by Shawn Sarles
“I think it was this way.”
Maddie nearly jumped out of her skin as Chelsea placed a warm hand on her shoulder and pointed through the trees.
“Th-thank you,” Maddie whispered, feeling instantly better. She’d forgotten she still had her best friend by her side. Her sister, even if they weren’t related by blood. They’d been through so much together. She reached up and gave Chelsea’s hand a reassuring squeeze. Then she started walking again, leading the way.
A few minutes later, Maddie felt a wave of relief. She finally recognized something—the tree Tommy had been leaning against as he’d spilled his guts to her the night before. The one she’d almost kissed him under. Maddie picked up her pace. They were almost there.
“Tommy!” Maddie yelled the boy’s name as she pushed through the trees ahead of everyone else. She opened her mouth to call for him again, but his name dropped off her tongue. Her mouth hung open as she took in the boys’ camp—what was left of it.
She lunged forward, but someone threw their arms around her shoulders and pulled her back. She glanced up and saw her father, his lips set in a grim line. She turned back to the camp, and a whimper escaped her. What her eyes hadn’t wanted to believe at first slowly sank in.
The camp wasn’t at all like it’d been the night before. Someone—or something—had come through and ravaged it. Like a hurricane. Or maybe a bear.
Strips of frayed fabric littered the ground, like someone had taken a shredder to the boys’ sleeping bags. Their pillows had been gutted, too, the stuffing strewn out across the ground, a fine dusting of snow covering everything.
Only it hadn’t been a white Christmas. Not entirely.
Here and there patches of red flared against the ground. The blood had splashed against the trees, too, in long and violent streaks, like a Jackson Pollock painting. It clung to the bark, soaked right into the canyons of what looked like fresh claw marks.
“Over here,” Ed shouted. He’d lumbered into the camp when everyone else had stopped. “I think I found something.”
He bent and pulled at a lifeless lump of rags lying on the ground.
The boys’ makeshift tent. Someone had ripped it down and balled it up. Patches of blood covered it, too. Ed gave the sheet a firm tug and the whole thing came undone in one tumbling motion. Jason’s body flopped out onto the ground.
Maddie turned away, but not before she saw his face—the three long marks running from his forehead down to his chin, red and clotted, the only color blemishing his now unnaturally pale cheeks. She gritted her teeth and tried to keep her scream inside. But a sob still broke through the forest. It took Maddie another moment to realize it wasn’t hers.
Pulling away from her father’s chest, Maddie saw Abigail curled up tightly against a tree, her head bent low, her hands pressed over her eyes and ears. She rocked slowly back and forth as she cried.
For the first time in a long time, Maddie felt sorry for the girl. She must have gotten to the camp just before them, must have stumbled onto all this and crumpled in on herself.
Would Maddie have done anything different if she had come across her boyfriend’s body? Not that she had one. But if she did…
And then it hit her. Where was Tommy?
Her eyes flitted around the trashed campsite. She scanned the ground and the trees. There was so much blood everywhere. Could it have all come from Jason? Maddie knew the answer, but she didn’t want to believe it until she had proof. She kept looking, searching for any sign, any little thing that would tell her Tommy was somehow, miraculously, still alive.
“Over here.”
Maddie heard her brother’s voice and, without thinking, pushed out of her dad’s arms. He tried to pull her back, but she took off, sprinting through the camp, bloody fluff sticking to the soles of her running shoes. She made for Charlie’s voice, hopeful.
When she saw Charlie crouched low to the ground, she knew what her brother had found. But she kept going, running the whole way to him. She had to see for herself.
“He’s gone,” Charlie said quietly. A body lay at his feet, facedown, its limbs twisted to the side. Charlie’s fingers pressed into the body’s neck where there was no longer a pulse to take.
“It can’t be,” Maddie whimpered, knowing how pathetic she sounded but not caring. Because she didn’t need to see the boy’s face to know it was Tommy. She recognized his close-shaven head, the cut-off Giants T-shirt. She bent down and stretched out her hand.
