The Lakeshire Hunt

CHAPTER 8: The Apus

I’ve got a weird feeling…it feels like I’m laying down on a…wait…is this sand? I immediately opened my eyes and got up. It is sand. I’m in a desert? I’m supposed to be in the campsite? Where am I? I have no phone or whatsoever, how did I get here? I think the most important question is, how do I get out of here? I just stood in one stop when suddenly 5 logs started appearing around me. I turned around and stared at the logs, wondering what they are for and why the hell am I being surrounded? I walked towards one log to check it out. But as I got closer suddenly the ground started to shake. Before I knew it, I started sinking. Damn it’s a dune sand. I screamed for help but no one came to help me until the dune sand completely consumed me. “Ahhhhhhh help!!!” I screamed. I opened my eyes and I was already back in the camp…I was lying on my bed, I realized that It was actually a dream. Heh…another nightmare. “Rise and shine! Ugly person!” Santi greeted. “Wow, look who’s talking.” I responded. I stood up and stretched. “I don’t remember being in my bed last night…” I thought. “Of course…because you fell asleep whilst on patrol, you i***t!” He added. “What?! Really?! Oh great! I’m in big trouble now.” I reacted. Edward will kill me. It’s crucial to play our part in patrolling because of the threats of kidnappers from other teams. So with this big mistake, I don’t know what Edward would do to me. Why did I even sleep while on patrol? And hunter was on patrol too, why didn’t he woke me up? Maaaann…”Where’s hunter?” asked curiously asked. “He already went out with others to look for firewood. You woke up late dummy.” ‘What?!” I ran out to follow the others get some firewood then. Hopefully Edward is still in his tent. After breakfast, we had a huddle…and as expected Edward brought up what happened. But he didn’t make it that big of a deal…thank goodness.

The first week in the camp went pretty well. It was peaceful. There were no attacks or whatsoever and everyone’s still here. We went on to do our daily chores, with the same teams preparing each meals and the others gathering firewood. Firewood is very important if you’re out in the wilderness. And like how we originally agreed. We split up to gather more wood. I went to the usual area I go to, to gather firewood. But the area was already deserted. There weren’t any firewood left. I made sure my whistle was with me, along with my paintball g*n (you know…in case of emergency). I tied a red ribbon around a huge tree. The huge can be like a landmark. This way, I’ll know my way back to the camp site. Then I left and followed the riverbank to find more firewood. Not too far from the area where I used to scavenge for firewood, I saw some tracks. The most unusual tracks one can ever find in a riverbank. Gummy Bears. As soon as I found them, I knew that it was from an opposing team. Without thinking twice, I followed the tracks. It was quite bushier in the area and there were a lot of more massive trees. The more I followed the tracks, the more I was hearing noises. Chatter from people from a distant. I continued following the tracks, cautiously this time. The tracks stopped at one massive tree. “Hmm…it seemed like he ran out of gummy bears.” I thought to myself. I paused and looked around. There were a lot of trees in the area, a lot of tall bushes too. It was quite difficult to find anything in the area as the trees here are a lot much closer to each other than the ones in our area. There aren’t a lot of boulders too. “This couldn’t be another campsite.” I whispered. It was almost noon, so I had to get back in time. If there is indeed another campsite in this area, it probably is the opposing teams’. I know I have to get back already. If the team notices, that I haven’t returned, they’ll come looking for me and the opposing team might ambush them and capture them. That will be the end of our fight. But since I’m already here, I need to make sure who these people are. I quickly climbed the tree beside me. This tree was quite easy to climb as it wasn’t that tall and wasn’t too wide. I got to the first branch easily. That’s when I found it. A campsite. I’m certain that these people are from the same camping event. There were some familiar faces. There were a lot of people there though. As I observed, I noticed 3 people, tied up. This immediately gave me a hint that these people were captured. And the more I looked around, the stronger the evidences were. I saw their flag, I can still remember the design on the flag then. It was team Apus. They’re a big threat to us as their campsite is not that far from ours, I still don’t know though if they have noticed our campsite, or whether or not they are observing us. That time, the only thing that got into my mind was to immediately alert Edward and the team. I climbed my way down the tree carefully as it was too steep to jump down from. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I immediately rushed my way out of the bushes and back to the riverbank carefully. I turned every now and then as I was rushing to get back to the campsite safely. This is to make sure that I am of course unfollowed. As I drew nearer and nearer to the tree with the red ribbon, I started to run. I returned safely into the campsite. As soon as I know I was safe, I stopped and squatted in exhaustion. “Lucas, there you are. Where have you been? Where are all the firewood you gathered?” Dan curiously asked. Dan can sometimes be too doubtful. He’s convinced that he is doing too much work while others just relax and do nothing. Well, that certainly isn’t me. “Please…You have no idea what I had just gotten myself out from….” I responded. I was panting hysterically. Though the other teams’ campsite seemed near, it’s still a distance away. I can’t believe I got back and just in time for lunch. “What happened to you man? You’re sweating.” Santi asked. A worried look on his face was evident. ‘Dude…you won’t believe what I just found.” I responded. Soon all the members started gathering around me, asking questions. I wanted to make sure Edward knows this first so, as soon as I was feeling better. I stood up and started walking towards Edward’s tent, hoping he’ll be there. When I left, the team resumed doing their chores. “Edward? Are you there? It’s Lucas…I really need to talk to you.” I called out. “Come in Lucas.” He seriously responded. He sounded like he was in the middle of something important when he allowed me to enter his tent. “Edward, The Apus teams’ campsite happens to be right next to our campsite. I saw them. They already have prisoners with them.” I reported. “Jacob really took this seriously.” Edward commented. “Thank you so much Lucas”. He didn’t say anything much after that then we both left his tent together. “Gather around everyone!” He called out the team as I was right behind him. He signaled Santi to have our lunch distributed already. While Santi’s team distributed our lunch, Edward had me sit by his side. “We’ll talk about this as a team after lunch.” He commanded. In which I have humbly agreed with a simple nod. I silently ate my lunch. I honestly didn’t understand what I was feeling. I couldn’t even enjoy my meal, because of thinking about what I saw. I don’t understand. It’s just supposed to be a game. Never have I imagined a simple camping game could turn into something like a war. Everyone in the other team had their paintball guns with them all the time. They even had prisoners, heavily guarded. “Don’t worry too much about it Lou. If you think this is just a simple camp game, then that’s good. Keep thinking that way.” Edward suggested. It was just unimaginable. “Well, you see…my uncle is a soldier, being in the military for over 10 years now…he told me lots of stories about being a soldier. Their challenges, how they need to eat at night, how they sleep and how they protected their team and all. Everything I saw, were exactly similar to the events from my uncles’ stories. It was crazy!” I shared. “Yeah well, Jacob lost it. He always had enjoyed camping. We had our camping events with airsoft games as our finale. It was so popular we were always fully booked. But the thing is…he took it way too seriously, to him, it’s just so real…” He shared. “Don’t worry…so far…he hadn’t killed anyone yet.” He joked. Wow…that was good to hear. I mean…seriously? My cousin cemented his entire left arm, after he got hit by a paintball during a paintball g*n game. These things aren’t a joke. And judging from what I saw…I think Jacob definitely took it to the next level. He must’ve really needed that money…it was crazy.

