Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Kevin rested his chin on his hand, his eyes never leaving the forest rolling by. It had been a while since they’d all gathered together like this to film. He was excited to film something fun for the viewers. He looked next to him at Aryia sleeping soundly, his head resting on the window. He looked in the back at his other two teammates: Jake Webber and Brennen Taylor. He jumped when his phone vibrated, he relaxed when he realized it was a text from Reggie. Knowing it was going to be some bullshit, he read the text and shook his head as he chuckled to himself. Reggie had sent a single text saying: Don’t lose bitch.

“So, what's the story for this location?”

Without looking back the driver spoke; he was the same actor as last time. “Supposedly the land was cursed by six witches who were executed. In their final moments they summoned a dark entity to avenge them and to forever guard the land that they once found sacred. Years later the land was bought for dirt cheap and converted to a camp. Back when this place was popular, people constantly went missing and were found mauled by an unidentifiable animal. The landowners tried everything including having the land blessed, but nothing worked until a witch was hired to put up protective totems to stop the murders. As long as you’re within the boundary of the totems you're safe, but anyone who goes outside them is in danger. According to legend the only way to banish the spirit is to collect an artifact belonging to each of the witches and perform a ritual.”

Kevin blinked. “Wow, Kian and JC really put a lot of thought into this story.”

Jake furrowed his brows, “How will we know how to perform the ritual? Is there a manual or something?”

The van rolled to a stop. “We have arrived.” 

He handed them walkie talkies.

Gently Kevin shook Aryia awake. Jake was the first out of the van and ran towards the main building. Brennen was more hesitant but refused to be left behind. Aryia and Kevin hurried inside and got to work searching with the others.

Outside in their personal monitoring van Kian and JC watched Team One get started. Kian started the timer as soon as Aryia and Kevin left the van.  Team Two consisting of Sam, Colby, Matt Rife, and Amber Scholl, rolled up to the location next. 

An intense feeling of unease crept up Colby’s spine. The moment they passed the Welcome to Camp Sign he felt like he needed to puke. He knew it was just a game, and that the story the driver told was just a scary story JC and Kian concocted, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was in real danger. His stomach twisted, the moment he stepped out of the van. He felt so exposed out in the open. Amber placed a hand on his shoulder and asked if he was alright. He took a deep breath and nodded. She smiled warmly at him. Sam and Matt gave him some words of encouragement and they headed inside together ready to explore. 

Last but not least was Team Three. They flew out of the van before the driver had the chance to come to a complete stop. Elton was the first to reach the building, then Wyatt, Ryan and River. Now that all three teams had arrived and were starting in their separate buildings, they could compare how well each team was doing. Kian chugged a whiteclaw and burped. JC leaned away, “Seriously dude.”

Kian laughed.

They stared at the screen and watched the teams rummage through stuff searching desperately for clues. JC facepalmed when he noticed Team one rearranging furniture looking for clues not realizing the clue that they were searching for was hidden in plain sight entangled in a dream catcher nearby.  

 Meanwhile Team Three had found one of the two clues at their location. A spider fell from the ceiling and landed on River causing him to panic and accidentally fall through a wall. Inside the wall was a skeleton holding a box to its chest. Around the skeleton's neck was a creepy key necklace with a symbol in its center.

“River, do you know what this is?” Elton tore the box from its dead hands.

“A fake dybbuk box?”

Elton shook his head, “I think this is a real dybbuk box, why else would it be hidden inside a wall.”

“We should probably put that thing back where you found it.” Wyatt shuddered.

Wearing a devious smile Elton opened it. A low whoosh filled the air giving River goosebumps and causing the building to creak. Outside, the wind picked up rustling the trees. The lights flickered and everything went dark.

River shook his head, “Wow, thanks Elton. Now we’re cursed by the spooky skelington.”

Colby from team Two was inspecting a deer head on the wall and noticed a symbol carved into the side of its neck. With further inspection he realized its left eye wasn’t the same as the right eye. A scream escaped his lips when the deer head fell from the wall and its eye rolled across the floor. Colby held his chest as he walked over to pick up the dusty eye. Not only was it surprisingly heavy for its size, but it was also warm. He dropped the strange stone eye when he felt it pulse in his hand like a heart.

 Back in the Monitoring van Kian drummed his fingers on the desk while he watched each team. “Hey, where is our monster?”

JC paused, “That’s a good question. The actor should be here.”

On one of the cameras they noticed a tall shadowy figure moving around the tree line, mostly hidden. It appeared as if they were tinkering with something on a tree.  JC wiped his glasses and squinted, “Who is that?”

