*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧—chapter sixteen: stop blaming bears

August 22, 2021
Hackett's Quarry
Upstate New York, New York

IT WAS ONE MINUTE UNTIL TEN O'CLOCK WHEN THEY REACH THE LODGE. Nick had said something about being really hungry as they get him out of the wheelbarrow and into the Lodge. The others hadn't seen a problem with his comment, but Cassidy had. The infection is spreading and Nick is going to turn soon...

Once inside, Ryan hands a key to Kaitlyn, informing her it will open up the nurse's station. She replies by telling him that hopefully they can just get Nick cleaned up for now. Abi and Sawyer head off to the kitchen to find some food for Nick. Once Kaitlyn starts leading Nick to the nurse's station, Ryan turns to face Dylan and Cassidy.

"We are gonna find a landline," he tells them.

"So, I assume we're goin' to use the one in Chris' office," Cassidy asks, glancing toward the room off the the left side of the Lodge. "Since it's, like, right there."

"Yep," Ryan nods, before turning around to look at where Kaitlyn was leading Nick through the Lodge. "We'll come meet you."

"Copy that," Kaitlyn replies.

The boys glance around the Lodge for a moment, listening to the silence, though the only sound aiding the ambience was the crackling fireplace.

"I really hope they're gonna be okay..." Dylan says after a while. "D'you think whatever's left in the nurse's office is gonna cut it?"

"Kaitlyn knows what she's doing," Ryan informs him.

"Does she?" Dylan inquires, frowning slightly as he looks at Ryan. "I- I mean... she wasn't even supposed to be working at the nurse's office this summer. She only filled in 'cause some other girl didn't show up."

"I don't think it's that difficult to patch up a wound," Cassidy replies and both of them give him a look. "I mean— One that bad, yeah, it requires some work..."

"It's better than nothing," Ryan dismisses, turning around and heading off in the direction of the office. "Come on. Let's go call for backup."

As they walk away from the doors, Dylan looks around in the dark. The only source of light was from the fireplace, and the moonlight shining through the many windows.

"It's pretty weird to see this place so dead," Dylan comments as they walk through the main area of the Lodge.

"You never came down here at night while camp was in session?" Ryan asks him, furrowing his brows in confusion.

"What? No," Dylan answers, "do you?"

"Couple times, yeah," Ryan replies, before gesturing toward Cassidy. "Cass does all the time, just to steal food from the kitchen."

"'Cos it's free food and I get hungry," Cassidy says, crossing his arms.

"It's cold leftovers."

"So?"

"Shut up, Cass," Ryan mutters, heading over to the door. Before he reaches it, he turns around upon hearing Dylan's footsteps receding. The Lenivy is walking off in the other direction and looking around as if something was wrong. "Where are you going?"

"I..." Dylan turns to face him, his brows furrowed. "I- I thought I just heard my name..."

"I didn't hear anything," Ryan says, walking to the door.

Dylan turns to Cassidy, brows still furrowed in confusion. "Did you, um, hear anything?"

"No," Cassidy replies, shaking his head. "But, I did hear somethin' earlier when we were originally in Chris' office," he whispers. "What you heard just now, did it sound like an old lady?"

"Yeah..." Dylan drawls, "why?"

"I think it's the H—"

"Yo," Ryan calls to them, beckoning them over. "Come on."

They follow him into the now unlocked room. Ryan pushes the door open, allowing them to enter before him. Then, Dylan closes the door behind them.

"I don't think Nick's injuries are as bad as we thought," Ryan says as he walks over to Chris' desk.

"Well, that's good news," Dylan says hopefully.

"Yeah..."

"So, were we not lookin' at the same wound on Nick's leg, or...?" Cassidy replies, giving both of them weird looks. "I don't know what you two saw, but what I saw was a wound that was infected. Like, it was really bad. And earlier, Dylan suggested amputation, so—"

"Don't dampen the mood," Ryan interrupts, crossing his arms.

"What mood?" Cassidy questions.

"The hopeful mood. You know, the one with the possibility that Nick won't succumb to his injuries," Ryan sighs, shaking his head. "We gotta call for help." He picks up the phone, looking up at Dylan. "Who should I call?"

"Uhh, Mr. H?"

"The only number I got is to this phone."

"Why don't you try emergency services, Ryan?" Cassidy asks, rolling his eyes. "Y'know, that's, like, the most logical thing to do."

"Yeah, ninety-one-one," Dylan says, looking up at Ryan.

