"The Camping Trip"

“The Camping Trip”

By Cody Williams

 

1.

            Walter Smith walked around the bar a couple of times with his hand in his pockets. He looked up at a sign hanging above the bar that read THE BUFFALO MEN’S CLUB: INDIAN CREEK, TENNESSEE. He gave the bar tender a smile and pulled out two dollars.

            “A shot my good man!” Walter said to him. The bar tender smiled back and nodded. He walked back and grabbed a shot glass and slammed it down on the bar. He reached under the counter and pulled out a glass bottle of Jack Daniels and handed it to him.

            “On the house!” The bar tender said happily. “Will there is anything else sir?” He asked again. Walter smiled and grabbed the bottle of Jack and began to walk away. “Mr. Smith!” The bar tender shouted out. Walter turned back around and faced him smiling again.

            “Will you be telling us another great story sir?” He asked him. “Maybe something about your past?” He added. Walter just smiled and walked away.

            He walked over to the center of the room where his usual poker table was. He sat down with Jimmy, Mike, and Randy, friends he made since joining the club after they retired. It’s what all men in the town of Indian Creek…join The Buffalo Men’s Club.

            “Hello gentlemen!” Walter said as he sat down and pulled out a deck of Bicycle cards and took them out of the box. He laid the cards down at the center of the table and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He took one out of the carton and placed it in his mouth.

            “I thought Thelma made you quite smoking’!” Jimmy stated as Walter light up the cigarette. He pulled it from his mouth and let out the smoke and smiled. Thelma was Walter’s wife of thirty years.

            “Why the hell do you think I’m here? B***h won’t let me do nothing at home. Not since I retired.” Walter said with humor. The four men giggled and then looked up at the stage. “Has there been any good ones tonight boys?” Walter asked them as he took another puff from the cigarette.

            “No. Not really Walter!” Mike said as he reached down and put some wintergreen tobacco in his mouth. “The only good one was one some boy from Betsy told about men being murdered by some sort of f*****g ape think in the ladies room of a shopping mall!” Mike added.

            “Why don’t you go up there and tell us one Walter! I’m sure you got a great story to tell! You always do!” Jimmy said.

            “I don’t know about tonight fellas.” He said.

            “Come on! What’s it goanna hurt?” Jimmy asked. The four old men sat in silence for a moment and looked at each other. Walter let out a deep sigh and nodded his head.

            “Alright.” Walter agreed as he stood from his chair and proceeded towards the stage.

 

2.

            Walter reached the steps and walked up one at a time while holding his aching hip. Once he got on the stage, he walked towards the center where the microphone was. He tapped three times making three loud thuds come through the loud speakers followed by a scratching sound.

            “The story I’d like to tell tonight is called ‘The Camping Trip’!” He said. The chatter in the room began to die down as the group of old men gave their attention to Walter. “Thank you. Now, as I was saying, the story is called ‘The Camping Trip’ and believe me, it is one hundred percent true! Back in my younger days, I took a group of friends of mine on a camping trip at a state park located in Bolder, Colorado. We loaded up our station wagon and drove straight there. When we got there, we were introduced to a Native American man who led us to our camping site.

            He stopped about mile down the road and got out of his car and walked back to us. I rolled down my window and the old man looked in.

            ‘This is as far as I go to that particular area!’ He said to me. ‘It’s about a mile more down the road. You can’t miss it!’ He said. ‘Let me give you some advice though little white man! Turn back! There are things in these woods that are not for you! Spirits that lurk in the shadows! Beware!’ He said to us. The old man then leaned in close to me and whispered in my ear: ‘BEWARE THE SHAPE SHIFTER!’ he said. The man then walked back to his car, did a u-turn and traveled back down the mountain.

            ‘What the hell was that about?’ Nick, my friend who was sitting beside me in the passenger seat asked. I just shrugged my shoulders and continued to drive up the mountain. It was exactly a mile. Just like old crazy b*****d said. We pulled into our camping site and unloaded. After we set up the tent and unloaded everything from the car, I noticed that I had forgotten to pack batteries for the flashlights. I told Nick and Joe, the other friend with me, about this and we got back in the car and drove down the mountain to a convenient store at the bottom.

            We got the batteries and drove back up to our camping site, but something was different. None of our things were touched, but sitting next to our tent was a young girl. She was wearing a white dress and her hair was all matted together and she was completely covered in mud. She looked about seven years old and she was rocking back and forth and wining like little scared girls do. I knelt down beside her touched her on the shoulder. She jerked away from me and began to suck on her thumb.