They realized it was a woman carving something into a tree and hanging something on a branch. When she was finished, she wandered into camp just as team three had wandered outside of their cabin. JC lifted his walkie talkie to warn them when suddenly the van shook and it flew out of his hand.

“What the hell was that?”

They screamed when they saw movement outside of the van. Quickly Kian turned on the headlights. They froze when they realized they were surrounded by five women in tattered old timey attire. Their pale dead skin was caked with dirt and grime. A chill ran up their spines when they noticed a figure shambling into view. The sixth woman didn’t appear to be like the rest, she was charred to a crisp and her movements were stiff and clumsy. She opened her lips to let out a thick puff of smoky breath.

Chapter Text

River wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone. Every fiber of his being was on edge and screaming that he was in danger. Regardless, he just wanted to get the heck out of there before things got out of hand. Elton walked up behind River to apologize for freaking him out. Elton could sense how on edge his teammates were.

River lifted his walkie-talkie and told JC to send the Van because something wasn’t right.

Elton sighed, “River, I have opened plenty of dybbuk boxes and NOTHING has ever happened. If I actually believed it was dangerous I wouldn’t have opened it.”

River shook his head, “Somethings off, I can feel it in my shins.”

"Your shins?"  Elton was about to say more when a woman walked right up to them. She lifted her hand, first to River, then moved it until it finally stopped on Elton. The woman sighed, “So you’re the one who opened the box.”

Elton raised a brow, “Okay. I get it. So, this was all planned by Kian and JC…this is pretty elaborate for a game. I applaud the effort.”

The woman appeared confused, “This isn’t a game, you’re all in grave danger and must leave now before the beast has had time to fully awaken.”

“I thought we’ll be fine as long as we’re within the boundaries of the Totems?” Ryan says.

The woman shook her head, “the totems at this camp are all fake, the true totems are hidden from sight and decaying. I came here to make new ones and repair any that are capable of being saved. But the creature was released before I could finish my task.”

“What task?” Wyatt raises a brow.

“For years, my family have been protectors of this land--”

“Elton…We need to run.” River slowly backed up towards the Cabin.

Elton followed his gaze to see six figures approaching them in the night. Their movements were strange and one of them seemed to slightly glow and emitting smoke. Their quiet cameraman was the first to start running but Ryan reached the cabin first.

 Meanwhile a couple of buildings over Kevin paused and stared at the door.

Jake stared at the door with him, slowly moving closer to whisper, “What are we staring at?”

Kevin let out a nervous chuckle. My African senses are tingling, it's like spidey senses but for Africans.”

Jake laughed, “Okay, what are your senses saying?”

“They’re screaming danger.”

Jake walked over and peeked out the window to see Team Three run back into their cabin. A loud banging on the back door caused them to jump. Brennen stared at the door while someone continued to pound on the other side screaming for help. Brennen held his heart, “KNJ really went out of their way to make this extra scary. Like that person sounds like they’re really in danger.”

On the other side the person screamed again, “I’m seriously in danger, open the damn door!”

Jake laughed, “Okay, now the acting isn’t as believable.”

The person on the other side screamed again, “I’m seriously not acting!”

Feeling less scared, Aryia relaxed a bit. "That person's awful acting made the situation way less scary. At least try to be more convincing.”

On the other side something let out a feral snarl. The person let out a wet cough then a gurgling sound before going quiet.

The four of them looked at each other. Their camera man slowly inched closer to the window near the door to capture what was going on. The Camera man screamed and backed away instantly.

Brennen got closer, “What did you see?”

A head burst through the window raining broken glass everywhere. The bloodied severed head hit Brennen so hard he fell backwards. When he stood up he looked down at his shirt, his hands shook at the sight of all the blood. He screamed and kicked the head away from him. Aryia screamed and kicked it away from him. Kevin said nope and moved out the way, behind him Jake caught the head. He rolled the head around in his hands so he could stare into its lifeless eyes. “Guys, this was our driver.”

Kevin started crying in a corner, “Oh God! That means the Killer has the damn keys.”

Already Brennen was on the phone trying to call his mom, but there was no signal. Now Brennen is crying as well, “I should have just spent the day doing food reviews. Why’d I agree to this scary ass competition?”

Aryia tried to calm himself, “This has to be fake. This has to be an elaborate prank gone too far.”

Jake placed the driver's head under his arm like a football, “I’ve seen dead things before, and this is definitely not fake.”

