Disclaimer: I do not own Big Time Rush. No profit is made with this etc. etc.
WARNINGS: This is not a happy fic. This is as far from a happy fic as it can get. This story is dark, brutal, and completely fucked up. There will be no happy end and no redeeming character arcs for certain characters.
Please don't read this, if you can't handle this. This fic is really heavy and depressing.
Trigger Warnings: Gay characters, gay relationships, mentions of gay sex, blood, gore, graphic description of murder, graphic description of violence, serial killer, horror, graphic description of multiple suicides, lots of yelling, lots of fighting
You have been warned. Enjoy!
'I got this feeling inside my bones, it goes electric, wavy when I turn it on;
All through my city, all through my home, we're flying up, no ceiling, when we're in our zone'
'All that I'm wishing for my friends, nobody makes it from my ends;
I had to bust up the silence, you know you gotta stick by me'
'I only see my goals, I don't believe in failure;
'Cause I know the smallest voices, they can make it major'
Jo Taylor was sitting on the passenger's seat, next to her boyfriend, Kendall Knight, fiddling with the buttons of the car's stereo and flipping through the different radio stations.
"Oh my god, Jo! Decide on something! " Carlos shouted from the backseat.
"Why do you care? You're busy making out with James anyway." Jo shot back.
Everyone in the car laughed, but Carlos laughed the loudest, before going back to making out with James. They were all inside the minivan, Kendall borrowed from his mom. It was during the summer holidays, so there was no school and the friends were on their way to a cabin on the woods for a weekend with their friends. Apart from Kendall and Jo as well as James and Carlos there was another couple sitting in the car: Camille and Logan. They were following two other cars with the rest of their friends piled in. The cabin where they would be staying belonged to Stephanie's family and she was the one who invited them all. Also going onto the trip were the three Jennifers, best friends and very popular in high school; Dak and Jett, also very popular, especially with the female students of their high school, but unfortunately for everyone else in a committed relationship with each other as well as Kendall's younger sister, Katie, and her best friend Tyler. Their little group was completed with their friends Lucy and Kyle, who everyone was just calling Guitar Dude.
It didn't take them long to arrive at the log cabin. It was spacious, but not too large. All the teenagers barely would find a place to sleep there, but luckily there were so many couples, who would share the same space, on the trip, so of course it gave the couples a welcome excuse for physical closeness and lots of cuddling.
Nothing out of the ordinary happened during the first day: The friends arrived at the cabin and got settled in, before going down to the nearby lake and taking a swim. Afterwards, in the evening they cooked dinner together and sat around a small bonfire, drinking some alcohol they brought with them.
The second day started similarly: After sleeping in and having breakfast, the group went hiking, exploring the woods around the cabin. In the afternoon, it got unusually hot for Minnesota, so they went to the lake again. In the evening, they once again ignited a bonfire, talking, and laughing happily. Carlos, who had his head on James' shoulder, the soft leather of his boyfriend's jacket against his cheek, couldn't imagine being happier. That's when it all turned wrong.
It started when Tyler announced that he would get some more wood from the fire. Camille, Logan, and Katie, who were closest to him, just nodded or waved at him, not bothering to say anything. They were too immersed in the conversations they just had. And the pile of firewood was only around the house, like 50 feet away, so no one was concerned that Tyler would get lost.
The young teenager was soon forgotten, pushed out of their minds in favor of telling each other ghost stories around the fire. It was only an hour later, when the fire became smaller that Katie remembered her best friend. Frowning, she told Kendall:
"I'm gonna go looking for Tyler. "
The blonde nodded, before continuing to talk with James and Carlos. The peaceful, cheery atmosphere remained, until a minute later, there was a loud, sharp scream coming from Katie. Everyone hastily ran into her direction, finding her frozen to the spot next to the pile of firewood, staring with a horrified expression on the ground. They walked around the pile of collected wood to take a look at what frightened Katie so much. The group collectively recoiled when they realized what Katie was staring at: It was Tyler. Only that half of his head was missing. The mutilated remains of the teenager's skull were laying in a large pool of dark blood and lighter brain matter. Tyler's left eye, the only one that had remained in its proper place, was wide open, making it look like the 14-year-old was very frightened when he died.
It took a few moments, until everyone processed the gruesome picture in front of them, for chaos to break out. Everyone started screaming and sobbing and crying and for a few minutes everything descended into madness, except for Carlos, who simply turned his face away, hiding it in James' shirt and steadying himself with a hand on the brunette's bare biceps. Eventually, just when Carlos thought he'd black out, Kendall yelled:
"EVERYONE SHUT UP! "
His friends and family turned to him and Kendall's calm and collected behavior seemed to calm everyone down a bit.
"Someone has to take the fire out. Everyone else get into the cabin! "
Surprisingly everyone complied and started hurrying into the small hut, while Jett and Lucy volunteered to put out the fire. However, Kendall held back his three best friends and said to Logan:
"Can you take a look at Katie? I'm worried that she might go into shock. Come into the shed, when she's okay. "
Logan nodded and looked at his friend's sister, who was still staring at her friend's corpse. Logan gently wrapped an arm around Katie's shoulders, guiding her away.
