Chapter 1

The Crown Vic was the hardest to get. I saved up all my money from my job and birthday for years, and I was finally able to get one, and she was a beauty. It was in pristine condition and already painted in the black-and-white color pattern, just like all the cop cars from the 90s. Obviously I couldn’t have the lights on the top, but I was able to put some red and blues on my dashboard. It looked legit.

I looked at myself in the mirror; my shaved head with dark sunglasses went with my dark blue uniform and utility belt. I looked amazing. Of course, on my utility belt were my gun, my handcuffs, pepper spray, and baton. The custom-made utility vest is what made the uniform, though.

I put the black vest on, and I was pleased that despite its clunky exterior, it fit like a dream. I had white “Officer” lettering on the front, and even though the company I bought it from said they couldn’t do it, I emailed the manager and threatened them with bad reviews. They finally did it, and it was so worth the fight. I hooked up my walkie-talkie and opened the next package in front of me… the badge. It was perfect; it had a big gold star with the words “Peace officer” on the top. It was also only $5 on Amazon.

I looked like the real deal- this was it. I looked at myself in the mirror one last time before heading out, being sure not to wake my parents before I headed out to my patrol. I turned on the car and the radio. Did I mention that this beauty came with an old police radio already installed? Yeah, it did. Unfortunately, the police used different radios, and I couldn’t get onto their frequencies, so it never caught anything on their waves.

It did, however, pick up some things. Mostly, it was kids using walkie-talkies, people camping, or the occasional conversation between truckers. Sometimes, though, it would pick up some things I couldn’t explain. Like a woman breathing, or one time a man asking, “Is anyone out there?” and then hysterically laughing.

I started my night driving to a local park- a hotbed for scumbag behavior in this shithole of a town. That’s why I do this- I wanted to keep everyone safe.

I pulled the Crown Vic up to the park and saw two teenagers, one male, one female, sitting on the swings- I’m sure they were doing drugs. But this was nighttime, and there were signs that said the park closed at dusk. They were directly breaking the laws of not only the state, but of the park.

I flashed my red and blue lights at them to get their attention and stop them from running. They picked the wrong fucking day to break the law.

I got out of the car slowly and approached them- as I did, I took the high-powered flashlight I got for Christmas out of my belt.

As I got close, I flashed the light right into the male's face and asked him, “What are you guys doing here tonight?”

He squinted his eyes and looked away.

“Oh, sorry officer. We’ll go.”

Officer… YES.

“It’s too late for that. Do you have any ID?”

The young female rolled her eyes.

“Excuse me? Did you just roll your fucking eyes at me?”

I shone my light in her face, and she turned away.

“I’m sorry I don’t have any ID. We’re only 14.”

I looked at the kid. Did he think I didn’t know what I was doing?

“Put your hands behind your back. You’re being detained.”

“For what?” The girl asked.

“Failure to identify yourself, trespassing, and I will arrest you next for obstruction if you open your mouth again.”

I stared at her, and she started to cry. I slipped the handcuffs on the kid, and I had him sit back on the swing. He put his head down and started to cry too.

“Please, we won’t come here anymore. I didn’t know-”

I shined my flashlight at a sign and asked them both to read it. They hung their heads, both with tears flowing down their faces. I took a deep breath.

“Alright- I’m in a good mood. I’ll let you guys off with a warning; turn around, let’s get those cuffs off of you.”

“Oh my God, thank you. We won’t ever come back to this park again.”

I smirked and reached in my pocket for the keys, but they weren’t there. I felt around my vest, but they weren’t there.

“Wait right here. That’s an order. I have to go to my car and talk to HQ.”

As I got to my car, I turned the lights off and started to look around for the keys, but something in my rear view window caught my attention, and I felt my heart drop. A cop car was parked less than 10 feet from me.

I looked back to the teens in the park, and then my hands moved on their own and turned the car’s engine on. As soon as I could, I sped off, praying the cop couldn’t see me. All I could think about as I drove away was that those kids were going to think twice about trespassing from now on.

I checked the rear-view window behind me, my heart racing as I had just downed 2 white energy drinks. I felt my jaw unclench and my hands stop shaking. I was in the clear.

We were both working for the side of justice, but I chose this route, just like they chose theirs. I’m sure they would understand if I was ever stopped, but I didn’t want that headache tonight.

We’re on the same side.

We both work for the public.

I’m keeping the streets safe.

“Help… Help is anyone out there?” A woman’s voice came over the radio. I picked up the microphone and said.

“Yeah? I’m here.” Through tears, the woman sent out another call,

“Please. Come here. He’s killing everyone.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m at the summer camp in the woods. Hurry, please.”

