As night continued to envelop the Shepard house, there was a knock at the back door.

Mrs. Shepard stood in the kitchen, washing her hands, and frowned, wondering who it could be at this hour.

She went to the back door and opened it.

A young handsome man was standing on the covered porch, smiling awkwardly and holding a pink sweatshirt.

"Hi!" he said kindly. "I'm Nick. I'm looking for the girl who lives here,"

"Oh, hi, I'm Amanda Shepard. She's right here," Mrs. Shepard said, turning to see Tina standing in the doorway.

"I washed this for you," Nick said to Tina.

She took the sweatshirt from his hands and smiled at him, blushing as he stared into her eyes.

"So, have you been having fun up here?" Mrs. Shepard asked, correctly assuming that he was part of the group that was renting the house next door.

"Yeah, a bunch of us got together to throw my cousin Michael a surprise birthday party. I came over to invite your daughter," Nick said.

Tina glanced at her mother.

"I don't know…" Tina said nervously.

"Well, you could always spend the evening with me and Dr. Crews," Mrs. Shepard said with a sly smile.

Tina smiled and then looked at Nick, nodding.

"Let's go," she said, handing the sweatshirt to her mother.

Tina and Nick left out the back door and Mrs. Shepard closed the door, with a smile still on her face.

Perfect, she thought. It was a chance for Tina to hang out with others and socialize.

She turned around to see Dr. Crews standing in the doorway, looking confused.

"Where'd she go? Who's that boy?" he asked with concern.

"Oh, relax, Dr. Crews," Mrs. Shepard said. "She's going to visit the kids next door,"

"I thought we agreed on no distractions," he said firmly. "I'd hate to see her go back to the hospital,"

"She just needs a chance to be normal. Isn't that what this is all about?" Mrs. Shepard said.

He hesitated.

"Yes. Of course it is,"


Tina and Nick were walking side-by-side down the path to the rental house.

They had been walking in awkward silence for some time. Tina noticed his eyes glancing at her, and averted her gaze nervously.

"So…uh…are you much for parties?" Nick asked her, his hands in his pockets as they climbed onto the front porch of the rental house. "Ya, know…like cake and ice cream?"

Tina didn't know what to say. They pushed open the door and the party hit Tina like a truck. Boisterous laughter and loud music emanated from the room. Her eyes widened.

She had never been to a college party before, much less any kind of party.

A few nineteen and twenty year olds were sitting on couches, chatting and laughing with one another in high spirits, most of them with some kind of a drink in their hand. It made Tina nervous.

Suddenly, Russell, who was carrying a large bucket of ice and champagne started to fall, and Nick saved him from spilling the expensive alcohol.

Suddenly, while Nick was distracted, a short, stocky guy in his twenties with dark hair wearing a United States air force jacket extended his hand towards Tina. When she didn't return the favor, he grabbed her and pulled her aside.

"Alright, I need an objective opinion," Eddie said, as Tina stared at him like a deer caught in the headlights.

"What do you think of Starlycon?" Eddie asked Tina enthusiastically. He held up a notepad where he had been sitting and writing down his ideas.

"Thirty thousand years into the future, the entire galaxy is populated by highly evolved protozoa. Good, huh?" said Eddie, proud of his work.

Tina forced a tight smile, trying to be polite and started backing away from Eddie, towards Nick.

"Only one human being and his woman still exist amongst the stars, and it's their duty to save the planet…" Eddie went on, as Nick came up behind Tina and gingerly put his hands on her shoulders.

"I see you met our resident writer, Eddie," Nick said.

As Eddie continued explaining his novel, Tina glared at Nick.

"Ice cream and cake, huh?" she said.

"Eddie's a little out there, but believe me, Tina, everybody else here is perfectly normal," Nick replied.

Tina glanced around the room, her eyes coming to rest on an attractive young guy, smoking a joint and blowing it towards her.

She gave Nick another look.

Nearby, Russell and Eddie started to converse.

"Russell, can I talk to you for a minute?" said Eddie nervously.

"What's up?" sighed Russell.

"This Melissa girl…" said Eddie. "She's incredible! She's like a Numerian catwoman!"