"What now? " James asked.
"We can't let him leave here. " Carlos said vehemently.
"I agree. Let's carry him into the shed behind the cabin. " Kendall replied nodding.
Carrying the bloody and mutilated corpse of a friend was a horrible experience and after Tyler's body was placed down, the three male teenagers felt soiled, sad, and nauseous. In the shed, there was luckily some water, so they washed themselves as well as they could. Soon, Logan was back, reporting:
"Katie will be fine. It just had been a shock for her and she's going to need some time. I expect that she's going to have a lot of nightmares. "
"Not just her. " James muttered.
Kendall gestured at Tyler, asking Logan to take a look at him. The dark-haired genius grimaced.
"I don't know what you want me to say. It's pretty clear what was the cause of death. Even if we had found him immediately, we wouldn't have been able to do anything. "
The blonde sighed.
"I'm sure everyone knows the implications of this? "
James nodded and answered:
"One of us is a murderer. "
"Hold on! Why does it have to be one of us? Some whacko could run around in the woods. " Carlos interjected.
Logan shook his head sadly and explained:
"When we found Tyler, the pile of firewood was untouched. That means he must have been killed immediately after he arrived at the pile. Why would a lunatic kill one of us, but then wait an hour, until we find him? Besides, we are hours away from the next human settlement. "
Carlos shook his head.
"I don't understand why one of our friends would do this…" he whispered.
James pulled his boyfriend into a tight hug, trying to comfort him.
"We should call the police. " Logan said.
Kendall nodded.
"Let's rejoin the others. Our phones are inside anyway. "
When they all stepped inside the hut, everyone stared immediately at them. Some of them, especially the Jennifers, looked hostile.
"Where were you so long? " the blonde Jennifer demanded to know.
"We were taking care of Tyler. " Kendall explained simply.
"We would rather have you all near. One of you might be the murderer. " the curly haired Jennifer said.
"So, you came to the same conclusion. "
"It was not hard to get. " Camille threw in.
Kendall walked over to the landline phone, picking up the earpiece.
"I'm calling the police. " he announced to the room.
But just as he was about to dial 911, Kendall noticed something:
"The landline is dead. "
His statement was met with outrage from his friends. Hastily, everyone checked their mobile phones, but they all came to the same conclusion as Jo:
"My phone has no service. "
Frustrated, Jett threw his phone into his bag and asked:
"Now what? "
"We should leave. Take the cars and drive to the next city, getting the police. "
Camille shook her head.
"That's a horrible idea. It's at least a four hours' drive to the next city. It is dark and the road is curvy and quite dangerous. Not to mention the facts that none of us is completely sober anymore and there's tons of wildlife that could jump in front of our cars. "
Blonde Jennifer huffed angrily.
"Well, what do you propose then? Staying here in the middle of nowhere with a murderer in this room? "
"It's better than being crushed to death in our cars. We're all together here. No one would be so stupid to attack when there are so many witnesses. " the aspiring actress retorted.
"We have to do something! At least we should try to find out who the murderer is! "
"It was Jett. " Katie whispered.
Everyone spun around to face her, looking surprised.
"What? " Jett asked flabbergasted.
Katie's face contorted into an enraged grimace and she yelled:
"YOU NEVER LIKED TYLER! DO YOU THINK I HAVE NOT HEARD HOW YOU WERE BULLYING HIM BEFORE WE LEFT TO GO HERE? YOU MADE IT PRETTY FUCKING CLEAR WHAT YOU THINK OF HIM! "
Jett looked shocked and surprised and honestly did not know what to say, but he didn't have to say anything anyway, because his boyfriend was already defending him:
"Now hold on a minute. Just because Jett didn't like him, he's a killer? The only one with a real motive in this room is you! You're the one who was pining after him and following him like a sick puppy. I bet you couldn't stand that he didn't want you anymore and killed him. "
"Dak, that is absolutely ridiculous! " Kendall interjected.
The others took Kendall's involvement as a sign to express their opinions too and only a few moments later, everyone was screaming and throwing accusations through the room. It was only a few minutes later, that James stopped yelling at Katie and the Jennifers that he realized how stupid they all were. That's why he climbed onto the small table in the room, bellowing:
"ENOUGH!"
James was loud enough to make everyone become silent and look at him.
"This is not bringing us anywhere. We can't fight ourselves like this. We're all friends here. So, please, let's all just calm down and wait until the morning. Then we can get help. "
"James is right. " Logan added calmly.
"And let's not forget the fact that we all might be overreacting. Maybe it was just an accident. "
Stephanie scoffed.
"An accident? Half of his head was gone! "
"When I did that internship in the hospital, there was a guy who managed to embed a piece of wood into his skull, just because he tripped and fell. Something similar might have happened here. "
It was silent for a few moments as everyone mulled over the genius' words. James could tell that Logan did not believe in what he said, but except for Carlos and Kendall, no one else could see that. Eventually, they all nodded, murmuring their agreement, and tried to settle down. James hopped down from the table, sitting down on his sleeping back, leaning against the wall. Almost immediately after he sat down, Carlos joined him, curling into his side with his head on James' chest.
