Chapter THIRTEEN: Crystal Lake

What would you do if you came across a creepy abandoned camp ground in the middle of the woods, at 2:00AM on a very dark and foggy morning? Would you turn the fuck around and get your ass out of dodge? Or would your morbid curiosity get the better of you and throw caution to the wind and go explore the ruins? Max and Chloe Price-Caulfield as well as Frank Bowers decided to do the latter...on a Friday to boot!

It was Frank who had first noticed it. A small, faded sign at the very end of a lone gravel path.

'Welcome to Camp Horizon. Enjoy our Family'

What had once been a bright yellow sign had now degraded into a rusted over piece of corrugated metal with very sharp edges. A wide wooden gate could be seen just down the path and that had also dissolved over the many years. It was still very foggy out but was surprisingly warm for the early morning. The three had been driving for hours on end and desperately needed a break. Max and Chloe adored being close to eachother for as long as possible but even they needed to stretch their legs every now and then. Frank could probably drive for days upon days but he couldn't deny that it would be nice to breath some fresh air. However, exploring a dark and deserted camp ground in the middle of nowhere wasn't really what he had in mind.

The three parked just by the sign and Chloe hopped out of her truck. It was pretty warm out and she wasn't tired one single bit. She had been on the road for hours but was more bored than tired. She loved driving but the explorer within wanted to break out and this camp ground had come at the perfect time! What were the chances? Chloe loved a good horror film and a creepy ancient camp was perfect! Who knows what they will find? Killer cannibal families? Machete wielding maniacs? Demons hell bent on revenge? Or maybe just a bunch of old shitty cabins older than America itself. Either way it was a chance of a damn good explore and a fun old time. It was a brilliant idea…

"This is a horrible idea" announced Max as she got out of the truck.

"Seconded" agreed Frank who was giving Pompidou a well earned belly rub.

Chloe shook her head at her companions. Where was there spirit of adventure? Granted Max and Chloe probably had enough adventure to last them a lifetime and then some and granted, it was probably a silly idea to explore a long abandoned camp with no cell reception and for that matter, dead phone batteries.

"Come on guys! Don't be fucking party killers. No one has probably set foot in this dump for years. It's a cool opportunity to..."

"...Get ourselves killed by some psycho" interrupted Max.

"...Cut ourselves on a rusty piece of metal and get an infection?" interrupted Frank.

"Explore and have fun! Come on, I promise we will only go in there for like ten minutes and then it's back to the long road ahead. We've been on the road for hours and we all need a break before we become one with our vehicles. Life isn't a horror movie, there isn't going to be some chainsaw fetish fucker running after us. We're probably the first people to be anywhere near this place in a long time. Plus, there might be a few awesome-sauce photo ops Max" Chloe winked at her wife.

"It's totally pitch black in there Chloe. I highly doubt there are any lights working and that torch will only illuminate a little" explained Max, leaning against the truck.

"And whilst Hitchcock here takes a few pictures, what would I get out of this Price?" asked Frank.

"You would get to breath some fresh air and smell some clean surroundings" she replied.

"What do you mean clean surroundings?" he asked, folding his arms angrily.

"Come on dude, we both know in smells a bit too...Frank in there"

"Hey that's...you're probably right actually" he agreed.

Max smirked to herself. She spent allot of time watching old and fucked horror flicks and thanks to Warren, she knew way too much about cannibals and vampires than she ever need to but she couldn't deny that there may be a few cool images she could compile just from the entrance alone. It was totally too dark to get much now but if they waited a little...what was she saying? Was she actually suggesting that two young women and an ex-drug dealer spend the dark and foggy morning in an abandoned camp in the middle of the forest? Because if she was then that was both fucked up and weird but she couldn't lie, her curiosity was beaconing her in.

She must have been crazy but…

"Fine Chloe. Let's just take a peak for a bit. We did start this road trip for adventure after all"

"Hallelujah! Let's do this shit. You in Frank?" asked Chloe.

Frank paused to think a second. He glanced over at Pompidou at even the dog seemed strangely excited.

"Fuck it, sure thing. What could possibly go wrong?"

