Max couldn't be forced into anything.
He was as stubborn as an ass and stood as firm as an oak about everything - he would have made a good Woodscout had he cared about anything ever. This was the kid, after all, who got shanked in the back and hardly batted an eye. A real hard ass who could and would destroy those who messed with him.
David was about to find this out.
Today was high ropes camp day at Camp Campbell. The suspended obstacle course circled the entire perimeter of the lake and at the finish line had a zip line that led straight back to the start, but went downwards into the lake so one would end it by trekking out of the shallow water. It was a fun way to be challenged and then cool off with a refreshing dip in fresh lake water.
Max, however, didn't see it this way. Max thought that, like everything else at Camp Campbell, this was stupid and a waste of his time and energy. Sure, exercising was important if he ever wanted to beat the living fuck out of David, but he decided that the best time for that was on his own terms. Plus, rope courses meant wearing those stupid harnesses and that meant it would have to be applied by an 'adult', I.E.: David. And there was no way, he was going to voluntarily allow that self-righteous moron of a man put his pasty hands all over him, let alone come anywhere close to him with a set of restraints. And really, Max simply wanted to make David's life difficult with his defiance at this point.
Soon enough, the time came for the campers to make their way to the high ropes course. Every child was rounded up from their tents and herded like sheep towards their daily activity. David and Gwen were the shepherds.
"Aren't you just so excited, Gwen?" exclaimed David in his typical cheerful voice. God, the sound of it was like nails on a chalkboard.
"Thrilled," Gwen monotoned in response, not giving him the luxury of a glance.
"Our campers are earning their right of passage," he continued, almost sing-song. He sighed nostalgically, "Ah, I remember my first time on the ropes course. 'Course things were different back then! Our ropes were lower and we didn't have the zip line we have today - no sir! - we had to take the 'Leap of Faith' straight on into the lake!"
"For the love of - You tell this story every single time we do the ropes course! And swim in the lake, and even touch a rope!"
Max spoke up, "Yeah, no one wants to hear your shitty stories, David."
"Now Max, Gwen, is that any attitude to have for only the best day of the whole year?"
"The best day?" Max huffed, "I wasn't aware your funeral was planned for today."
David either elected not to hear that, or genuinely missed it due to his blind excitement. The group came to a full stop at the base of a thick wooden post that extended up into the heights of the trees. Sloppily tied to it were decrepit lengths of worn rope which all looked near to breaking. Rotting wooden planks made a bridge between the first part of the course to the next, which was a web-like obstacle course wherein the obstacles were stones tied to the rope and some very unhappy crows which perched there regularly. After that, rope monkey bars (with no safety net underneath) extended to a climbing challenge made of actual rocks somehow bolted to another thick wooden post. The course went on like this; and taking one look at it, Neil threw his arms up in outrage and disgust.
"Oh fuck no! This is a law suit waiting to happen and I am not gonna be the kid that falls and splatters on the ground causing it."
David knelt down to Neil's height and put his arm around the boy's shoulders, "Come on, Neil, the only thing this is, is an opportunity at some good healthy exercise!"
"I did not come here to get 'good healthy exercise'," Neil retorted, throwing David's arm off himself.
"Then it's an added bonus! I bet when you get home all fit after science camp, your parents will let you come back every single year!"
Neil began spouting an incredible stream of protests, but once again David was selectively deaf and managed to get the child who was blinded with rage into a harness in two point five seconds. Before he knew it, Neil was on a team with Nikki and was scaling a widely-spaced teamwork ladder up to the ropes.
Nerris and Harrison were paired, Dolph and Ered somehow ended up together, and finally Nurf and Preston got teamed. This left Max as the odd one out. He smirked to himself and leaned back against the trunk of a tree.
"Aw geez Max, are you the last one?" David inquired as he looked about for perhaps a spare camper, but Space Kid was out of commission for a while with a belly full of rocks and a few chipped teeth.
"Well I guess that means I can't participate since this course is physically impossible without a partner," he remarked.
"Absolutely not!" David exclaimed. Max gave a snide grin which immediately disappeared upon the man continuing his statement. "I'll be your partner!" he finished with a twinkle in his eye.
"You have got to be fucking kidding m-" Max's sentence was cut when an arm coiled tight around his torso and lifted him up to the counselor's side.
"I will stand at nothing in order to help you have a great summer, Max!"
In another two and a half seconds, Max found himself fighting against being slipped into restraints. David's hands touching him all over was seriously skeeving him out to the point of goose bumps. If only Nikki were down here, and not already halfway done with the course, to sink her canines into his grubby graspers. His swatting was getting him nowhere, but it did manage to delay David's record harnessing time from two point five all the way to three full seconds. Still, Max had lost that battle. But he would not lose the war.
"I'm not climbing," he stated objectively. David ignored him and headed over to the course start with the camper tucked under his arm.
David was so tall that he had no problem climbing the teamwork ladder himself. He attached Max's harness to the back of his where Max dangled deadweight and impudent, decidedly having no part in any of this.
Through each part of the course, David encouraged Max and talked to him as if he were actually pulling his weight. By the time they were only a quarter through the course, Max was genuinely impressed with how utterly brainless David seemed to be. After all, it was even more 'discouraging' to hear baseless praise than to have the man just ignore his defiance. There was no reason for him not to shut up right now. Max fantasized about unclasping his hook and dropping to his death.
After a couple hours of traversing the seemingly infinite ropes, every other team had completed their run and Gwen faced the challenge of undoing each of their wet harnesses and then releasing them back into the lake where they had collectively decided they wanted to be. Max and David were the last ones up and, consequently, the last ones down. This meant everyone who had finished were now at the bottom, and they all chanted both cheers and jeers at the pair.
"Just listen to those words of encouragement!" David said.
'Push him off, Max!', 'Take the plunge!', 'I think I was just bitten by a snake!'
Max remained indifferent.
"Alright, Max," David began, removing the child from his back and attaching him to the zipline, "I know it's sad, but only one person allowed on the zipline at a time, so you'll have to go it alone-"
"So help me, David, if you put me on that death trap, I will single-handedly make sure your life is a living hell until the day you die."
"Don't be scared, buddy!" David cheerfully replied.
"I am not sca- aaahh!" And thus, Max was released from David's grasp and sent barreling down the zipline at top speed.
"Bon Voyage!" the counselor called out from behind. His voice was drowned out by Max's shrill screaming. The boy was plunged into the freezing cold waters of the lake, fully clothed. The instant he touched the water, he went entirely limp - figuring if he drowned himself, David would be charged with murder and undoubtedly discover the meaning of 'jailbait'. To his dismay, Gwen rescued him within moments and relieved him of his harness.
Sopping wet and humiliated, Max stood on the lake's edge listening to the laughter of every other camper. As David connected himself to the zipline and prepared for takeoff, Max's mint green eyes narrowed. His blood began to boil underneath his skin. His fists clenched at his sides and he grit his teeth.
David soon came crashing down into the water with a splash that sunk Neil in a tidal wave. Max glared at the man long and hard, practically burning holes into his head. When Neil resurfaced, David ruffled the kid's hair and gave a high-spirited laugh. A few of Max's abstract thoughts that flashed through his mind in that moment were torture, annihilate, and slaughter. He heaved a breath, trembling with rage. That man was going to suffer for this. As promised, Max was going to make his life pure. living. hell.
And that was how it all started.