The body had been discovered by Johnny Lawrence when he woke up the next morning. He had completely bypassed it at first and hadn't noticed until after returning from his trip to the bathroom. In the bunk right next to his was Daniel LaRusso—bedsheets stained red with blood from what appeared to be multiple stab wounds that covered his body. Johnny couldn't seem to do anything but stand there in fear. Johnny had never been afraid of much, but there was just something about seeing someone you knew as a dead corpse covered in blood. He had known this was a bad idea from the start, but Daniel didn't want to listen. Now, the idiot had gone and gotten himself murdered.

Once the initial shock of it all had worn off, Johnny knew he had to leave. He had to go and get the kids and leave immediately. All he had to do was try not to panic too much, quickly go to their cabins, wake up the group of teenagers, and leave. It was easier said than done because Johnny Lawrence never made it to their cabins. The second he opened the door and walked out of the cabin his once shared with Daniel, he was met face to face with a person dressed in black and wearing a mask. It wasn't just any mask—it was a hockey mask like the one from Friday the 13th. Johnny just stood there for a second, confusion written all over his face. It wasn't until he saw a knife being pulled out from behind the masked person's face that it finally dawned on him.

Johnny stood there, unable to move. His legs just wouldn't get their asses moving. It was until the masked figure began to walk towards him that Johnny finally managed to get himself to run. Johnny Lawrence had never been one for horror movies. He didn't know the tropes or the rules or anything. There was no way around the person in the mask so Johnny did the only thing he could and tried to run back into the cabin. It was a very stupid move on his part and he should have known better. The second he stepped foot into the cabin, his arm was being grabbed and he was pulled backwards. There was absolutely no way Johnny was about to let himself get murdered by some crazy masked killer with a knife. He fought back—swept the killer's leg causing them to trip—and ran as fast as he could which wasn't all that face. He figured doing karate all these years would be helpful, but he was more out of shape than he thought he was.

The masked figure caught up to him with no problem. They grabbed him from behind and swung the hand with the knife around towards his neck. Johnny struggled to get away, but with one swift movement, the knife made contact with his neck and was dragged across his throat. Johnny dropped to his knees, hands clutching his throat as the blood began pouring down his neck like the time that he had choked on his Coors Banquet. Except this time, there was no using his shirt to wipe it off or going to the kitchen to get a paper towel. There was nothing Johnny Lawrence could do because Johnny Lawrence was dead. And his last thought before he died? Fuck you, Daniel LaRusso.

The group of teens were completely unaware that their senseis were dead. They woke up and gathered around the center of the camp like Daniel had told them to before they had all gone off to bed. After an hour of waiting, they were starting to grow impatient. It was hotter than a sauna outside and their clothes felt like they were sticking to their skin. It didn't matter how hard they tried to find a shady tree to stand underneath, the heat was still unbearable.

"It's been almost two hours. Where the hell are they?" Tory asked, hand resting on her forehead to shield her eyes from the sun.

"Maybe they just overslept," Demetri guessed.

"No, I don't think so," Sam said. "My dad doesn't oversleep. He sets like seventy alarms and leaves almost an hour before he has to be somewhere."

"Do you think they got lost?" Bert asked.

"They could have," Sam said. "Should we go looking for them?"

"We should probably stay here until they arrive," Demetri said. "I mean, what if they aren't lost and are just running late? We shouldn't be wandering around the woods especially when we have no idea what's out there."

"'Met, it'll be fine," Chris said placing his hand on Demetri's shoulder. "You can stay here if you want and I'll stay with you."

"Chris is right," Sam said. "Some of us should stay here in case they show up.

"How about we split into groups and take different areas of the woods?" Miguel suggested. "That way we can cover more ground."

"I hate to say that I agree with Demetri, but there is no way in hell I'm wandering around the woods," Tory spoke up. "Have you never seen a horror movie? Stupid teens go off prancing around in the woods, somehow they get split up, and then boom—they're dead."

"Don't be so dramatic, Tory," Hawk said. "No one's going to get murdered. This isn't a horror film from the eighties."

"Tell me I'm being dramatic one more time and see what happens," Tory said in a threatening tone of voice.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Okay, whoever wants to stay here can stay, but if anyone wants to go looking for them then pick a partner and we'll go."

The teens divided themselves up into pairs—Sam and Robby, Miguel and Hawk, Bert and Nathaniel, Doug and Mikey, and Stingray and Mitch all went searching for their missing senseis. Demetri, Chris, Tory, and Aisha all stayed behind. Staying behind proved to be the right decision to make when Nathaniel came running back towards the center of the camp in a frenzy about thirty minutes later. He was breathing heavily as if he had just finished running the mile at school.

"Nathaniel, what's wrong?" Chris asked. "Is everything okay?"

Nathaniel was breathing so heavily that he couldn't talk. He hunched over and placed his hands on his knees.

"Where's Bert?" Aisha asked, looking around, but she didn't see him.

"Some guy...." Nathaniel said, but then paused to catch his breath. "He came out of the woods and ran at us and Bert—he couldn't get away."

"What do you mean some guy ran at you?" Demetri asked.

Nathaniel finally managed to catch his breath. "We were just walking around and then all of a sudden he came out of the woods wearing this mask like he was Jason Voorhees and he started chasing us with a knife. He got Bert."

The group exchanged looks with each other with the same looks of confusion and fear on their faces.

"That's not funny, Nathaniel," Demetri said.

