Jeremy cursed his luck as they jogged the dark pathway towards the administration building. They had waited until the small, dark silhouettes of Allison and Finn had disappeared into the health office before setting off themselves. And now, as they neared the turn in front of the health office, the noise of the generators near the dining hall had some very unsettling implications.

If there was no power, then either one of those beasts had broken the lines coming into camp, or something more sinister was in play. Jeremy could hardly believe that it was a coincidence that the power would be out at such a time as this. Power outages weren’t anything uncommon in the adirondacks, hence the backup generators, but it generally only occurred during a storm, or heavy winds, that sent a branch or tree down onto the lines.

There had been no such storm this night. Sure, there had been that rapid onset of clouds during the campfire, but there had barely been a slight breeze at their elevation. Either the shadow beasts had taken down the lines, or something else was happening.

Not for the first time that night, his hand drifted towards the radio on his hip. He had awoken earlier to the harsh sound of static coming through it. It was turned off now, but he had periodically turned it back on while in the basement, hoping that instead of static, his brother’s voice would greet him. Unfortunately, so far there was no word from David, and Jeremy could only hope that he had found somewhere safe to hide during all of the chaos.

Jeremy shook his head as they turned down the path towards admin. There wasn’t anything he could do about that right now. Several times he had to rationalize to himself that searching the entire camp for his little brother would more likely end up getting himself killed. David’s a smart kid, he kept telling himself. He would have gotten himself to safety at the first sign of trouble, it wasn’t his fault that there wasn’t a reliable method of communication at the moment.

Jeremy hoped that the phone lines hadn’t gone down as well. With the radios on the fritz, the phones or the landline internet were the only reliable means of communication they had with the outside world. The wi-fi at the camp was spotty at the best of times, and cell phones only worked at specific locations. Not for the first time, Jeremy cursed the shortsightedness of the local community that had blocked the construction of cell towers anywhere on the mountains bordering the lake.

“What’s that?” Yasmina asked, shaking him out of his thoughts. He looked along her outstretched arm to the parking lot in front of them.

A single chainsaw sat on the ground, it’s engine idling. A thick, black liquid covered the chain and the front half of the engine block, and Jeremy only had to guess once where it probably came from. He looked around, spotting a trail of the black liquid pointing towards an open garage door of the maintenance building.

He put a finger over his lips for quiet as he eased close to the chainsaw, shutting it off and taking it in hand. Yasmina strode quickly over to the front door of the admin building, unlocking it as Jeremy snuck back to her, eyes firmly on the open garage door for movement. Quickly, they pushed their way into the darkened building, locking the door behind them before breathing a sigh of relief.

“Someone must have fended one of them off with this, I didn’t see any blood around, so they must have escaped.”

“Human blood, at least.” Yasmina pointed out, her nose wrinkling as she stared at the chainsaw. “It’s a wonder that thing is still able to run.”

“I doubt the chain will actually be able to run, but if the one they injured comes back, maybe the sound of it will frighten it off. If it’s hiding in maintenance, they must have some sense of pain, or it wouldn’t have gone and hid inside.” Jeremy reasoned.

“Well, let’s hope it stays in there for now.” Yasmina turned, heading further inside as she flicked on a small flashlight. Jeremy set the chainsaw down by the door, following close behind her.

Yasmina stepped behind the reception desk, grabbing the phone and lifting it to her ear. After a short moment, she cursed, slamming it back down.

“Nothing. Phones are dead.” Jeremy turned the computer on, sitting at it as he waited for it to boot up.

“If the phones are down, the internet probably is too.” He said, even as he tapped in the general access password. After a minute, he cursed as well as the notification popped up.

“Well fuck. Only option is to go into town then.” Yasmina said.

“Not necessarily. Chris once told me he’s a HAM radio enthusiast. Our radios might not have the power to get to someone off campus, but he may have a setup in his cabin that’s more powerful. In any case, we need to see if we can find him or Mike, or find where Xavier went, they’re the head honchos, they’d have a better idea about what next steps would be anyways.” Jeremy replied, standing back up from the desk.