"What? What are you talking about?" asked Russell.

"Sandra's friend, Melissa!"

"Cool your jets, pal. She's out of your league," said Russell. "Her father brings home six figures. Face it, you're outclassed,"

Russell then walked away from him.

"Hey, you don't think I can handle rejection?" Eddie called after him. "I'll have you know I have been rejected by the best science fiction magazines in the country!"

Nick ushered Tina into the kitchen, where a vivacious redhead was talking to a blond, mousy girl wearing big glasses.

"So he goes 'Let me see your ID'," the redhead said, clearly in the middle of a juicy story. "So I go 'Well, I left it at home'. And he goes 'Well, you have to go and get it'. So I go 'okay' and I go,"

"Put something under that drink, you're going to ruin the table!" cried Russell from the living room.

As the redhead's voice trailed off, the young dark-haired boy, who Tina had heard being called David, came waltzing into the kitchen to grab a beer, starting to shotgun it.

The redhead stared at him dreamily as he swaggered back into the living room.

"Outrageous," the redhead said, smiling from ear-to-ear.

"Do you like David?" the blond girl with glasses said.

The redhead nodded.

"Me too," the blond one said.

And then, Russell came barging into the kitchen, furious, with Sandra following behind him.

The kitchen was a mess. Empty beer cans littered the counter. The freezer had been literally emptied, and packages of string cheese, ice cream, and juice were scattered all around the counters.

"God, would you look at this? The party hasn't even started and the place already looks like closing time at the stock exchange," he grumbled.

"Russ, honey, we'll clean it up, I promise," Sandra reassured him.

"Yeah, chill out, Brooks Brothers," said the redhead.

"But they're eating my uncle's food. We were supposed to bring our own food," Russell said, shooting a dirty look at the two girls who were busy snacking.

"My uncle is gonna shit," Russell complained.

And then, Nick spoke up awkwardly.

"Hey, everyone,"

The redhead, the girl with glasses and Russell and Sandra turned to look at the young, blond stranger who stood in the kitchen next to Nick.

"This is Tina, from next door," he said.

"Hi, I'm Robin," the redhead said. "And this is Maddy,"

She gestured to the blond one with glasses.

All of a sudden, there was a resounding crash that came from the living room.

"Oh, shit!" Sandra exclaimed and ran into the living room, grabbing Nick by his denim jacket and tugging him with her. "Nick, help me!"

This left Tina alone in the kitchen. She stood, in a bungling attempt to appear normal, with her hands in the pockets of her slacks.

From another kitchen door came one of the tall blondes who had been insulting Tina earlier. She wore a blue pantsuit and an expensive looking pearl necklace.

"Now, there's a guy I'd like to throw a surprise party for," she said, watching Nick leave the room.

Then, her eyes directed right at Tina.

"Hi, I'm Melissa," the blond woman said.

"I'm Tina from next door," Tina replied.

"I know," Melissa said. Her passive aggression was leaking out through her words, and she turned and walked around the kitchen island towards Robin and Maddy.

"Maddy, who is that scuzzball dopehead?" Russel asked, gesturing to the living room where he was positive that David had knocked down something very expensive. "I told him not to smoke in the house,"

"Only the birthday boy's best friend," said Melissa matter-of-factly.

"Melissa, those are so pretty, absolutely gorgeous! Where did you get them?" Maddy asked, touching her pearls gently.

"What a stupid place to put a lamp," said David, who was coming into the kitchen and rubbing his head. Russell's jaw tightened.

Nick walked back into the kitchen as well, handing Tina a creme soda.

"They're real," Melissa said to Maddy, showing off her bling for the entire room to see.

"On my last birthday, my daddy goes 'Melissa, you're the perfect daughter'," Melissa went on. "And he gives me these and says 'To the best little girl in the whole world',"

Meanwhile, David was shotgunning another can of beer, resulting in most of it ending up on the floor.

Beer sprayed everywhere as he choked and Russell threw up his hands in frustration.

"Ugh, disgusting!" Melissa cried.

Tina started to laugh, but then her entire face dropped.

She was no longer focused on the college kids' shenanigans.

She was laser focused on something else.

Movement.

