Friday, May 4th 2012. That's when it all started. Before I start, I want to explain something. Every year my middle school has a camping trip that would last a weekend.
But 2 years ago, a couple of teenagers decided to go camping, three boys and a girl, I think. It was pitch black and the only light came from the fire they made. One of the boys dared his friends to go into the woods. They would only do the dare if the boy came along and he agreed. So the 4 of them went into woods with a flashlight.
After a while, they got lost and the flashlight died. They were wandering through the woods blindly when the girl heard a faint groan. She thought one of her friends was trying to scare her so she told them to stop. But the boys claimed they weren't doing it and they heard nothing. The girl reassured herself and continued on.
About 5 minutes later, they all heard a groan followed by more. The groans got louder and louder as if their owners were walking behind the teenagers. Then, out of nowhere, one of the boys screamed. He called for help and kept screaming. The other teenagers tried to locate their friend by following the sound of his voice.
Abruptly, it got silent. The teenagers froze. Complete silence. Finally, the girl got the courage to call out the boy's name. Suddenly, something yanked the girl back. Impulsively, the girl fought back. But whatever got ahold of her had a strong grip. When she broke free, she ran for the light she saw. She didn't know where her friends were or what happened.
As she got closer, she saw that it was the fire she made earlier. When she got into the light, she looked back. She only got a glimpse of the attackers. Some looked like humans on steroids. Others looked like regular adults or dogs.
A few days later, the teenagers' parents got worried because their kids weren't back from their camping trip. They called the police and they went to check it out. The police found the girl up a tree, near the camp. The girl was frightened and refused to come down. It took a while but they got the girl down and she explained everything that happened that night. At first, the police thought the teenagers were just playing a cruel joke. Then, they found the other 3 boys.
One of the boys was found dead by a grove. His body and clothes were torn up and seemed to have been eaten by something. The other two were found alive but were severely injured. The police called an ambulance and they rushed the two of them to a hospital. The older boy didn't make it in time and died, while the other one died in surgery. The girl was the only one who lived to tell the tale.
After that incident, the police told everyone to stop camping until they searched the place and found out who or what attacked the 4 teenagers.
That's why I was surprised when the school announced that we were having a camping trip this weekend. The school said that the police couldn't find anything that would harm people so they let everyone go camping again. To be honest, I think the police were too busy stuffing their fat butts with donuts to even care about the case.
So Friday, May 4th, in the morning, the 7th and 8th graders plus 9 adults gathered their camping equipment and filled the 4 buses that were waiting outside the school.
As the buses roared to life and began to creep out of the school driveway, I was grateful to have my best friends along to make the hour and 30 minutes feel like 5. I might as well tell you a little about me and them since I have plenty of time ahead of me.
I'm Samantha Pierson, Sammi, for short. I live in a small town near the shore in New Jersey. Everyone knows me as nice, shy, and smart. To my friends, I'm pretty random, mischievous, and I'll even admit, stupid. But no one knows the sly, cunning, clever, strong, fierce, side of me. And I like to keep it that way.
