The Immortal Slave

3)Blood Red Eyes

"Rebel Rebel" by David Bowie
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"They're giving me the creeps," Cami repeated, this time to Melanie, three hours later. After arriving at the cabin, the group had spent the afternoon swimming in the lake. Triton was absorbed in his phone, completely ignoring Nikki's attempts at flirtation. Kohl, on the other hand, watched the girls with an unsettling intensity, his gaze lingering on each of them with the kind of scrutiny that made Cami uneasy. She suspected he might be bisexual, given the way his eyes roamed over Adam and Trey, nodding in silent approval of their more muscular builds. No one else seemed to notice Kohl's odd behavior. To the rest of the group, he appeared to be just another guy looking to enjoy some summer fun. After their swim, everyone changed into dry clothes and gathered inside for frozen pizza and beers. Melanie shot Cami an exasperated look as she pulled a pink hoodie over her bare, dark skin.
"Girl, he's Nikki's fling. After tonight, he and his friends will be gone," Melanie said, rolling her mocha-colored eyes.

This was probably true, but Cami still felt a nagging unease. She couldn't quite put her finger on why these strangers unsettled her so much; she just knew she didn't like them. "You don't find it odd that Triton and Michael haven't said a word this entire time, and that the Kohl guy turned down our offer to drop them off at the bus stop?"
Melanie shrugged. "Not really. Some people are just quiet. Besides, we have free alcohol, and Nikki's been draping herself over Kohl like a blanket all night. He probably wants her as much as she wants him. The Triton guy is just one of those quiet types. Pity, he's a real looker, too..."

Cami pouted, taking a small sip of her strawberry tequila from a solo cup, wishing she could find someone who agreed that Kohl's fixation on the blood-type game was bizarre. Instead, everyone seemed to relish the fact that a supposed med student had saved them by buying the alcohol for the night. Melanie and her brother Trey were oblivious to her concerns, as were Britney, Hayden, and Adam. Russell, the usual party animal, was busy downing beers as they came. Cami didn't bother striking up a conversation with him, knowing he probably wouldn't remember his own name by the end of the night. When Adam finally ushered her out onto the back patio, Cami was grateful for the escape. She needed a break from Kohl and his unsettling presence. Inside, the group had started playing Kohl's strange drinking game. As Kohl explained the rules, he gave Cami an odd look when she quietly whispered to Hayden that she was O negative. Since then, Kohl had been watching her with an unnerving smile that made her skin crawl. She tried to ignore it, but it was hard not to feel unsettled.
"You don't seem to be having a great time," Adam observed, taking a swig from his bottle.
Cami couldn't feel comforted by his arm around her shoulders. "I just have a bad feeling," she admitted.

Adam's brows furrowed as Cami subtly nodded towards Nikki and Kohl. He sighed, shrugging in resignation. "Go talk to her then," he muttered, taking another swig of his beer and looking mildly annoyed that she didn't want to stick around. Cami considered staying with Adam but changed her mind when she saw Nikki giggling as she headed towards the kitchen. That was the moment Cami decided she needed to confront her friend. "Hey, Ni...cole," she began, catching herself from using the nickname as she followed Nikki into the kitchen. The music was blaring, and the game systems were cranked up to an ear-splitting volume by Trey and Russell.
"Well, look who it is—the buzzkill," Nikki remarked with a smirk.
"Yeah, yeah..." Cami muttered, ignoring Nikki's glazed-over stare. "I get that you've found your 'true love' for the night, but don't you think it's a little reckless to not know anything about him?"

Nicole let out a dry laugh. "Okay, have you seen Kohl? He's a babe," she said with a casual shrug, as if that settled everything. "I wouldn't even mind a threesome with these guys, honestly..."
"Do you even know their last names?"
"Why does that matter?" Nikki asked with another nonchalant shrug. Cami's jaw dropped at the sheer absurdity of the response. She couldn't hide her surprise; had her friend always been this thoughtless, or was she just now noticing it?
Nicole sighed and rolled her blue eyes. "Camilla, you don't need to know someone's last name for a one-night stand, okay? Relax. They'll probably leave after we get some quality time together. Besides, maybe you should focus a little more on seducing Adam and less on chastising my choices," she giggled drunkenly. "He's not going to be patient with you forever, Miss Prude."
Cami sighed, shaking her head in frustration. She wasn't a prude, though that was the label often slapped on her for being the most innocent eighteen-year-old of the group. She threw her hands up in exasperation. "What about all the weird questions he's asked? Don't you find it odd that he's so concerned about how many people know we're here? It's like he's trying to figure out if anyone would come looking for us if something went wrong-"

"Geez, you're paranoid!" Nicole complained, downing her third bottle of beer. "It's 2024. We posted about our trip for all our friends back in Nevada. Kohl's just curious, alright? It's smart to know more about the people you're staying with," she finished with a condescending tone.
Cami didn't bother pointing out the flaws in that logic. What did Kohl. Triton, and Michael have to worry about? They were the ones who had crashed their party, not the other way around. Adam soon returned, gently taking her hand and leading her back to the patio. As he began to talk, Cami's attention waned. The party crashers were still creeping her out, and her mind remained preoccupied with their unsettling behavior.
"Cami, you listening?" Adam's voice barely cut through the cacophony of crickets and other night sounds.