Kevin pointed at Jake, “Why are you holding it like that?!”

“At least I wasn’t playing kickball with it.” Jake brushed the driver’s hair from his dead crossed eyes, “Also, he would have wanted to have his body returned to his family…probably.”

The cameraman tried his walkie. “Kian, JC, what the hell is going on?”

No reply.

Jake pulled out his phone and decided to make a call.

Everyone made a face, “How can you make a call right now? No one has a signal?”

Jake waved his phone, “I got this from one of my friends on the dark web, it's connected directly to its own satellite and stuff.”

Kevin was lost for words. Who would have ever guessed that Jake buying creepy things from the dark web would pay off? “Great, call the cops and get us out of here.”

Kevin paced the room praying to be saved. After about twenty minutes He decided to ask Jake how the call was going. Brennen and Jake were huddled together now, and they looked serious.

Jake put up a finger to signal Kevin to wait a second before continuing to talk to the person on the other side. “Yea, I need extra cheese and sauce, also I need like twenty Buffalo Wings.”

“Since when did the cops deliver food?”

Brennen rubbed his stomach, “Extra cheese? C’mon you know I’m lactose intolerant and i forgot my lactose pills.”

“Okay, add a sandwich to that order, no cheese.”

“Thanks bro.”

Kevin stared in disbelief. “Did you even call the cops?”

Jake nodded, “Of course I did. They’ll be here in about an hour or so to rescue us. I got hungry though.”

Brennen, “Yeah, I can’t be scared on an empty stomach.”

Kevin sighed, “Well in that case order more chicken, because twenty isn’t enough for the four of us. have you seen Brennen eat?”

The cameraman suggested adding Pepsi to the order.

Jake smiled, “See! Look how relaxed everyone is now that food and help is on the way.” He spoke into the phone again, “Yea can you make that a double order of wings? Oh and a Pepsi.”

Next door...

Colby continued to try to get someone's attention over the Walkie. “Seriously, what the hell? Team One was screaming and now they’re dead silent, KNJ won’t respond, and there’s no signal.”

“It's probably part of the game, don’t even worry about it.” Sam grabbed the last clue before he noticed the sphere in Colbys hand. “What’s that?”

“I have no idea but feel it. It’s so gross.” Colby handed Sam the deer eye and immediately Sam cringed at its tiny heartbeat.

Amber noticed Matt had gotten quiet and was hyper focused on something no one else was aware of. “Hey, you okay Matt?”

Without snapping out of his trance he shook his head, “No, my Matt senses are tingling. They’re telling me this isn’t a game anymore.”

A chill ran down Amber’s spine. She turned around and walked away while mouthing the words ‘Matt senses’?

Matt walked over to Colby to hold the pulsating deer eye. “Keep a good hold on this no matter what. This is going to keep us alive. We have to find the other real artifacts with this symbol and the spellbook to end this before anyone else dies. There's six witches so theres 6 artifacts, we already have this eye and maybe another one.”

Everyone froze, “What do you mean anyone else? Who died?”

Matt peeked out the window before moving some furniture in front of the door to barricade. “They’re coming.”

“Don’t change the subject.” Amber lifted a finger, “What do you mean we may have two?”

Matt took the Deer eye and followed the strength of its pulse to a grandfather clock. He broke the clock and inside was a dusty leather book. He shook his head. “Okay, I was hoping it was leading us to another artifact, but the book is important as well.”

Everyone stared in awe. He handed Colby the stone back. “Find a weapon, it knows we have an artifact.”

Chapter Text

Wyatt pushed a shelf in front of the door and peered out the window. “It looks like they’re splitting up. Only two of them are approaching the cabin.”

Ryan pushed the sofa in front of the back door. “So, what’s the plan? Clearly we can’t stay here forever?”

River ran his hands through his hair, “Maybe we can, Mr. Skellington in the wall clearly did.”

The good witch shook her head, “Why are you cracking jokes in a time like this?”

“River uses humor as a coping mechanism.” Wyatt backed up from the window. 

Ryan sighed, “Okay, clearly the spooky story was based on a real story. According to the story we have to collect the artifacts and do a ritual to get rid of the monsters forever. Maybe there’s a clue inside the dybbuk box.”

Elton picked up the box and looked inside. There was nothing except symbols and a decaying eyeball. He whipped out his phone to take pictures of the symbols inside, “There’s nothing in here, but maybe these symbols are important.”

The witch held her hand to her necklace, “My necklace is made from one of the ancient artifacts. The artifacts pulse when they’re near each other. There are no more in this building, but I feel a few near here.”