“Don’t,” Charlie stopped her from flipping the body over.
“But—” Maddie started.
“It’s nothing you want to see.” Charlie cut her off gently, pulling her shoulders around and leading her back toward camp. “Trust me.”
Maddie glanced back at the body one last time, lying so still, as if Tommy were only sleeping. But the blood told a different story.
A sharp pain squeezed her chest. Guilt, Maddie realized. He’d had a crush on her and she’d known it. She’d used him for the attention, to make herself feel better about Caleb. And now he was dead. She felt bad for not letting him kiss her. He’d waited five years for a second chance. Maddie would have let him kiss her ten times—no, fifty, Funyuns-breath and all—if only he were still alive.
She turned away from Tommy’s body and tried to push the bitter thoughts out of her head.
“Come here for a second.” Charlie bent down, pulling Maddie’s face toward his, making sure their eyes locked. “I’m going to protect you. You know that, right?”
Maddie sniffed and then nodded.
“But you have to promise me something,” Charlie went on. “Promise me that you’ll do whatever I say. If I tell you to run, you run. No matter what. You save yourself. When you run, no one can catch you. Got it?”
Maddie nodded again.
“Promise me.”
“I promise,” Maddie said, and Charlie pulled her in for a hug.
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you, I swear.”
“I know,” Maddie mumbled into his ear. Because she did know. Charlie had always protected her. He’d never let her down. Not once.
“Did you find anything?”
Maddie lifted her head, but her father had meant the question for her uncle.
“Nothing,” Ed huffed. He went back to kicking through the debris, and Maddie realized he was looking for the radio.
After another five minutes of searching, they had to give in to the sobering fact that the radio wasn’t there. And neither was the boys’ ATV. They wouldn’t be getting the help they so desperately needed. They’d have to hike down the mountain on foot, a trek that would take them a couple of days.
As Maddie glanced around the bloody campsite, she saw her father standing nervously with Charlie, her aunt and uncle pulling Bryan in close to them and Kris cradling an emotionally spent Abigail while Dylan hovered at her shoulder. Caleb and Chelsea stood off to one side, looking lost and worried, the outsiders.
But in that moment, separated as they were, Maddie knew that the same thought ran through all of their heads.
Did they have any chance at surviving the two-day trip down the mountain?
TWENTY-ONE
MADDIE’S BACK ACHED FROM CARRYING HER pack. They’d been walking all day. Her swollen feet groaned with soreness. Her shirt and shorts had fused to her slender body, sweat dripping off her in disgusting streams.
But they couldn’t let up, not with a killer somewhere out there. Everyone had seen Jason and Tommy’s camp, their bloody, broken bodies. Another story come to life. Caleb had warned them about telling scary stories under a full moon.
But that was only a joke. This was—this was very real. Someone was after them, and no one wanted to see what the killer would do next. They had to keep moving. They had to stick together. They had to watch each other’s backs.
Caleb led the way, while Maddie’s dad and uncle brought up the rear. They moved in a tight line, Maddie next to Chelsea. Ahead of them, Kris and Julie walke
d carefully. In Mark’s absence, they’d taken up his anxiousness. Their heads swiveled around like gyroscopes, frantically searching the woods for any threat.
Except it wasn’t a mountain lion or bear they were looking for, but an altogether different type of killer. A smarter one. More cunning and cruel than any wild animal.
He had to be out there watching them. Following them. Waiting for his chance to strike.
Watching the two women gave Maddie a headache. Their paranoia was contagious. And the last thing she needed right now was a reason to be even more terrified. Instead, she glanced back and saw Abigail ambling along behind her. The girl moved unsteadily, like a zombie wandering through the woods. She walked quietly, though, absorbed in her thoughts, mindlessly following the leader. She wore a numb expression, the blank stare and slack jaw of shock. The red-rimmed and puffy eyes of someone completely cried out. Every few minutes Maddie would hear a sniffle and then a whimper. She’d always disliked Abigail, but now she felt sympathy for her fellow half-orphan. Abigail didn’t have anyone she could talk to. Maddie nudged Chelsea and slowed her pace, falling back alongside Abigail. Chelsea got the hint and moved to the girl’s other side.