Summer camp? That was perfect. I had spent my entire childhood there.

“I am on my way, and ma’am, don’t worry. You’re going to be okay.”

There was no answer on the other end. I wasn’t even sure how they got in contact with me, but justice was calling, and I answered. This was my time to show that I was a hero.

I drove to the camp- my hands gripping the wheel tightly in anticipation.The summer camp was used by the town to give kids some time away during summer break and the teenagers of the camp something to do and make some money. It had been closed for the past 5 years- due to some tragic accidents that cost some teenagers their lives.

This summer it had reopened with new cabins for the campers and counselors. The people of the town loved it. I was going to save everyone. Plus, I saw my first pair of tits here. It was so sick.

I went the speed limit the entire way, up until I turned onto the long dirt road and drove past a sign that read “You are now entering camp. Speed limit 15.” I floored it.

I put my sunglasses back on, turned on my lights, and drove down the path until I came to the campgrounds. I left the red and blues on, stepped out of the car, took my sunglasses off, and observed my surroundings.

I was surrounded by the pitch-dark woods with the only sounds coming from the wilderness around me. I was expecting a screaming teenager or the sound of campers running to me for help, but it was eerily quiet. It’s funny; I had been here countless times as a kid, and I thought it would feel different as a kid, but it felt just as big. The air felt humid as I started to walk around the grounds, as I continued looking for whoever called me here.

I reached the path that led to the cabins when I suddenly saw a large, dark figure open the door and exit one of the campers' cabins. He stood there motionless for a while, but he slowly turned, stared at me, allowing me to see that he had a fireman’s axe in his hands, before turning out of sight to the other side of the cabin.

I felt my spine tingle and the hair on my arms started to stand up. Even though I was far away from him, I could tell this guy was tall, really tall with unkempt long black hair. I couldn’t make out all the details of what he was wearing, but the light on the outside let me know he was wearing something on his face.

In an instant, I felt my legs take off, and I started to scream at the man, “Hey! I’m an officer! Freeze!” When I got to the side he turned to, I pulled out my gun and flashlight, but he wasn’t there.

“Please, please help me.” I heard it from inside the cabin. I rushed in, and in the dark room I could see torn-up beds, and all the windows were broken. It was dark, but I could see that there was blood everywhere. I didn’t have it in me to even try to turn on the light.

As I went to exit the cabin a voice cried out from my side, “help- help me officer.”

I knelt down to the young man’s side. He was a skinny teenager, probably around 18, with multiple wounds all over the place. His face was covered in blood that went up to his blonde hair.

“He wanted to know where the others were…” The boy spat out blood. “I didn’t tell him. He only asked once… “ I grabbed his bloody hand.

“You guys will get him though. Now it’s over. Now the police are…. Are here… we’re safe.” The boy looked up at me and smiled, then his eyes gleamed, and he stopped breathing.

I started shaking uncontrollably. I backed away and knew I needed to call for help.I started reaching around my pockets and vest, and I couldn’t feel it.

I ran back to my car thinking I had left it in there in my excitement and I prayed that it was still there. For once I put my fear of getting in trouble for impersonating a police officer to the side. I was in over my head and needed help.

I ran to my car, the red and blue lights still shining, but as I got closer to it and could make out more details of the state it was in I slowed until I came to a complete stop. He had smashed all the windows, slashed the tires, and had plunged the axe into the hood of the car and left it there. I looked on the ground, and I could see the remnants of my phone as if that bastard crushed it in his hands and left it here for me to find.

I froze in fear, but adrenaline told me I needed to move. I just didn’t know what to do, so I pulled my flashlight and gun out and aimed it everywhere.

“Where are you you son of a bitch?” I yelled.

“You’re going to jail for a long fucking time when I find you!”

I looked around to see if that would draw him out, but all I saw was the campgrounds and still woods. I looked at the dirt path for a second; I contemplated leaving… running up the way to get help.

Suddenly the dining hall flashed its lights on and off. I made my way to the building, unable to see anything in the long windows. I got to the double doors and pulled the handle, but it didn’t open.

“Let me in!” I shouted. I started to panic, I felt like that man was approaching- I could even feel him behind me. I kept pulling at the door and kept shouting.

“Oh my god- keep it down. We’re undoing the barricades, officer.” A young, feminine voice behind the door said to me. Then I heard a click from the other side, and I burst into the hall before locking the door behind me. I put my back up against the door, shut my eyes, and took deep breaths, trying to calm myself.

“Are you going to save us?” the young woman who let me in had bronze skin and was wearing typical camp counselor attire.

“Yeah, yeah- what’s going on?” I said, trying to hide my fear.

