"This new rule is so stupid!" said Misty. She sat with a few of her cabin mates in a circle. As much as she liked her friends, she still wanted some time to be alone every once in a while. A rule forcing her to always be with at least one person was not something she wanted.
"I know, Misty, but even if I was against it the counselors already said the other cabin leaders voted for it as well," said Jasmine.
"But why? Because Brendan got attacked?"
"That's precisely why we voted for it."
"So someone gets attacked by a random animal on a hike. Why does that make it so we have to stay with someone on camp grounds?"
"You'll have to ask the counselors about their reasoning. But I'm telling you now, I agree with them. And this discussion is over," the girls knew Jasmine won't budge. With a loud groan Misty fell backwards on the grass.
"So lame..." she said.
Jasmine let out a sigh and thought of Brendan. She felt bad for the boy, she truly did. She also couldn't imagine how Brock was feeling. If it was one of her girls lying in the nurse's office she wouldn't know what to do.
"What do you think attacked Brendan?" asked Roxanne.
"Maybe it was a bear," said Mela. Of the cabin she was the youngest after Selene. Though she was also the most vocal at times.
"Bear attacks are insanely rare and they certainly wouldn't get close enough to a group of people to even think of attacking them," Roxanne said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"What are you, a bear expert?" asked Mela. The two girls were decent friends, even though they had only met that summer by being in the same cabin. Despite, or because of, their friendship they were prone to getting into arguments over the most trivial of matters. Jasmine sighed as she listened to the two. By now she knew trying to get them to stop was an uphill battle which she didn't have the energy for. At the very least their argument made the other girls laugh.
Brendan turned his head when he heard someone knock on the nurse's door. Standing in the doorway was Janine, Hilbert, Calem, and Serena. The four entered when they saw Brendan had noticed them.
"Hey, Brendan," said Janine. "How you feeling?"
"Awful. Though not as bad as yesterday. Nurse Miriam gave me a bunch of painkillers. Basically just ibuprofen, but better than nothing."
The four looked Brendan over. He laid on a tall bed wearing his sleep clothes, a plain t-shirt and a pair of running shorts. One of his arms had fresh bandages wrapped around his forearm and his thigh on the same side was also wrapped. When they looked at his face it was obvious he had cried for a long time before getting some sleep.
"What was it that, y'know, attacked you?" asked Calem as he was not one to beat around the bush. Brendan shifted uncomfortably as he remembered what happened.
"I don't know. It came up from behind, I didn't even hear it, and grabbed me by my leg with its teeth. I turned to face it and tried to hit it but it just bit onto my arm instead. It was a wolf," again Brendan moved in his bed. He tried to speak but each time stopped until he took a breath and finally got it out. "They're going to send me back home."
"What?" said Serena. "Why can't you stay here?"
"Apparently my dad doesn't want me to. I overheard the counselors talk about him. He was threatening to go to the news and tell them how the camp let a camper get attacked. They talked him down but he only agreed to keep it secret if they let him take me to a proper hospital."
"That's crazy," said Calem.
"Yeah, how did your dad agree to that?" said Serena. "I'm surprised he didn't go to the news immediately after being told his son was attacked."
"I guess they convinced him it was a freak accident. Something that never happened before or would again," Brendan shrugged. "I mean, it only happened because I fell off the trail. Maybe nothing would have happened if I didn't, but..."
"Still..." said Hilbert. The five were quiet until Brendan made quiet sounds and shook. He blinked fast and hard. If he would just let himself he'll start crying. Before he could, Nurse Miriam entered the room and began to usher the four standing campers out.
"I'm sorry, but Brendan needs rest. You can visit him later or tomorrow," she said.
"Do you really think it was a wolf?" asked Leaf. Serena was back in her cabin with all her .
"Why not? It's what Brendan said."
"I don't think it is," said May. She sat on the opposite end of the cabin from Serena and directly across from Dawn. Her bed was in the same row as Serena, so the blonde had to look past two girls, Janine and Leaf, to see May.
"Why not?" the blonde asked. She was curious what May had to say but accidentally said it in her normal demanding tone. May chose her words carefully thinking she might upset Serena.
