AN: Hello, everyone!
This is a new fic I wrote to get creative blood flowing again, but I liked how it turned out. My sister and I both enjoyed Rooster Teeth's animated series Camp Camp, so this came to me one night at 2 AM during a bout of insomnia that I wrote the basic outline down in an hour of sleep-deprived mania. The best kind of inspiration!
I hope you enjoy.
Sincerely,
-Crow
"MAAAAAAX!"
"Oh, Jesus Christ! I'm so getting fired for this!"
"Oh my God, I see blood!"
"Help me!"
A boy woke up with a snort.
He shook off the cobwebs of the unnerving dream as he inhaled the sweet, sweet perfume of the nectar wafting from the Mrs. Coffee machine he'd smuggled out of the Counsellor's cabin. He poured it into his favorite "I H8 EVERYTHING" mug and slowly sipped it.
The tent flap moved to the side as Neil walked in. "Hi, Max."
He sent a quick wave in silent response. Neil continued, "So, I was thinking earlier yesterday; I found some cans of turpentine in the Quartermaster's shed. Wanna go set some things on fire?"
Max gave what might almost (almost) be a passable smile, "That's what I like about you Neil; first thing in the f*cking morning and you already know what to say." He downed the last of his coffee, "Let's do this shit."
They walked out into the morning sun and watched everyone else start their freeform camp activities, mostly. Harrison had pulled out his 3-ring trick and made them into 5, then 6, then a pretzel… then still a pretzel he kept desperately trying to untangle. Nerris could be heard shouting excitedly as she played her dice-and-cards game alone with some stuffed animals at the top of the "Tower of Nerris the Cute". Preston was busy shouting loudly about some Shakespeare shit or something. Nurf was in the center of it all, lovingly tending to his tomato plants.
Then using said tomatoes to pelt Harrison and Preston under a layer of red mush.
The duo walked over to the edge of the forest where a poof of sea green hair was visible lounging on a branch in the pines.
"Hey, uh, Nikki? You okay?" Neil cautioned. Nikki looked down from her spot up the tree and grinned.
"Oh, hey guys! I was just practicing my warthog impression!" She crouched down further to the branch, ferally glowering.
"A… warthog?" Neil asked.
"Yeah, you know, hanging around trees and stalking jungles and stuff."
"You mean like a puma?"
"A what now?"
"The big cat. Like a lion. Lives in South America? Lounges in trees?" The nerd listed off.
"…You're making that up." Nikki accused.
"I'm telling you it's a real animal!"
"Well, I'm impersonating an animal with tusks! What kind of animal has tusks?"
"A walrus."
"Didn't I just say to stop making up animals?"
Max sighed, "Both of you just shut the f*ck up. C'mon, let's get breakfast before all the shitty unburnt waffles get taken."
Nikki hopped off her perch and Max pointedly ignored his two other friends arguing over genus and species. Soon, Neil would be as bald as his dad if he kept pulling his hair out every time Nikki brought up Nessie or Bigfoot in the argument.
They sat down at the table and pecked around the mediocre food served at camp when the door burst open and David waltzed in.
"Goooood morning campers!" He sang.
Max glowered openly. It should be a crime… no, an unforgivable sin to be that happy this early in the morning.
"Today is going to be chock-full of fun Camp Campbell activities!" He beamed. "Starting with a scavenger hunt around Lake Lilac! And now I'll pass the baton to my Co-Counsellor For-Life, Gwen!"
"Yeah, sure, whatever," The young woman walked in behind him clearly less enthused as she took out several sheets of paper and started passing them around. "Okay, listen up. So, this morning we'll be hunting for the stuff on your sheets. It ranges from rocks to leaves to plants. Do NOT grab any poison ivy again, Space Kid!"
"Yep!" David interjected still smiling. "Let's put our Toxic Plant Identification Camp to good use. And not just because we used the last of the calamine lotion last week!"
"What?!" Neil exclaimed.
Max watched them all walk out of the Mess Hall towards the tower as Neil ranted about nature and the camp. He sighed quietly. Neil still acted disappointed sometimes from this camp. That way was just a road to more disappointment.
So, while the group was spread out as far as the WoodScouts edge of the camp, he could have an entire morning to himself.
Smirking, he walked to the back where he knew the Quartermaster kept all of the pudding cups.
The large group (sans Max) walked to the edge of the woods where David spun on his heel to address everyone. "Okay, Campers! Everybody got their sheets? We've got two hours to find everything on them, the winner gets a whole week with double desserts!" He exclaimed like it was a new Ferrari instead of an extra piece of pie or pudding cup. "Now, when time's up, we'll ring the bell in camp to alert everyone to come back. Are you ready?"
"Uh, David?"
"Yes, Nikki?"
"What're those?"
The group followed her finger upwards. The whole sky was gray and dismal, but the clouds had become poofy and tumultuous. David frowned as they started taking on an unpleasant tint to them and the wind started to pick up.
"Well, Nikki, those are storm clouds. Gwen, did we check the weather alerts this morning?"
Gwen quickly tapped on her phone and blanched as an alert popped up, "Uhhhh… David?!"
Whatever she was about to say was drowned out by a sudden burst of loud wind and a thundering roar echoing across the lake. They ran from the woods edge to see the clouds start to funnel into a large, gray-brown spiral at the lakefront. Trees and nearby bits of various camp supplies were ripped away into the massive whirl of wind.
"OH MY F*CKING GOD!" Neil shrieked. "When the Hell do we have tornadoes this far North!?"
