Camp Antler Point

Chapter 9

Rain pattered against the supply cabin while Amy and Lucas rested. They had no idea how long they'd been there, sitting and watching the rain after filling up on granola bars.

"Still no sign of him," Lucas muttered as he stared out into the drizzly gloom.

"You don't think he..." Amy couldn't finish that thought. It was too terrible to consider.

"I don't know."

The silence stretched between them like a rickety bridge, each of them afraid to break it.

At last, Lucas said, "We should go back to camp."

"But we can't just ditch him!"

"What if he got hurt? There's no way in hell we'd be able to get him back ourselves."

He left the worse alternatives unsaid. If the moose had killed him or if he'd ended up like Jessica, broken and alone off the beaten path, it would be far from pleasant to find whatever was left of him.

"But if that moose finds us, we're beyond screwed. We're better off waiting for someone to find us." She wrapped her fingers around the cold, hard rock that was in her pocket. Still damp from the lakeshore, it would be her only defense if they got attacked. "Where is everyone, anyway? Is it normal for hikes to take this long?"

"The rain probably slowed them down. Trust me, little kids do not like coming back when it's raining, even if that's the only way they'll get dry." He let out a nervous chuckle. "Let's just say I'm speaking from experience."

They flinched as thunder growled in the distance, promising that the current rain was merely a taste of the downpour to come.

Something thudded against one of the trees outside. Something big. Something heavy.

The power in the supply cabin flickered, leaving them with nothing but darkness as whatever was out there lurched toward the door.

Amy and Lucas readied their rocks, trembling like newborn fawns as they watched the intruder approach.

The door slammed open. Carson rushed inside and threw his soaking wet jacket onto the floor. "Just what we needed, more rain."

Amy nearly knocked him off his feet as she ran over to hug him. "Thank God you're okay!"

Lucas rummaged around in the snack stores before tossing him a granola bar. "We were starting to think you might not show up." His tone was casual, but the way his eyes roamed over Carson in search of injuries betrayed his concern.

Crumbs flew across the cabin as Carson wolfed down the granola bar. "I didn't want to risk leading the moose to you guys on accident, so I took a couple detours after I threw the sour grenade at it."

"Jesus Christ, I can't believe that actually worked." A shaky laugh that was dangerously close to a sob tore out of Lucas. "You're nuts!"

"Hang on," Amy said as she loosened her grip on Carson enough for him to shake some of the water off his clothes. "You threw candy at it. A moose was chasing us, and your big plan was to throw candy at it?"

"Moose have really bad eyesight, so they rely more on their sense of smell," Carson explained. "I figured if I could get something with a strong smell all over his face I could disorient him long enough to get the heck out of there."

"That's amazing!" Amy said.

Carson waved off her praise. "It was nothing. Getting him away from you guys was the hard part. Man, when I saw him charging after me, I thought I was screwed for sure. I'm lucky he seemed out of it. Probably didn't plan on chasing some guy through the woods today."

"We'd definitely better come up with a plan in case he comes back though." Lucas emptied his pockets. "Well, I've got one more of those grenades. I doubt the chocolate will do us much good though."

"Not for the moose maybe, but I've barely eaten all day. Hand it over!" Carson snatched the chocolate out of Lucas's hands and devoured it so quickly it left a massive brown stain on his pale skin.

"Hang on, I think I might know something that could help." Amy rummaged around in the cabin, tossing aside spare life jackets and tarps until she finally found a long, silver cylinder. "Dad always said bear spray's good against just about anything."

"If it's good enough to scare off a bear, I'll eat my socks if it can't keep the moose away," Lucas said.

"Just don't stand downwind if we have to spray that," Carson said. "That stuff's pepper spray on steroids."

They searched the shelves for anything else that could be useful on their trek back to camp, pocketing flashlights and as much trail mix as they could carry before wrapping themselves in tarps and beginning their long, wet journey back to camp.