The Camp

by Karice Bolton

  “Look at that,” Liam yelled and pointed up the rock.

  Unable to see what they were talking about, I walked over to where they were standing, with Cory and Parker right on my heels.

  “What do you think’s going on?” Cory asked.

  I stood next to Liam and he glanced at me with an expression I couldn’t place.

  “What’s up?” I asked.

  “They were here,” he murmured. “But now they’re not.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, following his gaze and finger as he pointed up the wall of stone at least thirty feet high.

  There in front of us attached to the boulders were two dangling climbing systems with no one harnessed to either. My eyes immediately fell to the ground in front of us, unsure of what to do next.

  Chapter Eleven

  Liam and Caleb began hollering frantically, and I felt completely helpless as silence of the woods was returned shout after shout.

  “I don’t understand,” I whispered, noticing Liam staring at Caleb.

  “They’re not here,” Caleb said quietly.

  “It doesn’t look like they fell,” I replied, noticing the dirt looked untouched except for a couple of footprints.

  “I’m gonna go up. I don’t think there’s a way in the world they could have reached the top with the way their equipment is set up, but I’ll make sure they’re not stranded,” Liam said solemnly.

  “I don’t understand. How could they just vanish?” I asking, looking at Liam.

  “It could’ve been a bear attack,” Caleb said.

  “But there’s no blood or bear tracks,” Liam said. “And it would be impossible with where they were on the cliff to have gotten snatched. Bears are clever, but they certainly can’t scale a sheer rock mountainside.”

  The thought of Liam going up the boulder panicked me as I saw the ropes dangling without their owners. But I couldn’t see the top of the boulder from where I was at, and if Dan and Justin did happen to be up there, we needed to know.

  “Be careful,” I whispered.

  Liam grabbed a small bag of chalk that he fastened onto his belt and flashed me a smile before he turned back to face the boulder. As Liam began the ascent his body looked like a machine as every muscle contracted with every movement. He’d slide the front of his foot into a crack, reaching up with his hand to another ledge, pulling and adjusting his rope as he ascended the rock.

  It was incredible watching Liam use his legs as he climbed up the boulder with such ease. Every so often he would dip his hands into the chalk bag before reaching for another protrusion to grab onto. It was beautiful watching his graceful movements as he scaled the remaining surface, but my heart started thumping as his hands grabbed the final peak of the rock, and he vanished over the top.

  “Do you think they’re up there?” I asked Caleb.

  He looked back at me and shook his head. “I don’t.”

  He slid his thumb under the backpack strap surrounding his shoulder and frowned as he scanned the footprints that led to the boulder but nowhere else. “This is really bizarre.”

  I looked behind me and Cory was drinking a sports drink, sitting on the top of a rock. His eyes were filled with apprehension. It was slowly sinking into each one of us that something was seriously wrong.

  “So it’s not like they’re somewhere having a lunch break?” I asked, knowing the answer.

  “There’s no way they’d be able to get up or down like that,” Parker said, standing beside me.

  Where was Liam? Why wasn’t he back over the side, coming down.

  “Is there a lot of surface to cover up there?” I asked Caleb.

  “A fair amount.”

  When I thought I couldn’t take it any longer I saw Liam appear. He waved at us, acknowledging he was about to descend.

  Liam began lowering himself down the rope, hopping from one section to the next at times, followed by slow movements and adjusting of the rope. Every movement of Liam’s was slow and deliberate, even when he appeared to be gliding down a little quicker. His body looked as if it was built for this as he was rappelling down the boulder.

  “You look nervous,” Cory muttered.

  “Definitely that,” I replied, thrilled when Liam placed both feet on the ground.

  “What’s the word?” Caleb shouted as Liam unharnessed himself.

  “Nothing good,” Liam said walking over to us. “And nothing that makes sense.”

  He had grabbed both of the dangling ropes on his descent and was holding them up for Caleb to check out as he continued to examine the ends.

  “This wasn’t an accident,” Liam said.

  “What are you talking about?” Caleb asked, his voice hoarse as he attempted to hold back the emotion we were all experiencing.

  “Look at this,” Liam said. His index finger flicked the end of the ropes for Caleb.

  “It looks tampered with,” Caleb muttered.

  “It doesn’t make sense, but that’s what happened. Look. You can see where someone sliced through each rope partially, knowing the added weight would break the remaining fibers,” Liam said, shaking his head.

  “So do you think someone cut the ropes and they both fell to the ground?” Caleb questioned, scanning the dirt once more. “I don’t see any evidence of that.”

  “I know that’s because there isn’t any,” Liam mumbled, nervously running his hands through his hair.

  I began getting even more lightheaded and brought my hands up to my forehead. I looked over at Liam who was usually unshakeable and saw darkness slowly begin to unfold.

  “We’ve gotta get out of here and call for help,” Liam whispered. “It looks to me like someone might have been on top of the boulder, waiting.”

  “How?” I asked, but no one was listening. We all seemed to be functioning on autopilot.

  “There’s some evidence that someone else was rappelling down at some point, but after that I have no idea what happened,” Liam said, coming over to me.