Behind Robin, stood a massive, hideous and terrifying man in a hockey mask. The same one from the lake.

A young boy, no more than twenty, was profusely bleeding from the mouth.

The metal tip of a tent spike protruded from his stomach.

The man in the hockey mask ripped the long, steel spike out of his spine.

More blood sprayed out.

Tina's jaw dropped. Her eyes filled with dread.

No, not again, she thought.

Her eyes flickered over to Nick, who was smiling and laughing at David.

Nobody else could see it.

My God, I'm the only one who sees it, she thought.

The creme soda fell onto the kitchen floor and shattered, as the rest of the party turned to look at her.

Everything went silent, and Tina ran for the back door, disappearing out into the night.


Onwards, the deep maliciousness stalked through the woods of Crystal Lake.

It felt somewhat familiar. Memories had been slowly filling his mind. Distant memories. Fractured memories.

Images of blood, bright scarlet, flashed into his unhinged mind. Anguished screams filled his ears.

They slowly were making him thirst for the kill again.

His rotting hand still curled around the blood-soaked tent spike.

What angered him was how different his campgrounds seemed.

They had been here, he thought.

Them.

They had come in and built their homes and camps all around his woods. Tearing his world apart.

These woods were all he knew. After all, he had survived out here for years.

And now, he was back.

He saw lights and went towards them.

Pretty soon, he was standing at the edge of a clearing where one of their houses came into view.

This Friday the 13th, they would all see and learn that his woods were not to be tarnished.

Nobody would mess with his woods ever again, once he showed them all how much pain he could make them feel.

The same pain they inflicted on him and his mother.

He could still hear her voice.

His hand gripped the tent spike harder as he heard something else. Voices. Happy, carefree voices.

On this Friday the 13th, their happiness wouldn't last.

Because Jason was out there in the dark.

And this time, nothing, and noone, could save them.


As tears blinded her, Tina ran down the path back to her home, back to her refuge, feeling the raw terror ricocheting off of her bones, like tiny bullets were hammering her. She had seen another vision and this time, it was more gruesome than any of the ones she had thus far.

The color of the blood flashed into her mind.

It had been flowing from his mouth like a waterfall.

And then, she had seen the man from the lake.

Slaughtering him.

"God, I really am crazy!" she thought as she stumbled through the darkness.

She stopped and leaned against a tree, catching her breath.Then, she heard something.

Footsteps. A twig snapped.

Tina jerked her head towards the sound but there was nothing there.

Then again, the darkness could have been fooling her. Maybe there was a figure standing just a few feet away, watching her, shrouded in blackness.

Tina immediately sprang back into action at the thought of that notion, and ran towards her mother's house, tears still streaming down her cheeks.

As she reached for the screen door leading to the covered porch, she froze.

Her eyes widened.

Her heart almost skipped a beat.

The tent spike had been rammed into the wooden porch column. It protruded out into the night.

Dark, purplish coagulated blood was splattered all around the tip of the wickedly sharp spike.

Tina couldn't believe it.

But then, she felt it. It was real as rain. She felt the coldness of the steel.

She took in a huge breath, as her eyes scanned her surroundings.

The man in the mask, she thought. He had to have been here.

With that paralyzing image of the masked man using the tent spike on her running through her mind, Tina hurled open the screen door and scrambled inside.

"Mom! Mom!" she cried frantically as she ran into the kitchen. Mrs. Shepard became alarmed at the hysteria in her daughter's eyes.

"What is it, Tina?" Mrs. Shepard said, grabbing Tina by her arms.

"Mom, I saw him again!" Tina cried. Her eyes were wide and filled with terror.

"What? Who?" Mrs. Shepard asked.

"The man…err…the thing..in the lake! I saw him again! He was killing a boy with a metal spike!"

"Tina!" proclaimed Dr. Crews, who had walked in from the living room. He grabbed her firmly, almost snatching her from the arms of her mother. "Relax! Relax…"

Tina glared at him.

"What do you mean you saw "him"? Dr. Crews inquired.

"Well, I didn't see it happen, but I know it…I know…he's dead..," Tina said.

Dr. Crews brought his hand up to his jaw, thinking.

