Chapter 4: Sabre

"So?" Sora asked me, "Are you coming or what?"

I took a deep breath and sighed. "No," I told him and Naruto, "I think I'll just stay here with Ryoma."

"Are you sure?" Naruto said, "I would think you would want to figure out what was out there? I mean, I was freaked out before, but now I just have to know what's out there."

"That's alright," I said to him, "I just rather sleep."

Both boys shrugged and walked out of the tent and into the night. Once their shadows had disappeared off the tent's entrance, and turned to Ryoma and said, "Do you think they'll be fine?"

"Maybe…" he said placing a pack of ice on his head that he got from the mess hall, "I'm not sure. I just can't think straight right now."

"You know that they are going to get caught for sure," I said to Ryoma, "I'm sure there are plenty of counselors around here who will be watching the tents if they aren't sleeping already."

"Possibly," Ryoma said to me, "But it's good that you decided to stay here with me. To tell you the truth, I'm still a little bit shaky about what happened the other night."

"Me too," I said to him as I laid down onto my sleeping bag, "But that's not the only reason I'm staying. It is against the rules to check out the Forbidden Bunk or go near it."

"Yeah," he nodded laying down as well, "My head is going to hurt all night."

I sighed and glanced around the tent. "You know," I said to him, "It's a bit different without Max around here. I really wonder what happened to him?"

"They probably just sent him home," Ryoma sighed sleepily, "That snake bite is very bad after all."

"Ah-uh," I nodded as I started to close my eyes.

Suddenly, a scream rang throughout the night. Both of us shot up and looked around the area. Both of us grabbed the flashlights we brought with each other and turned them on. "What was that?" I said looking around as Ryoma put his hat back on, "Who just screamed?"

There was another scream more terrifying then the last. I began to shake in fright as I darted the flashlight all over the tent. I noticed Ryoma's eyes have widen, his pupils dilated, and a single sweat drop rolled down his face.

"Sabre…" he mumbled to himself as he began to clutch his sleeping bag with his opened hand.

I then hear shouting, "HELP! HELP ME! IT'S COMING! SOMEONE HELP US!" IT'S GOING TO KILL US!"

It was Naruto screaming for help. The screams rung throughout my ears as I stepped outside the tent to look to see what had just happened. "Naruto!" I shouted to him, "Where are you?!"

I then began to hear footsteps heading my direction. I then said a horrified looking Naruto running towards me. I stopped directly at me and said, "Ash… Ash… i-it got him! I-It got him!"

"What happened?!" I asked him. My heart was pounding so fast at this moment that it seemed like it was going to exploded out of my chest. He looked deathly afraid, his eyes were widen and his face was covered in sweat.

"I-I couldn't save him," he muttered in a tense voice, "I-I tried so hard, but… it wasn't enough and it just ate him like it was nothing! It just tore him to pieces… blood everywhere…"

"What happened out there?!" Ryoma asked him walking out next to me.

"It killed Sora," he said raising his head and then he looked in my eyes and said, "It's coming… it's coming here for us next!"

I froze and the whole world seemed to freeze up with me. I could only hear my heartbeat as my eyes darted all around the area. "It's coming," he said to me, "We have to get out of here."

Suddenly, there was a low growling noise followed by the sounds of running feet. All of us winced as we looked in every direction. Ryoma was the first to back up and start running away; we both soon followed his format.

We ran as fast as we could with our flashlights leading the way. We occasionally glanced behind us, but we saw nothing. We could still hear the growling coming towards us… closer… and closer.

We finally reached our cabin and slammed the door behind us. We turned on the lights and sank to the followed relived that we were all ok. We all sighed, but then we heard a louder growl and then a howl that sent chills up our spines.

"Don't let it know we are in here!" Naruto said to us. Ryoma quickly turned the lights off and we flashed our flashlights back on.

"We n-need a plan now!" I said to them all, "W-We need to get Ichigo right now!"

"How are we supposed to do that?" Ryoma said closing the blinds in the room so whatever couldn't look inside the cabin.

"It's coming for me…" Naruto said, "It wants me…"

Was everything he was telling us true? Did he really see Sora get torn to pieces right in front of him. What was going?!

Those screams from the campsite. There were so chilling and cold. I can't get them to stop playing over and over in my head. Why didn't anyone else hear them? Why wasn't anyone checking out what was going around here?

There was no sound again, just the wind blowing outside and my heart beating loudly. "Where's Ichigo?" I muttered, "Where's Takahata? Where's anyone who can help us right now?"

I glanced over at Ryoma who was rather quiet. For the first time ever, not even all the times before, he was scared. He always kept his cool and only looked surprised at the things happening around him, but now was different. His eyes shown true fear.

"What's going to happen to us?" Naruto said, "My charka network is blocked since I got here so I can't use any of my ninjustu."

"Huh?" Ryoma and I replied, "What the heck are you talking about?"

"Forget it," he moaned, "I take too long to explain and I am not even sure how to explain it anyhow. What are we going to do?"

"We got to keep our cool!" I said to them, "We got to stay up and keep watch." They both nodded and we put my plan into action.

