Surviving the Night - The Quarry

Chapter 9: Empty Tent

Estella's POV

Dylan walks in ahead of me as I quickly shut the door behind us, "I swear I felt like something was watching us that entire time," I shutter trying to ignore the fear creeping up my spine.

"We just have to get in and get out," he says looking around, "Did Kaci tell you where everything was?" He asks. I walk towards a cabinet she always went to when helping kids with cuts and scrapes.

"You've got to be kidding me," I whisper as Dylan stands behind me looking at the empty shelves, "Why would Mr. H clear out the bandages?" I groan feeling helpless.

Dylan quickly does a sweep of the other drawers and there's nothing useful we can use, "You saw him earlier. He was trying to get out of here as quickly as possible," he points out, "What should we do now? She needs something," he says.

"I know...I'm trying to think," I murmur. An empty candy wrapper catches my eye as I turn to Dylan with a smile, "I remember Kaci complaining about having to go to the camp store to grab more bandages from storage. He probably put the stock there...the only thing is it might be locked," I point out.

"See this is why we should have the gun," he says as I nod my head as we hesitate to go to the front, "Not that we'd be good shots anyways," he adds making me laugh. He turns to me and stops me as I start walking. He grabs a towel from the counter and turns the small sink on. I'm surprised he hasn't turned the water off to be completely honest. He points to the counter and tells me to sit.

"We don't have time for this," I tell him as he starts cleaning off my arms.

"This is exactly why I'm forcing you to let me do it. You can't go around all night with Abi's blood on your arms," he states, "Plus, I hate the smell". It doesn't take longer than five minutes before he's throwing the dirty rag on the floor.

"We should have gone to the store before this. It would have saved so much time," I groan as we walk down the front stairs. This camp used to be so peaceful eight hours ago. Our walking turns into a hurried jog when something rustles in the trees. I used to assume it was squirrels. When we get to the camp store the front door is busted open. There are scratches on the wood making us freeze, "It's been here," I whisper as he nods his head. He slowly walks ahead of me as we go inside.

"What are the odds it comes back?" He says as I follow closely behind him. Every slight creak in the wood makes us jump as I direct him to the back, "Why did it want to get in here so badly?" He asks when he runs his hands along the giant scratches on the door. Of course, it's locked when we try. I tell him to hold on and run back to the front to grab the key out of the safe. I was surprised I remembered the password. I've only been in the safe a handful of times. 

"Hold the door so it doesn't latch," I tell him. He holds it for me to walk in and I quickly look around when I notice all the glass on the floor, "What the hell happened here?" I ask as we both look up at the broken skylight.

"Do you think those hunters had to do with this? Maybe they knew about the supplies in here," Dylan asks.

"Abi's screwed without those supplies. Is there anywhere else that would have a first aid kit?" I ask as I kick an empty box.

"I mean...there's more of them than us. They will find something when they realize we aren't coming back," he says as I walk past him, "There's nothing we can do. We might as well look for Kaci and Jacob," he tells me.

"Alright...where do you think they would be?" I ask.

"We told Kaci to meet at the fire pit so they are probably there. They probably are making out as we speak," he says making me snort. His eyes widen as I cover my face.

"You noticed their whole star-crossed lovers thing too?" I ask as we start walking on the path that leads to the fire pit, "They are both oblivious. I swear I watched Jacob follow her around all summer," I joke.

"I was shocked how quickly Jacob went from Emma to Kaci," he says making me turn to look at him.

"What do you mean? Didn't they hook up like twice?" I ask with furrowed eyebrows.

Dylan looks at me confused as he smiles, "I was so invested in this drama all summer. How did you not know? Emma and Jacob were like this fling for the first week. It happened quickly and then when Kaci arrived Jacob just kind of dropped her," he says.

"Oh my god. Emma told us that it was nothing and she didn't care about him like that," I whisper yell.

"I mean...it's Emma. I don't see her being with one guy for a while. She has too many potential guys..." he says trailing off at the end, "I'm so glad you two showed up because we would have been swamped. And I guess you guys are kind of fun too," he says like he's being forced to say it.

I let out a small laugh as he bumped into my shoulder, "this summer was really fun. Weirdly, all of us will never be in a room together again," I point out.

"I'd say you're wrong but you're definitely right. I can't see a reunion in our future," he states.

"I don't know...earlier Nick and I were talking about after camp," I say getting a smirk from Dylan, "Why was this summer so drama-filled?" I laugh as we get to the bonfire.

We split up to look around to make this quicker. I jog to the tents and see they are empty making me worry. Dylan looks at the blood on the ground next to the fire. I don't know how Abi is holding on with losing so much blood.

"Maybe they are still at the dock? I can't see Kaci being in the woods in the dark," he points out.

"This fucking sucks. Why couldn't Mr. H just spring for some fucking cell service?" I groan as Dylan laughs.

"Tell me how you really feel," he says as he puts his arm around my shoulder, "Let's just get to the dock and finish this suicide mission," he smiles.

"How are you still so positive? I ask feeling exhausted.

"I think I'm just optimistic that everything will be okay. I don't know if I believe that but I'm forcing myself to," he says.

"Maybe Mr. H was warning us about these things?" I question.

"He did seem freaked out. Maybe these woods become a war ground once the kids leave," he says as we try to make some sense of it, "Let's hurry," he whispers as we start running to the docks. The woods are the last place I want to be right now. Kaci and Jacob better be there.