Welcome back. Just so you know, I will eventually finish this story.

Anyways, enjoy.

"What did you tell them?"

"Nothing!" Sarah answered quickly. "They asked about you but I didn't say anything, I swear!"

"They know something."

"They're just some nosy kids who think they're detectives for some reason. Nothing to worry about!" Sarah waved the thought of them off like a particularly pesky fly. "They don't know anything."

"Then how is it...that the only people who have managed to survive are members of that little posse? Explain that to me." He approached the girl slowly as she backed up.

"I-I don't know! Maybe their parents are cops!" Sarah felt the wall behind her.

"I may have to accelerate the timetable." He turned away and Sarah breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ok, what do you need me to do?" Sarah asked hopefully.

"You? I don't need you to do anything, not anymore. Obviously you have been compromised." He shrugged.

"But this is my revenge! You said-"

"Your petty problems were a means to an end. I don't need you anymore. All I needed from you was a schizophrenic scapegoat and someone to gain the camper's trust. You are a weak, pathetic little creature who lives in the past, who can't let go!" His soft tone was mocking, patronizing, everything Sarah had grown to hate over the years.

"You said...You said you loved me! That the my plan was perfect!"

"Your plan? Ha! My plan is PERFECT!" He yelled. "Well, it is now." He left. The cabin they were in wasn't used anymore and she was in the closed bathroom.

Sarah stayed perfectly still until she was sure he had gone. The thoughts that raced through her head were loud and jumbled and wrong.

How could he do this to her, after everything she had gone through for him? She had KILLED people for him, maimed people, drugged and tied them up for him. Everything she had done she had done for him. Why? Because he promised to help her get revenge on the people that ruined her life. It wasn't her fault that most of her tormentors had become the counselors. How was she to know that they would mercilessly tease her even now? And then...he found her. The voices in her head whispered to her that she could trust him. That he would help her. He made her feel special and powerful and strong. She knew it was wrong, deep down inside. But the deep psychosis that gripped her mind didn't.

She held up her hand, studying the red that dripped from her fingers Lady Macbeth-style.

She had a new goal.

Artemis was panicking, time was running out. She didn't know where else to look and her mind couldn't leave Wally. She kept hoping M'gann would wake up again and find Wally with her telepathy, but the Martian's fever had started to come back again. At this point, most of the counselors had elected to stay in their cabins with their campers except for meals and the odd half-hearted activity. The camp's owner hadn't been heard from since the day before.

Artemis walked past the infirmary and continued the search that she knew was hopeless. There was too much ground to cover and not enough time left. He less than one hour left, if he was lucky. If he was unlucky, he was already dead. Then she noticed a fresh footprint on the path she was taking. It was a trail, and it led off the path into the woods. Artemis pulled out her radio.

"Guys, I'm over by the infirmary and I just found a trail. I'm going to follow it." Artemis waited for a moment for a reply. "I just have a feeling..."

"I will join you in a few minutes." Kaldur answered first.

"I'm coming towards you." Connor said icily.

The trees got thinner as she passed the archery range, then the sign that pointed to the lake. But the trail went the other way, so she followed it. Artemis's heart was pounding, not from the running, but from the rising hope that this trail had something to do with Wally. She heard a rustle and then Kaldur was running her and they were joined by Connor soon after.

Suddenly the trail ended and they found themselves behind the shed that used to house the canoes and such in between uses. Artemis pulled back from the sight that greeted them.

Nothing. There was nothing there.

Artemis sighed and kicked a sizable hole into the wall of the shed.

"Dammit!" She kicked again. Suddenly Connor held up a hand. "What?"

"Just be quiet." He strained to hear everything around him. He thought he had heard something. He was about to give up when he heard it again. A large fist smashed into the remains of the shed, revealing a patch of slightly disturbed earth within. "He's here."

"Get him out of there!" Artemis heard a tinge of panic creep into her voice. Kaldur fished a few old shovels out of the wreckage of the shed and kicked away some of the debris. About ten minutes later a box was revealed and Connor sent a fist through it.

"He's not breathing!" Connor's voice made Artemis's heart drop.

to be continued...

So after such a long break I leave you again with a short chapter and a cliffhanger. Hate away!

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