Whisper of a Howl

Wolves

The campsite was located inside of the forest. They would all have to hike to get to their site. Vera, not being very athlete, was dreading the very thought at walking for more than twenty minutes.

“Okay, everyone,” Mr. Lorenzo called, trying to get everyone’s attention. “Grab your backpacks and meet me outside. We have some things to sort out before we continue.” With that he walked out the bus with the hiking guide behind him. 

Everyone in the bus started to get their things. Vera took her backpack from beside her in the seat and walked out of the bus. She really just wanted to get through this night and go to her father’s.

Once outside, everyone formed a crowd around Mr. Lorenzo and the hiking guide, each one with their backpacks on their shoulders, water bottle in hand and comfortable shoes.

“Everyone this is Vince, our hiking guide for this trip. He will lead the hike towards our site and help us navigate through the wilderness.” Everyone muttered hellos and offered him polite smiles. “Vince, if you will.” Mr. Lorenzo gestured towards his with hand.

“First off, I want to set some ground rules before we leave. No one is to drift off into the forest without me saying you can. This is the home to many dangerous wild animals that will attack if they feel threatened. Second, no one gets left behind. We will have breaks every half an hour. Lastly, if anyone can’t handle walking anymore and feels faint, please inform me. We will stop for a break. Hiking isn’t for everyone.” Vince informed everyone and then nodded to see if everyone understood. Vera nodded along with everyone then began to walk behind Vince once everyone started up the dirt trail.

About an hour later, they arrived at their campsite. The campground was spacious and trees circled the area. There was no grass on the ground but dirt and stones.  The space only consisted of bon fire equipment and logs that were circled around it. Overall, Vera wasn’t very impressed.

“Great,” she mumbled to her self.  She followed everyone as they all started towards the logs. She wasn’t even in school, yet here she was going to have lessons.

“The first thing we are going to do is complete these pages on fungi. You can explore this area but only this area, to get information. Don’t go too far.” Mr. Lorenzo announced, emphasizing the importance of not going to far off the site. “This area is safe but other areas around us are not.”

Vera grabbed the papers as the person beside her handed them to her and passed them to the next person as she grabbed one herself. She glanced down at what she would have to do and shrugged. It wasn’t too much to do but it would be easier if she had someone to pair up with. She wasn’t really popular with students in her school. Her shyness had kept her in a steel shell, never allowing her to make any friends. She was just the awkward shy girl who no one really paid any attention to.

“Okay, you all can now go and work on the assignment. If anyone needs any assistant myself and Vince will be available to help.” Everyone paired up with someone besides Vera and walked off talking to their partners about how they would go about this assignment.

Vera glanced around and decided to start someone where not a lot of people are around. Everyone would be crowded and that would involve in touching someone and Vera wasn’t to keen on having physical touch with anyone, even if it was an innocent bump in the shoulder. 

She noticed that almost everyone went towards the left side of the area, so she decided to go to the right side. Maybe she’ll be able to find something that no one else will be able to find. Who knows? She thought to herself as she walked away from the logs.

The forest that surrounded the site was filled with wild plants. Vera was hoping that she wasn’t going to touch poison ivy as she went through the bushes looking for a mushroom or something that was useful for her page. But there wasn’t was anything she could find.