“What do the artifacts look like? I would like to know what I’m looking for.” Ryan looked around for something, anything he could use as a weapon. He found a piece of wood, some duct tape, and a knife and quickly made himself a spear.

Wyatt found a broken pair of scissors and held each half as if there were daggers. “I feel like a low budget pirate.”

“The artifacts consist of an enchanted stone deer eye, a stone Bear eye, a freshly sacrificed Human Eye, a withered fang, my necklace was a fingerbone, and an athame. The Charred Witch wields the Athame, and the fang is in the beast’s mouth. I can feel that the deer eye has been found, so we must find the bear eye.”

Wyatt let out a breath, “How are we going to get the fang or the athame?”

Ryan, “Also, what is an athame?”

Elton and Wyatt spoke up, “It’s a ceremonial blade.”

The camera man put down his equipment. If he was going to survive the night, he couldn’t be weighed down with that crap. He whipped out his walkie to reach out to any of the other camera crew. He was relieved to know that Team Two and One were alive. Quickly he filled them in on everything the witch had told them. Once everyone was caught up, he tried to contact the drivers. Hopefully at least one of them was still alive. 

There was no response.

 He hung his head until finally there was a familiar voice. Driver Two whispered into the walkie. “I can’t believe you're alive. I thought we were all that’s left.”

“We?”

The man sobbed into the phone. “James, he’s gone. He panicked and that creature chased him. Kian and JC’s are missing and I’m hiding in the boathouse with the other driver.”

“Okay stay where you are.”

Elton took the walkie to contact Team One. “Is there a bear statue or a bear taxidermy anywhere in that building?”

On the other end Kevin spun around looking for anything bear. Aryia gasped, “Wait! There’s a huge bear totem near the road.” They all rushed to the window and squinted into the night. Aryia was right, there was indeed a bear totem by the road that led out of camp.

“Yeah, there is a bear totem by the road.” He said into the walkie.

“Do you think you can make it there to retrieve its eye?”

Kevin made a face and looked around like he was asked the dumbest question in history. “Well um, you see I would definitely go out there, but I have this condition you see. Um, I’m allergic to death and you know what Aryia really needs some comfort since he got injured earlier.”

Jake made a face, “But Aryia is fi—Kevin whispered for Jake to shut the hell up.

“Well, someone has to get it and your team is the only team that doesn’t have a totem.”

Kevin shook his head then remembered Elton couldn’t see him. “It will be a cold day in hell before I take my ass out there. I don’t wanna end up like our driver. I don’t wanna end up like Kian and JC. I love you guys but fuck that shit. The black guy always dies in these movies.”

An undead Witch burst through the back window and landed on the floor with a thud. Her bones crunched as they shifted and moved back into place so that she could stand. The cuts from the broken glass didn’t seem to faze her. She growled as she ran forward. Kevin pushed Brennen towards her and ran up the stairs.

The witch forced Brennen to the ground and she opened her mouth so wide her face split exposing her jagged teeth. Aryia grabbed a chair and smashed it upside her head. Unfazed, she turned her furious eyes on Aryia. He screamed and jumped back. Jake grabbed a skillet and hit her head so hard her neck twisted. To make sure she didn’t get up he stomped her face under his heavy boot and dropped the pan. Aryia picked up the pan and held it close to him like a weapon.

Slowly Kevin came back downstairs peeking down to make sure the coast was clear. “Holy crap.”

Jake laughed, “Does this make me an official demon hunter?”

Brennen glared at Kevin.

The camera man tried to ignore the tension between Kevin and Brennen. “Actually Jake, this would make you a Witch Hunter.”

 Jake smiled as he grabbed a hammer, “Let’s go hunt some witches.”

Jake grabbed the walkie, “Elton, I’ll go get the bear eye. I think we should all pick a location to meet up at though. You know safety in numbers.”

Jake stretched his legs before slowly pushing open the door. He looked both ways before he flew off the porch heading for the Totem. Everyone gathered at the window to watch Jake. Quietly the witch rose up from the floor. Furious she reached out and ripped into the cameraman’s neck.

She placed a hand on Kevin’s shoulder. The moment he felt her hand he turned to push her away, “Get yo crusty ass hands off me!” Brennen pushed Kevin and bolted out the door.

Aryia smacked the shit out of the witch with the pan before grabbing Kevin and bolting as well. His heart jumped when he heard a loud roar and the pounding of feet behind him.

