by Lee West
“No. They didn’t think anything was off. It really freaked me out. I wish we never came here,” said Mike.
“I say we get up early and leave before we’re forced to mingle with the others again. Chet is bad news for sure, but the other two guys seem even worse. They scare me. I feel like they’d slit our throats without giving it a second thought. I’d rather not stand at the gate and have a tearful goodbye with those two standing over us,” said Meg.
“Okay. I agree. Let’s get a decent night’s sleep and leave as early as possible. I’ll let Jeff and Kim know our plans tonight when they return. With any luck, we can be at the university by lunch tomorrow,” said Joe.
“Sounds good to me, but maybe we can sneak away without anyone knowing—including them? I can’t imagine that guy Chet letting us leave here. He’s so concerned about the location of the camp being a secret. Now he’s suddenly cool about us bringing all these extra people around? Just for a doctor? I don’t buy it at all,” said Mike.
“I don’t buy it either. That guy is up to something. I want out of here,” said Meg.
“What about my brother? I feel bad leaving like that. It seems like he went out on a limb for us. I can’t just ditch them without even saying goodbye,” said Joe, “or trying to get them out of here. What if Chet punishes them for our sneaking away?”
“We need to get out of here. I don’t trust either Jeff or Kim to keep our leaving a secret. I wouldn’t put it past them to tell Chet. No—Mike is right, we need to leave without telling anyone. We’ll make peace with your brother once everything has blown over and we’re all safe,” said Meg.
Meg and Mike looked as stressed about everything as Joe felt. They assessed the situation correctly. They needed to get out of there right away.
“Alright. Let’s shoot for leaving long before dawn. I won’t say anything to Jeff. Eventually, we’ll catch up and I can explain why we bolted.”
Meg visibly relaxed when Joe finished talking.
“Thank you,” she said, and squeezed his arm.
— 21 —
Jeff tossed and turned for the better part of two hours, trying to fall asleep. His stomach churned with the acidy feeling he always associated with classroom presentations in high school. The nervous energy gathered in his stomach and hands, rendering him a sweaty-handed, nauseous wreck. Chet had put him in charge of Joe and the other newcomers, and the responsibility weighed him down. Without coming right out and saying it, Chet had made it clear he didn’t like his brother and the others. Then again, Chet didn’t exactly act friendly to him either, despite the time they had put into the camp.
He and Kim had been coming to Better Way for several years and enjoyed the experience very much. Over the course of their time at the camp, they’d learned a great deal about how to survive in various emergency situations. However, despite seeing the same people year after year, he never felt as though he and Kim had developed a closeness with any of the others. It felt as though their position remained on the outer edges of the camp’s social circles—by Chet’s design.
Unable to drift off, he decided to give up on sleeping and grab some air. He slid out of his side of the bed, careful not to wake Kim. At times she slept so deeply, not even the loudest alarm clocks could ensure she would make it to work on time. The rest of the time, even the slightest move or sound woke her immediately. He could never tell which mode he would find her in, so he always assumed the latter. Fortunately, tonight wasn’t one of those nights. She remained asleep as he put on some shoes and tiptoed out of the bedroom. He stepped over his guests as they lay sprawled and slumbering in the cabin’s sitting room.
Once outside, he took a deep breath of the cool, moist night air. The moonlight shimmered its light on his path through the camp. Once at the Center, he decided to lie on one of the benches in order to gaze up at the stars. Looking at the night sky had a way of calming him. The stars made his problems feel insignificant compared to the expanse of the universe.
A strange noise caught his attention. He could not be certain if the sound of breaking branches came from an animal or human approaching. The forest did not contain dangerous animals, so he knew there should be nothing to fear. The sound likely came from a raccoon or possum looking for a nocturnal snack. A second later, two men emerged from one of the trails. He turned his head and tried to focus his eyes on them.
