by Cindy Bell
***
A few hours later Bekki woke right out of her slumber by the rain dripping through the top of the tent and splashing on her forehead and she also had a rather pressing need. She grimaced as she glanced over at Nick who was sound asleep. She didn't want to wake him. She could hear that the rain had almost stopped so she quickly and quietly put on her jeans and boots. She then carefully grabbed her flashlight and unzipped the tent as quietly as she could. Once the flaps were open she slipped out silently. It was darker now than it had been earlier when she made the trip to the communal bathroom, but she was certain that she could still find her way.
The clouds were starting to retreat revealing spotty stars throughout the sky. The ground had become very muddy, it sucked at Bekki's boots as she walked across it to reach the trail. Despite the fact that she had a black belt in martial arts, she felt a shiver of fear creep along her spine as she took in the complete darkness that nature provided. She shattered it by turning on her flashlight.
“It's okay, Bekki,” she assured herself in a whisper. “There's nothing but bears, wolves, mammoth spiders, and rabid squirrels to worry about.”
Bekki cringed and began walking down the trail that led to the bathroom. When she was about halfway there she heard a strange sound. It was a crunching sound, along with what seemed like a muffled voice. The leaves on the surface were soaked through, but there were still some dry leaves underneath that crunched when she took a few steps. However, this sound was different to just footsteps only. She paused a moment and shone her flashlight over the trees and bushes that surrounded her. She didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. “It's probably just the wind,” she mumbled to herself.
Still, when she began walking again, she had a difficult time pushing down her fear. She caught sight of the bathrooms in the distance and felt a sense of relief. Her heart was still pounding as if she had a reason to be frightened of something. She was nearly there when her flashlight illuminated something that made her blood run cold.
Spattered across the leaves of a low growing bush was a distinct shade of crimson. Her heart began to beat even faster. Was it blood? She shone the flashlight beam directly onto it and crouched down to get a closer look. In her mind she was telling herself it could be berries, it could have been someone who had cut themselves on a branch. She wanted it to be anything other than what she suspected it was. She was just about to lightly touch it when her flashlight reflected off something in the brush beyond it.
Bekki blinked a moment and then tilted the flashlight so that she could see more clearly what might be hidden there. The flashlight bounced once more off a glass surface. It was a watch. Bekki's stomach lurched as she realized that the watch wasn't just lost in the brush, it was wrapped around a woman's wrist.
The woman wearing the watch was stretched out on the ground, nearly hidden by the brush. Bekki gasped when she moved the flashlight up along the woman's body and saw slashes in her blouse, which was streaked with blood. She cried out when the flashlight reached a familiar face, with wide, empty eyes. It was quite clear from the state of her clothing that she had been stabbed.
As she was still recovering from the shock, Bekki slowly moved the flashlight beam back to the woman's face. She was hoping that she had been wrong at first glance. But there was no mistaking it. The woman hidden in the brush was Penny, the same woman she had met up with in the bathroom only hours before. With a trembling hand Bekki reached down to feel for a pulse. She knew it was pointless, but she was hoping against hope that what she had seen was somehow not as bad as it looked. The woman's skin was cold against her fingertips. There wasn't the slightest hint of a pulse.
Penny, was dead.
Chapter Five
Bekki had to clamp her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. Her instincts told her to be quiet, to not alert anyone who might still be nearby that she had seen the body. But her heart was struggling to get out of her chest, and her stomach was in knots. As she turned away from the body she felt a horrible sadness at leaving the once cheerful and friendly woman there. But she knew that she needed to get to Nick. Her mind spun with fear as she wondered if Sammy and Morris were safe. If there had been one murder in the deep woods, couldn't there have been more?