 Meanwhile in Cabin Two…

A long rusted chain shot through the window towards Amber. Quickly Matt stepped in the way and grabbed the chain. He yanked the chain so hard it snapped in half. The door flew off the hinges knocking down Sam. The moment the witch stepped foot in the cabin Matt lashed out with the broken chain to strike the witch in a frenzy of lightning-fast attacks.

“Seriously Matt, how are you doing that?!” Sam rolled across the floor towards Colby before climbing to his feet.

“A few years ago I was bitten by a demon, ever since then I’ve had superhuman abilities. No one at the gym can compare. Also, I may or may not have been fighting crime in a bat suit.”

Amber stood in disbelief, “You’re BATMAN?!”

Annoyed, the witch launched another chain towards Matt. He caught this one as well, “Get over here!” Matt yanked the chain so hard the witch flew off her feet and landed on the floor before Matt. He wrapped the chain around her neck. “You guys need to get out of here, I’ll handle this!”

Sam and Amber ran to the back door.

Colby hesitated, “You really want us to leave you?”

Matt motioned to the book, “Take the book with you, I’ll be right behind you.”

Colby nodded and grabbed the book, “I swear we’ll end this.”

Matt nodded.

The moment Sam opened the door a scream ripped through Ambers lips. A witch stood waiting with an open chest bursting with sharp tentacles.  Sam looked down to see that one of the tentacles had impaled him. Amber backed away covering her mouth. Sam was yanked through the door and thrown to the side. Colby grabbed Amber and pulled her upstairs into a random room and locked the door.

Downstairs he could hear Matt battling them both. He inhaled and tried to calm himself. He pushed open the window and peered out. “We have to jump.”

Amber took off her heels before climbing out.

Soon as she touched the ground Colby hurried behind her.

 Over in Cabin Three things were heating up. 

The charred one sensed that someone was in possession of the book and immediately began pursuit. A disgusting gurgling noise filled the air. Team TFIL looked between each other.  A witch breached the floor like a whale and grabbed Wyatt from behind and dragged him beneath the floorboards into a pit of black water. A rock flew through the window and almost hit Ryan.

“UP THE STAIRS!”

Jumping from furniture to furniture everyone made it to the stairs as if the floor was lava. Once upstairs they quickly locked the door behind them. Elton opened a window and screamed for everyone to get out.

Ryan flew out the window like a bat out of hell, and River climbed out quickly but carefully. Already halfway out Elton waved the Good Witch over, but the door burst open to expose a headless witch. The woman hurried to the window to escape with Elton. She grabbed his hand just as the headless witch grabbed onto her creating a tug of war.

Elton looked down at the ground below him where River and Ryan were screaming for him to hurry. Elton looked the woman in her eyes, “I’m sorry.”

“I understand, just end this and save your friends.”

She snatched the pendant from her neck and threw it out the window. Elton let go and hopped down. The woman didn’t have the chance to scream before her head was removed from her shoulders.

The moment Elton hit the ground he picked up the pendant and took off running like a track star towards Team Two. He couldn’t let the charred one get the book.

Chapter Text

Jake yanked the stone eye from the Bear totem and shoved it into one of his many pockets. He heard a roar and spun around. “HOLY SHIT!”

The demonic beast that mauled the driver and probably the game hosts was the size of a moose. Atop its head were huge horns covered in tattered flesh. The creature had a skeletal face with keen feline eyes. Its body was between a gorilla and a bear with large strong hands and legs with moss covered fur.

Jake looked around for somewhere to run. He saw Colby in the distance and decided that’s where he was headed. Aryia noticed where Jake was headed and juked to the side to change course. The creature just barely missed him, it was going too fast for it to make an abrupt stop and continued to slide in the direction it was originally running. Colby stopped in his tracks when he realized what team Kevin was running from and turned around. He paused again when he realized Matt wasn’t trailing behind him, but instead was the charred one, the chained witch, and the tentacle witch that killed Sam. Amber held onto Colby, “What do we do?”

“COLBY!”

Colby turned his head to see Elton, River, and Ryan. Behind them was a witch that looked like she bathed in dirty mop water and a headless psycho. He didn’t know which way to turn. He felt the deer eye pulsate in his pocket. He opened the spell book and began flipping through the pages drastically. He found a spell for a protection circle. He grabbed Amber and drew a circle on the ground with a stick before reading the spell aloud.

Everyone hurried into the circle and huddled together fighting for room in the tiny ass space.

“WHY IS THE CIRCLE SO SMALL?!”