“Their cabin is past maintenance. If that injured beast is in there, we might attract it’s attention.” Yasmina said. Jeremy looked at her. Despite her stalwart stature and serious expression, Jeremy could see the anxiety hiding behind her eyes. His own gut churned as he thought about confronting one of the beasts, but he shook his head, trying to rid himself of his nerves.

“We don’t have much choice either way. The next best thing would be to go off campus to get help, which puts us right outside maintenance as well. The only option that’d be truly safe would be to head back to Andromeda and wait it out-”

“Fuck that. Those kids need help, and I’ll be damned if I hide in the dark like a coward while there’s a chance to help them!” Yasmina yelled. Jeremy held up his hands.

“I wasn’t saying that we should, only that it’s an option. I’m not giving up either, Yas.” He placated, and the anger went out of her eyes as she sagged.

“Sorry, it’s just...I can’t stand being told to hold back and not do my part.” Yasmina shuddered.

“I know, I was pissed off too. Xavier shouldn’t have sidelined us earlier, we could have done much better helping the evacuation than some of the people he chose.” Jeremy agreed.

“He did the best he could, he doesn’t know the program staff as well as we do. Truth be told, I’m glad you finally decided to buck the reins a bit.” Yasmina chuckled.

“What, you’re happy to be following me out into life-threatening danger, against orders?” He teased.

“And I’d do it again, in a heartbeat. You’re not leaving without me, you hear?” Yasmina hugged him, and Jeremy reciprocated, feeling the subtle tremors running through her.

“Yeah, I hear. Together forever.” He whispered, tilting her head up and catching her in a kiss. She smiled through it.

“Come on, loverboy, we need to get going.” Yasmina pulled away, and Jeremy’s mirth faded as they moved back around the reception desk.

“Right, let’s go. We could take the long way around, swing back up by Andromeda.” Yasmina shook her head.

“Once we’re behind maintenance we should be fine. So long as we don’t get it’s attention coming out of the building, we should be fine, assuming it’s even still in there.” She replied. “Besides, we’ve got your noisemaker.”

“Hey, that was just an idea, I have no clue if it’ll actually work.” Jeremy protested.

“Well, we’ll hope we don’t find out the hard way then.” Yasmina said, peering out the front door window.

“All clear?” Jeremy asked. Yasmina looked for another long second before she nodded.

“Thought I saw something, but it seems to have gone now. Let’s go.” Yasmina pulled open the front door, and Jeremy picked up the chainsaw as he followed after her.

His foot had barely hit the dirt outside when the stillness was shattered by the sharp crack of gunfire. His head whirled as he tried to pinpoint the source of the noise.

“That sounded nearby.” Yasmina said.

“Sounded like the 22’s. Think someone’s raided the gun ranges?” Nearby shouting caught his attention, and Jeremy looked back towards the maintenance building. The darkness inside the open garage door shifted, and his heart clenched.

“Yas, we gotta-”

The night erupted as loud, rumbling gunfire blasted from around the corner, and Jeremy flinched. Yasmina looked at him, her hands over her ears.

“So much for sneaking around maintenance.” Jeremy breathed as the shadows erupted out of the garage door.

The demonic beast, it’s jaw torn open and oozing black ichor, turned to face them, it’s eyes burning with rage and pain. Jeremy hoisted the chainsaw in his hands as he looked at Yasmina.

“I think we should head back inside, Yas.” He muttered. She shot him an incredulous look as she backed up behind him.

“No shit, sherlock.” She replied as Jeremy pulled the ripcord, the chainsaw sputtering to life in his hands.

Immediately, the beast let out an ear splitting roar, loping towards them with all the grace of a drunken moose. Jeremy cursed as he backed up into admin, slamming the front door behind him.

“Well, that didn’t work.” Yasmina said from behind the reception desk.

“Was worth a shot. Hopefully whoever’s shooting heard that and comes this way, otherwise we’re going to be stuck here for a bit.” Jeremy replied as he joined her.

