The Lakeshire Hunt

CHAPTER 12: The Accidental Capture

It was a terribly awful night. A feeling of extreme nervousness and fear lurks around the area. I found myself sitting by a huge tree, carrying my paintball g*n. It looked like I was hiding from something or someone. I opened my eyes and looked around. I was still on the campsite. But, where are the others? I was all alone. The tents were all burned down and there were a lot of awful screams. I started to climb the tree near me to get a better view of my surroundings. It was quite a huge tree so it really took me time. As I reached the nearest branch, I saw 4 wildfires all in 4 different areas. Could the Lakeshire Hunt have already started? But how could this happen? I had never imagined the intensity of this hunt to be like this. This is just supposed to be a fun game. This isn’t fun. It’s war. I can see a couple of dead bodies lying around from a distance. It wasn’t too far from our camp, so I rushed to climb down. The moment I reached the ground, I ran towards the dead bodies, hoping none of them were from our team. But when I got there, I couldn’t seem to see their faces. I kneeled down in confusion as the sound of paintball guns still blaring from the background. We all had ID’s on us so I thought of checking their ID’s, but strangely, they weren’t carrying any. Soon a strange girl came to me. And offered her hand. I couldn’t see her face either. But as I read her lips, she was saying something like "I’m not safe here". I reached for her as I stood. I went with her and we hid under the bushes. She was reloading her g*n then preparing to strike when I closed my eyes and suddenly…I’m back at the campsite again.

I already figured it was a dream as it was a bit exaggerated. I mean, this is just a friendly game. From my understanding, the game is for us to gain more friends, socialize, learn the value of team work and learn to survive in the middle of the wilderness without calling 911. I have to admit though, that dream was scary and it felt so real. And that girl…it feels like I know her. Speaking of, I wonder how Stella is doing? She just left yesterday but it feels like she’s been gone for a while now. We have just met and all. And we’re not really that close yet, but for some reason, I feel very comfortable when I’m with her. You know this feeling when you have just met someone but it feels like you’ve known each other for so long already? Thinking about how she’s doing makes me feel pretty worried. Edward’s reaction yesterday was quite confusing as well. He acted as if she knew Stella. He looked so worried too, especially when the camps' staff took her away.

I was sitting by my bed when Michael suddenly came in. “Hey. How’re you doin?” He asked, as he took his bag to get his shirt. “I’m good.” I lazily responded. “So, who was that girl anyway? Where’d you see her?” He curiously asked. I just saw her at the other end of the river when I was picking up some firewood. Why?” I responded. I stood up and stretched a little. Then I fixed my bed, I noticed Santi was still asleep. I pulled his blanket to make sure it was him. “Santi slept late last night.” Michael interrupted. “Yeah? Why?” I asked “He went with Edward to the main camp to check on the girl. Edward received a call from the main campsite and, since Santi was still awake at that time, Edward invited him to tag along,” Michael said. He was quite accurate. Maybe because he was patrolling last night. “Really? And how’s she?” I energetically asked. “I don’t know. They didn’t say a word when they returned.” He responded. “Do you know why Edward looked so worried about her? It seemed like he knew her.” I asked. “No, not really. Why don’t you go ask him? I think he's awake now.” He suggested. “Yeah…let me just do that real quick.” I agreed. Then I went out of the tent and walked to Edward’s tent. Everyone was already pretty busy. Hunter is in the kitchen, preparing breakfast. He was teamed up with Michael. The others continued their training with Dan. Everyone’s doing so much better now compared to previous days, which is great. As soon as I reached Edward’s tent, I immediately called out to him. “Edward?” I called out. “Yeah, come in.” He responded. I didn’t realize that he was on the phone when I called him. I mouthed “I’m sorry” while he was talking with someone on the phone. He simply nodded. “Yeah’ I’ll call you right back. Thanks a lot.” He ended the call. He turned off his radio and started “How can I help you today Lucas?” “Oh, well…I’m just wondering…about that girl from yesterday? Stella? How is she?” I asked worriedly. “She’s gonna be fine. Though she lost some blood, the doctor still considered it a minor injury.” He answered. “ That’s a relief. Hoo…” I reacted. “I’m just curious Edward…you mentioned her name yesterday…do you know her?” I curiously asked. He paused for a while and sat on his chair. “Yes…I do…” “Lucas, she’s very dangerous. Stay away from her. She won’t do you any good.” He warned. “The camp staff had already escorted her back home. But please listen to me…she’s a danger to our team. She’s a huge threat.” I said nothing and just froze for a bit. At the back of my mind I couldn’t believe what he was saying…if she was a danger to me and our team, why would she rescue me? Not once but twice already. “Lucas?” Edward called. He gave me a pat on the back, then I suddenly snapped. “I’m sorry, Edward. I just woke up, so that is a lot to process. But yeah…thanks a lot…I’ll go now.” I responded as I left this tent.

