Dexter slid on the gravel of the parking lot as he rounded his car to make their escape. He threw the vehicle in reverse, just about spinning the little red Miata, and pulled it closer to the rest of the group. The car only had two seats- so the group would have to get comfortable if they had any hope of-
A thunderous crashing sound rang through the air and traveled through the ground. It made the hair on Dexter's neck raise. He turned around in his seat to look- only to see the bridge- their only means of escape off the island that the camp site was on, had collapsed. He turned to face the front again, and lowered the windows. He peered out the side of the car to Claire and the rest of the gang. Out of the corner of his eye he witnessed Penny attempt to distract the hulk. His heart swelled, but it would probably be in vain- they couldn't out run Scott without a significant lead or a car. With the bridge down, having to take a swim would slow them down too much. But- he had an idea. You all go swimmin'. If this doesnt work, tell my mamma I love her."
Dexter didn't wait for a response- he threw the car into first gear, and floored it directly at Scott, blasting his horn in an attempt to give Penny and early warning to dive out of the way. He was coming at an angle, so she should be okay, but weird shit happened sometimes. As he floored it, his mind drifted from the action at hand yet fixated at the same time. When Dexter's sister and father had died, there had not been a damn thing he could've done about it. Dexter was not an angry man, but all that anger and all that loss that he had felt and was still feeling was giving him tunnel vision on Scott. He had been completely useless. He couldn't stop his dad leaving for work that day, he couldn't save his sister when he respirator malfunctioned, but he could make a difference right now. Dexter couldn't see or feel- at least not like he normally could. It was almost like his hands were going numb. His sight was fixated on the monster- but electricity danced across his fingertips. Every engine light possible came on, and the radio began freaking out as he floored it. The digital tuner and traction control on his car disengaged suddenly- pushing him to pick up speed even faster in that short period of time. His high-beam headlights came on, far brighter than usual, even though he never turned them on. Despite all the anger he was feeling, Dexter felt good. It was like every breath he took was... electric.
Just as quickly as that euphoria came, it left. Dexter's lights shut off, the engine lights disappeared, traction control came back on, and Dexter was suddenly keenly aware that his car was moving very quickly while Scott was getting bigger and bigger. He didn't have his seatbelt on- and there were trees behind Scott. He winced and in a last ditch attempt to save himself now that he was feeling far less heroic, Dexter swung the drivers side door open and dove out of the side of the car before it hit Scott. When Dexter hit the ground, he was instantly unconscious for a few seconds. His body tumbled haphazardly, and eventually came to a rest. Dexter was still for a few impossibly long moments, but eventually came to. Dexter propped himself up on his elbows, but had difficulty standing. He was pretty scuffed up, and his hand hurt- but he was alive. He would likely be Scott's next victim if someone didn't get him on his feet.
Claire was hoping that there was a plan for getting the hell out of this. With Scott and his axe hanging intimidatingly overhead, there wasn't much they could do... but, some nutjob girl - Claire only had the vaguest idea of who she was - torched 'im with a flamethrower? Claire didn't know, but the girl had some major balls if she was willing to pull something like this. It was a distraction, but what about her? Scott put his hand up to block the flames, and yelled in anger... but was slowly pushing through towards her.
Who was going to save her?
You all go swimmin'. If this doesnt work, tell my mamma I love her."
Claire's head immediately whipped towards Dexter when he said this. He threw the car into high-gear, and Claire could only barely react when she shouted, "Dex don't!" Her heart was racing, what he was doing was stupid! "Let the idiot with the flamethrower-" But, she couldn't stop him in time, and the car sped right towards SCott - an enormous flash of light came from the high-beams, and the car flew right into Scott. He loudly yelled as he was pushed back by the car until he was pinned against a tree. Scott groaned, stunned as he weakly tried to push the car off of him... but, Claire knew that fucker wouldn't stay down forever.
But, she saw Dexter on the ground, pushing himself back to his feet. Claire immediately ran over to him, and helped him to his feet. "Jesus, Dex," Claire said, choking back tears, "I'll never leave you behind - no matter what happens." Claire said, shaking her head.
Zoey got to his other side, and also helped him up. She was the one to address Penny, with a short but sweet. "... Thank you, but we oughta get the fuck out of here." She pulled Dexter towards the nearest building - which happened to be the male dorms, and Claire followed.
Kimberly only weakly merely coughed when she heard Rita's little outburst. While it was harsh and very personal, she knew that tensions were high here. So, that was why Kimberly didn't hold it against Rita - she probably didn't mean it. Which was why she decided to just stick with focusing on barricading the house. She pressed the bed frame against the window with the help of Rita, then grabbed one of the cabinets and flipped it over until the top end was pressed against the bedframe. So it would at least slow down SCott if he comes through the window.
She grunted as she sighed - she wasn't accustomed to all this heavy lifting! The bespackled girl knelt forward a bit, and panted as she tried to give herself a break... Then when it ended - when she looked up at the window - she saw the sight of herself in the other side of the window. Some kind of doppelganger. Horribly mangled, with cuts all over her body - but cut in the fashion as if she was some kind of doll. Her eye was hanging out of it's socket, and she was grinning. The area was bathed in an orange-light as the demon - the apparition - reached towards her through the window.
When it made contact with her cheek, Kimberly was immediately filled with so much fear and dread, that it was almost alien to her. A fear that didn't belong to her, but yet she was still feeling it. Kimberly loudly screamed as she fell backwards right onto her ass. She crawled far away from the window as possible.
"... Girl!?" Jordan's voice broke the illusion, and everything went back to normal. "... Have you lost it!?" Jordan looked at her, scooting away nervously.
"I..." Kimberly said nervously. "I don't know what the hell just happened to me - I... I..."
Jordan blankly looked at her. Before Kimberly said, "I saw something out there."
That was when they heard some banging in the distance.
Scott remained pinned up against the tree, desperately trying to push it away. Yet, he didn't possess the strength. His lower body was destroyed as he saw his prey escape him. In sheer anger, he slammed both of his fists against the hood of the car and left two enormous dents in the side of the vehicle. He had the tools of his revenge, and yet he couldn't use them! He near-roared out of anger.
He heard a scream coming from nearby, and started getting excited.
However, the orange light beamed from the mountain... and shined on him. That was when black tendrils that appeared like tar rose from the ground, and went into his body. His muscles expanded, and his wounds healed. With one herculean feat of strength, he managed to push the car away. Out of anger, he grabbed the bottom of the vehicle and flipped it over with one hand. He started laughing as he went over to his trusty axe, and went straight for the cabin...
"Look, I'm sorry, I don't know what happened!" Kimberly weakly said as she pushed herself to her feet. "We have to keep reinforcing the cabins, or el-"
Scott Reese's axe came in contact with the door, damn near splitting it in half with all the strength he was swinging around now. Kimberly and Jordan screamed in fear for real as he peered inside through the split - before he walked through the door like it was nothing. Shattering all of their well places defenses as he held an axe tightly with one hand, and observed everyone.
He laughed as he witnessed all the prospects for slaughter!
"So, this is what I get for arriving late, eh...?"
Madeline thought to herself as she looked around the room, hugging her knees. While she did rush to arrive at the campsite before the party was over, she didn't expect the first thing to hear was screams. She quickly ran over to the campfire to see a humanoid creature, like one from the horror games she had played before, wielding an axe. Already Maddie had started backing away from the scene, watching in horror as one of the others tried to distract the beast, only for her to be struck down, and killed. That moment was when Madeline started running.
Now she's hiding with a few other in the Infirmary, waiting out the massacre. Maddie rocked in place, trying to calm herself down, yet she was still shaking, even if she didn't appear to be afraid.
"I hope some of the others make it through this..." She sighed.
Yet her attention was turned to the nurse, who seemed to have gone mad, muttering how "It's all useless",
right before she lunged at one of them, scalpel in hand.
Madeline quickly looked for a blunt object to knock out the nurse with as she was busy trying to slice at the two that struggled against her. She looked back at the three to see someone get thrown across the room. How the hell? The nurse seemed to calm down a bit, as she picked her scalpel back up, and turned to face the same guy she first attacked.
"Why even try?"
There seemed to be a hint of sadness in her voice as Maddie took a step forward, unsure whether to try and reassure the nurse or not.
Then she had an idea. An ultimately stupid and deadly idea.
"I'm gonna go look for survivors." Madeline told the others, grabbing an umbrella to use as a weapon as she walked up to the door, ignoring any objections they had. She didn't really care for her own safety, either way.
"Quickly lock the door behind me. If I die, tell my brother that i'm sorry I wasn't the best sister." She said, before unlocking and stepping out of the infirmary.
"I knew you were a loser, but I didn’t take you for being a fucking idiot, too."
Winded, like being punched in the stomach. It hurt to hear her spit acid at him, it was unexpected and it made him feel shaky. He was used to nasty comments, he was used to being shoved aside and unheard. Yet, he was strangely unprepared for this and the little beast of self doubt was having a fucking blast with that. It was the first time in a long time that he hadn't had a wall at the ready, there was nothing for her words to bounce off of. It was the first time in a long time that someone had managed to hurt his feelings.
The words were in the atmosphere, pounding on his head erratically to gain his attention. They were bells ringing in his ears, they were rain pounding so hard that it was stinging his flesh. He wanted to curl in on his self, he wanted to disappear from this spot. He wanted to be anywhere but here. Her apology sounded strained, like she was grating it out through her teeth, like there were tears caught in her throat. It didn't make him feel any better.
At Kimberly's request for help, she was all too quick to get to her feet and leave him there. He was dazed, staring after her as she avoided his look of confusion. She wouldn't even look in his eyes. He wanted to say something, maybe something to reassure her that even if that hurt his feelings, he wasn't angry. He didn't blame her for lashing out, he blamed himself for saying something to have caused it.
Instead, he found himself staying strangely silent. While sirens were screaming in his ears so loudly that it could have made him grind his teeth, he kept his mouth shut. He could talk to her later, he could apologize for saying nonsense to try to comfort her. He could- he could do something. Right now, he needed to help move things or else they were all goners and there would be no later.
He stood slowly, stiffly, and- froze. First, Kimberly's scream. Then, the door cracking as an axe slammed into the wood and he saw the face of that monster on the other side. He stepped through, wood crumbled around him as if it was nothing. Martin stepped back, his gaze flashing around the room for something, anything that he could use to ward off the beast. Everything in this room seemed so useless. It was all too heavy.
He had to think, what would suffice as a weapon or a distraction? He could become a distraction himself, but what would that mean for him if he wasn't fast enough? Likely, an axe to the head. Well, he didn't know what would happen unless he tried. Settling his nerves, he prepared to do the most reckless thing he'd ever done.
The boy sucked in a breath, stepped onto one of the scattered bed frames, balanced precariously, and raised his voice into a shout. "Hey, shit for brains, over here!"
He had no delusions of grandeur, he didn't think that he could beat that thing in a fight. He didn't think that he could even really outrun it. He did think, that if he'd judged this correctly, he might have time to leap to the side before an axe split his face in half. That was all speculation, of course, he'd already seen what happened to the brave and impotent here. This wasn't bravery though, this was sheer recklessness. If it was busy trying to mutilate Martin then it might give the others time to get out.
And then what? He figured he'd try to scramble away or hope somebody lured this beast out before it ended his pitiful life. God, he hoped this wasn't in vain. "Come and fucking axeify me, big guy!"
In the darkness of the boat house, it was easy to become undone. Nothing on this earth scared her quite as much as darkness did. She had lived with this childish fear for about as long as she could remember. It was easy to stave off, she slept with the light on most of the time to chase the darkness out. The only light in their hiding place was the beam from Lynette's phone, it wasn't much but it kept her from losing her cool.