"Alright…" he said skeptically. "What were you doing right before it happened?"

"Why?" Tina protested. Her eyes were flickering back and forth from the front door to the back door, as if she were terrified of something, or someone coming in.

"Because these are delusions!" Dr. Crews explained. "You're creating images of your father, Tina,"

Tina backed away, shaking her head, her lips curling with rage.

"No…no, no, no!" she cried. And then, her eyes widened as she remembered the tent spike.

"Alright, well he left a large delusion stuck in our back porch," Tina said.

Relief washed over her. Now, she finally had evidence that what she had been seeing was real.

"Why don't you go take a look if you don't believe me?"

Dr. Crews glanced at Mrs. Shepard and then towards the back door.

"Alright, I will," he said.

And with that, he walked into the kitchen and out of sight. Tina and her mother both heard the back door open and close and then Tina fell into her mother's arms.

"I know I'm right," she said through more tears. "I know I'm right,"

A few moments passed by, and then Dr. Crews voice rang out from outside.

"Tina?" he called.

Tina and Mrs. Shepard rushed outside to the back porch, and out the screen door where Dr. Crews was standing, looking around cluelessly.

"Where, Tina?" he asked.

Tina gasped with bewilderment.

Her eyes were affixed to the indentation in the wood where the tent spike had been lodged.

The spike was gone.

Tina was dumbstruck for a second and then turned to her mother and the doctor who both had expressions of disbelief.

She pointed madly to the indentation in the wall.

"It was right there! The large spike that I saw…" her voice trailed off as she glanced at the indentation, shaking her head.

How? she thought. I have to be going crazy.

It was right there.

Covered in that poor boy's blood.

She should have gotten the blood on her fingers so she could have had some kind of substance, some kind of evidence for her claims, but she hadn't thought of it at the time.

But the indentation was there. But to her mother and Dr. Crews, it just looked like part of the old wood that the house was made from.

She didn't know anymore. Tina turned to face them again.

"What's happening to me?" she said, her voice breaking. "Help me, please,"

Another tear rolled down her cheek and Dr. Crews held her by both of her arms in an attempt to comfort her.

"Shhh," Dr. Crews said. "I'm going to help you, but you have to help me,"

Mrs. Shepard suddenly reached out and started ushering Tina back onto the porch.

"Tina, honey, come in the house," she said. "Come on, sweetie,"

As Mrs. Shepard led Tina back into the kitchen, Tina became a blubbering mess, on the verge of another breakdown.

"I just…I don't know what's happening!" she said, stammering, becoming quickly overwhelmed with emotion. "It was there!"

Tina knew she saw something. But from the look in her mother's eye, she knew she sounded out of her mind.

As crazy as it sounded, she couldn't shake the feeling that something, or someone, was out there.

Something that had risen from the bottom of the lake.

Something horrifying.

Something Tina had never imagined in her wildest dreams.

But nobody would believe her.

And what was worse…

Tina didn't know if she believed herself anymore.

Nobody could save them from the evil that had been awakened.


The 1965 Plymouth cruised down the highway just a mile from the dirt road that led to Crystal Lake.

Dan Carter, a thirty five year old car salesman was at the wheel, his eyes distractedly cutting over to his fiance, Judy Williams, who scanned the map in front of her.

Dan had surprised her with an early honeymoon just last week.

One thing she always had talked about was going camping near a lake, where they could wake up in the morning and skinny dip where nobody could see.

So, Dan had gone all out for her.

He learned how to pitch a tent, and had practiced in the backyard of their small duplex back in the city.

He had mapped it all out as well, and made sure that where they were going was on an easy road to traverse, and he had chosen the most efficient route.

Crystal Lake had been a choice that most of their friends had been wary about.

"Haven't you guys heard about what happened up there?" they would say.

Dan and Judy had told them all to not give them the gory details. They didn't want their vacation ruined by horror stories.

After all, what had happened was likely years ago.

Crystal Lake had been where his mind was set on taking her for their excursion.

He saw the brochure at a rest stop and since then, nobody had been able to sway him from his decision. "Crystal Lake" he had thought. Sounds like a relaxing place to be.