…

It was clear that Camp Horizon had, at one point, been a beauty of a place and probably created many amazing memories for the kids and teenagers who had been there for summer. The layout was pretty much what you'd expect of a camp of it's kind; right in the centre of the area was the main lobby/reception building and had once been a bright yellow and orange mix. Surrounding the main building were many smaller buildings of all sizes that made up the sleeping quarters and activity buildings. It was a fairly large camp ground and the various buildings were spread out across the entire ground. There was a very small lake with an even smaller island in the middle of it near the far end of the camp and made for a very creepy setting which Max took note of immediately. She had to admit, Chloe was right! The whole area was a melting pot of incredible photo opportunities and she set to work right away as soon as they set foot into the crumbling ruins.

Of course the once pretty camp ground now resembled American Rust back in Arcadia Bay. Ancient canoes and small boats were lying broken all around the area and drifters, travellers and homeless people had made short work of the grassy areas with makeshift fire pits and barrels dotted all over. The whole place smelt faintly of burnt wood and decay. Or as Chloe put it, 'the inside of a hillbilly's infected tooth'. Max noted to herself that some parts looked as if they had been frozen in time. Perhaps a bad analogy but true. Target boards still had arrows clinging to them and clipboards sat upon benches with pencils still on top of them waiting for the hand of an owner who would never return. Max wondered how or why this place was just left like that for all this time. Why a place that had created so many happy memories had been left to rot. Max couldn't help but think of Arcadia Bay once again and the fate it could have had if everyone abandoned it after the storm.

All Frank could think was that the place stunk like shit and felt like shit. He didn't know why the hell Chloe wanted to stop here but he had to admit he was grateful for it. Frank had cut down his drinking a bit and was beginning to feel on edge and pretty damn sick. His mood was so short lately, he had even yelled at Pompidou a couple of times. He hated being like this, so fucking weak. If he were a spiritual person then he would've called it cosmic karma or some bullshit, the universe's way of revenge for all the addictions he fed back in Oregon. But Frank Bowers was not a spiritual man. He was just a man who felt like shit. He would never tell them so but Frank genuinely enjoyed travelling with the wonder twins but grew increasingly frustrated with himself for feeling sick all the time. Why the fuck couldn't he be like Max or Chloe and just go through life with a smile and snappy quips?

"Hey Frank, are you okay?" came the quiet voice of Max Price-Caulfield from behind him. He hadn't seen her stalk around the corner as he was sitting on some damp and mossy wooden bench by the main reception building. Chloe was just making sure her miracle truck was good to keep travelling.

"Jesus girl, don't sneak up on people like that okay? I'm good though. And you?"

Max smiled at him. Damn that girl. She had a warm smile that somehow seemed to comfort you no matter the situation.

"Good actually. I've gotten some pretty cool images. The lighting here is actually pretty good so I hopefully won't have to alter any of my photos. I just wanted to check on you" she explained.

"And what makes you think something would be wrong?" he asked, irritated. He wasn't irritated at Max but at himself for making it so damn obvious he was feeling like crap.

"Because you kinda look like crap"

"Wow Juliet, don't you have a way with words!"

"No no no, I didn't mean like that. I meant..."

"I know what you meant Max. I've been trying to cut down on the booze is all. Being out here with you and Furiosa is actually pretty good and I guess I...don't want to fuck things up this time" he explained, not being able to meet the young woman's gaze.

Max studied the man for a second. Wowser! She still wasn't used to this guy actually opening up to her even in these small ways. She was glad to hear Frank enjoyed travelling with her and Chloe but she wanted to help him so much. She had really come to care for Frank recently and considered him a friend. And she always helped her friends.

"Tell me to mind my own business if you want but you know you can totally talk to me if you ever need to? I'm still dealing with my shit everyday and so is Chloe. We just need to take it one step at a time you know? Like we said back in San Francisco, live for the future and not the past"

"You and Price make it seem easy"

"Well I promise you, it isn't. I don't think it every will be"

"Then is it really worth it?"

"I think so. We owe it to those who aren't here with us who should be. We owe it to ourselves and the people we used to be to keep moving and give all those who doubted us the finger" she answered.

