*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧—chapter twelve: stuck at camp

August 22, 2021
Hackett's Quarry
Upstate New York, New York

THE DOOR TO THE OFFICE OPENS. Ryan and Chris walk out. But Ryan doesn't stay too long, having been told by Chris to wait out on the balcony outside. The Erzahler boy makes his way out of the Lodge soon after.

Chris closes the door to the office before turning around to face Cassidy, an apologetic look on his face. "Hey, I'm sorry for locking you out here, but you weren't supposed to hear that phone call."

"Look, I get it, especially with what Dad says about protecting me and all that," Cassidy says, not looking at him. "I know the whole protection thing is because of what my mom said in some letters awhile back..."

"Yeah, he's making a promise to Beth by protecting you. But, it's more complicated than that. It's not just about keeping you safe like Travis said," his uncle replies, locking the door to the office.

"Then what is it?" the boy questions, giving him a look. "Or are all of you just being cowards?"

"It's dangerous, Cass. Very dangerous. Someone could die if any one of us isn't careful."

"Exactly. That's why I need to know what the danger is so I can avoid it. Common sense," Cassidy replies, rolling his eyes. "Like, Dad said I can't go in the woods at night because of something there that could potentially kill me. I'm not allowed to look in the storage closet. I also can't be in the basement apparently. But that one time I did go in the basement, Kaylee tried to kick me out and then I got in trouble by my Dad."

"Yeah, they both told me about that..."

"So, anyway, what is it?"

"Are you trying to trick me into telling you?" Chris asks, raising an eyebrow. Cassidy nods. "No. Come on, let's just go. I need these kids to get out of here and I need to take you home."

"Fine. Whatever," the boy mutters, following his uncle outside. "You guys are jerks."

Chris doesn't respond to him as he pulls open the door and they step out onto the balcony. Ryan was waiting for them.

"Make sure they're all ready to go," the older man says to Ryan as he pulls the door closed. "For real this time!" He adds, turning around to lock the door.

Ryan nods and heads down the steps, Cassidy following close behind.

"Wait, how did you and Cass get your phones back before the rest of us?" Dylan asks as soon as the two boys rejoin the group of camp counselors.

"It's 'cause we never turned them in," Ryan answers, walking past him just as Chris comes down the steps after him and Cassidy.

"You shoulda turned if off before you handed it in, Dylan," Chris says as he walks over to the Lenivy boy. "Them's the rules, ya noob!" He walks away from him and passes Jacob, dropping the keys in the boy's hand, before walking over to the van.

"I try not to dwell on the past, man," Dylan replies, an annoyed look on his face.

"Good, 'cause it's time to dwell on the minivan and get on with our respective lives!" Chris gestures toward the van as he speaks, before motioning toward the others just as Jacob opens the door and climbs into the driver's seat. "Move it, let's go!"

When Jacob tries to get the van running, the engine splutters, the god-awful noise filling the air as smoke comes out the muffler.

"What's the problem?" Chris asked in confusion, heading over to the driver's side door.

"Ugh... Dude. I don't know. I— I think there's something wrong with the engine, Mr. H," Jacob answers, peering out the window to look at the man.

"Yeah, I can see that."

Jacob tries to start the car again, only for the engine to emit the same noise. "Yeah, dude, it's just like... kaput!"

"All right, lemme try." Ryan offers.

"What?" Jacob leans back out the window to look at Ryan. "Dude, I'm telling you, all right, it's busted!"

"Well, maybe you're doing it wrong—" Ryan suggest, only to be cut off and mocked by Jacob.

"Duh— 'Well, maybe you're doing it wrong.'"

"The fuck, dude?"

"Enough!" Chris steps forward, trying to stop things before it escalates any further. "Enough, both of you!"

No one does anything right away, and it seems like Chris was just now realizing the severity of the situation.

"Shit," he mutters. "Come on, come on, let's go," he pulls open the door quickly and grabs Jacob, pulling the boy out of the van.

"All right, dude, chill!" Jacob says, stumbling out of the vehicle. "Chill, dude."

Chris climbs into the driver's side and checks everything before turning the key in the ignition. Once again, the engine splutters. "Dammit!" He turns toward the window. "I thought I told you kids to check everything!"

