Ch 1: The not so Nightmare Before Christmas
It was December tenth and eighteen year old Kage Wilkerson couldn't have been more excited. Not because Christmas was fifteen days away. Oh no, Kage could care less about over priced and completely useless gifts, or the loud annoying christmas carols that left her ears ringing. No she was excited because today was the day her oldest brother Francis had promised to take her and her three other brothers Reese, Malcolm and Dewey on a wilderness survival outing.
Francis had finally come home from Marlin Academy, a military school in Alabama run by the strict Commandant Edwin Spangler. He'd been sent to Marlin Academy by their overbearing and over controlling mother, Louis Wilkerson after a few 'incidents' involving an arrest, the burning of a teacher's car and one embarrassing incident involving a neighbor girl and their parents bedroom 'wink wink'.
Francis was a legend in his own right, he was the embodiment of chaos itself and his younger siblings worshiped him and always begged to hear him re-tell his famous and inspirational stories, to their parent's and their community's dismay. The last time she had spoken to him she made him swear on his word that he would do something fun and special with them the next time he came home. And a Wilkerson's word is their law.
Their mother on the other hand wasn't about to simply open the cage and let loose five wild tigers to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting world. She gave them three simple rules to follow to help keep destruction to a minimum. One, No explosives. Two, No defiling or destruction of public property, and Three, They had to stay far away from other human beings.
Now don't take them the wrong way. It's not like the brothers (and sister) were the spawns of hell who were sent to wreak havoc on the innocent. In fact it was quite the opposite when they were on their own. Francis, the oldest was one of the most courageous and brilliant cadets in Marlin Academy who wouldn't stand for injustice even if it was enforced by a commanding officer.
Reese, the second oldest was one hell of a strong fighter. He was captain of both the wrestling team and the football team and quarterback.
Yours truly, third oldest was an honor student, running back of the football team, captain of the theater club and of the science club (not bad).
Malcolm, the forth was a high honor role student, who was captain of every other non-sporting teams/clubs, was a successful tutor and had scholarships to every college in the United States and a few over seas.
Dewey, the youngest was a musical and creative genius and by the age of eleven he had composed a few musicals and operas of his very own, and captain of the music club.
Separate, the Wilkersons were the envy of their classmates and classmate's parents. But when they were all together, well...what do you get when you mix gasoline with Styrofoam? The answer, Napalm (I know what your thinking but don't, homemade explosives are a federal crime!). When together they would do things that would make Satan hide under his bed and cry for his mommy. Louis was more than happy to get the kids outta the house and have some alone time with her loyal, loving husband Hal Wilkerson. There was a reason there were six of them.
Kage was in the bedroom she shared with Reese, Malcolm and Dewey packing supplies with her brothers. They were happily bickering with each other about how few items they were bringing and challenging each other to go without modern essentials.
The next few weeks would be spent hiking in the woods, navigating wild terrain, sleeping on the cold ground and surviving all that mother nature had to throw at them. Because it was December the temperature would be freezing adding an extra challenge to it all. And she couldn't be happier.
Now most girls wouldn't find going out into the wilderness for two weeks fun, but Kage wasn't like most girls. She was a Wilkerson girl, and like most Wilkerson girls she had a craving for adventure, for excitement and to challenge herself to her limits. But what would you expect with five brothers. Her mother was as feminine as Bowser and with a temper to match. Not to mention her brothers were always beating on each other. With six kids none of them really got much attention from their parents which left them extremely independent. They weren't parented as much as they were babysat by their mom and dad. Louis and Hal were not bad parents for the most part, they were just preoccupied with bills, work or each other.
(Kage's Pov)
"What are you taking?" Reese asked Malcolm.
"Some Clothes, a sleeping bag, my tooth brush, a guide on edible plants, my phone, tons of food, my laptop, a first aid kit and a solar powered charger." My brainy brother said.
Reese scoffed. "You kidding me? I'm just taking a hatchet, a thermal blanket and some meat to cook up!"
Malcolm raised an eyebrow. "Reese don't you think your gonna need clothes or some-oh my god." Malcolm's eyes widened as he stared beyond my head, the others froze and Reese began to laugh, Dewey covered his eyes.
