Chapter Eight

"Huynh!" Terri gasped for breath as she broke the surface of the lake, the Moon still shining brightly above to light the way back to the shore. The water felt fantastic against her delicate, naked skin and she revelled in it a few more minutes longer, dunking herself under the water again.

Back on the shore, her clothes were all clumped into one pile on some rocks and, as she disappeared under the surface of the lake, a hand reached out and took her pink crop-top and sweat-pants, leaving her the pair of trainers that were too far to reach from their position.

Popping back up Terri began swimming back to shore, now shivering under the sudden feel of cold and wanting to feel warm again. As she neared the shore she stopped to survey the area, feeling as though she was being watched but couldn't really tell because the dark obviously made it hard for her to see anything, let alone anyone who might be watching her.

Pushing herself onto her feet once she reached the shore Terri immediately felt the cold literally wrap around her wet body and instinctively covered her chest with her arms, trying to at least warm herself up while she was looking for her clothes. Not finding them at the spot where she dropped them, Terri looked around the place, suddenly frantic that she might have put them somewhere else when a branch cracked and she immediately spun in its direction.

Scott then appeared from behind the lifeguard's chair, her clothes on his person and a shit-eating grin on his face, "Looking for something?" He smirked before throwing down her sweatpants for her to pick up.

Terri let out a frustrated sigh, really not in the mood for this kind of shit, as she hurried over to the discarded piece of clothing and slipped them on after stepping into her trainers, hearing Scott laughing at her. Pulling the towel that was hanging on the arm of the lifeguard's chair, Terri dashed after Scott as soon as she saw him running into the direction of the woods.

"Damn it, give me my shirt back Scott, you dick!"

This only seemed to make Scott laugh at her "predicament" and disappeared through the trees hearing Terri shouting furiously, "When I get my hands on you!" and "Come on Scott!" Eventually Scott stopped in the middle of a small clearing, brandishing the top for Terri to come closer and get it. When she did, he whipped it behind his back, that smirk back on his face.

"Okay Scott, this is no longer funny." Her hands now firmly on her naked hips.

What Scott didn't realize was that, as he backed away, he was stepping closer to a snare made out of rope that was used by hunters to catch rabbits and other smaller mammals, but it was too late. He stepped back into the snare and it immediately tied itself round his ankles and pulled him up into the air, hanging upside down and flaying his arms about.

"Help! Goddamn that Paul! Him and his wilderness bullshit!" Scott exclaimed as he swung upside down in the air with Terri looking frantically at him, wondering what she could do to help.

"What should I do?" She asked, reaching out to stop him from swinging.

"Get me down, that's what!"

"I'll have to get a knife to cut the rope," she replied, surveying the rope that was tied to the nearby tree.

"Well, hurry up, okay?"

Taking a step back it was Terri's turn to smirk at his predicament, "I ought to let you hang, you pervert."

"Come on, Ter. Give me a break."

"You gonna cut the crap?" She asked, putting her hands on her hips again after taking the crop-top from Scott's hand and slipping it on.

"Sure, anything, I promise." He swore, his hands out by his side as though to say, "Come on, you can trust me".

"Okay." She replied simply, turning to leave before turning back again, that smug grin on her face, "Don't go anywhere." She then hurried off in the direction of the lodge and cabins, disappearing through the trees.

Scott arched his back to look in the direction she disappeared in, feeling the blood rushing to his head, "Very funny."

Pushing her way through the branches, Terri found herself behind the cabins and immediately walked around them, throwing the towel to God-knows-where and not really caring where it landed. Turning the corner of one of the cabins Terri found herself in front of her, Chantelle and Vicki's cabin and pulled open the door and rushed inside. Flipping on the light switch Terri started searching through all the drawers in the room but found nothing of any use. Observing the room Terri noticed the curtains and remembered that they'd put their bags behind them so that they'd be out of the way…

Dangling upside-down and with his arms near enough touching the floor, Scott let out a frustrated sigh, wondering why the hell it was taking Terri so long to acquire a knife and was starting to feel light-headed as the blood went straight to his head.

