𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟏𝟑𝐭𝐡, 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟖
"The caverns...they just seem to go on forever..."
"Berman, shut up and help me dig her out of here."
Your thoughts all slurred together into one confusing soup of consciousness as you awoke. The one thing that registered in your mind was the fact that you felt significantly lighter than you did when you fell under. You blinked twice to clear away the blackness in your vision only to realize from occasional sweeps of Cindy's flashlight that the three of you were trapped in a pitch-black cave.
Alice was bent over you, hauling rocks off of your leg until you could finally see the bruised flesh beneath the layers and layers of jagged stone. "There she is," she flashed you a quick, pained smile despite the deep gash on her lip. Both her and Cindy looked a little worse for wear. You obviously weren't the only one injured in the rockslide.
You craned your neck to watch the latter pace around in tight circles, shining her light against the tall, rugged ceiling above you. Stalactites loomed over you like teeth threatening to pierce through your flesh. Cindy was right. From what you could make out through the thick, velvety darkness, the caverns looked never-ending.
You hissed in pain as Alice removed the final weight from your swollen ankle. Her expression turned apologetic as she reached for your arm. "Can you stand?"
Your bones still felt like a bowl of cereal. Only the fluttery, tingling feeling had long since faded away into a dull pain that flooded every muscle and limb of your body. "It doesn't feel like it," you spoke through gritted teeth, using every last bit of energy to hike yourself into a sitting position.
The only thing you could feel was the phantom of Tommy's hand latched around your ankle like a vice. Your skin seemed to thrum even in his absence, marking you with a bruise in the shape of his handprint that wouldn't ever go away even after it faded from view.
"Try anyway."
Cindy abandoned her exploration to offer you her shoulder. With the help of your fellow counselors, you lifted your injured ankle and let all of your weight settle on your opposite foot. If you weren't in so much pain that you felt you might pass out again, you would have been proud of them for getting along. Alice and Cindy didn't have the greatest history together. You doubted that they would even be speaking right now if you weren't there for them to fawn over.
"You were out for a solid fifteen," Alice winced, guiding you over to the tallest archway of rocks. "But Berman thinks she found us a way out."
None of you had the guts to say what you were all thinking — that the guy you've all been hanging out with and sleeping in tents no less than five feet apart from had just killed Arnie Swartz.
Alice's boyfriend, for fuck's sake.
When you squinted to see her face in the dark, she had a determined, almost inhuman look in her eye. Like she knew exactly what you were thinking and that she'd be damned if she let it slip that she was even remotely upset about it. Maybe once the dust settled and she felt safe enough to cry about it, she would. But knowing Alice, she'd carry what you all saw tonight with her until the very end.
It took much longer than it was supposed to with your injured leg, but once you hobbled through another slanted hole in the wall, you came face to face with the key to your salvation.
A cascade of craggy rocks formed a steep, uneven staircase all the way up the cavern wall. It was a miracle that Director Bailey never noticed something like this so close to the camp or else he might have sealed it up years ago.
"Hello?" you called out instinctively, shifting toward the hole. Vines hung over the lip of the cave entrance and you could feel the pale moonlight on your broken skin. You swore nothing ever felt as good.
From somewhere far off in the collection of winding, abandoned tunnels, the sound of rocks knocking together and spilling over caught your attention.
"Lamb......Lamb......Lamb......"
A whisper so low and breathy that you first mistook it for the wind. You stared back at the slanted passageway you all just ducked through, halfway expecting someone to come creeping out of it. But who?
Tommy was trapped in the cellar and everyone else was back at camp, defending their teams in Color War. Why did it feel like a scene in a movie you've seen far too many times before? Like you knew exactly what was going to happen next, only to be confused when it didn't?
"How convenient," Alice scoffed, kicking a baseball-sized rock with her sneaker. "The one person who passed gym class this year has a fucked up foot."
You quirked an eyebrow and glanced at Cindy, who was dead set on avoiding your gaze and whose cheeks were now burning deep red. You could expect that from Alice. But to imagine Cindy not overachieving at something? Near impossible.
You took in the crumbling mountain in front of you, sizing up the task at hand and picturing exactly how you would force your way to the top. "I can still do it."
Alice shot you a wary look when you brushed off her supportive arm. You instantly regretted putting so much confidence behind your statement, because you almost crumpled into a pathetic heap on the spot.
Cindy forked over her flashlight and you pinned it between your teeth, angling it down at the sharp footholds. Moonlight alone wouldn't be enough to guide you up to the surface.
"You got this!" Alice called after you, but you ignored it in favor of focusing on shifting your sore foot into a perfectly carved slot in the wall. Every inch of your body felt like it was on fire, but you convinced yourself that it would all be worth it once you were back at camp.
The wind whipped through your hair and made your teeth chatter. It seemed to whistle between the cracks in the slanted staircase, warping in your ears and creating distinct voices.
"Please...don't fight...." It was much more distinct than the last — a voice that you could have sworn you recognized from a dream. "Please...don't make...me hurt you."
Your breath hitched and you whipped your head around to glance at the cavern floor. But it was only Alice and Cindy blinking back up at you, offering encouraging looks and a half-hearted thumbs up.
Oh god, you were losing your mind.
A newfound strength rolled through you in waves, encouraging you to haul yourself over the ledge of moss and hook your fingers into the thick green as you worked your way over the side. A series of excited whoops and hollers echoed from below, but it all sounded so distant from up above.
You spit the flashlight out of your mouth and wiped your wet lips with the back of your hand. You could catch the glimmer of light from the mess hall between gaps in the tall trees. Pointing the light back down at your friends, you shouted; "I can see camp! I'm going to get help!"
Alice pumped her fist in the air triumphantly as Cindy cupped her hands over her mouth to call back up to you. "Don't worry about us! I think I can lead us back through a different way. Go! Warn them about Tommy!"
"Stay safe!" you find yourself shouting before turning back to where you thought you saw the lights and taking off as quickly as you could with fire ants still creeping up your ankle.
There came a point in your journey that you could have sworn the trees started to look eerily familiar and you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that you were back on the grounds of Camp Nightwing.
You considered calling out for Kurt and begging for him to call a time-out but instantly thought better of it. He always got so caught up in these games that you knew he wouldn't risk getting tagged even if it meant saving literally everyone from a slow and bloody death.
"Joan!" you called into the silent night, leaning against the nearest tree trunk for support. You had no idea whose territory you were on and it couldn't hurt to list off everyone you knew from either team. "Gary! Arn–"
Your voice gave out halfway into calling Arnie's name but you shook it off, gulping the rest of it down for you to cry up later.
Hope started to die inside of you like a flame without oxygen. The woods beat around you like an organ threatening to drown out every sound you made. But as if a lightbulb had appeared over your head, you choked back the thin film of tears threatening to dot your eyes.
There was one person other than Tommy that you knew would come looking for you no matter how long it took. One person that you tried to tell yourself you hated more than you could ever hate another living person. The irony wasn't lost on you that he was potentially the last person you could trust to save your life.
"Nick—Nicky!!"
(A/N: I literally cranked this out in an hour. Um. It's probably not that great, but please enjoy! Can't wait to start uploading chapters of Hellraiser!!)