She focused on the beam of light, trying to calm her breathing and not peer into the darkness. She counted each breath, measured how long she held it and released it. It wasn't really completely dark, she had Lynette's phone light. She just had to keep focusing- A sort of shuffling, scraping noise.
She looked around, panic flitting across her face. It had to be a rat or something, right? In the corner of the room, she could barely see it. It was more of a silohouette than a person but the light highlighted it's cheeks in amber. It was moving slowly but with purpose, dragging it's left leg along behind it as if it were nothing but dead weight. Maybe it was dead weight.
When she could finally make out the features in its face, a noise escaped her throat. The sound was pitched, reedy and thin. It was a sort of half-scream, she immediately stumbled backwards and nearly toppled over herself onto the ground. She needed to get the hell out of here.
Omen, her last name meant "omen" in Spanish.
Omen, this had to be some kind of omen. Her mom had always told her that if a person saw their doppelganger, they were sure to die. This had to be some kind of sign. How could it be anything other than a sign when the creature she was staring at was herself? The same golden brown skin, the same thick dark hair and the same crooked smile. The same in every way.
Her left leg was dragging behind her and blood was trickling down her lowerlip, dripping off her chin. Her eyes were flat and gray. It looked as of half of her face had been torn from the bone, it was bloody and crawling with maggots. It made her want to puke. The thing, her doppelganger was only getting closer and closer to her.
Another pitched noise escaped her, this one cut off almost immediately by her covering her own mouth. She squeezed her eyes shut, her chest heaving with each struggling breath. When she opened then again, the doppleganger was gone and she was freaking out over nothing but empty air.
Nate expressed little in the way of dissent when the 'chickenshit' of the two girls suggested she didn't want to find out what the commotion was - the three of them stood frozen by the docks, speculating on just what the fuck was going on. Thoughts drifted and began to take form as words in his mouth when the three of them were met by a taller guy running from the camp, tears staining his face and babbling away at them.
"Oh Jesus Christ, you have no idea how happy I am to see you right now Lynette, Jesus fucking Christ, someone fucking died, my god, someone fucking died over there, Jesus Christ, oh fuck." Died? Nate felt a weight drop in the pit of his stomach, horrified at the thought - what if he'd stayed by the fire, "One of the professors got fucking chopped in half... There was some kind of monster over there... Oh god..." It was then, in an instant, that horrific speculation shifted to abject terror - punctuated by the loud crash of a tree in the distance that would've caused him to fall into the lake if not for the guardrail catching him where he stumbled.
The sound of a tree falling in the far distance quickly forced Chad to jump, before he began to whisper as loudly as he could again.
Oh, shit.
The guy kept on going, but his voice faded into the background as Nate's thoughts drifted towards the next course of action, on what to do next, when one of the girls - Lynette, the guy had called her - jabbed a finger towards boathouse and led them in. Nate followed suit, slipping into the disused building and pressing his mass against a corner to peer out. It was too far off at this point to really make anything, the dark didn't help much either, but the screams and frantic voices were still out there - and for a split second he swore he saw a flash of bright life in conjunction with the distinct rev of a car's engine.
What now, dial 911?
No - something else - instinct won out o nthis one. Nate frantically dove into the pocket for his phone, tugging it out and unlocking it - he brought up his list of contacts and flickered down the alphabetically categorised list.
Quent.
He was going to catch shit for this, but what other option did he have? People were dying, for fuck's sake. He could die here tonight - right there in the moment, the only thing Nate gave a shit about was hoping that Quent had his phone with him he swiped to call the Deputy up. The display froze for a few seconds, which elicited a panicked "Oh-shit!" from him, but then it transitioned to the dialling screen and, within seconds, the phone picked up, almost magnetically drawing it to his ear.
"Quent?! C-Can you get this?!" The words slipped out, mentally isolated fro mthis stood around him, "There's a guy at the camp site killing people! He's already killed one of our teachers!"
It felt like an hour before he heard a voice back, "Why do I care?" It was harsh, rasped - as if Quent had endured another fifteen years' worth of age, intersparsed with a dull screeching tone.
"What?!" He couldn't be for real, "C'mon, Quent - I'm not joking! People are dead!"
"Interesting." The voice-that-wasn't-quite-Quent let off a chortle, before the phone went dead. Was this someone fucking with him? Nate swiped over to sift through his contacts again when he saw a skeletal appendage scrape across the screen in place of his finger, then blinked again to find his whole hand was devoid of any meat - just bone, coated in flecks of rust.
Noise from one of the others prompted him to briefly shoot them a glance, only to be seized once again in the throes of abject terror. Stood before him were not the three he saw before, but emaciated figures clad in torn, rotting clothing. All stared at him, their gaunt faces drawn so tight he thought their skin might split - and then it did. Decaying flesh sloughed off, emphasising the corpse-like features.
"W-what the fuck?!" Nate yelped, backing up further against the wall with such haste that he caught the back of his head on a low hanging beam - an act which would drag him back to reality. Blinking again, he no longer saw three corpses - just his companions, same as they were before.
Min looked close to arguing with Kimberley when she asked them to help, but then pursed his lips and figured there was no point in fighting for once. Not when someone else had already snapped. He didn’t particularly care for most of the people here but it would be nicer to survive. So he went to help with the lifting, working on blocking up another window.
Not that it helped when Scott hacked down the door.
Tuyen froze on the spot, dark eyes going wide and practically forgetting to breath as her fear sky rocketed. What were they meant to do, there was no way to get out of this he was here already. Could they run away?
Does it really matter if you die?
The whisper in her mind wasn’t quite her own, and Tuyen struggled to function as Martin goaded whatever creature Scott had turned into. When it was put like that was there really any point in struggling and probably dying anyway?
“Run,” Min came to his own senses, fear having overwhelmed him, as Martin shouted. He stepped towards his cousin and grabbed her hand, beginning to pull her towards the back door. Inside here they were just waiting to be slaughtered. Outside some of them could get away. Min was sure he could get himself and Tuyen out.
Tuyen stumbled as Min pulled her, turning to him. Except Min looked different – just subtly, but there was disappointment sketched across his face and words on his lips saying that it would be easier if he left her behind. He doesn’t really want to help you out.
She shook off her cousin’s hand, taking a step back – away from both him and Scott. As she did she caught sight of her shadow. But it wasn’t really her shadow. It was almost identical and close to an inky black. It seemed to be taunted her as it moved, clung to her and blocking out the views of everyone else.
Tuyen couldn’t even find the air to scream, legs collapsing underneath her. Why was her shadow moving? Why did it look so like her?
“Tuyen, we need to leave,” Min’s whisper was hurried as he bent down to try pull his cousin up, unable to see the strange shadow attached to her.
Right as Lynette was trying to assess the situation, she noticed that Aliana was freaking out. She raised an eyebrow, as she tried to take an assuring step towards her, with her hand out. Lynette didn't know what was wrong with her friend, but she tried to reassure her.
"It's oka-" The second she made contact (or thought that she made contact) Aliana dissolved into orange embers. Lynette didn't know what in the world just happened, but she found herself being awfully surprised. She looked around, and a bloody-kind of rust had slowly erupted fourth from her feet and began to encompass everything. But, the rust rose from the ground, taking the shape of a human being. Eventually, when the being finished forming, it was Lynette. Unlike everyone else's hallucinations, it was her, with no deformities or injuries. She smiled, as she walked over to Lynette - whom was still stunned - and placed a hand on her shoulder with a friendly smile.
As she leaned in, she said, "... It's all useless, Lynn - give up while you still have time." Before suddenly twisting into a deformed facsimile of herself. It clenched on her shoulder tightly - leaving behind thick wounds as the illusion dropped. Lynette didn't even notice anything else that was going on in their group... but she felt an intense stinging pain, and looked at her shoulder, and noticed that she was bleeding.
There were actual cuts in her shoulder.
Right where she scraped her.
Lynette grabbed onto her shoulder, and hissed through her teeth. She fell onto her knees, as she looked around. Everyone was freaking out - this had to have a scientific explanation. None of this makes any sense! She wondered if... somebody had did this during her freakout. Okay, Lynette, calm down. She said as she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. Feeling oddly tranquil all of the sudden, Lynette knew that hiding wasn't an option. She went over to the window, and peered out of it... she could see that the bridge was down. Shit. She hissed through her teeth as she thought of another way out of this.
Then her eyes shot open as if a light-bulb went off in her head.
They're in the boathouse! Lynette stood straight up, still clutching her bloody shoulder with now equally bloody fingers. She looked around at her group, they weren't any better. Lynette broke the silence, "There's... something screwing with us," Lynette said. "Hiding's not going to work - we'll die or go insane by the time anyone gets to us."
She walked over to a boat, before pulling it out. "This is our best bet... the bridge is down, and we're running out of time!"
The group made it to the female cabins, and the first thing Claire and Zoey did was lay Dexter down on the sofa. What Dexter did was heroic... but it was stupid at the same time. At least it was from Claire's perspective. Out here, heroes died and then what? Everyone around them lived with broken hearts. That was what happened. They could had made a break for it by swimming, but like hell Claire was going to leave Dex behind, and it was clear that Zoey had the same sentiments.
They were all going to get out of this, one way or another. With that said, Claire turned towards the girl that saved them. One of the Lawson brats... Claire would normally pay the bitch no mind, but she saved her. And, right now, Claire didn't have time to worry about past grudges. "Yeah... I gotta say, thank you... for what it's worth." Claire just couldn't find the words to convey how much she appreciated Penny for saving her and Dexter.
Zoey leaned over Dexter, and gave him a light slap, as she said, "Dex, are you okay?!" Zoey tried to stay quiet... but her volume betrayed her. "Shit, tell me what's hurting, and I'll do my best to fix it!"
"... You should let the nurse say that." Claire said, sounding a bit annoyed.
But, their conversation was cut short when the door slowly creaked open, and Claire hopped up, ready and alert. Knowing that something was going to pop off - the best she could do was kick it in the balls and run (she didn't have access to the tools to create a fucking mini-flamethrower). However, they heard a very familiar voice near-shouting in, "Hey guys, it's me!"
Suddenly, the gigantic frame of Britney Williams came through the door, and quickly closed it behind her. She let out a sigh, and everyone looked surprised to see her.
"Britney?" Claire asked, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah... I came to see if Dexter was alright," She looked over towards Dexter. "I saw the whole thing!" She said, almost surprised, "But, we have to get off the island."
"No shit." Claire said.
"And we have to get everyone else off the island," Britney said.
"Well, that's going to be hard with no bridge - I don't think everyone can swim."
"But," Britney started off. "There's always the boathouse."
That caught the attention of both Claire and Zoey.
"I checked, there's enough boats there for everyone to get off the island, and to safety," Britney said. "But... somebody needs to go there and get all the boats ready."
"... and somebody needs to direct everyone there."
Then that's when they heard banging and screaming from the neighboring cabin.
"... That too," Britney said, "But, come on, we don't have time - we need to get to work!"
Martin was successful in getting Scott Reese's attention. He merely charged towards him, with his axe held to his shoulder as he did a wild, violent, wide-arced swing towards Martin's body. He started laughing loudly as he came in contact with something - he couldn't tell at first, but he collided with the wooden bedframe. He wasn't sure if Martin dodged, or he missed, but the axe was imbedded deep in that bedframe. He put a boot against the bedframe to pull it out...
This was all Kimberly's fault! She's... she's getting everyone killed because she had a freakout! There was no forgiving Kimberly for this - but, she still had to save Jordan! She quickly got underneath Jordan's shoulder and helped her up as she began running for the door with the others. She felt guilty for leaving Martin behind like that... but there wasn't much she could do but leave him behind and hope for the best.
