Just Camping

"Wake up, it's time to go camping!" said my dad as he pulled the blanket off of my head. I groaned, going camping with my family was never much of a treat; there was usually lots of burnt food and at least one tent cave in. Still, my dad had been talking about it for the past few days so I managed a weak smile. It was like he was getting the idea every time he turned on the news. He'd start to watch it then start talking about all the fun times we had had camping (definitely not fun on my end), and switch off the tv. I guess today was the day... I rolled out of bed glanced in the mirror at my slight 5”2 frame and messy long red curls. I found a hair tie squirreled away in my painted ceramic bowl. 

My room was a terrible mess with half-finished art project strewn across the floor. Where were those shorts I'd worn to volleyball practice? Pretty sure they have at least a day of life left in them. I scoured my room looking past my collection of colourful dreamcatchers and my precious family portrait. The last family portrait before my mom had died. My eyes lingered there a moment, as they always did, taking in her familiar face and the face of my little brother. Life was so unfair, he was just 9 years old when they'd died in a car accident...My eyes landed on a pair of crumpled up white shorts. Aha, found them! I quickly got changed and headed downstairs to rustle up some breakfast.

To my surprise, my dad was already at the door standing over a pile of gear proudly. He tightened the straps to secure our packs and smiled up at me. "Ready to go kiddo?" he said in a cheerful tone. "Right now?" I squeaked. "What about breakfast?" "We'll figure that out on the road" my dad said as he stared at our gear with a faraway look in his eyes. I'd been off on summer break the past few days and he'd been seeming more and more distant. He’d been acting kind of weird and had taken both my phone and computer away. He’d said that we needed to ‘disconnect’ in order to ‘reconnect’ or some such. He could be really old fashioned.

Dad tossed me a granola bar and started to load our things. I was surprised to see our old family picture album in the pile. I reached down to grab the granola bar and picked up one of the big heavy bags to haul out to the car. It was so heavy that I nearly fell over. Wow was this ever packed full! I thought as I peeked inside. Were those...cans? Suddenly, my dad was in the doorway reaching for my pack. "I'll take that Hailey, you just grab the fishing line" he huffed, out of breath from loading the car. I hated fishing but I went to get the fishing lines without a word. It had been 2 years since we had lost my mom and brother in the accident and I tended to cater to my dad whenever he actually got excited by something. I remembered well the days when he would just stare out the window rubbing at the overgrown scruff on his face.

Fishing lines loaded, I slid into the car next to him. "This is going to be a great trip Hail!" dad said as he turned the key. I was expecting us to head north to the highway near my house but my dad surprised me by turning down a different road. "This will be much more scenic of a route" he said as he winked at me. I groaned, much more scenic always meant a much longer trip. It was strange to not be taking the highway though. It felt like maybe my dad wanted to talk to me about something; he kept licking his lips nervously and glancing at me sideways. It reminded me of the way my grade 10 art teacher used to act when she was getting ready to give me some 'constructive criticism' on one of my pieces. He didn't say anything though and it was deadly quiet for what felt like forever. I turned on the radio and was surprised when my dad let me fiddle with the stations. He usually liked to put on country music; making car rides with him particularly loathsome. My favourite song came on the radio and I bounced around happily. Dad just smiled warmly at me and pulled out some chips and sandwiches he'd had squirreled away in the backseat. Okay, maybe this wasn't going to be such a bad trip after all.

It was 4 hours of driving down paved roads, gravel roads, and finally dirt roads until there was no road at all. We pulled off at a trail beside the dead end. "Here" said dad as he gave a firm nod and parked the car. My dad somehow managed to shoulder both packs as he ushered me out of the car. He was a slight, wiry average sized man with red curly hair like mine. "You just take the fishing lines Hail" he said, "Wouldn't want them to tangle up!" He said, giving me a fond pat on the back as we started out.

We walked for what felt like forever. Every time I asked him how much further we had to go, he would say that we needed to get as close to the lake as possible so we could go fishing right at the crack of dawn. Finally, he stopped short at a small clearing and put the packs down. "okay, let's call it quits for tonight Hail" he said as he started fiddling with the snaps. It was like his hands just couldn't work the simple clips. He started getting upset all of a sudden and sat down hard with his head in his hands. I went a bit closer and put my hand lightly on his shoulder, "is this about mom and Kevin?" I asked quietly. He looked up at me, his blue eyes sparkling in confusion then said, "it's always about mom and Kevin" before letting out a big sigh. I set to work, undoing the clasps and he joined me.

