| “I’m assuming this means that camp is over then.” Mulder commented. Piper nodded and began walking down a hill. “We have to catch a bus.” She said. “Is it possible for us to be able to talk to you guys?” Scully asked. “We’ll take you home after we’re through but we’re running out of time. Tomorrow is Saturday and the camp will be closed. We need to figure out what killed this girl before someone else turns up dead.” “It’s okay with me, but I’m going to have to call my parents so they aren’t worried sick about me.” Piper said. “Me too.” Trinity said. Scully handed her cellular phone to Trinity and Mulder gave his to Piper. They both quickly talked to their parents. As they hung up, the two girls nodded to Mulder and Scully to signify that they could stay. “Agent Scully and I already spoke to Aloha but we need to talk to someone else.” Mulder said. “Well, the director is Daisy but you could also talk to Blue Jay. We’ll just go to the lodge and see who’s there.” Piper said. Trinity and Piper led the way down to the lodge. They continued speaking about Celine Dion, ignoring Mulder’s and Scully’s every word. They walked past their unit and looked to the picnic tables. A pile of pins was on the edge of one of the tables. They were used as name tags so that people would know what the camper’s names were. The girls continued walking up to the lodge. They knocked on the door and White Dove answered. She asked her what the girls wanted without opening the door. Mulder and Scully stepped up and showed the woman their badges. Blue Jay opened the door and let Trinity, Piper, Mulder, and Scully in the lodge. “Can we talk to Daisy?” Trinity asked. “She’s over there.” said while pointing to a woman sitting down. Mulder and Scully walked over to the woman. They introduced themselves and showed them their badges. The woman nodded to tell them to sit down. Mulder and Scully pulled over two chairs leaving Trinity and Piper standing. “We’re going to talk to Drippy for a little while.” Piper said. She and Trinity left the lodge and walked down the path to the waterfront. There were no lifeguards in sight so Trinity and Piper continued up a steep path towards a latrine. “Hey Piper, did you see either Jill, Eileen, or Shannon after swim today?” Trinity asked, as they trudged up the hill. “Now that you mention it, no. Maybe we were too busy talking about Celine to notice.” Piper answered. “Maybe.” Trinity said. Something didn’t quite settle in her stomach. She felt as if something was wrong. They walked up the slope and they heard a bloodthirsty scream. Piper stopped short, almost falling backwards down the hill. Trinity looked to the woods and thought she saw someone running through the woods. She heard another scream and her attention varied from the person in the woods to the ground below her. “Piper…look.” Trinity stuttered. Piper looked to the ground and saw Jill and Eileen’s dead bodies. This time it was Trinity and Piper who screamed. Piper forgot all about using the latrine. She and Trinity ran down the hill, as fast as they could. Drippy, one of the lifeguards, saw the girls running down from the path. Immediately, she was going to yell at them for running but by their faces, she knew they had a good reason. “What happened? Are you girls all right?” She asked, walking to where the girls had stopped. “Jill and Eileen are dead. We saw them on the path. We have to go tell Mulder and Scully.” Trinity panted. “We have to go quickly before anyone else sees the bodies.” Piper continued. Drippy was startled. She wasn’t sure what Trinity and Piper were talking about. She had heard no news about two agents searching the camp. “Girls, what are you talking about? Are you sure you’re okay?” She asked, a little shaken up that the girls said someone was dead. “There’s no time to explain, we have to go.” Trinity said. She and Piper were off again, heading back towards the lodge. They bounded up the porch steps and barged right into the lodge. A few leaders looked up when they saw the girls enter. It was a rule in camp that if you wanted to go into the lodge, you had to knock on the door first. Daisy stood up abruptly. She wondered what the outburst was for. Mulder and Scully stood up as well. They knew something was wrong. “Jill Smith and Eileen Washington are dead.” Piper stuttered. Scully looked to Mulder and they followed Trinity and Piper as they ran out of the lodge. On their way, a few leaders yelled at them to stop running and to hug a tree. Trinity and Piper ignored the remarks, knowing this was much too important to abide my camp rules. They kept running, not stopping this time, until they had reached the dead bodies. As they walked up the steep path to where the bodies were, Mulder kept Trinity and Piper behind him. Though they had already seen the bodies before, there was no need to see the horrific sight again. Mulder