They had been driving for a few days now, stopping only every now and again. April’s eyes focused on the highway while Cam and Sharla sat in the back. Cam had been quite most of the trip, even more so than usual and Sharla couldn’t help but feel a tension in the air. Something was coming, and she suspected she was the only one who didn’t know exactly what it was. Her mind drifted back to the conversation they had when she returned to Spooky Burger.
“How is he?” She asked immediately.
April looked up, the pair had barely moved from where she had left them.
“He’s fine,” April said, “He’s healing quickly. He’s at his best here, this place protects him, it won’t let him go.”
“What about your wounds?” Sharla asked. “You took a few bad hits as well.”
April shook her head, “They’ll be fine, forget about me. What about you? What happened out there?”
“It’s over.” Sharla said, motioning to the sword and shotgun she still held. “I killed her.”
April smiled, a weight seemingly lifting from her shoulders. “You really are Cam’s successor then. He’s gonna be so proud.”
“What do you mean by that?” Sharla asked, her eyes narrowing. “I’m Cam’s partner, once he heals up things will be back to normal.”
April nodded, suddenly looking very sad. “You’re right, sorry. Listen we need to be gone by the time this place opens in the morning.”
“Agreed, we have an apartment not far from here, we can go there.”
“No!” Cam shouted, his voice causing them both to jump. Struggling to pull himself up, he said, “No, April, it’s time. You know where we need to go.”
Sharla rushed to his side, taking his weight as he leaned against her. “No we are going to the apartment so you can rest,” she growled at him. “It’s over now, the Girl is dead and we can relax.”
“No Sharla,” he said, meeting her eyes. “It’s not over yet. There’s one thing left, and then I will rest, I promise.”
Sharla stared at him for a moment, but she knew he wasn’t going to budge. She sighed and looked at April who only nodded.
“I’ll drive you,” she said.
It was going to be morning soon, and Cam’s wounds had since closed. He was walking on his own with little problem but he still wouldn’t be fighting for a while. Still the whole trip had Sharla on edge. April looked near tears the whole time, and Cam had seemed almost content. Every now and then she would catch him looking at her, his eyes bright with something she had never seen in them before. A thought had crept its way into her mind and she had forced it out at first, but now as the trip went on it she was having more and more difficulty ignoring it. Though it hurt her in more ways than she could count, she was forced to entertain her suspicions as to the purpose of this trip.
April took a sudden right turn onto a dirt road, eventually coming to a large patch of pavement on the outskirts of a large forest. “We’re here,” she said, turning off the engine and stepping outside. Cam took a deep breath and followed, and Sharla had to fight back tears as she too stepped out of the car.
Sharla could see the ruins of what was once a large building just off the highway, and realized they were standing in what was once a parking lot. The forest had reclaimed most of it and to Sharla it looked like just another abandoned building, but Cam and April looked at it fondly.
“Can you give us a minute Sharla?” Cam asked with a smile.
Sharla nodded, suddenly feeling very numb as she wandered towards the building, giving the two their space. She saw him hug April tightly, saw him whisper something in her ear, and saw her start to cry.
“Make sure you tell Ben and Cherry the same thing,” she heard him say and April nodded, hugging him again before stepping back. Cam nodded back and made his way over to her.
“I want to show you something,” he said, holding out his hand.
Nodding, Sharla steeled herself and took it, letting him lead her into the forest.
“There’s a town nearby,” Cam said as he walked with her. “It’s where I grew up. And that building is one of the first Spooky Burger’s ever built. It’s where I first started working, where I learned about everything that’s out there in the night, and it’s where I died.”
“Cam...” she started but he squeezed her hand and cut her off.
“Please...I want to tell you this, while I still have the courage.”
She grit her teeth, wanting to shout at him, wanting to scream that he didn’t have to do what she was now certain he was going to do, but she couldn’t. She loved him, and she had never seen him happier than he was now.
“I died fighting a werewolf. It was completely berserk and I was too young, too arrogant. I thought I could handle it. There were other factors that contributed but that’s the important part. April might still have a letter I left explaining the details. That was fifteen years ago now.
I’m a revenant. A soul with a body that’s long dead, and a powerful spirit that acts as the glue holding it all together. That spirit is the spirit of one of the first ever hunters, one of the first to fight against monsters like we do. That spirit and I worked together to continue our duty. For whatever reason, that spirit seemed to be entwined with Spooky Burger. It made me my strongest when I was there, and when I got too hurt or even took enough damage to kill a normal person, which happened a few times, the spirit would bring me back because we still had a job to do.”
Sharla took all this in as they walked deeper into the forest. Despite being too dark to see anything further than her hand in front of her face, Cam seemed to know exactly where he was going, and guided her expertly through the trees.