Noland and Bruce, the men closest to Chet, emerged from the trail, headed toward him. Before he could announce his presence, they turned and quickly walked toward the manager’s shed. As far as Jeff had seen, Chet never allowed anyone inside his shed. He crouched low and observed their movements, curious if there was more to Chet’s favorites than he’d originally suspected. The two men mounted the steps and disappeared quickly inside. What if they were breaking into Chet’s shed?
Jeff swung his feet around, planting them firmly on the ground. He decided to play detective, spying on the other two men so he could report their deception to Chet. Jeff could think of no good reason for the men to be in Chet’s shed in the middle of the night. Chet would likely be in the main house, fast asleep, unaware that the men had broken in. Jeff knew Chet would reward him for discovering and foiling whatever malfeasance the men intended. Maybe he’d finally earn Chet’s trust and improve his lot in the camp.
He crept toward the back of the shed, where he planned to listen to their conversation. If possible, he wanted to find a hiding spot that would allow him to look inside at the same time. Once behind the shed, he lowered his body toward the ground in order to conceal his location should either man look out the small window. Listening closely, he could hear them talking.
“Why don’t we take out their entire cabin tonight? Problem solved. Then we wouldn’t have to look at the other two ever again,” said one of the men.
Jeff willed his ears to listen more intently. He could not make out everything they said, but it sounded like there were three men in the shed.
“No. You need to go with them to the university tomorrow. Doing it here will be too messy. Kill the three of them on the road and dump the bodies. You don’t have to go far. Hell, I don’t give a shit if you do them right outside the gates,” said one of the men.
This time Jeff recognized the third voice as Chet’s. Holy crap. Chet had ordered the men to kill his brother and the others. On top of that, it sounded like Noland and Bruce had suggested killing both him and Kim.
“Doing them right outside the gates sounds like a good plan to me. But what’ll we say when we come back quicker than expected? Jeff and his ridiculous wife, Kim, might get suspicious,” said Noland.
“Say anything you like! I’m sure those two will believe whatever story the two of you concoct. They aren’t the swiftest people at the camp!” said Chet.
The men laughed at Jeff and Kim’s expense. Hot red blood flushed Jeff’s face as embarrassment spread through him. Chet and the others thought him a fool and he never knew it.
“Maybe we should take out Jeff for you! Then you’d have Kim to yourself!” Bruce laughed.
“No need. I’ll have Kim right under Jeff’s nose, and he won’t do a thing about it. You’ll see. The man is the living definition of a doormat!” said Chet with a laugh.
Jeff could hardly contain his rage. He fought the instinct to burst into the shed with fists blazing. Instead, he slowly and quietly worked his way out of the hiding spot. Once he felt certain to be out of earshot, he ran through the woods to his sleeping brother.
Mounting the steps in one leap, he burst through the door to the cabin. The others startled, sitting up immediately.
Jeff kneeled next to his brother and said, “You need to leave now. It’s not safe here.”
Joe rubbed his eyes, still half asleep. “What do you mean now?”
“I mean you guys have to get out of here—right now. I overheard Chet, Noland and Bruce. They plan to kill the three of you on the road back to the university tomorrow. You aren’t safe here!” said Jeff.
&nbs
p; “Oh shit! We thought something like this might go down. We planned to leave early in the morning before they got up. Are you sure?” asked Mike.
“Yes. I’m certain. You need to leave or they’ll kill all three of you,” said Jeff.
“Come with us,” said Joe urgently.
After hearing the men laugh at his expense, Jeff wanted to leave the camp more than anything—but he knew he never would. “I can’t.”
“Why the hell not? Those guys are crazy, and they obviously don’t care about you!” said Joe, maybe a little too loud.
“Shh! You’ll wake Kim. I can’t leave because of her. She’ll never leave this place. She loves it. These are her people.”
“So? Leave her here and come with us. If they’d kill us, what makes you think Chet won’t come after you next?” asked Meg.