"Well, it's just that my dad's a biologist and he knows of all the animals in the area, he's told me about them. He said that there aren't any wolves around here. There aren't even any in the state."
"None in the state?" said Shauna.
'Brendan said it was a wolf,' thought Serena. 'If it wasn't, then what was it?'
Brendan's father picked him up the day after. The day after that Brock, with Brawly and Benga, approached Calem and Hilbert who had just left their cabin.
"Calem, wait up," said Brock. Calem and Hilbert stopped and faced Brock when he and his boys were close enough. "You want this?"
Brock handed Calem the metal disk on a chain that Brendan had found a few nights before. Calem looked it over in his hand before looking back to Brock. "Why don't you keep it? It belonged to one of your guys."
"I don't want it. None of the guys in the cabin want it," Brock said. Calem looked over the disk again before slipping it around his neck.
"Alright. Thanks, I guess," he said. Brock only gave him a nod before he and his boys turned and headed to their cabin. When Calem later sat at his cabin's table in the cafeteria Kiawe gave him a confused look.
"Why do you have that?" he said while pointing to the necklace.
"Brock gave it to me," Calem replied. "I guess Brendan gave it to him and he didn't want it so he gave it to me. Why, you want it?"
"No. Was just curious."
"Alright."
"Alright."
"Who's making the food today?" said Falkner. He, along with most of the boys at the table, had a disgusted look on his face.
"Hilbert, then I think Janine, Brock, and Hilda," said Kiawe.
"That explains it. Hilbert and Hilda can't cook to save their lives," Falkner said. He took another bite of his food, which that day for lunch were burritos with bags of chips. Falkner could recall microwave burritos better than what he had to eat that day.
Near the end of lunch the four campers who had to cook for everyone else were finishing up. Janine left with a quick bye since she was done in her section minutes before the others. Hilbert and Hilda went back and forth, helping each other in their sections while conversing. Brock worked quietly and slowly. The twins never acknowledged him and he never did them.
Eventually the three campers finished around the same time but Hilbert and Hilda stayed talking so Brock left Brock had been gone for a minute Hilbert decided to leave as well.
"You fine to be alone?" he asked.
"Yeah. It's fine," his sister replied. He nodded and went up the stairs. Upon exiting he was surprised to see Brock approaching. The cabin leader was also surprised to see Hilbert.
"What do you want?" asked Hilbert.
"Left something down there, was gonna get it," said Brock.
"What was it? I'll get it for you," Hilbert put one foot on the first step. Brock looked to the stairs, scowled, then told Hilbert nevermind and left. Hilbert waited by the entrance to the storage basement until Hilda came out. The two walked to Hilda's cabin then said bye and Hilbert walked alone to his cabin at their usual table. Only Gordie, Falkner, Kiawe, and Calem were there.
"What y'all talking about?" asked Hilbert when he sat at the table.
"The four guys that aren't here, well three now," said Calem. He sounded annoyed.
"Got caught up with something," replied Hilbert. Calem only shrugged. "Where are the other three?"
"I saw Elio and Hugh leave together, but Silver left on his own," said Falkner.
"Even though there's a rule that everyone must be with a partner? Why didn't you go with him?" asked Calem.
"He said he was going to the cabin, I saw him go in." Calem looked to their cabin, which was only about two dozen yards from their table.
"Well, go make sure he's there."
Falkner got up and the four boys at the table watched him go to their cabin and head inside. To Falkner's surprise, Elio and Silver were having a pleasant enough conversation while Hugh was resting on his bed.
"Oh good, you're all here." said Falkner. He went over and sat on his own bed.
"Why?" asked Elio.
"Calem wanted to make sure we knew where everyone was. Didn't want anything bad to happen to anyone," Hugh scoffed at Falkner's words. Falkner turned to him. "What?"
"Nothing," said Hugh. He laid on his bed with his arms behind his head and stared up at the ceiling.
"Anything you wanna say?"
"No," Hugh rolled over and faced the wall.
"Okay," Falkner turned to the other two boys. "So what were you talking about?"
"Home," said Elio. "Silver and I are from the same town."
"Mhm," confirmed Silver.
"Oh, cool."
The three boys continued their conversation until the rest of the cabin came in to get the four. It was time for the four cabins to go on their daily hikes.
