“Don't poke it!” Laura shouted. “Didn't anyone ever tell you
not
to poke things? Like, ever! That is the
first rule
when you find creepy shit in the forest!”
“I'm not poking it.”
“You are! I'm watching you do it right now!”
“Fine, I am,” Lizzie whispered as she used the tip of the stick to nudge the deer's carcass, in an attempt to provoke whatever was inside and make it show itself again. “I make no apologies for being a poker.”
“That thing is probably diseased,” Laura continued, sounding as if she was on the verge of tears. “Lizzie, please...”
“I just want to see,” Lizzie told her, pressing the stick against the spot where she'd seen the tendril. “I want to -”
Suddenly the tendril whipped out again, wrapping itself around the end of the stick and trying to pull it into the deer. Holding on, Lizzie was shocked by the strength of whatever she was dealing with, and finally the stick broke. Stepping back, Lizzie watched as the tendril dragged the stick into the deer's corpse. The carcass churned for a moment and then fell still.
“Wow,” she whispered.
“Wow?” Laura asked. “Wow
what
? What did you see? No, don't tell me! Wait...” She paused. “Tell me,” she added cautiously.
“Hang on,” Lizzie replied, taking her phone from her pocket and bringing up the camera app, before hitting the record button. She focused the camera on the deer's body, before using her free hand to reach closer with the remains of the stick, which was now significantly shorter. “I have to get this on video, and then I have to upload it online and hope someone can tell us what the hell we're dealing with here. It's a shame that Unidan guy's not around anymore, I bet he'd know...”
“Never poke things,” Laura told her. “That's one of the most important rules in life. Never poke!”
“Always poke,” Lizzie continued with a smile. “That's
my
rule.” She ran the stick's broken end against the opening on the side of the deer. “When in doubt,” she continued, “always -”
Suddenly the black tentacle emerged again and grabbed the end of the stick, pulling it closer until Lizzie's hand was just a couple of inches from the fur. Instinctively she let go, as the stick was snapped yet again. One end disappeared into the opening, while the other end fell down onto the forest floor.
“Always poke,” Lizzie continued, stopping the recording and turning to Laura. “Okay, whatever this thing is, I got it on film!” She tapped her phone. “Now to upload it to a few subreddits while I've still got a connection...”
“Can we go now?” Laura asked.
“Let me just save the GPS coordinates.” She tapped her phone again. “Okay, I guess we should keep going. Beth's still out there somewhere.”
As they trudged away, Lizzie couldn't help but glance back a few times at the deer's body, which was still churning as something continued to move deep within its belly. After a few minutes, once Lizzie and Laura were well out of sight, a thin black tendril emerged from the side of the deer, followed by another just a few inches further along, as slowly something began to crawl out of the carcass.
Property of Leadenford Hospital,
said lettering on the side of the large yellow sack.
Warning: may contain hazardous materials.
Using a stick, Freeman poked the top of the sack and managed to push it open. Inside, several see-through bags appeared to contain various items of medical waste, ranging from used syringes to bloodied towels and even dirty sheets. He frowned as a twinge of pain briefly hit his lower back, but the pain quickly passed.
“Interesting,” he muttered, dropping the stick and taking a step back to look at the couple of dozen similar yellow sacks that had been left to rot in the forest, just a few hundred meters from the main section of the camp. “Crystal Wallace, what the hell are you up to?”
***
“I don't know what you're talking about,” Marlowe said as he made his way into the camp's main office. “
What
yellow sacks?”
“The ones down at the bottom of the eastern path,” Freeman replied, stopping in the doorway. “The ones with hospital notices stamped all over them. The ones containing medical waste that appears to have been illegally dumped in an area of outstanding natural beauty. I mean, I'm the landsman around here, I'm supposed to know everything that goes on, but clearly someone has been pulling this stunt behind my back.”
“What you're suggesting -”
“Is a criminal offense,” Freeman pointed out, interrupting him, “punishable by a fine of up to two hundred thousand pounds, plus five years in jail. Any kind of waste from a medical facility has to be properly disposed of in accordance with rules set out by the Department of -”
“And what has this got to do with us?” Marlowe asked, clearly frustrated. “So someone came and dumped some bags on our land? It's not a big deal.” He looked down at his paperwork for a moment, as if he was hoping that Freeman would simply give up and walk away. After a few agonizing seconds, he glanced back at the doorway, only to see that he still had company.
“You're sweating,” Freeman told him.
“I'm not.”
“Yes you are. I mean, you're always sweating, you're one of those people, but this time you're sweating more than normal. You're positively glistening.”
“Well, it's hot in here!”
