Tuesday, July 6
Blackwater Bay Campground
South of Bagdad, Florida

Corey Lee ignored his stepdad’s yelling and kept walking. He rolled his eyes at his best friend, Kevin Potter.

“Shouldn’t we wait for him to catch up?” Kevin asked.

Corey shook his head. “He won’t come this way. He’s taking the road. It’ll take forever.”

Besides, Corey didn’t want to wait. They were almost to the boat ramp. And it was stupid to turn back now. Corey knew this shortcut. He and Kevin had taken it the last time the troop used this campground. It was a straight shot to the ramp, which was just on the other side of these trees. Yeah, the brush was thick and the no-see-ums came at you in swarms, but wasn’t that what camping was supposed to be all about?

His stepdad didn’t want them taking the shortcut. It wasn’t safe, or so he’d said. He thought warning them about water moccasins and alligators would stop them, instead it only made Corey and Kevin more excited to take the shortcut. Ever since the dweeb took the position as a Scout leader he thought he knew everything about the outdoors. He already thought he knew everything about everything else. But Corey had been a Boy Scout for three years. He grew up around these wetlands. He didn’t need his mom’s latest “special friend” telling him what to do.

He still couldn’t believe she actually married this one. Which meant Corey was stuck with him hanging around the house, but it wasn’t fair that he thought he could invade Corey’s escapes, too. When he complained to his mom, she told him to stop “being a baby” about it. She said that Ethan wanted this to be a bonding experience between them. Corey didn’t tell her that bonding with the major dweeb was the last thing he wanted to do.

“Sounds like he’s following us,” Kevin said.

Both of them looked over their shoulders as they kept walking. Corey could hear Ethan, but he couldn’t see him. The brush was thick, but he could hear something snapping the branches and swishing through the tall grass.

“Maybe he’s not such a dweeb. Maybe you should cut him a break,” Kevin said, but Corey shook his head again.

“He doesn’t want us showing him up. You know, proving him wrong. Geez! Something sure stinks,” Corey said and then he tripped.

Before he could catch himself he was falling, knocking into Kevin and bringing him down, too. He slammed his shoulder into a tree trunk and felt his elbow scrape against the bark. Kevin went facedown. Corey could hear the marshy slosh underneath the pine needles. Immediately his jeans were soaked. And geez! It smelled bad, like rotting garbage.

Suddenly Corey jumped up, quickly forgetting any pain. He saw worms crawling up his pant legs, fat little worms. He brushed and hit at them. Kevin watched until he saw them on his arm, then Kevin was back up on his feet, too, doing a dance to get them off.

They were so frantic getting the worms off that it took them a few minutes before they looked to see what had tripped them. Corey glanced back first. It looked like a pile of debris, dirty black rags covered with mud and leaves. There was a lot of household crap left over from Hurricane Ivan that had gotten caught up in the trees and brush.

“What the hell is that?” Kevin said, grabbing Corey’s arm.

“What’s going on?” Ethan shoved his way through some branches. “I told you boys—” He stopped when he saw the pile that had tripped them. “Jesus Christ! Is that a dead body?”

“Is it?” Corey asked. And now he could see what was left of a face under a moving swarm of white and brown worms.

“Wow! That is so gross,” Corey heard Kevin say, and they both moved in for a closer look. He had never seen a dead body before except on TV or in Newsweek. He wondered if they’d be able to see any of the guts.

“Get away from there, boys,” Ethan told them, but then he started gagging and wretching.

Kevin looked over at Corey. This time he rolled his eyes. “You’re right. He is a dweeb.”