Phil and the Ghost of Camp Ch-Yo-Ca (5 page)

YOU STARE ACROSS THE LAKE.
It’s not big
 
—you could probably swim to the other side without any problem. The water is still, the moon hovering over the tops of the trees. John Luke is texting someone.

“There you go again. Always sending your texts.
Boo bee boo bee boo.”
You act like you’re holding a phone and tapping on it. He’s used to this from you. “You know what’s great about not having a cell phone?”

He doesn’t look up. “What?”

“You get to enjoy all this.” You point to the lake and the trees beyond it.

All of a sudden you hear a noise.

“What was that?” you ask.

“What?”

“Did you hear something?”

John Luke shakes his head.

You stand at the edge of the lake and squint. Only silence. And then . . .

Ch-ch-ch-ka-ka-ka.

“There
 
—that sound. Didn’t you hear it?”

“No.”

“Are you making noises on your phone?”

“No, sir,” John Luke says, slipping the phone back into his jeans pocket.

You peer into the forest, trying to see if someone’s out there. But you can’t spot anything out of the ordinary.

“Let’s go back to the cabins,” you say. “It’s gonna be dark before we know it.”

As you start to retrace your steps, you hear another
ch-ch-ch
. You stop cold.

The sound stops with you.

When you resume walking, it begins again.

Ka-ka-ka.

“You didn’t hear that, John Luke?”

“No.”

“Then I think my hearin’s going, or I’m imagining things.”

“Maybe it’s the ghost.”

“Maybe.”

“Hi, ghost!” John Luke shouts.

The sound goes off again.

Ch-ch-ch-ka-ka-ka.

When you get to the edge of the woods, you notice something sticking out of a tree. You walk over and try to pull it out. Looks like some kind of knife. “You ever seen this before, John Luke?”

“No. We would never have a knife like that where the kids could find it. What should we do with it?”

Do you continue trying to pull the blade out of the tree?
Go here
.

Do you leave the weapon here and head to the cabins? It’s kind of late and dark to be examining this kind of evidence.
Go here
.

“GET OUT OF THERE!”
you yell at John Luke as his head emerges.

Just as he turns in the water, the massive spider is on him. You still can’t believe how fast the creature is moving. Now the spider is clamped onto John Luke, and it drags him under the water.

Did that just happen?

“No!”

The surface of the water gets very still.

“No!” you scream again.

Then you notice slight bubbles emerging from the lake. You stop screaming and the bubbles go away. You start screaming again and they continue.

“No!” equals bubbles.

Silence equals no bubbles.

Soon you see something bobbing up and down in the water.

It’s John Luke. He sucks in air and starts swimming back to land.

“What happened?” you ask, confused but relieved.

But he seems too out of breath to answer.

As he starts to get out of the water, Si appears from the top of the hill. He’s holding a shotgun. John Luke is dripping and gasping.

“You guys okay?” Si asks.

“Are
you
okay, John Luke?”

He nods and looks back at the water.

“Why are you all wet?” Si asks.

“I was hot.”

Si shakes his head. “What’s with all these cobwebs everywhere? You guys seen any big spiders around?”

“I just punched one in the face underwater,” John Luke says. He flexes his arms like a prizefighter.

You throw him his shirt. “Dry off, Rocky.”

“This place needs to be quarantined, Jack,” Si says.

You don’t see anything else in the water, and you’re sure glad whatever it was that attacked John Luke hasn’t reemerged.

“John Luke, I think it’s time we got out of here.”

“Hey, Jack. What about me?”

You turn to Si and pat him on the back. “You hold down the fort. We’ll send you some reinforcements.”

“Who’s that?”

“Oh, we’ll get Willie and Jase and Jep to come over here. That’ll be enough. You think, John Luke?”

He nods at Si as you both start walking up the hill, leaving Si to continue talking.

“Hey, man, this is serious stuff here! You see these cobwebs? They gotta belong to some ten-foot-tall spider. I mean, I once saw one over in ’Nam, and it had to be about fifteen feet tall, and I’m telling you, I got . . .”

THE END

Start over.

Read “The Shadows That Follow Us: A Note from John Luke Robertson.”

JOHN LUKE GIVES YOU A BIG HUG
when you get inside the Jeep.

“There was a dude with a gas can who lit the whole place on fire,” he says, talking so fast he loses his breath.

“And where’d he go?” you ask, looking around to make sure you’re not going to be attacked.

