The serene sounds of a forest roadway are interrupted by the purr of an engine. A large bus heads down an old road rocking left and right over divots and bumps left from the lack of care to this part of the globe. After a few short minutes the bus rolls into a parking lot connecting to a campground on the edge of a lake. The doors fly open and a parade of teens comes pouring through, cascading with varying levels of excitement. Among them is a blonde boy simply teething with energy. "This is so cool! I've been looking forward to this trip all year!" He shouts, stammering around in his excitement. A brunette quickly follows him, she is also visibly excited to be here. "I know!," she replies, " Ever since I heard this place has a manga club I've been dying to come and share my ideas with others who feel the same way about the medium as I do!"
The two high five each other sharing their optimism to be at this campground while a redhead exits the bus with an angry demeanor about her. "I can't believe how many people they crammed on that bus." She grumbles. "And have any of you ever heard of a shower?!" The blonde boy overhears this and scoffs. "Get used to it honey, we're out in the great outdoors where hygiene takes a back seat while we get down and really get to know each other." "LIAM!" The brunette shouts, "That is totally disgusting. I am so glad I don't have to share a cabin with you". The boy now appointed as Liam scratches the back of his head. "Aw c'mon it's not so bad, a man's musk is something that should be treasured on these trips." As he is yammering on a rogue soccer ball rolls near the group and finds itself under Liam's foot causing him to slip and fall into the dirt.
"Oh sorry!" A tall boy with brown eyes emerges from a wall of others to complete this group. "Your timing couldn't be better Raffi" the red head says through cackling laughter. Liam picks himself up off the ground covered in all kinds of grime and stains. "Looks like you and the soccer club are really hitting it off huh Raffi" the manga enthusiast pointed out. "You know it Birch," replied Raffi "Meeting people from different schools and walks of life really helps me get a grasp on the Zen of futbol" "Riiiiiight," said the redhead. "Let me know how those studies work out for you I'm sure they'll be real riveting." "Sure thing Sandra," answers Raffi, to jazzed to see the sarcasm that is present.
Amidst the conversation something catches Birch's eye. A boy she had never seen before. He sports a quirky fashion sense with long red hair much like Sandra. Even from this distance Birch can make out the scribbling of a pen against a sketchbook. He seems to be a dream she didn't realize she had ever wanted. The boy looks up to see he is being watched and simply smiles and waves to the brunette. Birch blushes, this retreat may truly be the best experience of her life.
The gang splits off to unpack, as fate would have it Birch and Sandra share one cabin while Liam and Raffi have been grouped in another. While Birch is very neat and particular about her unpacking Sandra simply throughs a duffel bag against the wall and jumps face first into the bed. "Why was it that you decided to come here anyway Sandra?" Asked Birch. "Camping doesn't quite seem like your thing." Sandra flipped over on the bed. "I just thought it'd be something different to do. Get out of town for once and see something new. I'm not planning on having any heart to heart with you if that's what you're asking." Birch blushed a bit and shook her head. "N-no that's not it. I was just curious, is all." Sandra rolls again to her side. "Wake me up when they start serving grub." Before Birch even has a chance to reply she is overwhelmed by snoring.
A few hours past as the sun slowly made its way to the horizon. Dusk was upon the camp and dinner was waiting for all of the campers. The four friends who share a pod at school also decided to share a table to eat and gossip. As food is disappearing from trays Birch notices the boy she saw earlier. Once again they lock eyes, and while she can barely contain herself she waves him over to join them. As he approaches Liam leans toward Birch and whispers "Uhh do you know this guy?" Birch stutters. "W-well no, I just saw him by himself and thought, well hey we're here to make friends so let's make friends." "Is this seat taken?" The boy asks upon arriving. Now Birch can get a good look at him. He has bright blue eyes and freckles. His shirt sports characters from a much more obscure manga series. "Yep! Why don't you sit down with us" Birch stammers. He sits down, noticing that he's only made an impression on this excited brunette. "Hey, my friends call me G" he explains as he reaches a hand across the table to Raffi. Raffi returns the gesture. "I'm Raffi, it's nice to meet you G." The rest of the formalities are exchanged as dinner is finished. Everyone here is getting along nicely, but Birch simply can't take her eyes off of her new companion.
