Camp Clayton

“Ok, listen up,” Mr Lancaster, my sixth-grade teacher said. “First of all, Mr Johnson and I appreciate your efforts in getting ready quickly and orderly. We hope it’s a sign of things to come.

The bus lurched around a corner and he grabbed onto a hand hold and continued, “Secondly, as you all know, we are heading to Camp Clayton for four nights. There we will be engaging in numerous activities like bush walking, archery, rafting and many other fun things–”

As Mr Lancaster talked I found myself drifting off. I spent all last night worrying about this trip that I couldn’t sleep. I was a ball of nervous energy, thinking I’d forgotten to pack something important or that I would get lost on a bush walk or drown while kayaking. Camp Clayton was a yearly event for Cradle Cove Primary School. Everyone wanted to go and the bus was packed to the brim with kids.

The bus’s gears grinded and I heard Mr Lancaster say, “Any questions?”

A few hands went up and he picked out a girl named Courtney up the front, “How will we be sorted into our cabins?”

“Good question,” Mr Lancaster said. “Each cabin has four beds so four to a cabin.”

“Do we get to choose who we cabin with?” asked Brady.

Mr Lancaster glanced at Mr Johnson, the P.E teacher who looked like a bulldog.

“No,” Mr Johnson said in his usual gruff voice. “This is an exercise in teamwork and building your skills. Not a social hang out.”

A protest went up but Mr Johnson quieted it with a sharp look. “You will be assigned your cabins when you arrive. It will be random except girls will be with girls and boys with boys.”

More protests.

“QUIET!” Mr Johnson barked and I was sure the windows rattled. “This is final and there will be no discussion.”

Whether everyone accepted this or they were too scared to say anything I don’t know but the bus remained quiet except for the droning engine.

“Right, thank you Mr Johnson,” Mr Lancaster said brightly. “Now that is sorted and we understand the cabin situation, any more questions?”

“Sir, what about drop bears?” 

The question was asked by Andy and I heard some other kids snicker with laughter.

“Drop bears?” Mr Lancaster said, confused. “What are drop bears?”

Andy stood up and began walking down the aisle. “You don’t know them? They’re like koalas but much much bigger.”

“Aww,” said someone.

“Oh no, Nicole,” Andy said. “Not ‘aww’, they’re hunters. Killers. Like koalas they live in bushes. They climb trees like koalas but that’s where the similarities end.”

Andy had reached the front of the bus and turned to face us like he was our teacher. “Unlike their distant cousin, drop bears are carnivores and they are smart. One of the smartest animals in Australia. They climb trees and wait above pathways, waiting…waiting. Hidden among the leaves. And there they wait, for hours they will patiently wait for their next meal to walk by and when it does…” Andy trailed off, his eyes scanning the bus full of his captivated audience until his eyes locked on mine and he gave me a creepy smile.

“And then…” he whispered. “They attack from above.”

And just as he said that I felt something crash onto my shoulders and I screamed.

—---------------------

Once the bus reached the forest, the roads became narrow with sharp turns around barricade-less corners that overlooked steep drops filled with tall trees reaching up, like they were trying to grab the bus.

After they finished laughing at me for the joke Andy and his best friend Hunter played on me - Hunter scared me by grabbing my shoulders - Andy narrated the bus ride like he was David Attenborough, telling us a story of how a bus full of school kids went over the side of the road, tumbling down the cliffside before it disappeared into the trees below.

“They never found the bus,” he said. “And Plymouth Primary was closed for good. Legend says if you drive this road at night you’ll see the yellow bus driving along this very road, the ghostly faces of kids looking out the windows and–”

It was at that point Mr Lancaster told Andy to sit down and not long later the bus pulled off the main road and onto a dirt road. 15 minutes later Mr Lancaster announced we had arrived.

We all looked out the window as the bus passed through a metal archway with ‘CAMP CLAYTON’ written above it and the bus filled with the buzzing of excited voices.

The bus pulled to a stop and we all disembarked, crowding around a welcome centre built of logs. A sign stood before it which read: Van Diemen's Valley welcomes you to Camp Clayton. 

Below it was a logo showing a picture of a kayak, a bike and a hiker in the shadows of tall trees. 

The sun was shining but the air was crisp and fresh and I shoved my hands in my jacket pockets just as Mr Lancaster called everyone over. 

Standing with Mr Lancaster and Mr Johnson was a man wearing a bright orange camp shirt.

“Good morning!” the man said cheerfully. “I hope you had a good trip. My name is Dave and I want to welcome you to Camp Clayton. I’m one of the camp supervisors here. We have a lot of fun planned for you over the next four days, beginning with archery and then capture the flag.”

