Camp Charlie

Chapter 27

It was apparent to her that the sender of that text was none other than Charlie. Her hands lost their grip on the phone, and it fell on to the ground with a thud. She felt weak in the knees as her worst fear was watching her. She tried to gulp down a sob when she heard him whistling, and her eyes searched around frantically to find the source of the sound. All that was visible were just trees as the sun had already hidden behind a hill. 

As the last rays of the sun disappeared, she lost every hope of escaping. Her inner conscience told her to run, but somewhere in her, she knew that she had lost. The whistling became louder, and it echoed in her mind until she couldn't hear anything except the loud beating of her heart, and her breaths which were probably her last ones. 

As her heartbeat grew louder, she felt the adrenaline rush through her veins. She recalled the times when Rohan used to force them all to watch the Discovery channel with him. All of them would crave for Netflix, but he would go on about the animals in it. She couldn't recall much about the things they used to see, but she did remember a conversation.

A cheetah had circled a young deer who had got separated from its herd.

"There is no way that this deer is surviving," she said.

"It's not necessary. The deer can survive," debated Rohan.

"Have you seen the fully grown cheetah? This fragile deer is no match."

"I agree with Hannah," said Ethan, Liam and Maya simultaneously. Sarah hadn't said anything.

"What do you think, Sarah?" questioned Hannah.

"I think it will make it out alive."

"Why so?"

"Just a gut feeling."

Rohan added by saying, "Even though cheetahs are the fastest on land, but they can only maintain their top speed for about thirty seconds. After that, they usually give up the target."

"Thirty seconds are more than enough for a cheetah to finish off a deer," she replied.

"Don't ever underestimate something just because it's not giant. Deers are also one of the fastest on land. Look! The chase has begun."

Everyone observed keenly as the carnivore chased the young animal. As the predator gained its top speed, Hannah's eyes started shifting continuously from the television screen to her watch and vice-versa. Fifteen seconds had already passed, when the cheetah neared the deer and took a long jump with its limbs stretched, hoping to land upon the deer. Suddenly, the deer took a u-turn, barely escaping the sharp claws of its predator. Shocked by the unusual happening, Hannah's eyes widened, and she said, "I did not see that coming. But how?"

"What I was trying to explain was that a cheetah could only run fast on straight paths whereas a deer is adapted to run in a curved motion. They can swiftly change the direction of their movement. This technique helps them in surviving. No one in the jungle goes down without a fight. You give up, you die. It is the law of the jungle. Survival means struggle."

Rohan's words echoed through her mind as she opened her eyes and ran. She didn't know where she was going, but as long as it took her far away from Charlie, it was the right path. But the whistling never stopped, so she did the last thing that she wanted to do. She ran into the forest. Because between the creatures that lurked in the darkness of the forest and this demon named Charlie, she would happily choose the former.

The sky was dark blue when she decided to stop running. She was short of breath, and her heart was pounding against her chest. The whistling had stopped, and she sat down on the forest floor. Her back rested against a huge tree which hid her completely. As she sat down to relax her body, her mind stressed upon only one question. What went wrong?

To her, the plan had been flawless. But to her utter dismay, she was proven wrong. It didn't take her long to find a loophole which was her phone. She facepalmed herself as she realised how easily she had given away her location. She thought that she had planned everything thoroughly, but her current situation proved otherwise. She wasn't sure of what to do next. She couldn't decide whether to run or to stay back to face her death. 

As the darkness engulfed the entire forest, she heard the howling of wolves. The creatures of the night had come to life, and she didn't think that she could survive. The thick canopy of the forest blocked the light of the half-moon. But one thing that she knew for sure was that her death wasn't going to be a peaceful one. She closed her eyes, hoping to die in her sleep. Avening her friends' death seemed a faraway thing.

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"Hannah." A loud voice reached her ears. Realising the situation she was in, she woke up. Her eyes scanned the area around, trying to find him. But all she could see was the dark which stretched to an infinite extent just like a black hole. The voice grew louder, and this time she was sure that it was him. 

She stood up and tried to find him. As her eyes adjusted themselves to the darkness around, she was able to see dark outlines of trees. Not far from where she sat, stood a man. For a moment, she looked into his eyes, and he stared back. Both of them stood still, but suddenly he smiled. In the dark of the night, his pearl-white teeth gleamed, and she knew that it was her cue to run. 

She turned around and started running, knowing that this path would lead her back to the main road. She dodged trees, and fallen branches, which was miraculous, considering that now she could see in the dark. But she knew that he was following her, and would catch up sooner or later as he knew the forest by heart. 

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