"You know for a small town geek you know a hell of allot about time"

Max looked at the ground for a second and Frank saw a weird emotion cross her face. He couldn't tell what exactly though.

"I've watched allot of movies I guess and I'm a photographer. We have a tendency to look deeply into everyday things"

Suddenly, Chloe yelled across the camp for Max to come over to her. Her voice echoed creepily across the entire camp.

"You better go..." started Frank, "I'm scared she'll come looking for you if you don't" he joked.

Max chuckled and began to get up before Frank added,

"Hey Max. I still think you're pretty weird but you're a good friend to me. Thanks girl, I mean that. I'll just hang here and take Pompidou around the grounds and then meet back up with you later if that's cool"

"Sure thing Frank and you're a good friend too. See you in a bit"

With that, the young hipster darted of to find her wife. Frank smiled at her as she left. That girl was a strange one but a good woman and it made him happy to see her and Chloe happy together.

God he could use a drink right now!

Just a bit of vodka or a few bears. Hell, at this point, a jug of white spirit would do.

It's not that he was stopping drinking for good, fuck that. He just knew that if he started drinking right now it would lead to him thinking about the past and then that would lead to even more drinking. It was a cycle of shit and Frank was at the centre of the hole. Frank desperately needed to clear his head and calm his ass down. What better way to calm down than to explore an ancient cam ground that is possibly filled with serial killers and cannibals? It would be an adventure either way.

…

'This place is hella awesome!' thought Chloe as she glanced around. She was standing just by the lake and it look pretty. It may smell like the ass end of a old donkey but it looked the part. Just like the rest of the old camp, the lake had seen far better days. In most areas, trash and mush led upon the surface of the water and more than three broken boats and canoes lived on the beaches. Chloe herself was standing on the broken remnants of what was once a dock. Half of it was now submerged under the water and Chloe could see a few orange life preservers floating by as well. The whole entire camp just looked...frozen. Frozen on it's last day of life before everyone just abandoned it. Left it to rot into a corpse. Chloe frowned. Did this place really remind her of Arcadia or her? She remembered saying to Max years ago that she felt abandoned when Max left for Seattle when her dad died. She guessed this place had a similar story. Chloe felt oddly connected to this place, she felt at peace here. She also loved a good horror movie and this place hella reminded her of like...every scary movie ever made. She jokingly began to refer to this place as 'Camp Crystal Lake' after the setting of Friday the 13th . It did bear a weird resemblance to the place, even though Chloe hadn't actually seen it in years. Cheesy as all fuck but that was part of the fun.

Chloe heard a noise behind her. She instantly spun around and saw nothing. Crystal Lake was surrounding by a dense forest that looked more like a jungle and it was still pretty dark out so she couldn't see anything but she KNEW she heard something.

Snap

Chloe froze. She was only joking when she said there might be a creepy killer here. What the fuck was that?

"Max?...Frank is that you?" she asked. Nothing replied, only silence. Then Chloe heard a metallic bang to her right and all she saw was an old rusty barrel with a small stone sat by it. Someone fucking threw that shit! What the hell? She reached for her small pocket knife that lived in her pocket or belt at all times and kept her hand on it. No way was she taking any chances.

"Okay, not funny fuckers! I'm not scared, I know it's you Bowers. Don't come any closer or...I swear to Dog, I'll shove this blade right up your..."

splash

Something splashed in the water behind her. Chloe swirled around quick and gazed into the lake. Nothing. Had someone threw something into it? The next thing she heard was another rustle from the direction she was looking in before the splash so she turned back around...only to be met with a loud…

"BOOO"

Chloe bounced up in fright. Only to see Max laughing her ass off, doubling over.

Son of a bitch!

Max was still in stitches when Chloe gave her a joking shove,

"You are such as asshole Caulfield" she yelled.

Max wiped her eyes and took a second to stand back up and catch her breath,

"You...you...totally deserved that Chloe. You should have seen your face. I wish I'd taken a photo of it" explained Max, still laughing to herself.

"I will get my revenge Creepy Caulfield. That's a promise" promised Chloe, laughing to herself as well. She had to admit, Max's cheekiness made her proud. What had she done to this woman?