Colby ran his fingers through his hair, “I’m SORRY I PANICKED!”

The witches and the demon stood outside the circle patiently; it seemed like they were thinking.

BEEP! BEEP!

They looked to see the pizza had arrived. The demon snarled and darted towards the vehicle.

“NO-O-O-O-O!!!” Jake bolted out of the circle and jumped on the demon's back. He clung to its fur like a sloth in a tree.

Kevin gasped, “OH SHIT! If Jake dies Reggie is going to kill me himself.” Kevin hesitated, “I could just tell Reggie I did my best to save Jake and just let his crazy ass die over some Wings and Pizza.”

Elton huffed and puffed, “We can’t stay in this circle forever. We still need the athame and the withered fang. Also, Jake has the Bear eye, we can’t let them take it.”

Kevin whined a bit but bolted from the circle to help.

Before he could make it to him a chain was thrown at him. A dark smile played on the witches lips. The chain wrapped around Kevin's leg and began dragging him across the ground towards the eagerly awaiting witches. Aryia took in a deep breath before he darted from the circle. He raised his pan into the air and broke the chain. Angry, the witches ran towards them. Aryia helped Kevin to his feet and started running.

Colby furiously flipped through the book searching for something, anything. “WAIT!!! I FOUND SOMETHING!!! IT SAYS EACH ARTIFACT HAS POWERS AND WILL GIVE THAT PERSON AN ABILITY.”

“What does each one do?”

“The Deer eye gives super speed and agility, the Bear eye gives super strength, a Sacrificed Human Eye grants one wish, the Withered Fang lets you control the monster for a short period of time, the witches necklace turns you into magical girl/boy that can gift other people superpowers temporarily, and the Athame can cut through anything.”

Elton put on the necklace that magically fixed itself, “How do I transform into a Magical girl? I mean guy.”

Aryia screamed from a distance, “YOU HAVE TO DANCE AND SAY SOMETHING CATCHY!”

Elton jumped out of the circle to do a sexy dance that ended with him dropping into a split and saying “Magical girl activate.”

A pool of light came out of nowhere and engulfed Elton. Everyone stood in awe as he transformed into a kawaii magical girl in a pretty, pink, and scandalously short French Maid uniform with a heart shaped scepter.

Elton aimed the scepter at Aryia and Kevin, “Make Aryia and Kevin Magical.”

They too were showered in light and dressed in sexy French maid uniforms. Kevins uniform was a pale yellow with a giant sunflower staff and Aryia had a black uniform with a sexy magical choker with a musical note on it.

River gasped, “ME TOO!”

Elton gifted River, Ryan, Amber, and Brennen magical girl powers too. River wore a purple uniform with magical tap-dancing shoes, Ryan had a blue uniform with a magical water gun, Brennen had a green uniform with a sexy vine whip, and Amber was given a fitted white dress suit uniform with a sharp decorative fan.

Jake climbed up to the demon’s head and grabbed it by the horns and yanked it until it came to a full stop before it could crush the delivery driver who fainted on sight.

Ryan turned up the pressure on his water gun before taking aim at the swamp hoe that killed Wyatt. Jake ripped a horn from the monster’s head and shoved it into its skeletal skull before hopping down. He laughed, “Why is everyone in dresses?”

River looked around, “Why do I have tap shoes and everyone else has something cool? What am I gonna do, dance these demons back to hell?” River started tap dancing mockingly to only realize it super charged his dancer legs with the godly powers of thunder and lighting. “HOLY SHIT!”

Excited. River started kicking lighting bolts everywhere.

Amber awkwardly waved her fan creating a sharp gust of wind that cut down a few trees. “Wow…okay.”

Kevin waved around his giant sunflower until a bright light burst out and seared the beast that was trying to sneak up on Jake.

Aryia studied his sexy choker, “OHHH I get it.” Aryia cleared his throat before letting out a piercing supersonic banshee screech. “Oh I am keeping this.”

Elton inspected his heart staff and waved it around, to discover he could use any of their abilities and more.

Brennen sexually cracked his whip, “Hey, to be technical, nothing is stopping us from taking these artifacts and running and keeping our powers. These creatures can’t leave this property, right?” Everyone started having fun with their new superpowers and started joking around, completely forgetting about the witches and giant skull faced monster.

Ryan shook his head, “We can’t lose focus, these witches killed our friends.”

Elton snapped back to logical thinking, “He’s right we have to avenge our friends. Magical Boy Squad (plus Amber), Assemble!”

They all struck a pose until they reached maximum coolness.