The door shattered and smashed into the desk as they ducked behind it. The angry roars of the beast echoed in their ears as a massive paw, dripping with it’s black blood. forced its way inside. It’s claws dug into the wood floor, ripping floorboards out as it tried to reach them. Jeremy looked over the desk and the door as the shadow beast slammed against the doorframe again, the walls on either side beginning to buckle.

“Well that’s not good.” He pulled Yasmina to her feet.

“We need to get out of here. We could bust out a window in the back.” She said.

“It’ll just come around the side after us, and I don't want to give it an easier way in. We need something to keep it here.” Jeremy jogged down the short hallway, looking into the small office rooms as he did.

“Distraction or trap?” Yasmina asked, rummaging through some of the hallway closets.

“Either one, just need to keep it there until we can escape-”

“What about that?” Yasmina pointed, and Jeremy’s eyes landed on a long metal pole, one end twisted and jagged, split apart into sharp points.

“Is that the sunfish mast that was hit by lighting? What’s it doing here?” Jeremy asked.

“Heck if I know, maybe Mike wanted to keep it away from the kids? We could use it to pin the beast’s paw.” Yasmina said, lifting the ten foot pole of the floor.

“How’s that going to work? It’s thrashing around too much to get a good aim, and you’ll need a lot of momentum to get that through it, if that even works.”

“Throw the chainsaw at it, I don’t know. Best I’ve got is to stab the bastard with the pointy end. You got any better ideas?” Jeremy sighed, shaking his head.

“Nope. Maybe stabbing it in the face with this will be enough, it’s got quite a deep wound from the chainsaw, or so I assume. Stab its paw to get that out of the way, then ram it’s face with everything we got.” Jermey suggested.

“Works for me.” Yasmina marched the mast back towards the front. Jermey grabbed onto the end as they reached the end of the hallway, and Yasmina aimed the sharp ends towards the beasts paw as it tore up more of the floor.

“On my mark...Now!” Jeremy ran and shoved his weight behind the butt of the mast, Yasmina guiding it towards the beasts paw. The sharp, jagged ends sunk into the beasts limb, and a bone-rattling roar threatened to split his eardrums as the mast was nearly torn out of his grip. The beast’s paw wrenched out through the door, and Yasmina grinned back at him.

“Ready? Soon as we see it’s face-”

“Look!” Jeremy yelled, and Yasmina spun around. The shadow beasts luminous red eyes, burning with hate and rage stared back. It’s mouth a yawning chasm of darkness and sharp teeth as Yasmina hefted the mast, pointing it directly at it.

“NOW!” She screamed, and they both thrust it with all their might into the demon’s wide-open mouth, hitting the roof of its mouth as it tried to pull back and away. The beast roared again as they thrust it farther into the beasts head, and it twisted, trying to shake away. The torn and jagged ends of the mast made it impossible for the beast to break free, and the beast sagged as dark blood gushed out of its mouth.

Both of them yelled in anger as they grabbed the mast with renewed vigor, ramming it as hard as they could as the beast tried to pull away, it’s pained roars descending into whines. They rammed it further as the beast tried to back away, and they followed it out into the night air, using all their strength to thrust it further into the beast’s maw. A torrent of black, foul blood spilled over their arms and spattered their faces, but they ignored it as they kept pushing. Suddenly, as though a cord was cut, it slumped and crumpled to the ground, it’s massive head slamming into the dirt like a wrecking ball.

Jeremy and Yasmina sighed in relief as they let go of the mast, the long metal pole dropping to the dirt path.

The roar of a truck engine made them turn as headlights cut through the darkness, a red truck barrelling up the path before stopping before them. More floodlights on the roof of the truck blinded them, and Jeremy raised a hand to cover his eyes as he tried to see who was driving.

“Holy fuck.” Someone said. Several silhouettes clambered out of the truck bed, and the floodlights focused on the beast’s body, letting Jeremy see several young, pale faces looking at them.

“Look at that!”

“They killed it with a pole? Badass!”

“Is that the one we injured earlier?”

“Looks like it, look at the paws.”