“Spooky Burger attracts those touched by the darkness, like you were attracted to it when you found me. It conspires to bring together people that have a grudge against those creatures that would prey on them. This one brought Ben, our cook, Cherry, our cashier, and April our delivery driver. We formed a team, and I trained them in hunting in the night. I taught them how they’d never need to be victims again. After a few years, another person came for the same reason. His name was Lyndsy.”
Cam smiled at the name. Sharla remembered hearing it before, when he and April were at each others throats before the Girl with The Dead Eyes had attacked.
“He was so young,” he said. “So naive; he was barely out of high school, working to save some money to pay for university. But somewhere along the way something had happened that brought him to us. So I taught him what I taught the others. What they shared the night with, how to see them, how to find them, and how to kill them. We all loved that kid, and for that reason I should have sent him home. But we thought we could handle it, that together we could handle anything that came at us.
But we couldn’t. Lyndsey died. He died because I was arrogant, because I over estimated our abilities. I never forgave myself for that. His death tore us apart, and we all went our separate ways after that. We crossed paths every now and again and April and the others would team up if there was something they couldn’t handle alone, but I never joined them. I never joined anyone. I swore I would work alone from now on, so no one else would get hurt.”
They stopped walking suddenly, and Cam took her hands, catching her eyes with his.
“When you first found me, sitting alone in a Spooky Burger in some dark city, I was terrified. You were exactly like him. You were just as young, just as determined, and I was just as sure I would get you killed too. To this day I still have no idea what made me take you on as an apprentice. But I’m glad I did.”
“Cam...” she said, but he cut her off again.
“You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me Sharla,” he said. “You are the hunter I should have been, you took the best I had to teach and made it better. I have never been more proud of anyone. You killed the Girl with The Dead Eyes, the single worst thing to walk the night when I couldn’t come anywhere close. And most of all, you were the girl who taught me what it meant to love again.”
Sharla gasped, unable to believe what she had just heard. “You...” she started, waiting for him to cut her off again but this time he let her speak. “You love me?”
He smiled and nodded. “I thought you'd want to know.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner? You know how I feel about you...”
“Because it would have made what has to happen now that much harder.”
Tears slipped from her eyes as she asked, despite knowing the answer, “What comes now?”
Cam motioned behind him and Sharla finally noticed where they were, and why they had stopped.
They were standing on a grave; another laying nearby, each marked by a simple wooden cross.
“That one is Lyndsy’s,” he said, pointing to the nearby cross. “And the one we are standing on is mine.”
Sharla stepped back, wrapping her arms around herself tightly. “You can’t... you can’t expect me too...”
“It has to be you,” he said. “You’re the only one who can. You’ve succeeded me in every way. I don’t need to be here anymore. My time is long overdue. Please, Sharla, there’s one last creature of the night you need to kill.”
“I can’t,” she whispered. “I still need you...”
“No you don’t.” He said, his eyes threatening to give way to the same tears that fell from hers. “That sword you carry proves it.”
The Inquisitor’s blade. She had forgotten about it until now, slung at her side.
“That sword will be enough. It will keep me from coming back. Please Sharla, this is how it has to end.”
He was right, she knew that. He had been dead for a long time, and he had earned his rest. She had watched him fight so many horrible things; go through so much pain, because he had to. Now she could set him free. Then why was this so hard? Why couldn’t she stop crying when Cam seemed so happy?
She took a long look into his eyes. She had never seen him cry before. She doubted anyone had. But he was happy, smiling at her as she stepped into his arms.
She let him hold her there for a long time as she cried into his chest. He stroked her hair, and whispered that it would be okay, that she was strong enough now, that she would never have to be afraid again.
“I love you,” he said softly, and she looked up at him.
“I love you too,” she whispered back as she captured his lips in hers, taking the kiss she had wanted for so long.
And then she thrust the Inquisitor’s sword through his heart.
He stumbled backwards out of her embrace and fell to his knees, staring up at her with such love in his eyes that it made her weep as the white fire began to consume his body.
He didn’t flinch or show pain, he simply closed his eyes as the fire spread, until finally Cam was gone, the smoke and embers blowing in the wind.
Sharla picked up the sword and stared at the grave until the sun began to rise, until she had cried her tears for the man that had given her so much.
“I’ll come back and see you I promise. Goodbye...Cam.”
Drying her tears, she headed back to where April was waiting, the dawn making it easy to retrace her steps.
Emerging from the forest, she saw April waiting, her expression mirroring Sharla’s own.
“You made him happier than I ever saw him.” April said softly. “I’m glad he’s resting now.”
“Thanks for doing this April,” Sharla said. “Helping us in the fight, bringing us here, all of it.”
April smiled. “Forget it,” she replied quickly. “I need to tell Ben and Cherry what happened, and I think they really need to meet you. Want to come with me?”
Sharla thought for a moment as she took one last look at the forest where Cam now slept, and at the life she had lived alongside him. She loved him, but she would be okay. Finally she turned back to April with a smile.
“Sure,” she said. “Let’s go.”