  I felt his hand slide along my shoulder, pushing me gently down the trail. Our trek back was a complete blur. It felt like it was only minutes before we arrived back at the camp. Steph was directing Paul on what his trail duty would be for the next day when she stopped to greet us. Her expression changed quickly when she looked in Liam’s eyes and then to mine.

  “Call for help,” Liam directed. “Dan and Justin are missing. Their equipment looks tampered with. We need to get a search going.”

  I heard Steph’s soft gasp as she ran to the yurt and felt my own tears finally begin to surface now that I was in the safety of the camp. I looked over at Liam who just kept shaking his head. The other campers were completely surrounding us now, the shock running through each of them.

  “What happened?” Marty asked, running up behind Caleb.

  “Their ropes…” Caleb’s voice broke off.

  “Both of them?” Marty’s eyes narrowed on Caleb.

  Dave grabbed one of the ropes and examined it.

  “Yeah. We need to talk, privately,” Liam said, walking over to them.

  Steph came running toward us yelling and shaking her head. None of us could understand her, but her face was filled with dread as she approached us.

  “The satellite phone is missing,” she mumbled.

  “What?” Liam asked the question all of us were thinking. There was no way we could have heard her correctly.

  She shook her head and brought her hands up to her face. “The phone is gone.”

  “All right. Get everyone back in their tents. We’re going to tear up this camp until we find it,” Liam instructed.

  I caught Liam’s glance and he gave me a nod, not because he was telling me to go back to my tent, but because I was asking him if I should. My mind froze on the images of Dan and Justin mid-air, falling and there was nothing I could do to shake them out of my head.

  I looked over at Steph who looked completely at a loss, and I walked over to her, grabbing her hand.

  �
��Let’s go regroup and then help the guys,” I told her.

  She slowly nodded her head, as she wiped away the tears, and we took off for my tent. I unzipped my tent door and climbed in, holding the flap for Steph to walk through.

  “I don’t understand what’s going on,” she whispered.

  “Liam thinks the ropes were cut deliberately,” I said in a hushed voice.

  “Oh no. Are you serious?” she asked.

  I nodded my head and turned around to face my sleeping bag, and my heart plummeted when I saw two more black ravens placed on my pillow, with a note underneath.

  I bent down to my pillow, reaching under the two whittled ravens and yanked the piece of paper out from underneath. My hands were trembling as I unfolded it.

  “Steph,” my voice trembled. “I don’t think that raven was from Liam.”

  “What are you—” her words gave away to a scream as she fell to the floor.

  “We’re going to be fine,” I whispered. “It’s going to be fine.”

  She was in complete meltdown mode and there was nothing I could do. I was just drawn to the note.

  I heard Liam come in the tent, trying to catch his breath.

  “What’s going on?” he demanded.

  “Ravens,” were the only words that Steph could speak.

  I looked down at the letter I held, reading aloud each pieced together word that was pasted on the paper.

  An unseen evil.

  You may be doubting.

  But all disaster

  Is this nameless evil.

  You will be haunted

  Until your soul is still.

  And then nevermore

  When my eyes landed on the last word, my hands began shaking as I reached into my bag to grab my Edgar Allen Poe book. I dropped the paper and flipped to the Raven and sure enough the words from this letter had been taken from the poem — from my book.

  “What’s going on?” Liam asked.

  “Someone planted two more ravens,” I whispered.

  “I’m not following. What do you mean more?” His eyes locked onto mine, catching my elbow.

  “There was one last night on my pillow, but Steph thought it was from you, like something you made for me or something.” I sighed. “I was going to thank you for it this morning on the beach, but I got distracted.”

  Liam picked up the letter and began scanning it.

  “We’re not going to find the phone, are we?” Steph’s voice was completely deflated.

  We didn’t answer her.

  “Is this a poem from your book?” Liam asked, squinting his eyes at the pasted words.

  “Not directly. When I saw the word nevermore, I knew he must have gathered the words from the Raven poem. Once I turned to it in my book that’s when I saw all of the holes from where he had cut the words out.”

  “I guess we know why Chelsea was so terrified,” Steph murmured. “Whoever’s been leaving these must’ve done something to really freak her out.”

  “Besides breaking her leg? Yeah. I think we can count on that.”

  “I don’t want to cause alarm with everyone, but we need a meeting to review everything,” Liam said.

  “Do you think it’s one of the campers?” I asked, helping Steph back up.

  “It makes the most sense. I’m gonna go talk with Marty and Caleb, see what they’ve found and figure out what we want to do. Stay here and I’ll come back for you guys.” He looked at me and then at Steph.

  “I’d rather come with you,” I said, glancing at Steph, who didn’t seem to care if she came or went at this point.

  “Sure.” He held out his hand, which I grasped onto and used my other hand to haul Steph out with us, letting go once she made it outside.

  Liam stuffed the paper into his jeans and pulled me closer. He slowly slid his arms around my back as I felt my body crumble into his. I looked over at Steph who looked like she was on the verge of a major freakout, and I wasn’t sure that I was really the person to help her divert it, but I had to try.

  “We’re going to be okay,” I whispered.

  “They won’t come for weeks,” her voice caught.

