Mr. Flounders was super excited to take us on a hike near the top of Mt. Boulder. This was next in Group #1's activity for day 1. We headed back to our tent site and changed into appropriate hiking gear then set off into the wild.

Mr. Flounders explained about a lot of different plants that grew on Mt. Boulder in the fall season. He went ahead and pointed at some birds you would also see traveling around at this time of the year. It was all really interesting but when was I ever going to use this information? I looked at Reina and she looked like she wanted to fall asleep from all the details being shot at her. Dylan looked as if he was paying attention but easily lost it from time to time. Cain didn't even pay attention as he had been focused on some other parts of nature.

"Alright, kids. Here we are," Mr. Flounder stood on top of a rock and pointed at the cliff a few feet from us. "Welcome to the top of Mt. Boulder," he grabbed his radio and made a quick status update informing the rest of the team below us that we made it for our first activity. We could also hear the other chaperones from other teams have made it to their first activity of the day.

We proceeded past a few more trees until we were now near the edge of the cliff. It was breathtaking. You can see everything from here. Mr. Flounders pointed at a tiny location just east of the cliff and told us that that point right there was Waterfront. We could also see the tiny roads hiding under the sea of trees that led us to Mt. Boulder.

I wished I had my phone so that I could take some photos of the landscape below us. Looking at the mountains and trees below gave me a sense of tranquility inside, so I closed my eyes and listened to the sound of the wind blowing through us.

"Hey, isn't that Waterfront?" Cain's voice startled me. He sounded concerned and when I opened my eyes he had pointed in the direction of Waterfront. From this far distance, we could see smoke trailing upwards from the town and into the sky.

Mr. Flounders reached for his binoculars and looked in the same direction. He stayed silent for a second then his radio went off and we could hear static sounds and some voices coming from the speaker, but the interference overcame any clear communication.

"Alright, everyone. Follow me," Mr. Flounders had gestured for us to follow him back down the trail that guided us up to the top of Mt. Boulder. "We need to move back down a bit so we can get a better sig—."

Before Mr. Flounders could finish his words, we heard a faint explosion coming from the direction of Waterfront. Our eyes began to widen at the sight of the town as some more smoke trailed up into the clouds, turning them gray.

Not even a second later, the warning sounds had gone off at the campsite. It was loud enough that it was beginning to hurt my ears, so I covered them while we continued to follow Mr. Flounders down the path back to the campgrounds.

We rushed down with Mr. Flounders following from behind so that he could keep track of everyone. I could see the anxiety coming from Reina's and Dylan's faces. What happened back there? Did something happen in Waterfront?

Reina tried to get close to me but ended up tripping. We all quickly stopped to help her up and she began to cry.

"Yuri. My ankle. I think I sprained it," she panicked as I pulled her up with her arms. I could see her ankles had scraped through some branches and her skin began to bleed. Dylan and Cain looked disturbed at what just happened. Mr. Flounders rushed to get to Reina and ended up carrying her on his back.

"Mr. Flounders. That was...that was Waterfront, right? W-was that an explosion from afar?" I asked him almost out of breath from running down the trail.

"It sure looked to be like one. But we can't be too sure what's actually going on, Yuri," he responded while trying to catch his breath as he held on to Reina.

We were almost at the campgrounds when we heard a scream coming from the direction of the small infirmary just adjacent to the main cabin. We stopped our trail when we witnessed a field guide forcefully open the door and rush out of the infirmary followed by another field guide that looked as if they had been attacked by something.

We could see them covered in blood as they were crawling on the floor attempting to leave the infirmary. We stared in horror when suddenly their body disappeared from sight. Something had grabbed them back inside the cabin. The only thing we could see was their blood trail on the wooden porch from being pulled back in. We stood there and listened to their tormented scream.

"Everyone stay quiet and don't make a sound," Mr. Flounders had ordered us. I can hear the fear coming from his tone. After a quiet moment, we could see a couple more field guides running in the direction of the main cabin attempting to fix the communication from their radios.

"Hey, maybe they can help us! We should go over now!" Dylan had stepped forward but was instantly pulled back by Mr. Flounders.

Not a moment later, we could see what looked like two students running up to the field guides and aggressively attacking them, biting them, and eating parts of their flesh. Blood had splattered everywhere on the dirt and the two field guides looked as if they had woken up again but acted the same way the two students did. All four ran in separate directions then suddenly the warning sounds went off.

Everyone was in shock. Even Mr. Flounders looked as if he didn't know what to do. I walked over to where he had set Reina down and asked if she was doing okay. She had kept her eyes and ears closed this whole time to prevent herself from throwing up. It was difficult for her to handle seeing a lot of blood and the agonizing screams didn't make it any better. I patted her shoulders, and she looked up at me with tears in her eyes. As I looked into her, I was reminded of Peter.

"Peter! Reina, I need to find Peter!" I began to panic at the thought that Peter was still out there somewhere. What if he was running away or hiding from one of those things out there? I needed to find him and make sure that he was safe.

"Yuri no—!" I ran away before Mr. Flounders could reach me.

Peter, please be safe somewhere. Wait for me, okay? I'm coming! Just stay put. I had hoped that Peter and his team were still located where they were having their first activity for the day. If I recall from seeing his pamphlet, it looked like they were going to fish southeast of Lake Muir which connected to the campgrounds near the main cabin.

I pulled out the pamphlet which had a map of Camp Navier and a portion of Mt. Boulder. It was a bit difficult without a compass, but I needed to try. I followed a trial ahead of me and it eventually led me southeast of Lake Muir. I didn't see anyone around, and I was beginning to get worried. Maybe their chaperone had already taken them to safety. I looked at the ground and could see that there were multiple shoe prints on the dirt that led in the direction of one of the bathroom cabins.

I followed the shoe prints as quietly and as attentively as I could. When I got closer to the bathroom, I could see that in front of me was one of the field guides but only they seemed to act differently. They had their back turned to me and it looked like they were sniffing the walls of the tiny cabin. They were also making screeching sounds from their mouth.

I took one single step forward and the sound of the puddle from the muddy ground made them instantly run in my direction. My eyes widened in fear and my body froze. Their face was covered in blood all over and I noticed that their mouth had been missing. I didn't know what to do and my body didn't want to move, so I instantly closed my eyes and accepted my fate. Then suddenly a rock was thrown in a different direction, bringing its attention somewhere else.

I looked in the direction where the rock had come from, and my mind was relieved to see Peter and his team had been sitting on the roof of the bathroom cabin in fear of that thing. They looked at me with their index fingers covering their lips as a signal to remain silent.