"We did! It— It should be working..." Kaitlyn replies, stumbling over her words.

"Yeah, well... coulda and shoulda doesn't mean it is, does it?! Dammit!" Chris yells, which causes them all to fall silent. He gets back out of the van and slams the door shut as he walks over to the hood. "God, I should've just called Caleb to come help with the van if something went wrong..."

"Well, uh—" Jacob starts, facing Chris. "Look, it's not that big of a deal, okay, we'll just spend one more night here."

"Jacob, shut the fuck up," Cassidy snaps, walking over to him. He jabs a finger at his chest. "No one wants to spend another night here except for you. We all just wanna fucking go home!"

"What's your problem, man?" Jacob asks, putting up his hands in surrender.

"Cassidy, cut it out!" Chris whirls around to face his nephew. "Just stop. Let me think."

Cassidy backs away from Jacob, staying silent as he glares at him.

Chris paces in front of the van for s good while before walking back over to the front of it. He pries open the hood and slams it shut, shouting in frustration. He takes a moment to calm down before speaking. "Okay. Dammit. You're right, yeah," he says, looking at Ryan.

"What?" Ryan asks, confused.

"Yeah, you're right." Chris tosses him the van keys. He then walks around the van and heads over to his own car, pulling Ryan to the side to talk to him.

In that same moment, Cassidy's phone rings. "What the hell?" He pulls his phone out of his pocket. "I thought I didn't have any service out here, who's call—" His eyes fall on the name of the person who was calling him. "Shit..."

The others stare at him quizzically. He holds his hand up, shaking his head as he steps off to the side.

"I gotta take this," he tells them as he puts the phone up to his ear. "Hello?"

"Have the other counselors left yet?"

It was Travis.

"Seriously, no 'hello'? No, 'how are you?' No—"

"Just answer my goddamn question, Cass."

"No. They're still here," Cassidy answers. "The van's busted. They can't go home. Chris is still here, so he can't even take me home either."

"Chris is still there?"

"Yeah...? That's what I said. Dad, is something wrong? Where are you?"

"Just..." Travis sighs. "Whatever you do, don't let any of the other counselors out of your sight. You should all stay in the Lodge and don't go anywhere you shouldn't. It's for the safety of all of you. Do you understand?"

"What are you talking about? What's going on—"

"Protect the other counselors, Cass," Travis says before hanging up.

"What the fuck!" Cassidy groans, staring at the screen as the call ends. Just as he's putting his phone back in his pocket, Chris' van reverses as he pulls out the camp.

"Lock the doors! And for God's sake, keep the noise down!"

"He's just gonna leave us here?" Cassidy sounds disappointed as he speaks, crossing his arms. "Goddammit..."

"So..." Dylan starts, "what was that about?"

"Travis just called me and told me to protect you guys. From what? I have no idea. And he wants us to stay inside and not go anywhere else. But I do not want to play babysitter tonight," Cassidy mutters.

"Chris said to stay inside, too," Ryan adds, looking between the two of them. "That we're not leaving until morning."

"Are... you kidding me?" Emma scoffs, looking around at each of them.

"Em..." Jacob says in a sing-song voice, grinning at the Mountebank girl.

"Are you kidding me?!" she turns to face him. "What are we supposed to do?"

From beside her, Abi shrugs.

"Well, we should go inside," Ryan suggests. "Like they said."

"We could go inside. Until morning..." Dylan replies, a stupid grin on his face as he looks over at Ryan.

"Yeah..."

"Or..." The Lenivy boy continues, "Or we could do something else."

"So, you wanna be stupid and fucking die or some shit?" Cassidy fires, sending him a look. "Like, I said, I don't wanna play babysitter, but Chris and Travis sounded really seriously when they said they wanted us to stay inside the Lodge and stay quiet."

"You're no fun, Cass."

"Look, I'm not trying to die tonight," the Hackett boy puts up his hands in surrender. It's Jacob's fault we're all stuck here anyway.

"What... are you talking about?" Ryan asks Dylan.

Dylan faces Ryan. "No Mr. Hackett. No screaming kids. Just a bunch of grownass adults ready to cut loose and get down with their animal side."