stayed down towards the bottom of the trail as Scully went up to investigate. As she reached the bodied, she bent down and checked the girl’s pulses. Scully knew they were dead. Scratches covered their entire bodies just like the previous victims. Scully shook her head, knowing the killer had to be caught. How many more people would have to die before they could catch the killer, whether it be animal or something of a different nature. At this point, Scully was even willing to except Mulder’s theory of the killer being a witch. At the bottom of the hill, Piper glanced over to the woods. She heard a noise, but no one else seemed to hear it. She peered through the trees and thought she saw something running. It looked as if it had a human figure. Piper got closer to the woods. She entered them and began walking. Trinity tried to follow her but Mulder caught a hold of her. He didn’t want either of the girls going through the woods but he had no way of stopping Piper. Piper looked harder and began running through the woods. She brushed away leaves and branches that got in her way. She was afraid but nothing was going to stop her from finding out what she had seen. She walked farther, finally seeing what she was looking for. The human form became clear to her and she recognized it as Thumper, one of the old camp directors. Her eyes blinked rapidly as if they weren’t human eyes. Mulder loosened his grip on Trinity’s shoulder and she sprung free. She ran into the woods, following Piper’s trail. Finally, the two girls met. Piper didn’t seem to notice Trinity behind her. She was in a daze but Trinity tapped her on the shoulder. Piper turned around, surprised. “What is it?” Trinity asked. “Nothing.” Piper responded. The two girls made their way back out of the woods. Mulder was relieved when he saw them both alive and not hurt. Two long horn blasts filled the air. Scully came down the path, wondering what the noise was. “What was that?” Scully asked. “There’s something wrong.” Trinity explained. “Different horn blasts mean different emergencies, but camp is over, what kind of emergency could there be?” “It’s a lost swimmer.” Piper said. She recognized the horn blasts immediately. She had gone to camp for many summers before so the horn was recognizable now. “We have a lost swimmer!” Drippy shouted. A few leaders came running down the path towards the waterfront. Some of them ran into the water, shrieking from the cold. A few others went to the woods that surrounded the lake. Some of the leaders who were in the water swam off to the far dock where the older girls swam. The other, that were in the water, all linked arms to create a human chain. They started at the edge of the water and dragged themselves deeper into the lake. Mulder wasn’t quite sure what was going on but he went back up to the hill and circled the bodies with rocks. Scully stayed down below to watch the leaders. She wouldn’t let Trinity and Piper out of her sight. They wanted to jump in the water and help but no one would let them. When Mulder had finished blocking off the bodies he walked back down the hill. He stood next to Scully, Trinity, and Piper, and waited for something to happen. Finally, some of the leaders had to break away from the chain. They could no longer stand in the deep water. Minutes later, a scream filled the air. It came from someone in the water. Scully ran over to the edge of the water, hoping she could be of some help. One of the leaders, Cashew, took her arm away from the link. She grabbed down below near her feet. She screamed for help. Another leader helped Cashew pull out a body. They dragged her to the beach as Scully checked her pulse. “She’s dead.” She said. Piper and Trinity bolted away from the Waterfront. Neither of them were sure of where they wanted to go but they both knew they had to get away from it all. They didn’t want to see death anymore. They both knew that they were probably the number one suspects. They were the two who had found three of the dead bodies. Trinity wasn’t sure what was going on. She knew that she and Piper had just met. Was it possible that piper could be the murderer and was just taking Trinity along for the ride until she killed her too? Trinity didn’t want to think about the possibilities but she couldn’t help herself. Back at the waterfront, Mulder went down to help Scully examine the body. The girl’s whole boy was covered in scratches. “That’s Megan Roster.” Drippy said. She could identify her by the red bathing cap that was on her head. On the waterfront, the girls were categorized by color, which was determined on how well you could swim. Red was the beginners and blue was the experts. From somewhere behind them Drippy started talking into a walkie-talkie. She walked to Mulder and Scully and said it was for them. Mulder took it wondering who was on the other line. “Mulder.” He said. |