by catt dahman
Sam added two wieners on a wire to the fire, poking the wire Christy held, making her laugh. “If they fall off, you have to eat the ashy ones.”
Dion cursed as he pulled the can of chili from the edge of the fire; it was open and warm, but not hot; he didn’t care. He covered his hotdog buns with it, and holding it with a cloth, he passed it to Sam who covered his bread and added mustard.
“Where’s Jered going?”
“Nature calls,” Dion said.
“Good. Let me have your wire,” Ted told Christy as the four dried off and dressed quickly.
Christy slid two wieners onto buns and handed Ted the wire hanger. She grabbed some half-broken chips and added them to her plate as she dug into her dinner. Juices flooded her mouth, and she moaned. “Wonderful. Perfection.”
Charlie put ketchup and mustard on his buns and added chili for Keri as she roasted two hotdogs. “Jered, we’re eating!” he called out.
Dusk was falling rapidly, and night was coming fast.
“Our tent is lopsided,” Charlie told Keri.
“Well, that’s okay.” Keri added a little rum to her cola, wishing they had ice for the drinks, but the only ice, which might not be very clean, was in the cooler. They weren’t able to bring much besides necessities. She and Charlie had a tent, and so did Christy and Diane, but the boys had planned to sleep under the stars. Sleeping bags and pads were already laid out neatly in a row. She was already yawning; the fresh air and exercise made her tired.
“Jered, did a bear get you?”
“There aren’t bears, are there?” Diane asked.
“Nah,” Ted said. He finished his hotdogs and chips and looked to where Jered had gone. “I’ll see what’s taking him so long.”
“Okay, if you wanna catch him with his drawers down….” Charlie laughed.
Ted shrugged. He could barely see now as the shadows filled the ground, making everything grey and filmy. Jered wasn’t where Ted expected, so Ted called him a few more times. Looking around, he found nothing but a bandana. He picked it up, pocketed it, and called, “Jered?”
It had to be a joke.
When the shadows grew too dark, Ted walked back, guided by the campfire, and said, “I can’t find him. He is playing a joke.”
Ted shrugged at Dion and removed the bandana. In the firelight, he saw half was damp and discolored with blood. ”This is carrying it a little too far. Jered, come on. It’s pissing us off, and you’re missing grub.” He felt a little worried.
They finished eating and waited. Nothing. The worry was a deep concern now.
They made s’mores by heating marshmallows to a gooey hot mess and then sliding it in with a square of chocolate between graham crackers which they ate until their bellies got full. It was delicious.
They glanced often at the bandana.
“That’s not just a bloody nose,” Keri said, “and Jered wouldn’t miss hotdogs and s’mores. It smells too good, and he’d be hungry. We need to look for him. He must be lost, or he fell and got hurt. Something happened.”
“I agree. Maybe he is lost or got stung by something. Let’s look,” Dion took out his flashlight. Diane went with him, Keri went with Charlie, Christy went with Ted, and Sam walked alone. They started with the area where Jered had headed.
Dion knelt by some leaves and gingerly touched them; they were tacky with drying blood. There seemed to be a lot. Maybe Jered hit his head and was confused and lost. Calling to the rest, he showed the others what he found. The ground was disturbed all around the blood-soaked leaves. They searched from that spot, calling their friend. “He’s definitely injured, and this isn’t a joke.”
“Do we pack out and call the police or wait until morning?” Diane asked. She nervously chewed on the ends of her long, dark hair. “Where is Sam? Come on. People, what is going on? It’s not funny.”
“Sam?” Dion called. There was no answer. He said he was going to wash his hands at the pool since the blood was dried on his hand, and it bothered him for some reason. “We were all over the place, so any one of us could have missed seeing Jered,” he whispered to Diane.
“And Sam?”
“Well, we were in pairs; I don’t know, but it feels really creepy now.” She held the flashlight while he knelt and rinsed his hands. “Hey, Diane,” he hissed.
“What?”
“Shine the light right there. No, there.”
“What is that?”
