#theforsakencamper

[metametalmugs]

The Smell of Blood and Kool-Aid

Wow, 2 updates in under 2 days, how responsible of me...

watch, I’ll leave this alone for like 7 weeks now

Warning: This chapter includes death and violence, don’t worry, I’ll probably sum it up next chapter 

Max crawled up to a tree, still shaken up about the knife dug into his stomach. “Ahh... ah...” Max kept on breathing heavily, as his mind raced. He thought about what was beyond death, and how long it would take for him to find out. Max looked at Mark, who went and sat beneath a tree, his stoic expression changed into a face of apathy

“You... why... why the fuck...?” Max said between breaths. Mark looked at him, but shook his head, “I already said... it was for my uncle.”

Max looked up into the sky, the existential thoughts he had faded into thoughts about Daniel. Max kept up with his asshole front for the whole incident. But inside he knew he was scared. He was scared about the safety of his friends, something Max had rarely ever done in his life.

“...but why me?” Max said, placing his hand on the knife. Mark glanced at him, “...honestly, in hindsight, it’s a stupid reason.” Max’s face hardened, “just fucking say it.” Mark chuckled, “it was a grudge. A grudge that formed years ago.”

Mark rose up from his seat and stretched, “but I want to entertain your fleeting life, so seeing as you clearly don’t remember, I'll explain.” He took a seat in front of Max and looked in the eye

“I’m sure you remember those days where you weren’t as tough...”

--3 years ago--

Max was shoved against a wall, surrounded by 3 bigger kids. “C’mon little man, get up! Punch us in the face!” One of the kids taunted, as he kicked Max in the ribs. “C’mon, little Maxie, get up and show us how ‘tough’ you are!” The kids kept on kicking and punching Max, as he helplessly took all the hits and insults. Max was too weak then, he couldn’t fight back, no matter how hard he tried.

Eventually, the kids just left him beaten and bruised in the hallway. Max coughed, and he curled up, trying his damned hardest not to cry. Soon, a kid came up to him and put his hand on Max’s shoulder

Max quickly turned, and his face softened when he saw who it was. “Marcus?” Max said as the kid took out a tissue “Here, take this, your bleeding.” Marcus held out the tissue to Max’s face. Max just slapped his hand, “I told you before, I don’t need your help.

“But Max-” Marcus said desperately as Max got up, “Shut it! I said I didn’t need your help, they’ll just beat me up more if they see me with you. So just scram! I’ll do it by myself!” Max took off in a huff, leaving Marcus sitting in the hallway.

“...when Marcus went home that evening, he sat in his room, contemplating on what you had said. He stayed up there until there was a ring at the door.”

DING DONG

The bell rung, Marcus ran downstairs to see who was there, and to his surprise, and his mother, it was someone very familiar to them. “Oh, Daniel... what are you doing here?” Marcus’s mom said, nervous as Daniel walked in. “Oh, nothing special, like say, escaping the asylum. I’m just here to visit my adoring little sister and... oh, where is that little rapscallion?” Marcus’s face lit up and he ran down to stairs, “Uncle Daniel!”

Daniel went down on one knee and caught the kid in his arms and hugged him. “Aw, there’s my little guy, how’s it going?” Daniel broke the hug and looked at Marcus. “I... um... Uncle, I’ve got to ask you something... in private.” Marcus nervously said.

“Why, of course, Marcus.” Daniel and Marcus went upstairs into Marcus’s bedroom. Marcus sat on his bed and Daniel pulled up a chair, “So champ, what’s the matter?” Marcus hesitated to say anything but eventually spoke: “There is a kid... in my school, that is really mean to me... I don’t know what to do.” Daniel's eyes opened, “Oh, sport, that’s ok... I know exactly what to do with people like him.”

Marcus looked at Daniel as he walked over and sat on his bed, “Marcus... there is a way to make those people pay... and make it so they don’t mess with you ever again...”

Daniel took out a switchblade, “...you make them silent.”

Marcus took it and stared at the blade, “but you can’t just do it immediately, no no no, you’ve got to gain their trust, that way it’ll be easier. Don’t worry, I'll show you exactly how... by the way, isn’t your summer around the corner?”

Marcus kept staring at the blade, and Daniel slowly smiled, “Then, I will show you how to silence the people you hate forever.

Marcus walked into school the next morning and saw Max with a knife, and one of the bullies on the ground with stab wounds in his leg, “C’mon, show me how powerful you are now!?” Max snapped at them with a crazed look in his eye. Marcus just watched what happened to the nimble boy that Max once was, why did he become a violent kid... but he just stood and watched as Max was taken away by a teacher.

