HOLLIS MCCALISTER SUMMER CAMP

by Keith McCloud

  “Jake, I am a little worried about Hollis,” James says.

  “Why, did something happen? I thought he was coming back to the room to take a break and relax,” Jake replies.

  “Well, that’s what he was supposed to do, but he decided to go for a walk down one of the trails to clear his head and to get away for a little bit and that he would be back by lunch, but it’s now two hours later than lunch and he is not back. I think we should go and start looking for him. I am worried about him off in the woods alone. How do we know something hasn’t happened to him? He doesn’t know the woods and you and I both know he can’t defend himself against anything. He is a nerd who’s wandering around out in the woods and doesn’t know how to defend himself,” James says.

  “Okay, you might have a point there. I could see him getting lost and then not being able to defend himself if he had to. He does get easily distracted and could have not been paying attention and got himself off of the trail, and then who knows with him? Alright, we are going to have to gather the rest of the guys here in the cabin and go out and look for him. I am going to need to go and tell Preacher Miller that Hollis might be missing. Can you gather all the guys and meet back in the living room? I am headed to Preacher Miller’s cabin to tell him,” Jake says.

  “Okay, I will get everyone. Don’t stay over there really long: we need to get out and start looking,” James says.

  James walks back towards his room and Jake leaves to go to Preacher Miller’s cabin. Knock, knock, Jake knocks on the door. Preacher Miller comes to the door. He looks like he has just woken up from a nap.

  “Yes,” Preacher Miller says.

  “We might have a missing person. Hollis left a note saying he was going to go for a walk to clear his mind and would be back at lunchtime. Well, no one has seen him at all. We are concerned: since it’s Hollis he probably wasn’t paying attention and wandered off one of the trails and gotten himself lost. We all know he is not an outdoors person. He will not know how to defend himself if he needs to. You know this area, there are some black bears here and rattlesnakes. If he runs into any of them, he is not going to know what to do and he is going to get either eaten by a bear or bitten by a snake,” Jake says.

  “Okay, Jake, slow down and stay calm. Right now he is two hours late. You also know that he might be sitting somewhere up against a tree and doing things on his computer. He has probably just lost track of time and doesn’t even realize what time it is. I need you to calm down first before we do anything else,” Preacher Miller says.

  “I am sorry, I just worry about Hollis because he doesn’t think about anything except his computer and he forgets about everything else. I have always felt I need to watch out for him. He’s doesn’t have any brothers and that’s why I have always behind the scenes watched out for him. Anyway we need to go out and start looking for him,” Jake says.

  “Okay, we will need to set up a little search party for him. While you go back to your cabin and start to get a search party together, I will call his parents just to let them know he is two hours late from coming back from hiking in the woods,” Preacher Miller says.

  Jake replies, “That sounds like a deal. I will also get a few more cabins together to help with the search, and then we will need to leave a couple behind just in case he returns. We will need to use the radios to communicate back and forth with each other. We have all been trained on search and rescue, so this is going to be a big test for all of us.”

  Jake then turns around and walks out of Preacher Miller’s cabin. Then Preacher Miller goes over to his table where the phone is and then picks up his address book to look for the phone number for the McCalisters.

  “Hello,” the voice says on the other end of the phone.

  “Good afternoon, sister McCalister,” Preacher Miller says.

  “Good afternoon, preacher. What’s wrong? Is something wrong with Hollis? Is he okay?” Ms McCalister replies.

  “Well, I don’t want to alarm you, but Hollis went out hiking this morning and said he would be back at lunchtime, and he knows we have lunch at noon every day. Well, it’s 2:20 now and he has not returned, so we are going to send a search party out to look for him. He wanted to be by himself today, so he decided to go hiking on the trails. We think he is probably sitting down somewhere by a tree and he is on his computer or reading a book,” Preacher Miller says.

  “Oh no, you know he does not know anything about being in the woods. He is not a woods or outdoors type of kid. He would prefer to sit in the house all day on his computer. I am going to have to come up there,” Ms McCalister says.

  “I am sending Brother Barlow over to pick you up in about 30 minutes. He will drive you up in one of the church vans. He will have his cellphone so we will call you if we find Hollis and then you guys can just turn around. You know it’s about a 3-hour drive up here to the camp.”

  “I will start to get ready now. Please find him, you know he is my baby and I will be worried sick until you find him. Thank you,” Ms McCalister replies.

  “We will find him and we will call you,” Preacher Miller says and then he hangs up the phone.

  Jake walks into the cabin and says, “Okay, we are going to start a search-and-rescue for Hollis. I will need everyone to go to your stations. James, you are the radio guy, so please make sure all the radios are good to go. I need to go around to the other cabins and tell everyone else. We will all meet in the dinner hall in fifteen minutes. Time is ticking away and the later the day gets, the darker it’s going to get.” Everyone starts to go to their rooms and grab their items that they need for the search. Jake then walks out of the door and to the cabins he needs to speak with. Fifteen minutes later, the dinner hall is full. Jake stands up in front of everyone along with Preacher Miller.