“And you're sizzling like a pig on a spit,” Freeman continued. “You know what's going on with these bags of waste, and I think you should tell me before I dig deeper.”
Sighing, Marlowe looked over at the window, as if to make sure that there was no chance of anyone overhearing their conversation. He opened his mouth to reply, but the words seemed to catch in his throat and he took a moment to check his phone.
“Camp Everbee is a charitable organization,” he said finally, wiping sweat from his brow, “and officially we operate entirely on the donations made by people who send their children to spend time with us, as well as sponsorship from a few local companies and a very,
very
small sum that comes from fund-raising activities. We don't receive any money from the state. Nothing. Everything that happens here happens because of the hard work of the staff. There are no handouts whatsoever.”
“Sounds tough.”
“You have no idea.”
“So Crystal decided to top up the books with some extra services?”
Marlowe sighed.
“This has her signature all over it,” Freeman continued. “No offense, Dean old boy, but I don't think you're the type of guy who'd initiate something like this. You play along, sure, but actually setting it up would require a little more nous. I reckon she just lured you in with a few sweet promises, and then she had you running around doing her bidding.”
“Most medical waste isn't
really
hazardous,” Marlowe told him cautiously. “I mean, it's not like it's radioactive or anything, it's not the
really
bad stuff. It's just waste that happens to contain a small amount of blood and other body fluids. Most of it's from a cancer ward, anyway, so it's really no different to the waste that the camp generates on a daily basis anyway. It's just stuff that's too dirty to be reused. People get so funny about this sort of thing. It's completely irrational.”
“And it has to be incinerated.”
“Technically, yes, but only because bureaucrats have stuck their money-grubbing noses -”
“And incineration is expensive,” Freeman continued, with a knowing grin, “so it's not entirely impossible that a hospital seeking to cut corners would pay someone a lesser amount to just make the problem go away. If that means dumping large quantities of waste a few hundred miles away, they probably figure it's not a very big risk. They can use a middleman to transport the bags, so plausible deniability is an option in the unlikely event that they get caught. A set-up like that could save hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.”
“But -”
“While other people in the chain could also make a pretty profit. Seems like it's a win-win for everyone.”
“Exactly -”
“Except for anyone who comes across those bags. By the way, whoever dumped them really should have bothered to remove the labels that identify the bloody hospital. Then again, I guess they must have arrogantly assumed that they were untouchable.”
Marlowe sighed again, as if he was struggling to come up with the right words to explain his position. “Those bags,” he said eventually, “contain nothing worse than low-grade medical waste. Worse things get flushed into rivers and the ocean every day, and nothing bad comes of it. Plus, it's all more than a year old. The hospital it came from doesn't even exist anymore, so we're talking about a historical program that ended a while back. I'd also point out that without that program, Camp Everbee would have gone bust. It's thanks to Crystal's side-deals that you and I have jobs.”
“There are twelve sacks sitting out there,” Freeman continued. “They're rotting, they're slowly seeping their contents into the environment.”
“Blood and piss and shit,” Marlowe replied. “That's all. Perfectly natural things.”
“Potentially contaminated by God-knows-what from the hospital.”
“Then resign,” Marlowe continued. “Take the moral high ground, quit, report the whole thing to the authorities and walk away with your head held high, knowing you did the right thing. Meanwhile, this whole camp will get shut down, there'll be no more holidays for these poor sick children, and another ray of hope in this miserable world will have been lost.” He paused. “And good luck finding another job, by the way. Got something lined up already, have you? A man with your track-record? I've seen your employment history, it's a miracle you're not starving in the street.”
Freeman stared at him for a moment.
“I'm going to keep an eye on this,” he said eventually, checking his phone and seeing that he still had no signal. “As the landsman here, it's my job to look after the natural habitat and ensure that this camp respects the environment. It's kind of hard for me to do that when Crystal Wallace is cutting deals behind my back and allowing potentially toxic waste to be dumped here. I can't do my job if I don't know what's going on, and
you
can't just dump this crap and expect it to stay contained.”
“Then I'm sure your letter of resignation will be on Crystal's desk first thing in the morning,” Marlowe replied. “And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm afraid I have work to do. We have twenty-four young men and women for whom this camp represents a chance, perhaps even a last chance, to forget their worries and have a good time. I, for one, do not intend to do anything that gets in their way.”
“Good little puppy,” Freeman replied, smiling as he turned to leave. “The bitch has trained you so well...”
“So you're telling me you cleaned all three of these toilets?” Crystal asked, standing in front of the cubicles. “You spent the whole afternoon on the job?”
“I did,” Lizzie replied.
“I helped,” Laura added.
“Then why are they still utterly filthy?”