“...to be honest, it was either you stabbed them or I would, either way, one of us got suspended, and it was you.” Mark said, and Max stared up into the sky. “So, you were Marcus... you’re mad at me because I turned you away... that’s why you stabbed me...” Max chuckled and Mark kept staring at him.

“Not just you, I hate you, but I want to destroy the whole camp... but why did you hulk out on those kids?” Mark faced Max, who shifted his eyes back onto Mark.

‘why did I?’ Max thought about that, when he thought about the day he stabbed the bullies, he felt like he wasn’t in control... that he was acting completely out of instinct... he thought about it for a while and then it dawned on him.  

“Bloodlust” Max muttered out, and that got Mark’s attention, “what?” “Nothing” Max looked away. Mark just scoffed, “whatever, so, where was I?”

“That summer, I went with Uncle Daniel to a summer camp...”

Marus hopped out first out of the car and went up to 2 counselors who greeted him and Daniel.

“Why hello! Welcome to Camp Wallabee, the liveliest camp in the state!” One of the counselors greeted them cheerfully.

Daniel walked up and smiled brightly, “Hello, my name is Daniel and I hear your camp requires an additional counselor, this is my nephew, Marcus and I would like to be a counselor to watch over this little guy along with the rest of the camp.”

One of the counselors glanced at Marcus and smiled at Daniel, “Why of course, follow me, my partner here will introduce Marcus to the other campers and our activities. You’ll follow me to our cabin to sort out paperwork.” Marcus was taken away as Daniel entered the counselor’s cabin.

It didn’t take long, but the very next day, the entire camp was indoctrinated into Daniel’s cult, and the 2 counselors were tied up. The 2 tried to break out of their bonds, as Daniel walked up with a knife.

“Oh, what a day... a whole camp in under 2 days... what an achievement.” Daniel twirled the knife.

Marcus just looked down at the floor, until Daniel tapped his shoulder, Marcus looked up and saw Daniel pointing the knife at him. At first, this freaked Marcus out, but Daniel twirled the knife so the handle was facing him. “Do the honors, sport.”

Marcus started breathing heavily, “It’s time for you to learn how to silence them... forever.”

Marcus took the knife and started to walk to the 2 counselors.  

One of the counselors pleaded, “Please, kid, don’t do this, you don’t have to listen to him! Let us go and we can help you be free of him!”

Daniel laughed, “you think that he would listen to you, after all...” Daniel placed a hand on Marcus’s shoulders.

“... I love my uncle” Marcus replied as he pointed the blade at the counselors, and he violently stabbed one of them.

Daniel watched as the lifeless body of the counselor bled, he could hear the screams of the other counselor, “oh god, Tony! No!”

He looked at the knife in his hands and he was fascinated by it. ‘This is how to become stronger... physical strength is for meatheads... I’d rather render them unable to bother me again’ Marcus smiled at the weapon

His train of thought was interrupted as he felt someone touch his shoulder, and he turned around to see who it was.

“Oh Marcus... you grew up so fast... one moment you're cowering at the Boogey Man, the next you committed your first case of murder...”  

Daniel bent down to Marcus, “It was my mistake to use my real name... because of that, when I was caught, everyone in my family knew who I was... what I was... but you’re a blank slate, you can change. You can be a better follower than I was.”

Daniel closed Marcus’s hand, making his grip the knife harder, “I want you to go to an alias, so you won’t be found out as easily... how about... Mar...k, I know it was just your name shortened, but hey, the police won’t know what.”

Marcus, now Mark, went with Daniel and burnt down the whole camp, killed the last counselor and sacrificed the campers to Xemug.

“...Then we continued to murder other camps, me and Uncle Daniel both burnt down over 22 camps that summer, but when he got to Camp Campbell, my mom told me to come home, and my uncle had to comply...”

Mark’s face hardened, “...you clearly fucking know what happened.” Max chuckled, “Yeah, the idiot got himself poisoned.” Mark got up and slapped Max, “how fucking dare you! Because of that drink, he’s now in a coma... If I just followed him for that... I would’ve saved him.” Max stared at Mark, who was visibly angry.

Mark calmed down a bit, “that’s why I’ll kill everyone in this camp... so I can finish what he started and get payback for what you sons of bitches did to my uncle. I’ve been planning this for a year now, I’ve been watching you guys in the opposite side of Camp Lilac, I enrolled in the Woodscouts to watch you, to formulate how to kill you...”

Mark got up and walked away, “and I'll start off by killing that bastard David...”