When I went out, it was already time for breakfast. Santi woke up. I caught up with him as he settled down for breakfast. I sat next to him and waited for our breakfast. “So…I heard you had a date with Edward last night?” I started. “What? Date? Hell no. It wasn’t no date.” He reacted. “Where did you go?” I asked. “to the main campsite. Don’t tell anyone. There was some conflict there due to the appearance of the girl. But Mr. Mckinley wasn’t surprised to see her at all. I think he knows that girl.” He shared. “The way Edward was worried about Stella, I bet he knows her too…”I added. “Hold on a minute. Stella? You know that girl?” he asked. “Well…she’s a good friend of mine…” I responded. Our breakfast came at last. “Hmmm! Bacon and eggs. Duh…licious” Santi reacted. Thankfully, our conversation stopped as we all enjoyed our breakfast. The other members didn’t say a word about what happened yesterday, nor were they curious about Stella. It seemed like they thought she was just a random girl. I helped. Which is good and, hopefully, we can all keep it that way.

After breakfast, as usual, we had our team huddle. Edward announced that we would have the same activities we had from yesterday and the previous days…training in the morning with Dan and g*n shooting practice with him in the afternoon. As the main training was for Allister, Cassidy, Aisha and Hiro, the other guys went out to look for firewood. This is the only time I get to see Stella. So I went to the same area where I usually see her but this time I didn’t cross the river. I walked by the riverbank and picked up any firewood I could see. I looked at the other side of the river from time to time, hoping Stella would just appear out of nowhere like she usually does. I wonder what happened to her. As soon as my hands were full. I sat by the riverbank for a minute. I kept on thinking about her. Edward already said she had been escorted back home, so how come she’s not here? Was she punished by her dad because she was seen? Or was she told never to see me again like what Edward said? I wondered. Mr. Mckinley and Edward know her…well that’s just maybe because Stella lives within the vicinity of the camp event…but could that be the only reason why? How come Edward is telling me she’s dangerous? Has she been killing camping participants in the last years? Well, I know she seemed skilled and all, but I don’t think she could do that…”Sigh…Where are you?” I whispered. I waited for a few minutes hoping she’d come but she didn’t. “Sigh...” I sighed as I stood and picked up all the firewood I collected, then I walked back to the campsite. I made about 4 back and forth trips to the riverbank to gather firewood, but I haven’t seen Stella there even once. I can’t help thinking about her. For some reason, I really liked her. I hope she didn’t get into trouble because of me.

