A school camping trip goes horribly wrong when the Creeper makes an appearance.
It was a warm, still day. The forest stood dark and quiet, resting on top of the steep hills of Mayflower Way, looking down on the surrounding countryside like a silent watchtower. No breeze soughed through the trees or cooled the earth, and the air was hot and dry. Inside the forest the atmosphere was much cooler and darker; an eerie silence persisted broken only by the occasional squawk of a bird, or of a forest animal rustling as it scampered across the leaf litter.
It was a foreboding atmosphere suited well to the foreboding forest, but believe it or not, this Forest, Mayflower Forest, was the destination of the small group of campers who were slowly but surely scaling Mayflower Hills. The silence and serenity of the countryside was shattered by this travelling group; occasional bouts of singing, raucous laughter, bellows and shouts, although there weren't many inhabitants of Mayflower Way that the group could really disturb. Or that's what they thought...
"Eww! I'm so sweaty, I hate sweating, I never usually sweat," Madison cried as another droplet of sweat rolled freely down her forehead into her eyes. She wiped her eye with a sweaty hand and then flicked the sweat off her hand in disgust.
"You do when I'm with you babe," Cole added in, and as usual, his comment was followed by a burst of boisterous laughter from the few other boys walking along beside him.
"Shut up Cole," Madison sighed wearily as if she was a mother who'd grown sick of her child misbehaviour, but as she sighed she had a mischievous grin on her face. Really she loved the attention she got off Cole.
Madison and Cole were members of the alpha group, the alpha males and alpha females; the popular kids; the 'bimbos and the jocks'. They were beautiful and athletic and oozed with charisma; some of them were clever but hid it well because it wasn't cool to be smart in their group. This group obviously took the lead on the trek, and currently were a few hundred yards ahead of the rest of the class. They scaled the lower parts of Mayflower Hills quite easily, but were starting to slow down as the hill got steeper. The day was scorching and no clouds blanketed the cerulean blue sky above.
"Can we stop for some water?" Keeley asked in her soft, creamy voice. Everyone else was desperate for a rest too, but they were all too proud to ask for a break, and were all so relieved when Keeley asked to stop.
The alphas walked on a few more steps and then settled on a neat arrangement of rocks on a grassy plateau. There was the noise of flasks and bottles popping open as thirsty hikers guzzled down icy water, and then there was a relaxing silence. The view from this picturesque plateau was beautiful; below the alpha group lay a rugged stretch of land, like a blanket of verdant grass stretched across a layer of rocky loam. The hill below them was gentler than the hill above them which seemed to almost tower over them. The group looked down at the rest of their class marching on slow, a good bit away from them.
"We'll still make it to the top first," Keeley said matter-of-factly, breaking the silence.
"Well duh," Cole snorted.
"We're nearly there anyway already," Brooke added in.
There were nine members of the alpha group; Madison, Keeley, Cole, Brooke, Blake, Xavier, Spencer, Taylor and Tristan. It could be said that Tristan was the alpha male, he was the leader of the group and everyone looked to him. He was an intelligent boy with swarthy good looks. Everyone always noticed his eyes; they were very light brown, like milky milky chocolate. But besides their brightness, they seemed so deep. It was difficult to have a conversation with him and not be completely hypnotised by his eyes. His girlfriend was Taylor.
"Aw honey, I'm so tired," Taylor purred as she stretched her neck and laid back across Tristan's lap, who was sitting on a flat rock. He diligently stroked her chestnut hair around her face. Taylor wasn't a very bright girl, but was madly in love with Tristan. She wasn't really popular but had a really big reputation because she was Tristan's girlfriend. Her haughty demeanour mixed with her complete disregard of anyone else who existed other than herself didn't really bode well for her when she was making friends, but she did look really hot. She had long chestnut hair, a tanned, athletic body with sumptuous, plump breasts and an ass as tight as a tambourine. She also had beautiful, pale, cherry lips that just begged to be kissed. They didn't need to do much begging, as a few seconds after Taylor threw herself into her lover's lap, she and Tristan were in a deep embrace.
"Come on! The others are starting to catch up," Blake exclaimed, shaking Tristan so that he was forced to end his tender kiss with Taylor. Blake was a very jittery person, and played for at least three sports teams. He was an outstanding sportsman, and excelled at basketball (probably due to his towering frame) but had little going for him academically; whether this was due to a lack of trying or plain stupidity was yet to be determined.
"Yeah, I'm starting to get bored," Brooke droned in her glacially-slow husky voice.
"Then let's go!" Yelled the ever-animated Cole, and the Alpha group quickly packed up their things and recommenced their trek.
"If the tent's a-rockin, don't come a-knockin," Blake whispered to Cole, nodding at Tristan and Taylor as they went. His comment was met with the usual snigger.
Chapter 1 Fin