"Earth to Small!" A voice takes her out of her trance as Birch looks to see Sandra staring at her. "Would you please contain your cousin for once?" Liam interrupts her with a grin on his face. "What's the matter Sandra? Scared of what comes out at night?" "What are you talking about?" Birch asks. "The only thing I'm scared of is getting in trouble for dealing with your nonsense" Sandra retorts. "I'm serious guys!" cries Liam. "You know all kinds of creepy stuff happens at this campsite. People go missing, sightings of monsters in the lake! Who knows what will happen once the sun goes down!" "So that's why you wanted to come" sighs Birch. "There's always some ulterior motive for you to be weird." Liam stands up. "It is weird and that's why I want to investigate it! You guys wanna help out right?" Everyone looks at the blonde with no enthusiasm whatsoever. "Alright suit yourself, I'll just have to take all the credit for finding proof of a monster."
The sun has nearly set as the group exits the dining hall and returns to their respective cabins. Before entering Birch looks back for one more glance at G, who winks to her and continues on to his own cabin. The brunette can't help but gush as Sandra pushes passed her to get into their shared home. She grabs some things out of her duffel bag and returns her gaze to Birch. "I'm gonna go take a shower, this au natural thing and I don't quite get along." With that she is off, Birch waving her hands nervously. She quickly leaps to a desk and starts scribbling art of her and G surrounded in hearts.
Only a few moments have gone by and the sun has finally set. A knock at the door snaps Birch out of the trance she had got herself in. She stumbles to the door and opens it. "Did you forget something Sandr-" Birch stops in her tracks. The redhead on the outside of the door was not the one she expected. G is standing in the doorway with a towel around his shoulders. "I was about to take a dip in the lake, you wanna join?" The brunette acts as if she just took a shock to the system. "I, I, I, I,…" She stammers trying to get a grip on herself. She shakes her head and tries to control her blush. "I would love to!" G gives a thumbs up. "Awesome, meet me down by the dock in 5 minutes." "S-sure thing!" Birch replies. G wanders off towards the lake. Birch quickly begins to rummage through her belongings looking for a bathing suit. "This is so crazy!" She thought to herself. "I can't believe how quickly things are going!"
Birch looks in a mirror at herself, wearing a towel around her shoulders and a two-piece purple and black bikini. She let out a nervous sigh, shook her head and gave herself a confident look in the mirror. With that she left the cabin on the way to the lake. "Well look at you" G said surprised. "Isn't this a lovely surprise." Birch blushes intensely. "Th-thank you" she manages to let out. G waves her toward him and begins to run towards the water, jumping in and making a splash. The brunette lays her towel gently on the dock and follows suit. They both emerge from the water, a lot closer than Birch expected. She let out a quick yelp before containing herself, forgetting that she is in water she starts to go under. G quickly grabs her and holds her shoulders above water. "You ok?" G asks. "Y-yeah! Sorry I'm just, not used to this kind of thing." Birch looks more nervous than before. "Hey hey don't worry so much," replied G. "You've got nothing to worry about. Just take things at your own pace." Birch's eyes are locked onto G's. She can't seem to think about anything going on other than what is in front of her. She slowly leans toward him, all she wants right now is what is in this moment.
Just a moment before their lips touch G is suddenly pulled under the water. It takes a moment for Birch to realize what is going on. "G? W-where'd you go?" She notices bubbles rising up from the water only inches away from her. Not sure what to think Birch slowly floats away from the source of the bubbles. Suddenly G emerges from the water gasping for air. "Are you ok!?" Birch shouted. "What happened to you?" "Get out of the water!" G yells. He swims with her to the dock as fast as they can. Quickly lifting her up to the dock Birch climbs out and reaches for G, helping him out of the water. The two take a moment to collect themselves and catch their breath. "Something grabbed me" says the redhead sternly. "I don't know what, but it felt like a hand grabbing my ankle. Pulling me under. I barely managed to get away." Birch covers her mouth, eyes wide staring at him. "W-what are we gonna do? We have to tell someone about this!" Her blue eyes looking into his. G stands up. "You're right. Let's go find a counselor." As the two begin to make their way off of the dock Birch let's out a small shriek before once again covering her mouth. Just off the shore not more than two feet from the dock, a set of large, fresh boot prints are seen. The prints emerge from the lake itself and head towards camp.
