Camp Charlie

Chapter 26

"Why are you laughing?" said Hannah. Her anger had reached new heights, and seeing that smile made her want to scratch it off his face.

"You failed, Hannah. You might kill me once by using your knife, but I have managed to kill you every second of the day. I've made sure that every breath you inhale feels like a burden. You cannot compete with that. Also, you can only kill me, but not my thoughts. Charlie shall never die because he will live inside your mind every day. You may kill me, but you would never be able to kill the Charlie that has taken birth inside of you. As I look at you right now, all I see is a mirror. So go ahead and prove me right. Prove to me that my judgement was not wrong when I had chosen you to be my ally. Prove that you are the next Charlie."

Hannah screamed. All she had wished was to see the fear in his eyes, but he hadn't given her the satisfaction. She threw the knife into a corner and got up. Unfortunately, he was right. She couldn't let him die. Not before she had made him feel the same. She ran to the back of the room to find the door, but she failed. Only he knew the way out.

"You'll never find your way out, Hannah. You'll be stuck here with me."

She gritted her teeth and started looking through his computer. As expected, he had recorded every bit of their conversation. She went to the part where he had gone out to fetch her some food. He had already fainted when she started playing the clip. She saw him pressing his foot on particular regions on the floor in a definite pattern. She copied the same, and a part of the wall moved to reveal a dark tunnel. She watched the video and memorised the entire pathway. Then after grabbing her phone, she went out into the dark tunnel. The door closed behind her automatically. She lit the torch of her phone and took the same route as he had in the video. After walking for around ten minutes, she saw the opening of the cave.

She started running towards the camp, and it took her about thirty minutes. On reaching there, she searched for the trail that they had followed upon arriving there, but she found nothing. He had covered up everything. The cabins in the form of a circle looked similar, and it confused her to such an extent that she started clawing her skin. Charlie was alive and would come for her the moment he woke up.

Going back was not an option, but staying here meant waiting for death. She went inside the kitchen cabin and drank some water. Her dry throat and cracked lips felt a lot better when the cold water touched them. Her forehead was hot, and her body was burning with fever. She washed her face and hands, trying to think clearly.

Then, she got an idea. She took out her phone and opened the compass in it. Charlie's words echoed in her mind, "We need to go north." To arrive at the camp, they had followed the north of the compass. Now, to go back to the main road, she had to go south. Following the compass, on her phone, she started walking towards the south. 

Her legs felt like lead, but ignoring the pain in them, she forced them to move. She walked, hoping to escape. Her breath was hotter than usual, and she kept on losing her balance. Everything was crumbling, but she never stopped. It seemed that someone had hit her on the head, and she was about to lose her consciousness. 

The sounds that entered her ears were abnormal. She ran into trees, stumbled upon bushes, grazed her hands and knees, but not once did she stop. Just when her eyes were about to close and her feet about to give up, she saw the dark grey outline of the road. 

The sun was about to set, and the last few minutes of sunshine were about to end. With hopeful eyes, she clutched her phone tightly and ran towards the road. After a couple of minutes, she found herself on the highway. In most of the places, there is traffic and people, but in Camp Charlie, all that one could see was trees and a deserted road. She tried to call the police, but there was no network. Hannah looked around and tried to find the car that they had used to reach the camp. She knew that he had hidden the car somewhere. All she needed to do was to find it. 

Suddenly, her phone vibrated. She had received a message. Her body stiffened as she read it,
"I see you. :)"

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