"Hey, you're the one who called me over here. What did you want to show me anyway?" asked Max as she looked at the lake behind Chloe. It was far larger than it looked when they came in and looked kind of...intimidating. It didn't look to cold and the area they were near looked pretty clean, unlike the majority of the lake. It just added to the awesome spooky empty aesthetic of the place. Max reminded herself to try and take a decent photo of it later when it was lighter and also to think of a nice metaphoric title for the collection of images of the camp.

"I called you hear Max-a-million to take a look right in front of you" smiled Chloe.

"What? At the lake? It looks spooky as shit" replied Max.

Chloe smiled devilishly.

Max did not like the look of this...

"It looks almost peaceful right? It's big and empty and alone…and fun"

Max did not like where this was going…

"What would you say, wife of mine, if we took a little dip in the mysterious abandoned lake?" asked Chloe excitedly.

Max did not like it!

Was she insane? Sure it didn't look too cold and was pretty clean for this area but who the fuck knew what was living in there? Who knew who the hell was watching?

"You're high! Are you cereal? You want us to take a sip in a probably freezing cold lake in the middle of a forest? Alone? With not much on?" asked Max.

"Yep, that's exactly what I want us to do" replied Chloe, confidently folding her arms and grinning at her wife.

"Did you eat of those mushrooms growing over there? Anything could be living in there and plus someone could see us"

"Who is here to see us Max? Frank is being Frank over by those buildings and did you forget? This place is hella empty. No one is anywhere near us. Come on hippie, it'll be fun. Just like the pool back in Blackwell except no hiding from security this time. We have a change of clothes back in the truck and towels. It will be fun Max" begged Chloe.

Chloe fell to her knees and mocked pleading and kissing Max's shoes. Max couldn't help but smirk at Chloe's excitement. But it was crazy. They couldn't just swim in a cold lake in the middle of an abandoned summer camp in a forest in the middle of nowhere. There was no way…

"Chloe I love you and I would walk into Hell and back with you but this is crazy. I'm sorry but there is no way you'll get me into that lake..."

…

"I can't believe you got me into this lake..." shivered Max as she swam.

Chloe had actually managed to convince her to do it. The two had left a few of their clothing on in the off chance some creep was watching them and to protect against the cold of the lake. When Max first got in she found it freezing but she got used to it over time and as she suspected when she first looked at the lake, it wasn't actually all that cold after all. It did have a weird smell to it but otherwise it wasn't all that bad. The two had just been swimming and talking for around ten minutes now and Max had to admit it was actually pretty peaceful and felt nice to do this with Chloe. It was kind of romantic and did remind her of the time they snuck into the indoor pool of Blackwell Academy. It felt like a lifetime ago. Even though it was around one or two years ago, Max felt like both she and Chloe had done allot of growing up since then. Granted, they hadn't had much choice in the matter and their form of 'growing up' was probably a hell of allot different from most others.

"See...told you this was an awesome idea didn't I" gloated Chloe, swimming closer to her wife. At this point, the two were a fair distance away from the dock. The lake was a decent size so they weren't close to the centre but were still a ways out. It still felt strange to be out here and still very creepy but Max felt safe with Chloe and Chloe felt safe with Max. The two were having a hell of a goo time in that old rusty camp.

"Okay I'll admit, this isn't horrible and it actually feels pretty cool but we can't stay here for too long. We should check on Frank and make sure Pompidou is okay"

"Oh come on dude. This is so awesome! This is why we travelled in the first place Max, to see the world and go to weird places like this and create cool memories that will last forever. After all, humans are just memories on legs" replied Chloe.

"You got that from a film! But you're right, this is pretty nice. We must be the only couple in the world right now who would willingly jump into a lake in the middle of the forest and swim together"

"It just makes us unique as well as badasses. Our greatness doth never end!" declared Chloe.

"Okay Skakespeare, let's stay for a little longer then" smiled Max.