We set up the tent and had to work hard to gather wood and get a fire going before dark. It was nearly pitch black when we finally got our fire lit. He heated a can of beans over the open flames and opened it with a knife. I asked him why he had a knife and he said that he'd forgotten our can opener. He sat close to me as we watched the fire. It was nice to sit close together like I was still a little kid.

I fell asleep snuggled into his shoulder watching the fire. Some kind of strange sound startled me awake. Was that a wolf? It didn't sound quite right; it had a high pitched screeching quality that didn't seem quite like an animal. My dad squeezed my shoulder, "Let's put on some music, shall we? You always used to fall asleep to this one" he said fumbling nervously with his phone. "There we go" he muttered as the familiar country twangs started up. I drifted off feeling safe and warm.

"Hail....time to wake up honey." crooned my dad gently. I opened my eyes to what felt like pitch black for a moment before I realized that there was a tiny spot of light coming over the edge of the trees. I rubbed my eyes sleepily, "what time is it?" I muttered grumpily. "Time to get out on that lake and catch some fish Hail! The early bird catches the worm!" said dad in a cheerful singsong voice. I yawned and hauled myself up. He pulled out some granola bars for us to munch on and started packing up our things. I sighed, gave a big stretch and set about helping him with our gear. "It's only a short walk from here Hail" said my dad as he passed me the fishing lines. We started out.

His 'short walk' seemed to go on forever and involved hiking over some very rough terrain. The path seemed to get narrower and narrower until it almost didn't seem there at all. What's worse, we kept hearing the strangest sounds and my dad kept taking us on what felt like a million detours. He always seemed so sure of himself when he chose a new path so I guess he knew what he was doing. He consulted with his pocket compass fairly regularly.

We reached the top of a hill and started down into a clearing when we saw a beautiful deer standing over something. It was stunning, it's beautiful round brown eyes stared into mine as it turned its muscular neck to look in our direction. It seemed to be chewing something and its muzzle looked a bit stained. It was standing over something blue and pink. What on earth could that be? I was too far away to tell. "Let's not disturb it" whispered my dad as he turned back down the path "we'll find another way around" he said matter-of-factly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out my absolute favourite gummy candies. My eyes bugged out as I accepted them. Dad didn’t usually give me these; he was always insisting that we eat ‘healthy food.’ This was awesome.

I followed him through some brambles as he used the knife to cut a path through "this way Hail!" he shouted out. "It's a shortcut! We'll be there in no time!" After another hour of climbing and cutting through overgrown bush, we finally emerged to an actual road. I had never been more relieved to see a sign of civilization. My dad didn't seem relieved and he seemed to clutch the knife tighter...

People! We saw a family of four nervously ducking around behind some houses. I waved happily but they gave me the weirdest most nervous look before huddling close together and hurrying away. My dad smiled with a hand on my shoulder "Don't worry about it Hail, they’re probably just locals who are sick of all the tourists coming in from out of town" He turned to look down the road towards the lake. This seemed to be a small lakeside town with only a few small quaint shops and some little cottages tucked back along the road. We continued down the main lane until we reached the lake. I was so happy to see it. Finally! We could catch a fish and start back home. Strange, the dock was empty of boats....My dad looked around nervously before starting over towards a shed. "Come on.....please........PLEASE" he muttered under his breath as he did something with the door. The big double door slid open and we found a dinky old row boat inside. "PERFECT!" exclaimed my dad.

It didn't look very perfect to me....more a wreck of a boat with peeling paint and chipped wood throughout. "Help me with this Hail" he said as he grabbed one side and gestured to the other. I sighed and grabbed the other side. I was a lot smaller than my 6"1 father and the boat moved around at a hilarious slant as we hauled it out to the lake. We got it there though, with only a few bobbles. My dad loaded up the packs and started to push the boat into the water. "Um dad....aren't you forgetting something?" I exclaimed gesturing towards the fishing lines with more than a little annoyance. "Good catch Hail!" my dad laughed, "we sure wouldn't catch anything without those!" He took them and gently laid them into the bottom of the boat. "Let's get on the water" my dad said, extending his hand to me while he licked his lips nervously.