Dion shrugged. The clear water looked murky. He took the light as Diane leaned closer to him; he panned over the water and to the side of the pool, which was a low, rocky section that was a little sandy. He made a funny sound, and Diane peeked around.
“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my, God,” she muttered.
Shhh.” Dion walked over to the spot with Diane almost on top on him. When he stopped, she ran into him, lost her balance, and fell on her butt on the rocks.
Tears stung her eyes.
“Jer?” Dion squatted. He and the other boys had played football together and were close friends. Jered’s yellow shirt was raised and tied around his neck. It was no longer pale yellow but covered in dark maroon. Jered’s jeans were in the water, and blood wafted off the fabric. His midsection was covered in gore from holes, and little waves spread the blood.
Carefully, he peeled the shirt back and saw Jered’s neck was slashed to pieces, his face in a rictus of pain and fear.
“Maybe he’s unconscious.”
Dion took an arm, avoided touching the defense wounds, and felt of the wrist for a pulse. There was nothing.
“Dion? Di? Are you okay?”
“Keri, you with Charlie? Yeah? Stay that way, and come down to the water.
“We’re coming,” Ted called.
“No,” Dion called back, “keep Christy by the fire.”
Christy’s sneakers pounded on the trail and smacked the rocks as she ran to the flashlight that was magnified by the water. She screamed at once. And Ted had to lift her up to keep her from throwing herself over her older half-brother’s body.
“Who did this? Who did this to Jered? Tell me,” Christy wailed.
“We don’t know, Christy. Please settle down. Get calm. Okay? We need to think.”
Diane allowed Christy to weep against her shoulder.
“He wasn’t here before, so someone dragged him here. He did it so we’d find Jer and be scared and upset. Or maybe it was some weird accident. We don’t know, not really,” Charlie said.
Keri raised a hand. “I’m both of those things: scared and upset.”
They walked back to camp, feeling something was wrong. The fire was scattered, and some logs were barely burning in the dirt. Charlie and Ted rebuilt the fire, saying that they should sit close to the flames and watch. Christy held Diane’s hand and cried.
“My keys are gone, and I sure can’t drive without keys. I can’t open the car doors, or we could track back there.”
“Can’t you hotwire?” Keri asked.
“No…not all black guys can hotwire a car,” said Dion, frowning. “Ted?”
“Mine are gone, too.”
Christy stood and started walking back to the water and her dead brother. But Diane grabbed Christy and cajoled her to take big gulps of rum-laced cola to calm her. Ted lit a marijuana cigarette and had Christy smoke most of it as she drank; she stopped crying and went into a sort of daze, staring into the fire unemotionally. Then Diane and Keri settled Christy in her sleeping bag comfortably, and in a few minutes, the girl was snoring softly. They didn’t know what else to do.
“What do you think?”
“I think someone killed Jered, and he has Sam. He may even have killed Sam by now. Sam is big and athletic, but what else could have happened? Where is he?” Dion said.
Before anyone could answer, a heavy object like a coconut flew in from the side and hit Keri on her arm; she screamed. It was a hairy coconut. No, it fell so they could see it was Jered’s head. Everyone jumped up. Dion brandished the wooden-handled axe, Ted
held out his small pocketknife, and Charlie looked all around, brandishing a buck knife. Both girls grabbed small branches. Part of Jered’s cheek was in the hot coals, and his skin bubbled and burned, smelling like burning bacon.
Keri leaned over and vomited.
There was nothing else, so they sat back down, and Dion used a branch to push Jered’s head out of the fire and out of sight. He felt bad just pushing it away but didn’t know what else to do. Nothing prepared people for this. “We need to move the tent and Christy closer. We can watch all night and then get out of here in the morning when we can see,” he said.
“Watch our back,” Ted said. He took one side of the tent as Dion took the other, and they moved it much closer to the campfire that Charlie was adding wood to so they would have more light. Ted felt itchy and hot as he sweated, and he wished for the chilly pool, a moonlight swim, but feared to take the chance.
He noticed the tent was very light, so they set the tent down, and he unzipped the front to look in at Christy, but unsurprisingly, she was gone and her blue sleeping bag, a faded, worn thing, was halfway out the back of the tent. Across the back wall was a horizontally clean cut all the way across and was also cut upwards three feet, beginning at the other slice.
