"Gone Camping"

     I had been looking forward to this camping trip for a while. My friends and I were finally on break from college classes, so we decided to meet up and go camping out in the middle of the woods before summer reached its end.
    Night had fallen, drowning the world in darkness, save for the twinkling stars that were sparingly sprinkled throughout the night sky. We were sitting around the camp fire. I was roasting a marshmallow while the guy beside me was singing and playing a song on his guitar. He was once part of a band before they split up. We all sang along to his tune as the fire rose, illuminating our faces.
    This is what I really needed after such a long and busy week with work and family drama and everything. It was good to finally get away and relax a bit.
    But after the campfire faded and we all crawled into our tents for the night, I gazed up at the moon for a brief moment. It seemed larger than normal. You could see the details of the craters so vividly. I wish I would have snapped a picture of it. I crawled back into my tent and drifted into a much-needed slumber.

***

    The sun bled through my tent walls as I was awakened by the sound of my tent quickly and aggressively unzipping. I sat up, squinting to see who it was. It was a face I didn't recognize. I glanced down to see the suit he was wearing. Was this a cop?
    He hollered to some people behind him, "We got one!"
    I narrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "What's going on?" I asked, panicked. "And who are you?"
    He held out his hand. "Can you come with me? I'll explain everything."
    Hesitantly, I took his hand and he helped me to my feet. I slipped on my shoes and stepped out of the tent. There were several other cops around the campsite. I looked around in horror as I saw the other tents were torn to shreds. I didn't see any of my friends anywhere, but all their stuff remained. Looking off in the distance, I could see their car, fully intact. What the hell was happening?
    "It looks like your friends might have been dragged away by something in the middle of the night," the officer said. "Did you hear anything last night?"
    I shook my head, looking around as the officers were looking through the destroyed tents.
    "Well, we got reports of some kind of screaming and we were called out here to check it out," he said. "I'm sorry about your friends, but they might have gotten got."
    I looked up to the cop, tears welling in my eyes. "Well, then why didn't it come after me? Why would they just attack my friends?"
    The cop shrugged. "Maybe you got lucky. Maybe the thing didn't know you were in there."

***

    I was driven home in the police car and they walked me to the door. As we stood by the front door, the cop explained everything that had happened to my parents. I was too horrified, to shocked to even process that my friends were gone so quickly. Like, how do you even begin to wrap your mind around that? You go to bed and everything is fine. You wake up and everything had gone to hell and you're just left to pick up the pieces. What kind of a twisted world would do this to somebody? And what even happened to my friends?!
    After the cops left and my parents welcomed me back inside, my tears quickly faded. Looking over to the table sat a feast. Plenty of delicious meat. The aroma of sweet and saltiness floated through the air, making my stomach growl. They were always the best cooks.
    I took my seat at the table and grabbed the cooked arm. My brother grabbed the leg. We were scarfing down the food like we hadn't eaten in weeks. Which, we technically hadn't. That's why my parents had me go on this trip. They needed fresh meat. What better way to get it then to lure them to the middle of the woods, no cell service for miles. As I took another bite, I knew I had made the right choice in people to take with me last night...