The Nurse collided with his fist - to no avail. The Nurse reacted naught to David's attempts of protection, his own fist now stinging from his attacks on her and his arm oozing blood from the cuts along his forearms, blood stains grew on his shirt and shoes as droplets fell and clusters ran down along his arm. The Nurse continued towards David, he began crawling back out of reflex.
"Oh piss off!" David shouts at the assailant, voice jittering with the shock of the sudden attack still lingering. He continued moving away from her. A fist flew into the cheek of the woman, looking to his right David could see that it was Justin who threw the punch - his face of concentration that was rigid and stoic melted with the lack of response from the Nurse, who had been pushed backwards and then began to laugh.
David picked himself up with a push and with the chair beside him for support, then he began to push the skin of his new wound together to stop some of the bleeding.
"Shit.. Fuck.." David looked at the injury he had gained, the blood continuing to flow although thanks to the pressure it began to reduce. A click at his side caught his attention, one of the others had stepped out of the room, unlocking the door in the process. Looking around he counted several others who were still with him and Justin. "What are you doing?!" he grunts at them, "Go! Get out" he screams, flinging his arm towards the door and pointing outside.
A blur passed him - It was Justin, he had been thrown across the room and into a table, groaning in pain it didn't seem like he would get up at a seconds notices. Turning again he saw who managed the feat; it was the Nurse, eyes glowing a bright shade of orange and no less malevolent.
"Useless..." she begins, bending down and retrieving her scalpel which glinted at the edge with a dab of David's blood. "There's something out there that makes us sooooo small!" She looks towards David, who flinches at the movement. "So... why even try...?" She asks, to which David responds by stepping towards the nearest medical cabinet.
"C'mon... Something flammable.. Christ why the hell is this happening?" David hurriedly ponders in his mind with panic affecting his thoughts. He begins scouring the shelf, throwing bottles aside to find anything with the universal sign of flammability; an orange box containing a black flame. Looking back every other second to be sure the woman wasn't at his side to attack him he attempts to no avail to talk to her coherently, to distract her from his search and her attack - "Yes, ah.. Well this- Small.. Wait ho- AH!" he finally cries, his search lasted several seconds and it was already accomplished, from the shelf he withdrew a litre bottle of rubbing alcohol and held it out in front of himself and towards the creature.
"Well.. er, too bad you aren't... that thing then..." He trails, his attempt at a word 'put down' already unraveling, "... Because I bet fire still hurts! HAH!" He forces a laugh before continuing. "Now stop because I don't want to use this." he uncaps the lid with unsteady hands, "So you need to stop! Justin... you okay?" he calls to his friend. He didn't have a lighter but she didn't need to know that, incase she did though... his eyes never leaving the attacker as he spoke to Justin.
Scott’s roar shot through Penny’s head like a piercing migraine, but she did not relent on the makeshift flamethrower. With each step he took towards her she took two back, always ready for the swing, the distant worry of the can exploding in her hands pushed to the back of her mind. Scott’s yelling was drowned out by the blaring of a horn, and from her peripheries she could see the headlight’s of Dexter’s car glowing bright. Good idea. Really wished he would have gone through with it before she had put herself within chopping distance. Her eyes narrowed; her head buzzed. The car was accelerating faster than it should’ve, but if she jumped now—the vehicle flew past her as she dived to the ground, pinning Scott into a tree.
It should’ve killed him.
Her lighter and hairspray disappeared into the tall grass as she ate dirt, her arms and knees catching her fall. Pushing herself up with a curse, she felt her vision momentarily swim. She could see a girl...Claire, right? Claire jogged over to Evel Knievel himself as he tried to stand up after his little stunt that, possibly, probably, most definitely saved Penny’s life. For a moment, Penny’s vision blurred, and it was as if she was witnessing a ghost image of Claire reaching Dexter before it even happened. Rubbing her eyes, Penny helped herself up. She was dirty but, aside from slight dizziness and a few scratches, rather unharmed—disregarding her burnt fingertips and loss of a thirty dollar bottle of hairspray.
“No shit,” she said in response to Zoey, following after the other girls as they made their way back to the female cabins.
Billy had watched the entire encounter through the edge of the blinds on the window. He had wanted to stop his sister from what he had thought would’ve been utter suicide, but something had held him back. Literally, he had seen in the reflection of the window a shadow figure appear from behind him and lock its arms around him; yet instead of freaking out and shouting in fear he had felt an extreme calm come over him, as if he had just taken a hit of some fantastic weed. It told him that everything would be alright and that there was no need for him to do anything. Everything worked itself out in the end. He remained, almost transfixed, it that state of elevation until Penny ripped open the door and held it for Claire and Zoey to drag Dexter inside.
“Is that dude okay?” said Billy, snapping out of his stupor.
Penny ignored his question. His sister leaned against the wall, her eyes tightly closed and a look that he recognized as one of her hiding pain on her face. He had learned lately that if he saw that face the best thing to do was to not ask. It always led to an argument, and getting into a shouting match wasn’t the best idea at the moment. He jumped with the others while the door creaked open, but was hit with a wave a relief as Britney entered and formed an escape plan with the others. His body tensed ever so slightly as they heard the noises from the next cabin over.
“I can get the boats set up,” he suggested. He motioned for his two friends and they made their way out the door.
“Wow. So brave. We should, like, give you a medal or something,” muttered Penny, her eyes still closed. A permanent frown had been fixed on her face since she heard the ruckus that could only mean that Scott Reese was somehow back. Pushing herself off of the wall, she slowly opened her eyes. The world had stopped stuttering. She assumed that whatever chems from the aerosol seemed to no longer be bothering her. Rubbing her wrists, she turned to the other girls.
“I’ll go spread the word. You bitches make sure that your boytoy there,” she nodded towards Dexter, “makes it to the boats in one piece. I still gotta chew him out for almost killing me. And make sure my lousy, piece of shit excuse for a brother doesn’t leave without the rest of us.”
With that she headed out the door and began the short walk to the boy’s cabin. She had no weapon with her. If it was Reese terrorizing the other kids, she doubted that anything she could do would be able to stop a beast capable of surviving a car wreck that would’ve paralyzed anyone else. Spread the word and run, that was the plan. She quickened her pace as she saw two girls, one limping, the other supporting her, exit the cabin, breaking into a light jog to catch up to them.
“The bridge is out. Take her to the boathouse,” said Penny, grabbing Kimberly lightly by the arm. Her eyes snapped to the cabin as she heard the sound of wood being split. As she took off for the door she spun around and shouted behind her, “Spread the word.”
He was here. He was here to kill them. The girl she was helping bolted, grabbing her friend and leaving the others behind. Leaving Rita behind. Of course they’d leave her behind. None of them knew her. Even the nice girl—Tuyen—was being dragged away by somebody else. Martin was using himself as bait, and they were letting it happen. They were letting him get himself killed. Rita tried to cry out, tried to react, but she couldn’t do anything. Her legs had turned to jelly and she slumped against the wall, shrinking into herself as she awaited to hear the sound of metal splitting meat.
Instead she heard a thunk and felt someone pull her up off of the ground. She whimpered and peeked out through her fingers that were covering her eyes. A blonde girl in a muddy dress gripping what looked like a splintered, wooden stake began to drag her towards the back door, taking just a moment to whisper “boathouse” into the ear of the man helping Tuyen. Rita allowed herself to be pulled along, the touch of the other woman bringing some strength back to her legs. She leaned against Penny as she felt the fresh air touch her skin; it was only when they had reached the outdoors that Rita realized that the blonde had been whispering to her the entire time.
“...I know it’s scary and it seems impossible, but you fucking got to pull yourself together and make it the rest of the way yourself, okay? You’ve made it this far, and it may not feel like it, but you’re strong, really, you’re strong. You’ll make it there if you head that way for a few minutes. Just keep running and don’t look back, okay. My brother Billy will be there. He’s an idiot and an asshole, but he’ll help you get to safety. After I make sure those two are fine I’ll be right behind you. You got this. Just go.”
Rita nodded, breathed, and went.
Penny watched the mousy girl for a second to make sure she could move on her own. Then, her hand tightening on the splintered piece of door that she had to defend herself, she turned to go back inside to help Min with Tuyen before Reese’s bloodthirst turned towards them. She closed her eyes as she counted to three, and then walked through the threshold—the world buzzing with movement around her.
May of broken a rip or two there. Justin thought to himself as the pain overtook him. He grit his teeth, trying to get back up as fast as he could, but he could also feel the blood staining his outfit. Son of a bitch. He thought again. His ears were ringing, so he had some kind of concussion. Great. Great. Perfect. Right when there was a psycho-bitch looming over him with a knife. Okay, if he could get back to his feet fast enough, maybe he can counter her bullshit with something.
He looked up, just in time to see David spraying her with something? Unless that was high-concentrated acid or something, that wasn't going to do shit. Then he mentioned something about fire (as in, he thinks he heard the words fire in between all the ringing). Oh. Oh. Now Justin was getting it, he reached into his pocket for his trusty lighter - he never smoked without it. David asked if Justin was okay (he presumes), and all Justin could do was say, "Could be better!"
The situation got worse when the possessed nurse lunged forward, grabbing David by the shoulder - unfazed by the alcohol sprayed on her - and jammed him in the shoulder with her scalpel. She started laughing as she pulled it out and jammed him with it again. She began to laugh at the savage display.
"David!" Justin, even in his dazed stupor, could make out what was happening. He was dazed, confused, and he lunged at the nurse, even concussed. That was when something inside of him turned on at that moment - heat arced off of him, and when he made contact with the nurse, a spark of flame bounced off him. Igniting the rubbing alcohol that was on her. The nurse screamed in pain - but Justin, in shock, fell backwards. "Holy shit!" He shouted, even over the nurse screaming. The flames burned so passionately that she was burned to a crisp in less than a minute.
"Useless!" The nurse screamed, as she came to an unnatural stop. She pulled the scalpel to her throat, "You all will see it! Once you see him, you'll know!" She slashed her own throat, and fell onto her knees - then onto the floor.
"... What the fuck?!" Justin said, he turned towards David. "I'd love to ask if you're okay, but we gotta get out of here!" He noticed that the fire was spreading...
Luck would have it that Martin Cromwell was fast, and that he had particularly good reflexes. He'd thrown himself to the side at just the right moment and he'd rolled. It should have been graceful, instead it was clumsily executed. His shoulder had hit the ground first and it had hit it hard. The soreness was nothing in exchange for his life, for a moment he'd sworn he was a goner.
His heart slammed in his chest and his body trembled furiously, every inch of him was alight with adrenaline. He couldn't steady his breathing, it whistled in his throat and his mouth felt dry. The dream was to write in his memoirs some day that his life had flashed before his eyes before he'd landed safely on the ground. The reality was that he'd very nearly lost control of his bladder and he was pretty sure he'd knocked his shoulder out of the socket.
Admittedly, the stunt that he'd pulled had been stupid but it had bought his companions the time that they needed to get out of here. He didn't do enough truly stupid things, so, he figured that he could forgive himself for this one. Maybe the next idiotic stunt that he pulled wouldn't end in a swollen shoulder, he could hope. He didn't even know if he wanted to ever test fate like that again.
Dazed as he was, he didn't have time to sit around and think about how lucky he was to be alive. The monster was trying to free it's axe from the bedframe, it wouldn't take it very long. He rose to his feet unsteadily, the room slanting in his vision a moment before he blinked to settle it. His heart was pounding faster than before as he quickly judged the distance between himself and the door.
