Jessica wanted to make this the best camping trip ever. She had packed a couple of coolers of food and liquor. She had invited quite a few friends but some declined and some had backed out last minute. Now it was just her bestfriend Anna who was bringing along her boyfriend Jamie. They were taking Jamie's jeep because it had four wheel drive, Jessica's little hatchback didn't and they wanted to go as far into the woods as they could get. It was just the three of them but she wasn't going to let that sour their little trip. They had everything packed into the back of Jamie's jeep. They shut the hatch and Jessie climbed into the backseat. Jamie had a pretty good playlist and as always it was easy making conversation with Anna. The trip flew by and before she knew it they were jouncing down a little dirt path, that wasn't really wide enough to call a road. It wound it's way through the trees and up the mountain. If Jamie's SUV didn't have four wheel drive they would have barely made it 100 yards into the forest. After 3 hours of driving they decided they were far enough from any form of civilization. They parked the jeep and climbed out to set up camp. Jamie hauled the tent out as Anna and Jessie each drug a cooler from the car. Jessie had also packed some rum, vodka and mixes for them just incase they ran out of beer. Once the tent was spread out on the ground they all helped to set it up. Anna called dibs on unpacking the sleeping gear so Jessie unhappily trudged into the forest in search of firewood. Jamie was lighting the fire now but if they wanted it to burn into the night they would need more fuel. She finally gathered and entire armload and turned to head back. She stopped in her tracks. There was a dark wolf partially hidden by the trees watching her. It locked its chocolate colored eyes with her and froze her into place. She stared as it sniffed in her direction, then turned and slowly loped towards the mountain peek. Jessie let out a big sigh of relief and shakily walked back to camp. Anna and Jamie had unloaded everything. She sat down in one of the camp chairs after putting down her load of firewood.
"So there was a wolf out there." she said, laughing with a slight hysteric note. Anna looked worried but sat down at the fire. Jamie opened the doors on the jeep and cranked up some music with the logic the noise would scare anything away. Jessie checked her cell, dissapointed when she saw no signal. Anna took out a beer and tossed it to Jessie and she had to smile. A camping trip was never as much fun if you didn't get drunk.
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Ashton bounded through the underbrush. The girl he'd seen obviously wasnt lost if she was looking for firewood. That could only mean she was staying for a while, and most likely had company. He could still hear their music blaring through the forest, disturbing the woodland creatures. He darted under a falen tree back towards the cabin. Sam would need to know. The rest of the family would have to steered clear of that area until the group left. He sniffed. The smell of that girl and her city things still lodged inside his nose. His paws tore through last years leaves as he sped home. He spotted his twin brothers, Nick and Noah wrestling in what you'd call their front lawn. He didn't stop to talk. His toenails clicked on the front steps as he bounded up. He grabbed a pair of baggy shorts out of the hamper they always kept on the porched and slid them on before he was through the front door. He nodded to Kyle, one of his older brothers, who was sitting at the kitchen table reading a book.
"Sam! Humans!" he shouted for his other older brother. Sam was in charge because he was the oldest of them. Sam stepped out of the kitchen with an unhappy look on his face, or it could have been his happy look, Ashton never saw a very big difference between his expressions.
"Where?" he asked. Ashton tilted his head in the direction he'd come from.
"On the road to the south. Only about a fifteen minute run." he said. Sam nodded.
"Call everyone here." he said stepping into the living room. Ashton nodded and headed out to the porch. He threw his head back and howled to call in the rest of the family. Nick and Noah were right in the yard so they quickly bounded across the yard from where they had been wrestling. They trudged up the steps and grabbed a pair of shorts each. Kayla, Kyle's twin sister, lead the two youngest, Josh and Lily around the corner of the house and took the two pups inside. Finally Damien strolled slowly into the clearing, apparently in no rush he grabbed some shorts and headed inside. Ashton sighed; his family was definitely far from normal. Not only did he have two sisters and six brothers, yes his parent made like bunnies and reproduced nine offspring, they didn't leave the mountain. When their father had been shot by a hunter six years ago when their momma was pregnant with Josh they had coped. After that their momma had still made occasional trips into town for supplies every few months in the beat up old pickup parked beside the cabin. When Sam and the oldest twins were born, their parents lived in the city, but when Sam turned three and the Kyle and Kayla were not quite a year old their parents had decided they were safer living on the mountain where no one would learn their secret. Sam knew the way and had been to the city a few times because he was the oldest at twenty five now. Kyle and Kayla were twenty three now and had each been in a time or two. Ashton was the next oldest at nineteen but he'd never left the mountain, now had Damien, who was eighteen. Nick and Noah were only twelve, Lily was eight and Josh was four. So of the nine siblings, the only one even comfortable traveling in the city was Sam. Sam was in charge now. Their mother had gotten very sick last fall and died. It was hard now. Kayla was left with the job of trying to raise her siblings. Sam was left in charge of an entire family, and Kyle was the one left to do all the hunting and gardening to feed them. Ashton always helped out where he could. The whole family was now in the living room. Their log cabin was heated by a large fireplace and sported a whopping five bedrooms. Sam being the oldest got his own room. Kayls was stuck sharing hers with Lily because they were the only two girls. Kyle, Ashton and Damien shared the third bedroom, and the twins Nick and Noah shared the fourth with their baby brother Josh. The fifth and final room had been their parents and no one had the heart to move any of their mother's things. When siblings were fighting or someone was missing her a lot were the only times it was used now. They had a big kitchen and a big living room. There was a outhouse in the backyard and a big metal tub they could drag into the kitchen for baths. The kitchen had water in a tap you had to pump. They had the fireplace and a wood stove for heat and cooking. The kept a chicken coop outback as well as a few pigs and goats. Sam was the only one who knew how to drive the truck that was collecting dust beside the house. They didn't have electricity so no tv cellphones, video games or computers. Thier mother and father had gathered books to teach them everything they could. Their mother had taught them all how to read and write. They owned a set of enclyclopedias and several how to and idiots guides. The other books ranged from first aid, the car repair, to raising livestock to craft books. Even little Josh knew all his letters at only four years old. The living room was packed with the siblings draped over the two couchs and some sitting on the floor. Sam cleared his throat.
