David had never been one that wanted to harm another living being in his entire life. He fully believed that violence was never the key to solving a problem.
But now?
Daniel, disguising himself as David, had grabbed Max and held him practically in a choke-hold with his warped dagger slowly inching closer and closer...he wanted nothing more than to grab that filthy knife away from the young child and slam it down onto Daniel's face repeatedly.
"Max!"
David yelled furiously, lunging towards Daniel. The cultist didn't expect the attack and caught him off guard, causing him to drop the knife and his hostage as he and David tumbled onto the ground with David on top. David pulled back his hand and balled it onto a fist, ready to throw the first punch. Daniel managed to dodge in time, making David's knuckles meet concrete instead of a face. Adreline coursing through his veins, the pain of hitting the concrete was numbed, but not entirely. Growling, David went to throw another punch but Daniel anticipated the attack and blocked it, countering with his own punch to the face. Seeing David slightly dazed from the punch, Daniel used as much force as he could and kicked David off of him. The force of the kick sent him correining into the nearby wall and he let out a choked gasp as he collapsed onto the ground.
Daniel stood up, slightly panting and dusted himself off. He turned around and went to retreive his dagger.
"YOU ASSHOLE!"
Daniel felt Max collide against his legs in an attempt to knock him off balance. Scoffing, Daniel reached down and snagged Max up by the hood, holding him away at arms length.
"Let me go, you fucker!"
Daniel snorted and moved Max back into the previous choke-hold he had before.
"D-Daniel..."
Turning towards the voice, Daniel watched as David tried to stand, pressing one arm against the wall for support and the other resting gently against his chest.
"R-Release...Max...p-please..."
Daniel began walking over towards the wheezing ginger, his form towering over the weakened David.
"I don't think so."
David's eyes widened as Daniel slammed the handle of his dagger onto his head. David collapsed back onto the ground from the intense pain and the blood from the new wound began dripping.
"DAVID!"
Looking up, Daniel saw the aliuminum cans piled high on the shelf just above David. Pocketing his dagger, Daniel using as much of his strength he had and knocked the decaying wooden shelf down, sending the cans onto David's body.
David watched through his bloodied, blurry vision as Daniel turned back around and began tying up Max, who at this point was screaming bloody murder. After successfully tying up the boy, Daniel carried Max out with him and David fully succumbed to the darkness.
Max struggled through his binding, growling and snarling at his captor.
"You motherfucker! You know damn well that you won't get away with this shit!"
Daniel ignored him and pulled out the car keys that he managed to snag from David. He unlocked the car and opened the backdoor and tossed Max in, slamming the door as he landed on the seat. He walked around the car and opened the drivers door and stepped in and closed the door, he buckled himself in and plugged the key into the ignition and stepped on the gas pedal.
Max managed to sit himself up on the seat, he glared at Daniel but peered over the back seats, watching the Camp Campbell sign slowly fade into the distance with horrified eyes.
David groaned as he slowly regained his consciousness, his vision focusing better. He raised his head to rest against his pounding head but confusion filled him as he saw the various cans strewn abount over both his body and the floor. Feeling something akin to glue on his fingertips, David pulled his hand back to look at it, only to find drying blood. Using the wall for support, David began to pull himself up from the ground and fully took in surroundings. Looking around the room kickstrarted David into a panic, he immediately ran for the ladder that led out of the bunker and climbed as fast as he could.
Once outside, David looked in all possible directions before he made himself dizzy again. Noticing the sun was high in the sky, David knew he had been underground for severeal hours and cursed to himself. His anxiety stepped into overdrive as he began to run towards the camp.
"MAX! MAX! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, YELL!"
David called as he ran, even tripped over the occasional tree roots that were in his way. He sighed in relief once he was the mess hall. Jogging over to the doors, David vaguely remember Daniel saying he locked the doors but tried to open them anyway, only to be surprised to see them unlocked.
David looked over the massive room, his eyes roaming the room, counting every single person. Gwen, the Quartermaster and all the campers were accounted for.
Except for one.
Out of breath from the running and the injuries from the fight he had sustained, plus the sudden opening of the doors caused everyone to look towards the door and the entire room let out noises of disbelief.
"Jesus fuck, David!"
David stared blankly at Gwen as she raced over towards him, concern all over her face. She tried to pull him over to a table to sit down. He let her pull him until he recounted everyone in the room and pulled his arm out of her grasp.
"David..? Are you-"
"Gwen...do you have the car keys?"
"What-"
"DO YOU HAVE THE CAR KEYS?!"
Everyone jumped at David's sudden outburst. David panted as he anticipated Gwen's response.
"I...I don't. I thought you had them."
David's heart plummeted.
"Ok um...did you hear someone driving the car, by any chance? Last night?"
"I uh...yea? I thought that was you."
David's eyes widened as his breath quickened. He immediately booked it back outside.
"No no no no...please oh god no...please let the car still be there..!"
Gwen ran after David, trying to catch up to him. She caught up to him, seeing him standing outside of the counselor's cabin, standing over a pair of tire marks that ran from the cabin to the camp gate.
"David..."
Gwen reached out to touch David's shoulder but she flinched when he turned to face her.
"He's gone...He took Max, Gwen..."
Tears were pouring down David's cheeking, his whole body was trembling. He reached out to Gwen to hold onto her, pulling her into a hug. He started sobbing into her shoulder, profusely apologizing to himself and to Max. Soon, his knees gave out and collapsed onto the ground, but Gwen joined him and let him hold her tight.
She didn't know what was going on but she knew that whoever took Max was going to pay with their life when she heard David begin to wail, his hands clutching her shirt like a lifeline.