For the next hour, no one said anything, trying to calm down and process everything. Carlos even fell asleep for a while, his head on his boyfriend's chest. When he woke up, the Latino looked up at his boyfriend, blinking sleepily and murmuring:
"Hey. "
James smiled weakly.
"Hi… Slept well babe? "
"Was okay. " Carlos replied shrugging.
"Will you… Are you going to be okay? " James asked.
The Latino shrugged again.
"Dunno. It's a lot to deal with. What about you? "
"Don't worry about me, Los. "
Carlos was about to answer, but he was cut off by a loud bang and a shriek coming from the cabin's bathroom. James and Carlos hurried to the bathroom together with everyone else. Carlos groaned pained, hiding his face in James' shirt. The reason for Stephanie's scream was a horrible sight:
Guitar Dude was hanging from the ceiling, strung up with one of the strings from his guitar. The string had cut into the dead teenager's neck, making blood drop down onto the floor. The string had cut into the dead teenager's neck, making blood drop down onto the floor. Guitar Dude's eyes were wide open and bloodshot and his lips were tainted blue. After a short moment, Kendall ushered everyone out of the bathroom, so that James and Carlos had enough space to cut the cord and get Guitar Dude down. Then Logan stepped forward looking at the body with sad eyes. Looking at Guitar Dude's wounds, the soon to be doctor concluded:
"He was strangled and when he was almost dead, probably unconscious from the lack of oxygen, hung with his cord. "
"Do you know how long… How long he's d-dead? " Carlos asked.
"I'm not sure… About half an hour, no more than forty-five minutes. "
James and Kendall decided to bring Guitar Dude's body into the same room as Tyler's body, before joining the others. Most of their friends looked like they were feeling numbly, just staring ahead. But Katie and the three Jennifers slowly became hysterical.
"It had to be one of the guys. One of us girl wouldn't have been strong enough to overpower him!" curly-haired Jennifer exclaimed sharply.
"Actually, that is not true. Guitar Dude was rather lean than very muscular. Every one of us could have done it. " Logan replied.
"I still think it was Jett. " Katie murmured, glaring at the blonde.
Dak growled and wanted to tell her to fuck off, when Jo said:
"It was not Jett. He sat next to me the whole time. "
Katie huffed angrily but chose not to say anything further. Everyone perked up though, when Jo added:
"However, I have noticed that Lucy was gone for a couple of minutes about 35 minutes ago. "
Suddenly, everyone turned to Lucy staring at her. Some looked curious, some looked shocked and some looked hostile.
"I did not kill him. I didn't kill Tyler either. " she said.
"Where were you then? " Camille asked her.
"That's not your business. " Lucy replied coolly.
"It is our fucking business when you are accused of two murders! " blonde Jennifer retorted.
Lucy growled, marching over to her bag. She rummaged in it shortly, before throwing something onto the table: A pack of cigarettes and a lighter.
"You smoke? "
"Only when I am stressed or agitated. And finding the dead body of one of our friends agitated me a lot. "
Jo raised her eyebrows and asked:
"How do we know that you weren't agitated because of a guilty conscience? "
The dark-haired girl growled again and pointed at the blonde.
"Listen bitch, I did not kill anyone. And you know why? Because if it had been me, I would have started with you! "
Everyone stared flabbergasted at the teenager, who added:
"You better stop throwing around unfounded accusations. One might think you have something to hide! "
"Right now, I don't particularly care who did it. But I am not staying here one minute longer than I must! " Jett exclaimed.
Dak, Lucy and the Jennifers immediately agreed with the blonde, while Jo, Camille and Kendall voiced their disapproval:
"It's too dangerous! You'll just crash! " Camille said.
"We can't very well stay here either. I don't want to be the next who hangs from the ceiling! " Lucy shot back.
"Stop pretending! You did it! " Jo screamed.
"Your fixation with Lucy is rather suspicious. Regardless of that, I agree with Lucy. I don't want to be the next victim. Neither do I want to watch how my boyfriend might be the next. " Dak explained unusually calmly.
"You are staying here! " Kendall ordered, making the Jennifers sneer.
"I don't know who the fuck you think you are…" blonde Jennifer began.
"But you have no right to tell us what to do and... " brunette Jennifer added.
"We do not care about your opinion. " curly-haired Jennifer finished.
Kendall looked completely taken aback, since he was used to people following his orders. The Jennifers, Lucy, Dak and Jett took advantage of that, grabbing their stuff, and walking out to the car. Kendall paced the room, feeling frustrated that they left, while Jo and Camille started to vilify Lucy. However, a few minutes later the door opened and the Jennifers as well as Dak and Jett came back in. Jett, who slammed the door shut behind him, looked murderously as he explained:
"The cars aren't working. Not one of them. "
"Lucy is taking a look at them. " blonde Jennifer added.
"Do you think that's a good idea? " Camille asked.
"Lucy knows more about cars and engines than all of us combined. " James interjected.
"Yeah, but what if…"
"SHUT UP! I'm so sick of your mindless accusations! " Dak growled, shutting up Jo.
