Living Nightmare

(Story can now be found on AO3.)

"So, what kind of camp did your parents sign you up for, Micheal?" Max was currently enjoying a cup of coffee while Micheal dug inside his bag. The boys were at the activities field with the two directly outside of Max's tent.

"Well, the camp I'm here for is a bit girly...", said Micheal with an embarrassed look.

"Just say it. I'm not gonna laugh at you, if it's not too girly."

"The camp I'm here for is fashion camp. Sewing, to be more specific." Micheal said, pulling out a sewing machine and bunches of colored fabric.

Max nearly spat out his coffee in surprise. He expected Micheal to be here for torture or planning-an-escape-route camp, not fashion camp. At last he finished his coffee and simply replied "Fashion camp. You came here for sewing."

"Yeah, I know. But I can sew very well."

Max was still creeped out of his mind by this kid. He needed to get him away from him or at least distract the boy.

"Say, why don't you sew me a shirt? Nothing special, just a plain, ordinary shirt."

"But, you can't sew a sh-", Max was fed up with this kids bullshit and exclaimed "For fuck's sake! Sew me ANYTHING! Hell, sew me a pair of mittens!"

"Calm down, I'll sew you a blanket, ok?" Micheal was surprised at Max's anger and pulled out his needle and two bunches of red and black fabric each.

"Finally. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go do something." With that, Max sped off towards the center of the activities field.

Micheal always enjoyed sewing. He was the one who made wool shirts in the winter for everyone back at Daniel's bunker. After that, Daniel and Jen labeled him as a 'valuable asset' and was promoted to the leader of the children. He was also the most experienced in stabbing and hidding bodies so the police or his own cultists couldn't find them easily.

Each one of the children had a skill they excelled in.

Nathan could make untraceable poison and other just as deadly chemicals. Bella hunted like an animal and so, had other attributes such as night vision and a stronger sense of smell. Dave's disguises were near perfect. Elizabeth could hijack literally anything. Naer could beat anyone to death with his bare hands, being the brute. Astro Kid was a master of suffocation and choking. Harold could use a myriad of magic, including thunder, ice, and disappearing magic. Nicole's seducing skills were off the charts. Priss' voice imitating shocked even Daniel at first.

"Wonder how the others are doing." Micheal could only hope that the others had learned something about their targets.

It didn't take long for Max to get to the activities field. Max didn't care, he needed to get to David to tell him that these kids were insane and had to be killed, or at the least removed.

At last, the boy found David as expected in the center, smiling happily as he watched the campers and lookalikes partake in their activities.

David noticed Max and his smile became even wider. "Why, hello Max! Do you need something?"

"David, these kids are insane! We're all dead if they stay here!"

"What makes you say that?"

Max was dumbfounded by David's oblivious nature and exclaimed "You can't be serious, they wear white clothes and look like us! Daniel sent them!"

David was surprised at Max's behavior. He never sounded this desperate and was genuinely scared. He lowered his voice to a whisper and mumbled "Max please, when was the last time you saw the kids this happy?" He then pointed to the campers to prove his point.

They were definitely much happier then before. Neil was making chemicals and stuff with Nathan, Dave was painting a picture with Dolph, Elizabeth was practicing her skateboarding skills with Ered, Astro Kid and Space Kid were playing some kind of game with each other, Nicole and Nerris were playing a game of Dungeons And Dragons with Nerris being the DM, Naer was talking to Nurf about his personal issues and wishes, and Harold and Harrison's magic tricks were amazing Preston and Priss.

After a minute of silence, Max realized that Nikki and Bella weren't here. "Wait a minute, where's Nikki and that girl?"

"Nikki went to the forest to play hide and seek with Bella. Although it's been half an hour and they still haven't came back." Even David was starting to feel worried.

That set off a massive alarm in Max's head. "David, what the FUCK are you thinking?! That stupid bitch probably killed Nikki, and it's all because of you!" Max began to feel anger mixed in with fear and muttered to a nervous David "Can things get any worse?"

Suddenly, Micheal appeared and shouted "Max, I finished your blanket!"

Max let out a scream of terror and made David take a step back. "Holy shit, can you mind our privacy please?"

