“And sometimes, on nights like these, you can still hear the ripper. Waiting to find his next victim and… Tear Them Apart!!” Luke lurched forward, hooking his arms around one of the shaking freshman. He made a hacking motion with his arm, mimicking the horror story of The Woodland Ripper he had just recounted. The other high schoolers around the fire giggled at their friends shaking, even the other counselor started snickering.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough nightmares for one night. It’s getting late, let’s head back,” Leslie pulled the boy from Luke’s grip, letting him scamper to the safety of his friend’s chiding and taunting, “This way everyone.” He linked his arm with Luke’s and motioned the small group to follow down the moonlit path back to camp. As the troupe marched back through the pines, an earsplitting scream silenced the children and adults alike. Leslie’s fingernails dug into Luke’s arm, the teens bunched together to form a tight ball of shaking figures in the low light.

“What w-was that?” A shaking voice rose from the front of the quivering mass, Anna was huddled between her best friends, gazing up at Leslie with terror. Another noise echoed from the surrounding darkness, this time something like the low growl of a dog, followed by a booming bark that made the ball of people jump and stagger away from the reverberations through the trees. After a moment of silence, the group collectively holding their breath for another sound, Leslie pulled together his bravery and grabbed everyone’s attention with a sharp tsk! He put a finger to his lips and help out a hand to Anna, nodding to the rest to follow in suit.

Once they had all silently formed a chain he turned to Luke and intertwined their fingers. He turned and have a reassuring nod to Anna before tugging lightly at her arm and leading the group along a less traveled path. The minutes it took to trudge back to the cabins felt like painstaking hours, not a word or breath passing between the teens lips, too afraid to break the silence. It wasn’t until they were in the safety of the camp’s night lights that a the whisper started to pass around in the crowd, “Laura and Fox,” The hushed tones took a moment to register to the adults. When it did click in his mind Leslie bolted up, sprinting into the head cabin a scrambling for flashlights. Luke dashed in after him, followed closely by the huddled group of teens.

“What are you looking for Le-?” He was cut off by his partner tossing a flashlight at his face, narrowly missing breaking his nose as he caught it, “What the hell?” His questions weren’t answered as Leslie sprinted back out onto the campgrounds, his hands were shaking, throwing the light of the flashlight into the kids in strobe-like patterns. Luke placed his hand on the others shaking shoulder, he didn’t turn around, “What it is Leslie?” Tugging on his arm he finally got the brunet to turn and face him, face pale and eyes filled with blind terror. “Those kids are in the woods. Whatever was chasing us, it’s got to be after them.” His words quivered, he started to march back to the entrance of the woods but he stopped and turned back to the kids, “Everyone get in your cabin. I’ll be back with the others… soon.” Luke could see the doubt in his eyes and though his tall frame was no longer shaking, his hands still cast the light unevenly across his path. He disappeared into the pines without another word, everyone too scared, maybe for him or maybe for themselves if he didn’t come back. Luke pulled himself back to his senses, taking a deep breath and letting it out into the air. “Come on guys, you’re all holing up in the counselor cabin until he gets back. It’s big enough for all of us.”

They didn’t say anything, just following him back to the cabin and packing together by the bunks in the far corner. Luke stood at the door, pacing back and forth, criss-crossing around the small kitchen and couches every few rounds. He could feel the eyes of the teens on his neck as he paced. ‘They must be terrified.’ He thought to himself as he caught Anna’s eye and she quickly looked back down at her shoes, her friends had their arms intertwined, heads resting on her shoulders. He wanted to comfort them, or at the very least give them some sense of security, but he didn’t have anything to give them. It clicked in his mind then, the owner of the camp had left them with equipment to practice on the shooting range if the kids got tired of the other activities lined up. He strided to the cabinets next to the crowd of teens, their eyes still drinking in his every move. Two small handguns in the top shelf and a row of rifles on the bottom. He pulled out the handguns, they were freezing cold to the touch and looked like they had never been taken out of the cabinet, dust and decoloration twisting around the handles. He put one in his back pocket, the door of the cabinet shielding him from the teen’s eyes.

He closed the door and showed the handgun to the teens, “This is all we have, but if anything comes in here you can guarantee they aren’t getting past me.” They all stayed silent, eyes shifting from each other to Luke and the gun and back again. They looked almost more scared now that the gun had come out. He set back to pacing, now clutching the weapon in his hand, finger resting just off the trigger. His eyes flitted from window to window to the doors and the kids, he couldn’t keep a single part of his body still for more than a second. It must have been almost half an hour since Leslie left for the kids, where were they? Could he have gotten lost? Or worse, encountered a wolf or bear, it wasn’t likely but it was still possible. Luke started pacing faster, the gun steady in his hand.