They spent around ten minutes more just swimming around and talking. This gave them an opportunity to survey the surrounding areas a little more. It was a pretty small camp overall and probably didn't hold many people during the summer. On the other side of the lake was just more forest and all they could see was a little picnic area hidden within the brush. They saw a few more cabins down the way and a few smaller buildings that must have been offices or cleaning stores and maybe a mess hall here and there for the kids or teens. Crystal Lake, as Chloe called it, must have been a pretty cool place to be back in the day. Of course, Max and Chloe used this time to bounce theories of eachother about why the camp had been fully abandoned in the first place. The two leading theories were this;

Max: There was some kind of tragedy that happened to one of the counsellors or one of the people they were in charge of and the scandal had been so horrendous and unforgettable that they had to shut down the camp and just left it as it would have cost a ton of cash to tear it down. There was probably a town or city a fair distance away as the travel length and cost may have attributed to Camp Horizon's eventual downfall. Now a shell remained of a place that used to be a beacon of fun and joy. The horizon had turned to dusk.

Chloe: Some deformed and deranged machete wielding crazy ass had decided he wanted to avenge the death of his kin who had once lived on the land the camp was built on and went on a killing spree but all the young people, led by a badass woman called Chlo, had led a revolution and managed to bring down the maniac in glorious punk fashion. All the while playing Firewalk and having a good old time. The authorities covered up the incident and abandoned the camp soon after. The vengeful spirit of the machete maniac still roams the land to this day.

Who's to say what really happened to the place. Either way it had been a damn cool experience for all involved.

"Hey Max" said Chloe, as the two swam close to the dock in order to get out the lake. They had spent well over half an hour in there and were ready to get a towel and get warm. But Chloe had one last thing to do.

"Yeah Chloe"

"Do you remember back in Blackwell when we went swimming in the pool?"

"Yeah I do. Why do you….NO CHLOE DON'T YOU DARE!" yelled Max, suddenly realising what was about to happen.

Max begun to swim faster away but was too late and she felt a ton of water come crashing down upon her. She hadn't been expecting it and it caught her off balance. Chloe, her beautiful loving wife, had splashed her with the lake water.

"See, told you I'd get my revenge Caulfield" laughed Chloe in response.

"Oh you asked for it Chloe Price-Caulfield. Prepare yourself for a battle"

Max splashed water directly back at her wife, covering her as well. At this point, both women were in battle ready positions and were grinning like kids in a candy store.

What followed could only be described as pure childish fun. Max and Chloe Price-Caulfield spent many minutes having a splash war in the middle of the lake. This is why they travelled and was the happy, strange and loving life they worked so hard to achieve. Their laughter could be heard all around!

…

The door to the old building took some strength but it finally gave way and came fully of its hinges and fell to the floor. Frank decided to explore the grounds a little to clear his head and stop his urges to drown himself in an ocean of booze. He was fine with drinking most days but he knew if he started now, he would be drinking all night. He genuinely did not want that. Pompidou ran into the old building and immediately started sniffing around the old building. It was kind of storage house and by the rank smell it was probably some kind of cleaning storage. It had an old and musky smell and looked like a tornado ran clean through it. Frank chastised himself for the very bad analogy.

"This place looks like a pile of shit Pompidou" begun Frank, "but it's allot more charming than where I used to live. Same with you buddy" Frank always spoke to his dog. He and his dog had been through so much, kind of like Max and Chloe he supposed. Whenever he found himself alone he always found himself looking at the past. Ever since he met back up with the wonder twins, he had been doing it allot less and unlike before, he actually wanted to be a better man. Maybe settle down and find a woman. If he could find a woman who would put up with his shit.

As Frank explored the small building and made sure Pompidou was okay and had done his business, Frank found himself actually wanting to go to Max and Chloe and join them in exploring this old shit box of a camp. He made a mental note to spend a little more time with them in their future travels.

As Frank turned to leave the small building, he noticed two things. One; the floor bellow him was very soft and uneven and two; the wood had just split under his weight. The next thing he knew, he felt his feet buckle under him and he fell directly through the floor. It wasn't a terribly long drop under normal circumstances but as he fell through the decayed floor, he clipped his head on the broken wood behind him and crumpled to the floor in a heaping mass. The last thing he felt before he lost complete consciousness was a cold feeling and pain in his head…