Logan and Kendall wanted to jump to their girlfriends' defense, but the girls held them back, while Dak and Jett huddled down together in a corner.
The atmosphere in the cabin was tense with the friends separated into small groups, who looked at each other hatefully and with James and Carlos caught in the middle, trying to mediate. The only thing that brought them back from their hardened stances was when there was a loud metallic crash followed by deathly silence.
"Everyone stay inside. We'll check this out. " James said.
Carlos, Logan, and Kendall followed the brunette. The four teenagers walked down to the cars, quickly seeing that the metallic crash came from Jett's car and slid down the hill the cabin was on, crashing into the minivan of Kendall's mom.
"What the hell? " the blonde murmured.
He was about to walk to his mom's car, inspecting the damage, when he stumbled over something on the floor. Turning around, he looked at the weird bundle on the floor, before he yelped and scrambled backwards, away from Lucy, who stared into his direction with cold, dead eyes.
"What happened to her? " Carlos whispered.
With shaking hands, Logan turned her around, taking a good look at her. At first, Logan didn't find anything that would explain her death. Frowning, he was about to say that, when realization dawned behind his eyes.
"Oh my god. " he whispered.
"What is it? " James asked.
"Her spinal cord was broken in half. Once in her neck and once in her lower back. " Logan explained.
"Wait… What? Her spinal cord? But that is not possible, is it? " the brunette asked shocked.
Logan shrugged, getting up from the floor and rubbing his face with his hand.
"I honestly don't know. I guess it is possible, but you'd need a lot of strength for that. "
Carlos frowned and pointed at Jett's damaged car.
"This is probably going to sound stupid. But what if she was just working on Jett's car, bending over to get a good look at the engine, when someone slammed down the hood of the car? Would that cause such an injury? "
"Possibly. "
Kendall groaned, rubbing his face as well. They brought Lucy inside to the others, before informing their friends of what had happened. Well, Kendall did. Logan just remained standing in the room, staring at his feet unmoving and wordlessly, while James and Carlos cuddled again, with the Latino sniffling into James' chest, while the brunette tried to soothe him.
Jo and Camille were crying silently, feeling horrible that they were accusing Lucy of being the murderer and how they were treating her so badly, when she used to be their close friend. Logan and Kendall tried to calm their girlfriends down, but that proved to be impossible when the atmosphere in the room shifted from shocked too angry and Jett and the blonde Jennifer yelled at each other. While Jennifer thought that Kendall killed Lucy, because she insulted Jo, Jett defended the blonde throwing accusations back at her.
Eventually, when she calmed down, Camille spoke up, making everyone listen attentively:
"I think we are forgetting someone here. Someone who stayed in the background most of the time and someone who had the opportunity to plan this all. "
"What the hell are you talking about? " Dak wanted to know.
"Just think about it: Whose family owns this cabin? Who invited us all onto this trip and was adamant about all of us coming here? "
"Have you gone crazy? It wasn't me! " Stephanie exclaimed.
Everyone looked surprised, yet thoughtful at the girl, while Camille replied:
"You invited every single one of us onto this trip! You suggested your family's cabin! And you have this sick obsession for horror and gore! "
"Knock it off, Camille. You should stop making accusations like that. After all you were wrong about Lucy too! " Stephanie retorted maliciously.
Tears welled in Camille's eyes, who fought them back. However, she had no opportunity to reply, because soon the others all took a side, which separated the teenagers into two almost even groups. They only stopped, when Logan noticed:
"Wait… Where's Camille? "
Together, Logan and James looked through the cabin and ended the fight with the words:
"Guys, Camille is gone. "
Kendall and Logan immediately wanted to go out and look for them, but the Jennifers were against that idea, since there was after all a murderer on the loose. They reached a compromise though and split into groups: Carlos, the brunette Jennifer and Stephanie went down to the lake, Jo, Jett, and the blonde Jennifer were searching close to the road, Logan and the curly-haired Jennifer went uphill through a part of the woods with Kendall and Dak looking through the rest of the woods, while James and Katie stayed in the cabin.
Everyone felt anxious and afraid as they were searching through the dark emptiness of Northern Minnesota, looking for their friend. For a few tense minutes, there was only heavy silence, only occasionally interrupted by the sounds of wildlife or quiet calls of Camille! In the distance. Then unexpectedly, a piercingly loud and panicked scream echoed through the darkness. Startled, Dak and Kendall, who were closest to the scream, ran towards the source of that sound and they arrived at a truly heartbreaking scene:
The curly-haired Jennifer was the one who screamed, but now she was trying to comfort a sobbing Logan, who kneeled in the dirt, next to Camille, who was literally slaughtered: Her throat had been slit and someone had gutted her with her bloody intestines laid out and arranged around her like wings of an angel.
"Oh my God…" Dak whispered, feeling nauseous.
It took a few moments for Dak and Kendall to fight back the urge to throw up. Then Kendall asked:
"Jennifer, could you bring Logan back to the cabin? "
The young woman nodded, tears in her eyes, but when she tried to pull Logan up, he swatted her away and cried out:
"NO! I-I… I need to stay here. "
"Logie, please go back. We'll take care of her, I promise. " Kendall said quietly to his best friend, who eventually nodded and got up sniffling.