It was a long night. None of us got any sleep and we were both very tired when morning came. I did, however, manage to drift off before dawn came so I did manage to get some zs.

I was wakened up by Ryoma who said, "Hey, time to get up. It's time to get some breakfast."

I lifted up my head and yawned. Sun was already pouring into the room and Naruto was rubbing his eyes. "Did Ichigo ever show?" I said yawning as well.

"No," Ryoma said adjusting his hat, "He never showed up."

"We just can't wait any longer!" Naruto said completely waking up and shouting at us, "We got to go tell him about what happened to Sora!"

He quickly turned and ran out of the bunk. Ryoma and me quickly followed behind him. We all barged into the mess hall to already find the rest of the campers eating. We searched over the room, but we didn't see Sora at all.

Then Naruto charged to the camper counselors table where Ichigo and the rest were already eating. All ran up to the table and looked directly at him as he noticed us for the first time. "What happened to Sora?" Naruto shouted as him.

"Is he ok?" Ryoma asked.

"Where were you last night?" I asked him.

"Sora and me were attacked!"

"Why didn't come and help?"

He gave us an annoyed look and said, "It's too early in the morning for this. Take your time and tell me what happened."

"IT'S ABOUT SORA!" Naruto yelled at him, "Both of us were attacked last night! Some monster came ate him alive!"

"Wait a minute!" Ichigo said getting confused, "What monster?" At this time, the rest of the counselors were already looking at us.

"Some huge freaky monster killed Sora!" Naruto shouted at him, "It must have been Sabre!"

Ichigo raised his eyebrow and said, "I don't think anyone was attacked by Sabre, he is just a legend that I made up to scare you. Plus, I don't think anyone was attacked at all last night for that matter."

He looked at Kabuto and asked him, "I didn't hear anything by my section. Did you hear anything?"

"Nope," he said, "Can't say that I have."

"Ok then," Ichigo asked him, "You have anyone in your group called Sora?"

"No one even sounding close to that one in my group," he said.

"Look guys," Ichigo said with a sigh, "There was no report of anyone getting attacked last night. Plus, we would be able to hear if anyone was yelling or screaming."

"But I heard screams!" I told him.

"Me too!" Ryoma said.

"Ok then," Ichigo said standing up getting annoyed, "Then why didn't anyone else in this camp hear anything and by the way, where did this so called 'attack' take place anyhow?"

Naruto calmed down and said to him, "Look, Sora and I headed down to the Forbidden Bunk…"

"But that place is forbidden to go to," Ichigo said annoyed.

"That isn't the point!" Naruto said angrily, and then he got an idea, "You know what? Let's got the bunk right now! I am going to show you where the attack took place to prove to you something happen!"

"Fine," he said getting to his feet, "Let's just get this over with!" Naruto then lead him and us back to the spot where he was attacked last night.

After a bit of walking, he stopped not to far from the Forbidden Bunk. I glanced around the area. I couldn't see a single thing, no blood, no skin, and even no signs of a struggle at all. It's like nothing ever happened.

Naruto had a shocked look on his face and Ichigo asked, "Ok? Where's your proof? I see nothing."

"But I swear to God something happened here last night!" he said turning around to face him, "Sora was killed here!"

"Well I see nothing," Ichigo said, "I can't believe this. You take me out here just for a wild goose chase. Look, I'll get Takahata and we'll investigate this more later! Right now, get back to the mess hall, eat, and get ready for more swimming for the today!"

What was going? What happened? What really happened? Whatever the reason, Sora was gone.

We all ate our breakfast, very slimly like usual, and headed out to the river for some swimming. All three of us were still a bit weary on what was happening. Nothing seemed to make sense.

"I just can't believe it," Naruto said as we walked out onto the river bed, "I swear that is the spot where Sora and me got attacked, but now there is nothing left!"

"Don't worry!" I said trying to calm him, "It was dark out, maybe it was a different spot. Anyhow, Takahata and Ichigo will take a more detail look to find out what happened!"

"Yeah," Naruto said, "But there is no way what I saw didn't happen."

"There you guys are," Ichigo said walking up to us, "I wanted to talk to you guys about what Takahata and me found out there. We came up with some weird things."

"Well?" Naruto said impatiently, "Did you see it?"

"Yeah!" Ryoma said, "Was there really anything out there?"

"Yeah…" Ichigo said with a serious look, "Takahata, Shusuke, and me all took a more detailed look around the Forbidden Bunk and even went inside it. We saw nothing at all that seemed suspicious!"

"But that is impossible!" Naruto said, "Sora and me…"

"That's another thing," he said, "All three of us later checked the records for all the campers around here, we couldn't find anything about Sora. In fact, there has never been in history a camper at this camp named Sora. First name, last name, and middle name. There never has been someone called Sora here."

Author Notice: There is nothing to report this time around, but a few more people have added this story to their story alert and favorites section.

In the next chapter, a few more campers disappear, Makie and Sakura reappear again, and Ash makes a shocking discovery about what is happening to the letter he is sending. There are still plenty of things still left!

Date: 10/22/07

Next to Come: Chapter 5: The Vanishing Act

Reviewer: Shadow Guardian of the Gate