“Well,” Lizzie began, “I mean...”
“We can only assume,” Laura said, interrupting, “that in the hour since we finished, all three toilets have been used by people who, for one reason or another, chose not to follow the usual etiquette.”
“That seems highly convenient,” Crystal said darkly. “If I didn't know better, I'd be tempted to believe that you didn't complete the task you were given.”
“Well, I did,” Lizzie said, with a hint of uncertainty in her voice.
“Maybe you have reference photos?” Laura suggested. “Like... So you can compare the mess now to the mess before? I'm sure you'd see that there's a big difference.” She pointed into the middle cubicle. “I'm pretty sure that particular patch of smeared shit wasn't there this morning.”
“Actually,” Crystal replied witheringly, “I
do
have reference photos. Or rather, Mr. Marlowe has some.” She turned to Marlowe. “Don't you?”
He held up his phone and used a finger to swipe through a series of images.
“You have got to be kidding,” Lizzie said, her eyes wide with surprise.
“So nice try,” Crystal continued with a supercilious grin, “but I'm afraid you've
both
been caught lying, and now not only will you have to complete the work that was assigned to you, but you'll also be on toilet-cleaning duty tomorrow afternoon. That might seem harsh, but it's part of the overall experience here at Camp Everbee. I want you to learn the importance of responsibility.”
Sighing, Lizzie looked over at the mop and bucket.
“And when you're done,” Crystal added, “don't put the refuge bags with the normal trash. Take it further down the path until you find some large yellow industrial bags and leave everything there, okay? We don't want that sort of thing too close to the cabins, now do we?”
“Sure,” Lizzie said with a sigh. “Fine, okay, I'm sorry we lied, that was wrong. Just... We went to look for Beth. We figured she had to be out in the forest somewhere, and we were worried he might need help so that's what we were doing all afternoon. I know what you said earlier, but I really think you need to call someone and report her missing. It's been too long now, and she's blatantly not just wandered off. I think something might actually be wrong, and she -”
“Oh,” Crystal replied, interrupting her, “didn't anyone tell you? Your friend Beth Bondell came back to camp about half an hour ago. Turns out she went for a walk and felt a little ill, but she's absolutely fine now.” She smiled, seeing the look of shock and Lizzie and Laura's faces. “Case closed, ladies, now get to work!”
***
“What the hell happened to you?” Lizzie asked a few hours later as she sat on the bed next to Beth, who she and Laura had found sitting in the cabin. “We were worried sick about you!”
“I'm fine,” Beth replied, a little blankly. “Really.”
“We thought maybe you'd collapsed,” Lizzie continued, “or been kidnapped, or maybe hunted down by something. We went all the way to the lake today to look for you. At one point, we even worried that you'd been taken by this weird black-tentacled thing that we found in a deer.”
Beth turned to her. “What are you talking about?”
“Check this out,” Lizzie said, bringing up the video on her phone and starting to play it for her. On the screen, the dead deer could be seen, with Lizzie's hand reaching into shot and poking the carcass with a stick until the tendril whipped out. “We found it in the forest,” Lizzie continued, “and we have
no
idea what it is, but it seems kinda crazy, don't you think?”
“Let me see,” Beth said, taking the phone and watching the end of the video.
“Have you ever seen anything like that?”
“It's a fun video,” Beth replied, swiping the screen to the right and tapping on a couple of buttons.
“Hey,” Lizzie said, reaching out for the phone, “what are you doing?”
Beth handed the phone back to her.
“You deleted it,” Lizzie said with a frown. “What did you do that for?”
“Sorry,” Beth replied, “did you want to keep it?”
“Never mind, I already put in online.”
“You did?” Beth stared at her for a moment. “Why?”
“To see if anyone knows what it is. I also saved the GPS numbers, so I can go back later and take another look. By the time I leave Camp Everbee next week, I'm going to know exactly what's going on here. I mean, that thing is mental!”
“It's probably nothing,” Beth told her. “You should leave it alone.”
“As if!”
“I told her not to poke it,” Laura said as she eased herself onto the other bed. “I told her it's a bad idea to poke things in general.”
“And I told
her
,” Lizzie continued, “that it's a bad idea
not
to poke things, especially if you're trying to find out what they are.” She paused for a moment. “So where were you? You were gone for, like, twelve hours.”
“I was just taking a look at the area,” Beth replied.
“For twelve hours?”
“Is that too long?”
Lizzie stared at her for a moment, unable to quite work out why she was feeling creeped out. She'd only met Beth a day earlier, but she already felt as if something was different, as if Beth's expression was strangely blank and unemotional. Her eyes seemed empty.