"Say that again," Cassidy says, a grin forming on his face.

"Ninety-one-one," Dylan repeats, furrowing his brows at the looks both Ryan and Cassidy were giving him. "What?"

"You mean nine-one-one?" Ryan asks, raising an eyebrow. "Who says 'ninety-one-one'?"

Dylan shrugs. "I... I dunno."

"Anyway," Ryan continues, "yeah, but, like, what, should I ask for? Like, police? Ambulance? Wait, Cass, your dad—"

The grin falls from Cassidy's face immediately upon the mention of Travis. "I ain't callin' him."

"But—"

"I said no."

"Uhh... cops," Dylan speaks up. "Yeah, don't fuck around. There's hunters out there trying to kidnap us!"

"They're not tryin' to kidnap us," Cassidy mutters.

"What do you know about the hunters?" Dylan inquires, raising an eyebrow as he looks over at the Hackett boy.

Cassidy sighs, looking at Dylan. Tell the truth or lie. It wouldn't have made any sense to make up a random lie on the spot, especially when someone named Dylan Lenivy demanded an answer at this very moment. "The hunters are just my Pappy and Uncle Bobby. I think they're tryin' to make sure we're safe." He then turns to Ryan. "Remember when I eavesdropped on Chris' phone call earlier?"

"Yeah...?"

"He was talkin' to Pappy. I think they want to keep us safe from whatever is out there. That's why they want us in the Lodge. If we keep wanderin' about, we might die or get hurt."

"Wait, so, they knew what was in the woods and didn't think it would be a good idea to tell us?!" Dylan says in disbelief. "What the fuck?"

Ryan nods in agreement before looking at Cassidy. "If that's the case, why are they being all creepy about it?"

"The hell I'd know! My whole family's weird..." Cassidy shrugs, raising his hands. "Call emergency services. See if they can help."

"All right," Ryan sighs, dialing the number as he puts the phone to his ear.

"911, what is your—" Before the operator could finish her sentence, the line cuts out. Ryan lowers the phone, brows furrow in confusion as he stares at the device.

"What's wrong?" Dylan questions.

"Dead," Ryan answers, looking up at Dylan.

"Well, that's weird."

"Phones go dead..." Ryan trails off, not sounding too sure, "sometimes out here."

"Right when you're about to call the cops, though?"

"It's a coincidence," Ryan says, trying to be more convincing, but it didn't really seem to be working.

"Did you try the, hang up thingy?" Dylan questions, walking over to the desk.

"What?"

"Here," Dylan takes the phone from him and has it resting between his shoulder and his ear as he presses the buttons at random.

While Dylan was helping Ryan with the phone, Cassidy walks over to the bulletin board, just to look at it again. Other than the full moon being labeled on the calendar, there were other tiny notes scribbled that he hadn't noticed the first time. He keeps looking, and he wasn't expecting to find something lodged in the bottom left corner of of the board. Upon closer inspection, he realizes it was a tarot card. Removing it from where it was stuck in the bulletin board's frame, he flips it over.

TAROT CARD FOUND
6 OF ??
TEMPERANCE

Someone was trapped in the freezer, he could very clearly see that, as well as hear their screams, begging to be let out. Behind him, pacing up and down the kitchen, was the panicking brother of said person stuck in the freezer.

He slips the shotgun off of his shoulders and shoots the frozen lock off of the door. It falls off and he grabs the sides of the hole where the door handle once was, tugging on it, trying to pry the door open.

Cassidy puts the card in his pocket and moves away from the wall, looking over at Dylan and Ryan, who were still trying to get the phone to work.

"Okay, so this phone's a no-go," he heard Ryan say as he heads back over to the desk. "No one has signal. Is there anywhere else in camp that has a landline?"

"Well, not a landline..." Dylan starts, looking at Ryan.

"What?"

"The radio hut has some old broadcast gear."

"Where— Where you do your announcements?"

"Where I curate my sweet summer jams, yeah— and where I do the PA announcements," Dylan clarifies. "It has some old equipment there. I think we could probably rig something up, and get a message out."

"All right, yeah..." Ryan nods, glancing between Dylan and Cassidy, "let's— let's head over and see if we can contact somebody. Give that back to Cass, Dylan."

"What did he take—? Oh," it's now when Cassidy realizes that Dylan had undone the strap for the shotgun and was now holding the firearm with both hands. "When the hell did you take that from me?"

"It was when, um..." Dylan gestured to the gun and then to the phone on the desk. "When Ryan was asking what to do with the phone..." He frowns.