Ted motioned to Dion, and they took their light to the back of the tent. On the top of the sleeping bag, slightly about where a chest would rest, was a great deal of blood, still very wet. The boys followed the blood trail for a few seconds, but the main event was over, and there were no signs of where someone might have taken Christy.
They hurried back.
Keri and Diane sat and rocked with fear, trying to guess what was happening and why. Someone was playing sick games and taking them out one by one.
A quarter of an hour passed, and then the night was broken as several rocks were thrown at them, causing a deep gash on Ted’s head and a cut on Diane’s arm. The last object was a severed hand. They took steps back, avoiding sharp stones. Why would someone kill three people and then throw rocks at the rest? It was stupid. No one went near the severed hand.
“My sister would know what to do,” Keri complained. “She’d get that bastard and make him pay. Why is he torturing us?”
“Because he’s some crazy nut and he’s an idiot. We can outwit him. If I get a hold of him, all of you had better hold me back ‘cause I’m going to beat him to death, and I ain’t lying,” Dion whispered angrily. “One on one, you sick freak!” he yelled out into the night as a challenge.
“Stand in line, “ Charlie hissed back. He and Dion could whip about anyone one on one, weapon or not.
Dion broke in and said, “I have a plan. Okay, keep your weapon but wade out into the water facing out, and then when you’re shoulder deep, swim to the raft. Climb up, and move around a lot. Be obvious, like wringing your clothing out, and then lie down flat like you’re tired. Second person lies flat. Then Charlie, you climb up, and lie flat, but act like you’re helping us, too. Talk to me and to Ted. Pretend to answer me. ‘I don’t know, Ted.’ Like that. Talk to us.”
“Why?” Keri asked.
Dion grinned, “Because Ted and I are going hunting. Make the nut think we’re all on the raft. But Ted and I won’t be there, really. Maybe we can catch him and get some payback.”
“Yup,” Ted whispered, “we’ll get in the water to our shoulders, too, but the clouds cut the moonlight a lot, so when we are ready, we’re going to swim underwater over to the left into all that brush leaning into the pool. We’re good swimmers. We’ll circle and try to find this crazy bastard, and we’ll get the drop on him and tie him down and beat him up. If he fights, we’ll kill him.”
“That scares me,” Keri said.
Diane whispered, “What about us?”
“Pretend we are out there on the raft and talk a little. If anyone comes at you and tries to climb up, you can beat the guy on his head, stomp, and break fingers, or whatever you want. You can do serious damage, and he can’t throw rocks from the water or hit the raft from here. If he tries to climb with a knife, kick it away. We’ll get him one way or another and trap him,” Dion said.
“Okay. Got it. Good luck, and hey, get that son of a bitch.”
Ted grinned, “I intend to.”
They backed down to the chilly water which now was not as shockingly cold against the night air. They kept somewhat apart, and then Keri loudly announced it was too deep and cold. She shivered with fear. She was so nervous she thought her knees were knocking together.
“We’ll swim to the raft,” Ted said.
“Okay, Ted,” Keri said. She and Diane plunged down and then swam on the water’s surface, kicking to the raft, going around back to climb the ladder. While the moon was covered for a few seconds, Keri called out again, “Pull me up, Ted.
Charlie stood on the raft in the light and then lay down. As soon as the moonlight was hidden, he slid into the water. Diane took her cue and reached over to help him. “Hurry up, Dion.” She pretended it was Dion she was pulling up onto the raft, but it was Charlie. They all lay on the boards. They hoped their act worked.
Ted and Dion waited and then gulping air, they went under and swam sideways towards the brush that ringed the side of the pool. Neither broke the surface until they were well hidden. Anyone listening would have believed it sounded as if all five were on the raft. That was eerie. The ruse was believable.
They waited. Rocks pelted the campfire, and then some water was tossed, and in a few seconds, the campfire barely glowed. Someone walked around the campsite, rummaging, but no one could see who it was. The marauder threw another coconut-sized object to the water. That might have been Sam’s head. All of them were glad that even with moonlight, they couldn’t see it well.