“How are you doing?” Maddie asked, keeping her voice low.
Abigail turned her head slowly and stared Maddie down.
“How do you think I’m doing?”
Maddie flinched, as if Abigail had smacked her in the face. But she remembered her first few days in the hospital all those years ago—her own hostility—and she leaned back in, ready to try again.
“I—I’m sorry,” Abigail said, beating Maddie to the punch. Her face fell and she awkwardly dropped her head to stare at the ground.
“It’s okay.” Maddie gingerly placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “I know it’s hard. I’ve been there, too.”
Abigail looked up, and there was a glint of recognition in her eye.
“I almost forgot,” she mumbled. “About your mom, I mean.”
Maddie nodded, actually relieved that Abigail had forgotten. Maddie had always feared that her mother’s accident would define her.
“How do you do it?” Abigail asked. “How do you get through each day without her?”
Maddie paused and thought about it. How did she do it?
“I guess—I guess I just keep running.” Maddie knew it didn’t make much sense. But it was true. Abigail still had a dazed look, though, so Maddie scrambled to find the right words.
“What I mean is—I—I just keep going. Sure, I still think about my mom every single day, and I miss her like crazy and wish she was still here. But I don’t let her absence get in my way. I know she’d want me to live my life. So that’s what I do.”
It felt right as it came out of her mouth. But there was something Maddie had forgotten.
“Some days, though—some days still seem unbearable. Some days I need help. But that’s why I surround myself with people I love. With people who love me.”
Maddie’s eyes flitted to Chelsea as she said this. Her best friend had gotten her through the worst moment in her life. She didn’t know what she would have done if Chelsea hadn’t appeared in her hospital room all those years ago.
“People who I’d fight the world to protect and who would do the same for me.”
She thought of Charlie this time.
“I want you to know that you’re not alone,” Maddie went on. “We might have had our issues—but I’m here for you. I’ll always be here for you. Chelsea, too.”
Chelsea nodded and quickly placed her hand on Abigail’s other shoulder. Between them, Abigail sniffed. A fresh set of tears leaked from her eyes.
“Thanks,” she said, her voice nasally and wet. She took another moment to compose herself. “I’m sorry I’ve always been such a bitch.”
“That’s all in the past,” Maddie waved it away and leaned her head against Abigail’s shoulder.
It’d always been Maddie and Chelsea against the world. Ever since that day in the hospital. But now, as the three girls walked, their arms linked together, Maddie realized it’d be the three of them. Tragedy had just given them another sister.
“Everyone, hold up,” Caleb called back to the group. They stopped, confused. “This is as far as we’re going today.”
“Are you crazy?” Kris’s voice sounded shrill. She clenched her pack tighter around her shoulders as if it could protect her. “The sun’s still up.”
“We’ve got to make camp while we still can,” Caleb explained. “We’ve got to get ready for the night.”
“The night?” Julie didn’t understand. “You don’t expect us to sleep, not with whoever’s out there trying to kill us.”
“We need to rest,” Caleb tried to reason with them. “Tomorrow’s gonna be another long day.”
“But—” Julie still couldn’t grasp it.
“It’ll be okay, honey.” Ed placed his meaty hand on his wife’s thin shoulder. “We’ll set up a watch and take turns. No one’s going to get us.”
“Unless it’s one of us who killed Mark.”
Maddie barely caught the muttered accusation, and when she turned back to look at the others she couldn’t tell who had said it.
“Right,” Caleb said, taking the lead again. “We’ll have a rotating watch. But first we’ve got to set up camp. Our tents can go over there. And there should be a stream nearby where we can fill our canteens and wash up. No fire tonight. And no flashlights. We can’t risk giving ourselves away.”