It wasn't too far, and if he could pass that distance before that thing freed it's weapon then he'd be home free. He had never been much of a sprinter, he was small though and he knew he was fast. He drew in a breath to settle his nerves for the second time that night and he bolted. He pushed himself to cover as much distance as he could, his strides purposely long.
He was cradling his aching arm with his free hand as he ran. He didn't want his shoulder to hurt any more than it already did. He crossed the threshold, precariously dodging a blonde girl, and he nearly broke into hysterical laughter and wrenching sobs. He knew that safety was still so far away but he'd gotten out of that acursed cabin. He'd never been so happy to see the moonlight overhead.
In his dizzy, panic riddled state, he'd barely noticed the three parties who he'd left behind. He could barely focus long enough to notice much of anything. He had been in a sort of tunnel vision, under the broad assumption that everyone would have taken off into the dark by now. God, he hoped Rita was okay.
He was exhausted already, he wanted to go home. He wished he'd never came, this plan to take in nature and think up what to play on his electric guitar had been useless. He didn't know what was so damn appealing about nature anyhow. What did he intend to write about anyway? The goddamn birds? He sure as hell wasn't going to be writing about axe slaughter.
When he finally caught up to the group of fleeing kids, he was wheezing. "Remind... me... never..." the boy hacked, holding his shoulder and panting with fatigue. "To... ever pull... that shit ever... again."
Her doppleganger disappearing had done little to settle her nerves. It was like seeing a ghost, every moment after it was just her waiting to see it again. There was a small, skeptical part of her that wanted to disregard the entire event and pretend that it had never happened. She wanted to stow it away in the back of her mind with everything else that kept her up at night. It was on its way to becoming another thing that she never spoke about.
Aliana was not a coward, not inherently. She might have had childish fears but she had singlehandedly faced off with her dad on more than one ocassion. People were easy to face, they were tangible. Spectors were not easy to face. The rotten version of herself was not a thing that she could fight, she wasn't even sure that it was a thing that she could touch.
Never had she ever pictured maggots writhing through her flesh before but now, it was all her brain would supply. Of course, she realized in a small way that this was just some product of her fear mangled brain but it didn't change those tortured thoughts. She had a very bad feeling that her nightmares wouldn't be featuring her dad as much as that creature that bore her face. She should have been thankful for a change, she wasn't.
She couldn't help but fear what she might see next if she stayed here any longer. She didn't want stay any longer in this dark boat house. She didn't want to stay any longer at this campsite, separated from the world that made sense by the water that she trusted so dearly. She wanted out of here and when Lynette suggested just that, she was elated.
As Lynette began to pull the boat free, Aliana went to her aid. She carefully took up one side and helped her lift it, ready to follow her. "Let's do this. The faster we're out of this crazy ass place, the better."
David shouldn't have turned away, he couldn't help it with his nerves - he wasn't really expecting a response from Justin and so when it came he turned without thought. The Nurse lunged at him, grabbing his shoulder and plunging her scalpel in his shoulder. David shouted in pain and she laughed. The scent of alcohol reeked from the nurse and her clothes, chemical strong enough to mask the stench of puke that the drunk had spewed only moments earlier.
The nurse stabbed David again in the shoulder, the knife not that long yet the pain was real... and it fucking hurt. There wasn't much David could do - the woman was strong, unfeeling and he was exhausted... A cry, a thud and then the room shone with light... then there was a scream. The grip around David was released immediately though it took David a moment to realise why, first grabbing his shoulder by reflex he then looked towards the assailant... the now burning and screaming assailant. Justin stood nearby - shocked at the pain and the intensity of the flames. The woman cried out in-between her cries and then brought her fist to her neck, only when she slid her fist to the side did David realise what she had in her hand and what she had done.
"Holy shit..." he muttered. Justin rushed towards David and told him directly "I'd love to ask if you're okay, but we gotta get out of here!" He urged David back to his feet, though the latter paused to look around.
"H-hold on.." he began, the speed of the situation was making it hard to understand what happened, there was a fire - that started from the Nurse - who he had dowsed in alcohol. Then he remembered that there were others in the room. "What about the drunk... and the others?" he looks over to the drunk they had carried into the infirmary, still lying on the floor in a state.
Karma looked on in shock and horror as Scott began chopping people up she saw as the others all took off like a bat out of hell looking to get inside far away from this mad man she tuned around and ran for the cabins as fast as she could Karma just managed to get inside the girls dorms right before door slamed shut she looked to others as the shock began to where off
"what the hell is going on this insane shit is like something out of a god damn horror movie and of corse it all takes place in the middle of nowhere with little to no cell reception"
Next time there was no amount of luck that could save him. The brutal Scott had used every ounce of his strength to pull his axe free, and he had ripped the bedframe his axe was so deeply embedded in into pieces. He stomped his foot in rage, he turned around to see that not only was his target getting away, but all of them were running away! Just when his revenge was getting into full swing. He swung his axe in a raw rage, and shook his head. He immediately broke off into a wild sprint, and smashed through the wall shoulder first with all the force he was packing.
He looked around - he could go after all the people fleeing, but the burning building in the distance had caught his attention. That was when he saw her. The brown-haired object of desire... the girl that could had been his, but resisted. So, she was responsible for all of this bloodshed by Scott's admission. He loudly roared as he tightly grasped the axe so tightly that it nearly broke, and ran with all of his speed towards her.
This was going to be the end of Claire O'Sullivan.
Claire definitely didn't care for the language and tone Penny was using to refer to her friends. "... If I wasn't in fear for my life right now, you'd be eatin' your words, Lawson." She gave her a light push. Normally, Penny would be eating teeth... but, there were more important tasks at hand here. She shook her head, "But, I'm gonna look for more survivors - Zoey, make sure that Dex gets to the boathouse."
"Will you be okay?" Zoey asked.
"I've survived so far."
"Famous last words," Britney said underneath her breath, only to earn an eyeroll from Claire. Who was already one foot out the door.
"Like you said," Claire said, "We have no time." She was gone before anyone could protest, and Britney merely sighed.
"I can only hope she'll be alright," Britney grabbed onto Dexter's arm, and held him up by one arm, while Zoey grabbed him by the other. They should head straight to the docks. While she didn't want to think so morbidly, she was hoping that Penny and Claire could keep the beast busy while they get to safety. Britney quickly moved out the door, and went out to the camp grounds. They saw a burning building, and Brit briefly wondered if Scott was responsible for that.
It was a relatively short and uneventful trip to the boathouse, where the first thing that Britney saw was another group getting boats ready (Glad I wasn't the only person with this idea). Upon closer look, she recognized Lynette. Whom also noticed her.
"Britney?" Lynette asked as she pushed the boat into the water.
"There's no time," Britney said as she set Dexter down against a wall. "There's going to be a lot of people heading over here, and we gotta get the boats ready." She said.
Lynette wasn't all that concerned with saving everyone, but she nodded her head, and said, "... I'll do it."
In his haste, Justin had forgotten about everyone else in the infirmary - including the very person that got them here in the first place! The fire was spreading, even though it should had logically burnt itself out. At least, that's how fire should work. It burns until it had nothing left to burn. Still, Justin had noticed that the fire went up the walls, and was burning everything else in it's path. For being a safe campsite, he thought that they should at least have adequate fire safety.
But, he was thinking too much, he needed to start saving, or else they were all boned! He just ran over to the drunk, and grabbed them by the arm and yanked them towards the door. That was the simplest way to do it! He pushed the door open, and ran outside. They were the only people in this tiny little infirmary, so there wasn't much saving that needed to be done. And just in time, too! The entire infirmary had gone up in flames, and Justin looked back at it in awe. He didn't know where the fire had come from that ignited the nurse - was it his lighter? But, it was a heaven send in this situation - not that he was really worried about a tiny little nurse with a tiny little knife.
They heard footsteps come up behind them, and Justin whipped around to see Claire, and was relieved.
"Hey, are you guys okay?" Claire asked.
"Oh my God!" Justin said, almost overdramatically, "I'm glad to see you..." Before he could embrace Claire with a hug, she repulsively put her hand up, and said,
"Sorry, Jus, ain't in the mood," Claire said, "We gotta get to the boathouse, spread the word, because the bridge is down..."
But, as Claire spoke, Justin could only stare slack jawed... Scott Reese was coming up on her awfully fast - his approach hidden by the sounds of burning wood embers, and her own voice. He had his axe ready put over his shoulder, and swung it towards her neck at lightning fast speeds. Justin didn't even give it thought, he tackled Claire to bring her to the ground, and he could hear the axe slicing the air.
"Holy shit!" Claire said as she hit the ground.
"Just take them to the boathouse!" Justin told David.
Chad was breathing heavily by this point, a combination of tragedy and paranoia that he hadn't felt since the night she died. That poor girl that Chad had inadvertently killed. The first night was the easiest, and most like how he felt at this moment - intense fear that somehow they would find him, and he'd be in a lot of trouble. But instead of the police arresting him... this was far worse. Hunched over and choking back short and ragged breaths, Chad felt Lynette's hands grab onto him tightly, wheeling him around to face the small, clearly old boat house. Despite it's small size, it was a hell of a lot better than the small supply shed they were currently behind, and Chad was more than happy to follow her lead as she led the group into the pitch black interior.
The light of Lynette's phone was bright and uncomfortable to Chad's blurry eyes, but her words were very reassuring. Hiding had to be the best course of action at the moment - running would mean certain doom so far from civilization, especially considering the killers clearly well-trained (More like supernatural...) physique. The thought of fighting was completely nonexistent in Chad's mind, as fighting was clearly the option of the suicidal. Another boy, the most recent newcomer, was arguing with some guy on his phone - only reminding Chad that his duffel bag was still at the campfire. Shit.
He nearly jumped through the ceiling when the girl next to him let out a muffled scream, both out of fear and the intense desire to shut her up somehow. The last thing he wanted was to be found by that monstrosity. Chad couldn't help, however, but notice she was screaming over thin air - she couldn't have had any of the bad pot... She wasn't at the camp fire, right? At the very least, Chad didn't remember her being there. After asking about the other girl's well being, Lynette adopted a similar, unfocused appearance, before falling to her knees suddenly. Chad immediately whispered out as soon as he noticed the cut on her shoulder.
"Fuck, are you okay?"
He didn't see anything, but she must have cut herself on some fish hook or something... Fuck, what was happening? Maybe it wasn't the weed that was doing this, maybe the entire camp has fumes or some shit. That would explain everyone acting insane... Lynette soon exited the boathouse and, to Chad's surprise, managed to find a boat! His eyes must have glanced over it in his hurry to find an escape! Without hesitation, Chad assisted in dragging the boat to the shore along with Lynette and the mystery girl, and soon the boat was ready to head out. Chad was just about to get in when some more survivors came over. Of course, he had no clue who the hell they were... But he was glad to see some more people survived anyways.
The newcomers and Lynette briefly talked, and Chad quickly realized that he wouldn't be able to leave. Not because escape was impossible - far from it, actually. e could easily escape right then, but doing so would earn the scorn of his classmates forever... Not to mention that many people would die. It wasn't that Chad cared deeply for his classmates and would risk his life for them, but he wasn't going to simply let them die while he could help - as long as he didn't draw too much risk to himself. Quickly, Chad moved over to the remaining boats and began to move them out, going as quickly as possible.
"Let's do this as quickly and quietly as possible - I don't want to still be around when that thing gets back. Someone help me drag these shits out."