"What's taking her so long?" He asked himself when a branch cracked somewhere behind him and he jerked in that direction, wanting to know what caused it.

When he was facing in the direction, he could make out a human shape hidden behind the leaves of the trees and the darkness, immediately thinking this was a prank and that Jeff had organised it.

"Alright Jeff, you can come out now! I know you're there and I know you set this up! Ha! Ha! It's was very funny, but now it beyond a joke so can you cut me down. I'm starting to feel woozy."

The figure stepped out from their hiding place and stomped toward the hanging Scott, their thundering footsteps catching his attention, as he suddenly realized that it wasn't Jeff at all. His footsteps never sounded like that and come to think of it, he wasn't that tall either and what was that over the guy's head? A pillow case?

"Hey! Stay away from me! Hel--," Scott straight away started to panic and was about to yell for help when the figure, whose face was obscured by what looked like a pillow-case over his head, vigorously fisted the helpless Scott by his hair with one hand, pulling it back a little. A slight yelp escaped from Scott's mouth as he could only watch as the figure pulled out a large machete from its holster attached to their belt. They pull it back behind them and Scott's eyes widen at the realization of his "dilemma".

"Nnnooo! Please -- uggh!" Scott's frightened pleas were quickly silenced when the towering figure shoved the machete vigorously through his mouth and out the back of his head, blood literally spraying everywhere. Holding the long blade in Scott's mouth for a moment, the killer can hear him gurgling on it and on his own blood as the crimson fluid trickled down the blade of the machete as well as out of his mouth. Retracting it once he was finally dead, they let Scott's head fall back and tilted their head to the side when they noticed that the machete had cut the corners of the victim's mouth, making it look bigger than it normally was. Satisfied with what they had done, the figure turned on their heels and disappeared back into the darkness of the forest, Scott's now dead body hanging motionless while his blood coloured the ground beneath him in a dark crimson…

Pulling the curtains open Terri bent over and fished through Chantelle's bag. Nothing. She swore quietly under her breath, tossing it aside and remembering that she never packed anything that resembled a knife so Terri took out Vicki's bag, opened it up and tipped all the contents out onto the floor. She knew Vicki was going to have a fit, and she'd deal with it later but right now, Scott needed her help.

"Aha!" Terri sighed in relief when she found it in one of the bag's side pockets. Leaving the bag where it was, for the moment, seeing as she'll be cleaning it up when she got back anyway, Terri rushed out the cabin and back to where she'd left Scott literally hanging.

With Vicki's Swiss army knife in hand, Terri approached Scott, his back facing, and her eyes wandered as she tried to find a safer way of cutting him down without hurting him…much.

"Alright Scott, I'm gonna cut you down. But I swear, if you ever do this to me again, I'm gonna cut your nuts off. Okay?" She threatened before returning to the task at hand.

"Scott?" She asked worryingly when he didn't attempt to answer back with a promise or even a tease.

It had gotten a little darker, since she'd left to fetch the knife and Terri couldn't quite see his face, seeing as it was shrouded by the enveloping darkness that seemed to close in on her. She bowed slightly forward to get a closer look and shot back in horror at what she saw, her hand instantly over her mouth. Scott was dead. Blood was caked and dripping out of his mouth as well as out of the massive bloodied wound that appeared at the back of his head. Backing away screaming as loud as her lungs could allow, Terri was about to turn and run, tell the others of what happened, when a branch cracked from somewhere right behind her and was grabbed forcefully by the shoulder by a large, strong hand.

"AAAAHHHH!" Terri shrieked loudly before she felt something hot in her stomach and looked down slowly to find that a large machete had speared through her back and out her front, its blade coated in her blood. Stunned at the blade sticking out in front of her, Terri weakly tried to grasp the bloody tip. She then felt the powerful grip on her shoulder tighten, stabilizing her, as the dark figure proceeded in pulling the machete upwards, practically sawing lengthwise up through her torso and effectively disembowelling her as her organs spill out, her screaming soon dying out as she collapsed in their arms, dead. The killer then threw her down onto the floor, grabbing her by the ankles and dragging her away into the night, leaving her innards to follow shortly behind…