I stood there without making any sounds and waited until that field guide, no, that thing had disappeared in sight. I slowly and quietly moved forward hoping that it wouldn't come back. I needed to get to Peter, and we needed to get out of here and head back to Mr. Flounders and the rest.

  I approached Peter's team who had been anxiously sitting in silence. Their chaperone was not with them. I signaled for them to come down and follow me. I thought that we could be safer with an adult like Mr. Flounders. I couldn't leave them behind.

  Peter was the first to stand up and he began to climb down the roof. It seemed like they were able to get on top of the bathroom cabin through one of the garbage bins nearby. Peter slowly and quietly stepped down onto one of the bins. I held out my arms for him to balance on as he finally landed on the dirt. He gestured for the rest to come down. One of them had been crying and shook their head sideways to tell us that they didn't want to come down. The other two had followed Peter behind and were finally on the dirt ground. Peter looked relieved and quickly hugged me.

  We didn't say anything but only made hand signals so as to stay quiet in case that thing was still around. I wanted to tell her that she was going to be okay and that we needed to hurry up and leave now before it was too late. I signaled for her to come down with a pleading hand sign. She looked at me and then looked at her surroundings. After a few seconds, she finally stood up quietly and headed down using the bin. We helped her get down and once everyone was on the ground, I gestured for everyone to follow me.

  We rushed back in the same direction that I came from so that we could find Mr. Flounders and the rest. We entered the dense forest leading northeast of the campsite, and I noticed how quiet it was. No birds, not a sound of crickets, no sound of leaves rustling on the trees, nothing. Just the sound of our own footsteps moving along the dirt path.

  On our way, I learned the names of the students in Peter's group, two of whom were also his classmates. Tom and Henry were twins who I'd often see when I visited Peter in his classroom. They were typically loud, and I would sometimes catch them poking and joking around with each other during passing periods. Sally, on the other hand, was one of my classmates. I've never really talked to her or had enough time to familiarize myself with everyone's faces during class this year since it's only been a few months since we started. She was shy and often quiet. I didn't see much of her outside of class periods, but that's because she would usually hang out and eat by herself somewhere else. At least that's what I heard from Reina and the other girls in my class.

  We tried our best to move fast but quietly to avoid getting the attention of those things. Those human creature-like things. I don't even know what they are, and I don't think anyone here had any clue as to what they were and why this was happening. I held Peter's hand and noticed how sweaty they were. I looked at his face and smiled. He held my hands tighter. He must've been nervous and terrified. We all were.

  I turned my head back for a few seconds as I walked to make sure that everyone was doing okay. Hopefully, we'll be out of this dense forest soon. Who knows when one of those things will come around.

  We kept moving forward until we encountered a figure up ahead. We stood quietly in fear at the sight of that thing sniffing the air like it sensed something was around. The longer I looked at its face the more I noticed that its eyes were covered by a layer of thick white cells. Maybe this was preventing it from seeing but it was still able to hear and smell. Peter's team must've already speculated that before I spotted them on top of the bathroom cabin.

  We did our best to stay still and silent but after a second of standing, Sally jumped from her spot and screamed in pain when a snake bit her on the legs. Tom instantly grabbed a nearby branch and poked at it to drive it away. This was not good. I quickly ran over to Sally to cup her mouth and I could feel her tears dripping down on my hand. The venom was likely affecting her, so we needed to rush out of this and seek medical help as soon as possible. But before we were able to move, that thing had already made its way in our direction.

  "Henry behind you!" Tom shouted as he got into a ready position to swing the branch at that thing. Henry didn't have enough time to react, so it pinned Henry on the ground. We stared in horror as it bit through Henry's neck and half of his face. Tom kept hitting that thing with his branch, but it continued to bite Henry.

  "Leave my brother alone you fucken monster!" Tom was enraged. He stabbed the bottom half of that thing with the sharp tip of the branch, but it kept biting. Peter stood there shocked at the scene when suddenly he came back to his senses and picked up a big rock to the left of him. Without hesitating he rammed the rock onto the head of that creature. He rammed onto its head until it began to bleed out of his head, and we could see parts of his scalp were ripped open.

