlwind of emotions was anger for her. It didn’t make sense why she’d even come onto this camping trip with him—or how her boyfriend was OK with it in the first place, until he thought maybe she’d agreed to this trip before their thing got serious and didn’t want to bail on him.
At least there’s that. He thought sourly.
Brooke turned around, frowning at Gavin. “Dalton’s a poet, not an outdoorsman.”
“Yeah, well, he could’ve fooled me with those shirts he wears.” Gavin laughed, adding to the insult.
“Oh, shut up, Gav!” Brooke said, scaring some birds out of a tree.
The command seemed to have worked, not just on Gavin, but the rest of the group as they continued down the path in silence. According to the map, they were only a few yards away from the drawn-in trail.
Ten minutes passed.
Fletcher pointed off to the side of the path they were on and said, “Look, guys! I think that’s it right there.”
They looked. There was a blanket of overgrown wild grass and moss over it, but the path could still be seen if you knew it was there. Underneath the foliage was hardpacked dirt and bits of gravel like what made up the path they were currently on.
“Oh shit, I think it is,” Gavin said, walking past the rest of the group. He peered deeper down the path and noticed the unnatural pattern of cleared trees.
“Yeah,” Fred said, looking at the map. “This is where the trail is supposed to be according to the map, just off that bend back there.”
“Then what’re we waiting for?” Gavin asked.
“We’re waiting for you to go,” Vanessa said.
Gavin snickered, but when he looked back at the hidden path, he felt a sudden unsteadiness. They had no idea what they would find at the end of the trail. And even worse, what if the trail gradually got more hidden as they progressed through it, until eventually it ended, and they didn’t know how to get back?
“Come on,” Fred said, pushing past him and starting into the trail. “What? Are you, afraid?”
Gavin shook his head and trotted after him. “No, Fredster. Definitely not.”
Chapter 32
Ignacio approached the cabin from the back. Luckily, he knew the woods well enough that he could navigate them without having to follow any set paths. This gave him the advantage of moving through them without being detected and allowed him to surprise his prey, as he was about to do now.
He heard chatter coming from the front of the cabin, so Ignacio headed in that direction. He peered through one of the den windows. Three people were gathered in front of the television.
Two boys and a girl. The girl he recognized. She’d been hiking last night with Mamá’s lookalike. That meant they were a part of the same group. Ignacio’s brain didn’t work right, but that much he could figure out.
Before h
e made a move, Varias Caras wanted to make sure there wasn’t anyone else in the cabin.
Ignacio crouched down and walked alongside the first set of kitchen windows. The counters were riddled with dirty paper plates, tinfoil, plastic utensils, beer cans, liquor bottles, cups, paper towels, and other evidence of partying, but there was no one there.
Ignacio moved on to the next window, which was an opaque one that belonged to the first floor bathroom. He put his ear (well, the ear of the person whose face he was wearing) up to it. If there was someone inside, they’d likely notice his shadow, and start screaming. He listened for the scream.
Nothing. Not even the sounds of someone peeing or pooing or washing their hands.
Sure that the bathroom was unoccupied, he moved onto the next room. A small study room with books crammed in shelves and a single Lazy-Boy. Also empty.
Ignacio continued to move alongside the perimeter of the cabin, peering into the rooms. He knew the cabin’s layout very well; he’d been here many times. He realized the further away he got from the game room, the stiller the cabin grew.
Positive there wasn’t anyone else in the cabin, he made his way back around to the den to take another peek.
They still didn’t notice him. They were too focused on the TV screen.
Ignacio counted them with an index finger to make sure they were all still there.
One. Two. Three.
Yep, all there.
None of them were the Mamá lookalike, but that was OK. The Mamá lookalike and the others must have gone out into the woods. That was what campers did when they came out here. Explore.
Ignacio would return later to capture her and bring her to the barn.
For now, though, his mind turned to the youngest kid in the group. He was younger than the people he usually ran into out here, which meant his meat would be more tender. It would probably fall right off the bone.
Ignacio’s stomach grumbled.
He pulled the machete from the sheath on his back.
Wayne was on the last level of Super Mario Bros. 3. The Bill the Bullets were flying across the screen, trying to take him out of the game. Lakitu was throwing spiked shells from his cloud in the sky, covering the stage with hazards Wayne had to guide Mario safely away from.
He was down to his last life, and a few wrong moves meant the dreaded GAME OVER screen.
His skin was getting clammy, but the controller may as well have been glued in his hands. Wayne was in the zone.
But the zone was about to be shattered.
As he’d expected, the front cabin door was unlocked. It always was. It didn’t make much sense to Varias Caras, but campers felt safe out here—despite that they were invading the spots of large predatory animals.
It was almost as if they feared their own species more than the wild ones.
And maybe that made sense, considering what he was about to do to them.
Sound effects and video game music filled the otherwise still cabin. Mario jumping, collecting coins, getting power-ups, sounds that reminded Ignacio of childhood.
For a moment, he wanted to go in there and play with them.
We’re not here to play, idiota. We’re here to hunt, Varias Caras said to him.
“Si, si…” Ignacio responded aloud, disappointed.
He made the innocent part of his mind—the part that was the most Ignacio—go back into its hidey hole.
The cabin was built out of such sturdy wood that there was no creaking even underneath his heavy boots. A godsend for someone that enjoyed the element of surprise.