“You guys must be some kind of crazy to go up against one of these things like that.” One of them said as they stepped closer, his gun aimed at the beast’s head. “Might want to cover your ears for a second, gotta make sure it’s not faking.” They both stepped back as he squared his stance, bracing himself before firing the double-barrel shotgun directly into the beast’s skull, gore exploding outwards over him. Nodding in satisfaction, he turned back to them.

“Sorry about that, figure it’s better to be absolutely sure. Don’t want them getting back up after we’ve left.” He said, wiping some of the black blood off of his face. Suddenly, Jeremy’s mind clicked.

“Brian? Is that you?” He asked, and the boy in front of him ginned.

“Sure is. I’ve got the older boys of my cabin here with me...Well, most of us. WIll and Fred went off to help get medical supplies back to Andromeda, so this is the rest of us.” Brian’s grin slipped off of his face as Zeke and the rest of the boys came off the truck, crowding around Brian. Jeremy looked at the group, their faces illuminated by the light above the administration building’s door, and he frowned as he counted one missing.

“You’re short a few. Mark, right? Where is he?” Jeremy’s heart sunk as most of the boys in front of him looked away, and a flash of anger ran through Brian’s face.

“One of them got him. He saved me.” Brian growled.

“I’m sorry for your loss, I know you were close.” Jeremy replied. Brian’s shoulders relaxed as he took a deep breath.

“Yeah. Well, we’re taking our revenge, at least. He won’t have died for nothing. We’ve got three of them so far, and yours makes four. Any idea how many of them there are?” Brian asked.

“Unfortunately, no. Radios are still down so the staff can’t communicate cross-campus. We’ve got at least five confirmed sightings that can be sure happened within a short enough time that we can be sure they were separate beasts, but other than that, we don’t know.”

“Shame. Guess we’ll just have to keep running around the camp till we can’t find any more of them.” Brian stated, hefting the gun back onto his shoulders. “You two need a lift back to Andromeda? I hear they’re gathering everyone there.”

“Actually, we could use your help. Plus, you really should have some adult presence in case you run into some other staff. Some of them might take offense to you guys raiding the gun ranges and going off on your own.” Jeremy replied. A strange look came over Brian’s face for a moment as the rest of the boys looked to him.

“Brian, we’re not trying to get in your way. But there are some bigger things that we’re trying to do that we could really use your help with. We’ve confirmed that all communications with the outside are cut off with the power outage, phone lines, internet, everything. We need to go to the director’s cabin, we’re pretty sure there will be a backup long-range radio there so we can call for help.” Yasmina explained.

“Everything’s down? That doesn’t make sense.” Brian said. “Uncle Xavier told me once that the phone lines go underground, they shouldn’t have gone down in a simple power outage.” A chill ran down Jeremy’s spine at his words.

“You’re sure about that?” Jeremy asked. Brian nodded.

“There was a big to-do about it last year, something about road repairs nearly digging them up by accident. Uncle Xavier was furious for weeks, he nearly fired Mr. Hunter over it.”

“I don’t like this, there’s something weird going on around here, more than just these demon beasts.” Yasmina growled, kicking it’s corpse.

“Nothing we can worry about right now, we should get moving. Can you help us?” Jeremy asked.

“Sure thing. We don’t have much room, Steve’s in the cabin with Oliver, the rest of us were in the back. Steve, we’ll move the floodlights to the cabin, we’ll have to make do with that. Ollie, you’re good to keep driving? Good, let’s move.” Brian motioned, and they all moved towards the truck. Brian climbed up first, holding out a hand for the younger boys as they clambered up.

“Ow! Fuck!” Jeremy turned to see Zeke holding his shoulder, a pained grimace on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Oliver asked, having just opened the driver’s side door.

“You okay?” Brian asked. Zeke rotated his shoulder, a hiss of pain escaping his gritted teeth.

“Here, let me take a look.” Yasmina stepped forwards, moving the collar of his shirt to look underneath. “That’s a mighty fine bruise you got going there.”

“Must have been the shotgun recoil. I don’t think I got it braced quite right on that last one, dammit.” Zeke replied.