Bekki ignored the tearing of the tree branches against her arms. She didn't pay attention to whether there were any rocks or other debris in her way as she ran. She didn’t check if she had hurt herself when she lost her footing in the slippery mud. She just got straight back up and continued running. She had to get to Nick and the others. She had to make sure that they were safe. The mud splattered all over her pants as her shoes kicked it up as she ran. When she burst into the campground, she found it as still and quiet as it had been when she had left only a few minutes before. There was no sign of any trouble, but there was also no sign of any movement. Bekki rushed over to her tent and unzipped it so swiftly and sharply that Nick was startled right out of his sleep.
“Bekki?” he asked with alarm in his voice as he looked at her sleepily. “Is something wrong?”
“Penny, she's dead,” Bekki stumbled out. She had been running so fast that she was out of breath, the fact that she was also still in shock didn't help matters.
“What?” Nick said as he jumped up, now very much awake. “What are you talking about, Bekki?” he asked.
“I found her in the woods near the bathroom,” Bekki explained, her mind still spinning. There were no words to explain what she had seen. “Come with me, hurry, I'll show you.”
“What's going on?” Morris asked as Bekki and Nick stepped out of their tent. He looked sleepy, but concerned as he saw the expression on Bekki's face and her mud covered clothes. Bekki's stumbling speech must have woken him up. “What's happened?” he asked. Sammy made her way out of the tent behind him. Her hair was matted down and hanging in her face, her skin was pale as she struggled to wake up completely. Bekki was so relieved to see that everyone was safe that she couldn't speak for another few moments. She had to fight back tears over the shock of what she had found. Finally, she drew a deep breath. Then she spoke again.
“One of the Girl Scout leaders that we met earlier, Penny, I found her dead in the woods near the bathroom. She's been stabbed!”
Bekki's chin trembled as she struggled to hold back tears. It was hard to imagine that just a few hours before she had been applying the woman's make-up. Now, she had left her body behind in the woods.
“Oh Bekki, it's okay,” Morris said dismissively. He even cracked a wry smile. “It's an old prank that scouts used to play. Someone gets some ketchup packets and smears the red stuff on their body to make it look like they're dead. It was a great way to end a night of telling ghost stories. I'm sure it was just a prank.”
“No,” Bekki shook her head quickly, her voice rising. She was trying to get the severity of the situation across to them. “I checked her vitals, and it wasn't ketchup. Please!” she demanded as she looked into the eyes of her husband, and then turned to her friends. “She's there, someone killed her. Just follow me!”
“Bekki, wait,” Nick reached for her hand. Bekki tried to pull away from him, to run down the path, but he held onto her wrist firmly.
“Nick, don't you believe me?” Bekki asked tearfully as she looked at him with disbelief.
“Yes, of course I do,” Nick said quickly. “Just give me a second,” he looked over at Morris intently. Then he ducked back inside his tent. Morris walked over to his tent as well. He motioned for Sammy to come with. When Nick stepped back out of the tent he had pulled on his jeans and a t-shirt. Morris and Sammy stepped out of their tent dressed as well. Morris nodded shortly to Nick.
“Let's go check this out,” Nick said and snatched up a flashlight. Bekki turned towards the trail and took off at a light run. Nick jogged after her with Morris and Sammy following close behind him. Bekki didn't stop running until she reached Penny's side. A part of her had hoped that the body would be gone, that somehow Morris' idea of
a prank had been right. But when she looked into the brush she saw that it was still there. Nick slowed to a stop as he caught sight of the blood on the bushes.
“No, that's not ketchup,” he mumbled to himself. He took a closer look at Penny's remains and slowly shook his head. “I'll call for help,” he said and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. “Shoot,” he muttered and fiddled with his phone.
Morris peered over Nick's shoulder and groaned. Then he turned swiftly to keep Sammy back from the body. “You don't want to see that,” he warned her.
“No service,” Nick muttered with frustration. “Do any of you have any?” he asked hopefully.
“I left my phone in the tent, but it's the same plan as yours, so there's not going to be any service on it,” Bekki sighed.
“I’ll try 911 anyway,” Nick said as he entered the number in his phone. “Sometimes another carrier will pick up an emergency call.”
