The Immortal Slave

2)Bad Feeling

"People Are Strange" by The Doors
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Cami listened to music on her phone for the hour drive down the highway. She couldn't bear to listen in on Kohl bragging of his worldly travels to all the places he had visited in the course of his life. Jack in contrast was very quiet and did not seem to really want to converse with anyone. Cami couldn't really place her finger as to why she didn't like either of them. It wasn't even anything they were really doing. Kohl was pleasant, polite, and provided eye contact when you spoke to him. Still, there was just something off about him where Cami couldn't figure out whether her distrust was because of not knowing him just a couple hours before or because she didn't like the way he looked at everyone. It couldn't even be crossed off as a young guy checking out a couple of cute girls. Even the nineteen-year-old male Hayden was no exception to the guy's strange gaze. Jack said and did nothing. He stared at his lap blankly, looking beyond sullen.

"Cams, you listening," Britney sighed, turning down the radio. Cami did a double take.

"Huh?"

Removing her earbuds, she found they were almost to the exit that led to the cabin by the lake. Cami saw Hayden and Kohl had switched seats, leaving the stranger now closer to both Britney and herself. "I asked if you like the outdoors," Kohl said, watching her carefully. Even though Cami didn't return his gaze, she could see him watching her through her side mirror.

"Yeah."

That was all she said. Typically, Cami wasn't very shy. She was bubbly and rather sweet natured to everyone. Tonight she was just not enjoying Nicole's stupidity of inviting these strangers to go along with their group. Had the girl ever seen The Hitcher or the Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Cami did with her older brothers. Bad things happened when people were stupid. Cami always felt uneasy just when she saw people looking to hitch rides on the highway. Even though both guys were dressed spotlessly in nice and clean clothing, she was still feeling strangely suspicious.

It was June and they were going to Bald Mountain Range camp grounds on a hot summer night. Why would the guys dress as if the heat didn't bother them? Cami shook her paranoid thoughts away. It wasn't as though the guys could try anything. They were equaled out with four girls and four guys total with their group. It would be eight against two. They could easily take either guy if they tried anything. Kohl didn't look too muscled compared to Adam or Braydon in the other car who played varsity baseball throughout high school. Jack looked like he could handle himself but didn't look like he cared enough to tumble it out with anyone.

"Not too talkative, are you?"

Cami blinked realizing the one named Kohl was talking to her specifically. His gaze was unwavering from her seat. She also noted he had a tinge of an accent going on. Romanian? She couldn't be sure. "My mama taught me to not to talk to strangers."

This was true. But, her strict Catholic mama also taught her not to spend the night with boys in cabins and use fake ID's to purchase alcohol. Really, talking to a stranger was the least of Cami's worries at this point. She ignored the sour side look Britney threw her as well as the bad feeling that her mama would not be pleased if she could see her now. If her homemaker mother knew what she was up to tonight Cami wouldn't be let out of the house until she was thirty! She would even have one of her four older brothers reading her the riot act. Even her little brother wouldn't be pleased with her.

Instead of feeling awkward by the curt reply from her, the man laughed at Cami's words. "That's actually sound advice. Did you know, over twenty-three-hundred people go missing a day? Well, technically those are only Americans," the man mused. "Global, who can really tell? Tens of thousands, maybe more?"

"Those statistics aren't making me feel any better having you here," Cami replied while watching out her window. She ignored Nicole's annoyed huff and Hayden's snort.

"Could you like, remove the stick from your puckered butt cheeks?" Nicole asked hotly, scoffing. Her apologies to Kohl could be heard by all.

Cami resisted commenting that that same stick was probably lodged through her own head permitting her intelligent thinking. She did not miss noticing how Nicole's small hand sneaked across the man's lap to touch his inner thigh. Cami rolled her dark eyes and stared out the window at the passing trees and shrubbery. If her childhood friend wanted to sleep with a stranger, that was her own business regardless of how stupid Cami pegged her for it.

"So anyone here ever played the reveal-your-blood type-game?" Kohl asked casually.

Cami's eyes widened as she stared out the window. They soon began to pull into the long driveway for Melanie's family's cabin. The guy was definitely a weirdo. Blood type game? Why doesn't he just ask what specific way they'd all like to be murdered? Cami found herself wishing she had gone in the other car with Melanie and her brother. There she would be listening to some rock music and guys bantering over all the Netflix they'd be watching for the next two weeks. The only reason she hadn't gone in the other car was because Britney had started pouting like an overgrown toddler for her not driving in the jeep with her.

"Oh why the awkward silence?" Kohl asked curiously. "Haven't you heard that's the med school way to take shots?" Cami gently relaxed her shoulders as the others laughed. It was then they all realized he was referring to a drinking game.

Kohl continued. "You pick a certain blood type and then secretly you have to ask every person what they are. For every person with the same type, the person asking has to take a shot."

"Oh my gosh, we should totally play that," Nicole said, smiling broadly. Cami half expected she would agree with anything this stranger said even if Kohl had suggested piercing their own ears with blunt needles.

"I don't know mine," Hayden confessed, looking disappointed.

"Don't you worry, mate. There's always a way to tell such a thing," Kohl smiled wistfully.

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