Ditchfields

Chapter 13

It wasn’t long before the group reached the mountain peak where we had originally agreed to meet. They were only standing around discussing things for a little while before I arrived. I didn’t reveal myself, instead I hid behind a tree, listening.

‘How did you know they were coming’ Monty quizzed Zac.

‘Adam gave me the heads up. He’s a fucking psycho’.

‘Why would he give you the heads up?’ Rachael asked

‘It was the creepiest thing’ Zac started, ‘he told me that if they turned up and killed us all, there’d be no fun for him. He wants the thrill of the hunt’.

Domenica shivered. ‘Fucking creep’.

‘What the fuck is wrong with you people?!’ Kenneth suddenly piped up. ‘You know Adam. How can you possibly think he’s capable of murder?’

‘Because he admitted it! Right to my face’ Zac rebutted

‘Would you have listened if he claimed innocence and said they were coming to get you? No. You would have questioned how he knew it. You wouldn’t have believed him. Adam’s smart, he knew you’d only listen and that the only way everyone would get away and survive was if you thought he was a killer. He embraced the role you’d given to him, even in the face of death. And he did it so that we could all live’.

No one had anything to say, and they slowly processed was Kenneth was implying.

‘And also, I cut him loose’.

Any doubts that I was a raving psycho suddenly left everyone’s heads, replaced with a panic as they realised I was free.

It was time to reveal myself.

I came out from behind the tree, roughly 30 metres away from them. When they saw me, there was no shouting. There was no panic and running away. They just stared.

‘Come on, then’ I yelled at them, absolutely furious. ‘Tell me what the fuck made you all believe that I’m capable of murdering my classmates’.

‘I-I saw with a bloody knife’ Emily said nervously

‘Oh my fucking god! I’m holding a knife with blood on it, and you decide that that’s grounds to try and shoot me? You murdered an innocent girl!’

Emily had nothing to say. I began walking closer to the group. Zac stepped forward. ‘That still doesn’t explain what you said to me before’

‘Kenneth summed it up pretty well’ I replied.

Monty joined in. ‘Adam, I’m sorry. With all that’s happened tonight we jus-‘

‘With all that’s happened tonight? Because our class is attacked by a bunch of spastics that just makes it okay for you to try to murder me? I can’t believe this. Especially you, Monty. I thought you knew me better than anyone here. Obviously I was wrong’.

While I gave Monty a death stare, watching him move back slowly, we heard Rachael call out.

‘Everyone, I’ve found something. You’ll wanna see this!’

We all quickly ran over to Rachael, who was on the other side of the peak, where we hadn’t gone before. It was only about 80 metres away, but we’d only stayed in the area where the Swastika that Kim had carved into the rock was.

Upon arriving where Rachael was standing, I immediately saw what she was looking at.

What we all saw on that peak filled us with a hope and joy we hadn’t felt all night. It was the most beautiful thing our eyes could have witnessed that night. It was lights in the distance.