"Yeah, sorry," she replied, trying to focus on him despite the noise.
As time passed, Cami began to relax. The night settled into a more familiar rhythm. High school was finally over, and college wouldn't start until the fall. For now, they were enjoying a fabulous two-week vacation in a luxurious cabin by the lake. Everyone was in high spirits, chatting and setting up additional game consoles. The group finished off snacks and indulged in a bit too much drinking, their laughter growing louder as Russell pulled a small bong from his massive suitcase. Some of the group members joined in, smoking and drinking as the evening wore on. Cami needed a break from the haze of marijuana and the overpowering smell of alcohol. Stepping outside for some fresh air, she found Kohl no longer made her feel as uneasy. Though she hadn't spoken to him, his presence had become less of a concern as she watched her friends interact with him. Cami retreated to the balcony, pulling out her cell phone to text her eleven-year-old brother, Teddy, who had sent her a goodnight message. Teddy was the closest to her in age among their seven siblings, making their bond especially strong. After sending her reply, Cami glanced out at the expansive balcony, which overlooked the darkened forest.

To her surprise, the once-bustling outdoor sounds had vanished. The crickets had fallen silent, the bats had stopped fluttering, and the usual woodland creatures were nowhere to be seen. The silence was oddly oppressive. The only noise came from inside the house: her friends' animated conversations, their laughter, and the blaring TV where some of the boys were engrossed in a game. Despite the noise inside, the stillness outside felt unsettling. A harsh beep from her phone jolted her. Checking the screen, she saw her text to Teddy hadn't gone through—her phone had lost reception.

"That's odd," Cami muttered, irritated by the lack of signal. She tapped her year-old iPhone, angling it in various directions, but to no avail. Just as she was about to head back inside, something caught her eye. A large, meaty-looking dog was circling the base of the deck. Cami was momentarily captivated by the sight until the dog turned its gaze toward her. Its eyes were an unnerving, brilliant red. Red? Was that a trick of the night? Startled, Cami jumped back, nearly dropping her phone. In a moment of misguided curiosity, she decided to snap a picture. As she zoomed in and took the photo, the flash illuminated the animal's form, revealing that it was not a dog but a massive wolf. Simultaneously, the wolf began to growl.

Even though Cami wasn't particularly afraid of animals, the sight of the enormous wolf was deeply unsettling. The growl and its piercing gaze gave her the heebie-jeebies. She quickly scrambled to get back inside the cabin, feeling safe that there was a twenty-foot drop from the deck to the ground where the animal was. Cami began weaving through a chaotic mess of beer bottles and chip bags scattered across the floor. As she made her way over to Adam and Britney, she tried to maintain her composure, but her heart was racing from the unexpected encounter.
"Wolf. Big. Really, really big. Eyes red..." Cami fumbled, her hands trembling slightly as she pulled out her cell phone.

"What are you talking about?" Adam asked, his gaze bleary from too many beers, his eyes glossed over.
Cami, having only had a small sip from her cup of tequila, was fully alert and quicker to react than everyone else.
"Holy shiznit, it's a damn wolf," Trey exclaimed, his mouth falling open in disbelief as he examined the photo on Cami's phone.
Soon, everyone crowded around her phone, eager to see for themselves. "Wow..."
"Whoa!"
"You saw that outside?!"
Before Cami could say much, her friends scrambled out onto the lit deck, excitedly trying to catch a glimpse of the beastly creature. The boys, buoyed by their alcohol, were rowdy and animated, moving to see the wolf for themselves. Cami realized with mounting frustration that the group was a bit too inebriated to notice that the wolf's glowing red eyes were not a result of the camera flash. As she scanned the scene, Cami noticed that the front door to the cabin was now wide open, gently swaying with the night breeze. She could have sworn the door had been closed only moments before. Among the excited chatter of Haydon, Britney, Nikki, Trey, Melanie, Adam, and even Russell, Cami realized three people were missing from the group.

A flicker of relief crossed her mind, thinking that the strange trio must have used the distraction as an opportunity to slip away. But before she could close the door and make sure everything was secure, she heard an unsettling noise coming from upstairs—heavy, deliberate thumping.

Cami crept closer to the nearby staircase, her mind racing with the possibility that the men might be robbing Melanie and Trey's cabin while everyone was distracted. The thumping noise echoed again, louder this time, sounding like someone was running around upstairs. She turned back to check on her friends; everyone was accounted for except the three strangers. The noise seemed to suggest more than one person was moving around upstairs. Cami would have assumed it was Nikki with Kohl if Nikki weren't currently lost in giggles at Adam's jokes. Moving away from the staircase to close the front door, Cami found it had mysteriously shut on its own. Even so, the clamor from upstairs persisted, as if multiple people were inside the cabin.
"Guys..." Cami called out; her voice tinged with unease. She was growing increasingly uncomfortable being alone with these disturbing sounds. As she turned back to her friends, Cami was abruptly confronted by a monstrous figure in the expansive living room.

Thered-eyed wolf from outside was now inside the cabin. Cami blinked, hoping thather eyes were playing tricks on her. Maybe Russell's marijuana smoke wasaffecting her perception, even though she hadn't partaken in any of it. But thewolf remained steadfast, glaring at her from just a few feet away. Desperate toprove to herself that this was just a figment of her imagination, Cami reachedup and slapped herself. The wolf didn't vanish; instead, it continued to stare,unblinking and menacing. Cami recalled snippets from nature shows her Abuelaused to watch: you were supposed to stay absolutely still if you encountered adangerous animal. With mountain lions, you were supposed to appear larger toscare them off, but she wasn't sure what waving her spaghetti-thin arms wouldaccomplish against this beast. She had no doubts that it could easily overpowerher.

"You guys..." Cami called loudly, the wolf tilting its burly head, asif to analyze her. Its eyes were deep, mesmerizing, even. Before she could evenregister that she had tried blinking the wolf away, it appeared right beforeher eyes while giving the swift transformation from beast to man. "Boo,"the wolf that transformed into Kohl said softly, causing Cami to scream.