"Boathouse, got it." Kimberly said to Penny before moving on... she wondered what in the world went on that got the boathouse destroyed - but, she knew that, right now, asking too many questions would get her killed right now. She would get Jordan there, even if it was at the expense of herself. One quick look at her friend Jordan told her that her friend's leg wasn't doing too well. Which made her feel worse about dragging that thing over to them - but it seemed to have went after the burning building. She could only hope that they get to safety.
Speaking of safety, Martin ran up to her, safe and sound. "Martin! You're okay!" She said, smiling for once. Kimberly felt extremely guilty for leaving him behind like that. "... I can't believe I left you behind like that. I'm... so sorry."
"... Girl, be sorry when we're not in danger of an axe murderer." Jordan bluntly said - then started feeling regret at being so cold. "I'm sorry for saying that."
"No, no, you're right," Kimberly answered. "We have to get out of here." Without another word spoken, Kimberly damn near dragged Jordan from there to the docks. Where a huge crowd had formed by the beach... and there were a bunch of boats in the water. The rowboats that were from the camp activity earlier today, she had a lot of fun with - ooooooooh now Kimberly got it! She made it to the group where Britney was making an announcement.
"Alright, the boats are ready!" Britney loudly announced. "Start getting on, each boat can hold three people!"
Kimberly, without another word, helped Jordan onto the closet boat, and the crippled girl stretched out her leg and let out a very sharp hiss of pure pain. This was going to be a bitch.
"Where's Claire? Or Justin?" Britney asked nobody in particular. Getting no answer she wanted... She was going have to do something she didn't want to. It may have sounded foolish, but she had no other options. "Everyone just go! I'll stay behind to make sure they get to safety!"
"Girl!" Lynette said. "You know what's out there?! Don-"
"This is my choice, Lynette." Britney firmly said.
Lynette could only nod... as she helped get the rest of the boats ready. There was still a little bit of work that needed to be done - but, she definitely didn't want to leave Britney behind like this. Her choice was going to get her killed.
With David getting the drunkard the hell out of here, Justin could focus on more important matters.
Such as staying the fuck alive right now!
He was still on top of Claire (giggity!) but that experience was marred by the fact that Scott had just recovered from his full force swing (which would had killed the two of them if Justin hadn't gotten them out of the way for sure). Justin rolled off her, and then hopped to his feet - Claire did the same in the opposite direction. He took a few steps back, with his hand up. Scott sure as hell looked a lot scarier up close with his weapon. The brute held the axe with his other hand, and for every step that Justin took to get away from him, he took another step towards him.
"Scott!" Justin said without thinking about it, "I dunno what's wrong with you - but you can still turn back! You don't have to do this."
"... But, I do!" Claire said as she swung a flaming piece of wood from the wreckage of the infirmary at him. She was appreciative that Justin had distracted him for long enough so she can do this. It collided with his chest and shattered into a million splinters... and that was just about it. All it did was make Scott turn his attention to her. Oooooooooooooh damn it. Scott quickly grabbed her by the neck, and lifted her up to eye level. I bet I stepped in it this time! Claire thought to herself as she stared Scott in the eye... then he started putting pressure on her neck. Not enough to kill her immediately, but she was losing air.... She felt lightheaded, as she tried to uselessly fight against him by hitting him in the arm. He was laughing as she struggled
"Claire!" Justin loudly said - and he exploded in a giant wreath of flames. He was surprised for a mere second - before he stopped feeling completely - as a tiger made out of a burning hot flame materialized lunged towards Scott. He slammed against Scott and a massive spark of flame came off him. This attack had a lot more impact than the last one as he was forced to take several steps back. He dropped Claire as he yelled in pain. The tiger disappeared, and Justin could only stare in shock - as he felt the ability to feel shock again.
Claire fell to the ground, and loudly gasped for air. She wanted to say thank you - However, it didn't take long for Scott to recover and lung at Claire with his axe overhead. "Claire!" Justin shouted as he was helpless to save her, and she uselessly put a hand up to save herself...
The axe collided with her, and the axehead stopped a few inches away from her arm. Claire stared slackjawed - as surprised as Justin was. Scott was even surprised. Claire noticed the field that had stopped Scott, a blue aura that had surrounded her. Scott had pulled back his massive axe, before trying again, but Claire rolled out of the way. Full of vigor and energy again as the axe got stuck in the ground. Feeling stronger than before, Claire had hopped up to her feet and made a break for it. Running fast as she could to the boathouse - screw it, if anyone was still around, then they're going have to deal with axehead here. Justin was as confused as Claire was, but he rolled with it and started running.
Scott was right behind them... and Claire could see the group forming, and Britney had followed through on her word and got the boats ready. Excellent! What wasn't excellent was the massive mountain of death that was coming for them just as they were getting ready!
"Claire!" Britney said, relieved... before turning to pure fear, "Claire!" She said, fearful for Claire and everyone else - because Scott was right on top of them!
Justin ran off towards the drunk after they were mentioned - grabbing and carrying them towards the entrance. David took these seconds to review the others who were still with them before calling out for them to run - The building was burning, this was definitely not the place for anyone to stop!
"What are you still doing in here? Get out!" David shouts at the others, running to one and even pushing on their back to make them move faster in a frantic effort before heading to the door himself. Looking back once more to see the burning woman, he pauses.
"I'm a killer..." He thinks, this changed everything. He'd never killed and he was certain that it was his fault regardless that she had been attacking him. In his panic he had crossed a line - been an accessory to arson and murder. Killed... If only she hadn't- If he hadn't-
No, there wasn't time for this. Not right now, he had to get out with everyone else... But not before remembering - he crossed a line, he wasn't going to forget that... for now. Not with the scars he'll gain from his wounds, he wouldn't lose them so easily. David ceases to think on the matter, he had to concentrate - Something had occurred and he hadn't the fainest about what could be outside, what could have caused the original panic...
Two dead bodies would suffice as a valid excuse, both within sufficient proximity of the campfire for their injuries to show, their blood glinting from the light and into David's vision. The closest had a split head, her body stiff on the camp floor that was dusted and trodden, without tall grass to cover her or her companion. "Justin, what the - the fuck happened?" he mutters, unsure if his friend could hear him. David slowed to a halt on safe ground, away from the heat of the now-collapsing building. His breath now ragged and irregular from the mixture of adrenaline, shock and even from the pain of his wounds. His chest shutters with every inhale he takes, rising and pausing then rising some more before he exhales in the same fashion. He grips his left wound in his right hand - acting as a clamp and squeezing the skin together. David felt stiff in his legs, as though if he moved slightly he would fall and be unable to stand back up - his head spinning in several directions didn't help.
Justin seemed to be mumbling, it was to another when David bothered to turn to face them - pulling his gaze from the killings. He was with a girl, her hand up and his open in the form of an embrace before he stepped backwards. "We gotta get to the boathouse, spread the word, because the bridge is down..." Just then Justin ran into her, tackling his friend into the ground as an axe appeared where her head was, a slice followed and filled the surrounding air. There, out of nowhere, stood a monster. This one was different from the Nurse, this one had the same orange eyes yet this time it was a man, tall and grey-skinned. The humanoid's arms and chest coated in visible, black veins that only separated him from humanity further.
"Fuck, Fuck!" David screamed out, startled and fearful from the appearance, unintentionally blurting more cuss-words through his clenched jaw and lips. "Just take them to the boathouse!" Justin screamed, it took David a second to realise he was talking to him and it took him a further few seconds to actually respond - those wasted seconds he stood their, unresponsive and staring at the monster. Stumbling backwards he grabs a hold of the drunk, lifting him over his healthy solder into a fireman's carry. David didn't need to be told again, beating a nurse in self-defence was one thing but this... this was different. David began running to the boathouse.
The Campsite - Boathouse Outskirts
It felt as though he had been running for half an hour, adrenaline gifted David his only remaining strength. Not once had he looked back not slowed, the boathouse was in sight and he wasn't about to stop, not until he reached it, till he was safe. Although how could he be sure that he would be safe, he didn't even know if he was being chased. Something that could appear out of nowhere could definitely catch him in a split-second!
David was reaching the outskirts of the gathering, soon to actually reach them. He slowed to a jog, granting him a rest of sorts and the ability to look back -he dared to and what he saw wasn't appealing. In the distance were three bodies running forwards, two were human and most probably Justin and his pal... the other was large and although he was far away there were recognisable orange glows - his eyes. Swearing again, David picked up his pace, running full sprint towards the gathers by the boathouse. The drunk swayed in David's weakening grip, his leaking blood still flowing from his free shoulder.
"Hey! HEY!" he screams, raising his free arm to wave, hoping someone would hear or see him.
When he'd finally caught up with the group, he had nearly doubled over in exhaustion. He wasn't built for running, that much was blindingly obvious. He also hadn't expected Kimberly to apologize to him for something that he hadn't even thought twice about. The point of him risking his life had been to give everyone a chance to run. Whether or not that had killed him, didn't really matter.
He had dislocated his shoulder, and it hurt more and more with each passing moment. It was a growing pain, it seared through him and it made it hard to focus on the exchange. He'd never dislocated anything other than his finger before, he hadn't realized that every moment after it was going to be complete agony. He couldn't wait to get it in a sling and never think about this place ever again.
"Nah, it's fine, I wanted you to get out."
He had just barely responded before Jordan cut in, though he didn't blame her for the response. It wasn't the time or the place to exchange pleasantries. He was just glad that they'd both made it out without a hair out of place. As long as that monster hadn't killed anyone in that building, he could take pride in knowing that he had provided the distraction that provided their freedom.
He'd been lucky and he wasn't going to take that for granted. He couldn't see himself pulling anymore stunts like that. He was going to try to be careful from now on, he'd gotten to live today but would he be so lucky the next time that something horrible happened? Not that he expected to ever face off with a monster and an axe again.
He didn't picture anything like this ever happening again. It was just too weird, too not so every day. This kind of thing didn't happen twice, unless they were particularly unlucky. He just wanted to go home, back to his normal, boring life and talk to Rita. This had been a pretty horrible night as far as he was concerned.
He located Rita's current position amongst the small assembly and took up a place near her side. He may have irritated her earlier or whatever that was, but she was still his best friend. He still felt at his most comfortable in her presence. He drew in a careful breath and offered her a half-hearted smile as they headed down to the docks.
Splash.
The sound of the boat hitting water was satisfying, and it was therapeutic. She liked the gentle sway of the wood on water, it was easy to be lulled by that sort of thing. She just wanted to get out of here, this place was starting to wear down on her nerves. She had wanted this trip to go well, she'd pictured herself kicking back and getting to know Lynette some more. She'd wanted to hang out with Penny, maybe go for a swim or two.
The idea had seemed so nice at first. It was drastic how bad that it had ended up being. Monsters, murder and hallucinations, oh my! It was hard not to be a little disappointed and a little irritated. She had been looking forward to this trip but now it was ruined and she was just ready to go home. She was happy she'd gotten out without being amongst the dead, but she hadn't really been at risk to begin with.
The docks had been a good idea, not only was the view better but she hadn't even had to see the infamous monster. With the bedraggled group of kids that were approaching, it was obvious that it whatever had gone down at the camp fire hadn't been very fun. Everyone looked a bit disheveled, a few kids had skinned knees. A boy with dark hair tailed the back of the group, clutching his arm and looking very pale.
Britney seemed to be at the head of this small group, like some kind of unofficial authority. That's what kids did when they were scared, they sought out authority. When things got out of hand, it was easy to start missing rules and regulations. It was odd to consider that not so long ago, these kids had been passing around a bottle of vodka and talking in clusters. Now, they all just wanted out. She wanted out too.
