The Serum

S E V E N.

I used to love camping with Dad. The s'mores, the late night flashlight puppets, the sounds of nature soothing me to sleep. 

Sleeping in the Wilds ain't no camping trip.

You'll be fine, you know how to make a campsite.

I glance around the brush clearing we made earlier. Well, Oliver, Lucas, and I made. Aria had sat, calmly filing and painting her nails. Who would think to paint their nails when you're in dangerous woods surrounded by bloodthirsty Creepers? No one with brain cells, that's who. Even now, Aria doesn't seem to understand what and how we're supposed to do this. 

"Would you mind helping?" Lucas snips at her, struggling with his own tent. After the sleepless night in the bunker, none of us wanted to try sleeping in one large tent. Since Oliver is the largest of us all, he had claimed the big tent while the rest of us had taken the smaller ones. Aria, of course, is not happy about this arrangement at all.

"Where do I plug in my curler?" Aria had complained as she plonked down a huge bag of cosmetics.

"We're in the middle of nowhere, Gilmore. There isn't any plugs."

"What?"

"Yup," I had added, maybe a bit too cheerfully. "No hair dryer, no straighter, no curler, no nothing. And if I were you, I wouldn't bother with the make up either."

"And why is that?"

"You'll be too sweaty and you'll end up looking like some deranged clown."

Aria had only groaned in response. For some reason, she just does not understand this whole 'roughing it' shebang. 

"Are you done yet? I'm feeling quite hungry." She says carefully from her perch on a log. 

"Sorry, princess. We ain't your personal servants."

"Yeah. You gotta get your own food." Lucas calls from his tent. If you could call it that. Aria's pencil thin eyebrows knit in confusion.

"How do you do that?" I stare at her, aghast. She actually seems genuinely confused.

"You're kidding, right?" She shakes her head and my face falls into my hands. We're not going to get anywhere with her slowing us down. We might as well forget it. 

Oliver sighs and peels himself from the tree he had been leaning against.

"Here, Aria, I'll show you how to forage." She shoots me and Lucas a dirty look and bounces after Oliver. I stand from my tent, amused. I had set it up ages ago; Dad made sure I knew how to build a tent in under five minutes. This, I want to see. Lucas is too busy getting tangled in his tent to notice me passing by. I peek under a flap.

"Do you need any help?" He glares at me.

"No." I lift a shoulder and follow after Aria and Oliver. Hey, if he wants to ruin his tent, then by all means. Oliver is crouched next to a bush of blackberries, by the look of it, explaining something. He gestures with his hands while Aria blows on her nails. My lip curls and I shake my head. The girl is a lost cause; I don't know why Oliver's even trying.

Suddenly, something rustles in the blackberry bush. Aria shrieks and ducks behind Oliver's broad shoulders. He stands, and she stands with him, quivering.

"It's a Creeper," she whispers , terrified.

Instead, out hops a harmless, tiny, rabbit. 

I can't help myself, so I burst out laughing, clutching my stomach. Aria snaps around, fuming when she sees me.

"It's not funny." She snaps, a flush coloring her tan cheeks.

"Au contraire, princess. That was hilarious. Have you never seen a rabbit before?" 

Aria harrumph and Lucas comes stomping through the bushes. I relay what happened to him and he laughs hard. 

"I told you, it's not funny!" Aria screeches, a bright red now. Oliver straightens and looks at us with mock-seriousness.

"Yeah, she's right guys. It's totally not funny."  I see the mirth in his deep green eyes and tuck my smile away.

"I agree. Not funny whatsoever."

Lucas catches on, looking almost sympathetic. "You're right, Oliver. Nothing about it is humorous at all." 

With a strangled cry, Aria roughly brushes through us and stalks through the underbrush back towards the campsite. 

Oliver scratches the nape of his neck. "We should probably apologize."

"Should we?" I say with a mischevious grin. Lucas chuckles.

Oliver grins, rueful. Lucas opens his mouth to say something when a terrified scream pierces the air. 

Lucas groans. "She probably just found a snail." I snicker, in agreement, until I hear the roar afterwards. Fear lances my gut. 

Aria screams again, terror evident in her voice.

"She's in trouble," Lucas concludes. I break into a sprint, the rough twigs scratching my bare legs. 

"Yeah, I think she's established that." I growl at him as we skid into the campsite. There, pinned against a tree, is Aria, visibly shaking. 

And, towering above her, is a Creeper Bear.