“I’ll take over for him. We’ll get that looked at when we get back to Andromeda.” Jeremy said, and Zeke reluctantly handed over the shotgun. Jeremy checked the chambers, reloading the gun from the scattered boxes of shells in the truck bed.

“Zeke, we’ll need the room back here, can you cram in the front with Oliver and Steve? Help him with the lights as much as you can.” Brian said, helping him back down. “You did good, man. No regrets.” Zeke nodded as he moved around the front of the truck.

“We’ve got a few extra rifles too, Yasmina.” Kevin said, handing her one from the small pile at the front of the truck bed. Yasmina took it, quickly checking it before loading the chamber.

“All right, we all set? Let’s go, next stop, the head honcho’s cabin.” Brian banged his fist on the side of the truck, and it lurched forwards, spinning around to face the opposite direction as it headed towards the dark pathway. The headlights sliced across the operations building as they made the wide turn down the pathway.

It wasn’t long before the trail turned towards the director’s cabin, and Jeremy’s heart sank as the lights fell upon it.

“Shit. Shit shit shit.” Jeremy cursed.

The director’s cabin was little more than a smoking ruin, a small fire burning at the back corner where the fireplace used to be. As with many of the other cabins, the roof had been crushed down, the walls blown out, metal and timbers warped and broken, scattered all around. Jeremy leapt out of the back of the truck as it skidded to a halt, climbing up into the wreckage as he went.

“Jay! It’s not safe!” Yasmina shouted.

“Yas, it’s our last chance! Otherwise we’re going to have to go off-campus for help!” Jeremy dug through the rubble, his heart beating hard as he shoved splintered timbers aside, guided only by the harsh light of the truck’s headlights.

“Oh fuck, are the directors dead too?” Jeremy heard Kevin ask.

“I don’t know, do you see any bodies?” Oliver replied.

“I hope Chris got away. Mike can go to-”

“Zeke, shut it. You’ve earned a lot of goodwill tonight, don’t get back on my bad side so quickly.” Brian growled. Jeremy heard footsteps on the metal roofing behind him, and he turned. Yasmina and Brian joined him in the wreckage. Yasmina kneeled near him and began digging as well, Brian standing above them, keeping watch.

“Jay.” Yasmina’s quiet voice from across the wreckage pulled his attention. He moved across the ruins to her, and his heart dropped as he looked where she pointed her flashlight. The pale, bloodless faces of both Chris and Mike lay underneath several layers of timbers, a large pool of blood on the floor beneath them. Reaching down, he felt their necks for a pulse.

“Anything?” Yasmina asked. After a few moments, Jeremy shook his head.

“They’re gone.” Jeremy sighed, sitting back on his feet. He rubbed at his eyes, stinging as tears threatened to fall. Chris had been a big inspiration in getting him involved in outdoor education, and even though he didn’t like Mike very much, he still appreciated his organization and leadership skills. A dismal sense of helplessness washed over him as he stared down at their faces.

“Hey, I think I hear something.” Brian said, moving across the wreckage towards where the entrance used to be. Jeremy and Yasmina stood, moving over towards him. A sudden, muffled coughing noise caught all of their attention, and they all looked around.

“Hello? Is someone there?” Jeremy asked. He stepped forwards, and a muffled groan erupted from under his feet. They all looked down, and Jeremy’s heart began to race.

“Hello! Are you all right? Who’s there?” Yasmina called as they began digging once more. Muffled coughs helped them pinpoint the direction to dig in, and after a few tense minutes, Jeremy’s heart jumped.

“Got a hand! Over here!” Yasmina joined him as they continued to clear the debris, until one large timber shifted away and Brian gasped.

“Uncle Xavier!” The grizzled man, his face covered in blood from a cut on his brow, stared blankly back up at him, his eyes glazed and unfocused. Brian set down his shotgun, quickly joining them in helping to clear the wreckage off of him.

“Looks like he got lucky, here’s the main door frame around him, shielded him from most of the heavy timbers. Must have just arrived to get Chris and Mike when the cabin came down.” Yasmina commented.

