Chapter Sixteen

Seeing as the dirt path had ended quite a way back, Ginny and Paul had to revert to pushing past branches and climbing over mossy logs until they eventually came to a large opening in the trees. Beyond it, they could see a number of huts and cabins, similar to the ones back at the Counsellor Training Centre, but otherwise very different. For one thing they were disused, their wooden exterior covered in moss and rotten after years of abandonment and the occasional, harsh weather conditions that hit the area. Somewhere to their left, they could hear the gentle splashing of waves above the water, both turning to see the Moon's reflection glinting on the lake's motionless surface. They knew where they were without even saying it out loud.

Camp Crystal Lake.

As they moved slowly through the "ghost camp", hand in hand, something caught Ginny's eye, who turned to face in its direction, wanting to see what had caught her undivided attention. It was coming from a small building that was built on its own , away from the others, but what made it look different was the fact that its front door was coloured in red. Even though it was in the same condition as everything else, it still looked brand new to her.

However, it wasn't that which had distracted her. It was what was beyond it that had peaked her interest.

"Paul, take a look at that." Ginny pointed in the direction of one of the windows, himself seeing what had attracted his girlfriend's attention. Something was glowing inside the small cabin, like a lonesome firefly dancing in the night sky, and when they reached the glassless window, they could see that it was a lonely candle, perched on the coffee table in front of the sofa. Its light flicking in parallel with the wind, causing all kinds of shadows within.

"What do you suppose it means, Paul? Do you think someone's living in there?" Ginny asked, taking a glimpse at him and saw that he was just as stunned as she was at what they were witnessing.

"I don't know but we'd better keep moving. No-one in there's going to help us...come on," Paul ushered, pulling Ginny along by her hand, she glancing back at the candle, wondering who could've lit it.

They couldn't have moved more than a few steps away from the cabin when Ginny was grabbed abruptly by her right upper arm, before being thrown forcefully to the ground, landing on her side, hard. That was going to leave a mark in the morning. She had landed right beside the door that led into the abandoned cabin with the lit candle inside.

Looking up she gazed with wide, glazy eyes and knew instantly that it was him! She couldn't mistake the huge bulk of his body and the white pillowcase covering his entire head. How the fuck did he get here so fast and how did he do it without making a sound?! Ginny asked herself but her mind was soon back on Paul who was lifted off the ground by his throat, the killer intending to crush it with his bare hand.

Ginny didn't have much time to react. Once she'd gotten to her feet using the doorknob as leverage, she was surprised to hear the killer grunting in pain, falling onto his knees. It seemed to her that, in his last attempt to escape the killer's grasp, Paul had kicked him hard between his legs as a last resort.

Straight afterward, before the killer had a chance to do anything, Paul pulled the axe in his hand back and socked him hard in the face with the flat of its blade. To him, it felt like he'd just whacked it against a brick wall, but he was successful in knocking the guy out. If only for a few minutes…if that. Paul then took some much needed breaths for the oxygen to fill his lungs, the organs burning because of the lack of it.

Shaking his hand in a bid to ease the pain that was now causing it to throb, a bruise was inevitable come the morning, Paul turned to face Ginny and grabbed her hand again, "Come on, in here! Quickly!" He opened the door for her, pushing her gently inside before shutting it behind him.

Unfortunately for them, the door had no lock on it and they couldn't barricade it because it opened outwards. Paul raised his hands to shoulder-level before slamming them back down again in an act of rage, "Fuck!" He swore, his sudden outburst causing Ginny's body to jump, pimping her skin with goose-bumps.

"What are we going to do, Paul?" Ginny asked, frightened. She'd wrapped her arms around her chest, shivering at the sudden cold that chilled up her spine. The thought that they were going to be savagely murdered in this cabin creeping not far away in her mind.

Her question would be left unanswered because as soon as it past her lips, the window to their right, or what was left of it, suddenly exploded in a shower of broken glass and splintered laths of wood.

