“I didn’t say go into the woods,” Maia said, her voice affecting a certain calm. “I don’t think we can make a break for it like Phil’s suggesting. It’s too much of a risk. But, we also can’t stay here in the cabins, either, as that’s where this guy expects all of us to be. We have to find somewhere else, isolated and defensible.”
Faith thought for a moment.
“What about The Rocks?”
“Nah, too many other people know about it,” Maia said. “We let our guard for a second, someone could creep up there without us seeing them. We need some place where we’d know if somebody was coming from a mile away. Almost like up on the roof or something.”
Faith thought about this, then let her gaze wander out towards the water. She spied the diving platform, riding out on the gentle waves towards the middle of the lake, and turned to Maia.
“What about there? Nobody could sneak up on us out there.”
Maia looked out to the platform and her face lit up.
“We’ll have to bring something to make a shelter, like a little tent, but I think it could work,” Maia said, enthusiastically. “We’ll bring food and clothes, too – enough to last us.”
“Don’t forget books,” Faith interjected.
“Books, sure,” joked Maia. “Lots of books. Maybe if we stay out there for a couple of days, everyone else will forget all about us.”
“Totally.”
David Boss had planned to try and steal a couple of bottles of Scotch from his parents’ liquor cabinet and sneak them into camp, but he chickened out at the last minute for fear of getting caught, both by his parents, but also Father Billy and the camp counselors. A couple of other boys, though he wasn’t sure who, did manage to bring bottles of booze to the camp, so when all hell broke loose, there was more than enough to go around. The surprising part to David was just how much there was as every time they went back to the cabin to grab another bottle, there was plenty, like in the Bible story with Jesus and the wine. He thought that Evan and Bobby must have brought some in, probably to sell.
“Hey, their loss,” he joked with his friends as they raided every hiding spot in Cabins 1-3, coming up with at least a couple of cases worth, so much that they thought some might be left over or forgotten from previous years.
David chose a bottle of tequila for himself and shot that all afternoon until he’d polished off the whole thing himself. He felt sick and woozy for about half an hour, and then threw up into the lake, to the disgust of everyone around him. He immediately felt better and began drinking again, this time Scotch. Midway through the afternoon, he and the others trotted back onto the beach and, one by one, started passing out on the shore. Not going fully unconscious, mind you, but out of their heads enough to realize staying in the water was no longer a viable option as most were no longer able to swim or stand.
As David’s head lolled around, he looked straight up at the sun, his vision becoming blurry, going black and white like the fuzzy snow on an old television set. He had to fight through it to see anything real, but was only able to catch the vague outlines of people at best.
That’s when the cloudy sky began melting from blue to purple to red. David thought this was pretty funny; his face and fingers going numb at the same time. He looked back over to his group of friends, twelve other guys, nine or so girls, their bodies moving in and out of focus as they were also semi-collapsed on the sand, just trying to move. That’s when some distant alarm bell went off in the back of his head.
He stared at the faces of the other campers, people he’d known for years, and realized that there was something very, very wrong. Someone else was among them, moving from body to body, crouching down as it drew closer to him. At first, he thought it must be some kind of animal, but then realized that not only was there was more than one, they also weren’t hiding behind his friends, but actually entering their bodies, their presence then revealing itself behind the friend’s eyes.
David’s jaw dropped as more and more of his friends were slowly taken over in this way, immediately changing them.
“David? You’re not looking so hot, man,” said Tim, the guy who’d taken Leilani’s virginity. “Too much booze, too much sun. Boy, I’m feeling it, too.”
David stared at the boy who was talking to him and saw what Father Billy had been describing earlier; how you’d know the Devil if you heard different words in your head than the ones pouring out of his mouth. Now terrified, David forced a smile at “Tim” or whatever Tim had become.
“Yeah, man – I’ll bet you’re feeling it,” David said, his hand slipping over to grab a large rock. “How ‘bout you feel this, too?”