"So we have some campers to the South. Meaning Nick, Noah, Lily and Josh have to have a chaperone at all times. Ashton and Damien, we will trust you to be responsible but if I hear of you doing otherwise you will be staying in the cabin until they leave." he announced. Nick and Noah groaned in unison. Damien sighed loudly and left. Lily and josh turned to Kayla.
"Can we still play hide and seek?" Josh asked. Kayla smiled and picked him up.
"Maybe not hide and seek but how about tag? Bet you can't catch me." she said. She was a good babysitter because she was the fastest runner. This meant Kyle was in charge of Nick and Noah. He climbed off the couch to follow the energetic pair. Ashton looked up at Sam pleadingly once everyone was gone.
"Can I go investigate. I could find out how long they are planning to stay, or if they'll be coming any closer. They'll never see me in the dark." he said. Sam sighed and rubbed his head,
"I know you're just curious but I don't want that curiousity to get you killed." he said. Ashton's hopefull face turned into a frown.
"Don't let them see you." Sam said giving him a stern look, "You'll just freak them out." Ashton grinned from ear to ear.
"Sneak in, find out what you can and get out without the seeing you. Wait until nightfall when it will be easier to stay hidden." he said. Ashton grinned even wider and headed out to the porch where he found Damien moping.
"So house arrest because there are people around." Ashton said trying to cheer Damien up. They might be the closest in age apart from the twins but they couldn't be more different. Ashton was cheerul and open minded with a sunny personality. Damien was moodier and tended to run alone and had a short temper. Damien merely shrugged at him so he headed off into the forest behind the cabin. He was excited about seeing the humans. He'd never met a human aside from their mother. He'd never actually seen any other humans. He ditched his shorts for his fur and his paws tore through the underbrush. He had to use up some of his energy if he was going to concentrate on being quiet while he watched the humans. He was actually going to see humans, smell humans, hear what normal humans talked about. He figured a lap around the mountain top would wear him out and take up just enough time until he could go stake out the camp.
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Jessie took another swig of her beer, he encounter with the wolf long forgotten. Jamie was running the Jeep so the battery didn't die. So they still had the music cranked up. Anna was laughing with Jamie and Jessie was silently wishing she'd had a boyfriend to bring along. She checked her cell to see it was getting late, still no service. She yawned and heard a branch snap in the woods behind her. She turned and stared into the woods but could see nothing in the pitch black. Jamie was getting into a detailed story about one of his fishing trips so she zoned out. Anna hung on his every exaggerated word. She flicked through her phone to amuse herself. She caught a wisp of a signal and checked her facebook for any updates; nothing new. She had her own playlist on her phone and she scrolled through that until she got bored. Then she went into her photo gallery. She had a lot of selfies of her and Anna, mostly in a bar or during their current trip. She had several pictures of her cat Mia who was staying with her parents until she got back. Jamie's fishing story finally ended and Anna came to drag her out of her chair. It had been a while since she and Anna had a good night of drinking together. They danced and swayed drunkenly to the pop music blaring for the speakers. Jamie even got up and danced to a number or two. They had a great night.
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Ashton yawned. The humans were up much later than he was used to. It was really interesting to see the way they danced. Even their music was different from anything he'd ever heard. The was a lot of bass and the tempo was fast. He caught himself more than once bobbing his head to it. They hadn't done much talking since he'd shown up at dusk and he was wishing he'd come a bit earlier. The guy was sitting in a chair and looked like he was finally nodding off. The blond girl who had seen him earlier was looking tired to but the brunette was keeping her going. Finally the blonde pointed out that the guy was sleeping so the brunette ran over and silenced the music. Ashton ears were left ringing with the sudden quite. The two girls dragged the guy into the tent. When they finally settled into the tent, and he could hear snoring he tip toed into the camp. Everything was a new smell, a new sight. What they had been drinking smelled like bread baking gone horribly wrong. They had left the bottles strewn across the camp. The chairs were something different and interesting. They seemed to collapse for easy travel. Their tent was the same way but he'd seen a tent before. The fire crackled as a branch finally snapped. The vehical doors were all closed but it was different from the truck they had. Obviously much newer. It was all shiny and new. He turned to the coolers. They kept one at home for keep meat and vegetables fresh. He wondered what they had brought. He nosed the first one open and was a little surprise to see more of the god aweful drink theyd had. He lowered the lid and pushed it down with his paw for good measure before going to the next. This one had a bit more. He could smell milk, definitely not goats though. They had a few fruit and some strange plastic wrapped sausages. He shut this lid too and went to investigate the tent. They had been kind enough to leave the flap open. He poked his head in. The brunette was curled up with the guy fast asleep. The blonde was laying on her stomache facing away. She was looking at some strange type of light but he backed out quickly before he got a good look. He didn't want her to spot him again. He crossed the camp to investigate a stove fueled by propane. They'd cooked some pasta type meal out of a can. He sniffed the can too the proceeded around the campsite.