Murder in the woods

Chapter 7

A damp smell of earth and mustiness wafts gently in the fresh air as Lara and I jog slowly through the vegetation in the woodland. It's the middle of the night and only small fragments of moonlight manage to wind their way through the thick layers of leaves overhead. We are about a ten minute walk from the cabins so that we won't be overheard and send back to bed. That would be pretty anticlimactic. Chloe is "on"so Lara and I decided to team up for the game.

We're searching for a hiding place when I decide that we should hide up a tree- that way we will get a decent view to look out for Chloe and we'll be safe from whatever animals may be roaming around below. Lara agrees so we climb up slowly but steadily.

The bark scratches fiercely at my hands and I can feel my hands blistering as I ascend the tree. I must get hundreds of splinters, but Lara seems to be fine. She is close behind me, hissing to me that I need to hurry up or we'll be caught. "Hang on, my hands hurt!" I whisper back. Eventually, we manage to get to the top and risk peeking our heads out. It's a really good view from up here, I can see everything: most of the forest, the campsite in the distance and all the movement below us. Brad is clearly visible, hiding in a small bush; I can't see Jonny anywhere. He must have hidden well or quickly ran far away from here.

We watch Chloe search for us and she begins to get bored. She sighs in frustration that we're nowhere to be seen. After a while of searching desperately to find us, I see her trip over something on the ground. "Aha! Found-" she starts but then wails an awful noise. It's blood curdling and high pitched, but nothing like yesterday's scream. That was filled with pain, an agonising pain. But this is the sound of fear- if I was asked for a description of the word, I would describe this exact moment.

Chloe doubles over then, retching and sobbing in a snivelling mess on the floor. I freeze for a moment, then leap into action. I jump down from the tree without thinking and it jars my knees painfully. I feel pain shooting up my legs in electric waves, but I sprint through the pain, even though it's throbbing like mad. I think that I might have broken my left leg. But it doesn't matter. Lara is close behind me, but she can't quite catch up as she climbed down the tree in a sensible way. There's no time to be sensible now. I scramble in the vague direction of the scream, hoping to find Chloe. I spot her after a minute and she's shaking like a leaf, unable to even speak.

"What is it Chloe? What happened?" Then I see it. A body is lying on the ground, covered in a thin layer of leaves and twigs. Her skin is translucent and her milky blue eyes are wide open but there's a clear emptiness to them. There is no blood on her, just a deep purple bruise covering her cheek bone and swelling up her left eye. Insects and bugs roam over her, some have even chewed on her rotting flesh. Her hair is brown from dirt and grime, it lies fanned out around her still body. It's a disgusting sight: no wonder poor Chloe was sick everywhere.

Then I see the resemblance between Chloe and the lifeless body. It's not just anybody- it's Chloe's mum