  This was a field guide. This thing used to be one of our field guides. I couldn't think straight. I began to panic at the sight of its head and its now motionless body. We killed someone. Oh god, we killed someone!

  "Yuri. Look at me. It's okay. It's dead. It's gone now. Henry is okay," Peter walked over and held my face as he must've noticed that I was panicking internally. Tom tried to move the thing's body off of Henry. We helped him move the body aside and tended to Henry who was trying to utter some words.

  "T-Tom...my...my body feels...different. I can't see anything," he attempted to speak.

  "Henry. Henry listen to me we're gonna get you out of here, okay? Okay, listen to me. Peter, Yuri, let's help him up. We can take you and Sally to a safe place, okay?" Tom was crying as he held on to Henry's face. He couldn't stand to see Henry in this condition. He was bleeding from his neck and cheeks. Parts of his skin were missing.

  As we moved his body to a sitting position, Henry grabbed Tom's shirt and instantly pulled him towards his mouth, but Tom reacted quickly by shoving the other piece of the branch he was holding onto Henry's mouth. This prevented Henry from biting anything. Peter and I held Henry's arms down to stop him from moving around. We called Henry to knock it off, but he continued to act wild and only screeched at us. We began to notice that his eyes were the same as that dead field guide's eyes.

  "Tom, he's not Henry anymore!" Peter yelled at Tom. Tom cried and hesitated as he looked into Henry's eyes.

  "Tom! Through the head! We have to kill him now!" Peter called out.

  "I—. I know. It's just—," Tom continued to look at Henry.

  "Tom—!" I heard Peter call again and this time Tom had grabbed the rock Peter used earlier and smashed it onto Henry's head over and over until Henry's body became at rest and he no longer resisted. I looked over at Tom and he wiped away his tears. I sat and stared at the ground, eyes wide open in shock, and blood splattered on my clothes and my face. I wasn't sure why it became hard for me to move. It wasn't right. No, this wasn't right. They used to be like us. Why is this happening? My eyes began to tear.

  "Let's go. We need to take Sally to the infirmary!" Peter patted my shoulder and then rushed over to Sally.

  I stood up slowly and turned to look at Sally who had been sitting on the ground in pain from the venom of the snake. She looked like she was about to faint. I removed my backpack and took out a small med kit that I had with me which was given to every student before the first activity. I was the only one with a backpack since Peter and his team didn't have enough time to grab theirs when the creature found them near the lake. I took the bandage wrap and wrapped it around her affected leg to help with the bleeding. Peter and I pulled Sally up and we continued to make our way out of the dense forest with Tom following behind.

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  I guided us to the same spot where I left Mr. Flounders and the rest, but they were no longer there. We can see the campsite from here but no trace of them or anyone that can help us from afar. Our option right now is to take Sally to the infirmary so that we find some painkillers for her and something to help clean out her wound. Peter, Tom, and I discussed how we should go about this. Taking all of us would put all of us at risk but having one person and leaving the rest could also be risky.

  Peter volunteered to head down to the campsite and into the infirmary to grab as many medical supplies as he could while Tom and I stayed behind to watch over Sally. I disagreed with his plan. I informed them that early on my team and I saw two field guides getting attacked by one of those things inside the infirmary. So, there was a likely chance that it was still there or by now who knows how many of them have turned into those things.

  I told them that we could maybe split into two. Tom and Sally can stay hidden inside a nearby bathroom cabin inside the campsite ahead of us, while Peter and I can grab some more medical supplies and possibly some water. We all agreed with the plan and proceeded to head down. Sally wrapped her arms around the back of Tom's neck so that Tom could help her walk to the bathroom.