She supposed in a way that Lynette had become the unofficial authority of their small group. They'd all gratefully followed her into the boat house without complaint. It had been the only sane idea at the time, the scared dude had been pretty convincing. He'd genuinely made her not want to be out in the open. Unfortunately the boat house had been dark and she had seen that thing with her face.
She still figured that following Lynette's guidance was for the best, she trusted the girl to some degree. Her presence was sort of comforting, she'd very quickly became someone that Aliana had a lot of faith in. If she was going to follow the directions of anyone, it would be Lynette. She had that sort of air around her, like she naturally just knew more.
If Lynette was going to help then Aliana was going to help, it wasn't like she had anything better to do. There were a lot of boats that would need dragging and she had two functioning arms, which was more than she could say for the shrimpy guy that looked like he'd dislocated his shoulder. He was awkwardly cradling the limb, looking like it was taking everything for him not to be complaining about it. What a baby.
She was sure she'd seen him around before, he always seemed to linger behind people. When he realized that she was looking in his direction, he strategically stepped to the side so that he was hidden behind the taller figures in the group. Even injured and terrified, he still found time to worry that she was going to call him a "loser" or some shit. How quaint. How ridiculous.
She had helped, dragging boats out to the water and getting them prepared for boarding. When Britney announced that they should start getting in, she couldn't help but be skeptical of her choice. Though, she figured that if Britney wanted to stay behind and keep an eye out then nothing she said would change her mind on that. It was suicidal of her to try to stay behind, not even Lynette could seem to change her mind though.
She was helping set up the rest of the boats when she heard the distant cry. A boy was wildly waving him arms and yelling out to them and she could almost feel her spirit evacuating her body. "What in the hell is it, now?"
It was unsettling how the campsite was silent, after all the screams, the only sound filling the void was the campfire, and even then it was almost snuffed out. Yet Madeline was sure that there were others that weren't attacked by Mr. Axe Murderer. Sure, it was stupid to leave the people in the infirmary with the deranged nurse, but she wouldn't be gone long.
Atleast, Maddie hoped she wouldn't.
The first place she thought of looking was the cabins, while she did think that maybe there were people hiding in the parking lot, that would be a bit too obvious. While the female cabins seemed fine, the male cabins were ramsacked. "Yep, the beast was definetly here..." Madeline said to herself, looking at the broken door, but there was no sign of another kill inside, so that gave her a bit of hope.
Keeping a tight grip on her umbrella's handle, she made her way to the boathouse.
The Campsite - The Docks
As luck may have it, there were a bunch of people there getting some boats ready for all them to escape. Maddie started walking to the group, when she noticed that two of the guys from the infirmary, the blue haired drunk(??), and a brunette haired girl were running to the rest of them...
Either in sheer stupidity, anger, or just starting to be tired of the corpse party, Madeline sprinted over and skid to a stop, standing between the axe murderer and the brunette.
"Yo, asshole! If you wanna kill everyone else here, you'll have to kill me first!!" Madeline yelled at the beast, venom in her voice. She wasn't afraid to die, but she won't let more people get murdered without doing anything, not again.
Justin and Claire whirled by the black haired girl trying to get Scott's attention. They were so high off adrenaline that the only thing that came to mind was getting the hell away from Scott (If the broad's got a deathwish then who am I to judge?). She definitely got Scott's attention for a moment as he firmly planted one foot onto the ground and pivoted slightly with his axe over his shoulder. He did a blind swing towards Maddie with one hand, and didn't exactly miss.
The axe cut through her body almost as if it was nothing, launching her aside as he continued his merciless assault. He kept running and running, moving as fast as he possibly could. He didn't even stop to wipe his axe off. He merely flicked the axe to the side and sent the blood flying all over the place. There were several gasps as Maddie expired on the grass, just bleeding out as the monster that almost killed her merely ignored her as he tunneled Claire.
Jordan and Kimberly were among the two that were screaming - the sight of a vivid and merciless death opened something inside of the both of their minds. The black sigils burned into their bodies, and that unlocked a potential that both of them had access to. In particular, Jordan. Scott ran up onto the beach, and raised his axe overhead at the group. Jordan loudly screamed....
... And a white pulse of light came forth from her body. It wrapped itself around everything, and turned everything an inverted color for a moment. Scott came to a slow and steady halt, before stopping right before he could kill another person. "What the-" Jordan said. As she looked around, and some of the others were also frozen except for her, Kimberly, Claire... Britney. She looked around as she tried to stand up, but she hissed in pain before she could continue. Everything was frozen. Time stood still - did she do this? Jordan pondered for a moment.
"What the hell?" Claire asked as she looked around. "Right... it's official..." She gave the frozen Zoey a poke. "... Shit can't get any weirder than this."
Britney was much quicker to figure everything out... and realized that she had to do something drastic. Something that she was trying to avoid using, whatever the cost. She closed her eyes, and put her hands together as she focused on Scott Reese. This was a desperate move - she didn't know how long time would stay like this, of course - but a wreath of plants had wrapped itself around Scott. Mainly thick roots from the nearby trees. They coiled and branched off around his mutated body, and tied him down from head to toe. Britney felt weak, but she had to ensure that they had time to escape. Eventually, there was nothing else in her reserve - she fell backwards, incredibly lethargic, and landed right on her back.
... Time resumed, and to the Blind, the changes took place immediately. Scott suddenly appeared to be wrapped in vines, Britney appeared to be on her back, and others appeared to have moved. Only the Awakened were able to perceive the stopped time. But, that wasn't important - what was important was Scott being wrapped in vines. Even with all of his strength, he couldn't get out.
Claire ran over to Britney, and lifted her up by the shoulders - and was able to lift up the far larger girl. "Brit! You okay?!" She asked.
"... Y-yeah... just get me out of here." Britney said as Claire hoisted her onto a boat. At this point, several of the people were rowing away while Scott was struggling to get out. Good. Normally, she would ask how the hell did time stop, or what wrapped Scott up? But right now the only thing on her mind was getting the hell out of here. She and Zoey hopped on the same rowboat with Britney, and Claire took executive rowing control.
However, that left Maddeline Levine all alone. An attack that ought to have killed her in seconds was only non-fatal because of an Awakening of something inside of her. The same kind of "switch" that flipped on when Jordan and Kimberly witnessed her apparent death. A blue light engulfed her side, and the mythical light of life shined and repaired her slowly. To the Blind, it just appeared as if her wounds were just healing - but those who see with a different kind of sense saw the light in it's raw and pure form. However, she was still injured, unable to get on by herself. But, she felt somebody lift her up, and hoist her to one of the boats.
Once she was placed down, she looked up and saw Hagan, whom said, "Nobody left behind."
Everyone was rowing away at this point, and by the time Scott had gotten free, they were out of his grasp. He stood there, watching them. Before he turned away, and walked off. This wouldn't be the last they see of Scott, Claire knew that. But, she enjoyed this respite while they had it. She smiled, they were finally out of the woods... She turned her head and saw land in the distance...
... An orange light drew her head upwards, which was followed by a hellish sound. Claire (and by that extent, everyone else) put her hands on her ears as she looked upwards. They saw a massive orb of light - it blocked the night sky with it's enormous mass - and inside of it was something beyond description. It was a black mass that constantly changed shaped almost as if their minds couldn't give it a shape like they could everything else. It was surrounded by eight spider-like (only in appearance, they were similar to tendrils with how they moved) appendages that were miles in length.
Claire gasped, covering her mouth as she tried to figure out what the fuck was she even looking at. Others screamed... one of the appendages seemingly bent as if it was a piece of paper and came towards Claire's boat. With one swipe, it was knocked over. Britney, Claire, and Zoey, were knocked into the lake. "Fuck!" Claire said. I can't fucking swim! She said to herself as she struggled to stay afloat. She looked to her side, and saw Zoey being lifted up into that thing via tendril. She was loudly screaming, struggling to break free, but she couldn't.
"Zoey!" She said, outstretching a hand... before she disappeared into the orange light. Then the being rapidly vibrated, letting out a hellish sound that overwhelmed the group.
Then everything went dark...
Claire was sudden risen awake by the sensations of rain. The sound of rain also helped her awaken... she could feel mud, and smell blood. She was still groggy... but, she could at least force herself awake. She looked around, vision dazed. She realized that she was on the other side of the beach, off the island - and so were all the others. Thank God she didn't drown... but, she didn't know what in the world that thing was. What the fuck. She turned her head, and saw Zoey lying down.
"Zoey!" Claire said as she sprinted towards Zoey, and knelt down, shaking her shoulders. "Zoey, wake up!" She did... her eyes were glowing a bright orange color. No pupils, or anything... just emanating an orange light. Claire leaned down and listened to her heartbeat - she was still alive (Thank God) - but she was cataconic for some reason.
"Zoey! Please God, wake up!" Claire said, to no other reaction.
... In the distance, they could hear sirens. Police sirens.
After the bloodshed, the killer... known as Scott Reese dragged his feet deep into the woods. His transformation seemingly halting as he went through the dark woods. It was one fuck up after another. Scott had failed yet again. On the way, he punched a tree and sent chunks flying. The tree fell over as he walked away, completely uncaring. He had a destination, but he didn't know where. That voice... that eldritch voice was compelling him to go somewhere.
It ended up being in the embrace of the mountain... his very presence drove off any animal that had the smallest amount of self-preservation. They weren't his object, and he was unconcerned with them. He just wanted to know where this voice was leading him.
He approached the mountain, an abandoned mineshaft that was fenced off. Scott approached it, and gave it one firm kick and it went over. He walked into the darkness of the caverns, guided by a strange voice. He didn't need light when there was a power above him guiding him to everywhere he needed to be. Scott walked deeper and deeper into the confines of the cave, spending hours as he went deeper and deeper into the endless caverns. Eventually, Scott hit a dead end.
There was nothing but a large chamber, with only one entrance.
Why did he come here?
What compelled him to come here of all places when there were sooooo many other places Scott could go? However, he stood there, patiently.... until an orange light materialized, and he was mesmerized by it's brilliant glow... it's power. He fell to his knees and knees out of sheer respect. Out of the orange light came strange, black, appendages that seemed to be made out of a black tar that took the shape of bony spider-legs. It was an infinite mass of these appendages that was connected. Some pieces of the limbs were coming out of the other.
These limbs extended forward towards the kneeling Scott, and they grabbed him. Raising him up into the air before the limbs touched him, poking him with their otherworldly embrace. With each point of impact, a ring of orange light surrounded it, and it caused his wounds to heal. But, it caused him to further mutate. His muscles bulged further, cracks in skin that exposed bare flesh... Out of the light, the limbs delivered a metal mask and pushed it against Scott's face. The mask was twisted, covered his entire face, but left his mouth exposed - his teeth being rooted and decayed, and a green bile leaking from the corners of his mouth. Once it was pushed against his face, flesh had grown over it and firmly attached itself to his face. The other gift from this otherworldly being was a weapon. A massive, twisted blade, made out of some kind of metal, but it appeared like an oversized butcher's cleaver. Heavy, mangled, designed to cause the most brutal and bloody wounds possible, it was pushed into his hand.
With that, Scott's transformation was complete. The limbs lowered him to the ground, and quickly retracted into the orange light. He was now armed, healed, and dangerous...
I won't fail you...
Scott thought to himself as he marched through the tunnels back outside. The orange light disappeared.
... Master.
Wha-what the hell...?
Claire thought to herself, as she rubbed her eyes. Last time she checked, she was in bed... but, when the girl moved her hands, she realized that she was in a... forest? What the hell, she was supposed to have left that godforsaken forest behind, why...? Claire looked at her hands for a moment, and realized that she was blue. Her hands were transparent as if she was a phantasm.
