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"Nikki, what the fuck are you doing?" Max snapped, pinching the bridge of his nose as he watched his friend tied a series of knots in a rope in the middle of a large, poorly drawn pentagram. An empty ketchup bottle lied only a few feet away from it.
"Preparing a sacrifice," she replied in a chipper tone. "Nerris told me that tying all of these very specific knots would bring out demons from the spirit world. Y'know, fun witchy stuff."
"And you believed her?" He quirked an eyebrow, an unimpressed look taking over his face. "Why would you believe anything that nerd has to say?"
Nikki didn't seem to hear Max nor care about anything he said and simply continued to continue her ritualistic sacrifice. She tied a seemingly difficult knot with ease and let the rope drop to the ground as she brought a hand up to wipe sweat from her forehead.
"... Alright, whatever. I'm gonna go see what Neil's up to." Max turned on his heel and began to walk away before Nikki called for him to wait.
"Oh come on, Max! This is right up your alley! Plus I was going to sacrifice David, if that counts for anything." That made him stop. Max couldn't help the grin that crept onto his face as he thought about all the obscure ways to torture that stupidly happy camp counselor.
He took a deep breath and wiped the grin off his face, turning around to face his green-haired friend. Nikki had the strange rope dangling around her neck as she looked at Max with excitement in her eyes.
"What's in it for me?" Max asked as he shoved his hands into his hoodie pockets, trying to look disinterested.
"Oh, I dunno. Seeing David in pain?" Nikki tried.
Max thought for a moment, squinting at the knotted rope as if it were a snake, waiting for the right moment to strike. On one hand, he could actually kill David and get the hell out of the poor excuse for a camp, and on the other he could be seeing the weird geek stuff Neil was doing. It was a painfully easy answer to him, as he didn't want to listen to Neil's droning about the quadratic formula or whatever he liked to talk about.
"Fine. I'll join your dumb sacrifice," Max rolled his eyes at Nikki's burst of energy as she bounced up in down in excitement. He held up a finger to stop her. "But only if I get to see some blood along with it."
"You got it!" She borderline shouted to her friend before racing over to him and grabbing his wrist. Max was dragged from the spot, pain shooting through his arm as nails dug into his skin. For a nine-year-old, Nikki had quite the strong grip.
He mentally facepalmed at the situation he got himself in, ignoring the feeling of nails breaking through his skin. What the fuck did he just get himself into?
After minutes of dragging, Nikki let go of Max's wrist, the two of them standing in front of the counselor's cabin. He still thought it was unfair that the adults got to sleep in an insulated building while the children slept in cheap tents.
Max let out a sigh of relief as he looked down at his small injury and rubbed the reddened, indents on his wrist. Once he looked up, Nikki was nowhere to be found.
"Son of a bitch," he cursed under his breath as he scanned the area. After a while, he gave up on trying and moved to leave the area.
Something spiky and brown shot from one of the conifer trees nearby, scaring Max half to death. He looked up to see Nikki staring back at him, making a motion for him to come over.
Max muttered something along the lines of "you're dead to me" under his breath and walked over, reaching up to grab a low branch. Pine needles stabbed his hands as he grabbed onto the sturdy wood. He hauled himself into the cover of the tree and made sure to climb up a bit higher as a precaution.
Nikki dropped down to where he sat, the rope in her hands.
"You ready to sacrifice David so he can burn in hell?" She said maybe a bit too cheerfully. "Because I sure am!"
"Yeah, sure, whatever. Just tell me to climb into a fucking tree before doing it yourself." Max grabbed the rope from Nikki's hands and studied it for a few short moments before glancing up to glare at her. "When the hell did you learn how to tie knots like these?"
"Knot tying camp," she replied like it was the most obvious thing ever. "I actually paid attention that time."
"No shit." Max huffed, dropping his gaze back down to the rope. "What's the plan of action anyways? Choke David to death? Tie him up and throw him in the lake so he can drown? Make him eat the Quartermaster's garbage food?"
"Actually, I didn't think that far," Nikki admitted, scratching the back of his neck. "I was thinking you could do something."
Max bit his tongue to prevent a torrent of nasty insults to spill from his mouth and he thought for a while, trying to come up with something that would both succeed and leave him satisfied. He looked at his bruising wrist, his mind churning with gruesome thoughts.
Suddenly, the idea struck him. The plan that'd put all other plans to shame. The one that would truly make David suffer.
"Alright, Nikki. I think I got something." Max couldn't keep the cheshire grin from creeping onto his face. "But first, we're gonna need a bat."
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Crickets filled the air with their annoying songs, the occasional sounds of birds in the background. Max's shoes crushed anything in his path, a wooden bat dragging behind him, making rough sounds against stones wedged in the dirt.
A much more lively figure followed behind, skipping along in the night. She held the knotted rope from before high above her head, treating it like it was made of gold.
Max came to a stop, holding his hand up to stop Nikki. She silently obliged and lowered her arms, holding the rope to her chest.
He gave a blank stare to the bold letters across the top of the counselor's cabin before turning to Nikki. Max made a "hand it over" motion with his hand. Her eyes lit up as she reached into her hair and retrieved a key from the tangled mass.