One of the witches clapped for their little show, clearly enjoying their silliness. The Charred One slapped her upside her head. She hung her head in shame.

Colby flipped through the spellbook, “Okay, I know how to do the banishing spell. Hurry up and steal back those artifacts.”

Jake turned his attention back to the creature, “I’ll get the tooth. You guys worry about the witches.”

“Colby, do these witches have weaknesses?”

“Yes, their weaknesses and powers are both based on how they died. The crispy bitch can only be hurt by water. The drowned witch is hurt by being dried out so fire and light, the headless one is weak to anything sharp but can also be stopped if we find and destroy its head; the one with the broken neck was hung so we just have to remove her head completely, the tentacle hoe had her chest eaten out by a rat but her intact heart is her weakness, and the kinky one with the chains was chained up and stoned to death so her weakness is earthy elements and blunt force trauma.”

Elton motioned to Kevin and River, “You two fight the drowned witch;  Aryia, give the hanged witch an aneurism and if possible use echo location to find the headless witches head and destroy it. Brennen and Amber, you’re going to fight the headless witch and help Aryia find and destroy its head. Ryan is the only one with waterpower’s so he’ll have to fight the crispy witch. That leaves the chained and tentacle witch left, I’ll deal with those two while Jake distracts the demon.”

Everyone nodded and got to work. Knowing their weaknesses made things so much easier and fighting them less scary. Aryia got the first kill, his scream exploded the witches head instead of just an aneurism. Immediately he got to work trying to locate the missing witch skull.  Unfortunately, there were countless bodies buried around the property.

Everything was going according to Elton’s plan. In no time only three witches were left standing: The charred one, the tentacle witch, and the chained witch.

“This would be easier if it weren’t two against one.” Elton said.

A chain lashed out at Elton, he jumped out of the way, just as he’d moved, the tentacle witch attacked as well barely giving him enough time to react. Expecting pain, he flinched. Relief washed over him when Matt slashed the oncoming tentacle with a hunting knife he’d conveniently found on the ground.

“YOU'RE ALIVE?”

“Hell Yea! I’m alive!”

The chained witch growled and lashed out at an unsuspecting Ryan who was busy dealing with the charred witch. In the blink of an eye the chain wrapped around Ryans neck. With the flick of its wrist his neck snapped. His body was flung across the yard and knocked down Kevin who was already aiming his sunflower. Jake punched the demon so hard its withered fang flew over across the yard and stabbed Aryia in the back.

Matt ran up on the tentacle witch just as it turned him into a kebab. Now that they were so close Matt shoved his hand into the tentacle witches chest and yanked out its heart so he could stab it. It screamed and turned to ashes. Matt held himself as he collapsed. Elton waved his wand and blew off the chained witched legs. Before she could grow her legs back he trapped her in a stone tomb and crushed her like a grape leaving only one witch left.

Everyone who remained except Kevin ganged up on the charred witch, they needed that athame. Kevin tried to comfort Aryia to take his mind off the fact he was bleeding to death. They needed the withered fang to perform the ritual, but if he pulled it out Aryia would die faster.

“Just take the stupid fang. It’s the only way to end this.” Aryia groaned.

“I can’t.” Kevin hesitated. “You’re my best friend…well…one of my best friends.”

Aryia looked over at their friends fighting. The witch effortlessly avoided their attacks. The souls of the other witches gathered and were absorbed by the Charred one giving her all of their powers. Spiky tentacles sprouted out all at once, Amber didn’t move in time and was stabbed through the side.

Colby looked away from the spell book, “AMBER!”

His protective barrier flickered and went out. With his super speed he hurried to Amber.

The charred one took the opportunity to strike him down with a flaming chain. Brennen hurried to Colby and jumped in the way. “Colby NO!”

“Don’t tell my mom I died like this.”Brennen coughs.

Aryia looked at Kevin, “If you don’t take the fang, that crispy bitch over there will.”

Kevin closed his eyes and yanked out the fang. Kevin could feel the power surging through him.

Amber held her side and screamed. Tentacles moved under her skin. There was nothing Colby could do except watch the tentacles move towards her heart until she stopped breathing. He held Amber and looked around. All his friends were dying and there was no way they were going to defeat this witch and get that athame.

Kevin used the fang to transform into a giant dinosaur creature and slammed the demon.

