Chapter 9
Gunner returned Greg to the campsite as Zach and Reese emerged from the wilderness. They were as shocked to see Greg alive as Gunner had been, though their elation was equally tempered upon learning the van was immobile.
Reese’s next thought naturally turned to his girlfriend. He raced to their tent hoping to sweep out the scenarios and fears racing through his mind. Inside he found the relief he sought. A figure within her sleeping bag, the bag itself pulled up over the head. Reese let out a sigh of relief. “Kimberly,” he whispered.
The bag offered up no reaction but the slightest of movements. Reese took it to mean that the young woman remained asleep. Had he investigated further, he would have found that this was not his girlfriend, but the killer, hiding in her place. What the monster waited for was uncertain, for he chose to remain hidden rather than make a move.
Reese had no reason to suspect that it was not Kimberly in the sack. He merely kissed the bag where the head was hidden. Then grabbing a flashlight from his pack, he returned outside to his friends.
Gunner had already settled Greg into his own tent for some rest, while Zach checked Raymond’s tent. “The old man still isn’t back.”
“Who cares,” Reese snapped. “What are we going to do?”
Gunner scanned their surroundings for any sign of the killer, unaware as Reese was that their nemesis was in their midst. “We start a fire and cook some dinner.”
“What kind of plan is that,” Zach wanted to know. As far as he cared, they had what they came for. He was anxious to get the van fixed, and get as far away from this nightmare as they could. Gunner though, had to be more realistic about the situation.
“I only have one spare,” Gunner explained. “I might be able to patch the second tire, but I need the light of day. We cannot defend this camp and fix the van when we can’t even see beyond this field.”
“You want us to spend another night when the killer knows we’re here? Did you even sleep last night?”
“No,” Gunner admitted. “I’ll be fine.”
“Christ,” Reese muttered.
“Look, we spent one night without a problem. Kimberly stayed in camp all day. We can last one more night.”
The guys remained unconvinced, but they knew Gunner wouldn’t be swayed. Even if they mutinied, neither had any idea how to fix the second tire. They wondered if Gunner had any idea himself, or if he was just stringing them along with false hope.
They set to work building their fire and cooking their food. For Gunner and Zach, it was the scent of canned beans boiling on the open flames they hoped would ease them over the night ahead. Reese had a couple of chicken breasts hidden at the bottom of his cooler. He only wanted one, but decided to cook them both in case Kimberly woke up looking for dinner.
Zach, who had been spending the last twenty four hours longing for his Jeri, fully realized the value in leaving her home. As he watched Reese stealing nervous glances toward his tent, he took some comfort that he didn’t share his friend’s worry.
He only had another day and a half at most before a reunion. He could pass that time imagining her soft hands running across his chest, stimulating tingles of pleasure from the nerves across his skin. The many nights he spent in her hands; those gentle, teasing hands. The ecstasy she raised from him! He grew tingly thinking about it. This night was about keeping Kimberly safe for Reese, and Greg safe for Gunner. For Zach, surviving this night meant returning to Jeri’s magic touch.
Finishing the last bite on his plate, Zach tossed it aside. Without giving him a chance to digest the meal, his bowels decided they would betray him. They had all hoped they could get home before the more complicated movements had to be made. Though it seemed he could wait for the pleasurable experiences his body longed for, the more painful ones could not be put off.
From his tent, he retrieved a camp shovel, a flashlight, and a roll of toilet paper. Reese took note, and joked with him. “Killer or not, you better do that in the woods.”
“Ha ha,” Zach mocked. His tongue could offer up no witty response this time. His functions demanded attention and he still had a hole to dig before he could give it. Zach disappeared through the curtain of darkness around the camp and into the woods outside it.
Reese turned his attention back to the fire and to Gunner. For a man who just got his dead brother back, he seemed no more joyful than he had the night before. “What’s the matter with you?”
Gunner’s attention was glued to the moths circling above the flames. Their wings and their bodies were so easily burned if they got too close, yet they gave the flames no mind. The danger so overwhelming, and still they charged at it for whatever purpose they had with the light.
Why had he not been like these moths? The killer only had a knife while he had a van full of tools. Maybe the tire iron could have given him a longer reach than the killer. Had he not run away that first time, he would have found that his brother survived those knife wounds. He could have gotten Greg some real help, and brought him home instead of leaving him with his attacker for the past month.
“I left him with that bastard.”
“You couldn’t have known,” Reese consoled. “You said he was stabbed. You saw him go down. Anyone would have thought he was dead.”
“But he wasn’t! My brother was alive and I left him behind. He never left me behind.” Gunner thought to all the times he followed Greg around as kids. His brother never brushed him off or made him feel unwanted. Greg took him everywhere. And Gunner could not forgive himself for running out on Greg when his brother needed him.
He noted one rather small moth flying too close as the fire sputtered outward in its path, singeing its wing. The poor creature crashed to the ground, though safely away from the fire. Without its wing, all it could do was thrash violently on the ground.
“You don’t know if you could have taken that guy,” Reese reasoned. “If you stayed to fight, he could have taken you out. Then no one would have come to rescue him or you. Maybe Greg spent a month up here with that bastard doing God knows what to him, but he’s safe now because you got away that night.”
But there was no consoling Gunner. He took up a stick and nudged the moth into the fire, ending its misery.
Reese understood their own safety was in danger if they trusted the watch to their friend. He stepped away from the fire and sauntered to the tents as if looking for something, when in reality, it was an excuse to get closer to Kimberly. He knew when he agreed to come on this trip that he was gambling with his life. That was the value he placed on his friendships. Both Gunner and Zach meant that much to him. Kimberly’s life however was not worth gambling with, and he now wished he had listened to Gunner about leaving her home.
Zach returned from the bush, heading for the signaling Reese. “What is it,” he asked.
“We’re in trouble,” Reese warned. “Gunner’s too wrapped up in himself to worry about our friend in the woods. We need him. His brother needs him. And he’s busy feeling sorry for himself.”
Zach watched Gunner mindlessly poking the fire with his stick. Every jab sent up a flurry of sparks. The dry forest around him seemed to be another thing that left his mind.
“I’ll talk to him,” Zach suggested.
“I tried. He won’t listen.”
“Then what are we supposed to do?”
Reese took a deep breath preparing his courage for the crazy idea forming in his head. “We go after this guy before he comes after us.” Zach protested, but Reese silenced him. “We already know this whole weekend was a trap. That monster didn’t keep Greg alive because he needed a friend. He’s coming for us.”
“Then we get ready for him.”
“We never won a football game playing strictly defense. And we can’t cover the whole campsite at once. He will get close before we see him coming. But we know where he lives. We can take him out before he comes for us.
”
Zach knew his friend’s idea had problems, but he trusted Reese. He agreed to go along if for nothing else than to prevent the anxious waiting he looked forward to if they stayed in camp. He retrieved a knife from his tent. Then watching to make sure Gunner remained distracted, the pair slipped off into the woods unnoticed.