(Wawanakwa Woods; Night 01)
A relieved sigh comes from Nathan. He takes in the night breeze as he ventures into the woods, hoping to complete one last thing before retiring for the night. No music as his phone is almost dead and he never got a chance to charge it. But at least he no longer has to be in his uniform; his attire is as casual and plain as it can get: a gray t-shirt with a gaming controller graphic in the center, worn and a bit torn jeans, and the same gray sneakers since the start of his shift.
"Free at last." Nathan smiles. Traversing into an area like this at night is dangerous, but he's confident he'll remember the pathing. Not to mention the moon being a helpful source of light, if not the only source of light. Further and further he goes, eventually reaching what seems to be a worn wooden building. About more on the smaller end in size.
"Time to visit that building I saw earlier." He remarks before entering. The lights flicker on and the emotionless man gets a better view of the interior. Like the exterior, it's wooden all around. Less worn though. Among the most notable features include: various types of weapons on display - on shelves or hanging against a wall, and a sturdy wooden counter in the center. A weapon shop, in summation.
"A weapon shop? On a desolated island near a summer camp?" Nathan raises a brow, both confused and intrigued. Some of the weapons on display are capable of destroying a building or eliminating multiple people at once. He quickly shakes the thoughts away as soon as his mind thinks about murder and death.
For a second, his body tensed and shook a bit. A blink and you'll miss it moment. Then his eyes glance down at something on the floor. It's a poster. On it is an adult male, short blue hair with visible burn scars all over his body. His face is hidden behind a white hockey mask. Outfit is a light gray shirt - sleeves rolled up, a dark gray apron over it with dried blood stains coating the fabric, light gray pants, and brown work shoes.
Attached to one hand is a hook, albeit he's not a pirate or cosplayer in any way. The other hand is wearing a brown leather glove, holding a chainsaw. Nathan doesn't need to see the face or name at the bottom of the poster to recognize the man. "Claude Bundy? I recognize him…" After more inspecting, he realizes it's a wanted poster for 69,420 United States dollars, dead or alive. He's about to discard it when someone else comes in.
"Another one, eh? Full offense, you don't look like the bounty huntin' type." A feminine, albeit somewhat deep voice makes her presence known. Nathan focuses on her. No reaction. Just a glance for analysis. She has the appearance of a tomboy, a classic biker, indicated by the short hair, leather attire, and green dragon tattoo on her left muscular arm.
She gives him a quick look. Nothing impressive or intimidating about him. Just someone who must've wandered in for shelter after getting lost in the woods. To her surprise, he's not trembling in fear or trying to distance himself from her.
"I'm not. I came here out of curiosity." Nathan answers. Casual, direct, and honest. "The poster happened to be on the ground in front of me when I walked in." Despite providing the entire narrative, the look on her face makes him presume she's not satisfied. It's annoying, to be honest. "Wouldn't you do the same if you saw a building in the woods?" He holds his breath; that question might've been a bit too aggressive for someone like her.
But to his surprise, she gives him a nod and shrug. Fair point. "I guess I would. I can't argue against that." A sigh of relief from Nathan. At least she can be reasoned with. Unfortunately for him, that moment is short-lived. She approaches the wooden counter and sits on it, picking up and twirling a name tag on her finger.
Said name tag is labeled: AJ. It's unclear to Nathan if that's her actual name or not, but he'll assume yes until stated otherwise. Her casual yet intimidating look turns into a glare. "But now that I know you're not interested in the bounty, you oughta leave."
Nathan also gives her a nod and shrug as a response. "Sure." He's already accomplished what he came here for: to see what's up with this building. Yet as he's on his way to the door, he can't help but look back at her. Try to end the conversation on a good note, or at least not on a misunderstanding. "But you should at least know that I know Claude Bundy because of the internet. He's a documented serial killer. The information about him is one Google search away. If you're planning to hunt him down, then you'll have a lot of competition." He clears his throat; he hasn't said that much at once in a long time.
AJ raises a brow, unimpressed and unfazed. "I'm aware." Then coming out of the pocket of her pants is a Bowie knife. "Now like I said, leave… or else it won't end well for ya."
