“My money is on drugs,” I said as we emerged from the forest into a small clearing filled with tall grass and patches of thick underbrush. The tall grasses grew almost to our shoulders in some areas. The field could’ve been only a hundred yards across, or a mile, it was impossible to tell. The morning fog was particularly thick the closer we got to the swamp.
“I knew you had another source of income,” Alison quipped.
“Right, so what’s the map say, Magellan?” I turned my attention to her as she tried to judge the best direction for us.
“It’s roughly…” She squinted at the field. “Somewhere around here.” I rolled my eyes at her confused expression. Between the fog and the thick grasses we could easily spend the several hours searching and never find why the site was circled. I let out a sigh.
“Back to line searches.”
“Ten meters?” Alison asked
“What would you say the visibility is?” I looked from Alison to Veronica. “A little bit less than ten?” Veronica just gave a shrug leaning on a neighboring elm.
“Seven or eight,” Alison offered.
“Okay, we’ll keep it close. Five meter spread.” I looked among the tall grass for some form of path. There had to be a best possible path through the field. Even in nature there are roads if you know where to look. I pushed some reeds aside and found a deer print on the edge of a mud puddle. A game trail. Every path leads somewhere. I took the first step and the girls moved to either side as we emerged from the tree-line and into the field.
“Kind of wish Tom and Ashley were with us on this. One fly-over could answer a lot of questions.” Alison stomped down some reeds.
“Not really, aerial photos show nothing for this area. There’s too much foliage around here.” I glanced at Veronica and Alison as they carefully followed my course. “Last time they brought in those corporate goons anyhow.”
“Can’t fault them for that. It was the client.”
“You’d think if they were going to send out their goons, they would’ve just sent them after the package in the first place.” I pushed through the knee-high grass, following a light path marked only by slightly bent reeds.
“Goons are only meant for support. They don’t do complicated,” Alison said as she drifted into a taller patch of grass. “Besides, we could definitely use some goons. They’d make our lives easier.”
“Doesn’t matter because Ashley and Tom are still missing.” Abruptly, the path broke into two different directions. “Whoa, hold on a minute.” I held up my hand, stopping the team. “Which way?”
“I’ll take the other one.” Veronica volunteered, but she still looked like she was recovering from her hangover. “What?” Veronica complained. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not useless, you know.”
“Fine by me, you’re welcome to it.” I surrendered. “Just don’t go wandering off into the woods.”
“Whatever.” Veronica brushed back her shining hair and shifted the weight of the belt holster as she started the path. She flicked her hair, with a glance back.
“Are we moving?” Alison crunched down some weeds. “Or are we playing statue?” I stepped through the puddle onto the marshy grass on the other side.
“We’re moving.” I softened my gaze at her. The wind made her hair drift across her black sunglasses. She wasn’t going to cut me slack anytime soon.
“She’ll be fine.”
“Uh-huh.” I gave another glance at Veronica before I returned to my task.
“Sometimes you’re a bit overprotective.” The grasses rustled and crunched as we forged the path. I could barely see Veronica drifting through the fog far to my right.
“How many people have we lost in the past two weeks?”
“I get that, but I mean what’s going to happen out here?” Alison watched her footing in the thick weeds. “Ok, so she’ll either fall in a hole or she’s going get eaten by Bigfoot, either way you’ve done all you can.” I grew silent following the scant path. The ground became so saturated with water, it would squish as we came closer to the tree line.
“You joke, but…” I finally responded, stumbling over a hidden rock.
“But what?” Alison paused, cocking her head to one side. “But we’re not…” Her voice trailed off as she looked down and vanished.
“Alison!” I jumped my trail, and made for her last position. The grasses matted and tangled about my feet, but when the ground sank, I went with it. I collapsed through the reeds and landed on a startled Alison. “So, uh, you’re okay?” I asked, uncomfortable with my position on top of her.
“Uh, yeah.” Alison shifted.
“The, uh…” I tried to move but, my legs were tangled in the grasses. “…Ground is a bit, uh…”
“Squishy.”
“Right.” I tried to free myself. The weeds tangled about my legs weren’t letting go so easily. It wasn’t until I stopped fussing with our bindings that I saw Alison’s smile and realized just how awkwardly intimate we were at the moment. “Uh…”
“As much fun as this is…”
“That’s…” She reached down between us, and fumbled for something that felt even more awkward. I opened my mouth to say something, but her hand appeared with a knife that she flicked open.
“Do the honors?” I took the knife from her, and made quick work of our bindings with a few slashes. That allowed me to put some space between us. “Well, that’s certainly one way to liven up our day.” Her eyes darted behind me. I twisted to see Veronica a few paces away. She gave a sigh, and disappeared out of sight.
“Great.” I climbed to my feet and brushed off, as Alison did the same. “Why do I feel a headache coming on?” I rubbed my temples, and searched for the path. The grasses rustled as I pushed them around. The girls were just being difficult today. Nothing more to it.
“Why’s that?”
“Gee, I wonder,” I grumbled, and started down the path again. I let out a groan as my right boot sank deep in the mud. “This is turning out to be one miserable morning.” I shook my foot, grumbling incoherently.
“Sounds like life as usual if you ask me,” Alison countered.
“I think I need a new life.”
“You and me both.”
“Connor!” Veronica shouted
“What?” I shouted back before I realized. Alison laughed, I was her entertainment for today.
“Connor, get over here now!” Veronica ignored my attitude.
“On our way!” I shouted, and started toward her voice. The ground rushed past as I heard Alison’s footfalls just behind me. I jumped and sprinted across the uneven terrain, cutting my own path through the tall grasses. Veronica had found something so significant as to even call for Alison to come over to her. The thought of Veronica being in dire need of help again drove a wedge of fear into the forefront of my mind. I ran heedlessly, charging through the underbrush; stumbling as the weeds wrapped around my boots.