They shielded their faces with their arms, protecting their eyes from the flying debris but with Ginny being closer to it, the sudden draught caused her to double backwards. Nevertheless, what she didn't know or couldn't see as the draught had blown out the only light source in the room, was the dark hole in the floorboards that was made when Dep. Winslow fell right through it whilst trying to leave the cabin hours earlier.

"Ginny! Watch out!" Paul called, but he was too late. She was stumbling too fast and before they both knew it, she'd stepped too far and fell backward right into the dark pit. Her high-pitched scream seemed to echo, she descending into nothingness…

Thankfully, the descent wasn't deep enough to cause her any permanent damage but when Ginny's back slammed against the dirt floor, it knocked the wind out of her. The pain throbbed in her upper back, coughing as she tried to breathe in the air she suddenly lost in the fall. She pushed herself up onto her rump, rubbing the back of her head where it was slightly thumping but not as badly as her back.

Where was she? Was she really underneath the cabin? Ginny glanced around her surroundings, finding herself to be in a darkened tunnel, only lit by the lanterns that were hung up along one side. Using the wall for leverage, Ginny stood up, a quick wave of light-headedness washed over her, but soon disappeared once it emerged.

Looking up, she couldn't see anything. It was just as dark as it was down there, except for the low light coming from the lanterns. Should I call Paul? Is he alright? Is he…, Ginny wondered, settling on her decision, "Paul!"

Silence. It was what she was afraid of…all sorts of thoughts began to race through her mind, Was Paul hurt? Unconscious? Dead…? But they were silenced by the sudden sound of furniture being scraped across the decayed floorboards before a loud crash followed afterward.

"Paul! Paul, are you there!" Ginny cried out, stepping away so she wasn't right underneath the hole she'd fallen through. She didn't stop until her back hit the tunnel wall as it turned an exact 90 corner.

Silence again. "Paul!" Her voice was shaky, terrified at the fact that she didn't know what condition her boyfriend was in, "Paul, answer me!" She whispered, not really hearing it because her heart was pounding as hard and as fast as a racehorse's.

Although she didn't have time to listen to it because a few seconds later, the killer had jumped in after her and was now standing right underneath the hole, the light from the nearby lantern giving him a frightening, shadowy appearance.

Ginny let out another scream, it seeming to echo throughout the claustrophobic tunnel, she ran to her right, along the tunnel leading away from the towering killer who'd acquired Paul's axe and was now holding it tightly in one hand. Following the lanterns, Ginny found they were leading her down a long passageway, which had no other turns whatsoever, and saw a wooden door at the end of it.

Wasting no time in opening it, she hurried inside, and closed it again, cursing loudly when she quickly discovered that it didn't have a doorknob or nothing to lock it with. Now with her heart beating even faster, if that was at all possible because it felt to her like it was about to pop right out of her chest, she only had scant seconds to look for a place to hide or something to use as a weapon when her foot knocked into something as she backed away from the door.

Spinning on her heels to see what it was, her eyes instantly widened in disbelief, her hands automatically covering her mouth as she felt the gorge rise in her throat.

For only a foot away from her very feet, bloodied, mutilated corpses of her friends lay around a quaint little table situated directly opposite her, it seeming to be somewhat out of place in a room such as this. Ginny's shock-filled eyes picked out Deputy Winslow and Terri among the dead until they become aware of what was placed on top of the small "innocent-looking" table.

It was a decapitated head of what Ginny thought to be of a woman, its slight wisps of grey hair on the top and the small composition of the skull giving it away but what terrified her the most was the realization of where she actually was…

…She was in Jason Voorhees' hideaway, who was on the other side of the handle-less door with one thing on his mind, axe still clenched in his enlarged hand…

…To finish what he'd started when they all stepped foot in Crystal Lake, deciding to end his 'reign of terror' with a swansong that the newspapers and tabloids will hail as 'the most horrific scene of slaughter the world will ever know and shall never forget'…