Once the two were gone, Dak and Kendall started to discuss quietly how to bring back Camille's body to the cabin. But soon, they were startled when there was rustling behind them and Jo and Jett burst through the trees. Jo's face was covered in tear tracks and Jett's eyes were widened by shock and fear.
"J-Jennifer, the… Blonde Jennifer… She… She's dead. " Jett stammered.
"What happened? " Dak asked shocked.
"We were walking down to the little river by the street, looking for Camille, when we heard some rustling. Then Jennifer was… OH MY GOD! CAMILLE! " Jo broke off when she noticed her best friend's body on the floor.
Kendall hugged her and let her cry into his chest, while Jett continued to explain:
"Jennifer was pulled away from us and into the trees. We heard a dull thump and then we found her… H-Her head b-bashed in. We didn't see who did it. "
"Kendall, we have to get back to the cabin, now! " Dak murmured urgently.
"We have to get Jennifer and Camille back too. " the blonde replied.
"No! They were my friends too and I'm sorry that we have to do this, but we need to leave them here. Don't you see? While we are out here, we are getting picked off one by one! "
The two young men stared at each other for a few moments, until Kendall was forced to nod.
"You are right. Let's go back. "
As they were hurrying towards the cabin, they ran into Carlos, the brunette Jennifer and Stephanie. After quickly updating them on the situation, they continued to get to the cabin, which they perceived as getting to safety. Once they arrived, Kendall did a quick head count: Curly-haired Jennifer and Logan had made it safely back and together with his large group and James, who had stayed at the cabin with Katie, everyone was there. Except…
"James, where is Katie? "
The brunette gestured at a door to one of the bedrooms.
"She's fine. She's sleeping. "
Simultaneously, said door opened and a sleepy Katie stepped out, asking:
"What's going on? "
James smiled sheepishly and said to Kendall:
"She was sleeping. "
Kendall gave his best friend a small grateful smile, before telling James (and begrudgingly Katie) what happened to Camille and Jennifer. Afterwards, James sat down on the couch behind him, burying his face in his hands, not saying anything for a while.
Meanwhile, the brunette Jennifer looked at Jett and asked dangerously calm:
"When did it happen? "
"About 20 or 25 minutes ago. " Jett replied, referring to the murder of the other Jennifer.
Jennifer and Carlos exchanged a meaningful glance, making Jo ask:
"Why are you asking? "
"Well, we were grouped with Stephanie. But we weren't able to see her all the time. For a couple of minutes, she was gone. About 20 to 25 minutes ago. " Carlos replied.
"And we were not that far away from Jennifer's group. " brunette Jennifer added.
Stephanie shot up from her seat on the floor, glaring at Carlos and Jennifer.
"Are you two crazy? I was taking a fucking piss for fuck's sake. "
"You were gone far too long for just doing that! You had enough time to sneak up on Jennifer and then be back! " Carlos pointed out.
For a second, Carlos and Jennifer were just staring at Stephanie, who was staring back. Then as sudden as a barrel of oil exploding, they started yelling accusations and insults at each other. Stephanie got increasingly agitated by the second, so James got up from his spot on the couch and stood behind Carlos, pulling him discreetly a few more inches away from Stephanie. Carlos stopped yelling at Stephanie to frown at his boyfriend and whisper:
"What are you doing James? "
"Just be careful, Carlitos. "
The brunette's voice was tense, but his eyes were fond as he looked at his boyfriend, expressing the deep profound emotions he had for the Latino, who nodded understandingly and pulled away from the fight. Now it was Stephanie against the two remaining Jennifers. All hell broke loose, when Stephanie yelled:
"I did not kill your narcissistic friend, you dumb bitches! "
With strangled yells, the two Jennifers pounced on Stephanie, who tried to defend herself from their attacks. Getting jumped by the two furious women made Stephanie panic, so she reached out blindly, managing to grab a lamp from a small table next to her. She was about to swing it towards the Jennifers, but suddenly Katie was between her and the other two women. Katie's arm jerked towards Stephanie, stabbing a sharp knife into her chest.
Stephanie gagged surprised, the lamp falling out of her limb hand as she stumbled and fell back onto the floor. Katie stared shocked at the lifeless body on the floor, whispering:
"She tried to kill them. I-I… I had no choice. "
Kendall hurried to his sister, hugging her and pulling her back from Stephanie.
"Shhh. It's okay. It's over. Nothing bad will happen anymore. " the blonde whispered to his baby sister.
Not wanting to be in the same room as Stephanie's body, Carlos turned to his boyfriend and asked:
"What now? "
"We'll wait until it's daylight and then we'll get the police. "
"And until then? "
James looked through the room at the wary and tired faces of his friends.
"We should try to get some sleep. " he suggested.
"I don't think I can be alone right now. " Jo said quietly, shaking her head.
"You don't have to. The master bedroom is big enough to fit all of us. "
Everyone looked grateful at James' suggestion, so they all piled into said bedroom. Kendall, Katie, and Logan got one half of the king size bed, while Jo and the two Jennifers were huddled together on the other half. Dak and Jett as well as James and Carlos got settled on each side of the bed, seeking the comfort of their respective partners.