  “Okay, as everyone knows, Hollis McCalister went on a hiking trip by himself and said he would be back at lunchtime, which we all know is noon. It is now 2:45 and he has not come back yet. I am sure he is just sitting next to a tree somewhere and he is either on his computer building his games as he likes to do, or he could be just sitting there and reading a book. Now we all know what’s out in these woods - snakes and black bears - so please use your training skills if you run up on either of them. Also watch out for the spiders. Now Jake will be heading up the search-and-rescue,” Preacher Miller says.

  “We have been training for search-and-rescue for several summer camps now and we all have acted this out plenty of times. Well, now it is time to use our skills that we have learned. It is very important that we all take this very seriously. I know that when we have acted this out in the past, we have cut up and joked and horse-played around. We cannot do that now. We have a life out there that, as of right now, is missing and every minute and every job that we have is precious. Jimmy, you are the best at doing this and I know you could careless about Hollis, but I need to know if you are on-board with us. If you are not, then we need to pick someone else to take your spot,” Jake says.

  Jimmy replies, “No, I am good with it. I am the one who made him mad, so I am the one who should get out there and find him.”

  “Good, then, we have a great search-and-rescue team and I know we will find him in no time and he will be okay. We need to get our stations set up. This will be the command center and Jimmy will be leading the search. We need the maps brought in of the area and then we need each search group to study their area. Also remember each search group needs to be set up with their master bow and arrow shooter. You never know when we might run up on something wild and a little dangerous. Alright, everyone, get to your stations and start breaking out your routes. Jimmy will be commanding that,” Jake says. Everyone then goes over to their stations and starts looking at the maps of the area.

  Beep, beep, the horn sounds. Ms McCalister opens the door and hurries out to the van waiting outside. “Brother Barlow, thank you for coming to get me and driving me to the camp. I am so worried about Hollis. He doesn’t know how to survive out in the woods. He barely
knows what the outside is. I am praying he is okay,” Ms McCalister says.

  “I am sure he is okay. It’s Hollis: he always finds a way to get himself out of situations,” Brother Barlow replies. They drive off in the van towards the camp.

  “Okay, we have six teams ready to break into six different directions. We have the woods all mapped out, and we have our radios all charged and on Channel 6. We have each emergency backpack fully equipped with everything we need for several hours of searching. I need each captain to gather their backpacks along with the maps for each of your areas,” Jimmy Stewart says. “Please also everyone be careful and I know we will find him sitting by a tree not paying attention to the time, and also with his headphones on listening to his MP3 player. He will probably not hear you hollering for him, so look high and low for him,” Jake says.

  * * *

  CHAPTER 9: STILL SEARCHING THE LAND

  * * *

  I am still a little woozy; I think I must have hit my head pretty hard when somehow I hit that tree. I still haven’t figured out how I could be in one place, but a few seconds later be 15 feet away without walking over there. It’s just strange how that happened. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Even if I had blacked out, how could I have ended up over there? Max could not have pulled me over there. That snake was backing its head up, getting ready to strike at me. I could feel its slithering tongue touching my face as if it was licking me and tasting me before it was getting ready to put its fangs in me. They are like the vampires of snakes, except their fangs are fixed and they don’t retract. I was terrified and I could not move at all, but yet somehow I ended up against that tree. I am just flabbergasted. Words cannot explain the emotions I am having right now. This is turning out to be such a strange place.

  “I guess, Max, this is one of those times when you just scratch your head and move on. Let’s keep walking and I am just following you.” Even though strange things are happening here, this place is still beautiful, from the breathtaking waterfalls to the very colorful flowers and the leaves on the trees. All Max does is bark at me like she is agreeing with me, or she wants me to shut up. It has to be getting late, but the time still seems the same as when we fell in that pit. Wow, that dragonfly over there on that leaf is like huge, it must weigh about 5 pounds and it has big wings. As a matter of fact, some things here are a little larger than normal. “Max, stop. Listen, I hear something. It sounds like something is growling, but I don’t see anything. Whatever it is, I hear more than one growl. It sounds like several growls. I think we should walk faster, Max.” The growls are getting louder and they seem to be getting faster. They are somewhere behind us. I know I am not making this up. Even Max hears them and she is walking faster. She keeps turning her head back and looking. Just like before with that snake, I am starting to get scared again. The growling is getting so loud and it’s getting closer and closer to us. “Max, I think we need to start running. The growling is getting louder and they are getting closer.” I then begin to walk really fast and Max is going just as fast as me, if not faster.

  The faster we go, the faster the sounds are coming towards us. The growls are just so loud now and they are roaring. I cannot tell what type of animal it is, but it sounds really vicious and like if it catches us, it’s going to rip us apart. We are now running down the trail fast and Max is growling as we run. As we are running I notice that, whatever it is, they are up in the trees. From what I can see there are several of them in the trees and right now they are keeping up with us step by step. I am following Max and I have no idea where she is taking us. We are running as fast as we can and I am running with my backpack full of stuff along with my computer, so I am a little weighed down right now. If I had to guess, it is some type of monkey, but with the trees weighing down the way they are, these things are really big and from the sound of their growls they sound even bigger. Looks to me like there are some mountains ahead and I think Max is guiding us towards them. Hopefully there is some type of cave ahead of us and we can get in one of them and hide out from whatever these animals are. I can see ahead of us there does look to be some caves. I am so out of breath and trying to breathe. Max, of course, is a dog and she has four legs to run on and she is not having any issues running. We are running at full speed and the growls are as loud as they can be, and the trees overhead of us are bending and moving like crazy. I am still running behind Max and she is still growling and barking really loudly.