“I think he will come after me at some point, but I can’t leave her. She’s everything to me. I know that probably sounds crazy, but I can’t live in the world without her,” said Jeff.
Meg moved away from Jeff. She grabbed Joe’s hand and nudged him to get moving. “Sorry, Jeff, but if you’re not coming, we need to go,” she said. “Can you let us through the front gate?”
“I can’t. Chet has the only key. Besides, you can’t go through the front gate. They’ll have someone watching it. You have to go through the perimeter fence,” said Jeff.
“That’s easier said than done. We weren’t able to do it before,” said Mike.
Jeff tilted the shabby plaid reclining chair onto its side. He quickly lifted off the fabric covering the bottom of the chair to expose its innards. Inside the chair, he had hidden a cache of gear and weapons. There were several knives, a pair of compact bolt cutters, and a semiautomatic handgun. Everything had been neatly taped to the frame of the chair. He ripped the bolt cutters from their hiding spot and handed them to Joe. Then he replaced the fabric on the chair and placed it back in its upright position.
“Take those. You’ll need them to cut your way through the fencing. You should head to the right of my cabin. You’ll be traveling due north. Just before coming to the next cabin, head east through the forest until you see a clearing in the woods. Go through the clearing to the perimeter fence. There’s a stretch of fencing where the people on watch can’t see. It’s basically a no-man’s-land between watch standers. That’s the spot you should cut through. Then it’s a straight shot to the main road. You know your way back to the university from there.”
“Okay. Got it,” said Joe.
“Why do you have all this stuff?” asked Meg.
“I don’t trust that asshole Chet either. Once he locked the gate and held the key around his neck, I knew I needed to look out for the two of us. The bolt cutters ensured we could get out if needed. I brought the gun from home when we came to camp this year, even though weapons are strictly forbidden at the camp,” said Jeff.
“Let me guess, no one is allowed to have a weapon except Chet?” said Mike.
“Yes. He maintains the camp arsenal. When we hunt, he’s the only one who can take a shot. It slows us down, but he’s a good shot, so he gets it done.”
“I’ll bet he’s a good shot,” said Mike.
“Over the last few weeks, I’ve added the knives to my little arsenal. The others have always kept us at a distance, outside their circle. Kim doesn’t seem to notice, but it bothers me. I thought I’d make sure we had other options in case the shit hit the fan,” said Jeff.
Joe took Jeff by the shoulders and said, “Thanks, man. I don’t know what sort of crap storm our leaving will bring you, but I appreciate your loyalty. It means a lot to me.”
They hugged for a second; then Joe said, “You know where to find us if you change your mind.”
Jeff stood on the porch watching them as the darkness of the forest obscured their bodies. He wondered if he’d made the right decision.
— 22 —
Joe led the three of them past Jeff’s cabin, using the rough directions Jeff had hastily provided. Once they could see the second cabin, they needed to leave the main path and walk through the dense forest. Thick tree branches scraped against his face as he moved. With each step he worried they would go in the wrong direction, heading back to the camp instead of to the safety of the outside world.
“I can’t believe those guys intended to kill us!” said Mike.
“I can. That Chet guy scared me. He seemed crazy. The whole place is crazy, and so is my brother for staying. For the life of me, I don’t understand what he sees in Kim,” said Joe.
“We should’ve asked for the gun. I’d feel a lot better if we had a weapon,” said Mike.
“Me too. I thought of the same thing but then figured he might need it more than us. Poor guy,” said Joe.
They continued in silence for a few moments as they cut through the forest.
Finally Meg spoke. “Are you sure this is the right way?”
“No. I’m not at all sure. He really didn’t give us much to work with, and it’s pitch dark!” said Joe, exasperated.
“Hold up. Let’s use the flashlight for a second. We need to have a look around. I don’t want to run back into those guys!” said Mike.