[metametalmugs]

Dependency

Max's Hobbies: Chapter 2

Max and Neil walked to their tent. Max noticed the thing was more... clean than other years. "Uh, what happened to the tent?" Max asked Neil, who was inside unpacking. "Oh, uh, turns out this camp got a new source of funding, some guy named Mr. Cremonesi is funding the camp now. If you notice, there are new equipment around camp" Max looked around, and he did notice new equipment, things like canoes and actual archery equipment that was 'kid-friendly'. But... the name, something felt familiar to that name. "So, are we going to the mess hall? It's like 1:30 and I'm personally famished." Neil broke Max's contemplation, "Uh, yeah, sure"

The two walked over to the mess hall and as they entered they saw the plethora of people inside. Max scanned over each one of them, and he couldn't see Mark or Nikki anywhere. Max sighed in defeat, "Hey, how about if we get something?" Neil suggested. Max nodded and the two of them got some lunch. As they sat down, the mess hall doors opened as two people entered laughing. "Did you see that raccoon? He flew like 5 feet" Nikki laughed and Mark soon followed. Neil whistled, "Hey! Nikki! Over here!" He yelled as he waved. Nikki looked at Neil but just smiled and waved. Neil was taken back, "Uh, its unlike Nikki to not sit with us. What do you think she's doing Ma-" Neil shut himself up and he noticed Max holding a knife that was stabbed into the table and breathing heavily. "Whoa, Max, what the hell?" Max didn't respond, he simply got up and walked out the mess hall. Neil did the same and followed him outside. Max walked all the way to a tree bordering on the clearing the camp was on and sat down next to it.

"Max, what the hell was that? Your acting... unusual today." Max gradually calmed down. "What do you mean Neil?" Neil looked at him, almost insulted, "Uh, let's see, that... knife thing and the breakdown you had earlier. What's gotten into you?" Max looked down, unsure how to approach the situation. "...a lot of things..." Max propped his leg up and leaned on it, "It doesn't concern you Neil, so I won't bother." Neil looked on, confused. "Max, your acting so... un... you. You haven't once tried breaking out of this camp or even insulted David!" Max kept looking down, nervous about what to say. "I thought you hated this hell hole of a camp, now your acting like you want to stay?" Max was reaching boiling point, he tried to contain it, but before he knew it, he yells out: "I DON’T HAVE A CHOICE! It's either this or a foster home!". Neil was shaken by this, and Max just realized what he said. He looked around, seeing if anyone heard it. "L-Listen, j-just don't tell anyone what I just said. Not Nikki, not David, not anybody. Let's just...go back" Max got up and with a stern face walked back to the mess hall. Neil also got up, still shook up, but relatively fine and he followed Max into the mess hall

The day goes by and the planned activities were done and Max and Neil were wandering around. Max bumped into someone and he looked up to see who it was. "Well, isn't it my pal Maxie! How's it hanging?" Mark cheerfully greeted. Max looked at him, with hatred in his eyes. "Mark... So, how's your first day in Camp Campbell?" Max managed to get out and putting out a fake smile. "Well, it's was fan-tastic! This girl named Nerris showed me a swell game and-" Max shushed him mid-sentence. "Look, I wanna take a walk with you, if you're ok with it." Max asked. "Uh, sure, but tomorrow, as it's getting sorta late." Mark said, cheerily. "Great, see you then" They both shook hands, Mark displaying a great smile and Max showing off a less convincing one. The two parted ways and Neil, who was silent the whole exchange, knew something was gonna happen...

Another one in the bag, nice. There will be development on what Max was talking about and i plan to include some.. pretty things. So, if you want me to continue, please leave a note as it's the only way that i know people read this train wreck and gives me motivation for the next.

[metametalmugs]

Nightmare Beginnings

(i finally found out how to put a cut... yay for me.) Max’s Hobbies Chapter 3

Night crept upon the camp, activities were over and the campers were put into bed. Max sat in his tent, unpacking his luggage while Neil was fast asleep. He took out his clothes, the coffee machine, and Mr. Honeynuts and placed him on the head of his bed. After he was done, he lowered his head onto the bed, but he did not fall asleep, rather he stayed awake in contemplation. '...what am I doing? I'm acting out over nothing... I don't have anything against Mark... it's just... seeing him with Nikki strikes a nerve... ugh... this is bullshit, I should accept that they're just friends... why am I even worried about it? He can't take away Nikki from me... but... I can't shake the feeling that something is off with him.... whatever... I'm tired as shit'. Max closed his eyes and wandered off into sleep. 

Max woke up in a dark room, he got up and looked around. The walls seemed distorted and slowly moving. Dark fog lied on the floor, obscuring the view. Max took a walk around and noticed that the walls moved along with him. When he saw them, the seemed not too distant, but as he approached, they moved away. Max has gotten uneasy, he tried running back but wherever he looked, it was the same. He couldn't tell if he went right or left. He was taken aback by all of it... then a voice broke the silence "lost, friend?"  Max looked around, but he couldn't find where the voice was coming from. "don't worry, I get lost here too" "Who... are you?" Max asked the voice "hm... an identity... I never really thought about it, guess I don't have one" "Where am I?" Max asked, confused "hm... It's funny to see the person who owns this place is unable to recognize it." The voice replied in a taunting matter 

"The hell are you talking about?" Max yelled back. 

