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"Newbies should share the same cabin," explained Jannen,
leading Shawbrea and Dabumb into a cabin along with a Pink Uni and a Darigan Krawk.
After the pets had gone in, he quickly left to assign the other campers cabins.
"So," growled the Krawk. "You're newbies, eh?"
Dabumb and Shawbrea nodded. "Well, then there's some things you have to know,"
he said. "First of all, I'm the boss, and you have to do whatever I say!"
"That's not true!" snapped Dabumb.
"You want to fight for it?" growled the Krawk.
Dabumb backed away. "No," he sighed. "Fighting doesn't solve anything."
The Krawk nodded. "So anyway, I'm the boss,
and when I want something, you have to get it for me!" Shawbrea and Dabumb backed
away in fright.
"Come on Drew, cut the newbies some slack,"
said the Uni jumping off her bunk. "You were a newbie once, remember?"
The Krawk groaned. "Fine Ciera, you win."
The Uni smiled at Dabumb and Shawbrea. "Well,
why don't we show you two around?" she asked.
"I don't want to!" growled Drew. Ciera nudged
him in the back. "Fine," he groaned following the other three pets out the cabin
door.
"It's hard your first year," explained Ciera.
"You don't know anybody and you don't know where everything is, but we're here
to help you. Isn't that right Drew?"
"Yeah, sure, whatever..." mumbled the Krawk.
Ciera smiled and turned back to Dabumb and Shawbrea.
"Well, why don't I give you the grand tour, since I've been here the longest,
no doubt."
"Sounds good," they said nodding. Ciera giggled
and walked on, with Shawbrea and Dabumb close behind, and Drew, tailing way
behind.
They soon came to a large field. "This is where
we play our sports, on this field," she explained. "We're scheduled to play
soccer this afternoon after everyone's assigned to cabins. The two pets nodded
in interest and followed Ciera to the next place. It was a large wooden building
with a good-smelling aroma coming from the top. "Here's the cafeteria, we eat
breakfast, lunch and dinner in here." Shawbrea's stomach rumbled. Dabumb chuckled.
"I-I didn't eat breakfast this morning," she
said feeling very embarrassed.
"Yeah, well you need to make sure you do here,"
said Ciera smiling. Why don't we go in for lunch now, it's probably ready to
be served." Shawbrea smiled and licked her lips, as the group entered the cafeteria.
The meal was good, better than Dabumb and Shawbrea
had thought. When their bellies were full, they decided to continue on with
the tour. It seemed to last forever, considering the many places at the camp,
and when the group was done, they were all tuckered out from walking.
"Maybe, we should go back to the cabin," said
Dabumb panting. Shawbrea and Ciera nodded in agreement. Drew didn't reply as
usual, for he had something else on his mind.
* * * * * * * *
It was dark by the time the group had gotten back to the cabin. All tired
and exhausted, they collapsed onto their bunk ready to sleep. "No! Don't sleep
yet!" complained Drew. "I have a story to tell you!"
Ciera groaned and rolled her eyes. "It's not
the one about our camp being haunted is it? You always tell it when we bunk
with newbies to scare them."
"But it's true!" he growled. "Our camp is haunted!"
Ciera rolled her eyes again. "So don't believe me," he mumbled. He raised his
voice to a normal tone. "But I bet these two will!"
"I don't believe in ghosts," said Dabumb turning
away. "Never have, never will." Shawbrea turned to Drew, a little less convinced
that ghosts weren't real.
"Really?" she asked in a terrified tone. "Our
camp is haunted?"
Drew grinned evilly and nodded. "Sure is, want
to hear the story?" Shawbrea nodded, a bit paralyzed by the thought. "Okay,"
said Drew. "But you may get scared."
"I'm never scared!" growled Dabumb bearing his
teeth. "I'm the bravest Gelert around.
Drew sighed. "Whatever you say," he said. "But
no one's ever gone through the first night without a nightmare."
Dabumb sighed. "Just tell the story!" he groaned.
Drew grinned. "Okay..." he said.
"It all started one night. It was the first
year this camp was opened. Two roomies, a Pteri and Quiggle went out at night
to look around at the areas of the camp they hadn't seen yet. The two went to
the trail first, which started at the entrance of the dark woods. They hesitated
to enter at first, but soon found their courage and entered. After a while of
walking, they heard a scream coming from somewhere in the woods. They turned
around terrified, about to run back to camp, but when they were almost out,
the Quiggle tripped. The Pteri went back to help her friend, but just as she
pulled them up, something happened. Nobody knows what, but something happened.
The last thing heard was the two pet's shrill screams, and they never returned.
Since then, many campers have been disappearing from here if they enter the
woods after dark."
Shawbrea gasped. Ciera rolled her eyes again.
"Don't believe it, it's just an old legend."
"A TRUE legend," corrected Drew.
Ciera sighed and shook her head. "Whatever,"
she said lying down to sleep.
Drew grunted and turned to Shawbrea and Dabumb.
"You two believe the story don't you?" he asked sneering.
"Not a word!" said Dabumb turning away. Shawbrea
wasn't too sure what she believed.
"Uh, n-n-no, I don't believe it!" she stuttered,
even though deep inside her she believed the entire thing.
Dabumb smiled at her. "Yeah, that's just a story!
It probably isn't even a legend!" he said.
Shawbrea managed to break a smile. "Y-yeah,"
she said.
Drew shrugged. "Whatever you say, but you'll
believe me once I take you there later tonight." His evil grin widened, as he
turned over onto his bed to go to sleep. Dabumb and Shawbrea spoke nothing for
the rest of the night.
* * * * * * * *
The morning bell awoke the four pets instantly. They rubbed their eyes and
hopped out of bed. They had to get down to the cafeteria early if they were
going to get fresh, hot food.
As they emerged from their cabin, they could
see the other pets in the cabins around them doing the same. The morning was
bright, the sky was blue, and the sun was shining.
The cafeteria was nearly empty when the pets
got in. They quickly grabbed their trays and got in line. Ciera picked the seat.
Since she had been there the longest, she knew what the "right" seats were.
"So Ciera, are we going to take them to the
dark woods tonight?" asked Drew with a smile.
Ciera sighed and turned to Dabumb and Shawbrea
who were staring at her. "Nothing happens," she whispered. "He does this every
year to the newbies to scare them, nothing really happens."
Shawbrea and Dabumb turned to Drew. "We'll go
I guess," said Dabumb in a reasonable tone. Drew grinned, but didn't speak,
and began gorging down his meal.
* * * * * * * *
What if the story's true, thought Shawbrea. What if the woods are haunted,
what if something really got those two pets! Her thoughts were interrupted by
Dabumb's voice.
"Shawbrea!" he cried kicking her the soccer
ball. Her mind came back to focus on the game she was playing. She shook off
her thoughts and dived at the ball blocking another pet trying to score. The
crowd cheered as she passed it to Ciera who happened to be an expert at soccer.
She galloped across the field passing other pets with her sudden burst of speed,
and with one hard kick she scored the final goal.
"We win!" cheered Dabumb and Shawbrea. They
turned to Ciera who was surrounded by other pets, bragging about her talent.
Drew was on the bleachers alone. He looked like
he was watching the game, but he was deep in thought: Those two are going to
be scared tonight, he thought smiling. I'm sure of it.
To be continued...
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