Morris pulled out his phone and held it in the air. He turned a few times to see if it would get any bars.
“Nothing,” he grumbled.
“Nothing on mine, either,” Sammy said, her voice raw and trembling.
“The emergency call isn’t connecting,” Nick said as he shook his head.
“How are we going to get help?” Bekki asked with frustration.
“Don't worry we can drive to the ranger station and use the phone, or his radio,” Morris assured her.
“Good Idea,” Nick said.
“Oh, I hope Penny wasn’t scared,” Sammy suddenly said. “Maybe she was running and...” her words silenced as her eyes filled with horror. Bekki knew Sammy was reliving one of her horror movies.
“Don't think that way, Sammy,” Bekki warned.
“I don't think she was running,” Nick said as he crouched down in front of Penny's body. “Look at this,” Nick said sharply as he gestured to Morris to shine the flashlight on the leaves beside the body. They were torn to shreds with dirt turned up as well. “These leaves are crushed,” he frowned. “I think someone dragged her here.”
“Oh, this just gets better,” Sammy cringed and turned into Morris' arms. “Who would do something like this?”
“I'm not sure,” Bekki said with a frown. “That's what we're going to have to figure out.”
“First we need to get help,” Nick said. “Let’s go to the truck and try to get to the park ranger.”
“I would prefer to just get off this mountain,” Bekki said.
“We have to at least notify the ranger and the authorities first,” Nick said.
Bekki nodded and stared down at Penny's body again. She wanted to treat it with some respect, but she knew there was no way to get it off the mountain, not just yet.
They all walked back to Morris’ SUV. Nick led the way and Sammy and Bekki held hands as they walked behind him with Morris at the rear. Sammy was shaking as Bekki tried to appear calm for her friend even though her heart was pounding so hard it felt as if it was trying to escape her chest. They walked to the truck in a shocked silence as they avoided the puddles on the ground.
When they got to the SUV, Nick opened the door for the girls to get in the back as Morris and he got in the front. Nick navigated as Morris drove. Bekki sat in the back still holding Sammy’s hand.
“I hope the roads are passable,” Nick said to Morris softly. “There’s been a lot of rain.”
“What will we do if they aren’t?” Sammy fretted as she heard his comment.
“Relax,” Bekki said. “They’ll be …” she was stopped mid-sentence as Morris braked hard. Nick and Morris were peering over the hood as they all lurched forward slightly.
“Can we get through?” Morris asked Nick.
“Not a chance,” Nick said. “It looks like the roads are washed out from the rain. Which also means, even if we can call for help, it is very likely that no help is going to be able to get to us.”
“This is terrible,” Bekki wiped at her eyes before any tears could fall. She was scared that the brave demeanor she was trying to portray would start to crumble.
“Can we walk?” Morris asked.
“We can try walking to the station but it is quite a hike,” Nick said thoughtfully. “The walking paths might also be flooded.”
“What about Penny’s friends?” Bekki asked suddenly. “If we can’t get help straight away we have to make sure that they're okay, and tell them what happened.”
“Wait a minute,” Nick said with a slight frown as he turned to face them. “We don't know what happened here. As far as I know we're the only other campers in the area. It's possible that Penny got into a fight with one of her friends. Or maybe one of her friends isn't who she claims to be.”
“You're right,” Morris nodded as he narrowed his eyes. “As of this moment we have to treat everyone as a suspect.”
“But we still have to check on them before we try to walk to the station, we might not be able to come back if the roads are washed out,” Sammy pointed out. “What if they're all hurt, or worse, dead?” she asked
“We don't know what happened yet. Until then, we have to try to stay calm,” Morris said gently. “But you're right, even if the other campers are fine they still need to be warned that an attack has happened. Besides, they might have phones that work. They're experienced Girl Scout leaders, they always make sure they have a way to make contact.”
“That's a good point,” Nick agreed. “My scout leader always had a walkie-talkie or a CB radio to get a message out.”
