She gathered the folders back up and slid them back in to the cabinet.
“Let’s get going,” she said.
After we were all showered and ready, the camp was just starting to wake up, and within thirty minutes I knew we’d be on the trails searching for any sign of what had happened. Steph was back inside the yurt, and I motioned for Liam to meet me on the deck out front and he nodded.
Closing the door behind him, he rubbed his hands up and down my arms, in an attempt to warm me up.
“I think the goose bumps are a constant state now and have nothing to do with being cold.” I said, scrunching my nose at him. “Do you think Steph is okay?”
“She’s really flipping between being okay and not, but I think that’s normal.”
I nodded. “It’s hard to know what’s considered worrisome or not under the circumstances.”
He pursed his lips and nodded his head in agreement.
“I wanted to thank you for last night,” I said.
“I didn’t do anything.” He tilted his head slightly, his expression bewildered.
“You did more than you know. I’ve never spoken to anyone about that stuff.”
“I know there’s more you’re not telling me and whenever you feel the need, I’ll be here.” His thumb touched my lower lip, and I smiled, letting my gaze fall to the deck we were standing on. How did he know that?
“Thank you,” I murmured. The craving for him was heating up the insides of my body, and as if he could read my mind, he reached for me.
“Emma,” he breathed quietly but gruffly, as his fingers wrapped around my elbows. I looked at him through my lashes as his mouth parted only inches away from mine. “If we had met at another time and in a different place, I’d already have made you mine.”
A ripple of happiness shot through my body, and a smile wrapped around my lips at his proclamation, and I didn’t even understand why. His hands slid down my arms, catching me by the hips. I felt Liam’s firm and powerful body press against me, and I wanted more.
The hint of possessiveness was a complete turn on as his lips fell to mine. His fingers left my hips and coiled through my hair bringing me in closer. The sensation of his mouth searching mine, as he cradled my head in his hands created a sensation that ripped through me, and I didn’t want it to end.
My hands caressed his neck, letting my fingers wrap around his hair as I kissed him harder. Everything about him was pulling me in deeper and deeper into his world regardless of where I was standing and what I was facing. His hands moved down my spine restlessly as we slowly broke free.
“You’re what I needed right now in my life,” I whispered.
He smiled and his eyes lit up as he interlocked his hand in mine. “Well let’s get this worked out so we have a chance to see what we could really be.”
My heart fluttered as I thought about the possibility of spending my first year at college with this perfect specimen of a man, and then it plummeted with the realization I may not even get there.
Marty was walking toward the deck, waving at us. “Are you guys ready to head out soon? I’ve got our group ready to go over by the campfire.”
“Yeah. My group will take the northern trail, and you guys can take the southern,” Liam said. “If there’s anything out of the ordinary, we’ve got those orange markers we can use. We’ll just hope that whoever is out there doesn’t pull out the stakes before we can all check it out together. We’ll grab Steph and meet you over there. ”
“Sounds like a plan,” Marty said and turned toward the covered, stone fire pit.
I nodded, dropping Liam’s hand and opening the yurt’s door to find the clear, vinyl window pulled out the back of the yurt. My eyes immediately fell to my pillow where another raven was placed. I leaned on the doorframe, and Liam watched as my legs buckled underneath me, scooping me up before I hit the ground.
“She’s not inside and there’s another raven,” I said, my voice trembling. “We need to find her now.”
“Marty get everyone. Let’s go,” Liam shouted.
He made sure I could stand and went in the yurt and grabbed his rifle.
The sensation of wanting to curl into a ball vanished quickly, knowing time wasn’t on our side. I ran inside the yurt and grabbed the machete and pepper spray and ran back outside. Liam was already behind the back of the yurt where the window was tossed on the ground. There was no sign of her. I saw a small trail leading back away through the woods, but it looked too narrow for anything larger than a rabbit.
Liam started tracking something that I didn’t recognize in a different direction, and I followed closely behind him as the group began to congregate and stare at the window on the ground.
“Whoever it was took her this way,” he yelled, taking off in the direction of the smokehouse.
“We should have a CL and three campers stay behind,” he hollered, as he surged forward.
I chased after him through the woods as fast as I could with tree limb after tree limb hitting and slapping my face raw. Images of Steph began flashing through my mind, and the guilt began flooding through me. It never occurred to me she was vulnerable in the yurt. I never should have asked Liam to come out on the deck.
Liam was hollering Steph’s name as he dodged under the branches with ease. The crunching of everyone’s footsteps behind me gave way to heavy breathing as we continued at Liam’s frenzied pace. I ran until my lungs burned, and Liam was farther and farther away. My heart was pounding inside my chest, and I couldn’t go any longer, and I wasn’t alone. Dave, Vince, and Fulton slowed next to me, propping their hands on their knees gasping for air as the other CLs and campers continued by us. I turned to look down the trail, gauging how far we’d come as I tried to steady my breathing.
“Emma,” Liam voice boomed through the air. “Stay where you are.”
I turned quickly looking back up the trail to see Liam jogging down to me, shaking his head. He was holding something, but I couldn’t tell what it was. Everyone had stopped running and began walking back toward me, glancing nervously behind them.
