Camp Slaughter (Slaughter Series, #1)

by Sergio Gomez

Just them two lying in bed together.

Them two

He would’ve laughed if he didn’t feel so bad about everything. “I just drove nearly seven hours, Nadine.” She sighed and slumped back down onto his chest. The truth was, she wasn’t in the mood either. The lacey lingerie didn’t even make her feel sexy. It was doing the opposite, actually. She felt like she was wearing something meant for someone younger than her, someone with a better figure. She thought about getting up to change back into regular underwear, but decided it wasn’t worth disrupting the moment. Because in the back of her mind, she feared this would be the last time they ever did this.

He went down the short corridor, made the bend around the wall that put him in the kitchen doorway…and stopped when he saw the refrigerator was open. Light spilled out, revealing someone standing in front of it, partially blocked by the fridge door and partially hidden in the shadows. His toes went cold. No else should be here except him and his wife.

“I promised Noelle we’d hang out more when my time freed up.” “Are you an idiot?” Gavin said. Fred could practically imagine him facepalming. “Invite her! Chicks love camping.” Fred thought about that for a second. “Damnit, Gav. When you’re right, you’re right.”

Ha!!!!

it was the reason her and Emeril were partners.

She

Mijo,”

He’d learned how to sew by watching his mother make his luchador masks every Halloween. That was all Ignacio wanted to ever dress as. One year it might’ve been El Hijo del Santo, another year Blue Demon, and yet another Mil Mascaras, but it was always a luchador.

“You want to know about Camp Slaughter?” “Camp what?” Emeril wasn’t pretending here. He didn’t know what he was talking about. “Camp Slaughter,” Harold repeated. “Hold on,” it was Molly who interjected. “Harold, do you mind if I record this?” “Like video?” “Yeah,” Molly said. “For a film we’re doing on our investigation.” “Someone pinch me,” Harold laughed.

discrete

Discreet

“Because I don’t think it’s ghosts or anything goofy like that out there.” In Emeril’s mind, Harold Buckley had just graduated from whack job to a potential legitimate source. “What do you mean by that, Mister Buckley?” “Oh, ho, ho, are your pants on tight, chums?”

“Yeah. I haven’t been camping in a good while. Not since I went with my sister two years ago.” Fred knew all about Noelle’s younger sister, and how she’d died in a car accident two winters ago. It was an accident that involved both of them that only Noelle survived. That was all he knew, but it was info enough to darken the mood of the phone call.

Trauma for the final girl

complement

Rachel crossed the room and lied down on the bed next to Noelle, her good side up.

Lied down

Fletcher and Noelle laughed, and even Gavin’s scowl disappeared from his face. He got off the car and glanced at Noelle in the backseat. “Uh, no. It’s that Brooke’s cousin is a guy. Dalton. His name is Dalton, like from Roadhouse.”

Ha!

Fred Meyers.

Now, it was him who looked over to where Gav and Fletcher were.

He

He closed his eyes and began reciting the Our Father in Spanish, the only prayer he could ever remember. “Padre nuestro, que estas en el cielo…”

A nervousness started to work its way into Dalton’s stomach. It was dark out there, truly dark. Darker than he imagined it would’ve been. And he was out here alone. Suddenly, he wondered if maybe it would’ve been smarter to go hiking with them. He gulped.

large as he was physically, the energy he exuded was just as large, and right now, she could feel him getting angry. That seemed to be his default response for not understanding things, to get angry at the situation.

Of course, that wasn’t what happened. It was a lot simpler than that: Time passes, and things change. Everyone knows that, even if it’s easy to forget sometimes. The only thing that’s certain is death. “When you’re right, you’re right, Gav,” Fred said to him. They went quiet for a good while after that, and just watched the sunrise in the distance and listened to the morning birds twittering in the trees.

Nice

Deep down inside, Nadine appreciated the decency. It made her sick with herself to see any shred of humanity in this monster, but maybe that was what the mind did in these situations. It looked for any forms of consolation to outweigh the horrors.

Vines of morning glory grew on the side of the rotting cabins, adding some colorfulness to the otherwise drab scenery.

Color

Hay gente que no tienen de comer.

so she’d ran until

“Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.” Rachel looked over her shoulder. Her long, auburn hair was covering the damaged side of her face, while the good side was in plain sight, grinning at Noelle. “That was my favorite part. Go back to the cabin, big sister. Be valiant. I know you can be.” Before Noelle could respond, her little sister disappeared into thin-air.

Le vantate, hijo. No te dejes.

The others were further away, almost inaudible to him.

Farther

All because she looked like Mamá. And in an awful twist, he’d ruined Mamá’s special day trying to find a girl to replace the missing part of his heart. The one that was lost when those thieves had killed her in cold blood.