After lunch, we had our paintball g*n practice. Santi setup our targets. He was the one who made the targets, which he is very much proud of. The target he made looked more like a dart board minus the numbers and the confusing color arrangements that were obviously not necessary. Our team leader, Edward, facilitated the paintball g*n practice. Most of us were pretty excited. Cassidy always, was pretty much nervous and scared. “What if we suddenly hit someone?” She timidly asked. “”Come on Cassy! We’re in the middle of the forest. Who would be stupid enough to roam around a forest this early?” Allister teased. “Don’t worry Cass, we might be good in combat, but this is our chance to prove that we can definitely kick a*s! Just relax and you’ll be fine!” Hiro encouraged. Hunter, Albert, Charles, Santi and Mark went first. Each had 3 attempts to hit the bullseye. Hunter almost hit the bullseye. “Dang it! That was so close!” Hunter exclaimed. He was the first to finish his attempts. He laid down his g*n and waited for the others to finish. Albert, Charles and Mark always hit the end of the board. “Aw man!!!” Charles complained. Santi finished last. It takes so much time for him to aim. Once he has his aim, he takes a while to pull the trigger. His last attempt didn’t even hit the board, it hit a huge tree about a meter away from the field. “Wow…sorry…didn’t mean that.” He apologized. As soon as he was done, the next team followed. They left their posts and went to the side. Dan, Michael, Aisha, Allister and I followed next. “Hoo...”Aisha breathed heavily. Obviously, she was nervous. “Are you alright?” I asked. “Just a little nervous. I haven’t done this before.” She responded. “Don’t worry, you’re not alone.” I assured her. It’s everyone’s first time to shoot a paintball g*n. So no one would judge, except for our leader though. Edward has surely done these many times already. The only thing that we will need to worry about is if someone suddenly pops up in front of us and gets hit. But that’s technically impossible. Dan finished all his attempts first, hitting a perfect bulleye on all 3 attempts. Everyone clapped and cheered for him. Allister hit the far end of the board 2 times and the last hit flew directly to a huge boulder at the back. “What? How could this be? This is unacceptable.” He complained. I almost hit the bulleye on my 3rd attempt. Aisha and Michael got a tie though, hitting the same area at the same time. All the hits got on the board, so Aisha was pretty happy. “Wow! I did it! I did it!” She exclaimed as she faced Michael, who was at her other side. They hi-fived at each other, then we slowly dropped our hands and left our post. The last members to do the practices were Cassidy and Hiro. Everybody cheered and they both stood on their posts and prepared their guns. Everyone was very supportive of them as they are like...our youngest and Cassy can be a bit of a chicken. “Go Cassy! Go Hiro!” Allister screamed. “You can do it guys!!!” Aisha followed. “Focus on the target Cass, you got this!” Michael supported. Aisha and hiro shot their first attempt at the same time. “Ahhh!” Cassidy shrieked. She didn’t hit her target, she just shot right away when she saw Hiro take the shot, without looking at the target. “Take your time Cass. Try to aim!” Edward coached. Cassidy tries to calm down but gets distracted when Hiro makes his shot. As expected, Hiro finished his attempts ahead of Cassidy and he hit the bullseye on his last attempt. “Good job kid!” Dan shouted. The other members, including me, gave Hiro a hi-five. Cassidy still has 2 more attempts. Now that Hiro is done with his attempts, she can now focus more on her target. As soon as she was more relaxed, she aimed at her target and tried to shoot. “CLUCK!” but she didn’t hit her target. Everyone looked around to see where her ball landed on and a few seconds later something huge fell from the tree ahead of the target. “What was that?” She shrieked. “Stay together guys, I’ll check it out.” Edward volunteered. Dan and Michael followed him to check what it was. “Oh my Gosh, did I just kill a bird?” She started to panic. “I don’t think so.” I responded. “That one sounds way too big to be a damn bird.” Santi added. “Do you guys think it’s a person?” Albert wondered. “What? Who would be stupid enough to roam around the forest at this hour?” Mark added. While we got too busy of guessing what it was, Dan, Edward and Michael searched the area to find what Cassidy had just hit. About another kilometer further away from where Dan and the others were, they noticed a color blue paint splattered over something big. they didn’t think twice and immediately checked it out. “Oh my gosh!” Dan reacted, His voice was so loud we could here him from afar. “Dan just saw something.” I reacted. “What is it?” Aisha curiously asked. “Well, let’s just go and check it out, just a peek.” Allister playfully suggested. “No, Edward told us to stay together.” Hunter responded. Edward, Dan and Michael were shocked to find a person. He passed out a little so Michael made sure he was alive. It would be terrifying to kill someone by accident. And, of course, Cassidy would freak out and might commit suicide. Well, maybe. “How is he Mike?” Edward asked. “He’s good. He’s alive.” He responded. “Alright, Dan, clear the way, have everyone return back to the camp.” Edward commanded. “Got it!” He responded and immediately left and ran ahead. “ OK, Michael, help me get him up, we’ll take him to camp.” He added. “Yeah, sure.” Michael and Edward took the man by hand and helped him up. Together, they carried him back to our camp. “Oh my gosh! Did I kill him?” Cassidy panicked. “No, he’s OK. He just passed out but he's alive.” Michael assured her as he continued to walk with Edward towards the camp. Cassidy looked terrified. She just froze while the others followed Michael and Edward back to the camp. “Come on Cass, Mike said he was OK. Don’t worry.” Aisha comforted her. “But I shot him” She worriedly responded. “Yeah, but it was an accident. Cass and come on. It’s not as if he’s dead. Come on. Let’s go check him out. “I added. I took her by the hand and we all went back to the camp together. Michael turned to look at us the moment we entered the camp. “Hey! Hands off Rivers!” He threatened. What? Rivers? Wait, he never calls me Rivers. I don’t know about you guys, but I think these two are already together. I immediately let go of Cassidy’s hand, raising both my hands up in the air. “I’m sorry. Dude.” I apologized. “No, it’s all good Mike, Lucas was kind enough to comfort me, Aisha’s also with us.” Cassidy defended. He is such a drama king. Goodness. Santi and Dan took a rope and helped Edward tie the boy to a tree. “Alright. That should do it.” He said. “Alright! Quick huddle guys! Gather around!” Edward called. We all rushed to Edward for the huddle. The boy was still unconscious. I wasn’t able to get a better look at him just yet. He was sitting on the ground, feet apart with both hands tied up together, half of his upper body was also tied up to the tree to make sure he wouldn’t get away. His head was down but I could see the duct tape on his mouth. Obviously, it was to make sure he wouldn’t scream.