We had reached the edge of the forest, which gave way to the rocky alpine that bordered the area we were staying in. My heart was still pounding, but it wasn’t because of the activity. Liam no longer had his rifle strapped onto his shoulder. Instead he was carrying it. His expression was grave as he reached me.
“Continue walking down the trail,” he said quietly. “Remain calm.”
I glanced around and watched the CLs giving the same orders to the rest of us as we slowly began our descent back down the trail.
“There’s a mother brown bear with her two cubs, and she’s not the only family on the plateau,” Liam whispered, walking backward down the trail more than forward as he continued to scan our surroundings.
“Liam, what’s in your hand,” I asked, my voice trembling.
He held it up for me and that’s when I saw it. A tattered piece of Steph’s flannel shirt was intertwined among his fingertips.
“She’s not with the bears, is she?” I asked, not wanting to know the answer as the lump was forming in the back of my throat.
“No. Not that I could see,” he replied. His expression was stone, but I detected a slight tremble as he spoke about his cousin.
Our group began tightening up in formation as we hiked back down the trail. It had been cleared only the week before, but it still had several areas of brush that had to be dodged. I didn’t understand what to make of anything any longer. Were we really just buying time before the inevitable?
Every so often one of the campers would slice some of the vegetation that was in the way, and I’d tense up each time I heard the blade whoosh through the air.
“Are we gonna go back up that way? I asked.
He shook his head, and I caught my breath only momentarily before a shot rang into the air.
Chapter Fifteen
Liam stopped immediately. His facial expression completely fell as he grabbed my elbow
and pulled me next to him as our eyes darted from CL to camper to CL.
“Shit. It’s back at the camp,” Liam said, his voice just under a yell. “Do not run for the camp. Stay with me at a calm pace.”
Liam didn’t let go of my arm the entire time we cautiously walked down the trail. He scanned up the trail and down the trail, looking for any evidence of the bears following us, or killers waiting for us.
By the time we stopped just short of the outskirts of camp my heart was pounding so hard my ears hurt. I understood Steph’s vacant expression now. She had lost hope and wanted out, but there was no way to get out. She understood that and I finally did too. I scanned our group quickly, realizing I didn’t even know which guys had stayed behind. Seeing Caleb, Dave, Mark, Brady, Paul, Vince, and Fulton, I tried to place who was missing. I looked back at Vince and saw him staring behind Caleb. I followed his gaze, but didn’t see anything. Maybe I was just imagining things. Vince was probably just in shock like the rest of us.
“We need to find Cory, Parker, Luke and Marty,” Liam said in a hushed voice to everyone, letting go of my elbow. “That’s who we’d left behind.”
I looked over at Caleb whose eyes were completely guarded, and I watched Vince who was next to him, tighten his grip on the machete, but his hand was trembling. None of us knew what to expect, or what we’d find inside the confines of the camp, but the only way to know was to start looking.
Liam took the first step toward the camp, and we all followed closely behind. My eyes zipped from one structure to the next. The shed looked like I last saw it, still locked. The yurt’s window had been replaced. I could smell the smoke of the fire. But I saw no one.
“Marty,” Liam called. “Hey, Marty.”
“Luke?” Brady said, scanning inside an open tent.
My skin began crawling with the realization that all I had to do was check to see if anything had been left behind for me. Then we’d know.
“Let’s check inside the yurt,” I told Liam, catching a flicker of doubt in his eyes.
“Okay. Let me go in first,” he muttered.
I followed him to the yurt, climbing the steps slowly and quietly. Liam flung open the door, ready to fire if needed but there was no one inside. My eyes dipped to my pillow where the raven had been placed, but no new ravens had been left.
“Let’s go check the other tent,” I said quietly, forcing the terror back down my throat. “Then we’ll know whether we can expect to find them… or not.”
We made it down the stairs and over to the tent we had originally planned on overnighting in. Liam gave the zipper a fast tug, and I poked my head inside. There were no new ravens. Maybe Marty and the guys were just out as a group together and ran into a bear or something.
I heard Caleb shout Liam’s name, and my heart dropped at the sound, knowing I was obviously being delusional. We couldn’t be that lucky. I took a deep breath in and let it out slowly as Liam zipped the tent back up.
“Think he’s by the campfire,” Liam said. “Let’s go.”
We wandered through the maze of tents in the direction of the fire pit to find the group congregated around Caleb. There was a low murmur running like an electrical current through everyone. I already knew the answer before I even saw them.
The fire was smoking heavily, and I pushed back the tears, wishing I could blame them on the air not the fear running through me. The crowd parted as we arrived to expose Caleb, holding four ravens and another note. There was an extra rifle lying on the ground — Marty’s. Was he able to wound the person or was it used against him? My eyes canvassed everything, looking for any signs, and there were none. There were no signs of a struggle and no signs of blood. Maybe it had been a warning shot from Marty, alerting us that something was going down. But why wouldn’t he have been able to stop it then? My mind was on a continual loop, but Caleb’s voice broke me free.
“This is for you,” Caleb said, pushing the note to me.