David whipped the rock around and smashed Tim in the face with it, splintering his nose and driving shafts of bone directly into his brain. Blood exploded out of his newly shattered skull, splattering on the other campers who now looked up at David in terror.
Well, some of them, at least, thought David.
His eyes flitted to the ones who didn’t look scared at all, the ones who seemed to be enjoying, even feeding off the bloody spectacle. To them, he smiled back.
“Demons,” he whispered.
“Where the FUCK are you!?!?!”
Father Billy stormed around in the woods, his bellowing up to the sky.
“Don’t you see what I am doing?!?” he cried. “How can you let this happen?! Are we worth so little of your time that you can’t do something about this? About me? Look at your followers! They believed in you and look what you have allowed me to do to them!”
Father Billy’s words echoed through the woods as the man fell to his knees. He’d never felt so depressed in his life.
“And you see what’s happening now, don’t you? They’re going to slaughter each other. They, not I. They are the mortal sinners now committing murder, condemning their souls to Hell all on their own. How can you possibly justify allowing this to continue?!? What do you have to say to that?! This is an abomination!”
The woods were silent, apparently having nothing to say about that at all.
All the way inside the walk-in refrigerator, Cindy could heard the screams coming from outside the mess hall building. She got to her feet, grabbed the latch and pushed open the heavy metal door. As she moved into the kitchen, the sounds of terrified campers only increased. For a moment, she believed that the Devil had finally arrived and was harvesting the campers, but then she moved into the mess hall where she got a front-row seat to the horror.
“Oh, my God,” she whispered, staring at the terrifying sight.
It looked to her like four or five of the largest boys, including David Boss, had just suddenly lost their minds and were violently lashing out against their friends. It wasn’t like a fight, however, as David and the others were going after the others with murderous intent. Some of the campers were trying to rescue the injured and fight back, but it simply wasn’t working as the killers were too quick and too vicious, too determined to kill.
Cindy could tell that at least two campers on the beach appeared to be dead and as much as she wanted to run out there and stop David Boss and his crazed allies, she could tell that she’d be just as quickly dispatched.
Turning around, Cindy slunk back into the kitchen and out the side door, making sure to close it as quietly as possible. Just as the latch clicked, someone shrieked out by the lake, covering the sound, but making Cindy jump. She turned and eased her way through the woods, avoiding being spotted while making a beeline for the administrator’s cabin. Coming up on it from behind, she slipped past the washing machine and dryer, which were on, and found the back door unlocked. She pushed it open, still keeping low in case someone might peer through the windows and hurried inside.
“What the hell’s going on out there?” cried Whit, who she saw crouched down by the window alongside Judy, watching the fight unfold from what they hoped was a safe distance.
“I don’t know,” Cindy replied, joining them. “I heard screams and when I looked, they�
�d all gone crazy, fighting, bashing each other with rocks. I think they’ve already killed a couple! It’s like they’ve just gone insane!”
“Or like they’re possessed,” Whit said, simply.
Huh, Cindy thought. Why didn’t I think of that?
David, besieged by what he saw as demons, fought against them with all his might, but had help. To his right was Jeffrey Moffat, one of Hardin High’s offensive lineman and to his left, Scott Doha, a running back, but a good, physical blocker in the pocket. Additionally, two other guys – Troy Lopez and Peter Broderick, both tall, lanky fellows from the basketball team — had joined David’s side, recognizing through their own mental haze the danger that David had first identified as otherworldly and supernatural.
If anybody could put down a demonic assault, he supposed it was these guys.
“If we don’t stop them now, they’ll tear through the other campers like they were nothing,” David shouted, as if calling a play in the huddle. “This is it. This is the test.”
Jeffrey nodded, the red eyes of his enemies glowing so hot that he felt sweat dripping from his every pore. He looked over and saw that Scott’s eyes were drooping, almost closed, as he’d taken serious damage at the hands of a possessed kid named Lee Cooke, who was actually good friends with Jeffrey’s younger brother. Jeffrey played out how he’d have to explain to Owen about the Devil inhabiting his friend and trying to kill him, which forced him to bash Lee’s brains all over a rock.