A murmur of excitement went up as Dave continued. “We have some basic rules at Camp Clayton. First rule is no boys in girls’ cabins and vice versa. Any breaking of this rule will result in an immediate expulsion from the camp. The second rule is to follow the rules of each activity. These rules exist for your safety. Breaking these rules means you will sit out of the activity. Multiple violations will get you sent home. And lastly, no walking around at night. This is for your own safety.”

We all waited for Dave to elaborate but he dismissed us cheerfully. Mr Lancaster assigned us to our cabins and we grabbed our bags and headed to our cabins.

I was passing a cluster of tall gum trees when I heard something coming from the trees and I stopped. I studied the trees before me and waited, listening.

Nothing.

Shrugging, I continued on.

I stopped again. There was that sound again. It was a low, guttural growling sound coming from high above me. I’d never heard anything like it before. I scanned the trees, searching for the animal, but all I heard was the rustling of leaves.

Shrugging, I continued on to my cabin.

—--------------

For four days we spent almost every moment of daylight doing some sort of activity; canoeing, archery, hiking, cornhole and heaps of others. I was having a lot of fun.

It was our final night and we sat in the hall eating when Dave stood and called for our attention but everyone ignored him and after trying three more times, Mr Johnson stood up and told everyone to shut it. His voice boomed around the hall and at once everyone stopped talking.

“Thank you, Mr Johnson,” Dave said with his customary smile. “Now given this is your last night, we have one last activity for you.”

A tired murmur raised up from the long table.

“Don’t worry,” he said with a smile. “It’s optional. Tonight, we will be going on our famous night hike. One of the more popular activities at Camp Clayton, we will be on the lookout for our abundant nightlife. In the past we’ve seen the tassie devils, quolls, wombats, possums, tawny frogmouth and a variety of owls.”

Amongst the murmur, snippets of excited chatter rose as kids turned to one another and began talking.

“Awesome!” said Kevin.

“I love owls!” said Elle.

“Are you going to go?” a voice said next to me.

I turned in surprise to see Noah sitting next to me. I don’t know where he came from. Noah was quiet and a little weird, but I liked him and always said hello. We even did some of the team games together when no one else partnered up with him.

I shrugged, “Yeah I think so,” I said. “I’ve always wanted to see a tassie devil in the wild. What about you?”

“I wonder if there will be drop bears,” he said, ignoring my question.

I sighed.

Noah looked at me, “You don’t think so?”

“No. It’s just an urban legend,” I said. “Why? Do you think they’re real?”

Noah stared at me, his dark eyes piercing and I suddenly felt uncomfortable. He gave me a small smile, “We’ll see, won’t we?”

—-------

It was a chilly night and only twelve kids signed up for the hike. We stood in the light of the welcome centre while Dave and Mr Johnson stood on the steps marking our names down. 

They were our guides for the night and after roll call they handed out flashlights and Mr Johnson addressed us, “There isn’t much to say aside from stay in the groups, torches on at all times and follow the person in front of you. Dave will be leading the hike and I will be following behind to make sure no one strays.” He narrowed his eyes at us, “You might think because it is your last night that you can screw around but if you do…God help you.”

With that, Dave set off and we followed him onto a dirt track leading away from the cabins and into the night.

We came to a small clearing and Dave called us to stop and have a break. I don’t know how long we’d been walking but the cabins were long behind us. It was a clear night and bright stars smattered across the sky. Crickets chirped and we heard the rustling of leaves and bushes as animals scampered away.

“Where’s Andy?” Mr Johnson suddenly grumbled causing the crickets to stop chirping.

Silence blanketed us as we waited for Andy to answer. It extended to an uncomfortable level before Mr Johnson spoke again. “Hunter?”

Nothing.

“Andy? Hunter?” Mr Johnson said, louder this time. I think it was the loudest I ever heard him speak. Normally his grumbly voice was enough to get the attention of everyone in his class, but now his voice bounced off the trees and I heard more animals scurry off.

“Did anyone see where they went?” he asked. All our lights were focused on him and they cast his face in sharp shadows.

The silence continued until a tiny voice spoke up, “I saw them before.”

All the lights turned to Nicole who looked small in their glare.

“Where?” Mr Johnson demanded.

“They-they walked off, back there,” she stammered, pointing back the way we’d come from.

Mr Johnson snorted out some foggy breath and turned to Dave, “Stay here. I’ll go find them.” And without waiting for a response, Mr Johnson stormed off, our lights following him until he disappeared into the darkness.

As soon as he was gone, everyone started talking at once.

“They’ve gone too far this time.”

“Mr Johnson is going to skin them alive.”

The talking continued and I sat there listening. As I did I heard something coming from the bushes.

“What was that?” I said, though no one heard me, everyone was still talking about Andy and Hunter.

I stood up, and stepped away from the group, listening.

I heard it again. It was a growling sound, similar to what I heard on my first day. 

“Do you guys hear that?” I said, turning back to the group. But they ignored me. “Hey!” I shouted. 