Unlike many people where they would have a fearful expression, Nathan's is one of deadpan and annoyance. "She has a weapon…" A sigh. "I shouldn't be surprised. Can you at least put the knife down? I'll leave; I don't want to worry about getting stabbed while my back is turned." It's an unlikely outcome, the more he thinks about it, but better safe than sorry.
A mocking snicker comes from her. "Aww, you're scared of a knife? A single small knife?" She gestures to the not-so small knife. Smugness overtakes her facial expression as she slams her weapon down on the counter. "Y'know what, I won't put the knife down. I want to see your pants covered in piss as you leave." Some sadism in her tone.
No change of reaction from Nathan. Another shrug instead. "If that's what you want…" Then he starts unbuttoning and unzipping his pants. Before AJ knew it, she sees the emotionless man in his underwear, placing his pants down on the wooden floor.
He holds his gaze with her as he prepares to do a pro gamer move: peeing on his pants.
"Hey! What the fuck are you doing?" AJ's cheeks have turned red from embarrassment, caught off-guard from his bold yet bizarre move. She's not having it and starts storming up to him. "You've got screws loose in your head, fatass!"
However, Nathan never had any intention of covering his pants in piss. Having rolled up the poster, as soon as AJ is in close-enough distance, he whacks her across the face with the piece of paper as hard as he can. It's a hard hit, for the curious.
This causes her to drop her knife, having not gripped it tightly. He takes advantage of this by kicking it out of the building, landing somewhere in the grass. But as he tries to make his escape, his back feels sudden immense pain, then his shirt grabbed and yanked back. The furious AJ had punched and pulled him down to the floor.
Nathan tries to push her off or roll around, but her build and experience makes it impossible for him. Her hands frantically search all over her pockets for her knife, but to no avail. He can hear her mumble some obscenities before he shoves the poster into her face, pushing deep enough so he can obscure her sight. She thrashes her arms around, but he's able to dodge them. At last he finds a way to roll out of the position.
"Another encounter with a hypocritical psycho…" He grumbles, getting back onto his feet and looking for a weapon to incapacitate her. At least long enough for him to escape and make it back to camp. His eyes land on a pair of nunchucks.
But as soon as he grabs them and turns around, his jeans hit and cover his face, having been thrown by AJ. She takes advantage of this by punching him right in the gut. He goes down right away, gasping for air. Then a kick to his gut. The emotionless man is now in a headlock, given punches to the face. His vision and consciousness is fading.
He's able to grab the nunchucks and muster all of his remaining energy to strike her on the nose, making her let go and reel back in pain. He sees an emergency alarm and pulls the handle, resulting in a loud alert sound. The room turns red every two seconds, as Nathan collapses on the floor, hoping that will be enough to stop her.
It is. He doesn't feel any more physical pain being dealt. "You got lucky this time! Next time I see you, you're dead!" All he hears is AJ cursing him before fading footsteps. She must've retreated. Whether it's further into the woods or to camp, he doesn't care. The fight is over and he's safe for now, annoying alarm system aside.
Now he'll have to find a way to make it back to camp without being jumped. Maybe he could camp here for the night after getting rid of the noise. Tough decisions to make. But for now, he'll need some time to recover from those brutal blows.
Author's Note: Let's also do this one more time. My third attempt at writing this cast. I'm hoping it'll be third time's the charm and not three strikes you're out. Just like Canon Route, I have the entire season planned out, as far as the big plotlines go. But not to the point of scene-by-scene.
Same format, there'll be 18 chapters, and the first one is a prologue. More so a teaser, a scene from a future chapter that focuses on the C-plot. As mentioned in the author's note of Canon Route, the A-plot is the competition and the B-plot revolves around Chris McLean and Chef Hatchet.
Now that I've gotten the easy part out of the way, it's time to dive into the more difficult part. I'll be working on episode one of Canon Route first, then episode one of this story. Then rinse and repeat for each proceeding chapter. The back-and-forth method, as I like to call it.
See you in the next chapter!