Chapter 85: Camping (1)

Sometimes time moves very slowly, and sometimes it passes in the blink of an eye.

The events of prom night still felt vivid in their minds, yet before they knew it, the graduation ceremony had already ended.

Misha had many friends. After the ceremony, the group of girls she often hung out with invited her to go camping during the summer vacation.

“The person organizing it said it doesn’t matter how many people come. If you have any close friends, you can bring them along too. The place is huge, and it’ll be more lively with more people,” the girls in her friend group said.

So Misha clutched her phone and ran over to Everly, the best friend in her heart, to invite her along.

“You’re going camping?”

Misha nodded. “Everly, do you want to come too?”

Everly decisively shook her head. “I’m not going.”

Not only did she not want to go herself, she also didn’t want Misha to go.

Because, just like how prom in horror movies almost always ends up with a murder case, activities like summer camps and camping trips also have a very high chance of featuring a serial killer.

Everly might think that way, but she knew her “horror-movie world” theory couldn’t be used as an argument to convince others. Likewise, she couldn’t stop people from doing something just because it might be dangerous. Once or twice might be fine, but if she did it too often, people would definitely think she had paranoia.

Unless she could come up with a solid reason…

Everly decided to ask Misha for more details. She asked, “Where are you planning to go camping? Is the place legitimate?”

“We’re going to Viska City. There’s a place called Red Oak Campground. It was built only a few years ago, so the facilities are pretty new, but it’s definitely legitimate. I heard there are lots of activities—you can do archery, boating, have bonfire parties, things like that. Lily went there last year with her cousin, and she couldn’t stop talking about it after she came back. She’s been wanting to go again.”

“Got it. I’ll look it up,” Everly said. She wrote down the name of the campground and opened her computer to type it into the search bar.

Horror Movie Survival Rule #1: Pay attention to the warning signs.

In horror films involving summer camps or campgrounds, the “warning signs” usually appear as past accidents or vicious incidents that once happened there—such as someone dying unexpectedly or being b*llied at the site.

At the beginning of such movies, directors often arrange a bonfire scene where some cannon-fodder character tells a story, recounting the campground’s bloody past. This sets the tone for the events that follow.

But since the camping trip hadn’t even started yet, there was naturally no “story session.” If she wanted information about the campground, she had to look it up herself.

Fortunately, it was already the year 20X4, and the internet was highly developed. With a computer, she could find the information she needed without even leaving home.

Everly first searched for the campground’s location.

Viska City is located in the western part of Dwight State, separated from Micano City by Mount Iramore. The area has a typical maritime climate. Moist air from the Pacific Ocean rises as it reaches the western side of Mount Iramore due to the increasing altitude, forming rainfall that nourishes the vast land on the mountain’s western side. As a result, the region there is warm and humid, with lush vegetation, large forests, and numerous lakes.

Red Oak Campground is situated within a vast red oak forest. It lies beside a lake called Mirror Lake. Since all the buildings in the camp were constructed using red oak wood cut from the surrounding forest, the place was named Red Oak Campground.

From the map, the campground appeared very remote. Aside from a few scattered lakeside homes, there were hardly any nearby residents. The nearest village was 48 kilometers away from the camp.

Being deep in the forest and far from human habitation—making both escape and seeking help difficult—was a major negative point in Everly’s eyes.

However, because campsites are usually meant to keep people away from the noise of cities and to train outdoor survival and hands-on skills, most camps are located far from populated areas. So this alone couldn’t really be considered suspicious.

Everly then opened a local forum for Viska City and searched for rumors related to Red Oak Campground.

The results were very clean. Every post mentioning the camp praised it—saying it had a peaceful environment, enthusiastic and friendly administrators, and many fun activities.

Which made sense. After all, the camp had only been built five years ago, so the chances of it already having bad rumors were relatively low.

Another potential concern eliminated, Everly opened the campground’s official website and carefully examined the camp map.

The entire Red Oak Campground was shaped like a crescent moon, nestled along the edge of the vast Mirror Lake. Scattered around the central area of the camp were several wooden buildings: five cabins for campers to stay in, a small restaurant with a kitchen, a small hall for group activities, a storage shed filled with various tools, and an office for the campground administrator.

As for the two curved ends of the crescent shape, they contained areas such as the parking lot, the bonfire zone, the archery range, and the boating dock.

It looked like a perfectly ordinary campsite.

Searching the surrounding area also turned up no rumors about dangerous wild animals or criminal activity…

Unable to find any points worth criticizing, Everly could only hope that Lily—who had personally been to the campsite before—might mention something. She asked Misha to check with Lily about the last time she went there: had she encountered anything strange, met any suspicious people, or heard any bad rumors about the campground?

“I’ll ask,” Misha said. Knowing that Everly wouldn’t bring something up without reason, she immediately took out her phone and started a long chat with her friend Lily.

The result of the inquiry was completely normal. Lily said the atmosphere at the camp was great, the administrators were very responsible, and nothing unusual had happened.

Alright then. For now, it really seemed like the campground was perfectly normal. Last time, Everly’s excessive worry had already caused Misha to miss the prom. If she made Misha give up a rare camping trip because of baseless fears again, she would feel terribly guilty afterward.

“So, Everly, what do you think? It really sounds great there. Are you going?” Misha asked hopefully after hanging up.

Everly still shook her head. “You can go, Misha. I won’t go.”

A deep look of disappointment appeared on Misha’s face. “You really won’t come?”

Everly reached out and patted her shoulder. “It’s because I’m not really interested in camping. During summer vacation, I’m planning to stay at the gas station for a while. My dog, Buddy, is already very old—he probably doesn’t have much time left. Maybe the next time I come home during a break, I won’t see him anymore. And my grandfather too. Once I go to college, it won’t be easy to see him often. If I can, I want to spend as much time with them as possible.”