Everyone stopped talking, stunned into silence at my outburst.

“Do you guys hear that?” I repeated.

Everyone remained quiet for a couple of seconds before Lachlan said, “No.”

As I turned around I said, “I’m sure I heard–”

My words were cut off by a piercing scream that echoed all around the clearing.

“Was that-that Mr Johnson?” someone said.

The group started talking loudly again until Dave piped up, “Kids. Calm down. I’m sure it was nothing but I have to check it out just in case Mr Johnson has hurt himself. Wait here. Do not move. I’ll be back shortly.”

We all watched in shocked silence as Dave headed down the same track Mr Johnson had moments before. 

Then I heard the sound again. It was louder in the silence and it sounded like a guttural growl, like from a dog.

“What could make Mr Johnson scream like that?”

“It was a drop bear.”

“Shut up, Noah.”

“What is going on here?” Nicole piped. “Where–”

Whatever she was going to say was cut off as Jeremy let out a scream. We all turned, our lights scanning the area where he was standing just moments before but he wasn’t there.

“Where’s Jeremy?”

We searched with our lights, calling his name as we did, but Jeremy was gone. I hadn’t realised it until now but the remaining nine of us had huddled in a tight circle. Our breath fogging up in the torch light. 

“We need to get out of here,” Ashley said.

“To where?” asked Tyler. 

“I don’t know! Back to camp?”

“Do you know the way?”

“We won’t make it anyway,” said Noah. “They won’t let us escape.”

I turned to him, “What do you mean? Who won’t let us?”

He was staring absently into the dark bushes before him, “They wait. They can wait for hours.”

“Who?” I repeated.

He turned to me, his eyes wide with fright. His breath misting as he spoke in a whisper, “Drop bears.”

“Drop bears aren’t real–” I started but yelped as I saw a dark lump drop out of nowhere, landing on Nicole. Her scream echoed around the clearing and we all swung our lights towards her just in time to see her being dragged into the bushes.

“Did you see that?”

“What was that?”

A second scream and I heard a solid thump, like a heavy piece of concrete dropping onto the ground. Then I saw something scurrying across the ground and plunge into the bushes.

We all stared at it in silence, the air was still and silent, and then a growl rumbled behind me. And another to my right. Suddenly we were surrounded by the low, rumbling growl of the creatures. 

“Run!” Tyler shouted and he bolted into the bushes.

We all did the same, running in any direction we could. I dived into the bushes, running as fast as I could as I heard growls and screams of others echoing around me. The growling multiplied, coming all around me as I ran. My light was in front of me, leading the way as I dodged around trees and leapt over bushes. I had no idea where I was going, all I knew was I had to get away from those things.

As I ran I heard the thudding sound of the creatures falling from the trees above. Each thud felt closer and I arched my back, running as fast as I could. My lungs burned in my chest and I felt like I was ready to collapse but I had to keep going.

Suddenly I tripped and fell to the ground. I felt a burning sensation in my calf that turned into a searing pain. I reached out for my fallen flashlight, but just as I grabbed it, something jumped on my legs and I felt another piercing pain in my thigh.

I screamed and thrashed about, trying to get the thing off me and in the flashing light I caught a glimpse of dark grey fur and a blood-red muzzle. The creature grumbled, but I managed to get my free leg up and kicked at the creature.

It was like kicking a punching bag and my leg shuddered with pain, but it was enough to get the thing off me and I scrambled up. Pain shot up my leg as I hobbled away, I felt blood running down my leg and the cool air on my skin where my pants had been torn.

The creature growled and I ran as fast as I could, my leg searing with pain with each step, and I heard the creature closing in behind me. It’s growling getting louder and louder. It’s presence right there behind me. It was no good, I had nowhere to go. The torch lit up a wall of bushes in front of me and with nowhere else to go I dived through them.

I landed hard and rolled, the leafy ground gave way to gravel and then bitumen. The growling had stopped, everything was silent except for my heaving breaths. I lay on the road, looking up at the stars, my leg burning with pain.

I don’t know how long I lay there but I heard a rumbling sound and I stood up, wide-eyed. The grumbling got louder, but it wasn’t the creatures. It sounded different.

Suddenly the road lit up in bright lights and a bus appeared around the corner. I waved at it, trying to get its attention and felt a wave of relief when it slowed and came to a stop before me.

The bus was yellow with black stripes and from the windows kids were looking down at me with blank expressions. The doors opened and I hurried onto the bus.

“You’ve got to help me,” I started. “There are these…creatures. They attacked us. My teacher, the guide, my friends, they’re all gone!”

The bus driver wordlessly closed the bus doors and drove off.

“Did you hear me?” I shouted as the bus rumbled down the road and then I froze as I saw the printed logo on the driver’s shirt.

“Plymouth Primary School.”