            ‘Hey! Take it easy! Nobody’s going to hurt you!’ I said softly. Where did you come from?’ I asked her. She didn’t answer. ‘Do you want something to eat?’ I asked her. Still, she said nothing. ‘What’s wrong? What happened?’ I asked her.

            ‘My…daddy! Where’s my daddy?’ She asked me. She began to look around in the woods frightened when Nick cut in and pulled me to the side.

            ‘Look, I say we just put her in the car and take her into town! She’s obviously out of it! We need to get her some help!’ Nick said to me. We looked back at her. She was now looking in the woods and nodding her head in agreement and whispering something. I walked back up to her and asked her what she was doing. She didn’t answer. I knew what I had to do. I grabbed a shotgun and walked slowly over to the bush she was looking at and talking to. I looked in it and I looked around it. I found nothing. There was nothing there that I could see. I walked back over to her and knelt back down.

            ‘Sweet heart, where is you’re camp set up? Where did you guys come from?’ I asked her. She just pointed into the woods and didn’t saw anything. She stood up and began to walk into the woods and motioned for us to follow. We didn’t think anything of it so we did. We walked about two miles into the woods when we finally reached where she came from.

            There was a tent made from newspapers and a fire already built. Shaded hair covered the entire camp spot and there were severed human arms and legs everywhere. We covered our faces in disgust. We picked her up and ran the two miles again back to our camping ground. The little girl was kicking and screaming the entire way. I put her down on the ground when we finally reached back to our camping site. She saw something that sure shut her up. Sniffing around the campsite were wolves. I grabbed her by the hand and slowly began walking towards the car trying not to make any sudden movements. She shook herself away and ran towards the bigger wolf.

            ‘Daddy!’ the little girl shouted with delight. The wolf morphed into a human and picked her up and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

            ‘Very good sweetie! You found us dinner!’ The man said. He gave angry looks and then he and the little girl morphed into wolves. The three of us ran and got into the station wagon. The larger wolf ran up to the driver’s side door and began to scratch it. The creature hissed and howled as it tried to find a way in. I shuffled the keys in my hand and started the engine. I forced the station wagon into first gear and rocketed out of the camping site leaving everything behind.” Walter concluded.

 

3.

            “We never went back there again. But the experience still haunts me to this day! I started evil in the eyes that day! I learned that even the most innocent looking person has something dark to hide! THE END!” Walter said smiling. The old men in the audience gave him a standing ovation and Walter stepped off the stage and sat back down at his table. He delt the cards and the men did what they did every night. They played black jack and talked about life.

Copyright 2014 by Cody Williams

Courtesy of TRUE TERROR PUBLICATIONS

A division of TTP Entertainment

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Author's Note

Thanks for reading! Comments and reviews are always welcome!

-CW

Reviews

[NoelHC]

Cody, it was a good device to set up your main story inside the old guys' club setting, that worked well. Again the story reminded me to the old thriller short stories that were sold in a Reader's Digest size magazine when I was young. The story kept mu interest, and was well done.
However, again, there are so many typos to clean up. I find I enjoy a story that is well written, and spelled properly a lot more.
I hope I don"t sound like I am being picky, if you intend to sell writing some day, attention to details will please the editor looking to buy it.

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Noel!

-CW

[Sami Khalil]

Wow. This could be made into a movie about those wolves and the shape shifters...Excellent...:)...............................

[Cody Williams]

Thanks again Sami!

-CW

[Sami Khalil]

You are welcome...:).......................

[Dayran]

Your stories always highlight the way the mind and psyche work in a man. Wonderful stuff ... the kind of insight that would bring to the individual an understanding of himself. The wolf is a particularly significant piece of scheming that the passions create in getting the mind to respond to its needs ... its a quality of sharp focus in the passions that is a highly developed sense of intuition in a man. Good work ... Keep at it.

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Dayran!

-CW

[lissalovesyou]

Interesting.
I agree with Noel, it was nice to have it set up in the old guys' club, it did work out well.
This story's plot was cool , kept me reading the whole way.
Great job!
lissalovesyou:)

[Cody Williams]

Thanks again!

-CW

[Stephanie M]

You have me intrigued. I like the twist where the little girl morphs into a wolf, to help her father find dinner. Nicely written.

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Stephanie!

-CW

[Jackson H. Harley]

Cool story within a story, I like the idea of this seemingly ordinary guy having a rather extraodinary story :) and I believe there was even a cameo of one of your other stories in here?

[Cody Williams]

Yes. I loosely connect some of my stories from time to time. It's more evident in 'The Lost Empire' series though. Thanks for reading Jackson!

-CW