What could be more romantic? Laying out under the stars with the great outdoors surrounding you. Having some fun in the sun, and seeing his young, blonde fiance in a bikini.

They had planned on a fun couple of days.

First they'd find a camping spot, and maybe make love for the second time. Dan had ruined their first time due to him being a little too intoxicated, but this time he was planning on making it up to her.

Then, they'd go on a short hike around the lake, or maybe just half that route. It depended on how much sex they planned on having. And he just knew that once he got her alone in the woods, it would make for a very erotic few days. All of their unbridled passion could finally be released.

With their busy work schedules, it was hard for them to breathe much less get busy.

He couldn't wait to fuck every morning in a tent with the birds singing over them, and the sun streaming in through the tent flap.

Judy was experienced, as some guys would say, but that hadn't thrown Dan off. He wasn't that type of guy who couldn't have sex with a girl who had a history.

She had been up front with him about her sex life, and he had embraced it. After all, who wants to have sex with someone who doesn't know what they're doing? he thought to himself.

He much preferred a girl who could get rough, and not be timid. And Judy had a certain confidence about her.

It made her super bossy at times, but Dan was getting past it. Besides, it was kind of his thing.

After all, it made for a good time in bed and she could get things that she wanted out of people. She was assertive in that way, and some men were threatened by it, but not Dan.

If they were at a restaurant and the food was lousy, Judy was the kind of woman to say something about it.

He thought strong, opinionated women were sexy in their own right. And sometimes in love, you have to do that with a woman. Let her wear the pants sometimes. It made for a more interesting relationship, where they could help and serve one another instead of just one serving the other.

Dan had flocked to some very aggressive women in his past, and had gotten into some pretty toxic situations, but maybe Judy wasn't as batshit crazy as some of the women he had been with.

She seemed to know how to just relax at times, and give in when the time was right. She definitely had a lot more emotional control than most of the girls he had dated in college.

She worked for a finance company, and it also hadn't bothered him that she made a bigger paycheck than he did. Again, some guys didn't like that, but not Dan.

Money wasn't important to him. A good relationship is what mattered, and that's what he seemed to have with Judy.

Something that would last.

As he pulled onto the dirt road that led to Crystal Lake, Judy cleared her throat.

"You know, we could have stopped for those kids back there," Judy said.

"I'm on vacation!" he protested. "I don't want to have to deal with people,"

Judy scoffed.

"Well, maybe I shouldn't have come along," she teased with a flirtatious smile.

"Oh, come on," he said. "You know what I mean,"

"Yeah, I know…" Judy replied.

It was just like her to tease him like that, Dan thought. It was incredibly sexy to him.

She had first come onto him in a social group for single, unmarried bachelors and bachelorettes.

Their first time meeting was an awkward one for Dan, to say the least. This time, the woman was coming onto him instead of the other way around. It threw him off of his game for only a short time, but eventually a very playful and flirtatious game began.

Soon, they were back at his apartment, and slowly taking off their clothes as they made small talk about their evening.

And tonight, he couldn't wait to have a second chance to really please her.

To make her glad she chose to get engaged to him.

To make her look back at all of her wasted time, and say to herself 'God, I'm glad I made it here'.

Tonight was definitely the night. They'd be all hot and sweaty after pitching the tent and it would be the perfect time to just go at it.

And this time, he'd be sober.

As Dan and Judy both looked at the map, they took another turn onto an even narrower cowpath of a road.

As Dan squinted through the windshield, he kept finding himself distracted by her and thoughts of what a good time he could show her.

Another part of him felt uneasy about it.

He could hear his parents' voices in his head.

"Wait until you're married", they had said.

Well, here he was, with a girl that he knew was the one, out in the country on a peaceful summer night. What else could they do? Would he really waste a great experience over the advice of people who didn't grow up with a television or a microwave?

So what if they weren't married yet? he thought. Surely, God wouldn't mind if he had sex while they were engaged.

Isn't love what it was all about?

He only knew one thing: that he really loved this girl. And despite what his parents had said, he knew tonight would be the night. He couldn't hold it back any longer. His lust for her was consuming him, and he didn't care about angering God or his parents anymore.