Another counselor came out; this time, a large man wearing the same shit with “Counselor” on it.

“We don’t know. He just started killing us- he took our phones when we went skinny dipping, and now he’s hunting us one by one. We think he’s the Camp Grounds Slasher.”

“That shit is so made up,” I said, rolling my eyes, and continued.

“I was a counselor here too once upon a time. Are you guys talking about the legend about the killer who comes back to the camp when the 3 rules of camp are broken? We used to tell that to the campers to make them behave.”

They both looked at each other in silence and avoided eye contact.

I used this as my opportunity to lay down the law. “Let me guess… partying while you should have been watching the campers, drugs, and sex.” The last word made the two young adults in front of me take a deep breath.

I was starting to get my nerves back and began my lecture. “There are rules for a reason. Just like you can’t disobey rules outside of here- you can’t break them in here.”

“What’s a peace officer?” The girl asked.

“I- uhhh. What?”

“Your badge. It doesn’t say police officer. It says peace officer.”

“Where’s the backup?” The kid asked, both looking at me as their faces turned from shame to anger.

“Well, they’re not coming. The man destroyed my car.”

The boy looked out the window and squinted.

“Man, they ain’t use no cop cars like that since the 90s. My dad’s a cop. You ain’t no cop.”

I panicked.

“We let this motherfucker in here so he could chastise us while he’s playing make-believe? Is that gun real?” She asked me, both of them walking closer to me.

“The gun’s real. I’m here to help. I’m sorry; I was just responding to the cry for help on my radio”

“Hold up.” They stopped and stared at each other,

“Who made a call to you? Was it a girl?”

“Ye-yes. She said to come here and help.”

“Melanie. She’s still alive.” They looked at each other with hope.

“We got to find her. As long as she lives, we can make it out of here.”

I looked at him in confusion.

“The rest of the story? You know- he will pick a counselor and pretend it’s his sister- usually some white girl with blonde hair. He will kill every other counselor in the place so that she can see that he avenged her since she died while the counselors were neglecting her, and then once they all die he will disappear, allowing only her to live.”

“is that what you guys think actually happened? You guys know what they say will break the curse right?”

They nodded their heads,

“It's all we have to go by.” There was a look of helplessness on each of their faces that refueled my drive to save them.

The loud sound of a window crashing in the other room broke our conversation; all 3 of us rushed through the door into the lunchroom.

Across the other side of the room laying motionless on the floor was another camp counselor. The boy had been thrown through the window and had broken through a wooden lunch table and a pool of blood started to form underneath the boy. We rushed over to the boy, but we all knew it was too late when suddenly a large black boot stepped through the window before we got to it and stopped us in our path.

As the large man slowly started to make his way through the window I was able to make out all the details I could barely see before. He was close to 7 feet tall, wearing a beat-up dark brown jacket over a black shirt. He wore olive pants and black tactical boots, and everything he was wearing was covered in stains and blood, but that wasn’t even the most unsettling part of him. No, that was what he was wearing on his face.

He had a tight brown burlap sack tied at the neck. It was so tight you could see his big cheekbones underneath, and there were two slits where we should have been able to see normal eyes, but his were nothing but pure black. There were no nose or mouth holes, and the only other feature on the dark brown sack was an out-of-place thick black stitching that ran slanted from the corner of his forehead to his chin.

The monster stared back at us and then started walking toward us, carrying a large metal spear. He began to raise the spear as we were backing up and then

Bang

Bang

Bang

The monster staggered to one knee.

The sounds of my gun echoed throughout the lunch hall. I looked at the counselors who were already looking at me with a shocked expression. “Let’s get the fuck out of here!”

I shot him right in his big fucking chest. I knew he wouldn’t go down, but I bought us some time.

We ran out of the building, and they followed me as I led us into the woods.

“If there’s somewhere he’s keeping her in the woods, I know where it is!” When I was younger, a couple of us snuck away from camp, and we explored the woods. I’ll never forget the feeling I got seeing the haunted place that we had to go to. It wasn’t far, and nothing ever changes in these woods. I felt more confident running down the trail and seeing some familiar old trees and bends made my confidence grow.

After a while, I stopped us in the middle of the woods so that I could catch my breath.

“Is he chasing us?” The girl asked as me and the other camp counselor put our hands on our knees and tried to settle ourselves down. They started begging me to keep going, but my body was failing me.

“I don’t- I don’t know. I need one second.”

As I turned to look at them, I turned the flashlight on and shone it at them. They put their hands up to cover their eyes when suddenly I heard the leaves behind them start to crunch. They both turned around to see that the large creature was paces behind us.