“Alright then…”

Misha lowered her head gloomily and took out her phone to start replying to her group of friends.

“By the way, when are you leaving, when will you come back, how many people are going, what transportation you’ll be using, and which route you’ll take—make sure to confirm all that with your friends in advance and send it to me,” Everly reminded her. “That way, if something happens, I’ll be able to help you.”

“It’s just a camping trip. Nothing’s going to happen,” Misha muttered.

However, one of her greatest strengths was that she was obedient. Before long, Everly received a detailed plan for the trip on her phone.

Including Misha, there would be nine people in total—four boys and five girls. Two of the boys, Dane and Dan, would each drive a sedan. They would pick up the other seven students at the entrance of Katak High School, and then the group of nine would set off together, crossing Mount Iramore and driving straight along the main road. If they kept going without stopping, they would arrive at Red Oak Campground around dusk.

They planned to stay at the campsite for a week. When returning, the arrangement would be similar: leave in the morning and arrive back by evening.

Everly opened the map and took a quick look. Seeing that the entire route followed major roads and didn’t pass through any remote detours, she felt much more at ease.

With so many people going together and the place being legitimate, Misha probably wouldn’t run into any danger…

Of course, the necessary precautions still had to be taken.

…

The day before Misha left, Everly carried a satellite phone, a first-aid medical kit, a portable tool bag, and a small crystal bottle containing five drops of the panacea, and knocked on the door of Misha’s house.

After the incident, Everly had checked the bottle of panacea Wester had given her. It contained 53 drops in total.

Rebecca had contributed both effort and manpower while dealing with Berlin, and she had even been seriously injured. Everly’s original intention was to give 33 drops to Rebecca and keep 20 for herself. However, Rebecca said she was extremely cautious about her own safety and rarely encountered danger, so she didn’t need that much panacea. After some back and forth, Everly ended up buying 13 more drops from Rebecca at the extremely low price of 10,000 dollars.

So Everly’s supply of panacea increased to 33 drops. She forced 13 drops onto Old John and kept 20 for herself. Now, with her best friend Misha heading out on a long trip, even though she had already checked the campground’s safety, all the information came from the internet and might not be completely accurate. So Everly generously set aside 5 drops of life-saving panacea as a precaution, just in case.

After delivering the supplies, Everly drove her Jeep back to the gas station.

Buddy was really old now. Seeing its owner return, it staggered out of its small doghouse, wagging its tail as it came up to Everly’s feet and nudged her knee gently with its nose.

Everly crouched down and stroked the sparsely-haired head of her dog. Seeing those moist eyes still full of attachment and trust, she felt a pang of sadness.

A fifteen-year-old dog is equivalent to a human in their seventies or eighties. At this age, Buddy no longer had the energy to run; even walking a few steps was exhausting. Its teeth were no longer sharp enough to tear through hard food, so it had to eat soft, mushy meals all day.

A few years ago, Buddy had been so strong and swift—it could run like a flying arrow, and Everly would chase after it, almost unable to catch up…

Aging was just like that: unstoppable, inevitable, and devastatingly cruel.

Now it was Buddy. Someday it would be her grandfather too.

The thought broke Everly’s heart.

After quietly spending some time playing with her dog, she returned to her bedroom without much energy and sat at her desk to read.

…

The next morning at 8 a.m., Everly received a message from Misha: she had gotten into Dane’s car and departed from Micano.

Horror Movie Survival Rule #12: Don’t get distracted while driving.

In 10 horror films, in 8 of them the protagonist gets distracted while driving, taking their eyes off the road, almost hitting people or wild animals, or even accidentally driving into a ditch.

“Unsafe driving brings tears to loved ones.” Even outside of horror movies, you must always stay focused while driving.

Everly pulled out her phone and quickly typed:

“Fasten your seatbelt, don’t fool around in the car, keep your eyes on Dane, and make sure he focuses on driving—no distractions.”

After sending that, she added:

“If anything strange happens on the way, remember to tell me.”

“Okay!” came the reply.

Of course, everyone has a different idea of what counts as “strange.” Misha, being a typical small-town girl, rarely got the chance to go on trips like this. So for the next half day, Everly received countless messages from her, each reporting some “weird” observation:

“The clouds in the sky look so strange—they actually look like Uncle Sam pointing fingers!”

“The atmosphere between Paula and Malin is weird… are they secretly dating?!”

“Mount Iramore is weird. The west side is all dense forest, but the east side is completely bare. Especially looking down from the summit, the scenery is so… jarring.”

“The gas station owner is weird. He heard we were going to Red Oak Campground and gave us this meaningful smile, telling us to watch out for the ‘monster living in Emerald Lake.’”

“The animals in the forest are weird. While driving, a dead deer suddenly appeared in the road. If I hadn’t warned him in time, Dane almost ran it over.”

…and so on.

At first, reading the first few messages, Everly could smile quietly at Misha’s harmless exaggerations.

But when she saw the name “Emerald Lake,” a warning signal she had once received from the banshee immediately triggered, and her expression instantly turned serious.

The gas station owner’s odd warning, the “monster living in Emerald Lake,” and the dead deer on the road… any of these alone might be nothing, but together, it gave her the uneasy feeling of a horror movie beginning to set up its foreshadowing.

Yet what exactly was this threatening “Emerald Lake”? Judging by the time the messages were sent, Misha and the others should already have been in Viska City—but there was no place called Emerald Lake there.

And… was it just her imagination, or had she heard that name somewhere before…?