He was confident that Owen would understand.
“You guys are all possessed!” screamed one of the demons, a girl who had once been a person named Penny Mendenhall, one Jeffrey had always felt had nice tits. “You have to fight against it!”
Beside him, David laughed, raised a stone and hurled it straight at the girl’s right eye. The rock connected and she screamed, dropping to the ground as blood poured out of her eye socket.
“You’re think we’re the possessed ones?” David yelled. “You’re the possessed ones!”
In the screened-in classroom, Douglas Perry and the other members of the prayer circle were witnessing the carnage up close, watching as the campers tore each other to pieces, bashing each other with rocks, clawing at eyes, tearing hair, strangling throats, biting. It looked ridiculous, not like a fight in a movie at all, but when the bodies of their fellow campers stopped moaning and fell silent, a lot of the younger prayer circle members began to cry. They’d never seen anyone killed in front of them before and it disturbed them to no end.
Douglas, however, watched the deaths with smug satisfaction. There wasn’t a person among the fighters he didn’t despise and he felt, even more than before, that the prayer circle had been the right idea. After letting his small flock soak it in for a moment longer, he raised a hand and cleared his throat.
“Everyone? Turn away from that and look to me.”
The campers did what they were told; those who had gotten up to get a better look now slowly returning to their seats.
“We did not ask God for proof of the Devil’s plan, but He gave it to us anyway,” Douglas said, indicating the windows. “This is what becomes of the faithless – they tear each other apart. But we... we are here together, the faith-ful. We have been chosen as witnesses. We will bear witness and we will continue to pray so that God can continue to communicate with us. Thank you, God.”
Variations of “thank you, God,” murmured through the group. Douglas smiled.
One of the twelve year-old boys, Ben Bermejo, raised his hand.
“Yes, David?” nodded Douglas.
“I’m hungry,” the boy replied.
“That’s because we’re fasting, Ben, as a sign of our faith,” Douglas explained, as if to a five year-old. “When we are to eat, God will let us know as surely as he just let us know of the demons that exist beyond that doorway. Until then, let your body and spirit be sustained by prayer.”
When Penny was struck by the rock and went down, screaming in agony, Faith began screaming as well. Penny had been another long-ago friend, someone Faith had been in band class with throughout junior high and a girl Faith really looked up to. She and Maia had been on their way to the kitchen, just missing Cindy, when they saw it happen.
But it was when David made his way past his other would-be attackers (“demons” to use his parlance) and leaned down to Penny, placing his hands around her throat to finish her off, that Faith began running towards her.
“No!! Stop it!!” she shouted. “You’re killing her!!”
“Faith!!” cried Maia. “Don’t!”
But Faith kept going. She was almost to Penny’s side when Maia caught up with her, half-tackling her away towards the woods.
“Don’t!” screamed Faith, hauling off and punching Maia square in the face to get her off of her.
The punch barely connected with the side of Maia’s nose, but it caught her off-balance and she tumbled to the ground, letting go of Faith. Faith turned back around, but just in time to see David snap Penny’s neck, killing her.
And then look over towards Faith.
Quickly, Faith dropped down out of sight, her eyes filling with tears at the thought of the dead girl, but then she heard Maia groan from behind her. Turning around, she saw a thin trickle of blood coming out of Maia’s left nostril, Maia looking at Faith with surprise and some fear.
“Oh, my God,” Faith whispered, immediately contrite. “I’m so, so sorry.”
“Faith,” Maia said, with deadly seriousness. “We help each other and no one else. That’s the deal we made. That’s how we survive. It sucks, but if we get involved, we’re going to get killed. We can’t let our emotions get the better of us. It’d be easy to get caught up in all of this, but if we do, we die – simple as that. Those are the stakes.”