I turned to see what was causing the commotion. I couldn't decide weather to burst into laughter or scream in terror so I settled with stunned silence. Francis stood in the doorway hands on his hips in a proud stance or what would have been if he hadn't been wearing something that wasn't completely humiliating or I should I say, wearing anything at all. Francis was in nothing but a pair of camouflage boxers, he was covered head to toe in camo paint with nothing but a knife attached to his waist.
"Ready troops?" He asked in an authoritative voice. The 'boys' saluted.
"Sir yes sir." We replied.
Francis nodded proudly. "Good, grab your gear and lets move out. Double time!"
With that he marched out of the room.
We all grabbed our stuff and followed suit.
Little Dewey skipped over to me. "Ready to go?"
I shouldered my green army style duffel bag and headed out with him. "Sure am." And I was. I had cut my hair yesterday so it wouldn't get in my way, it was boyishly short and kind of ragged. I was dressed in a pair of camo khakis shorts, a white tank top, a pair of sturdy hiking boots and Francis's dog tags which I had 'liberated' from him. I didn't worry about wearing a bra due to the fact that I didn't really have a bust. I had pale skin and deep brown eyes.
I tightened the strap on my bag. I had two changes of emergency clothes, my survival knife which was strapped to my waist, a thermal blanket, a compass, some non perishable food, my multi tool and three canteens of fresh water. We all started on are long hike to find a good place to call home for the next two weeks.
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(Five hours later)
After the long hike through the woods, up a mountain trail and through some uncharted dense forest, we finally found a good clearing to make camp.
The sky was deep red as the disappeared from the sky, we quickly set up a camp and started a fire.
"Alright cadets!" Francis called, and we all gathered around the warm roaring campfire. "Now you can either stay with me or go off on your own too camp. As long as you check back in on the twenty third, that's when we head back home."
We talked it over and we all decided to stay together at least for the first couple of nights.
The sun had set and the fire popped and crackled in the cool dark night. We were all settled in for the night.
"Yo Kage." Reese called.
"Hmmm?"
"I hope your not scared of the dark." He teased
I raised an eyebrow not that he could see it in the dark. "Why would I be scared of the dark?"
He snickered. "Because this is the time of the night when the Boogie man comes out."
"Whats a Boogie man?" Dewey asked. I swear I could hear Reese smirk.
"Well Dewey the Boogie man is an evil monster who comes out on the darkest and creepiest of nights to kidnap unsuspecting children." He said in a spooky voice.
"W-what? W-w-what does he do with them?" Dewey whimpered.
"HE EATS THEM!" Reese shouted. Dewey shrieked while Reese laughed his ass off.
I huffed in annoyance. "C'mon Reese there's no such thing as the Boogie man."
"Oh yeah, how do you know, you can't prove that he doesn't exist. Ya' know I bet ya really are scared! In fact I bet you wouldn't last a night alone in the dark."
'Oh that does it.' I thought. "Oh that does it!" I said.
"Seriously guys shut up." Francis yawned. But as they already knew, it was in vain. I never turned down a challenge.
"Fine I will, I'll even stay out for an entire week just to prove to you. I don't know the meaning of fear. And when I get back you have to admit that there is no Boogieman, and you have to give me your bike."
Reese snorted. "Fine! But you have to challenge the Boogieman, and if you loose you have to do whatever I say for a month."
"Deal!"
I was filled with excitement and furry. Excited with the challenge of a week alone in the unknown without my brothers to keep me company, and furry from my own brother questioning my bravery. I stood and outstretched my arms to the dark woods.
"You hear that Mr. Boogieman!" I shouted with cocky sarcasm. "I'm calling you out! You couldn't scare a butterfly with your best tricks, and I'm not afraid of you, so come get me!" We all waited in silence looking for any sign of the paranormal. "Yeah that's what I thought! To scared to dare mess with a Wilkerson!"
We all burst out laughing at the joke we made. I began to gather my things and looked for the darkest part of the woods.
"Ah come on Kage he was just kidding. You don't really have to go." Malcolm Pleaded.
I shook my head. "A bet's a bet bro, besides I can't wait to until Reese has to surrender his new bike. See ya."
"Alright just don't get hurt or lost or mom and dad won't ever let me come home again." Francis called out.
"No prob I gotta compass." With that I left my brothers and headed into the woods.
I walked until I could no longer see the light of their fire and found a nice soft pile of dirt and set up camp, and by set up camp I mean I wrapped myself in my thermal blanket and fell asleep.