  We are getting closer to the mountains and Max seems to know where we are going; not sure how she knows this. Maybe it is a dog thing and she just knows where to go. Oh, I am about to pass out. I can’t run, I am out of breath. I think I see a cave up ahead of us, or at least it looks like it from here that there is an opening ahead of us. Max is leading us towards the opening that I thought I had seen. Whatever it is that is chasing us is also going the same way we are, straight for the caves. I have no idea what to expect when we get into that cave, but right now we don’t have a choice and we need to get in there and try and hide and hopefully they will eventually leave and not attack us. All this stuff is racing through my mind because I am so scared right now.

  “Run, Max, run: the cave is right ahead of us. With the sound of those growls, whatever it is, I think they can rip us apart and eat us. Another 100 yards to the cave entrance. That’s where Max is taking us and I am following because I am about to crap my shorts right now because I am really scared.

  Okay, Max just runs into the entrance of the cave and it is not a large entrance. I would say it is about 10 feet high by 10 feet wide, and it seems somewhat light inside from what I can see. Max has stopped running and has turned around and is waiting on me. She stops barking: she seems to be acting really quiet, almost to where she is trying to hide us. I run in and stop and bend over and try and catch my breath. I am ready to throw up and I am really breathing hard. We can still hear the growls outside of the cave. They are still really loud outside and they seem to be all around. I am sure that, whatever they are, they saw us run into the cave. I have to take my backpack off and unzip it and get some water from it. I drink some and then I pour some in my hand and give Max some. She is lapping it up. I will need to give her some more. She is really thirsty. Oh boy, breathe and calm down. Okay, now that I have caught my breath it’s time to look around and see where we can go and hide till these things pass by or just go away. They might realize we came in the mouth of the cave and come in here so we need an escape route. It’s a good thing it is still light outside because it’s going to get really dark in here when it gets dark. The walls of the cave have great color to them; except for the beautiful colors. The cave inside where we are standing is very large. The ceiling is very high and it’s open like a large atrium. Then there are a few tunnels that I can see around the cave. Max has found some water and is drinking it. She is very thirsty and slurping it and gulping it really loudly. I can still hear the sounds of those baboon or monkey-looking creatures growling really loud outside. I am surprised they do not know we have run into this cave. The way they were chasing us I could have sworn they could see us and I know they can smell us. It’s just a matter of time that they realize we have come into the cave. I need to start finding something like an escape tunnel to get us out of here. I am just giving Max and myself a little time to catch our breath and take a little rest. we did a lot of running and again I am not a runner whatsoever. As a matter of fact, I hate running. Now, if I had a bicycle, I wouldn’t be having all these breathing issues and side pain like I do from running. There is a little water stream in this cave and Max is drinking water from it right now. I am drinking some water from one of my water bottles. I did put a few water bottles in my backpack, so I am okay right now until I am out of water and then that will become an issue.

  * * *

  CHAPTER 10: INSIDE THE CAVE

  * * *

  T he cave does have dampness to it and it’s a little cold also. This is not a cave that we will be able to crawl out of because the hol
e in the roof is way too high and there is just no way for us to get out from there. We must somehow find a way out of here. We cannot go back the way we came, or else we will most likely get mauled and eaten alive. I just need to take a moment and decide what we need to do next. Max is still drinking water and I should drink just a little more water myself. I am trying to ration how much I drink since I am not sure when I will be able to get more water, or find some water that I can actually drink without it making me sick. Maybe Max will have a direction for us to go since she has directed us this far.

  I think Max is ready to go. She is now looking around the cave and it looks as if she is trying to find us a way out. This dog is very smart. I think she wants to leave before those animals figure out we ran into the cave and then they come in here after us, and right now we could possibly be trapped in here and the only way out could be the way we came in. Looks like Max found us a tunnel to go in. The tunnel starts on the north end of the cave. The tunnel is about 12 feet high and 12 feet wide, and it looks to go on forever. Right now there is still light coming through the tunnel from the cave, and looks to be light down the tunnel coming from somewhere. We need to get going before those savage animals start coming after us again. We can hear them still outside of the cave growling and running around still searching for us. They will eventually figure it out once they pick up our scent. Whatever they are, I am very afraid of what they might do. I am sure they can tear us limb from limb and they will eat us alive. I am trying my best to not let Max know that I am scared right now. She is leading us now and I do not want to spook her. I will let her be the brave one. Again it really seems that she has been here before, she seems to know where she is going and she is so calm about it. I, on the other hand, am freaking out. She probably thinks that I am such a coward or a big chicken.