She dropped it into his hand and watched Max trudge to the front door of the cabin. After he lifted up his bat, he shoved the key into the lock and jumbled it around until it made a small click. He shoved the door open, yet not hard enough for it to knock against the wall.
Max peered into the dark structure, making sure the coast was clear. Once he was sure, he beckoned for Nikki to follow and stepped inside.
The two snuck through the main room before stopping at the door that most definitely belonged to David. A faded paper with the words "Please knock before entering!" and small doodles of pine trees was taped to the door. Max rolled his eyes and opened it, making sure to keep his baseball bat off the ground.
He whispered to Nikki for her to stay put before tiptoe-ing over to David's bedside. Max swallowed the laughter in his throat as he heard the counselor whisper about types of trees in his sleep, of all things. He rolled his eyes and yanked the blanket off of David's body.
The ginger sat up with a yelp, his eyes adjusting to the darkness. He turned his head to the intruder, rubbing one of his eyes with the back of his hand as Max threateningly tapped the thick end of his bat against his palm. David opened his mouth to speak, but Max beat him to it.
"Night night, Davey," the ten-year-old growled in a cold tone. "You're gonna have a nice nap."
He reared back, the bat held over his head. Max swung as hard as he could, the wood colliding with David's head before he could protest. The camp counselor landed on his bed, out cold. A bruise began to form on the bright red on the side of his head.
Max dropped the bat, dusting his hands that had nothing on them. He stared at David's stupid knocked out face, glaring at the various, distinct features it had.
"Bring in the rope, Nikki," he called to his eccentric friend. "It's time."
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Nikki dragged a tied-up David to the dried ketchup pentagram, dropping his body square in the middle. She pulled out a lighter and some candles to surround him, just for good measure.
"You got the knife?" She asked Max, who simply watched her assemble the candles at the points of the ritualistic star.
"Yep," Max replied, disinterested. He retrieved the knife from his hoodie pocket and held it in his hand, mentally reminding himself that he was going to be killing a man. "You got the lighter?"
"You bet!" Nikki lit a flame, watching it in awe. She always wondered how it worked, but never asked anyone to explain it.
With quick and sloppy movements, Nikki had lit every candle, the flames giving some lumination to the scene. Max took a moment to assess the situation before a voice broke through his thoughts.
"Max, Nikki, what the fuck are you doing?" Neil frowned at the pair, rubbing his eyes. "Curfew was hours ago."
"Fuck curfew. Plus, we've been planning to sacrifice David for the entire day. No way we'd wimp out on it." Max flicked the blade out, pointing it at the knocked out camp counselor. "Wanna join in?"
"Oh, hell no. I just want to sleep," Neil scoffed at him. "Have fun explaining the body to the police."
"Suit yourself." Nikki shrugged as Neil walked back towards the tents. Her gaze landed on Max, who stared at the stolen switchblade. "You alright, Max? You aren't thinkin' about wimping out, are you?"
"What? No! I was just thinking... Should we really be killing David? This place would suck even more than it already does without him." He attempted to conceal the knife in it's handle but only ended up slicing open his hand. Blood welled in the fresh wound. "Motherfucker!"
"Oh, there's the blood and gore you wanted!" Nikki chirped gleefully before snatching the knife from Max's hand. "Time for David to sleep forever!"
"Nikki, would you fucking stop for a second?" Max snapped as he held the sleeve of his hoodie against the wound. "I cut open my fucking hand and David's the only one who has actual medical experience!"
"Should I wake him up?" She cocked her head to one side, watching blood stain Max's hoodie. "The cut does seem pretty bad. Bet it'll make a cool scar, though."
"Yeah, sure, whatever," He hissed in his pain. His gaze focused on David, who was beginning to wake. "Son of a bitch!"
"Nikki? Max? What's going on?" David said cautiously as he attempted to sit up. He glanced around, the candles seeming to get his attention.
"Fucking help me, you idiot!" Max screeched, waving his blood-covered hand around. "Can't you see that I'm dying?"
"Oh, Max! What did you do to your hand? And Nikki, could you get this rope off my hands? I can't seem to get it off." David struggled with the rope as he successfully sat up.
"Yeah, yeah, hold still." Nikki sat on her knees behind the counselor as she cut through the rope with the switchblade. Once David had freedom of movement, he rubbed his wrists before standing up.
"Please give me your hand, Max," David asked politely, gesturing for the camper to hold his hand out.
"Ugh, fine." Max held out his wounded hand, blood smeared all over his palm. David hissed as if it hurt him to see the cut.
"Ooh, that must hurt." The traditional David stating the obvious. He began to walk to the infirmary with those long-ass legs of his. "Come with me, then. We'll get that bandaged up real quick."
"Fine," Max drawled, forcing himself to move at David's pace. "You better not make it worse than it already is."
Nikki watched as the two walked into the distance, lightly bickering with each other. She looked down at the knife she still possessed.
"Welp, guess I have to sacrifice Neil!" She shrugged as she began making her way towards the camper's area, twirling the knife with her fingers.