  Peter and I quietly walked to the open cabin ahead of us while looking left and right and stayed alert for any signs of those things. The closer we got to our target, I began to notice a nasty odor in the air, like decaying flesh. We continued to move forward and stopped to look again. Then we finally proceeded to reach the porch of the joined cabin. The smell got stronger, so I held my breath for a little. We noticed on our way that a few rooms had a couple of those things inside lying down motionless. Someone must have been here.

  The door of the infirmary was at the end and Peter and I sneaked ahead when suddenly we bumped into something, and we both reacted by stepping back. We looked up and saw that it was one of the field guides and she gestured for us to be quiet. It seemed like she was also heading towards the infirmary. She looked a lot younger than the rest of the other field guides.

  "Shhh...," She stopped her steps and held her hands out to gesture for us to stop proceeding as well. As we stopped, she peeked through the open door, and we could see that one of those things had been standing inside the room. She pulled out a knife from her satchel and slowly proceeded in front of that thing. She gestured for us to stay behind, and we looked at her with anxiety signaling her to come back. Before we knew it, she was already face-to-face with that thing. That creature resembled the same field guide we saw early on with Mr. Flounders.

  She held her knife with her right hand and held the creature's head with her left for grip then silently stabbed its head with it. It fell onto the ground as she pulled the knife out of its head. Peter and I looked at each other and then proceeded to walk inside the infirmary.

  "You kids need to be more careful. These things. Whatever they are, they've spread across the campsite and the rest of Mt. Boulder," she began to look around the shelves and picked up some supplies, then stuffed them inside her satchel.

  "We need to get out of here quick," she rushed.

  "Wait. We came here because we have a friend who needs to be treated. She got bitten by a snake a while back. Can you help us treat her?" I asked.

  "If you're looking for painkillers, that won't do. It'll only persist her bleeding. She will need to take an antivenin," she grabbed a small bottle and placed it inside her bag. She grabbed some more supplies. I did the same and began to pick up some medical supplies that I think will be useful and inserted enough to fit inside my bag.

  "Where is she? The field guide asked.

  "She's with a friend who is watching over her inside a bathroom cabin nearby. There are four of us right now," I responded.

  When she finished, we all headed out of the infirmary and towards the bathroom nearby where Tom and Sally had been hiding. We got there and she immediately tended to Sally's wound. Sally was sweating and she looked fatigued. We all introduced ourselves and learned that her name was Candace.

  She was a chaperone for group #10. She told us that she lost her team of four students and that she managed to get away from those things. It all happened fast for her, and she told us that her survival instincts kicked in when she was attacked. She fought about 5 of these things early on by herself and knew that the only way for your body to stop operating was if you shut down your brain. If so, then it wouldn't be any different for these creatures. At least it was worth a try.

  She tested that theory by stabbing them with her knife. She also witnessed that people become these creatures when they come into contact. She told us that the time it took someone to turn into one varied by person. She theorized that coming in contact with blood or through body fluids of those things can turn you into one. A bite is what we've only speculated can turn someone into one of those things.

  Candace stood up as she finished treating and re-patching Sally's wound. She told us that we should follow her from now on and stick together. She didn't want to lose anyone to those things and to trust her to keep us safe.

  I ended up thinking about Reina. I missed her. I hoped she was safe with the rest. I wonder how they were doing. But then I remembered Mr. Flounders and how Candace sort of reminds me of him. They don't seem like the type to give up. They continue to fight and are very much responsible. They know how to think things through before doing anything. I wish I could be more like them someday.

  "Alight, kids. The sun is going to set in about an hour. We need to find our way out of this campsite. It's not safe here anymore," Candace opened the map she took out of her bag.

  "Wait, my group is still out there!" I cried.

  "Yuri. I understand how you feel about the probability of them being alive. But it's too risky. We can't just go out there looking for them when we don't even know where they are! What if they've already turned into those monsters out there?" Candace looked at me with a serious expression.

  "But, we need to try!" I shouted. What if they were still alive? I couldn't just leave them. Reina is my best friend and someone important to me. We needed to at least try or else I would never forgive myself in the future. I'd just blame myself forever. I know I would.