“Definitely some broken bones though, don’t think he’ll be walking anytime soon.” Jeremy pointed towards his legs, which clearly were bent from broken bones.

“He’s going to be okay, though, right?” Brian asked.

“Think so, looks like most of his injuries aren’t serious. Other than the broken legs. He’s damn lucky.” Jeremy repeated as they finished clearing the rest of the debris off of him.

“Xavier, can you hear me?” Yasmina asked, waving her hands over his face. Xavier groaned, but didn’t respond intelligibly.

“Well, that’s something at least. We need to get him back to Andromeda, they’ll be able to take care of him better there. Oliver, can we get your help over here!” Jeremy called, and the older boy jumped out of the truck and ran over.

“Carefully now, try not to jostle him too much. We don’t have anything to make splints with here, so be careful with his legs.” Together, the four of them lifted the older man and carried him over to the truck, laying him into the truck bed as he groaned in pain.

“We should get him back to Andromeda and regroup. I doubt we’ll find anything intact under that wreckage, so we need to figure out what our plan of action is.” Yasmina said.

“Plan of action? We just need to keep killing those demon bears. We can’t do much else until we’re sure they’re all gone.” Brian said.

“Or we could go for help off-campus, the faster we do that, the better.” Jeremy replied, but Brian shook his head.

“Look, I know that sounds like a great idea, but until we’re sure they’re all dead, it’s a suicide mission. We’ve seen how fast those things are once they get going, and they could run us down in this old truck on a flat, straight road. If there’s more of them in the woods outside the camp waiting to ambush us, they’d catch up to us before we get to town. We might be able to fight off one at a time, but if we run into more of them, we’re toast. And even if we get there, there’s the issue of getting back safely, without getting the help we find killed in the process.” Brian said.

“So what, we’re trapped here until we can be sure they’re all gone? That’s really not feasible, there’s miles of road between here and New Painswick, if we just sit around, there’s no way to go get help.” Jeremey argued.

“I’m not saying we wait forever. Once daylight hits, we’ll be able to see them coming from farther off and be able to adjust accordingly. If we go driving through the night, they could be on us before we have the chance to see them and react.” Brian reasoned. “We should clear out the camp first, they’ve been pretty spread out from each other so far so I doubt we’ll run into more than one at a time. Once we’re sure the camp is clear and the sun rises, we’ll go for help. I’d rather not take our best weapons for fighting them off with us until we’re sure there’s none of them left to hurt anyone else.”

“What about the boats? We could take a rescue boat over to Nelson Falls, find help there.” Oliver asked.

“Nelson Falls is a long way off by road, they’d have to circle all the way around the lake. Much as I don’t like it, I think Brian’s got the right of it. We’ll have to hold out till sunrise.” Yasmina replied. Jeremy nodded reluctantly. There were just too many unknowns to go off half-cocked and possibly end up in a worse situation.

“Doesn’t sit right with me, feels like we aren’t doing enough.” Jeremy sighed.

“If we had more shotguns, or something else that would be sure to kill them, I’d feel better about having someone go for help. But we’re needed here for now.” Brian replied. His statement was punctuated by the muffled, far-off sound of another cabin being crushed, and Jeremy nodded.

“All right, let’s get moving. Andromeda first, then the rest of camp.”

The turck spun around after they all got settled, Oliver being careful to keep it steady and driving more carefully with Xavier in the back. The short drive back to Andromeda, past Admin and the Health Office, seemed to stretch on for hours as they kept scanning the woods, the harsh light of the floodlights and headlights casting long shadows from the trees all around them. As they pulled up in front of Andromeda, Will and Fred burst out of the front doors, followed closely by Charlie.

“Mission success! Allison and Finn got back safely!” Will reported as the truck rolled to a stop.

“Good job. Can one of you get some help from downstairs? Xavier’s in rough shape, ask them to bring up any splints if they’ve got them. Zeke, you head down too, see if they can give you anything for your shoulder.” Fred saluted as Zeke got out of the truck, the two of them heading back inside..