“Mr. Luke?” A small kid from the back of group, squished against the wall, stood up a bit. His hair was strikingly red against the dull browns and greys of the cabin, “ I need to use the bathroom.” His voice and hands were shaking. A hushed chorus of agreements softly rose among the kids. Luke pondered for a moment. The only bathroom in the back of the camp, behind all of the kid cabins, they’d have to all go into the open to get there.

“Okay, we all have to go. No one is staying here by themselves,” he talked without really thinking, just trying to sound like he wasn’t as scared as they were, “Come on.” They all got up, joints cracking from sitting in one place for so long, friends still stuck together. Luke opened the door, and Anna screamed. On the outside of the door was Leslie, wide eyed and shaking, covered in blood and dirt. He stood for a moment, silent and staring at Luke, everyone too shocked or terrified to conjure any words or noises. When he finally opened his mouth, crimson drips flowed down past his lower lip and streaked his jaw, “The kids…” He tried to take a step inside the cabin, but fell, Luke only barely catching his weight before it hit the floor. Anna screamed again, and the group started up in a voice of screams and exclamations and curses. Luke’s head spun around to see them scrambling around each other, one or two ran outside and he thought he saw Anna push someone into the bedpost, “Luke,” His voice was still husky, the words scraping out of his throat, “Run, leave… yourself.” He let out a huff of cold breath and a cough choked itself out. Beadlets of blood stringed out, a stray drop or two landing on Luke’s shirt. The words started to die out, getting smaller and harder to hear. Luke into the other, gripping the back of his shirt tighter and pulling him over to one of the couches.

Another few kids bolted outside, one jumped the couch, leaving a muddy footprint on the green fabric, “It’s the kids, they’re out there…” He tried to drag in more air, opening the hand that had been clutched tightly against his chest. Matted layers of mud and blood still leaked deep red, the gash across his rib cage very clear still. For a moment it looked like he was smiling, his stained teeth clenched together, eyes getting more dull by the moment. “Wait, Leslie, no don’t. Come on, keep your eyes open Les, just stay right here. Don’t leave, please.” Luke grabbed onto the other’s face, fingernails digging slightly into the already chilled, cut, and bruised cheeks. His eyes stayed open, staring at Luke with nothing in them, empty. That’s when he realized the cabin was totally silent. All of the kids were gone, but he could no longer hear a single one outside. The only sound was his own wretched breathing, tears welling in his eyes made his throat close tighter and he had to fight to breathe.

He stood after a moment, his legs shaking. He started to run outside without realizing. His legs worked on his own. It was deathly quiet outside, not so much as a cricket chirp or whistle of wind through trees, “Hello,’ He said it mostly to himself at first, testing if he could even use his vocal chords, “HELLO?” There was no response, not a rustle in the leaves or breathing of something nearby. He let tears fall down his face freely, not bringing his hand up to wipe them away but to cup a megaphone around his mouth, “Anyone, plea-” He stopped and spin around, he felt cold metal on his back. Anna was standing there, her hair fuzzy and pulled out of the ponytail, her cheek lightly scratched and spotted with dirt from a fall, “Anna.” He exasperatedly sighed, ghosting a hand over her shoulder.

She smiled at him, putting her hand over his, “I’m here.” She lifted her other hand, and there was a loud bang. He jumped, eyes widening as a bit of blood stained the front of her shirt. Then the pain hit him, and his vision started to go grey. She lifted up a handgun, the gun he had been holding in his back pocket, “I’m right here.”

It was the last thing he heard before he hit the ground, falling back onto the cold ground. Anna grinned, “You can come out guys,” The other teens stepped out of the forest and from behind the cabins, each one sighing and relaxing now that the adults were dead. The small boy that had stood up first to ask them all to go to the bathroom. He stood over Luke’s body, sneering at the still open eyes. “Close the eyes, they’re creepy lookin’.” Anna scoffed at him, bending down and picking up one of the legs of Luke’s pants, the boy folded and did the same to the other leg. Together they dragged the body to the counselor cabin, where a few other kids had picked up Leslie’s body, “You sure made a lot more short work of Luke than him, huh? “ He chuckled at Anna’s scowl, “Come on, ain’t no harm in makin’ fun now.”

She scoffed again, “Let’s just throw them out in the woods.” A few more teens came out of the woods, one holding a large German Shepherd on a leash, her eyes lit up. She dropped the body’s leg and jogged to the dog, “Such a good boy, helping us scare the big bag guys.” The dog barked again, it’s tongue lolling out happily.