"Okay..."

"Uh... It's- It's probably the weather?" Ryan suggests, an unsure look crossing his face as he swallows nervously.

"What weather, Ryan?" Dylan questions, giving him an accusatory look.

"Maybe- Maybe it was the... bears," Ryan blames.

"What is with you people and bears?" Cassidy groans. "It ain't seem like any of you know what a fuckin' bear looks like if you keep fuckin' blamin' everythin' on bears!"

"Okay, so, for the sake of the argument..." Dylan butts in, glancing between the two of them, "what if that 'bear' that- uh... cut our phone line... and just cut out all the power... what if that bear is waiting for us out in the hallway?"

"Fine, Dylan, you can have Chris' gun," Cassidy replies, crossing his arms as a frown forms on his face. "I'll just find another one to use. The music cabin has some underneath the floorboards."

"Underneath the floorboards...?" Dylan asks, looking at him weirdly. "And how is it you so happen to know that?"

"Hm, let's see... 'Cos I put two of them there the day 'fore camp started. Stole them from my house."

"How the fuck did you get away with that?" Ryan asks next, a look of disbelief on his face.

"Just... don't question it, please?"

Ryan nods and then the three of them get to collecting some shotgun shells from a box in the cabinet. "We should probably tell Kaitlyn we're going to the radio hut. They're probably freaked."

"Yeah," Dylan says, heading to the door. "Okay, yeah, let's go."

Ryan pulls open the drop and Dylan runs out, swinging the gun in every direction.

"Yeah, we should probably leave that with Kaitlyn," Ryan says, watching Dylan be a complete fool.

Dylan stops and turns around to face him, glancing down at the gun and frowning. "Do you really think she needs it, though?"

"Yeah? Besides me, Kaitlyn is the only other person here that knows how to use a gun," Cassidy replies.

"Uhh, she needs it as much as we do," Ryan adds, looking at Dylan.

"She's staying in the Lodge," Dylan points out, "we're going out there." He jerks his head toward the doors they had just come through to get into the Lodge.

"You literally just said there might be something dangerous in the Lodge," Ryan says, crossing his arms.

"When?"

"Like twenty seconds ago!"

"Okay, sure, but that's because I really wanted a gun."

"Oh, my God...! Dylan, stop stallin' and fuckin' give up the gun! There are two guns in the music cabin that you and I can have, I just need to go get them first, do I need to say it again?"

Dylan sighs, looking back down at the gun in longing. "All right. You're right..."

"Hey, we'll still have mine," Ryan reassures him. "If you're extra nice to me, I'll- I might let you hold it."

There was a long silence that passed between them before Dylan said anything.

"Don't write a check that your ass can't cash," he says.

"My ass has got quite the bank account."

"That was the worst attempt at flirtin'..." Cassidy says, staring at both of them. "I think my ears just bled."

"Am I interrupting something?" Kaitlyn questions, both hands on her hips as she looks at the three boys.

"Yeah, their poor attempts at flirtin' with each other," Cassidy mutters.

"Right, so," Ryan starts, "Dylan is supposed to be giving you this gun to protect yourself and the others in case, you know, a... bear... attacks." He nudges Dylan and he hands the gun to Kaitlyn, who gladly takes it.

"Be careful out there," she warns them.

"We will," Cassidy replies. "Kaitlyn, can you tell Sawyer I miss her?"

"It's only been almost half an hour since you last saw her," Kaitlyn says, crossing her arms as he she looks at him, an eyebrow raised.

"Exactly."

"She is right over there keeping Abi company while Nick's resting," she motions to the other side of the Lodge. "Why don't you go, I don't know, tell her yourself."

"'Cos she's mean... She'll bully me again if I say anythin' to her..."

"That sounds like a you problem," Kaitlyn says, ending the conversation as she walks away.

"I hate it here..." Cassidy mutters, heading out the doors of the Lodge.

The other two follow him. Ryan is waiting at the bottom for Dylan. The gun Ryan had was slung over Dylan's shoulders.

"Chin up, big guy," Dylan says, handing the shotgun back to Ryan. "It- I wouldn't really know what to do with it, okay. I trust you." Ryan stays silent, so Dylan continues. "'Oh, thank you so much, Dylan, you're so generous and handsome!' Yeah, no problem, don't mention it."

Ryan continues staying silent as he and Dylan follow Cassidy down the path leading to the cabins.

author's note
good morning

07.30.22