What they didn't know wouldn't hurt them, he decided. It was none of his parents' business when he decided to have sex with someone.

He did worry about her getting pregnant, but they both had good jobs, albeit ones that were very busy.

He wondered if he could ever make work and a family life manageable.

Lots of families do it, Dan thought to himself.

You hire a babysitter, or send the kids to a daycare. Sure, leaving your children with strangers wasn't ideal, but it beat the hell out of not having the money to give them a future.

It would be hard with both parents working.

His parents had done it. And he knew that with Judy's sharp mind, they couldn't fail. The woman was smart, and he also found that incredibly irresistible.

"Crystal Lake, we're here," Dan said, as the lake came into view through the trees.

Now, it was time to pitch the tent as fast as they could manage, and then it was time. Time to finally unleash all of their pent-up desires.

And Dan wasn't about to let the previous generation trick him into wasting his life away.

Life was too short not to take those chances.

As the Plymouth tediously drove down a hillside, down a winding tree-lined path, it came to a stop in a large clearing.

Lights from nearby houses penetrated through the thick boughs of trees.

But they were all far away.

It was a perfect little spot.

As he parked the car, they sat in silence for a few moments, taking in the ambience of the wilderness.

An owl called from the trees. Crickets were singing. The lake was gently lapping on the shore. Frogs croaked.

"Well, let's start setting up camp," Dan said, as they both piled out of the car.

They started by unloading their luggage and setting them down, and then they found two flashlights and used them to illuminate the small clearing.

Then, Dan started a fire in the center of the clearing, providing them with a warm orange glow.

As Judy sat by the fire warming herself, Dan had the tent put up in less than fifteen minutes, and pretty soon they were both sitting on logs by the fire, and gazing at each other.

Dan was drawn to the way her amber hair gleamed in the firelight.

He had to have her.

He could already picture their bodies intertwining underneath the stars.

"I'm cold," she suddenly said, leaning closer to the fire.

It broke the stillness and Dan was snapped out of his thoughts.

"Well, let's crawl in the sack," Dan said with a suggestive grin.

Then, she cut her eyes at him, almost looking offended.

"I think you need to fix the fire," she said, pointing to the puny flames in front of her.

Well, I'm out of wood," he snapped back.

"We're in a forest,"

Dan leaned closer to her on the log and started to kiss her.

"Come on, let me warm you up,"

His lips slid across her cheek as she jerked her head away from him.

"Dan!" she protested. "We need wood,"

Wood, Dan thought.

That made him even hornier.

Frustrated, he slid back away from her and sighed.

Judy smiled at him.

"It's going to be a cold night tonight," she said, biting her lip at him.

That was as good of a cue as he was going to get.

This meant that if we went and got more wood to keep her warm, that he would definitely be getting some.

With that, he unsheathed a long, slightly rusted machete and turned to her.

"I'll be back," he said, in his best Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonation.

Then, he disappeared into the woods.

Making sure that he was gone, Judy giggled excitedly and ran into the tent.

She stripped down, and crawled inside their single sleeping bag, and began to patiently wait.

Tonight was the night, she thought.

It would be a night that they wouldn't see coming.

As Dan hacked away at a small tree with his machete, he felt his arousal slowly fading.

What had been wrong with Judy back at the campsite? She had been fine the whole ride up, and now she was getting all worked up about the fire not being hot enough.

Typically, she was much more laid-back.

Now, here he was, tiring himself out, in the middle of the cold wilderness to make sure she was comfortable.

All he wanted to do was to please her.

Now, he had made a pass at her and she had totally rebuffed him.

Maybe she had a whole new side to her that he hadn't seen yet. That's what had happened with his last few relationships. Once he really got to know a woman, and expressed vulnerability, their true colors came out. Time and time again.

But the night wasn't over, he told himself. Maybe she needed to be comfortable first before they could be together in that way. Some women were like that. He wished he hadn't screwed it up the first time, but that was then, and this was now.

What could be more erotic than doing it in the middle of nowhere, with the stars and the moon above them?

What had he done wrong?

Maybe he had rushed things. Maybe they needed to have some foreplay beforehand to really get them both in the mood.