“Let’s go back to our camp,” Nick said as Morris put the truck in reverse. “Then we can head over to Penny's camp,” Nick suggested. “When we get there pay close attention to how they react to the news. Maybe we can figure out if either one of them was involved, or if they noticed anything out of the ordinary, like if there was anyone odd hanging around their campsite.”
When they got to their camp Bekki noticed Morris and Nick look around nervously when they got out of the truck. It made Bekki anxious to see them so tense.
Morris steered Sammy down the path to Penny’s campsite. Bekki trudged through the tree litter on the ground to step closer to Nick.
“So, if she wasn't killed here, then where do you think it happened?” Bekki whispered now that Sammy was out of earshot.
“Bekki, to be honest, we have a bigger problem,” Nick said and cringed.
“What is it?” Bekki asked nervously.
“If someone was moving the body it was probably because they were trying to hide it, or bury it. They might have heard us coming up the trail and taken off. That suggests two things, the person who did this planned to murder Penny, and the person who did this knows that we have found the body.”
Bekki felt her muscles tense. She looked around at the towering trees with renewed paranoia. Now, she wasn't so worried about those spiders and bugs. She was worried about a murderer, or murderers, who were aware that they were aware of their crime.
They reached the campsite of the Girl Scout leaders to find three identical tents surrounding a fire pit.
“They must still be sleeping,” Nick said. “Nothing looks out of place.”
There were a few stacks of boxes with supplies. A tarp had been stretched over their collection of firewood. Nick walked up to one of the tents. Bekki could see the dread in his expression. She imagined it had to be the most difficult act to have to inform someone of the death of a friend or loved one.
“Hello?” he called out. “It's Nick from the next campsite over. I need to speak with you.”
He paused beside the tent, waiting for an answer. Morris walked over to the second tent. Sammy stopped beside Bekki and hugged her arm loosely.
“Hello?” Morris tapped lightly on the tent. “Is there anyone in there?”
Nick had begun unzipping the flap on the tent he was in front of. When he opened it he found nothing but a rolled up sleeping bag and a small duffel bag.
“No one's here,” he said in a whisper. “This must be Penny's tent.”
“It doesn't even look like she slept in it,” Bekki pointed out with concern.
“Nick, we have a problem,” Morris said as he opened the flap on the next tent.
Sammy cringed and hugged Bekki's arm more tightly.
“It's okay, it's okay,” Bekki uttered to her softly.
“No, it's not,” Sammy whispered uneasily. “None of this is okay.”
“I'll check the last one,” Morris said as Nick stuck his head into the second tent.
Nick frowned and opened the tent flap to show that the sleeping bag inside was still rolled up.
Bekki was relieved that they hadn't found more bodies, but also confused.
“No one here either,” Morris said grimly. “But I did find this,” he showed Nick the CB radio he had found inside the tent.
“Set it up,” Nick said sternly. “Let's hope we can get hold of someone.”
“Where are they?” Sammy asked. Her fear was escalating. “Do you think that they're dead, too?”
“I don't think so, Sammy,” Bekki said quickly. “Maybe they just left because of the storm. Maybe they couldn't find Penny and they just left.”
“They left all their stuff here, too?” Sammy asked and shook her head. “No way. This isn't right.”
Nick and Morris were fiddling with the radio. All Bekki could hear was static.
“Nothing's working,” Nick muttered.
“We can't get a line out?” Sammy gasped out as she looked from Morris to Nick. “We can't get any help?” she asked again, panic rising in her voice.
“It's okay, Sammy, we'll be okay,” Morris tried to reassure her.
“We'll be okay?” Sammy's voice raised an octave. “Are you crazy? We're stuck out here in the middle of the woods, with no way to call for help, and there is a murderer on the loose! Maybe it's one of these missing women, maybe it's both, or maybe they're dead, too!”
“Now, we don't know anything for sure,” Nick said firmly.
“We do know that there is a dead woman in the woods, and there's no way for us to get out of here,” Sammy said with worry. “I’m scared.”