"heh... don't you get it? This is your reality... This is your mind" 

Max couldn't believe what was being said "Wha-"  

But the voice shushed him. "It's better that I just show you" 

Suddenly, two figures formed from the fog, one that looked like Nikki, the other looked like Mark. The two joined hands and started to dance the waltz around Max. This was unusual to him, as Nikki doesn't know how to waltz. The two continued until they stopped in front of Max. Their faces were close together as if they were leaning to kiss. Just before their lips touched, a knife formed behind shadow Mark and he grabbed it and stabbed Nikki. The wound made shadow Nikki to release more black fog out. She fell and as she hit the ground, she disassembled and spread out as fog. Shadow Mark stood with a knife in his hand as Max watched in horror. Another object formed from the fog, a gun. Max picked it up in hesitation and without realizing it he pointed the gun at Shadow Mark. Shadow Mark turned his head to look at Max, his fake eyes unnerved him. Max pulled the trigger and the gun fired, Mark, disassembled and scattered, just as Nikki did. 

Max dropped the gun, and it broke as the two did. Max heard clapping from the distance and he looked at where it was coming from. A shadow, that looked just like Max was clapping and walking towards him "bravo, bravo Maxwell... you've performed spectacularly." The shadow walked towards Max. Aside from the fog body, almost everything about the shadow was exactly like Max. Except for the eyes, his pupil was wider and was a majority of his iris. Something felt similar, but Max couldn't seem to put his finger on it.

"let's be real... do you know who I am?" The shadow asked. Max tried to recollect where he could've seen him. He thought long and hard, but he couldn't remember. "hm... I didn't think you would, it has been a while." Shadow Max raised his hand and fog rose up along with it. Shadow then did a swirling motion with his hand, and the fog swirled until it formed into a small, bunker-like structure. "you may remember this, this is the purification chamber from the Daniel incident a few years ago..." Max looked at the chamber and thought about the link between the shadow and it... then it hit him.

"No... Oh no..." Max said, surprised. "heh, looks like you figured it out." The Shadow grew a smile as he said that. "But, if you’re here, then does that mean that the rest of the campers have one too?" Max asked. The Shadow tisked "you seem to be under the impression that I was formed by the Daniel incident. I was just awakened by it, in truth, I was with you for a while, Max" The Shadow walked past Max, who was trying to register what was being said. "i'll start then... all the way back in the 4th grade."

"that was around the time our parents started to divide... their distance between us grew by the day. it didn't help that the bullies at our school tormented us because we were just that weird Indian kid that couldn't stand up to them. They pelted us with insults, beat us for being scrawny. no matter what happened, a kid always came to our aid, i think his name was Damien or something. he tried his hardest to help, but we didn't want that, we wanted to prove that we're strong. we drove him away, and as the beating continued, your rage built up. with it, I was born. for years I laid dormant in your mind, until the Daniel Incident. when your cognitive power diminished and your mind was being taken over. with your weakened state, I took over, I wanted to stab the David you hate, to rid you of your worries. I am what you hate, I am your psychopathic side, I am your fighting spirit. I am what you need. I... am.... you."

Max stood there, in silence, trying to comprehend what the Shadow just said. "No... No... You're not me... you’re a monster!" Max yelled. "Then what does that make you? a hero? you can't protect anybody! if the vision I made comes true and Mark kills Nikki, you would just stand there like a coward! you're just bark and no bite! face it! you need me!" The Shadow yelled back. Max couldn’t retort, either out of anger or the feeling that the Shadow was right. The Shadow chuckled, "hm. its quite adorable, but utterly pathetic. i told you all you need to know. there is no use fighting against me as i'm already here. maybe we can continue this little talk some other night." The Shadow took a bow as he slowly started to fade away. "for now, I bid you... adieu..." The fog cleared as the Shadow disappeared and light emanated from one side of the room. The light slowly enveloped the whole room and Max was blinded by it...

"Max! Max!" Max slowly opened his eyes to see Neil by the side of his bed. "Oh good, you're awake, c'mon, it's like 7:40, we gotta go eat breakfast." Neil shook Max awake, Max yawned and sleepily got dressed. He grabbed a cup of coffee and walked with Neil to the mess hall. "hey, Max!" Max turned and saw the Shadow leaning on a tree, fog and all. "i'll be waiting" and the Shadow disappeared and left Max wondering if it was a hallucination or if he was a supernatural being... Max decided not to think about it, for now. Today, he has a talk with Mark...