He stood out in the hallway, but all three of them were watching the television screen and just as they didn’t notice him at the window, they didn’t notice him approaching here, either.
Varias Caras readied the machete.
It was killing time.
Dalton saw him out of the corner of his eye first. A gigantic man rushed toward them. He wanted to scream, but he couldn’t do anything, his brain was too scrambled by fear to send the proper signals to the rest of his body.
The only thing he could move were his eyes, and they dropped down to the object the man held in his left hand. It was a machete. Dalton brought his eyes back up to the man’s face, to see if maybe he didn’t have any bad intentions. Maybe he was just a yard worker coming to let them know he was here, and he was being a “pussy” as his older brothers called him for writing poetry—then his eyes landed on the man’s face.
There was no expression on it. And even more confusing, it looked stiff as bark.
Time seemed to speed up suddenly.
Dalton looked back down at the machete in time to see the man’s massive knuckles tightening around the handle. His instincts had been right. This was no yard worker at all.
The scream finally came out of him, alerting the others.
Perhaps too late, but better than never.
Chapter 33
At the end of their hike, they found the abandoned campsite. The cabins were rundown, looking like they were one stiff breeze away from toppling over. The yards were all overgrown, in some spots it was brown and wispy, in others it was thick and green with plenty of weeds growing out of it.
Vines of morning glory grew on the side of the rotting cabins, adding some colorfulness to the otherwise drab scenery. Some of the vines had found holes in the broken windows and continued to grow inside along the floors and walls. The sight was something to behold; the in between stages of man’s abandoned constructions being swallowed up by the beauty of nature.
Gavin walked up the porch steps of the nearest cabin. They creaked underneath him, threatening to break under his weight, but they held strong. The floorboards on the porch didn’t feel any less rickety as he walked across them, either. He stopped in front of one of the windows and blew dust off it, then looked inside.
He was looking at a front office. A desk sat in the middle of the room, with sticky notes, computer paper, and pens littered on it. Behind the desk there was an office chair with a broken headrest that slanted to the right like the head of a man slumbering on a train. In a corner a bookshelf crammed with trophies, photos of camping groups, and binders sat behind a film of spiderweb. Forgotten paintings of forests and mountains (Stupid. Gavin thought. Why would you put nature inside when it was just outside the window?) decorated the walls of the office and the walls of the corridors he could see.
The place somehow looked abandoned and busy at the same time, almost like the people one day just disappeared in the middle of a work day. More than likely, this was just junk they didn’t care about, and no one removed, but it made Gavin feel like someone was about to come around the corner at any moment and shoo them away.
“Yo, check this out!” Fred called to him.
Gavin turned away from the cabin, giving it a weary sideways glance before going to join the others. Fred and the girls were standing in front of a sign at the front of the office he’d walked right past.
The sign was a six-by-six wooden board that was large enough to greet visitors from a distance. Time and weather had taken its toll on the wood, and pieces of the sign were scattered on the grass island it stood on. There were scratch marks on the top of it where birds had latched their claws on while they basked in the sun and preened themselves.
A fading family of three was painted on the sign. Their faces and the canoe they rode on were nothing but blurs now. Yellow and blue paint that used to make up the sun and sky behind the family were now just random blotches of color scattered around them. Maybe at some point this had been a happy scene, but time had worn that away as much as the wood it was on.
Above the family were the words WELCOME TO CAMP LAKEWOOD in a color that once had been golden, but now was a dark brown that blended in with the wood and was almost illegible. Someone had taken care of that, though, and spray painted the word SLAUGHTER in bright red over LAKEWOOD, so that the sign read:
WELCOME TO CAMP SLAUGHTER
“Camp Slaughter,” Fletcher laugh
ed. “Isn’t that the title of a Goosebumps book?”
“That was Ghost Camp,” Fred corrected him.
“Oh, yeah. Right,” Fletcher said.
“This is a little more…uh, morbid, wouldn’t you say?” Fred said.
“I wonder who did this…and why they were carrying red spray paint in the first place,” Brooke chimed in.
“Hey,” Gavin said, “do any of you have cellphone service out here?”
Fred turned to him, shaking his head. “What the hell kind of question is that? We haven’t had cellphone service since we were halfway to the cabin yesterday.”
“Yeah,” Gavin said, taking a look at the abandoned camp that surrounded them. He hadn’t been able to kick off the funk peering into the cabin had put him into. “I know, I was just wondering. I guess the people who camped here didn’t have cellphone service, either.”
“Probably not,” Fred said, taking a closer look at his face. “You alright, man?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Gavin said, shrugging. “What? You think I’m scared?”
Fred laughed it off, but he thought maybe that was the truth considering he brought it up first. “No, man. Definitely not you.”
Gavin ignored his sarcasm, and to the group said, “We just gonna stand here, or are we gonna look around?”
“Yeah, let’s see what else we find,” Fletcher said.
“This place is creeping me out,” Vanessa said.
Gavin, afraid that the others knew he was creeped out too, started to overcompensate his bravery. “It’s just a bunch of old cabins. There’s nothing to worry about—if anything does happen, I’ll protect you.”
There was a nervous tremble of laughter in the group as they followed him into the campgrounds.
They had no way of knowing this, but it was what was going to find them that they should have worried about.