"I'm not trying to be funny!" Nathaniel shouted at him. "Bert is dead! Some maniac killed him!"

Before anyone had the chance to respond, Miguel and Hawk returned and were shortly followed by Doug and Mikey. Stingray and Mitch were right behind them. The only two missing now besides Daniel and Johnny were Sam and Robby.

"Why do you all look so scared?" Miguel asked, looking around at all their faces.

"Nathaniel is convinced that some guy wearing a Jason Voorhees mask came out of the woods and killed Bert," Aisha responded.

"Seriously? That's insane," Miguel said.

Sam and Robby came walking up to them. "We checked out their cabin. There's no one there."

"Then where the hell are they?" Tory asked. "We've got missing senseis and a masked killer that apparently killed Bert."

"Bert's dead?" Robby asked.

"What are you even talking about?" Sam asked her.

"According to Nathaniel some masked killer chased them through the words and then killed him with a knife."

Sam and Robby exchanged looks with each other.

"Jesus Christ, when did life become an eighties horror film?" Robby asked.

"The second LaRusso thought camping in the woods was a good idea," Tory responded.

"Well, what do we do?" Aisha asked. "Can we just get on the bus and leave? Call for help?"

"I say we find that fucker and give him a good old-fashioned karate beat down," Doug responded.

"Are you an idiot?" Tory asked. "You want to go searching for a serial killer and bust out some karate moves? That's just asking to end up with a knife through your back."

Doug's confident stance faltered. Tory was right. Even though he wanted to give that psychopath a piece of his mind, there was no way he wanted to end up dead.

"Aisha's right. We should just go get the bus driver leave. If we stay, we'll all end up dead," Sam said.

"Wait," Demetri said. "Where is the bus driver?"

They had been so concerned with finding their senseis that they hadn't even stopped to consider what had happened to the bus driver.

"Maybe he's still on the bus," Nathaniel suggested.

The group agreed and together, they walked towards the direction of the bus. They figured that splitting up was not the best idea especially if there was a crazed killer on the loose. When they arrived at the bus, they discovered that the doors were open. They were all too scared to step foot on the bus. The bus driver had been creepy and weird. He gave them all weird vibes and if they had to put their money on anyone being the killer, then it was most definitely him.

"So, who's going to check the bus?" Chris asked, looking around the group.

No one responded. All they could do was stand there and stare at the rundown bus. If this was a horror movie, then the second someone stepped on that bus would be the ample opportunity for the bus driver to come out from behind one of the seats and stab whoever dared to go check.

"You're all cowards," Stingray spoke up. "I'll go."

They all moved out of the way, giving Stingray a path to the bus. He took a deep breath before grabbing the rail and climbing up the steps. What he saw nearly made him fall over. Propped up in one of the seats was the bus driver completely covered in blood. There was blood everywhere. It covered pooled down the aisles and was splattered across several of the other seats. Stingray wanted to vomit and when he scrambled off the bus, that was exactly what he did.

"Dude, what the hell happened?" Hawk asked.

"He's dead," Stingray responded.

"Well, did he have the keys?" Mitch asked.

"I don't know!" Stingray responded. "I'm not about to go rummaging around in a dead man's pockets."

"Well, someone has to," Mitch responded.

"Why don't you do it then?" Stingray asked.

"Are you insane? That's disgusting," Mitch said.

"Would you two just shut up?" Tory asked. "Jesus Christ, I'll do it since you're all a bunch of babies."

Tory rolled her eyes and stepped on the bus. She realized now why Stingray had vomited. Seeing people's blood and guts spilling out everywhere in movies and television shows had never looked like this. She had never seen so much blood in her life, but she resisted the urge to turn back around. Instead, she approached the bus driver slowly, trying her best not to step in blood along the way. The closer she got, the more her heart started pounding in her chest.

"You can do this Tory," she said to herself. "You've got this."

She reached her hand forward and checked the bus driver's jacket pockets. There was nothing except an old gum wrapper and a wadded-up piece of paper. She checked the pockets of his jeans next, but the results were the same. There was nothing.

Tory sighed as she walked off the bus. "What a fucking cliché."

"Did you find them?" Miguel asked.

Tory shook her head. "Nope. No keys. Looks like we're stuck here."

"Well, that's just perfect!" Demetri said, throwing his hands in the air. "We're all going to die!"

"'Met, don't panic," Chris said, trying to calm him down.

"Don't panic? Don't panic?!" Demetri said. "We're stuck in the stupid woods with a crazed serial killer on the loose—who by the way probably killed our senseis and then stashed their bodies somewhere we won't find them and murdered our only way out of here—and no way to call for help because Mr. LaRusso thought it'd be a great idea to take our phones and you're telling me to calm down?"

"He has a point," Doug said.

"Shut the fuck up Rickenberger," Demetri said.

"I was just agreeing with you, you little shit," Doug responded.

The two went back and forth for a few seconds and then everyone interrupted into a series of their own conversations and worry.

"Quiet!" Miguel shouted, causing everyone to turn and look at him. "No one is going to get murdered, okay? We'll figure this out."

Miguel had been wrong. They weren't going to figure it out and by the end of the day, four more people would be dead and there was nothing they could do. They were stranded with no way to call for help and it wouldn't be long before the group of terrified teens would be stuck in an endless loop of playing the blame game. 

—

hey everyone, i hope you're enjoying this story. it's actually really fun to write.

anyways, let me know what you think so far!

- emilia