Serena's cabin marched along happily, except for two. Dawn was near the end, just behind May who was her cabin partner, and she walked as if she just wanted the hike to be done with. Dawn's reaction wasn't too surprising to the girls. She had seemed that way on every hike. Serena had a bit of an attitude that was different than normal so the girls just left her alone. While she didn't hate hiking, Serena did hate the trail they were on.
It was a dirt path, muddy from last night's rain, causing every step to sink. Adding on the length of the soft trail irritated Serena more. Despite their similar attitudes, Serena looked at the younger girl and felt anger. She slowed her walk until the other girls began to pass her and was standing in the far back with Dawn.
The girls walked side by side but neither said anything. Dawn stared ahead and Serena went from looking ahead to gazing at Dawn. If the younger girl noticed Serena's eyes wandering she ignored them. The cabin, led by the counselor Gardenia, began to march up a hill and the trail began to twist. Serena and Dawn watched the girls ahead of them disappear past a bend.
"Hold on," said Dawn. Serena stopped and watched Dawn get on one knee. One of her boots was untied.
"I'm not standing here for this," said Serena. She turned away and continued on the trail.
"Hey, wait!" cried Dawn.
"Just run to catch up when you're done."
Serena speed walked until she was with Janine and May, who made up the last two in the group. They greeted their leader then had confused looks.
"Where's Dawn?" asked May.
"Tying her shoes. She'll catch up in a bit."
May and Janine took Serena's word and assumed they'll see Dawn in no more than a minute. But they never did. In fact Dawn never met them again on the trail nor did she come across them once they got to the destination of the hike, the top of a cliff that gave everyone a view of miles of forest but also the sight of the road that led into the camp.
Gardenia began to give the cabin a small lesson on the woods and even told some small stories from when she was a camper. She never did a headcount and the only girls who noticed Dawn was missing were Serena, May, and Janine. Though the three never said anything. May wanted to but Serena glared at her and told her to be silent. Serena was normally intimidating but she spoke with such vitriol that May said nothing until the cabin through the second part of their hike and were back in the main campground.
The seven girls and Gardenia stood outside the Tortoise cabin. Gardenia made the girls line up so she could do a headcount. When she counted seven she did a recount.
"Where's Dawn?" she asked no one specific. Serena and Janine copied the other girls that were confused and looked around. May could only stare at the ground. Of everyone, Gardenia was the most worried. She asked again where Dawn was, this time to Serena.
"I don't know. I saw her about twenty minutes ago on our way back," Serena's confident astonishment convinced everyone but May and Janine that she was the same as them. May looked at the blonde and felt she should say what happened. She knew she should but she also knew how Serena would react if she did. The counselor and the other girls became more and more tense and May felt the truth was too important to stay silent on. She opened her mouth to speak, but as she did she saw another cabin, the Bears, emerge from one of the direct trails leading from camp. In front of them was Bryony, a woman with short green hair and who was the designated counselor for the Bears. Beside her wasn't one of the Bears and was instead Dawn.
"Oh, look!" said May. Her cabinmates and Gardenia followed her pointing finger to see Dawn with the other cabin. They all let out a sigh of relief and went to the previously missing girl. May was the first to reach her. "Dawn!"
Dawn was surprised to see herself suddenly surrounded by everyone from her cabin. Everyone but Serena.
"Where did you find Dawn?" Gardenia asked after taking Bryony aside. The green haired counselor gave Gardenia a questioning look.
"Like, not even two minutes ago. We saw her right outside the camp. I thought she was just trying to sneak around for a boy or something."
"What? She was missing. No one's seen her in almost twenty minutes."
"Missing? How long have you been back in camp?" Bryony asked in a whisper.
"We got back just a couple minutes ago. I did the headcount and found her missing just before you came back," the two counselors looked at Dawn who was surrounded by campers. They wondered where she had gone.
Later, May asked Dawn where she had been, knowing she was gone much longer than twenty minutes. Dawn responded by chuckling. When she finished, May asked again only to hear more chuckling. More girls from the cabin asked Dawn the same question. Dawn's chuckles turned into laughter. She laughed until her eyes filled with tears. The girls never asked her what happened anymore.