  “There could be a logical explanation.” My breath trembled, and I cursed myself for my lack of acting skills.

  “They’re not scheduled for weeks,” she repeated, staring at the tent not even blinking. “Weeks.”

  Liam’s arms released me slowly as I felt able to stand on my own again. We started back to the campfire, and Marty and Caleb were discussing things intently when we arrived.

  “I filled him in on the ropes,” Caleb said.

  “Well, unfortunately there’s some more developments,” Liam said, glancing at me.

  All the campers were still in their tents and where we were standing seemed as good of place to regroup as anywhere. Liam explained the poem based off of one of my books and the raven carvings. Both Caleb and Marty looked as if they were as shocked as we had been, but there was something unsettling brewing between us all.

  “So do you think it’s one of the campers?” Caleb whispered.

  “I’m leaning that way,” Liam said.

  “Who’s to say it’s a camper and not a CL?” Steph blurted out.

  Caleb’s expression darkened, and he took a step forward toward her.

  “Don’t even go there, Steph. You can’t even imagine what I just experienced back there.”

  “I’m sure whoever is doing this is hoping that we’ll become fractured, and it looks like that’s already happening,” I said, grabbing Liam’s hand. He gently squeezed it.

  “Who’s to say it’s not our handyman?” Marty said, ignoring my statement. He crossed his arms in front of him and glanced at our hands.

  “Listen, we don’t need to start doing this right now. Maybe these things aren’t related,” Liam said. I could tell he wasn’t even convinced of the words that left his lips.

  “Let’s keep searching through the tents and go from there,” I said, glancing at Steph who seemed to be shrinking into herself.

  “Yeah. Just get on with it,” Marty grumbled.

  We searched tent after tent, coming up with absolutely nothing except terrified expressions and many more questions than we had answers for. When we got to Justin’s tent we all looked around slowly wondering what we might find. It felt wrong to go through someone’s personal effects, but it had to be done.

  Justin’s tent was neatly organized. He had his bags on the far side of the tent, and then several piles of clothes folded tidily at the end of his sleeping bag. Caleb looked through a pile of magazines, and I just stood there scanning along the floor when my eyes fell on a tube of something underneath the sleeping bag.

  “What’s that?” I asked, pointing to the brightly colored tube peaking out.

  Marty walked over and flipped up the sleeping bag, revealing a tube of glue.

  “Well, that doesn’t make sense,” I mumbled. “Is there any reason why he’d need glue?”

  “Not really,” Steph said, grabbing it from Marty and twisting off the lid. “It looks like it’s been used too.”

  “You don’t think he set this up, do you?” Caleb asked.

  “Which part?” I questioned.

  “All of it,” he offered.

  “It doesn’t add up. Why would he leave a poem for Emma, off himself, and then ask a bear to strategically move his body?” Steph glared at Caleb.

  “Maybe…” Caleb stopped himself, glancing at Liam.

  “Listen before we start wasting our time with conspiracy theories, let’s just get the group together and let them know what we need to do going forward,” I said.

  “And what’s that?” Caleb arched his brow.

  “I have no idea,” I replied. “But I’m sure you’ll come up with something by the time you start talking to them.”

  “I don’t think anyone should ever go anywhere alone. Whether it’s to the bathroom, to their tent. I think everyone should double up in tents as well,” Steph said quietly.<
br />
  “I agree,” I said, stepping out of Justin’s tent.

  “All right. I’ll have everyone meet us at the campfire,” Marty said, meeting me outside the tent.

  Liam came over and stood next to me, his eyes connecting with mine, and I saw a flicker of fear that I’d never seen before. My stomach tightened, and without hesitation I buried my face into his chest.

  “You’re gonna be okay,” he murmured, his lips close to my ear.

  Marty began moving swiftly to all of the tents to fill them in on the meeting time.

  I exhaled slowly, breaking free from Liam. I looked around the campground, wondering if we were being watched.

  Chapter Twelve

  “We need to go find them,” Brady said. He was sitting next to Mark, one of the guys I flew in with, and the entire group froze.

  I looked at Marty who was a bit speechless.

  “Everything we do needs to be mapped out first. We can’t afford any more surprises,” Marty answered, looking over at me.

  Steph was sitting next to me and was pretty much out of it, so I stood up quickly and went over to help Marty field any questions. He grimaced and gave me a quick thank you.

  “If it’s just an accident what’s the big deal?” Mark questioned.

  “We’re not so sure it was,” I said, finding my voice.

  “What do you mean?” a guy yelled. I couldn’t remember his name and looked at Steph, hoping for some help.

  “Paul, we need everyone to stay calm so we can discuss things in a normal manner,” she replied monotone and then hunched back over.

  “There are a couple of things that have made consider another possibility. It looks as if the ropes were tampered with. However, the problem that arises with that observation is that not only did the climbing group look at one another’s equipment, each climber checked their own. It’s odd that two damaged ropes would’ve gotten past everyone,” I said.

  “What if Justin or Dan did it? That would make sense if they did it on their way up. Maybe Justin was tired of being here,” Parker said. His brown hair was completely tangled, and he had dark circles under his eyes.