Beasts of Bonnie Hill

Division

          The RV bumped along the road as Dylan drove and everyone seemed to sleep somewhat peacefully. However, up in the loft Cayden and AJ lay restlessly. "Lemme get this straight, you think we entered another dimension?" AJ asked.
          "I dont know, maybe a parallel plane or something, all I know is that we are not supposed to be here," Cayden said, "See you soon," he quoted the scratch marks that still sat on the outside of the RV.
          "What do you think that means?" AJ whispered.
          " I think it means we can expect company on this trip, and not the nicest," Cayden said ominously.
          "Jeez," AJ breathed out, he followed up with a question "Do you have any idea what kind of...company?"
          Cayden sat there for a second then turned to his papers and folders. "I wasn't going to tell anyone about these but I might have to sooner or later and there's only a few people here I'd trust more than you,"
          "I dont know if I should take that as a compliment or insult," AJ said somewhat playfully.
          "Both," Cayden laughed, "But anyway, you're familiar with all of my monsters right?"
          "Yeah you draw em all the time," AJ replied.
          "Right but you do know that some of them MAY exist right?" Cayden pushed.
          "You mean like bigfoot?"
          "Exactly! Well actually I prefer to call them sasquatch but whatever you get the point. Cryptids."
          "Mysterious creatures that may or may not exist..." AJ trailed off, "but most of them are just like bigf- I mean sasquatch right? They're not dangerous?"
          "Well," Cayden started, "I guess if they're not provoked, most aren't much of a threat," He was now spreading out all of the contents of his folders. Papers, notes, drawings all on a different cryptid. AJ's eyes widened as he realized how many there were. Then Cayden singled out two papers specifically. AJ cringed when he saw the bend limbs and disproportionate bodies and lifeless eyes. "Now these two are what I'm really worried about," Cayden said, obvious dread filling his voice, AJ was surprised to see what seemed to be a glint of fear in his eyes,"The wendigo and skinwalker, human hunters,"
          Someone stirred below in the main cabin. AJ and Cayden froze as if they had been caught with their hands in a cookie jar. After a couple minutes of silence they began again.
          "Well we have to warn them!" AJ, whisper shouted.
          "No, we can't, even speaking the name draws them near" Cayden said looking guilty. "Besides I wouldn't want to ruin Hadleigh's vacation," Cayden looked out towards the main cabin.
          "You mean everyone's vacation?"AJ said wryly.
          Cayden turned and smiled, "Of course, of course," then he turned and gathered his papers. Once they were all put away he turned to AJ "good luck sleeping," Cayden laughed, AJ did too but much more nervously.

          The next morning Dylan had pulled into a small pull off. The weather was cool. The region was heavily forested and mountains sprout up everywhere. A low fog carpeted the land making it quiet and beautiful. A layer of condensation covered everything and the air was wet with moisture. Dylan was standing outside taking it all in while the other awoke. He turned and saw a trailhead leading up into the woods. And at that trailhead he saw a sign, he squinted and walked closer. His eyes widened and he ran back to the RV. "Hey look guys! I found what looks like it used to be a map out here!" Everyone started to rush, excited to find out where they were. Dean threw on a sweatshirt, Calvin vigorously brushed his teeth, Cayden grabbed some donuts, and James quickly jumped into his shoes. When it was al said and done though, Hadleigh was the first out with Dylan.
          "Wow its beautiful out here!" Hadleigh gasped. "And the weather is so nice! Last night the rain hid all of this, do you think there's somewhere to go swimming?"
          "Yeah it is really nice,"Dylan agreed, "we can do tons of stuff here, even swimming, I bet after all it IS a national park," Dylan pointed out. Other people started to come out of the camper now.
          "It is?" Hadleigh asked.
          "That's what the sign says,"Dylan pointed at the rotting wood sign, moss carpets grew all over it and a small tree frog hopped away as he pointed at it. "Bonnie Hill National Park" he read.
           "That's not a national park I've heard of," Dean said from behind.
           "Yeah," Nate said.
           "Seems a little suspicious to me," Calvin added. Cayden and AJ looked at each other.
          "Maybe it's just really old," Tally said, "I mean look at this sign, it's clearly been here for a long time, we can hardly read it."
           "Well, we'll have to make due with what we have, at least it looks somewhat like a map," Cayden said pushing his way to the front to look at the map. "Looks like trails loop in and out of this place all over," he observed, "and hey there's a lake from what looks like maybe 8 miles from here,"
          "Yay!" Hadleigh said, "we can go swimming!"
          "Mhmm," Cayden said nodding at her, "I do like swimming,"
          "But there's a trail right here," James said, "I want to go hiking,"
          "Me too, backpacking sounds fun" Talon said.
          "Well as much as I'd like to go backpacking," AJ began, giving a significant look at Cayden who had been silent for a bit, "I kinda want to go to the lake,"
          "Same," Ethan said.
          "I don't really like swimming but I do want to stay with the RV and my bed," Calvin jumped in.
          "Well I want to go hiking as well," Dylan said. Nate nodded in agreement
         "Ok so we're pretty evenly split," Ethan pointed out, "Why don't we split up? If you look closely it kinda looks like this trail connects to a trail that goes to the lake,"
          Cayden broke out of his silence, "I don't think we should split up," he said, looking into the forest. Everyone turn to him and seemed to say why.
          "Buzz kill,"
          "Errr buzzer noise!"
          "Lame!"
          "Alright," Cayden put his hands up, "we can split up but I'm warning you,"
          "Oh no monsters in the forest!"
          "I'm staying with the RV no matter what," Cayden said he started to walk back into the RV.
          "Looks like its settled then," Ethan said, "let's get packing!"

           That afternoon Dylan, Nate, Talon, Dean and James set off on their backpacking adventure into the mountains. Calvin hopped into the drivers seat and started the RV. In the back, Cayden, Hadleigh, Tally, Ethan, and AJ played games. The group was divided and now they were off into the unknown...