So far, David must have thought he was off the hook. Things continued as mostly normal, camp activities went ahead, no riots ensued, David continued to wake up alive each morning, no attempts at escape had occurred, Nikki and Neil were their normal selves - but Max was quiet. He went along with everything without complaint (albeit at bare minimum effort), which was very much out of the ordinary.

At lunch every day in the mess hall, he sat at the end of the table glaring into his food like it had insulted his mother. Sometimes he would run the tip of his knife through it, creating a long channel where gravy seeped out into the rest of the tray. He imagined it was David's throat, but his plans would have to be a lot less sloppy. The day before, he had decided that he didn't want to kill David, but to subject him to a fate worse than death. Max wanted to make sure David knew exactly the amount of torture he himself endured day in and day out at that godforsaken camp. He wanted David to feel frustration and anger and hatred, and see how long it took him to finally snap.

But how?

It had been nearly a week since that fateful day and he had no such luck deciding how to make that pathetic excuse of a man suffer. People were starting to notice his withdrawal. He'd never been compliant for this long without ulterior motives. That day at lunch, Nikki was the first to acknowledge it out loud.

"Hey Max," she began. Max paused from where he was carving a pentagram into the wooden table and met her eyes with daggers in his own. She continued heedlessly, "Are you ever gonna get back at David for making you do that ropes course?"

"Yeah, you don't usually let that stuff go," Neil added, "but you've been letting him walk all over you since then."

Max didn't reply for a nearly a full minute, and the other two had gone back to eating until he finally spoke up, "I'm just waiting."

The other two gave inquisitive looks, Nikki with her cheeks full of food.

"Revenge is best served cold."

There was a moment of silence.

"Unlike whatever this stuff is!" Nikki chimed in, giving a wide grin toward her lunch before continuing to shovel it into her face. The boys stared at her with varying levels of confusion. Max then turned his attention down to his unfinished pentagram once again and gripped his knife so hard, the plastic broke in his hand. David.

After lunch, things went on uninterrupted. Neither of Max's companions asked any more questions and David, as always, was Captain Oblivious. Their post-lunch activity for the day was rock skipping. What an agonizingly stupid thing to include as a camp activity. Whether it was classified as a camp sub-activity or as a full blown camp, no one was really sure.

Max had collected a handful of smooth rocks he'd intended to use for skipping and one jagged one he considered engulfing in a campfire and then using it to carve his name into David's skin - so that he never forgot who not to fuck with. He smirked at it only briefly before a rough pat to his back caused him to drop everything he was holding.

"Love the enthusiasm, Max!" David's horrendously jolly voice exclaimed from behind. Max froze on spot. "Looks like those high ropes taught you a thing or two about the importance of participation!" The man trotted away after that, leaving the boy to simmer in even more rage. In an instant, Max had the stone back in his hand and was wound back to hurl it at David's head, but stopped in his his tracks. The time was not right. Not here, not now; but tonight was the night. He didn't know how, but he was going to get back at David if it killed him.

He took three deep breaths and aimed the stone at the water instead. It skipped a total of... infinity times, given that it went so far everyone eventually lost sight of it. Max received a round of applause, and an appropriate amount of cheering from Nikki. The sigh he heaved out after that manifested as a growl as he stomped away to look for another torture rock to replace the one he just spent.

A fair distance away from the others, Max returned to the place he had initially found the almost-murder-weapon and searched for another. This area was surrounded by boulders which made a bay in the water where only the high tides could reach. Max slipped down into the divot in terrain and browsed the selection of sharp stones.

Amongst the rocks, a low hissing sound emanated from a dark space. Max's searching hand slowed as his eyes followed the sound to a crevice between two large, flat stones. He raised his eyebrows and stood up straight, dusting off his hands on his jeans. Slowly, he approached the nook with keen interest.

He carefully lifted the top stone away to reveal a water moccasin poised in strike mode. Startled by the light, it retracted a bit, seeming to be giving Max one final chance to escape. Max jumped in his skin, but remembered not to make any sudden moves. His eyes twinkled. A cruel grin spread across his face. This was perfect.

The boy lowered the rock back down to its previous position and then bolted away, leaping over the boulders, in the direction of his tent to find something to capture it with. He returned with an empty pickle jar with holes punched in the lid that Nikki had been using for her bug collection. The bugs that were contained within are probably currently rejoicing in their regained freedom to all their friends. This took priority. Nikki would understand.

He returned to the rock pool to find the snake disappeared but not gone as he heard its hissing from inside a narrow hole that hadn't been there before. The boy thought for a second. He utilized the future snake prison as a water scoop and emptied it down the hole. After a few moments of accepting the underwater home, the snake surfaced to breathe and Max made to capture it posthaste.

The capture was a success! The snake coiled up in the bottom of the jar, pressing its nose against the glass and flashing its cottonmouth to its captor. Celebratory of his quick wits, Max pulled down one eyelid and stuck his tongue out at his inmate.

He chuckled, "I think I'll call you Venom."

Utterly pleased with himself, Max carried Venom back to his tent and hid him under his pillow, then quickly returned to the stone-skipping extravaganza. Neil was the only one who had noticed his absence.

"Dude, you were gone for like thirty minutes, where were you?"

"A wise felon never reveals his crime," Max said, shoving his hands in his pockets. This would be the last day he would have to play along with David's bullshit activities ever again. "Are you staying hydrated, Neil?"

"Wha- dude, what?"

Max smiled cruelly, "Let's go refill our canteens."