“I know,” said Faith quietly as David, losing interest or having not seen them in the first place, moved away. “I’m sorry.”
Maia nodded, but then carefully got to her feet, staying low.
“Let’s get to the mess hall,” Maia said. “We’ll be safe there.”
Faith nodded and they slowly made their way to the kitchen. Faith still had one of the keys out from Cindy, but they were still worried they’d find people inside.
As soon as they determined they were the only ones inside, they locked the doors up tight and Faith began cleaning up Maia’s nose. She took her time as it was something to focus on as the screams of the fighters out on the beach continued, seemingly getting worse with time. The sun was beginning to set and Faith could only imagine what it would be like in the camp once the killers were able to work under the cover of darkness. She tried to block this out, however, and focus on washing the dried blood off Maia’s face.
“There,” said Faith, once the last of it was washed off. “I’m sorry.”
“You mentioned,” Maia said, but then softened. “It’s okay.”
A blood-curdling scream echoed in from just outside the walls and both girls jumped as the fight was obviously moving closer. Maia looked Faith in the eye, then turned and clicked on the nearby iPod dock, turning the volume way down. A Frankie Valli song began playing softly and Maia nodded.
“The sun’s almost down,” Maia said evenly. “Let’s stick to the plan, finish what we’re doing here and head out to the diving platform as soon as it’s dark. If we go far enough into the woods, they won’t see us go in. Then, we’ll just start swimming as fast as we can.”
Faith’s face was only a few inches from Maia’s, which was cast in shadow. They hadn’t turned on any lights to avoid being found out and the yellow glow of sunset was all that was illuminating the room. Faith nodded in response to Maia’s words, but she realized that what she actually wanted to do was lean forward and kiss Maia on the lips. She had no idea where this impulse was coming from. She’d never kissed a girl before, but she’d never really done much kissing with boys, either, and hadn’t wanted to. Not like the way she wanted to kiss Maia at this moment, anyway.
Maia seeme
d to notice, but did nothing to encourage Faith forward, just holding herself in place as if daring Faith to do it and wondering if she might like it, too.
Finally, Faith inhaled sharply and turned away, puncturing the tension.
“We’d better finish up,” she managed to say, breaking away and heading for the walk-in refrigerator.
Outside in the camp, David and his cohorts had managed to kill over a dozen campers, mostly people they’d so recently called “friend,” Leilani among them. That said, a couple of their would-be victims — two girls, in fact — had managed to stab a heavy branch into Scott Doha’s throat and bleed him out before David and Jeffrey managed to kill them in revenge. There were a number of wounded teens still on the ground, too, bleeding and moaning, but most of their wounds looked mortal and David knew the cries wouldn’t continue for much longer.
“We did it!” exclaimed David, proudly, though he was bleeding heavily from gashes all across his own body. “We beat back the demons, maybe even the Devil. How bad-ass is that?”
He was trying to catch a breath when he turned and looked over to the administrator’s cabin, seeing a light on inside. A thought entered his brain that he immediately knew as truth.
“More there,” he said, half-pointing. “There are more demons in there.”
Jeffrey, Troy and Peter, the three remaining would-be demon extinguishers, followed David’s gaze towards the administrator’s cabin. Despite their injuries, all three quickly fell into step behind David and marched on the administrator’s cabin.
Troy, for his trouble, had a broken arm and a broken foot, but didn’t even realize it, so high on the PCP Father Billy had laced the so-called “hidden” booze with was he. Peter had a punctured lung and could barely stand, but he, too, moved forward behind David, hungry to kill more demons.
Inside the administrator’s cabin, Whit, Judy and Cindy saw the boys coming and knew it meant trouble.
“What weapons do we have?” Cindy asked, looking around.
“You want to fight them?” asked Judy, shocked. “We can just lock the door!”
“They’ll come through the windows – look at them!” Cindy cried. “They’re clearly out of their minds. We’re going to have to kill them. There’s no other way.”
Sunday Billy Sunday Page 13