“You found Xavier?” Charlie asked.

“He was nearly crushed in the director’s cabin. We think he was going to get Chris and Mike when one of them attacked.” Jeremy replied, jumping out of the back of the truck. Charlie looked at him for a second, the unasked question in his eyes evident as Jeremy shook his head. Charlie went pale, sagging against the railing.

“Shit. Both of them?” Charlie whispered.

“We found them and checked. No pulse.” Yasmina replied, her voice wavering slightly.

“So who’s in charge then with Xavier down? No one else from admin stays on campus overnight.” Charlie asked.

“Good question. There’s never really been a protocol for something like this, with all three of them out of action.” Jeremey sighed.

“Seniority then? Who’s been a staff member the longest?” Yasmina suggested.

“That’d be Ruth, but she’s refused a leadership position the past two decades running. The most senior staff member who’s a team lead would be Peter.” Jeremey replied. All three of them shivered for a second.

“That’d be worse than having Mike in charge.” Charlie argued. “Have either of you worked under him before? I tell you, it’s no picnic.”

“Easy, easy. I wasn’t going to suggest giving him the role anyways. Best idea I’ve got is to have all the team leaders sit down and discuss. We’ll come up with something.”

Running footsteps caught their attention as Fred reappeared, followed by Jack and Russell.

“Over here, back of the truck.” Brian motioned, and they came around the back and looked over Xavier. The two of them quickly jumped in, looking over Xavier and starting to get ready to splint his legs.

“Where’s Allison?” Jeremy asked.

“She’s downstairs. Turns out her blood type is O-, so she’s doing a direct blood transfusion to Christina Walker.” Jack replied.

“How’s the rest of it going down there?” Yasmina asked.

“The supplies they brought back have definitely helped. But we’re going to need EMTs soon if some of them are going to have a chance.”

“How long do they have?” Jeremey asked. Jack looked up at him, an uneasy expression on his face.

“I don’t know for sure, could be hours, could be more. I’m not an expert, Jay. None of us lifeguards are trained enough for this.” Jack shrugged.

“Well, you’re going to have to do your best. Every line of communication off-campus is down, and until we can be sure that we’re not going on a suicide run by going off campus, all we can do is scour the camp of the lot of them. Best we can do is wait till sunrise to get help.” Jack paled slightly, but nodded.

“You’re going back around campus then? Allison said Madison’s cabin is destroyed, but we still haven't found any sign of Owen. If you run into him out there, get him back here ASAP.” Russell said.

“Curtis, Blake and Stewart aren’t back yet? I sent them to look for Owen and Madison a while ago.” Jeremy asked, looking over at Charlie.

“No sign of them. Don’t know where they’ve gone to.” Charlie replied, shaking his head.

“We’ll have to keep an eye out for them as well.” Yasmina replied.

“All right, we’ve got Xavier from here. Charlie, some help?” Jack asked, and Charlie moved forwards. Carefully, the three of them lifted Xavier out of the truck bed, Brian watching them intently as they brought Xavier inside.

“He’ll be fine, they’ll take good care of him.” Jeremy said to him. Brian looked back, an odd look on his face.

“It’s just weird, you know. He’s always been there, like a rock. Never seen him looking so…” Brian trailed off, shaking his head. “Never mind. We should get back to it.”

“We’re coming with this time, right?” Will asked. Brian nodded.

“We need all the guns we can get, hop in.” They grinned as they raced towards the truck.

Jeremy turned to climb back on the truck when the doors burst open again, Finn sprawling out after them. He sighed in relief as they all stared at him.

“What’s up Finn?” Jeremy asked.

“Oh, was just trying to catch you before you left. Saw what the shotgun did to Zeke’s shoulder, and thought you should know that we left the armor from our act in the craft shop. There’s some shoulder padding with it, might make taking care of the rest of those things easier so you don’t hurt yourselves.” Finn blustered. Brian frowned, absently rubbing at his shoulder.

“Not a bad idea. No clue how many more of them there are, we might be at this for a while. Good call, Finn.” Brian replied.