The sounds of a showerhead can be heard from the shower house in the camp. Sandra is rinsing the shampoo out of her long red hair. As this happens a small amount of soap runs toward her eye, stinging the sensitive sensory organ. Her reflexes kick in and she immediately reaches for her towel, but her hand doesn't seem to find anything. Recovering from the incident the redhead turns the water off and pokes her head out from behind the curtain and steps out into her locked stall. All of her belongings are nowhere in sight. With a fire in her eyes she punches the nearest wall. Pulling her head over the stall she shouts "What's the big idea trying to pull a fast one!? I swear I'll find you so you might as well just come out of hiding this instant!" There is no reply, her words simply echo in throughout the shower house. She sits back down on the bench inside the stall trying to think of what to do in her current situation.
There is a knock on the door from outside of the shower house. "Is everything alright in there? I heard screaming" Sandra recognized this voice. "Raffi?" she called, "Is that you?" The voice replied "Sandra? Yeah, it's me. What's going on in there?" She was about to call Raffi inside but quickly remembered the predicament that she was in. "Listen!" She began. "Some real wise guy snuck in here and stole all my stuff! I need you to go to my cabin and grab some of my clothes for me!" Raffi was taken aback. "Why would anyone do something so cruel! Don't worry Sandra I'll be back ASAP!" With that Raffi hustles off heading toward the cabins.
With his short black hair flowing in the wind Raffi runs as quick as he can. Nearly out of breath he makes it to the cabin and knocks on the door. After waiting a minute, he slowly opens the door and peeks his head in. "Birch? You in here?" He asks. No one is around to answer him. He creeps into the room, trying to get in and out of the girls' room as quick as he can. He unzips the duffel bag on the floor and begins to collect items. A shirt, basketball shorts, a towel, and plain underwear. Raffi tries to quickly brush the thought of holding a girl's underpants and begins to make his way back.
A large hand places itself on the boy's shoulder. Looking up Raffi realizes this isn't any camper he's seen, nor a counselor for that matter. The man is soaking wet, wearing a one-piece janitor's suit, and an old stained hockey mask. "Uhh, is everything alright?" Raffi asks, a bit of worry wavering his voice. The big man suddenly lifts him up by the collar of the shirt, lifting the younger of the two off of his feet. "Hey! What's the big idea man?" He shouts. He begins to put all that soccer practice to use and begin kicking the man. The masked figure fumbles a bit but his grip doesn't budge in the slightest. With ease he swings the boy and throws him through a small window. Before he can even realize what happened Raffi finds himself on the ground covered in cuts and bumps. Catching his breath, he begins to scramble to his feet but is cut off by a large boot landing flat on his calf. The young man tries his best to free himself, screaming for help all the while. He looks up to see a sharp jagged blade raised high above the gargantuan man's head, before he can even think the blade comes careening down.
Birch and G are heading towards the camp looking for any sign of the counselors. Usually you would expect to see one of two of them roaming around after dark to make sure campers are staying safe. The two decide to go to Birch's cabin to grab her cell phone. Arriving at their desired location the young couple are in shock. Broken glass and streaks of blood are surrounded Birch's cabin. Analyzing the scene, she notices some of Sandra's belongings thrown about. "Oh no oh no oh no oh no" Birch mumbles to herself. G places his hands on her shoulders. "Let's get your phone and go somewhere safe." he says. "But this is Sandra's stuff! What if she's out there somewhere?! What if she's hurt and needs help?!" "Ok ok," G replies. "Let's call the police, then we'll go looking." "Ok" Birch lets out, hugging her partner.
Huddling up to keep herself warm, Sandra sits on the bench waiting for Raffi to return. The redhead is stewing with anger thinking about what she is gonna do to whoever it was that decided to play a prank on her. Snapping out of her train of thought she heard the door to the shower house squeak open and close. Solemn footsteps are making their way slowly to the stalls. After checking the showers one by one Sandra can make out a large pair of muddy work boots in front of her stall, as well as a few droplets of crimson liquid coming from something this monolith was holding in his right hand. He began to push against the locked door, Sandra did all she could to keep even the slightest peep of her voice under control. After a few short attempts the pushing had subsided and the man stepped away from the door. Just when she was going to breathe a sigh of relief the resonating sound of a boot smashing into the door knocked one of the door hinges loose from its spot on the wall. Sandra let out a shriek she simply could not contain. The menace kept smashing into the door, trying his best to make his way through, as Sandra climbed under the bench and began to make her way out from under the stalls. While crawling she heard the door swing open and what sounded like photos being taken.