"Quick, kids! Get to the Mess Hall for shelter!" David shouted, herding the terrified children towards the only structure that was certifiably weather-proofed. An art easel flew past and embedded itself into a tree. David shrieked as he had to briefly pose awkwardly to avoid several of Nurf's knives flying by. The remains of a canoe almost knocked out several campers as both halves sailed through the air.
They made it to the base camp in time to see the tornado race towards the very shelter they were going for.
"Get down!" David cried, dropping everyone to lie flat on the grass.
David looked up at the cabin structure and saw a small face in the window. 'Oh, God no!' He mentally agonized. In a split second he did a mental check of everyone who followed him outside. Gwen. Space Kid. Nurf. Nerris. Harrison. Preston. Erid. Dolph. Nikki. Niel. Ma-
Max.
"MAAAAX!"
He glimpsed the face for just a second before it was consumed by the dust and debris in the tornado.
The other campers looked up as there was a groaning, creaking sound from the structure ahead followed by an almighty sound of splintering. David's heart shattered with the sound. The Mess Hall was destroyed. Max was in there.
Max was dea-
"Look!"
He followed Nerris's outstretched arm upwards.
No. Way.
"Oh, my God." Gwen muttered incredulously.
About 60 feet in the air, and climbing, was the intact structure of the Mess Hall. Flying further and further up into the cloudline.
Glancing down, David saw the splintered remains of the foundation to the Mess Hall, a couple pipes spraying water and some cables sparking dangerously. For once, he really hated Campbell for making a weather-proofed building, but cutting corners on foundation work.
Almost as soon as the building was lost from view, the terrifying Death Funnel dissipated, dropping bits of Camp Campbell in its wake. David scanned the sky furiously for any sign of the large structure holding one of his campers, but nothing came crashing through the clouds.
…
"Oh Jesus Christ, I'm so getting fired for this." Gwen mumbled.
Nikki, still in shock, asked, "Hey, where's Platypus?"
Moments Earlier
*gurp!*
Alone, Max felt at ease enough to let out a small burp of contentment. Almost seven full pudding cups eaten was a decent start to a morning. He carelessly tossed his last empty plastic cup behind him and started towards the doors to check up on how the other losers were enjoying their 'Camp-tivity' of the day.
"Mwak."
He paused to glance at the platypus lounging lazily on the tabletop. Where Nikki and Neil found that freaky duck-beaver was a mystery to everyone.
"What the f*ck are you looking at," He challenged the non-sentient animal.
"Mwak."
"Eh, whatever you freaky duck-thing." He mumbled, ready to head out.
Suddenly, the windows rattled ominously. Curious, Max walked over to see that the wind had picked up ridiculously outside and the sky was a grim gray-green.
"Hah! Enjoy your stupid scavenger hunt now, Camp Man!" He crowed to himself. It wasn't hard to imagine everyone miserable outside in the brewing storm. Given how long they were out there for, they might be deep enough in the woods that it'll be a hike through the rain to get back. And when they did, he'd be sitting high and dry in the cabin with an 'I Told You So' at the ready.
Then the wind ripped away the tents a few feet away…
Including his own.
"F*ck you, Karma."
His salty bitterness at the Universe's idea of "balance" was put on hold when he saw the group of campers and two counsellors running across the camp grounds. He stared as David and the others started dodging flying debris that normal wind should have no reason to carry; canoes, branches, even one of Preston's theater props.
They were running fast towards his location and the rattling and howling wind got worse with each second.
Then, suddenly, they just all dropped to the ground as low as they could get.
"What the f-"
The wind roared outside and he pressed his face against the window.
An enormous wall of grey-brown dust, dirt, debris, and wreckage was spiraling towards him. He felt himself pale in disbelief and (for the first time since Spooky Island) abject terror.
"Maaaax!"
He heard David's faint shout over the howl of the weather. By then, his entire vision as obscured by the wall of dust rocking the entire building.
'Imgonnadieimgonnadieimgonnadie.' Repeated as a mantra through his head as the building started creaking. There was a small bit of resigned acceptance like when he was ready to be flayed alive by the Quartermaster in the forest, but this wasn't some asshole human's fault. This was nature ready to splat him like a fly versus a magazine.
Admittedly, not much ran through his head besides that. There wasn't much 'if only I did this' or 'I want more time to do that'. He's only 10, after all.
Well, maybe more time being a shit to David would've been worth it-
*CRACK!*
The entire floor jolted sideways and the boy felt himself being tossed around with half the furniture barely missing him as the building started rocking. He landed himself by the window and hazarded a peek out.
The dust hadn't cleared much, but he could make out the ground-
-way down there.
The impossibility of it weighed down on his brain. He and the Mess Hall were currently hundreds of feet in the air and he was inside it ready to crash on the ground. Mother Nature wasn't using a magazine anymore, this was a f*cking shotgun.
The Mess Hall started spinning like a washing machine, pressing him against the wall along with the tables and benches. He absently thought Space Kid would have a blast, shouting about 'Feeling the G's' the entire time.
He, though, could feel his face starting to turn green and his stomach bubbling unpleasantly. "Oh, God, my last regret is the pudding. Of f*cking course it is."
Then the ride suddenly slowed to a stop, causing a bizarre sensation of weightlessness before his stomach dropped like a roller coaster along with the rest of the building.
He didn't cry.
He didn't scream.
It wouldn't have helped.
All that mattered was that the place was going down.
Down.
Down.
Do-
*CRASH!*
AN: This was mostly purely for my own entertainment, so I put in a few Easter Eggs for other shows, some slightly obscure, some more obvious. But I want to see if anyone gets them before I post them in the last chapter.
I hope you enjoy the fic!
-Crow