“Run! It’s not far!” I said

As soon as we took off the metal spear crashed into the tree next to me, and a loud Thud echoed throughout the forest.

“You fucking missed, asshole!” I turned around and shone my flashlight to taunt knowing that the creature was unarmed.

I looked back and the man wasn’t coming after me, rather head was pointed at the ground and he was walking forward. I shined my light to see what he was walking to and I saw the boy we were running with on the ground, holding his bleeding neck with one hand and the other hand reaching out to us for help.

“Aaron no!” She cried out. She began to start moving towards him, but I pulled her away. We both looked on helplessly as the monster made his way towards him. The monster stood over the young counselor and then bent down and grabbed him by the head with both hands and started to squeeze. Aaron couldn’t even yell as we heard the sound of his skull crunch as the monster squeezed.

“We have to keep moving!” She yelled, snapping me out of my terror.

I ran, and she followed. I turned the flashlight off, having only the moonlight guide us and prayed that the landmarks that led the way were still there. We followed the path, passed the tire swing, the winding creek, and the ruined rusty car, and then it was just ahead. The abandoned shack in the ruins.

When I was younger, a couple of us were just coming into the woods to smoke weed and do the other things that campers do when the counselors aren’t paying attention, when we came across this horrid place. There were 4 big stone pillars, and whoever put the shack together used them as the foundation, as the rest of the shack was made up of old wood and rusted sheet metal.

I was dared as a kid to go inside it by my fellow campers, but I could never bring myself to go inside. None of us did. Back at camp, we were expecting to get screamed at when instead the counselors asked if we had seen any signs of witchcraft in the woods and then told us stories of how the town used to be a safe haven for witches. I always knew that there was evil radiating from that place.

I sat still with the remaining counselor next to me. Despite being chased, we both stopped as soon as it came into view, and I knew she sensed the evil I had sensed when I was younger.

I knew this was my moment. The moment I had to prove to everyone else that I was a hero and deserved to wear the uniform. It was time to prove that I made that scared camper inside me proud. It was time to prove to everyone that when I took up the badge I wasn’t just doing it to pretend to be a cop, I was a fucking hero.

“You know I never even asked your name,” I said to the girl next to me, and without answering, she sprinted right into the shack. I was taken aback; she was so fearless, and without even thinking, she ran inside to go get her friend.

I remained outside my legs not wanting to move.

I shined the light around the woods, keeping an eye out, so she could retrieve her when I heard loud footsteps breaking sticks crunching suddenly right behind me. Then I felt a bludgeoning thud on the back of my head, everything went dark, and I collapsed to the earth.

I was in and out of consciousness, and I saw the creature go into the abandoned shack. I heard fighting and the women screaming. My companion must have gotten her friend, as I heard them say, “Let’s go while he’s down!”

“Light him on fire!”

As I waited for them to come out of the shack, I couldn’t stop thinking

“Why didn’t he kill me?”

I couldn’t come up with an answer, but I knew I needed to help these girls. I pulled out my gun, still in a daze, as they came out of the shack that flames and smoke were starting to pour out of.

They were hugging each other and sobbing into each other's arms. I was still dizzy and started to hobble over to the pair as the flames arose from the shack, but then the horrible creature appeared in the doorway.

“No! No!” I screamed, and the women disengaged, looking at me in confusion, unaware that the monstrosity behind them was ready to kill them both.

“No!” I wanted to tell them to move, but in my state, that was all I could say. I felt drowsy, but I reached my arm up and pointed the gun at the creature.

Bang

The girl who I led to the woods, who ran into the shack I was too terrified to enter in order to save her friend, dropped to the ground.

“No! God no! What did you do!” the other girl yelled at me, and the monster stopped as well, before he backed up into the shack of flames and disappeared into the fire.

They were all dead. He can rest now. I threw my gun to the ground and started to sob.

I explained to the girl that I didn’t mean to- and a couple hours later, once we were back at the campground and the sun came up, I explained to the cops the same thing. I was immediately arrested- but that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was knowing that legend said that if any of the counselors survived the night, then the curse would be broken forever. They were so close.

The cops were particularly disgusted by me, and when they threw me into the back of the police car, the cop driving didn’t say a word to me, so I just looked out the window to focus on something else as we slowly drove down the dirt path back into the town. When it caught my eye, I screamed for the cop to stop, and he turned around and looked at me, but I couldn’t pay him any mind.

Instead, my gaze was caught by the scarecrow on the side of the dirt road that I knew wasn’t there before. The scarecrow wore the same mask as the monster that caused all this pain and destruction, but this time it had a smile etched into it with black twine.