It took a while until everyone had fallen into a restless slumber, but the first rays of daylight were already shining into the room, when Carlos woke up startled. Something had dripped onto his forehead, frightening him awake. Wiping a hand over his face, he saw something red on his hand.
'Blood' his mind helpfully supplied.
Looking up, Carlos screamed: During the night, Jo and curly-haired Jennifer had migrated towards the middle of the bed, towards the night siblings, while brunette Jennifer had remained at the edge, where she was laying now, her eyes wide open, cold, and dead. Her throat was slit and her blood had seeped into the fabric of the mattress, pillow, and blanket from where it had dripped down onto Carlos. But most frighteningly for Carlos was James, sitting on top of Jennifer, bloody knife still in his hand as he was carving geometrical figures into the dead girl's skin.
Everyone startled awake from Carlos' scream and James had no chance to hide the knife or get away from the corpse. After a few shocked moments, James slowly got off Jennifer's body, standing in front of the bed, chuckling.
"Well, this is awkward. "
"It was you? It was you all along? " Logan asked flabbergasted.
James had been fantasizing a long time about murder. He had a secret obsession with serial killers and gore for as long as he could remember. But he also had known that he had to hide that obsession, because it was not something other people could understand. So, he pretended to be a normal guy, dating, drinking, the whole package.
But when Stephanie invited them all to her family's secluded cabin for this little trip, the temptation was too big. James was not entirely sure if he were able to go through with murdering his friends. But if he were, he didn't want to take any chances. So, during the first night, after fucking Carlos so thoroughly that the young man wouldn't wake up easily, James snuck out of the cabin. It took a bit until he found the right cable to cut, so the landline was dead, but rendering all their cars useless was just too easy. Barely any time had passed, until he was able to slip back into bed to his boyfriend.
The brunette hadn't made any plans on how to kill his friends. He had fantasies, yes, but nothing concrete. So, during the next day, when young Tyler had separated from the group to get more firewood, he took his chance:
James was on his way from the cabin back to his friends, carrying snacks and some more beer in his hands. When he saw Tyler walking around the cabin to the pile of wood, James checked if the boy was alone, before setting down the snacks and following him. By the time, Tyler had noticed him and turned around to greet him, James had already a heavy log in his hand and swung it at Tyler's head. The young redhead went down easily and stayed down. Looking down at that boy, who seemed so small lying on the ground like that, blood trickling into the floor, made James feel indescribably good. Knowing that his hands had ended a life, just like that was liberating, causing an exhilarating and satisfying feel of power to run through James' veins. Captivated by that rush, the brunette was unable to stop and so he brought down the log on Tyler's head repeatedly, until all that was left of the young boy's face was a gooey puddle, consisting of blood, brain, and bones.
Breathlessly, James straightened and smirked cockily at his work. That smirk changed though, when he saw a few splatters of blood on his jacket. Growling, he gave the corpse in front of him a few kicks. That was his favorite leather jacket! Quickly, he put back the log onto the pile, hiding its bloody side. Then he hurried inside, hid his jacket, before grabbing the snacks and beverages and joining his friends again. James smirked when Carlos cuddled into him and his friends around him were chatting happily, none the wiser.
Seeing everyone's reaction to finding Tyler was almost as good as killing him had been. Only Carlos' reaction distressed James. The brunette hated watching his boyfriend be sad. But that only hardened his resolve to kill more people. Eventually, Carlos would see the beauty of what he is doing.
Killing Guitar Dude was especially pleasurable. James never particularly cared for Tyler, but he loathed Guitar Dude (not that he'd ever shown it). The brunette knew that Guitar Dude had a massive crush on Carlos. Before he and Carlos started dating, that wannabe hippie was always hitting on Carlos and even now that Carlos was taken, James caught Guitar Dude often how he was ogling him. And James couldn't stand for that: He took advantage of everyone's shock after finding Tyler. The whole group was holed up in the living room, some dozing, some just staring at the ceiling, but everyone inattentive to their surroundings. So, when Guitar Dude got up to relieve himself, James got up too and with a last glance at his dozing boyfriend curled up in a little ball, he followed Guitar Dude to the bathroom.
Before the other man even had a chance to react, James had Guitar Dude in a choke, his muscular arm cutting off Guitar Dude's breathing. It only took half a minute, until the struggling teenager went limb in his arms. James put him on the floor quietly, checking his pulse and feeling delighted that Guitar Dude was not completely dead yet. Looking up, James tried to evaluate if the lamp would hold his next victim's weight. Carefully, he tested it and when the lamp could hold his weight, James knew that it wouldn't have any problems with the much leaner man. Grabbing that stupid guitar that, he always carried around, James' quick and agile fingers made a strong rope out of the chords. It was hard to get Guitar Dude up there (he was heavier than he looked), but due to the adrenaline running through him, James made it. For a few moments, James watched Guitar Dude's unconscious body spasm on that rope, before slipping back into the main room. Getting back to Carlos, James found his boyfriend whimpering in his sleep, so he got settled next to him again and reached out to him. The sleeping guy turned around instinctively and finally settled down with his head on James' chest, while the brunette was thinking that having his boyfriend as close as this was even better than watching the life drain out of someone's eyes.