"Oh, hell yeah!" Jacob shouts in approval.

"P. A. R. T. Why the fuck not?!" Dylan adds, turning around to nod to Jacob. He turns back to the others. "All right, it seems like the stars have aligned for us. No?"

"Okay, okay, okay..." Kaitlyn agrees, starting to like where he was headed with this.

"One last epic bonfire blowout for all time."

"Oh, dude," Jacob speaks up again. "Fuck, yes! I'm in. Nick, you're in."

"Yeah, I'm in," Nick replies.

"Dylan's in. Obviously. My man," Jacob continues. "Kaitlyn," he gestures to her.

"I go where my people need me," Kaitlyn says.

"Yeah! Okay... Em, what do you say?"

"Mm..." Emma thinks about it for a moment before answering. "Yeah, I'm in."

"Sawyer, what about you?" Jacob then turns to the curly-haired girl.

"I don't know... Fooling around at night doesn't sound like a good idea. I mean, Cassidy's right. We could die out there."

"Thank you, Sawyer," Cassidy replies. "Finally someone without bugs for brains!"

Jacob ignores him, glancing over at Sawyer. "Since when were you ever one to follow rules?" he asks her.

Sawyer shrugs. "Since today?"

"Jesus... Whatever. Okay, uh..." Jacob turns to Cassidy next, but immediately regrets it. Cassidy was giving him the death stare. "Cass, I wasn't gonna ask you anyway..." he says quietly, quickly turning around before the other boy could do or say anything to him.

"Mr. Hackett and the sheriff seemed pretty insistent we stay in the Lodge," Abi says next, looking at Jacob. "Especially Mr. Hackett."

"He was just trying to freak us out. You know, like, um... Like one of Ryan's stupid ghost stories," the Custos boy gestures toward the Erzahler boy.

"Why would he want to scare us?" Abi questions, furrowing her brows.

No one says anything for a moment, but it was Ryan who broke the silence.

"I don't think he was trying to freak us out, Jacob. I think he was really freaked out by something," he explains.

"Jesus Christ..." Jacob mutters, rolling his eyes.

"Chris seemed real serious about this, guys."

"Just say you're in, man." Dylan sighs, turning to face Ryan for the somethingith time. "Come on. One last night."

"Yeah, but I promised I—"

"Dude. He won't even know," Dylan interrupts, trying to convince him to agree with them.

"No, no, nah, dude, dude. It's all good. All right, we get it, you know. You, uh..." Jacob speaks again. "You don't want to disappoint 'daddy'."

"Yeah, well, someone's gotta give a shit," Ryan interjects, stepping forward.

"Aw." Jacob mocks.

"You know what? I don't care what you guys do. I'm doing what Chris told me to do," Ryan says, fed up with Jacob's bullshit.

"Oh, boo!" Jacob taunts, watching Ryan turn to leave and head toward the stairs.

"Ryan, come on, man, wait!" Dylan calls out, dejectedly, sighing as Ryan walks up the stairs to the balcony.

"All right, all right, all right, Hacketteers!" Jacob announces, turning to the remainder of the group. "Party planning committee. Let's do this! Um, okay. First things first. Nick and Abi... you go get some firewood. Uh... Emma and I will go to the stores for some supplies. And, uh, Dylan, you just... I don't know, figure out how to charge the phones or something. All right, let's do this!"

Once Jacob split them off into groups, though excluding Cassidy, the Hackett boy starts to walk off.

"I honestly won't be surprised if we all somehow get killed tonight! I hope you all know it's Jacob's fault!" Cassidy shouts over his shoulder as he heads up the stairs, making sure everyone heard him loud and clear. "And by the way, Jacob, I hope you die first since you wanna fucking ruin our plans!"

"What's he going on about?" Sawyer questions, glancing toward Jacob.

"No idea," the Custos boy shakes his head. "Why don't you... I don't know... Go after him and find out?"

"Yeah, maybe I will," the Graves girl, replies, turning around and heading for the stairs.

Once that was over with, the groups depart, heading separate ways to start looking for materials and supplies needed for the bonfire.

author's note
NAURRR

THIS CHAPTER
FR TOOK ME
OUTTTTT

07.23.22