Okay, I should lay off the drugs...
Claire groaned to herself as she looked around. There was fog in the distance that made it impossible to see past a certain radius. Okay, it was obvious that she was dreaming, but why did it all feel so real? Like... she was here. Ugh, probably nothing. Claire heard small footsteps and chatter, and walked forward after it. Eventually, she caught sight of some lights, and went for that. Claire saw a pair of kids that looked scared out of their minds, holding flashlights as they looked around. One was a young male with darkbrown hair, probably around thirteen, wearing boots, blue jeans, and a white t-shirt. The girl at his side had wavy blonde hair, and wore a summer dress.
It was the middle of night, what were these kids doing? Don't they know there was all sorts of shit out here in the woods that'd love to make them a snack? Claire rolled her eyes as she moved forward with a hand extended, and said, "Hey, are you kids oka-"
Then her hand went through the kid like she was a ghost, and she froze.
Oh boy, Claire dryly thought to herself. I'm dead.
Holy shit. What was going on...? Maybe this was just a dream. A dream that Claire was going to try to wake up from now....
Okay, she was still sleeping. So, Claire tried harder.
"I'm gonna wake up now - shit." Normally Claire could force herself to wake up out of these shitty dreams, but this time was different. She rolled her eyes... looks like ol' Claire's gonna be in la-la land for a little bit, eh. She followed the kids, as she heard a conversation between them.
"... Arrow's not out here," The girl said. "Let's just go home before we get caught."
"No," The boy said, determined as ever. "He's out here, see these tracks." The boy shined the flashlight on the trail of footprints that looked much like it was produced from a dog.
"John," The girl said, "Those could be any tracks, how do you know it's a dog?"
"Have you ever read a nature book, Amy?" John said to his female cohort, very irritated by her. "There's no other animal that could leave a trail like this."
He shook his head, "Arrow!"
"John, will you keep it down?" Amy said, "You don't know what you'll attract."
"Then leave," John said as he walked forward, leaving Amy behind.
"I... can't leave you, you're my best friend," Amy somberly said. "I don't want you to pop up on the news as missing."
Awww, young love, Claire thought to herself, a mixture of bitter and had her spirits genuinely raised. Bitter that she passed the point of experiencing that kind of love. Claire followed behind the kids as they talked.
"... I'll help you find your stupid dog," Amy said. "Just let's hurry up and get out of here." They both nodded as they continued to walk down the trail, with a ghostly follower behind them.
Though, as they continued down the path... the trail of footprints came to an end, and was replaced by a trail of blood. There was blood splatters on the ground as if something was slashed, then the trail as if the same thing was dragged. The two thirteen year olds paused, nearly choking as John prepared for the inevitable. He hoped it wasn't so, he prayed it wasn't. When he raised the flashlight, it landed on the corpse of a german shepard. The two gasped, and John's eyes were full of tears as he looked at the traumatizing sight of his dog, Arrow, devoured by... something. His dog's chest was open, and the blood was still fresh. John didn't know what happened to Arrow, but Amy sure as hell didn't want to find out.
"John... let's go..." Amy trailed off as she grabbed John's arm to pull him back down the pathway they came down. Partly out of pity, and the other part was merely out of fear of whatever was lurking around.
"... Hey, what are you two doing out here?" A third voice spoke up that made the kids jolt, they turned around to see a tall stern man, in a green park rangers uniform. He had his arms crossed over his thin frame, and had an eyebrow raised.
"We were just-" Amy tried to plead, before the park ranger grabbed onto both of them.
"I don't have time for excuses, I'm going to get you two out of here, and right back to your parents." The ranger said as he dragged both of them away. They thought out of the woods, but it felt like they were going deeper.
They ended up at a shack. A "wilderness center" as the sign said... but, this place looked like it wasn't used in literally years. That made a knot form in their guts (and Claire's by extent), and the ranger kicked the door down, and lead the kids into the shack as he closed the door behind them. There was an awkward silence as he closed the door.
"Um... I thought we were leaving?" Amy said. "And you said you were taking us back to our parents? This..."
The girl trailed off, as she looked around, "... This place is abandoned."
Then the park ranger laughed as he finished closing the door, and slowly turned around. Softly saying, "... Why is every kid that wanders through here so gullible?"
The two kids gasped as they caught sight of the man's face cracked, revealing a layer of skin underneath that looked like a predator's jaw. Except made out of a ethereal white light with black symbols. That was when the rest of the man's form cracked to pieces, revealing the beast underneath. Seemingly a ghost-like being that was at least eight feet tall, made out of a white light, and had long limbs, with long, spiny fingers. It had the head of a deer, and it's rib cage was exposed. It looked down at the two children, and without another word... it lunged at John. Slamming the boy to the ground, and immediately feasting on him. Wildly biting his shoulder, and taking huge chunks of flesh out. John loudly screamed, but there was no one to hear him, save for Amy.
Whom was terrified, she immediately pressed her back against the wall as if she was desperately trying to look for an exit, but there was no where else to go. She loudly panted as the beast savagely mauled John, but she was helpless to save him. It was only a matter of time before she was next... Amy loudly screamed, and that was when her abstraction saved both herself and John. When she screamed, it was carried by a massive blue wave that engulfed everything in a blue light, sending it flying away from her. Before it was frozen solid by a sudden wave of cold. It was frozen solid after it hit the ground.
Amy didn't have a single clue what happened, but she was the least bit concerned. She knelt down to John, and realized that he was still alive! Thank goodness! Though, not for long, he was bleeding... He looked a little dead-eyed, too. She pulled John to his feet, and slung him over her shoulder. She was going to get the high hell out of here, she didn't know where. She opened the door, and with John over her shoulder, she made a break for it. Going fast as she could.
Though, she didn't make it far before the man eating fiend broke free of his ice capsule, and roared. He slammed a claw onto the ground as he forced himself to his feet. He quickly ran through the door, breaking it, and made a mad sprint for the two with his hands ready to kill. Amy fell over with John, screaming loudly as it was the end.
His plan hit another snag as a barrier erupted between the two. One that the wendigo crashed into, and groaned as he tried to figure out what just happened. That was when a fireball hit him, and he was sent tumbling over. He did a roll, landing on a knee, as he looked over to the source of the transgression... and his eyes went wide with fear. Three robed figures, each a different color (one was green, one was red, and one was yellow) with symbols all over them. The green robed figure held a medieval styled long-sword, the red one held a staff, and the last had a book... one that had the pages rapidly turn by a seemingly outside force as a intricate series of symbols floated above it.
"Take him out!" The book wielding magician shouted, "I'll keep the kids safe."
His companions nodding, the two immediately rushed the monster. He tried to run away, but symbols appeared in the ground, followed by pillars of fire that stopped him in his track. At this point the sword wielder had closed the distance, and slashed at the beast's leg, and he tumbled over. He quickly pushed himself to his feet as he slashed in retaliation, and that was promptly blocked by the sword with zero effort. It was counted by a quick slash to the chest, and the beast stumbled backwards. It also couldn't handle the barrage of fireballs being pelted on it from the back.
It grabbed the sword wielder, and threw her at the fireball magician like she was a baseball. She yelled as her friend caught her, and let her down gently. Instead, the beast ran attempted to flee. However, it was promptly stopped when a powerful explosion of flames went off in front of it, and forced it to stop and guard it's face. The woman with the sword had recovered, and was right behind it. It roared as it whipped around, and slashed part of her robe, and she was bleeding. But, she was undeterred as she slashed the beast's arm off with one powerful swing, followed by a solid swing that removed everything under the knee. It roared as the woman held her longsword to the beast's head.
It weakly raised a claw, but the woman just said, "Die aberrant." and stabbed the otherworldly creature in the head. Splitting its skull in half, and causing it to fade from existence.
"Floris!" The man in the yellow robe shouted out to her. "Get over here, we need your healing!"
The woman ran over to them... and realized what a shitty state the boy was in. She should had healed him first, instead of fighting the aberrant... but, she could fit this. She held her sword with both hands, and close to herself as she focused. A floating rune appeared on the hilt of the sword. The wounds John received on his shoulder were closed as a green light engulfed them. It took a few moments, but he was instantly healed in no time. But, as the green light faded, something became apparent. On John's chest, there was a symbol of a chariot.
The strangers in the robes looked at each other before they said to each other...
"He's... an awakened."
Innocence x Courage - Hate... Monday 8:23 AM. September 23th, Awakening. One month after the incident...
The O'Sullivan Household.
Claire suddenly rose awake, thrusted awake by that weird ass dream of hers.
For the last few days, she was having dreams related to that bloodbath that took place at the camp, but now... that was a whole different experience. Almost like it was something that happened. Claire was probably reading a bit too much into a dream, but it felt like a recollection of some sort. Ugh, it was probably just something that Claire should just forget about. Rubbing her eyes, the girl looked around her messy room with clothes draped around because Claire couldn't bother to put them where they belong - not now, of all times. Her room had white wallpaper, which was hard to notice given all the various posters Claire had draped around. She shook her head as she climbed out of bed...
... and into some comfortable bunny slippers.
That she would be embarrassed to be seen in, but at her grandparents house, she couldn't care less. She'd also be embarassed to be seen in her underwear, but it wasn't like anyone can see through walls and stuff. She shook her head as she grabbed her phone and went straight out the bedroom door. She stepped into the kitchen, where her grandmother - a kind old lady in her sixties, with greying hair, was preparing food. Which Claire could tell was bacon, pancakes, and etc.
Which told Claire that she was awake too damn early.
"Hello, Clairey," Riley said in an accented voice.
"Grandma, I'm not ten anymore..." Claire said as she slumped down on the dining room table. She sighed, as she looked to her left, and saw the television. The headline being TOWN REELING AFTER MASSACRE. A reporter chick from the city prattled on about how the massacre was a tragedy, how people across the states are praying for the lost, and how the police are on the hunt for the killer. Bah! It was just a reporter chick hamming it up for the ratings, and to Claire, she was background noise.
And when one press of this shitty TV that was bought in the nineties, she wasn't even noise. Claire rolled her eyes... many of her friends were killed in that incident, and yet they haven't even found the bastard yet. Probably papa sheriff helping his boy escape punishment again. Claire found it real hard to care at this point. Though, the only thing she could care about was the fact that he was still out there, and there have been a few more deaths in town...
Now, Claire wasn't no vigilante, but if the authority won't bring Scott down, then it lies on people like her... but, she was more worried about Zoey. She was still in a coma... and she couldn't bring herself to go to school during all of this bullshit. She shook her head.
"Claire, are you still going to school?" Riley asked Claire. "I know it's tough... but, you have to move on."
"Yeah... that's what they all say," Claire said underneath her breath, but couldn't help but agree. Moping about the past wasn't going to get anything done other than... bring up those ugly emotions that she didn't want to talk about. A sigh escaped her lips as she said, "Fine." She leaned back in her chair a bit, before she shook her head. "Just gimme some food... you know, just to get my brain going, heh..." She said in a near sarcastic manner. Her grandmother said as she sauntered over, and put a plate of food directly at Claire's place on the table. It included pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs. Claire prepared to dig in, but her grandmother informed her,
"Just to let you know, Connor came back from the store, and his pick up truck is good for you to use."
Claire smiled - not just because she got food, she now doesn't have to go walk for like twenty minutes to Grand Ridge. "I'll make short work of all this food." She grinned. She immediately dug in and ate everything fast as she possibly could, and in less than a little while she had a clean plate. She brought her plate to the sink, washed it, before placing it in the dishpit to dry. She quickly skipped over to the shower, dropped her clothes, and hopped into the refreshing hot water. "... Aaaaahhhhhh" She said as she washed herself.