Guitar Dude's death had one advantage (apart from Guitar Dude being dead): Everyone was so busy fight and accusing each other that James basically had free reign. He stayed in his role, trying to mediate between his squabbling friends, but while the others were discussing whether Lucy could be trusted to repair the cars on their own, James sighed, pretending to be tired and told Carlos:
"I have to take a break, Carlitos. I'll be back in a few minutes. "
The Latino gave his boyfriend a sad smile and kissed the corner of his mouth.
"Okay. I'll try to calm them down a bit more. "
"You're the best. "
When James was in their shared bedroom, he opened the window and snuck out into the night. Quietly, he walked around the house and found Lucy bend over Jett's car. For a couple of seconds, he just watched her, aware of the fact that he could let her live and walk back into the cabin without anyone ever knowing. But then, James remembered how, back when he and Carlos started to go out, Lucy nearly destroyed them with her flirting. To his shame, James even fell for that flirting and slept with her, a couple of days after his and Carlos' first date. The brunette felt guilty about it, but his fear that Carlos would find out was bigger. And so, he decided to kill Lucy. Not only would it be fun and bring back that addictive rush, but it would also take care of a threat to Carlos' happiness.
James snuck up to Lucy, grabbed the open hood of Jett's car and slammed it down onto Lucy with all his power. The normally loud 'bang' of metal colliding was muffled by Lucy's soft body and the only sound was a satisfying 'snap' as Lucy's spinal cord broke. James was thankful that he was working out regularly or his strength may not have been enough to do that to Lucy. Nonetheless, he wanted to make sure that she was truly dead, so he also broke her neck.
Dropping her body to the ground, James released the handbrake of Jett's car, knowing it would eventually start rolling down the hill, crashing against something, before he snuck back into the cabin. Going back into the living room, Carlos smiled at him again and asked:
"Better? "
"Much better. "
But soon afterwards, James started to become desperate. After finding Lucy, Carlos got sadder. And James didn't understand. No matter how he killed someone, his boyfriend just didn't get it, didn't see its beauty. So, James decided that he'd have to become more creative. When everyone was screaming at each other, James pulled Camille aside, saying quietly:
"We need to talk. "
"About? "
James looked shortly at Stephanie, pretending to be afraid, before he hissed:
"Not here. "
Camille nodded understandingly and they went outside, the others not even noticing.
"Camille, I think you are right about Stephanie. But we have to prove it! Accusing her like you did will only make her more careful. "
The young woman nodded and asked:
"Well, what do you think we should do? "
"I have an idea. Follow me. "
James started to walk away from the cabin and noticed Camille's hesitation.
"Don't you trust me? " he asked her playfully, giving her a charming smile.
That made Camille follow James. As soon as they were far enough from the cabin, James suddenly grabbed Camille's hair, dragged her towards him and before she could scream, he slit her throat with a knife that he stole out of the kitchen. Choking on her own blood, Camille fell onto the ground, where James flipped her onto her back and cut open her belly. Her pained screams only came out as gurgle, since her lungs and trachea were flooded by her own blood. James grabbed some of Camille's bowels, pulling them out of her. Quickly, he positioned the intestines around his latest victims, before standing back and admiring his work: Camille's intestines were laid out in the shape of angel wings, while the puddle of blood pouring out of her throat looked like a halo around her head.
Getting rid of the blood on his hands was a bit tricky, but luckily his clothes were still spotless. Outside the cabin, James found a barrel full of rainwater, where he washed his hands and the knife. Pocketing the knife, he slipped inside and into the bathroom, where he watched his hands again and more thoroughly. When he got back to the others, he feared for a moment that his absence had been noticed, but as so often, his friends were too engrossed in their own drama to notice anything else.
Killing the blonde Jennifer was almost boring. After managing it to make Katie fall asleep, it was too easy to change into something black, slip into the dark forest and quietly follow the group of Jett, Jo, and the blonde Jennifer. Then it was only a matter of pulling Jennifer behind a tree, bashing her head against a tree once with full force. The only risky part was getting away without being seen, but even that was managed easily by James' dark clothing. Then he ran back to the cabin, changed back into his regular clothes, and waited.
Seeing Logan sobbing and crying after finding his dead girlfriend, almost made James regret it. Almost, because Camille had started to annoy him and James was glad about her finally being quiet (more or less voluntarily). By now, his kills weren't about Carlos understanding it anymore. James had realized that Carlos would never understand. That much was clear by the sadness and fear in his eyes. By now, it was about killing, about that rush, that feel of power it got him. And it was about the mad hope, that once all their friends were dead, Carlos would have no choice but to stay with him.
James didn't expect Katie to stab Stephanie, but he still enjoyed it. The flabbergasted expression on her face as she died was priceless and James wouldn't have missed seeing it for the world. Still, slowly he got impatient. This whole drama was grating on his nerves and he couldn't wait to kill all of them, except for Carlos. So, Jo not wanting to be alone was like an excellent opportunity to get them all close in one enclosed room.