After lunch, as always we had our team huddle. “Alright guys. Here’s the situation…” He reported. “Lucas found team Apus’ campsite…” There were mixed reactions from the team, some were happy. “That’s great! We can sneak up on them and ambush then right there and then! And then we’ll do the same with the other teams and win this game effortlessly!” Alister cheerfully reacted. “You’ll compromise the safety of our members’ i***t. If their campsite is just next to ours, how sure are we that they haven’t found us yet?” Mark made his point. “They maybe planning the same thing to us, if that’s the case.” Aisha added. “Look guys…they have already started the war…by k********g and imprisoning members from other teams.” I added. Everyone obviously seemed concerned. Judging from what I saw, they seemed to be more equip and more ready for this hunt. There were guards everywhere and there were about 4 people training for the game. After a week…we basically did nothing but gather firewood and eat. That’s all. We’re definitely not caught up for this yet. “Calm down guys…though this seemed to be alarming, we still need to keep calm for us to be able to think well and focus.” Edward suggested. “Alright…so this is what we’ll do…we don’t have any idea when they will attack. But guys…rest assured…they cannot ambush us here. That’s against the rules. Cameras are everywhere in this 115 acre camp site.” Edward assured. “Tonight…I’ll have Lucas, Santi, Michael and Dan spy on them. And when I say tonight…I mean after dinner. Alright?” Edward commanded. “Alright.” I agreed. I think we’ll just have to find ways on how we will be able to manage that without getting seen. “Charles, Mark, Alister and hunter you guys will be the lookout for tonight. We will still do shifting schedules…that way everyone gets their fair-share of the task. I’ll join Lucas’ team later. And by tomorrow, we’ll start training for the big game.” He announced. “I don’t know about you guys but this is turning into something scary than being fun…” Cassidy shared. She obviously looked worried. Of course judging from her looks, she’s basically very vulnerable. She won’t be able to defend herself. “Hey, we’re a team here. Beyond these wilderness we have each other and we won’t let other teams take any of our members.” Edward assured. “Don’t you worry Cassidy, we’ve got your back.” Albert added. Cassidy shyly smiled as Michael gave her a pat at the back. “Well, I’m pretty sure this’ll be fun! We’ll destroy them all! Hiro screamed. Yeah…well, I don’t think this kid gets what happening but he seems to have fun though. “That’s the spirit guys! We’ve got this team.” Edward encouraged.