It's finally here... another update of the fanfiction probably no one ever thought I would finish! But I swear I will... someday... even if it takes me until I'm 90 years old. (Or maybe at least before I graduate college?) It's funny, I'm still so attached to this story, I swear. Anyway, if you're reading this, enjoy!

Chapter 56

"Miss Laura?" Jaz shrieked

"We need to get out of here," Nudge cried, grabbing my arm desperately. "What if the bear attacks us next?"

"Nudge, it's okay," I told her, trying to calm her down. However, she just kept blabbering so fast that I couldn't understand what she was saying.

"What if something bad happened to Miss Laura?" Jaz was continuing to shriek, right in Fang's ear. Even he looked worried. Gazzy looked around with a worried expression on his face, his mouth wide open, and Iggy sat next to him, listening quietly, his body tense. Daisy's eyes were wide and her lower lip was quivering.

All around us, our fellow Girl and Boy Scouts were in various states of panic. The Boy Scout leader guy was trying to calm everyone down. "Don't panic," he insisted. "I'm sure everything is alright. For now, just go back to your tents and-"

"We need to go help Miss Laura!" Jaz screamed, standing up and grabbing Fang's arm. "Fnick, let's go!"

"I'm not sure-" he insisted, but Jaz was already dragging him away from the campfire.

I groaned, rolling my eyes at her. "Jaz, get back here!"

"But Miss Laura-"

"Just running blindly into the woods is not a good idea!" I reminded her. Seriously, how dumb was this girl? "We don't even know what's out there."

Next to me, Iggy tensed.

"Something's coming," he whispered.

My fists clenched and I stood up, disentangling myself from Nudge's grip. Fang caught my eye and nodded slightly. I wasn't sure exactly what we were going to do, but if it meant protecting the rest of the flock – we had to be ready.

The rest of the kids had gone eerily quiet and I realized they were all watching us, trying to figure out what we were doing. The Boy Scout Leader guy was still urging people to go back to their tents, but no one else was moving.

I took a deep breath in and let it out. Next to me, Nudge stood up and took my hand and I looked at her in surprise. Her hand was trembling and her expression was worried.

Gazzy leaped up onto his feet, pressing his small fist into the palm of his hand. "I don't know what's out there, but we can take em!" he insisted, and I grinned. Iggy nodded in agreement.

"Please, just go back to your tents," the Boy Scout guy insisted again, sounding exhausted. "Everything will be alright."

"No," Jaz said firmly, crossing her arms over her chest. I rolled my eyes at her. Like she even knew how to fight.

"Max and the others can help us," Daisy insisted. She opened her mouth to say more, but Iggy held up his hand, silencing her.

We all listened intently as the sound of heavy footsteps approached the campsite, thundering through the forest. A pit of dread formed in my stomach as I waited for whoever – no whatever – the thing was to show itself.

So I was certainly not expecting a middle-aged lady wearing a Girl Scout outfit to step out of the trees and into the clearing.

"Miss Laura?" Daisy cried, her voice a mixture of relief and disbelief. We were all frozen in shock, completely thrown off by the fact that it wasn't a bear or, you know, a human/wolf hybrid created by evil scientists hellbent on killing us.

Laura the Girl Scout Lady looked around at each of us, narrowing her eyes when she saw me in a ready to fight position with my fists clenched. "Just what is going on here?" she asked, looking directly at me.

I slowly unclenched my fists, but I narrowed my eyes back at her. "I should be asking you the same question. Did that scream come from you? And why were you out in the forest? And why-"

"Now, now, we've all had a long day," the Boy Scout Leader guy cut in, putting his hand on my shoulder. I shook it off immediately, glaring at him. "Let's all go back to our tents and get some rest!"

I was about to protest, but now with the tension broken, the kids around us were all standing up and heading towards their tents, chatting and laughing. I looked back over at Laura, but she was already gone.

"That was weird," Iggy muttered.

"You're telling me," I murmured back. "We need some answers."

"Maybe she just went into the woods to use the bathroom," Gazzy suggested.

Nudge made a face. "There's an outhouse! She could have used that!"

"We all heard that scream," Fang pointed out. "Something happened out there."

"Something bad," Jaz finished.

Daisy was silent, but she pressed closer to Jaz, glancing at us with a worried expression on her face. After a moment, she murmured, "I'm just glad Miss Laura's okay."

"Come on, everyone!" a voice cut in, and I nearly leaped in surprise as I saw the Boy Scout Leader guy coming up behind us. He put his hand on Gazzy's shoulder, smiling down at him. "I'm sure you guys are tired. Why don't you go get some sleep?"

Fang and I locked eyes. We didn't say anything, but I knew we were thinking the same thing – This isn't over.