The shadowy person sat in the shadows, then rummaged more, and finally opened the ice chest. It looked as if the person might be eating hot dogs, cold and without buns, and upending rum to drink. It was an insult to the terrified teenagers.
Very quietly, Dion and Ted moved farther away to a place where they could emerge from the water unseen and unheard. They wrung water from their clothing; it was so cold in the night air.
Ted’s parents moved from town because of his father’s work a few months before, but Ted begged and pleaded to graduate with his friends. So he lived at Dion’s house, and the two were as close as brothers; alert and furious, they walked silently and attentively to the same sounds. They were ready to fight.
The pair made a wide circle, hating to lose sight of their three friends, but ready to take action. By silent agreement, they wanted to find this monster in human skin and beat his head in with the axe and stab him to death with the buck knife. They were very afraid, but very angry.
After another fifteen minutes, they had circled and spent another fifteen creeping closer to the campfire. So far they didn’t see the man. Closer, they crawled. Still nothing. They watched their backs. Paranoia set in.
The hotdog wrappers were empty, and on the ground, logs were scattered. The rum bottle was empty. Even the tents and sleeping bags were slashed, but no one was there, not a whole person, anyway. Jered’s body was there, now gutted and with some entrails stretched around the camp, and his head was there as was Christy’s.
They slipped back into the trees. Dion shook his head, “He’s not a ghost. Where is he?”
Ted glanced upwards, looked along the ground, but had no answer.
Diane screamed.
Ted and Dion stayed in place, not daring to give up their ruse yet, but they strained to see what was wrong. As moonlight shown down, they saw Diane sit up, and then she screamed again. Keri screamed several times, and Charlie yanked her upwards to her feet as he tried to hold Diane up. She slumped and kept screaming, jerking around as she stood on the raft.
Dion ran, hitting the water as soon as he could and swam hard for the raft. Ted followed, but stayed back, trying to see what was happening at the raft.
“What’s happening?”
“Watch out, D; the son
of a bitch is under the raft.”
Dion fought panic. The murderer could come at him from under water and stab before he knew it; he was vulnerable to an attack. He didn’t know whether to keep going or to turn back. A brush of bubbles made him kick out, and he felt a burn run down his thigh, making him reach for the raft with strong kicks. Charlie almost yanked him up and across the raft as he pulled Dion up the ladder.
“We can’t stay here,” Charlie hissed, “he was under us and stabbed Diane. She’s hurt. Keri’s foot is cut.”
Dion felt slick blood across his thigh, but it wasn’t worth explaining. “Go; Go; swim.”
Keri did as told and hit the water in a long dive. Diane stumbled, leaning on Charlie as he pushed her to the edge, “Swim for it, Diane.” She flopped into the water, and Charlie pulled her to the surface, yanking her along in a life-saving hold.
Keri took Ted’s hands as he helped her to the shore, and they both watched as Dion swam their way, close to Diane and Charlie. Excellent swimmers, they made it to the shore fast. Ted picked Diane up in his arms and ordered Keri to get the fire going; they needed light. It was as if everything had come full circle as Charlie and Keri got a fire blazing.
“She’s hurt.” Ted tried to get the bleeding stopped, but she was cut along her side on her foot, along her buttock and upper thigh and on her arm. It all looked painful, and she cried, but the wound on her side was seeping steadily. He took their meager first aid kit and some random tee shirts and tried to bandage Diane’s wounds. There was a lot of blood.
Diane looked at Dion with horror etched on her face. She was in so much pain, but having felt the burning, deep pain of being stabbed, she was terrified of being stabbed more.
“Throw me some gauze?”
“Oh, man, D, that looks bad,” Charlie said as he saw Dion’s thigh.
“It hurts a little. Any rum left?” Dion tried to ignore his own injury, but it had to be wrapped to stop the bleeding.
“No, sorry,” Keri said as she helped Dion finish wrapping his leg, and they added a strip of tee shirt. “We can spare some more; maybe Diane doesn’t need much more….”