They stood frozen for a moment. No one wanted to be the first to move. It all felt like a really bad nightmare. Any second they’d wake up and Mark would be with them, freaking out about spotting bear tracks, which Caleb would examine and determine had actually been made by squirrels.
Maddie tried pinching her arm, but the painful sting only reminded her of their terrifying reality. She let her pack slide from her shoulders, and everyone got moving.
Her uncle and Bryan set to pitching the tents, while her aunt pulled out some cans of food to decide what’d make the best cold dinner. Caleb said he was going to the river, and Maddie decided she’d tag along. She needed to clean up. Her shoes were still covered in blood from Tommy’s campsite.
As they set off, Charlie and Dylan joined them, along with Kris and Abigail. And then Maddie’s dad. Maddie felt bad leaving Chelsea behind, but her best friend was tired and wanted to rest her feet.
As they walked out of camp, a sinking feeling punched Maddie in the stomach. She looked back at Chelsea sitting there on the ground, helping Julie go through the canned goods. Maddie couldn’t help wondering if this would be the last time she’d see her best friend.
She turned back around and tried to shake the black thought out of her head.
Of course she’d see Chelsea again. They were both going to make it down this mountain alive. She kept this thought planted in her mind as she followed Caleb out of camp.
TWENTY-TWO
IT TOOK THEM A FEW MINUTES to find the stream, but once there, they spread out a bit along the bank and quickly knelt to fill their bottles and wash up. Maddie greedily gulped down the cool water. She hadn’t realized how thirsty she was. She’d had no time to rest since finishing her run—since stumbling upon Mark’s body. Her face felt grimy, her arms and legs sticky with dried sweat and maybe blood.
She didn’t want to think about it. Instead, she pulled a bandana from her pocket and dipped it in the stream. As she wiped herself down, she listened to her dad and Kris talking. They sat a little downstream from her.
“Are you okay? I still can’t believe that someone—” Maddie glanced up and saw the stricken look on her dad’s face. “Well, just be glad you weren’t there to see the body.”
“Of course I’m not okay,” Kris snapped back. “But I’ve got to be strong. For my girls.”
Kris’s gaze flitted upstream to where Abigail stared absently into the flowing water.
“They need me now more than ever. But you know what that’s like.�
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“It’s not easy.”
The two adults fell silent and busied themselves with filling their water bottles.
“What I don’t understand,” Maddie’s dad thought aloud, “is who could have done this. I mean, we don’t really believe that these Mountain People exist, do we? Maybe it would make sense with Mark… but those boys—Abigail’s friends—they didn’t do anything to piss anyone off. Certainly not enough to—to—”
Her dad trailed off, unable to get the words out. But they buzzed in Maddie’s head.
Words like brutalized and dismembered. Gutted. Words that were only ever used in horror movies and cop shows on TV. Not in real life. Certainly not in their real lives.
“But who else could it be?” Kris had taken a moment to respond. “One of us?”
It was clear that Maddie’s dad didn’t like the sound of that.
“I don’t know. I guess. Maybe…”
Her dad looked at Kris expectantly. After a moment, Kris realized what he was asking.
“It wasn’t me,” she sputtered indignantly.
“Me neither.”
The two relaxed. Then Kris picked up the conversation.
“How well do you know that guide? It was his story. Maybe he planned it from the beginning. He was pretty pissed when Mark shot that deer.”
“But what about the boys? Did he even know they were up here?”
Kris shrugged, still thinking.
“Well, what about Ed?”
This seemed to resonate with Maddie’s dad and he nodded as Kris went on.
“You know how he can be. That temper. I mean, he had Mark on the ground last night. Maybe that wasn’t enough.”
“Mmm,” Mitch agreed. “I wouldn’t put it past him. Especially with Mark and Julie sleeping together. A man like Ed—he wouldn’t take that lying down.”
A gasp spilled out of Maddie’s mouth. She expected Kris to reach across and smack her dad across the cheek, but the woman’s face only scrunched up in disgust as she nodded her head. So they had known. Maddie leaned in closer to make sure she didn’t miss another word.