Camping Chaos [FICTION]

 Summer doesn’t arrive until the tent goes up. That is what my friends say as I grudgingly join them each year for a camping trip. It always ends in disaster, but they somehow talk me into it again and again. This year, I am not the only one ruminating on this irony.

“It’s the s’mores.” Taylor shakes her head knowingly.

“That has to be the only reason Tabby keeps coming.” June agrees.

I shrug my shoulders. “Must be. After all, you guys are no fun.”

“I used to be fun,” Ginny stares glumly into the fire.

“When?” The rest of us ask in unison, chortling good-naturedly.

Ginny doesn’t respond and our laughter dies out. The awkward silence stretches on until June begins slapping out a rhythm on her thighs. Soon we all join in, matching pace easily as we tap out the familiar beat of our high school fight song.

Our musical overture ends abruptly as screams erupt from the nearby woods. Our hands hover over our knees as our eyes dart around the circle. Another scream erupts and we rise to our feet, turning as one to peer into the darkness of the woods.

“What was that?” Taylor’s eyes bulge.

“I think we should go,” June says, reaching for her backpack and slinging it over her shoulder.

“But our stuff?” Ginny glances at the tent.

“But our lives?” Taylor hisses.

“Shouldn’t we see if someone needs help?” I ask, taking two tentative steps toward the trees.

Three piercing glances convince me of the insanity of my question. I grab my backpack and follow them back to the trail to our car. We keep up a steady pace, glancing over our shoulders frequently though the forest remains relatively quiet around us.

I breathe a sigh of relief as I see the halo around the single overhead light in the parking lot. I take one last glance over my shoulder and stop short as I collide with June’s back.

“What the…”

“Shh.” My friends whisper as one.

I open my mouth to point out they just made more noise than me, but the words dissolve into ash in my mouth as I see what has arrested our forward motion. Red liquid shimmers on the hood of Taylor’s black SUV. An arm dangles from roof. Despite the warnings going off in my head, I step forward to get a better look. My eyes scan the parking lot, confused.

“Something’s not right.” I mutter under my breath.

“My car…” Taylor moans.

“That poor person…” Ginny adds.

“We’re next…” June sobs.

“But where is the body…” I take a few more steps, wrinkling my nose as an oddly sweet smell gets blown to me on the breeze. “…and the rest of the blood?”

Screams ring out from the forest around us. I turn toward them. June grabs at my arm as I start walking back into the forest.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to find out who is screaming.”

“You can’t help them.” She hisses.

“I don’t plan to…” I raise my voice. “I plan to kick their butts.”

My three friends look at me in confusion for a moment, but my resolve unfreezes their legs. They match step with me, hovering so close I don’t dare to stop for fear of being trampled.

“Tabby, I hope you’re right.” Taylor whispers fearfully.

“Isn’t your boyfriend a med student?” I ask her as pieces begin to fall together in my head.

“Yes. Are you hurt?” I feel her grab my arm, trying to bring me to a stop so she can check me for injuries.

“I’m fine.” I continue my determined march as I shake my arm free.

When I have control of my arms again, I reach out squeeze Ginny’s hand. “And your boyfriend works in a grocery store?”

“Yes.” She says tentatively.

From somewhere to our left, I hear a familiar voice release and expletive. “I think she’s onto us.”

“Corey?” Taylor asks the darkness.

Laughter erupts and then four flashlights click on, blinding us. “You were supposed to let us rescue you.” 

Corey points his light at the ground, revealing our boyfriends sporting wide grins. 

“I told you Tabby would ruin our fun,” my boyfriend Seth steps forward to wrap his arm around me, “But what did we do wrong?”

“Not that we would ever do this again…” Corey assures us unconvincingly.

“There was only blood on Taylor’s car, not even splattered on the ground. And there was only one arm. Surely, somewhere nearby, we would have seen a torso or something.”

“What can I say? It’s hard to borrow more than an arm from the medical school.” He grins.

“Or any arms? I saw stuffing poking out of the ‘severed’ end.” I frown at him and shake my head. “And the blood smelled super sweet…like corn syrup.”

Ginny’s boyfriend shrugs as she lightly punches his arm. “Sorry, babe.”

Taylor shrugs off Corey’s arm. “Very funny guys. We are going back to our girl’s camping trip. And my car better be pristine when we come back in the morning.”

The boys giggle and head toward the parking lot as we return to our tent.

“We better check the tent for rubber snakes and giant spiders.” I mutter.

“True dat.” Ginny agrees.

We all laugh and get back to the business of celebrating summer with chocolate, marshmallows, and graham crackers.

~~~

I started this, hoping to make it a summer offering, but my heart wasn’t in it until the spooky season finally arrived, so I hope it was worthy of your creepy peepers.