“So you were just wandering around in the forest all that time?” Laura asked from the other bed. “Like... a hippie, that kinda shit?”
“I wanted to get to know the terrain,” Beth said, turning to her. “It'd be suicidal not to know what the surrounding area is like. How can you live in a place without familiarizing yourself with the environment?”
Lizzie glanced at Laura, and they exchanged a puzzled look.
“I'm sorry,” Beth continued, “I didn't know that my absence was going to cause problems. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again.”
“You'd better,” Lizzie replied. “I was put on toilet duty. Do you have any idea how gross it was to even go near those cubicles?” Hearing a noise at the door, she looked over just in time to see Kirsty entering the cabin. Before she could say anything, however, she felt a hand on her belly, and she looked down to see that Beth had reached out and placed a hand on her, just above the waistline of her jeans. “What are you doing?” she asked cautiously.
A faint smile crossed Beth's lips.
“You're being creepy,” Lizzie told her, gently taking her hand and moving it away. “Creepy's not good.”
“It's not creepy,” Beth replied, keeping her gaze firmly fixed on Lizzie's abdomen. “It's beautiful.”
“Double-creepy,” Lizzie muttered, before swatting Beth's hand away as it came closer. “Seriously, stop touching my gut like I'm some kind of expectant mother.”
“You shouldn't be ashamed,” Beth said softly, with tears in her eyes. “You should embrace it instead of using all those chemicals and pills to try to kill it.”
“Are you taking about my cancer?” Lizzie asked, horrified by the idea.
“You guys are seriously gross,” Kirsty said from the other side of the cabin as she applied some lip-gloss. “Oh hey, Beth, sorry about going on ahead without you last night, but I knew you'd make it back okay. Unlike some people here, I didn't have you down as some dip-shit who couldn't even navigate her way through a fucking forest without someone to hold her hand.”
“I'm fine,” Beth said, turning to her. “Really.”
“So Todd and I are going down to the lake again tonight,” Kirsty continued. “This time, though, we'd appreciate a little privacy. It's a couple thing, okay? I don't really expect you gals to understand, but we don't want eyeballs on us, if you know what I mean.” Turning to Lizzie, she winked. “Grown-up stuff.”
“You shouldn't go down there,” Lizzie told her. “Something's not right.”
“What's up? Jealous? There's other guys around, although I admit none of them are as hot as Todd. Have you seen his abs?”
“I don't like the forest here,” Lizzie continued, trying to bring up the website with her video but finding that her connection was down. “Laura and I found something out there. Something weird and... wrong.”
“Was it your sense of style?” Kirsty asked. “Because that's weird and wrong.”
“Don't listen to them,” Beth said suddenly. “There's nothing wrong with the forest. You should go to the lake with your boyfriend.”
“I wouldn't say he's my boyfriend exactly,” Kirsty replied, with a broad smile that suggested she was already infatuated, “just... You know, we like hanging out together, and we definitely don't want any company tonight, okay?” She checked her make-up in a compact mirror. “Also, girls, I need your help. We won't be leaving until midnight, so it shouldn't be hard to get away without being spotted, but if anyone asks if you've seen us, just say we're not feeling well. Be really non-specific and make sure you cover our asses, because the last thing we want is someone coming down and catching us while we're...” She paused for a moment. “Holding hands,” she added with a grin. “I'll owe you big-time, okay? Deal? Girls help other girls out, don't they?”
“Hang on,” Lizzie replied, “we -”
“Sure,” Beth said, with a smile. “Don't worry about it. You just go and have fun.”
“Thanks, creeps,” Kirsty said, heading back to the door. “I'll pay you back later. If you want, I can give each of you an exclusive, one-on-one make-up and fashion session for half an hour. I'm really good at stuff like that, I'll totally make you look a hundred times better.” She glanced at Lizzie. “Most of you, anyway. There's a limit to my powers, even though I'm a goddamn wizard with blush. I promise I'll do my best.”
As she headed outside, swinging her butt, Lizzie turned to Beth.
“Did you have to actively encourage her?”
“Why not?” Beth replied. “There's nothing out there that can hurt them.” She began to slip under her duvet. “If you don't mind, I've had a long day and I could really use some sleep before dinner. Would you mind letting me have the cabin to myself? I'm exhausted.”
“Sure,” Lizzie said, getting to her feet and leading Laura to the door. She glanced back at Beth, who had already turned her face to the wall. Exchanging a curious glance with Laura, she led her outside and pulled the cabin door shut.
“That was weird,” Laura muttered, limping forward on her crutches.
“It was more than weird,” Lizzie replied, peering through the window and watching Beth's sleeping form for a moment. “It's like she's a completely different person.”