RUNE

8.

Only when the light of morning began to catch the underbrush of the forest did David's eyes finally close. Unfortunately, he hadn't even got one hour of sleep in before the camp began to stir. Starting with Katz sitting up in his sleeping bag and muttering some obscenities about his stiff body.
  He was making all the noise in the world digging through his backpack before he finally stood up and gave a nice stretch.

David, severely tired, rolled over and tried his best to ignore the obnoxious fumbling. But try as he may to catch some sleep, it seemed as if fate had decided against it. The sun had now risen just enough to deliver it's rays through the trees and directly into the tent. Katz continued to get ready for the day and despite all his noise you could still hear the teens voices leaking from their tents.
"C'mon David, we leave at 6:00 today, let's make the most of it." Katz announced as he patted David's shoulder, "Up and at 'em."
David only growled in reply and tucked himself into his sleeping bag further. Penny used to be a morning person, and it was all David could do to not choke her out when she tried waking him up.
As far as David was concerned, if you wanted to be awake in the morning then fine, but let him sleep for the love of all things good and wonderful...let him sleep.

You could hear the teens unzipping their tents and Katz once again was about to urge David to join them when a sharp scream pierced the air.
Rylee stood at the front of her tent with a face of horror. There on the ground in front of them, where the fire had been, was a large symbol tediously dug out of the ground. And in the middle, a dead animal punctured with a stake. It's fur lopped off in some areas while it hung lifelessly from its impalement.

"Oh my god." She whispered and clung to Becca and Mel, each of the girls were thoroughly freaked out by the gruesome sight. After all, who put it there? And when? The thought of someone doing this at night while they were asleep was horrifying.
Katz rushed out of his tent to confront whatever was wrong, but he too froze when he saw what the commotion was about. Almost immediately he recognized the symbol on the ground, it was the same one he saw in the guest book at the ranger station. Except this one was bigger, and had an animal staked to the middle.

"Mr. Katz, What is it?" Lea asked as she stepped around and trotted to his side, Katz shook his head and looked at the group.
"I don't know," Katz let his gaze fall back to the object in question, he stepped closer. "Probably some locals trying to scare us...or something." He guessed as he tried to look at the animal. It was a dog, a beagle most likely. Crouching down he searched it over, the animal was beyond hope of rescue.
Unfortunately, with what was left on it, Katz could tell that it was definitely someone's pet at some point.

"But we're locals." Frair said, "Oganha is the closest place besides Darrington."
"Or regulars, or something, look I don't know why anyone would do this." Katz stood and started to cover up the marking with his foot. Scratching out it's lines by pushing mulch and pine needles over it, "Some folks just get a kick out of scaring other people."
"I know I do." Ethan chuckled under his breath. Frair, in any other circumstance would have said something along the lines of 'same.' But in this instance found it more proper to elbow his cousin in the side.
"Dude, can't you be serious for once? The guy that did this could still be around here." Frair hissed, Ethan only rolled his eyes at his cousin's complaint.
"How do you know it was a guy? It could've been a woman just as easily." Ainsley objected and thus began a huge argument between the group.

"HEY!" Katz shouted, settling the teens feud almost instantly, then resumed covering the mark. "I'm going to go and report this to the ranger—" Katz stepped back, the mark was almost unrecognizable and that was good enough for him. "When I get back, we're going to bury the dog. Until then, I want you all in your tents."
"Why?" Derrick asked as he folded his arms.
"Because Derrick, if whoever did this is still out there I'd rather you all be in your tents than outside." Katz answered and tried to walk towards the station, but again, Derrick objected.
"Wouldn't we just be sitting ducks?"
"The tent offers a barrier, not a very strong one, but a barrier none the less. Unlike standing out in the open." Katz gestured to the forest around them. After that, seven of the eight teens retreated into their tents. But Ainsley made it a point to follow Katz.
"Mr. Katz?" She started as she followed close behind him. Katz briefly glanced over his shoulder at her, still hurriedly walking towards the station.
"What is it Ainsley?"
"Since I suffer from PTSD induced insomnia, I was up late...doing stuff." Ainsley's voiced dropped, "I don't remember what time it was... when I saw someone drive up."
"It was probably just the other ranger coming in for the morning shift. Could you please let me handle this?" Katz grumbled while walking up the ramp. Ainsley continued to follow him, elaborating on what she saw last night. Claiming to of witnessed what, unknowingly, David had seen too.  The visitor, creating that shrine like marking in the center of their camp.

"Then he/ or they, sorry, just drove away!"
"Ainsley," Katz let the door close behind them and walked up to the counter. Again, an empty reception desk greeted them. "I know you have an active imagination and I appreciate you sharing what you thought you saw—"
"I did see it! I'm not lying!" Ainsley shouted, "It happened I swear to god it happened, and whoever it was just stood there when they were finished. Why can't you just believe me?"
"I never said I didn't." Katz defended,
"So then why aren't you calling the police!?"
"Because I don't know the specifics and I didn't see it happen. It'd make more sense for us to file a complaint with the ranger than it would to call for the police." Katz turned again to the counter abd gave a yell for some assistance.

Ainsley annoyed by him not taking stronger measures to ensure their safety, began to look away at the various papers showcased on the shelf. One being the picture of the lost dog.

"Oh my god," Ainsley pointed at the picture, "That was the dog they killed..."
Katz leaned over and looked at the picture, it was the same one he had seen yesterday and she was right. There was no mistaking it, it was the same dog.
"Bastards." Katz froze, he tried hard to not swear in front of students and even in general. "I mean, jerks." He corrected, but Ainsley only shrugged in response. Again her attention was directed at the flyer of the lost dog.
It didn't take long for her to breakdown and start to cry. Sobbing that the dog was an angel, and people should all die, and so on and so forth. But Katz mainly ignored her as he again called for the ranger.

Nothing.

Ainsley wiped her eyes and took the flyer, stuffing it into her pocket. "Maybe we should look around?"
"No, this is a state building." Katz answered quickly, reaching over the desk he grabbed for a piece of paper and flipped it over. Writing down what happened at as fast a speed as his aching hands could muster. "I'm gonna leave this here, with my number and email address. When the ranger finally shows up, they'll be able to read it and—" He tossed the pen back into the cup and slapped the paper, "notify the proper authorities. Let's go."

Back at the camp, all of them were in their tents. And just as it had been in the evening, it was overcast. Only now, the rain was colder and softer. Light enough that it didn't make a noise on the tents. Allowing David to finally sleep in.

He heard the scream, but figured perhaps a squirrel or snake scared one of the teens. And with that knowledge fell back asleep rather quickly. Especially when the youths were restricted to their tents, things got quiet, fast.
He had no idea what the visitor had done, and part of him didn't want to know. David didn't even want to say anything about it. He had enough trouble on his mind without some creep invading their camp.

The teens however, had many different theories as to how the symbol got there. They didn't need David to tell them outright that some guy had made it. They were quite content with guessing up scenarios and arguing their points. But each hypothesis just kept getting more and more ridiculous.