I looked up at Liam whose face was impossible to read and nodded to him to grab it for me.
“How do you know it’s for me?” I asked.
“You’ll see soon enough,” Caleb whispered, dropping his gaze to the ground.
“Shit,” Liam hissed. He was holding the paper so tightly his fingernails turned white as he read it.
I grabbed it from him and recognized the pasted words from the last note, except this time my name was used with single letters he pasted up top.
Emma,
I remember peering into your soul,
Dreaming of the answer,
I heard you,
The darkness
Startled me,
Thrilled me
The demons sent me for you
And you opened the door
My hands trembled as I realized it was me that this person wanted. Whoever it was, wanted me. Everyone else was to send a message, to terrorize me.
I looked up at Liam, opening my mouth but I had no voice. I scanned the note one last time and walked to the fire pit, releasing it into the flames. I watched the edges of the paper ignite as I thought about what I needed to do. What we all needed to do.
“We won’t become like the others,” I whispered, the tears coating my eyes.
“So we’ve all been through hell because someone’s been after you?” Brady said, his voice full of anger. “People are dying because of you. Why didn’t they just come and get you?”
“Enough,” Caleb said. “We don’t know that anyone has died.”
“Oh, please. Isn’t it obvious? I’m not gonna keep playing like everything’s going to work out just fine, because judging by my calculations, it’s not,” Brady said.
“Keep your voice down,” Fulton whispered, grabbing Brady’s shirt collar, pulling Brady toward him. “If we’re being watched, we can’t afford to have whoever it is hear. Got it?” Fulton’s eyes were blazing to match his voice as he shoved Brady away.
“We’ve gotta get this shit figured out, dude,” Vince whispered, rubbing his temples with his fingers. “This can’t be happening.”
“Our little princess apparently does have baggage,” Brady seethed, slowly walking toward me.
I glanced at Liam and saw the fury building deep inside of him. I hoped Brady wouldn’t do anything stupid because it didn’t look like Liam was going to have the patience for it.
“When did Steph say the next plane was coming? Two weeks?” Vince asked.
I nodded, knowing now wasn’t the time to say that was no guarantee. I watched the movements of everyone in the group stiffen as Brady kept coming toward me. This wasn’t going to end well.
“She’s here if you want her. I’ll help you get her, if you’ll leave me alone,” Brady hollered into the air, and before I could stop anything Liam had tackled Brady to the ground. Punch after punch landing on him.
“You think that shit’s funny?” Liam growled. Caleb and Dave were attempting to haul Liam off of Brady, but Liam’s strength was proving to be too great.
I ran over to him and bent down.
“It’s enough. It’s enough,” I whispered to Liam. “It’s okay.”
I glanced down at Brady whose bottom lip was split open and his cheekbone was already red. Liam stopped as soon as he heard my voice and stood up quickly.
“We’re all human, not animals and no one is going to be sacrificed on my watch,” Liam snarled, adjusting his shirt.
Caleb reached his hand down to Brady who accepted it, and he stood back up, stepping away from the group.
The group was fracturing, and if we didn’t get a plan in place for survival, none of us would be leaving here. I glanced around the camp, trying to understand where the person could be hiding. I scanned up the trees to the platforms and over to the brush, looking for anything that would give me a clue.
Liam walked over and grabbed Marty’s rifle.
“Liam, can I talk to you in the yurt?” I asked.
He nodded and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. The tears qui
ckly evaporated as anger filled me instead.
“We’ll get this figured out,” Caleb said from behind, as I walked with Liam to the yurt.
I pulled on the door and walked into the yurt, letting out a long breath.
“Whoever this is wants me, but they are obviously going to pick off every single person until they get to me,” I said.
“If they wanted to pick you off first, they would’ve,” Liam agreed. “They want to watch you suffer before…”
I nodded. “I’m sure whoever is doing this expects that we’ll stay together as a group. Normally, I’d say that’s a good idea, but I think we should split up and stay away from the camp. I’d rather take my chances with the bears.”
Liam let out a huge sigh as he sat on the desk, leaning back. He didn’t say anything for a while. He just stared at the floor.
“Four were taken out this time. Four. We’re going to have no one left. Whoever’s doing this is either getting impatient or bold and neither will lead to good things.”
Liam bit his lip and began nodding as he slowly connected his gaze with mine. “You’re right. It’s an unexpected move and possibly our only chance.”
“I want to find whoever is doing this before they find me,” I said, bending over and picking up the ravens. “I think we need to split into three groups. You and me in one group to take care of what needs to be taken care of, and Dave and Caleb in two others. We only have five campers left.”
“I think you’re right. I think it’s the only way,” he agreed.
“I want to find Steph. I want to find the others,” my voice broke off.
“So do I,” Liam said sliding off the table. “Let’s go tell everyone our plans. Have you shot a rifle before?”
“I even have my hunter’s safety badge from when I was twelve,” I said, laughing.
“You just keep getting more perfect,” he whispered, smiling.
“If you think this is perfection, you’re as equally messed up as me,” I said.
“Probably am,” he said as we walked out of the yurt, Steph’s raven in hand.
The Camp Page 12