They stopped and Mike turned on the high-powered flashlight for the first time since they left the cabin. They had previously relied upon the silvery glow provided by the moon for their trek. However, once they’d moved farther into the deep forest, the celestial illumination failed to pierce the thick overhead veil of branches. Mike fished his compass out of his breast pocket and then turned to Joe and Meg.
“Okay. Let’s see where we are,” he said.
“From what he said, we should have headed north and then due east. Right?” asked Joe.
“That’s what I heard him say too. I think,” said Meg, unsure.
“That’s the direction we’re going in, sort of. It’s more like northeast. I think we must be walking parallel to the fence. We need to turn that way in order to go due east,” said Mike, pointing.
He flashed the light in the direction they should walk. The trees appeared to have been clear-cut in the area of the forest just ahead of them. The bright eyes of two animals glared back at them in the beam cast by the flashlight.
“Looks like we interrupted their dinner party,” said Meg.
Mike stomped his feet and continued to blast the animals with the bright beam of his flashlight until they scampered off into the forest.
“Let’s go. This must be the clearing he mentioned,” said Joe.
“Can we use the light a little longer? I really don’t want to walk into their dinner,” said Meg. “Or become dinner.”
“Me neither,” said Mike.
He led them across the clearing toward the exterior fence.
“What the hell? Holy crap!’” Mike yelled a little too loudly.
“What is it? We need to keep it down!” said Joe in a loud whisper.
Mike pointed the flashlight to the ground and slowly swept it over the clearing. Body parts littered the entire area. Dirty articles of clothing clung to bones of various sizes. A skull had been dislodged from its body, the face partially eaten by the animals. The bodies of at least twenty people were strewn across the ground as though hastily dumped.
“Joe—” said Meg as she grabbed hold of his arm.
She retched and then vomited loudly onto the ground. The meager contents of her stomach mixed with the body parts at her feet, causing Joe to glance down at his own feet. He realized that he stood on a femur, not a thick stick as he’d assumed. Whoever had hidden the bodies out there had not even bothered to dig adequate graves. The light dusting of soil put over the corpses did nothing to deter even the laziest scavengers.
“Come on. We need to keep moving or we’ll end up in the pile,” said Mike, urging them forward.
Meg finished emptying the contents of her stomach. She just stood still, seemingly unable to move.
“Come on. He’s right. We need to keep moving. Can you walk?” Joe asked
her kindly.
She shook her head and straightened up. “I need to get out of here! I saw a little hand over there!”
The three moved as quickly as possible through the shallow graves. They tried to avoid the decaying flesh and bones as much as possible. However, the crunching under their feet indicated their efforts failed.
Images of Jeff being killed and dumped in a shallow grave tormented Joe.
“What about Jeff? I can’t just leave him here. This is far worse than we could have imagined. What if they kill him? It’ll be all my fault!” said Joe, stopping suddenly.
“I’m not going back and neither are you. Your brother knows what he’s dealing with. If he truly had no clue, then he wouldn’t have stockpiled weapons. There’s no way we can go back now. It would be a death sentence. Besides, Jeff isn’t the only one who needs you,” said Mike, glancing at Meg.
Meg looked shaken and weak. She walked slowly, with effort, trying not to step on body parts. The three of them would need each other to survive fleeing the camp.
“Shit. What am I thinking? Sorry. I’m just freaking out. You’re right. We need to keep moving. Going back will just get us killed.”
After leaving the clearing, they again had to make their way through the forest toward the outer fence.
“Do you think the other campers know about the graves?” asked Meg quietly.
“I’ve been wondering that too,” said Joe.
He held her hand as best he could as they walked the uneven terrain.
“My guess is that people have no idea what their fearless leader Chet is up to. Remember your brother said this area of the fencing is obscured from the watchers? I think Chet did that on purpose so that he could hide his dirty deeds right under their noses,” said Mike.
Mike slowed and then stopped. He checked the compass one more time to verify they continued to travel in the right direction. Then he swept the flashlight beam across the area up ahead of them. The tall, imposing fence sat within their sight.