Once everyone was asleep, James got his hidden knife and slit brunette Jennifer's throat. This time he could it enjoy more than with Camille, as he had more time to watch her blood slowly pour out of her, to watch the light in her eyes getting weaker and weaker. But James was still an artist and cutting her throat open was too average, too boring. The brunette grabbed the hilt of his knife to make a piece of art out of his victim.
The others looked horrified as James recounted his murders, laughing manically. Horrified that their friend could do such unspeakable things and horrified that they didn't notice.
"Would you have killed me too? " Carlos suddenly asked, making James stop laughing at once.
"No, no, of course not, baby. I love you. And I could never hurt you. "
"These murders hurt me, J-James. "
The brunette waved a hand dismissively.
"You'll get over it. They were nothing. Unimportant little afterthoughts. But you and me… We're forever. " James said, taking a step towards Carlos.
The Latino stepped back instinctively and noticed how James looked hurt because of that. However, their little conversation was interrupted, when Logan yelled enraged:
"Camille was not nothing, you sick fuck. "
He lunged at James, who already expected it. Logan managed to get a few punches in, but his rage and grief clouded his vision and made him vulnerable. It only took half a minute, until James managed to sink his knife into Logan's head, through his left eye. The young man's body dropped like a stone and James looked at Carlos, his eyes glinting madly.
"Don't worry, baby. Once they are all dead, we'll be together forever. "
The brunette leaned down to pull his knife out of Logan's skull, but it got stuck, so he didn't see Kendall coming. The blonde had a lamp in his hand, coincidentally the same kind of lamp Stephanie tried to use earlier, and just as James got his knife free, Kendall struck him with the lamp. It didn't kill James, but incapacitated him, blood running down his handsome face. He looked at Carlos and slurred:
"We'll be together forever. "
Then suddenly, with the last bit of strength he had, James raised his arm and rammed the knife into his own throat. Carlos screamed as James gurgled on his blood a few times, before he went limp, his life leaving his body.
Everything after was a blur to Carlos. He barely registered how the police arrived the next day. He barely registered how he was driven home or how his mother hugged him, crying. The only thing he registered was that one question, running through his head on repeat:
'Why? Why? Why? '
However, he was brought out of his shock induced trance, when he stepped into his room and saw pictures of him and James everywhere. His parents hadn't been told anything about what happened, so they had no opportunity to get rid of those pictures yet.
Numbly, Carlos picked up a picture from his desk. It was from their first anniversary, where James organized a trip to the Mall of America for him. He saw himself staring back at him from the picture, while James was looking at the Carlos in the picture, his eyes loving and full of adoration.
Carlos just couldn't understand how James, his loving, charming, considerate boyfriend was able to murder so many of their friends. James literally had been the living embodiment of a perfect boyfriend. He always listened, always supported Carlos, no matter what shenanigans the Latino had planned. James cooked regularly for Carlos, giving him flowers and small gifts at least once a week. James literally made Carlos feel like the brunette would do anything for him. And Carlos just couldn't match the memory of his perfect boyfriend with that mad mass murderer from the cabin.
The picture slipped out of Carlos' hand, glass shattering upon impact to the floor. Still feeling numb, Carlos bend down to pick up the mess, when suddenly all emotions came back slamming into him. He broke down, gasping for breath as his grief and confusion hit him full force.
After everything that had happened, Carlos still didn't doubt that James' love for him was genuine. Carlos knew James truly loved him and that made everything so much worse. The Latino didn't know how he could ever cope with the deaths of Camille, Tyler, Lucy and Logan, the guy who was Carlos' best friend since they were two. But even more devastating was James' death. Carlos couldn't live without James. Even after watching him murder his best friend, Carlos was still hopelessly in love with the brunette.
The Latino started crying and sobbing, snot and tears running over his face. This pain, this heartbreaking, soul wrenching pain was just too much. Carlos knew he could not live on like this, not without James, without Logan, but with the memories of his dead friends and the memory of the completely crazy glint in his beloved's eyes.
But then, gradually, Carlos' sobs died down and his tears were drying on his cheeks. The pain was still there but Carlos was eerily calm. With a steady hand, Carlos reached out to grab one of the larger shards from the broken photo frame. There was no hesitation, no doubt as Carlos pressed the sharp glass against his wrist. It was almost painless, slicing open his arms. Blood was gushing out of him, but Carlos didn't notice, nor did he care. The emotional pain was drowning out all the physical pain, but with every drop of blood that left the Latino's body, the pain got more bearable and Carlos felt lighter and carefree. The last thought Carlos had before everything went dark and he slipped into the blissful darkness of unconsciousness were James' last words:
"We'll be together forever. "
To anyone, who made it this far: Horror/ gore is not exactly my forte, but I hope it was somehow good anyway. How did you like it? Please let me know in the comments.
Also, let me know, if you think there are warnings I should add at the beginning.
Funnily enough, this was intended as a character study, looking at what happens when you put the people from Big Time Rush into a dangerous situation and an isolated place. And now look how it escalated.