After a few moments she put on her outfit for the day, which were jean shorts that were cut very short, heavy black combat boots, and a sleeveless T-shirt with her favorite Smashing Pumpkins album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, on the front. "Bye grandma!" She said as she skipped out the door. It was a relatively short trip to the driveway, and to her Grandfather's 1995 Ford Ranger that, despite being old, lasted him since the moment he bought it. All because he was one hell of mechanic... she should learn a thing or two from him.
She hopped inside, and didn't waste a second in hooking up her iPhone, and blasting some music...
... Before speeding off.
Grand Ridge - Parking Lot.
Claire pulled up into the parking lot, and turned off the song as she switched to her headset. She grinned as she tried her best to improve her mood. She started marching up the stairs to Grand Ridge... which was a massive modern complex that was at least five stories, and covered a lot of ground. Even this early in the morning, it was still bristling with life... lots of people that were good looking. But, this funny thing called preconceptions just made it difficult to do anything other than walk up the stairs to the front door. Course, the moment she opened the door she heard a bang... not like the sound of something falling, like the sound of an explosion. Followed by the sounds of fire alarms. It didn't sound like a terrorist attack... more like an M80.
Claire rolled her eyes.
Why can't people just cut her a fucking break for once.
Grand Ridge Academy, Kimberly's dorm.
Kimberly arose from her slumber around this time. Briefly rubbing her eyes, she muttered the last words she heard from a particular dream she had...
"... He's awakened?" To nobody but herself, out of some strange compulsion because that dream was a bit weird. Kimberly was quick to climb out of bed after realizing that, in fact, she didn't wake up in a forest, or anything. But, instead, she woke up in her dorm room. It was neat and prim as always, with her posters on the wall, and on her computer desk, she had her camera and all the parts for it. Neatly laid out for her to put it together.
Recently things were a bit... fucked. She couldn't focus in school after seeing all that death and destruction inflicted at the hands of Scott Reese. But, yet, the school just expected her to carry on like it was nothing. The same with her job. It was hard, especially since Kimberly didn't want to leave her room after what happened. She just shook her head, and went over to her computer and started putting back together her camera. For once, she was going to try to go to work today. Or else her mother's going to kill her... God, she hated this town. She sighed for a moment.
Though, in the reflection of the camera's lense, she saw something weird... well, saw it again. The symbol that appeared in the center of her forehead. The camera's eye. It was there for awhile now. She rubbed it, hoping that it'd come off then, but it didn't. She shook her head. Kimberly noticed it the next morning after the massacre... and thought she was going crazy. Her job had a strict policy on no visible tattoos, and she was soooo going to get fired. Her parents were also going to kill her! Yet, not a soul mentioned it. Maybe her defensive measures were successful, and nobody noticed it. Or maybe... it was all in her head.
Like that strange dream.
After she put her camera together, Kimberly walked over to her dresser and pulled out her outfit for today - a sweater, some jeans, and some converse sneakers. She walked out the door towards the community showers - a concept that she found incredibly loathsome. The halls of Grand Ridge Academy were rather dead. As either people were still reeling from the fucked up massacre that took place, or from fear of being next. There were a few other gruesome killings taking place after the massacre.
So that meant Scott was still out there.
Jordan had experienced two dreams this day... the same one that everyone else had experienced - it woke her up at the dead of night, and she went back to sleep. She paid it little mind, despite playing a backseat role in someone else's adventure. The sigil that the kid - John - had, was what aroused Jordan's curiosity the most due to having one of her own.
Then there was the other dream.
Then... she slipped into a similar dream? She just rubbed her eyes, and looked around. She saw nothing but darkness. Where ever she went, all she saw was the same sight. It was an endless void. Eventually, Jordan stopped trying to move, before she tried to wake herself up. "One, two, three... wake up..." She said.
"... Jordan Nichols," Jordan heard a very deep voice behind her, and she looked over her shoulder to see two bright red eyes, and a vague animal shape in the darkness. Jordan shuddered as a paw seemingly stepped out of the darkness and revealed the rest of the beast... It had the shape of a giant wolf that was the size of an elephant. Bright red piercing eyes, that was seemingly made out of a black mist - in fact, that same black mist accompanied the wolf where ever it stepped. Sometimes... Jordan swore the mist took the shape of skulls. It slowly marched over to Jordan, and she shuddered as she took steps back.
"... You have a debt to repay."
Now that the wolf was looming over her, Jordan was shuddering in fear, instinctively taking steps back. She sighed, as she repeated to herself, "It's just a dream, it's just a dream, it's just a dream..."
"This is no mere dream, Jordan Nichols, this is a warning," The wolf spoke again as it picked up the pace. "Two years ago, in the same event that took the life of Madison Brown, you were designated to die..."
Jordan tried to put distance between herself and the dog, but it quickly walked to her side, and turned it's head to look back at Jordan.
"... yet you live.... why is that?" It asked.
"I... don't know... who... what are you?" Jordan said as she took more steps backwards, nearly tripping on nothing.
"Now that you are Awakened, you can properly comprehend the threat I pose..." The dog spat out, "I am an agent of death, maintaining the balance between life and death... you may refer to me..." The wolf turned towards her and stood straight up.
"As the Hound."
"Okay, Houndie..." Jordan said, "What do you want with me?"
"You cheated death, so now I am here to collect..."
"... and h-how... w-what... I - what..." Jordan stopped for a moment as the Hound quickly doubled in size. Taking the size and girth of a two story house.
"I've simply come to offer you the choice... go now and peacefully." The Hound took a step, before shrinking, ending up the same size as Jordan - they were face level. It's red eyes pierced her soul. "Or the hunt shall begin."
"... and if I r-refuse?" Jordan asked.
"Then I'll have to drag you back by force..." The Hound said, taking a step for every step backwards that Jordan took, "The light is very generous... and it has given you the gift of life, thought, free will... and yet, it can take..."
At this point, Jordan realized that backpedalling like a fool wasn't getting shit done. Jordan quickly whipped around, and broke off into a sprint. She couldn't run as fast as she used to with that leg, but she sure as hell was going to try. The Hound got further and further away, in this seemingly endless void, and she smiled....
... Then the Hound suddenly appeared right in front of her, the size of a football stadium this time. Jordan came to a stop, and screamed.
"... You cannot run from death, Jordan Nichols. Nothing can. The second we are born, we all have a price to pay... and it's calling home. Now, that you have rejected my offer to come willingly; the hunt begins. Tell the other Awakened; where ever I appear... death follows."
The Hound opened it's jaws wide, and swallowed Jordan whole....
"Holy shit!" Jordan shouted as she came awake... she looked around, and realized that everything was okay. She woke up in a cold sweat - as she did a lot of nights, but... She got out of bed, and went to her bathroom. She turned around, and looked at the clock on her back.
"... I'm an Awakened?" She asked herself, "... and what is this debt I have to repay?"
Kimberly found the showers and opened the door, and immediately felt bare feet touch the humid tiles. She sighed as she realized that the showers weren't that packed at this hour. Most of the people were still asleep on a saturday at eight, or were already up. There were a few people who were in here, but Kim paid them little mind. She found herself a stall, and placed her new attire on a bench outside of it. Stepping inside tripped herself of her kitten patterned jammies, and turned on the water. Hot as possible... heh, regardless of how the weather was outside, she always turned the water on. She took the time to thoroughly wash herself off, clean her hair...
Then she stepped out of the stall shower with a towel on, and at the corner of her eye, she saw a familiar sight. Jordan Nichols. Drying herself off, baring it all in the bare view of everyone here. Kimberly felt a little embarrassed, looking at her friend like that, but she caught a quick glimpse at Jordan's back. She saw a large tattoo of an hourglass on her back? Weird. Last time she checked, Jordan didn't have any tattoos like that.
While Jordan was pulling up her underwear, she felt someone gawk at her, and saw Kimberly - and she wasn't even worried anymore. She nodded her head, and kept putting her clothes on, as Kimberly did the same. Once the two girls got dressed, then they felt it appropriate to engage in conversation.
"Hey, Jordan, where are you off to?" Kimberly asked Jordan as they walked alongside each other, she had to slow her pace in order to avoid walking away from the girl, but they managed to hold a conversation.
"I don't know, I'm just chillin'..." Jordan replied with a smile as she made small talk. "I was supposed to have classes, but my professor's daughter was killed in the... you know..."
"Yeah..." Kimberly said as they conversation went dead for a moment, before she decided to ask about the tattoo. "So, Jordan..."
"Hm?"
"When did you get that on your back?" Kimberly asked.
"Get what?"
"The hour glass?"
"Girl..." Jordan trailed off for a moment, "You checkin' me out?" She stopped, putting a hand on her hip as she gave Kimberly an inquisitive look.
Immediately, Kimberly's face went red as she stammered out, "No-nonononono! I just caught a glimpse of you, and saw that." Kimberly said, "I wasn't checking you out."
Jordan forced out a chuckle... before she said, "I'm... not sure myself." She said convincingly to Kimberly. "I didn't notice it for a few days, but I saw it on my back one day in the mirror... I thought I... I don't know, but when I went to get it removed, guess what? She said she didn't see anything."
Kimberly raised an eyebrow.
"... But, you can see it, right?" Jordan asked.
"Y-yeah," Kimberly said. "I see it clearly."
The conversation went dead... then the loud pop in the distance caught their attention.
"What in the world?" Jordan asked.
Grand Ridge - Classroom.
Once the dream ended, Lynette was suddenly risen awake.
She had dozed off in class, and had that dream.... that recollection. She was surprised, because she only put her head down for a moment and then slipped into that dream. She shook her head... John... why did that name ring a bell? Then there were the monster, and the people in the robe. Lynette wasn't all that imaginative, but she bet that this dream was a sign. Some people had the id-
"Lynette! I'm glad you're back with us." The science professor reminded her that she was in the middle of class. "I'm so sorry that my class was so boring that I put you to sleep."
Lynette leaned back, making herself smaller as she meekly said, "S-sorry, I just haven't been get-"
"I don't need to hear excuses, I need you to pay attention." The professor said.
"Yes s-sir," Lynette said, before giving the professor her full attention. Yet, she couldn't shake off the dream, and... the symbols that keep popping up in her head. They were like an intrusive thought that kept popping up. And not only that, there was the symbol that appeared between her... boobs, if she were to be crass. It seemed like a massive emblem that had weird symbols on it and electricity. It looked like a tattoo, but no tattoo that she got (not that she could recall).
Class concluded, and Lynette quickly went over to the bathroom. She peered inside - the lights were off, and she went inside. She walked up to the mirror, and - she hoped that nobody walked inside at this moment - she pulled off her shirt. She was in her bra, and was able to see the strange branding... it reminded her of some kind of pagan symbol? She wondered if she was going crazy since camp... then she thought of that damn symbol again! Ugh. Well... she heard that, in psychology class, one way to deal with problems was to write them down - so they're physical. She pulled a black ink marker out of her pocket, and in an act that would be considered vandalism, she drew one of the symbols. This time, the one of fire. It took her a moment to draw it, and it took up a large chunk of the window, but it was there.
What did it mean? Why did she think about it so much?
One question that was answered when the symbol started glowing a blue color, and Lynette wondered if she truly was crazy now. She reached out and touched it... before it started making a loud hissing sound, and she felt the heat emanate from it. Her eyes shot open wide, and she dove off to the side - before the emblem exploded in a loud burst of flame. Glass was launched all over the place - some of the same glass had cut her. She had held her hands over her head as she stood up... the fire alarm had went off, and the entire bathroom was drenched in water and that eliminated what traces of heat that was left.