  Candace put her hands on my shoulders and softened her gaze. She told me that part of surviving means letting go sometimes. That no one will blame you for trying to save yourself.

  No. Something about it didn't sit right with me. If it means there's a high risk of me dying just to find people who mean something to me, to save them, then it's worth the risk. I stepped backward and freed myself from Candace's grip.

  "You're wrong," I stared at Candace and then at everyone else. Slight tears were beginning to form in my eyes. But I tried my best to keep it from falling.

  I hesitated to leave. To go find them on my own like I did when I wanted to find Peter. But what if Candace was right? What if they had already turned into one of those things and it was too late to save Reina? I know Peter will be safe as long he stays here with Candace and the rest. I had to at least check group #1's tent location. There's a probability that they could have proceeded to stay there.

  I wanted to make a run for it but before my body moved, the sound of static interference was coming from the direction of the peak of Mt. Boulder.

  "Hello? Is this thing evening working? Hello? Can anybody hear me, over? This is Mr. Flounders with group #1...Hello? If anybody can hear me, something is going on in Camp Navier...Hello—."

  The signal was cut off. It was Mr. Flounders! He was using the radio tower to broadcast. That's right. He did point out that there was a radio tower ahead of us when we reached the cliff near the top of Mt. Boulder. This meant that they were still alive! I felt relieved.

  "I repeat. This is Group #1. We are at the top of Mt. Boulder inside a radio tower. Is there anybody out there, over?" Mr. Flounders persisted.

  "Yuri. I know what you're thinking. But please, let's go together as a group," Candace permitted.

  I was glad she was willing to go with me. This was it. We headed out of the campsite and proceeded to take the north trail to get to the top of Mt. Boulder. I guided them with Candace rushing at the back of us so that she could keep watch from behind. We rushed up as quietly and as quickly as we could hoping that we would never encounter any more of those things.

  We ended up making it at the top of Mt. Boulder and Candace told us that we were close to the radio tower. The sun was also beginning to set so we rushed as fast as we could while keeping it a suitable pace for Sally to walk as she held on to Candace and Tom.

  We could see the lights coming from inside the cabin where the radio tower was structured just up ahead. It was almost dark, and the lack of daylight was beginning to make it difficult to see. I took the flashlight from my backpack and turned it on to light the way. Candace did the same and handed her flashlight to Peter. We were almost there until we heard footsteps running in our direction. It was coming in fast. We looked to the left and realized that it was one of those creatures. However, something was different. It knew where we were from such a far distance. Maybe we were wrong? Were they able to see this whole time? No, but earlier it was different. The other ones seemed blind and slow.

  We panicked and rushed as fast as we could until a loud gunshot came from the window of the cabin below the radio tower. It was Mr. Flounders! He signaled for us to hurry, and I saw Reina and Dylan at the wooden door keeping it open for us. We got to the door, and everyone made it inside before I did. I noticed that my backpack had been opened so I quickly looked back to see if I dropped anything important. My heart began to race when I saw Mr. Brown on the ground behind us. I noticed that another one of those creatures was making their way over to us at the same speed as the one we saw earlier.

  No, I couldn't leave it behind. I know it's selfish of me, but. I ran back without thinking. I could hear them yelling for me to hurry up and that there was another one behind me. I tried to stay calm and picked up Mr. Brown. I wanted to run after I finally stuffed him inside my backpack, but instead, my body froze. The figure ahead of me was getting closer and closer and I just couldn't move.

  I closed my eyes again until I heard another gunshot coming from the direction of the cabin. My eyes opened instantly and the creature in front of me had been shot in the head. Blood splattered on me and the sound of the gunshot was still ringing in my ears as I stood still.

  "What are you doing, you idiot!" Cain ran up and quickly grabbed my wrist. I noticed he had a gun in his hand as we ran back to the cabin below the radio tower and made it inside.