"I'm sorry about scaring you and David, but I wanted to show you your blanket." Micheal lifted up a blanket with a flower on a black ground with a red background on it. Micheal grinned and said "What do you think?"

"What's with the design?"

"Well, when I first met you, you seemed to feed off of negative emotions, with the only future in store for you is despair and hatred. The flower represents you planted in a ground of cynicism with the hatred being the sunlight and the emotions being the sky."

Max was shocked to say the least, his eyes wide open in terror of this kid. "Uhh, it's fine. In fact lemme take it to my tent." With that, Max sped to his tent in pure horror. "How does he know that? How much does he know about me?"

Max was on the ground of tent, the blanket on his chest. It felt soft and smooth, and while he hated to admit it, he liked the blanket. He felt the world drift away and eventually fell asleep, for Max had not slept well the night before.

He was on the floor, shivering and scared. He had no idea were he was, yet felt a strange sense of recognition. The smell of blood was strong, and the boy could see body parts all over the place.Max saw a door, an awfully big one at that. However, before he could even get up, Micheal walked in, a shit-eating grin on his face.

Micheal then walked over to Max, pulling out a curved dagger and waving it over his chest. Max tried to scream, but nothing came out. As Micheal was about to stab him, a voice rang out.

"Max?"

"Max?"

"MAX!"

That woke Max up in an instant, his body and his blanket covered in sweat. He looked over to the entrance of his tent, revealing that Neil was calling his name.

"Finally you're up. I've been calling your name for a minute now. You must've had a nightmare."

"I had a nightmare?"

"You were saying something about Micheal." Neil lifted Max up and replied "Let's go to the mess hall. Bet you're starving by now."

Max and Neil were at the mess hall, picking at their food. They still haven't seen Nikki or Bella, and that was starting to worry everyone.

"So, have you seen Nikki? She's still not here," Max questioned, a lump of mashed potatoes entering his mouth.

"Haven't seen her too. Maybe they found Sasquatch or something."

Just as Neil said that, Nikki burst through the doors, an extremely troubled look on her face. She was covered in dirt and sweat, and her legs were shaking.

"Finally you're here. What took you so long?" Max was relieved to see her and fought an urge to run over to her.

But instead, Nikki ran over to Gwen and started crying her eyes out and hugging Gwen's legs.

"Nikki, what's wrong?" Gwen didn't like this kind of Nikki. It took something serious to get her to genuinely cry. She took Nikki by the arms and held her like the way you would hold a baby.

"B-Bella! She put me in a t-trap and laughed at me! S-She's so scary! Her eyes glow in the dark!"

Once again, as the girl said that, Bella entered the mess hall and walked over to Gwen.

"Come on Nikki, you know I was only playing with you."

Gwen wasn't going to deal with any of Bella's crap and asked her "What the fuck did you do to Nikki? And your eyes glow in the dark? What are you, an animal?"

"I may have accidentally knocked her into a pit..."

"No you didn't! You did it on purpose! And the way you chased me was scary!"

"I chased you because I needed to, uh, tell you something."

Gwen looked down at Bella with disgust. Although she would never admit it, she cared for Nikki and would beat up anyone that messed with her.

"Bella, you're a fucking monster. Nikki, don't worry, you're safe now." Gwen walked over to the counselor's cabin with Nikki still in her arms.

Everyone looked at Bella with a sense of unease. Bella mustered the best innocent look and nervously muttered "What?"

Night, outside of the Mess Hall

"Oh come on, I didn't scare her that badly."

Micheal and Bella were outside of the mess hall, with the boy being reasonably angry with Bella.

"You almost blew our cover! How can you think to try and trap her when we don't even have our daggers?"

"It was an accident, I didn't mean it. Besides, it's not my problem that Nikki is such a crybaby."

"Speaking of her, where is she?"

"Sleeping with Gwen. She doesn't trust me. Max is also sleeping with David."

"Well, fuck. That only makes our job harder. Do me a favor and be more careful, ok? And tell this to the gang."

"Ok. Let's go the those twos tents, it's getting cold."

They then walked to the tents, Micheal already forming a plan in his head.