It was the middle of the night. It was quiet, dark, as a night should be. One light turned on, so small that from the outside it could not be seen, a light as small as the glow of a flashlight. Then, with the push of one button…
The bass started pumping out at full blast, with vague wah-wah style guitar playing lightly over that. A slow drum beat pulsed across the camp, and then the vocals entered: one low voice saying, suggestively, "Oh yeeeeeeeaaah."
Everyone woke up and started complaining. Zeke tried to turn down the stereo, find headphones for it, anything, but it was no use, for he had dropped his light in his panicked state.
"Gosh!" exclaimed Harold. "It's like, 2 in the morning! Why would you even listen to music that loud in the daytime?"
"Uhh… I dig the song, eh," Zeke sheepishly explained. "Sorry about that."
Zeke finally found his flashlight and powered down the stereo. After that, he couldn't get to sleep. But he tried.
"Did you hear that music last night? It woke me up."
"I listen to that stuff like all the time! Well, not all the time, not while I'm asleep for instance, but it was still cool."
"Whoever was playing that music is going to get it."
The comments continued. I suppose that is after all what you get for playing that kind of music full blast in the middle of the night.
"CAMPERS. Will you all stop complaining about what happened last night and listen to me?" Chris impatiently asked. (Yes, he too was awoken by the music but he doesn't care.)
"Some of you might not know this, but the reason I'm here with you people instead of where I usually am is because we've got big news, and BIG trouble."
Courtney's eyes lit up as she said, "Are you getting sued?"
"No," Chris flatly answered. "But… you might want to watch your backs really closely, given that there is a PSYCHO KILLER on the loose."
It was at about this time that Owen and Justin held each other and screamed. Zeke tried to hold Eva, but got punched in the nose.
"So yeah. Watch your backs, campers. That is all."
Chris exited the mess hall and left the campers to panic amongst themselves. Among the most fearful were DJ, Cody, Lindsay, Owen, Justin, Bridgette, and Trent. Among the least fearful were Gwen, Duncan, Noah, Izzy, Eva, and LeShawna.
"Uhh… Trent? What are you so afraid of?" Gwen asked, baffled by the actions of her boyfriend.
Trent gave Gwen a blank stare in return. "Gwen, this is a psycho killer we're talking about, and you're wondering why I AM afraid?"
"A psycho killer who's probably fictional."
"We're fictional!"
"Dude, Trent, you're freaking me out. You're scarier than the 'psycho killer.'"
"Okay, sorry, that was weird, but still!"
"Dude, relax. Chris just made this whole thing up to freak us out."
Trent seemed to calm down slightly at Gwen's words, as did Bridgette and Cody. The rest were still as panicked as ever. Indeed, it was getting so bad that DJ was starting to cry.
"Relax, DJ," Duncan said. "He's not going to get you."
"What if he gets someone else, though? Like you, or Bridgette, or Geoff…" At this point he started to cry even harder. The thought of any friend of his dying was too much to bear. He pulled Duncan and Geoff into a group hug. Duncan sighed, but Geoff was content to help DJ through this trying time.
…
Chris walked away, after hearing the contestants scream as though the light had been turned out. He chuckled as he walked to where Chef Hatchet was hanging out.
"Those campers are so easily manipulated. They believe anything I say."
Little did Chris know that this was no laughing matter. (Yes, it was no laughing matter even by Chris's standards.)
Because lurking at the furthest edge of the forest was a man that none of them knew. Not Chris, not Chef Hatchet, no contestant, no producer... no one.