"Awww, I'm not even tired!" Jaz whined with a pout on her face as the Boy Scout Guy walked away, ushering other kids off to their tents.

Daisy laughed a little, tugging on Jaz's arm. "We have to be up early tomorrow. Let's go to bed, Jaz."

I watched the two girls head off towards the tent we'd painstakingly set up earlier in the day. Nudge tugged on my shirt. "Max?" she whispered. "What if a bear gets into our tent? I don't think I can sleep. I think I might have to stay up all night just in case." She blinked her big brown eyes at me. "You know?"

I sighed, putting my hand on her shoulder. "Nudge, it's okay. I'll… I'll stay up and keep an eye out for whatever was out there, okay?" After all, I wasn't sure I'd be able to fall asleep either, knowing we could be in danger. We had to figure out what was in those woods.

She nodded rapidly in agreement, then threw her arms around me in a hug. "Okay! Thank you, Max!"

We headed off towards the tents, Fang close to my side. "I'll stay up with you," he offered.

I glanced at him. "Really?"

"Yeah. Otherwise you're sure to fall asleep."

I rolled my eyes, elbowing him, and he flashed a rare smirk at me. "Ha, ha. Very funny, Fnick."

"Night, Max," Iggy called as the boys climbed into their tent. Gazzy gave me a wave, looking very sleepy, as he disappeared inside.

"Meet me by the campfire later," I murmured to Fang, and he nodded. "After everyone's asleep."

A high pitched shriek echoed from behind us, and Nudge grabbed onto me, her fingernails digging into my skin. I winced, then looked around rapidly, trying to figure out what was going on. But my question was quickly answered because the shriek came again – from the tent I was sharing with Jaz and Daisy.

"Sleepover!" Jaz screamed at the top of her lungs. "Woo hoo!"

"Calm down!" I heard Daisy urge her. "Everyone else is trying to sleep!"

I strode over to the tent, Nudge practically glued to me, and shoved the flap aside. "Any reason you're screaming bloody murder in here?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at Jaz.

Jaz just beamed at me. "I'm so excited for our sleepover!" she exclaimed.

"Well, I'm not!" I threw a pillow at her as I climbed into the tent. "Go to bed!"

"Aww, Max, you're no fun!" Jaz complained. She grabbed the pillow, hugging it close. "We have to stay up late! Does anyone know any ghost stories?"

"No!" Daisy shrieked, shaking her head wildly. "No ghost stories! Nothing scary!"

Nudge's eyes lit up. "I love ghost stories!" She climbed into her sleeping bag, looking around at the rest of us. "I'm really good at making them up! Does anyone want to hear one?"

I rolled my eyes. Figured – she was scared of bears, but perfectly fine with ghosts.

"No!" Daisy protested again. She quickly laid down in her sleeping bag, pulling it over her head. "Goodnight!"

"You gotta listen!" Jaz insisted, pulling the sleeping bag away from Daisy. She handed the flashlight that lit up our tent to Nudge, grinning. "Take it away, Nudge."

"Once upon a time…" Nudge began.

"You can't start with once upon a time!" Jaz cut in. "It's a ghost story, not a fairy tale."

I just rolled my eyes again. Daisy whimpered, trying to hide under her pillow.

Nudge pondered this for a second. "Hmmm," she said. "Well, okay. Once… there was a ghost named Bob. He was so scary. He was so scary and he broke into people's houses and…. he would scare them so much… that they died!" She looked around at us all with a grin. "The end!"

Daisy burst out laughing. "Okay, maybe I'm alright with that kind of ghost story."

Nudge frowned. "Why are you laughing? It was supposed to be scary!"

"Nudge, that wasn't scary at all," I muttered, climbing into my sleeping bag.

"Aww, come on, Max! It was definitely scary!"

"I've got a scary story for you," Jaz intoned in a creepy voice. All of a sudden, the light flickered off, leaving us in complete darkness. Daisy shrieked and I felt her grab onto my arm. I shook her off in both surprise and annoyance.

"Once…" Jaz started slowly, keeping her voice low. The flashlight snapped back on, and she held it under her chin, casting her entire face in eerie shadows. Daisy whimpered as Jaz continued, "Long ago, there was a man who went camping. Right in these very woods."

"Cool!" Nudge replied. "Was he a Boy Scout too? Did he go camping in a tent too? Did he-"

"Shush!" Jaz cut in, silencing her. "Listen to the story." I just rolled my eyes again as she continued. "This man decided to go camping… all alone, because he didn't have any friends."

"That's so sad," Nudge murmured.

I elbowed her. "Stop cutting in or we'll have to sit here and listen to Jaz all night long."