He couldn't help but wonder if it was really about the fire, or something else. What could she be possibly pissed at him about, besides not picking up that stranded couple?

There was no way he was picking up strangers in the dead of night up at Crystal Lake.

Most of the Crystal Lake nonsense was mostly made-up, he thought, but he would still rather be safe than sorry.

He had heard all sorts of horror stories about hitchhikers in the woods.

Sometimes, he thought about if any of them were real. Once, he had heard that serial killers will pretend to be stranded, or pretend to have car trouble, and then take their chance and shove you into the backseat.

Where you couldn't escape.

He wasn't taking any chances. Not tonight, he thought.

Not that now he finally had another chance with Judy, and not on Friday the 13th.

As he finished chopping off enough logs for the fire, he bundled them up in his arms along with his machete that he put in his sheath.

Then, he began the short walk back to the tent.

The woods were almost pitch black and quiet, save for the crickets and other nighttime creatures.

Should have brought that flashlight, he thought, but the moon provided him just enough light to see the small trail in front of him.

Now, it was time to build a nicer fire to really get her in the mood, and then it was finally time to redeem himself.

What he should have done is brought his old guitar and he could have serenaded her. That would have surely put her in the mood.

As he carried the wood, he thought he heard something. Something behind him.

He shrugged it off.

But then, he heard it again. Twigs and branches snapping under the weight of something truly immense. Stalking towards him. Coming up behind him faster. And faster.

Dan had no time to turn around.

He registered the sour smell of decaying flesh, and heard heavy breathing get more intense.

The monstrous hand lunged savagely out of the black void around him, and Dan felt his insides implode. The logs fell to the ground in a pile.

Dan felt something inside him, tearing through him. He stared down in incredulity at the meaty blood-soaked fingers that protruded from his belly.

The hand held his innards, squeezing them into mush before his very eyes.

The next thing he knew, his head was being yanked backwards, as vertebrae in his spine snapped with a sickening crunch.

His body crumpled into the leaves.

The same hand reached for the machete in his sheath on his belt.

His fingers curled around the handle, and the figure made its way towards the tent towards the sound of Judy's oblivious humming.

Judy was getting more impatient by the minute.

Where had the man gone? She thought.

It was finally time. It was finally time to get a second chance, ever since he botched their first attempt at a romantic and intimate experience.

She had been mortified at the time, but now that she was nude in her sleeping bag, and Dan would return with the wood sweaty and tired, she was thrilled.

She hoped she hadn't made him angry with her teasing. It was getting colder, and as she snuggled in the sleeping bag, she thought she could hear him.

A twig snapped. Someone was definitely coming.

Judy smiled and sat up, pulling the sleeping bag up and covering her chest as she peered out the tent opening.

"Alright, you big hunk of a man, come and get me!" she said.

A shadow fell over the tent.

It definitely couldn't have been Dan.

This person was terrifyingly huge. Like a boulder of body mass.

It towered over the tent and Judy shrieked as the tent was sliced open by a machete and a gigantic beast of a man wearing a hockey mask lunged at her.

The smell of his putrid, rotting flesh was nauseating. It filled the tent.

His demented eyes laser-focused on her, and she screamed again.

Judy frantically crawled down into her sleeping bag, but soon felt herself being dragged out of the tent.

She wrestled and wriggled around like a caterpillar caught in its cocoon, thrashing wildly but Jason kept dragging her through the woods.

Then he lifted her and swung her like she was a Louisville slugger against the trunk of a large tree.

Her head made an impact with the bark on the tree so hard it made everything rattle and she felt warm blood leaking down her face.

Her ears were ringing. Everything was on fire.

Then, he bashed her against the tree again. And again. Her skull fractured. Her ribs snapped.

Her screams stopped.

Jason took a breath.

It was exhilarating to him each time it happened.

He had heard them both traipsing through his woods, and he knew that they had to die.

The more he killed, the more it alleviated the pounding in his head and the voices.

The voice of his mother that screamed at him, commanding him to kill the ones who let him die.

The girl lying mangled in the bloody sleeping bag had only had to suffer for a short while.

But Jason had been suffering for far too long at the bottom of the lake.

They had done it to him.

And they would all pay.

One by one.