“Into the woods. I called the cops, and I called Dad too. They’re on their way.”

“Move over. I’ll drive,” you tell him.

The strange noises and mysterious happenings were concerning, but this threat is real and it’s dangerous.

You start up the Jeep and make your way back to the main road.

“Call your mother and tell her you’re okay.”

“She probably knows. I told Dad
 
—”

“If she doesn’t, then you’ll be the first to tell her. It’s better she knows you’re okay than to give her a scare.”

You’re passing the soccer field when you jam on the brake. The Jeep skids to a stop, and both of you are caught by your seat belts.

In front of you is a tall figure wearing camo, his face painted black. He’s got a backpack over his shoulder that’s bulging with stuff. He stands for a moment before raising a hand toward his face.

“John Luke, get down,” you shout as you do the same.

Then you hear something. Something familiar.

A duck call.

The guy in front of you is blowing a duck call.

That’s a Duck Commander Mallard Drake call.

The man bolts across the soccer field and into the woods beyond. He’s going too fast for you to chase him.

You’re about to call the cops again when you see the flashing lights of police cars and fire engines racing toward you.

Do you wait for the police to come over when they need you?
Go here
.

Do you talk to the police right away? You want answers!
Go here
.

SURE, YOU HEARD
what sounded like a tree falling down in the middle of the night. But that tree will still be there in the morning, and the woods will be a lot less creepy then. You decide to go back to sleep and tell John Luke to do the same.

Better to simply be safe.

Better to simply be careful.

Of course, great men and women in history haven’t become great by playing it simple and safe and careful, have they?

This time, a part of you simply says, “Oh, well.”

But “Oh, well” isn’t gonna cut it (no pun intended) when you’re awakened again by the sound of a chainsaw.

A chainsaw that happens to be
right outside your cabin door
.

You jerk up and hit your head on the frame of the bunk above you. The chainsaw is roaring, and you realize that it’s not just outside your cabin door.

It’s cutting into the door.

Doing the simple and safe thing suddenly makes you feel really stupid.

“John Luke, get up!”

Not that you actually have to tell him. He’s already jumping around the cabin and generally freaking out.

You think about informing him that there’s a chainsaw chewing through the cabin door, but you assume he sorta knows this.

You grab him by the shoulders. “Is there a back door to this place?” you shout.

“Yeah,” he yells above the
weeeeerrrrrrrweeeerrrrrr
.

“Where is it?”

“It’s the door! In the back.”

That’s absolutely not helpful.

“You go and I’ll follow,” you tell him.

The chainsaw is destroying the door. Whoever’s doing this might as well kick the door in at this point. But the chainsaw just keeps grinding away.

John Luke takes you into the bathroom and through another door leading out of the cabin. You both run full speed for the shelter of the trees. The chainsaw is still running, but it soon sounds distant. Your escape isn’t complete yet, though.

“Where should we go?” John Luke asks under his breath.

“Where are your car keys?”

“In my jeans,” he says.

You look down and see he’s wearing his pajama shorts.

“What about your cell phone?”

“In my jeans.”

You sigh and nod. You might normally ask him where he keeps his brain, but now’s not the time to be funny. You can be funny when people are opening presents or eating cake or sipping coffee or watching TV, but it’s definitely not a good time when someone’s grinding down your door with a chainsaw.

“Is your Jeep open?” you ask.

“Yeah.”

“You still have your rifle in the back?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Let’s circle around through the trees to make sure we’re far away from the cabin. Then I’ll make a break for the car.”

“Who is this person?”

“I don’t know, but whoever it is, is gonna pay. I don’t like being woken up.”

You and John Luke scramble through the woods and sneak in the direction of the Jeep. The chainsaw sound has stopped for the moment. But that could be worse, because now you imagine someone creeping around with a massive weapon in his hands.

Maybe it’s just a local guy from the forest preserve doing some testing.

Yes, and maybe it’s Elvis visiting the camp and carrying a chainsaw instead of a guitar.

“Love me tender, love me
 
—weeeeerrrrrrrweeeerrrrrr.”

You both manage to make it over to the part of the woods closest to John Luke’s Jeep. The vehicle’s silhouette can be seen from your spot behind the trees.

But it’s still way too quiet for your liking.

Do you make your way to the Jeep to get the rifle?
Go here
.

Do you stay behind the trees with John Luke until you know the stranger is gone?
Go here
.