“Veronica!” I wanted to find her and make sure she was safe.
“Here!” A soft voice called out, drawing my attention to the right. Only slightly taller than the grasses and bushes, Veronica waved to us.
I stumbled into an area of short grass and over to Veronica. Fear subsided with relief. She was safe. After an initial pause, I became aware of the change in our surroundings, and understood Veronica’s panic. This was not good. Alison crashed through the tall grass behind me and froze.
Everyone stood in shock, staring at the small area. What was once a campsite was little more than a debris field. The remains of personal belongings and camp goods were strewn across the grass haphazardly. A collapsed and torn blue tent lay near the tree line still staked to the ground. A large lantern in the grass was still glowing a diminished yellow. Veronica stood among the debris with her revolver at the ready.
“That explains the circle,” Alison said as Veronica moved away from the trees.
“Veronica?” I stepped over the broken lantern to move closer to her.
“I think they’re dead.”
“I don’t know about that, but it does look like they were attacked.” I nodded at the scene. “Spread out and check for any clues or something. Oh, and Alison, document it.” I attempted to retake command. Alison didn’t argue. Everyone moved quietly, sifting through the debris afraid to say what the implications were. I checked a ripped sleeping bag pinned under a cooler. Veronica holstered her revolver and began carefully picking through the campsite. I tugged more of the sleeping bag free and exposed a dark liquid stain on the material. It looked to be lighter fluid or oil, maybe blood.
“Is that what I think it is?” Veronica asked.
“Hopefully not.” I stood and backed away from the potential horror. It was reassuring to have her nearby, but the scene convinced me we were dealing with something we were better off avoiding.
“Do you think it was animals?” Veronica asked.
“Doubtful.” She turned her gaze from my eyes to the scene.
“Connor, over here.” Alison called me over to examine the tattered blue tent. “I think it’s blood.” Alison pointed at a dark wet stain on the side of the tent.
“Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of.”
“You think it’s the same guys that came after us last night?” Alison whispered low. “They killed them?”
“If they were killed here, then where are the bodies?” I knelt down to examine the tent more closely. “Animals would leave remains of some form.”
“So this is definitely the work of people.”
“And those look like bullet holes.” I poked a finger through one of the small holes in the material.
“Yeah, I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” Veronica rocked a metal coffee pot under her foot.
“I’m getting that too.” I took another glance around them at the scene. “This is fairly recent.” I needed to call this in to the Sheriff. If we were right, the camper’s vehicles might shed some light on who they were and what might have happened. I slipped the radio off my belt.
“Calling it in?” Alison asked, as Veronica resumed her search of the debris. I nodded and clicked open the channel.
“This is S-R-T two calling for Sheriff Brooks.” The surrounding mists felt more menacing than they did an hour ago.
“What is it team two?” The Sheriff’s voice grumbled.
“We’re at the clearing a mile-and-a-half west of our last position.”
“West?”
“Confirmed, west.” I knew the Sheriff was going to have something to say about it if I didn’t continue. “We’ve found a camp that looks like it was attacked. There are no signs of the campers.”
“Attacked?” I could hear the Sheriff grumble something at his deputy. “Maitland, explain what you mean by attacked.”
“The campsite has been tossed, there are what look to be small caliber bullet-holes in the tent and what looks to be blood splatters spread throughout the site. There are no signs of the campers, though.”
“You have a camera out there right?”
“We are already documenting the site.” I watched Alison go back to photographing the campsite. “What is the nearest road?”
“I see what you’re thinking,” the Sheriff said. “Unit three, Collins, come back.”
“Unit three here,” the deputy responded.
“I want you to head up Terrace and keep an eye out for a seasonal access road. If we have campers, then they had to drive in from somewhere.”
“Sir.”
“Maitland, I want you to see if you can find any identification on the campers and a potential direction.” I rolled my eyes at the radio chatter about our discovery. “Rogers, how’s that trail?”
“Thor is on something. Still heading northwest.” I closed my eyes, trying to piece the puzzle together. There was no way someone attacking at night wouldn’t leave evidence, it was probably just mixed in with the wreckage.
“I’ve got something!” Veronica called over. I lowered the radio and turned to see her pick through the grass near the fire pit. I tucked the radio away and moved over to where she was kneeling. She moved part of the tent aside to reveal a small camcorder hidden among the grass. As she reached for the camcorder, Alison leaned over us and snapped a series of shots.
“Maybe we’ll get some answers,” Alison offered. Veronica picked it up and wiped her hands on her jeans.
“It’s wet.” She glanced at me with concern. After she tried a few things, the camcorder booted up to memory storage failure message. She made a face and hit the button to attempt recovery. A couple of minutes passed, and the available files appeared on the screen. She tapped the first file and the screen came to life at a party of some sort. We watched the scene for a minute before Veronica stopped it and selected the last file.
The screen came to life with a group of teens around a campfire at night. They were laughing and playing a game. Veronica held down the fast-forward until the scene jumped and switched positions. The girl that was laughing swung the camera back to one of the guys who jumped up.
“Who’s out there?” The guy shouted at the night. Gunshots rang out and the girls started screaming. The camera spun and tumbled to the ground.
“That didn’t tell us anything.” Veronica stared at the camera.
“Save it, we might have missed something,” I said, as Alison started to look around the campsite again. Veronica wiped off the camcorder before she closed the screen and slipped it into her jacket.
“Why would anyone do this? They’re just kids,” she asked.
“I think we can follow them.” Alison pointed toward the trees.