09 - Welcome to Camp Nightmare Read Online Free Page B

scientists. Explorers, kind of. They go off for months at a time, exploring the
wildest places.”
    “Well, Camp Nightmoon is pretty wild,” Larry said. “And you guys had better
be careful. I’m warning you.” His expression turned serious. “There’s no nurse
at Camp Nightmoon. Uncle Al doesn’t believe in coddling you guys.”
     
    The hot dogs were all charred black, but we were so hungry, we
didn’t care. I shoved three of them down in less than five minutes. I don’t
think I’d ever been so hungry in all my life.
    The campfire was in a flat clearing surrounded by a circle of round white
stones. Behind us, the large white-shingled lodge loomed over the sloping hill.
Ahead of us a thick line of evergreen trees formed a fence that hid the river
from view.
    Through a small gap in the trees, I could see a flickering campfire in the
distance on the other side of the river. I wondered if that was the campfire of
the girls’ camp.
    I thought about Dawn and Dori. I wondered if the two camps ever got together,
if I’d ever see them again.
    Dinner around the big campfire seemed to put everyone in a good mood. Jay was
the only one sitting near me who complained about the hot dogs being burned. But
I think he put away four or five of them anyway!
    Mike had trouble eating because of his bandaged hand. When he dropped his
first hot dog, I thought he was going to burst into tears. By the end of dinner,
he was in a much better mood. His wounded hand had swelled up just a little. But
he said it didn’t hurt as much as before.
    The counselors were easy to spot. They all wore their identical white shorts
and green T-shirts. There were eight or ten of them, all young guys probably
sixteen or seventeen. They ate together quietly, away from us campers. I kept
looking at Larry, but he never once turned around to look at any of us.
    I was thinking about Larry, trying to figure out if he was shy or if he just
didn’t like us campers very much. Suddenly, Uncle Al climbed to his feet and
motioned with both hands for us all to be quiet.
    “I want to welcome you boys to Camp Nightmoon,” he began. “I hope you’re all
unpacked and comfortable in your bunks. I know that most of you are first-time
campers.”
    He was speaking quickly, without any pauses between sentences, as if he was
running through this for the thousandth time and wanted to get it over with.
    “I’d like to tell you some of our basic rules,” he continued. “First,
lights-out is at nine sharp.”
    A lot of guys groaned.
    “You might think you can ignore this rule,” Uncle Al continued, paying no
attention to their reaction. “You might think you can sneak out of your cabins
to meet or take a walk by the river. But I’m warning you now that we don’t allow
it, and we have very good ways of making sure this rule is obeyed.”
    He paused to clear his throat.
    Some boys were giggling about something. Across from me, Jay burped loudly,
which caused more giggles.
    Uncle Al didn’t seem to hear any of this. “On the other side of the river is
the girls’ camp,” he continued loudly, motioning to the trees. “You might be
able to see their campfire. Well, I want to make it clear that swimming or
rowing over to the girls’ camp is strictly forbidden.”
    Several boys groaned loudly. This made everyone laugh. Even some of the
counselors laughed. Uncle Al remained grim-faced.
    “The woods around Camp Nightmoon are filled with grizzlies and tree bears,”
Uncle Al continued. “They come to the river to bathe and to drink. And they’re
usually hungry.”
    This caused another big reaction from all of us sitting around the fading
campfire. Someone made a loud growling sound. Another kid screamed. Then
everyone laughed.
    “You won’t be laughing if a bear claws your head off,” Uncle Al said sternly.
    He turned to the group of counselors outside our circle. “Larry, Kurt, come
over here,” he ordered.
    The two counselors climbed obediently to their feet and made their