The mountain of a man ceased his reckless attack on the wall to turn and see a blonde boy staring him down with a camera in his shaky hands. "No way" Liam said out loud. "I knew it! There was some crazy monster here! I knew it all along!" Dazed by the thought of success he kept taking pictures as Sandra crawled out from under the stall. Quickly she got on her feet and grabbed Liam by the wrist, pulling him out of the shower house along with her. "What do you think you're doing!?" She yelled while running. "For your information I was getting evidence" the blonde retorted. "With this camera roll we can make a killing on the stories people will write about this place!" Sandra stopped in her tracks and grabbed the boy by the shoulders. "What is your problem!?" She shouted, "That man was trying to kill me! And you're over here gloating about some photo op you just took!? Get a grip Liam! This is not the time for any of your stupid games!" Liam was shocked, he didn't know how to reply. The severity of the situation had not set in until this point. The boy's face quickly turned to that of horror.
"Sandra! Liam!" A voice shouted. Birch came darting from the darkness and quickly wrapped Sandra up in a tight hug. "I'm so glad I found you! I thought something terrible had happened! I thought, I thought... why are you naked?" Before the redhead could even become flustered a flying machete spun directly in between the two, nearly an inch from their faces, and stuck itself into a nearby tree. G just arrived behind Birch to join the group staring face to face with the horrific hockey mask. Nearly twice their height he towered over the entire party. Quickly thinking G grabbed the machete from the tree it had sunken into. "You guys stay back" He said hiding his own fear. "I won't let this monster near you." With that the massive man approached the group. With a fierce swing the blade of the machete grazed his hand. Having recoiled for only a moment the threat continues toward the group. G backs into Birch and Sandra. "Wait a second," he lets out. "Where's Liam?" The group suddenly realizes they are down a member.
Just before the behemoth in front of them is within arms distance he is blindsided by the blonde boys falling from the tree above them. The collision causes the two to collapse into the ground, knocking the hockey mask off of the villain. For the first time in the night the man shows any resemblance of human emotion, scrambling for the mask. With his back turned G throws the machete as hard as he can, impaling it in the man's back. Lying face first on the ground the monster doesn't seem to make any motion. The girls grab Liam and begin to scold him. "What is wrong with you that was so dangerous! Do you have any idea what that man could have done to you?" Liam tries to sound brave through all the emotions running through his head. "Y-yeah I've gotta admit that wasn't my smartest stunt. But that was all I could think to do!" G sighs and joins the group. "I can't believe everything that happened here."
The short silence in the night is interrupted by the sound of police sirens and flashing lights. A crew of cop cars pull up to the scene. Liam gives his comically large shirt to Sandra to put on before anyone can catch a glimpse of her in her current situation. An officer steps out of his car and shines his flashlight on the group. "Are you kids alright? We got a call about some danger" "Officer our camp was attacked by a ruthless killer!" Liam shouts. The gang turns around, and realizes that whoever was trying to put an end to them has simply disappeared. No blood, no mud, and no hockey mask. The officer looks confused as everyone tries to explain the situation at once to him. "Alright alright kids one at a time please" he says loudly.
The officers spend all night investigating the campground, they search every inch of the park from the docks to the cabins and to the shower house. The sun eventually rises on the group who have had to stay up all night long. The camp had officially been closed until further notice. G and Birch exchanged information to keep in contact and spent most of the night in a warm embrace. Liam was going through his camera to study the photos he took. Most of them were incredibly blurry do to his excitement. There was one good shot of the killer, but unfortunately, he was not the only one in frame. Liam blushed, realizing what he had stumbled upon and put his camera away quickly. All of the campers had been accounted for, except for one. Raffi had never turned up despite the thorough combing of the crime scene. Missing persons posters were already in the process of being brought to the local area. Sandra sat nearby her friends, trying to find any sort of bright side to lighten the mood even a little bit. Shortly after the busses showed up and the groups piled on board. The large bus heads down an old road rocking left and right over divots and bumps left from the lack of care to this part of the globe.