The charred one was determined to kill Colby and take the book no matter who got in the way. River moved at the speed of light and snuck up on the witch while it was too distracted fighting Elton and grabbed the blade. The witch had a firm grip and refused to let it go. Elton lunged through the air with an ice blade and sliced off the Witches arm. It screamed. Desperate it started running, but Elton wouldn’t let it get away. He froze it in place before shattering its legs then its other arm. River tried to tear the blade from the witches severed arm, but it still had a death grip, finally it let go.

“I GOT THE BLADE ELTON!”

The hand scurried across the grass like a spider and latched onto Colbys face. The hand grew a mouth and spewed dark fluid down his throat until he drowned. Jake seemingly came out of nowhere and grabbed the hand and peeled it from Colby's face. He crushed every bone in its hand before handing it over to Elton to destroy completely.

Elton gathered the artifacts and River grabbed the book and flipped to the page Colby had marked with the banishing ritual.

“First we have to create a pentacle and keep the demon in it while I recite the spell. Each of the artifacts has to be on one of the corners while one of them has to be in the middle.

“There's only four of us left, how will this work?”

River shrugged. “It never said it required a person to hold each artifact. It just says one artifact for each corner of the star.”

Jake nodded, “Let's hurry up and do this while Kevin keeps that thing distracted.”

They quickly got to work at making a giant pentacle.

Before they could finish The demon overpowered Kevin and knocked him to the ground. The demon roared as it bolted towards them.

VRRRRRR!”

A van came out of nowhere and crashed into the demon's ankles. Just before the collision someone jumped from the van. The Demon stumbled and hit the ground. JC stood up and fired a flare into the demon's face, blinding it long enough for another van to crash into the creature before it could stand back up. It was the other two drivers who had been hiding out all night. Elton, River, and Jake hurried up and finished the Pentacle. “LURE THE CREATURE HERE!”

JC lit a flare stick and started running signaling for the creature to follow. The drivers ran alongside him. The creature followed JC and the Drivers into the pentacle as planned, but one of the drivers didn’t survive the creatures’ deadly claws. Elton and River took their positions on a corner. JC and the last driver took an artifact and did the same leaving Jake with no artifact, Jake cut out his own eye, “The last artifact: a sacrificial eye.”

River looked down at the book and started the chant. Kevin rolled up behind the demon and put him in a headlock. “You’re not going anywhere.”

In the distance they could see the sun rising.

River looked at Jake, “We have to make a wish before we finish the banishment spell.”

Elton glared, “You I swear to God if you waste the wish on something stupid, I will kill you myself.”

JC glared as well, “Make it count Jake.”

Kevin grunted as he held the demon in place, “HURRY THE FUCK UP!”

“I wish that all of our friends, film crew, and drivers were alive and well and that the food I ordered was fresh again.”

Everyone raised their artifacts to the sky as River finished the spell. The demon roared as it withered away to being nothing more than a pile of ash. Kevin let out a breath of relief and fell down to his knees returning back to his human Kevin state.

Colby sat up coughing and gagging. Amber inhaled deeply before waking up as well. Brennen felt his body and was relieved he was in one piece. Ryan held his head like he had the worst hangover. The driver jumped up screaming. Aryia stretched and sighed. The delivery driver who’d apparently died from a heart attack jumped up and screamed. One by one everyone woke up and rejoiced that they were alive.

Jake grabbed the pizza and took a much-needed bite. Everyone hung out in the yard trying to get over the horrors of last night. Kian crawled out of a bush, “I knew I smelled wings.”

Jake tapped JC on the shoulder and showed him all of the fake artifacts he’d collected, “The only thing better than fresh food is the $10,000 cash prize.”

JC laughed humorlessly.

Elton walked over to Jake, “Dude, the cops are gonna be here soon. How are we going to explain the dead witch in that cabin over there?”

“Oh shit!”

A black cat came out of nowhere and walked up to Elton. The cat transformed into a woman, she smirked at Elton, “No need to explain my death to the police, I have six lives left.”

“Well that’s a relief.” Elton removed the necklace , “I guess you’ll be wanting this back.”

She smiled and laughed, “You made a great Magical Girl. You should keep it, so long as you use it for good.”

Elton’s eyes lit up.

Sam ran up to Colby and gave him a huge hug.

Everyone was resurrected except Matt he was still on the ground not moving. Elton walked over to Matt. Elton crouched next to him. Brennen moved closer to him, “Is he…”

Elton whispered something to Matt. A huge smile spread across his lips and Matt burst into laughter, “That’s the worst way to wake someone up.”

“Really because I was thinking about putting a spider on you.” Elton laughed.

In the distance they could hear sirens.

They survived the night and now they can Escape the Camp.