I let him help me aboard and we pushed off from the shore. We rowed for a long time before I started to feel a bit panicked. “Dad.....DAD!" I shouted to get his attention. He had been so focused on rowing that he had barely looked my way the whole time. "I think this is far enough....I can't even see the shore anymore!" My dad gave me the strangest saddest look and started rowing harder. I had no choice but to row to try and keep up with him. We rowed hard until my arms felt like wet noodles and I was dripping in sweat. "Dad??!?!" I squeaked, "I need to stop." "Sure Hail" he said leaning back and glancing around anxiously. I had no idea why he was so nervous. What did he expect to see? We were so far out on the water that we couldn't see the shore or any other boats.

"Aren't we far enough out now dad?" I asked hopefully. My dad gave a heavy sigh as he looked out onto the water, "we need to get to the other side Hail....that's where the best fish are....it's the perfect spot...you'll see...this will all be over soon." I guess he was remembering how much I hate going camping. I reached out to take his hand, "It's okay dad" I said quietly. "Let's just get there and catch some fish so we can get back home. He smiled fondly of me and lifted his paddles "Ready?" he asked. I smiled, "Let's do this!" Dad set a much more relaxed pace and I started to feel more at ease. This was okay. I could do this for him. I was eager to get back home now. I wanted to capture all the details of that magnificent animal while it was still fresh in my mind.

The boat trip seemed to go on forever. We just kept rowing and rowing with little breaks for me to catch my breath. My dad seemed to be in a much better mood the further out we got and he was even singing his favourite song under his breath while we rowed. I was so relieved to see him acting more cheerful. Whatever was going on in his mind, this was helping. He pulled out some more granola bars and sandwiches on one of our breaks and I took that to mean it was lunchtime.

He chewed looking out at the water. "What a beautiful day" he exclaimed. "Dad?" I asked, "Are we ever going to actually fish on this fishing trip?" He looked at me with a twinkle in his eye, "of course we will! That's the whole point! It's got to be perfect Hail! Just the best spot! The best spot in these whole parts is on the other side of this lake." "Um dad....isn't the other side of the lake the border?" I asked. "That's right Hail! The fish are anyone's game though." Dad checked his pocket compass and we started out again.

We continued on that way until I realized that it was starting to get dark. My god, it was actually dusk! We'd been rowing the whole day straight through! I could see the shore now though. My dad seemed a lot tenser as we approached the shore. I couldn't understand why he would be acting that way but I knew he had some kind of grand plan he wasn't telling me. I guess it was best to just go along with it. Were those people?

"Identify yourselves!" someone shouted through a megaphone at us. My dad stood up and raised his hands "It's just me and my daughter, PLEASE she's just a kid!" I couldn't understand what was going on. I thought he'd said the border wouldn't matter if we were on the water? "Are you infected with ZO27 said the man with the megaphone." I could see he was a man now if I squinted. They were just far enough away that it was hard to make them out but not impossible. He seemed to be wearing a uniform of some kind. Green. Yes definitely green. Someone from the army was patrolling the border? "No no we're not infected! I swear it!" pleaded my dad. "Infected??!?!??!" I squealed. My father turned to me "hush now Hailey we just need to get through to this officer. Once he let's us through, we'll be free of this nightmare. There are no zombies in Canada so far." "ZOMBIES!" I shouted. The officer was saying something to my dad but I couldn't make it out. My ears were ringing. Zombies. Terrifying undead creatures that ate human flesh.....could it be true. My dad was saying something back to the officer. I heard the words, bitten and symptoms. Bitten. Like actually bitten by another person?

My mind was reeling. I stood up next to my father. "Dad what on earth is going on? How could you keep this from me? I don’t understand…Where are we going? I want to go home!" I started pounding on his chest and really freaking out now crying and flailing about. This just couldn't be true. I heard shouts from the officers on the shore "She's attacking him! She's infected! They both are! It's too late for them."

I felt the bullets fly down on us like hail. Hail. Just like my nickname. The one dad always used. I crashed down hard into the boat and so did my dad. It didn't hurt really it just felt oddly wet and sticky on my chest. I didn't have the strength to move, how strange. I managed to turn my head to look at my father. His eyes were filled with sadness. "I'm sorry baby, I'm so sorry" he cried as he stroked my hair. “We’ll be with mom and Kevin soon sweetheart.” He was covered in blood too. We weren't going to make it and we both knew it. He started singing the song he used to sing me when I was little. I let him stroke my hair as I drifted off into oblivion.