Murder Fortress

Chapter 4: Cabin Fever

A school bus pulls up to Camp 98.7. The driver speaks to the bus as if it were a horse. "Whoa, easy!" The bus comes to a stop. "Good girl." The students inside exit the bus.
Ronathon walks off first. "Do you ever wonder why-" He is shoved to the ground by Emily, who was pushed by another student. Emily yells, "Hey!" She picks up her book and leaves as more students exit. Thad walks off next. "No kidding!" He and Lizzy share a laugh as they exit the bus.
Uzi is the last one off. She looks down at a couple of collars, and we get a flashback. Khan is holding a photo. "After the core collapsed... I... didn't notice the collars." Khan looks at an old photo of him and Nori, along with a group of friends. "Only your mom being a catch!" Uzi stares into a room filled with old papers and storage stuff, not responding to Khan's attempt at humor.
Khan sighs, realizing Uzi didn't find it funny. "She was always all, 'Build doors against the coming sky demons!' 'A singularity awakens.' 'Look at this cool S I can draw!'" He sighs. "Turns out, I'm not who either of you needed." He closes the door. "Just... Be safe, okay?" He hands Uzi the collars as the flashback ends. Uzi puts one collar in her pocket and the other goes around her neck.
Braidon yells to the teacher, who is setting up a chair on a roof. "Uh, teacher, what is this field trip?" The teacher sighs and looks over. "Yeah, Uzi's idea. Ask her." Braidon scoffs. "Who?" Uzi appears. "I've sat next to you for years." Uzi's sudden appearance startles everyone. "Bite me! I asked to go alone. He's-" she points to the teacher. "mad at your test scores." The teacher sighs. "No year-end bonus, no learning." Braidon looks at him. "So, we're just unsupervised?"
There is a loud crash and a cloud of smoke. "What the-!?" N turns to them menacingly, ready to kill them and ingest their warm, sweet oil. Then, he suddenly becomes jolly. "Welcome, campers! Let's sound off!" He gets ready to do roll-call, but instead begins to count. "One, two..." He stops. A student gets shot at by V and falls over, dead. The students yell in sync, not wanting to get shot at as well. "THREE/FOUR/FIVE/SIX/SEVEN/EIGHT/NINE/TEN/ELEVEN!" N chuckles. "That's everyone!" He whispers to V, "Minus one..." Loudly to the students, "We got so many distracting activities planned, so no sneaking off to investigate stuff!" He slyly gestures to Uzi, who gets the hint to go. "To the bu- uhh, are you ok?" the Soldier takes a minute to stand, and the Scout lays in the snow, looking like he had a heart attack. "I've rocket jumped higher," Soldier says proudly. N nods. "Uh, no him," pointing to Scout.

A few minutes ago

V crosses her arms, looking at the members of the RED team, all of whom are bundled up in warm winter clothes. "So that's why we are here," she explains, her voice calm and authoritative. "We need your help with a special mission, and we only require two of you to assist us." Scout tilts his head slightly, his curiosity piqued. "I'll g-" he begins, but is abruptly cut off as Soldier pushes him out of the way, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
"DID YOU SAY CAMP?!?!" Soldier bellows, his voice echoing through the snowy landscape. V and N, taken aback by his enthusiasm, take a small step back. "Uh, yes," she replies as Soldier starts cracking his knuckles in anticipation. "I'll be the commander," he declares, his chest puffed out with pride.
V rolls her eyes, a hint of amusement playing on her lips. "Okay, fine," she concedes, tossing them a bundle of camp counselor clothes. "Just put this on." After a few minutes, the RED team members are fully decked out in their new attire, waving goodbye to everyone else as V and N prepare to transport them to their destination.
Scout's panicked screams fill the air as they grab hold of him and Soldier. "OH GOD!" Scout yells, his voice rising in pitch as he is lifted into the air. "Weeeeeeee, screaming eagles, this is fun!" Soldier exclaims, his laughter ringing out as V and N transport them to the camp location, leaving the rest of the team behind in a swirl of snow

Now

N picks up the shaking Scout, saying "there we go haha" as he does so. V smiles, aware that she had made Scout think he was going to die. "Anywho, as I was saying, to the bunks!" N leads the way, but no one is following him. He looks over at Uzi, then back to the students.
Thad walks over and says, "Sounds good, N!" Lizzy, having finished looting the dead student's corpse, tosses V a Rolex watch and says, "Anything for my bestie!" They join N and V, but no one else does. Uzi looks nervous as she says, "Y-Yeah, they're like my friends, too, so... It's cool." At this, the other students flee in a panic, not wanting to be near Uzi.
Emily takes N's hand and says, "You can be our friend, little guy!" Darren pokes V's eye, asking, "Poor thing's defective?" She grabs his hand, then looks back at Uzi. She smiles, but it's forced, and says, "Hmph. Nah, just full of love. This one's-" gesturing to N, "a pilot." Rebecca giggles and says, "Wow, a pilot."
N glances over to the still-shaking Scout, whom Soldier is poking. N then pushes them over, saying, "And these guys are mercenaries. Cool, right!"Scout, shaking off the lingering unease from their abrupt arrival, acts all cool and collected, puffing out his chest as he says, "Yep, I'm the best." The students look at him in awe, their mouths agape, clearly impressed by his confident demeanor and the revelation of his mercenary status and start asking N, V, Scout, and Soldier questions.
N looks back at Uzi, who gestures that she will go her own way and that N should get everyone else to the campsite. She gives a thumbs up, and N nods in understanding. Uzi then heads into the woods, alone, as the other students continue to fawn over the mercenaries and "pilot" N.