Jaz shot a look at me before she went on. "On his first night out in the woods, this man decided to start a campfire. He was sitting there, making some smores, when all of a sudden… the fire went out!" She snapped off the flashlight again, and Daisy shrieked as we were all left in darkness.

"This isn't even scary!" I tried telling her, but she just kept whimpering uselessly.

"What happened next?" Nudge asked eagerly.

"In the distance… he heard… some rattling chains!" Jaz announced. "They were getting closer and closer and closer… until suddenly they were right behind him!"

"Stop! Stop!" Daisy insisted.

"Keep going!" Nudge demanded.

"He turned around… and what did he see? A man! But not just any man… an escaped prisoner! And he had an axe!" Jaz yelled. "He raised his axe and…"

"Nooooo!" Daisy bellowed.

"He chopped the man's head right off!" Jaz finished.

Daisy screamed and hollered. "Oh no!" Nudge exclaimed, sounding thrilled. I just groaned.

"He died right away and his head rolled away! And they say… to this day he still haunts these woods, looking for his lost head!" Jaz went on. "And if you aren't lucky, you might just run into him tonight!"

"It's not real, it's not real, it's not real," Daisy was muttering to herself.

Nudge grabbed the flashlight and snapped it back on. She pointed it right at Daisy. "Don't worry, it's just a story!" she said nonchalantly. "Want to hear another one?"

"No!" Daisy and I both yelled at her at the same time.

"Those stories were both terrible," I added with another groan.

"You should try telling one, Max!" Jaz insisted.

I just rolled my eyes at her as I laid down, pretending I was going to sleep. "Night, Jaz."

Something soft smacked into me – Jaz's pillow. I heard her and Nudge giggling as I sat up, grabbed the pillow, and threw it back at her. "Go to bed already!"

"Since when were you such a rule follower, Max?" Jaz teased in a sing-songy voice.

"Since you guys decided to be all annoying!" I told her. "If you don't shut up I'm going to go sleep outside!"

Nudge's gleeful expression turned into a frightened one. "B-but, Max, remember, th-there's bears out there!"

"I'd rather deal with the bears than Jaz," I muttered.

"Hey!" Jaz smacked me with her pillow again.

"Hey!" I yelled back at her.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep," Daisy murmured. I looked at her – she was lying in her sleeping bag with her eyes wide open. "That story was too scary. I don't think I can sleep."

Within ten minutes, she was out.

Meanwhile Nudge, her fear of bears apparently forgotten, was already sprawled across Jaz, having escaped the confines of her sleeping bag. Jaz was snoring and drooling on her pillow, and I wrinkled my nose. Leave it to Jaz to be gross as usual.

Daisy had fallen asleep with the flashlight, still on, in her arms, and I carefully pried it out from her grip and snapped it off. I slipped my shoes on and unzipped the tent as quietly as I could, trying not to wake the three sleeping girls as I headed outside.

Around me, the woods were pitch black – it was a good thing I could see well in the dark, but I'd brought the flashlight just in case. It was also eerily quiet. I wondered if even Iggy would be able to pick up noises from anything that was out there.

Fang was sitting by the campfire, which was now only a pile of ashes. He looked up at me as I approached and nodded. "Yo."

I sat down on the log next to him, gripping the flashlight between my hands. "Hey."

"So what now?" Fang asked.

"What do you mean, what now?" I arched an eyebrow at him.

"Should have figured. Typical Max, not having a plan."

"Hey!" I complained, elbowing him. He held up a finger to his lips, shushing me, and I lowered my voice a little. "I mean, of course I have a plan. I'm working on it right now. It's… um…"

Fang snickered, and I shot him a death glare. That just made him smirk at me. Ugh. He was so infuriating.

"It's been a while, huh?" he said, and I looked at him quizzically. "Since we've been alone. Just the two of us."

"Oh. Yeah." I nodded, staring into the ashes from the fire. I tried to focus on Fang's words, but I was suddenly on edge, thinking about the weird noise in the woods earlier and Girl Scout Lady Laura and everything that was going on.

A hand landed on my shoulder, making me leap up and throw my fists up automatically in defense.

"Whoa. Calm down." Fang stared at me like I was crazy, and I realized he was the one who'd put his hand on my shoulder.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"You know what you did."

Fang just shrugged at me like he was innocent and I resisted the urge to groan again. Like I said. Infuriating.

A rustle in the bushes about a dozen feet away made us both freeze. Fang and I locked eyes as I clenched my fists.

"Raccoon, maybe?" he offered.

I shook my head. "I don't know. Doesn't hurt to be prepared."

"I'd pay to see you fight a raccoon, invincible Maximum Ride."

I stuck my tongue out at him, shoving the flashlight into his hands and motioning for him to follow me. "Something's out there. Let's find out."