“All right, next stop is the Craft Shop!” Oliver called as they piled back in. Jeremy picked up his shotgun as they braced themselves in the back. The truck lurched forwards as Finn waved at them, circling around behind Andromeda to the other side. The trail was relatively straight before the bend that would bring them to the Craft Shop, and Steve kept the floodlights on the sides as they drove down the path.

A sudden loud, shrieking roar from up ahead startled them, and Jeremy stood up, bracing himself on the truck’s cabin roof. Just as they turned and the Craft Shop came into sight, Jeremy’s heart began to race.

Pushed up against the front door of the Craft Shop, one of the beasts was trying desperately to get inside, roaring in displeasure and rage as the concrete walls refused to budge. Jeremy looked towards Brian, who nodded as he stood as well.

“Ollie, bring us alongside it, driver side! Rifles and lights at the ready!” He shouted. Will Fred, Kevin and Yasmina all piled up against the driver’s side in the truck bed, Steve pushing himself out of the passenger window to sit on the window frame, pulling the floodlight onto the cabin roof and aiming it towards the shadow beast. Oliver skidded the truck to a stop as he turned, presenting the side of the truck to the Craft Shop a fair distance away from the beast.

“Rifles, take aim!” Brian shouted, and the four guns were braced against shoulders as they kneeled in the back of the truck. At his voice, the beast paused, pulling back from the door and looking towards them, it’s red eyes burning with malice as it looked towards them.

“Fire!” The quadruple cracks of the rifles split the night, and the beast roared in pain and rage as the bullets hit it’s face, taking out one of its eyes in the process. It lurched towards them, and Jermey noticed black blood spilling from one of its paws, a long length of metal sunk deep into it.

“Shotguns ready!” Jeremy turned, bracing the shotgun against his shoulder as Brian mirrored him. Jeremy’s heart thudded along with the ground, the vibrations shaking the truck as the beast plowed towards them.

“Ears! Wait for it!.....FIRE!” Brian roared as the other inhabitants of the truck covered their ears. Jeremy pulled the double triggers. The shotguns exploded with fire and fury, great tongues of fire accompanying the shotgun pellets through the air. The shadow demon’s face was obliterated in an instant, and it’s corpse slammed into the ground, sliding for a few feet before coming to a rest near the truck.

“Eat that, you fucking demon bear!” Brian shouted as the rest of his boys cheered. Jeremy looked at the beast, his ears still ringing.

A bear? Jeremy supposed they kind of looked like bears, if you made them as big as elephants and covered them in smoke. More like giant black polar bears with their elongated necks and trunklike limbs.

“Holy shit!” A voice from nearby startled Jeremy, and he looked up to see a face peering out of the door of the Craft Shop. The girl’s face was spattered with black blood, and Jeremy suddenly realized that the piece of metal stuck into the bear’s paw was one of the swords from the Craft Shop’s knights and dragon act.

“Zoe? That you?” Brian asked as he jumped out of the truck.

“Brian? Fancy seeing you here. Thanks for the save, I thought we were going to be trapped in there a lot longer.” Zoe seemed to be looking for something, and Brian took notice.

“Don’t worry, Zeke’s not with us, he’s back at Andromeda.” Zoe’s shoulders slumped as she let out a sigh of relief.

“Good. I’d hate to have to owe him anything.” She grumbled.

“If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have been able to come help you. He helped me kill three of them before this one.” Brian retorted.

“Easy, easy. Zoe, was it? You said you’ve got more in there? Anyone injured?” Jeremy interrupted. Zoe looked at him, her face softening a bit.

“Oh good, an adult. No injuries, thank god. I’ve got the large cabin from Draco with me, plus one we picked up near Ursa Minor. She’s a bit rattled, saw the other Ursa Minor cabin get crushed and barely escaped. Without her warning, we wouldn’t have…” Zoe took a deep breath, her voice wavering slightly. “The other Draco cabin, both of Cassiopeia and the staff cabins around us...I don’t think anyone from them survived…”

Jermey’s heart sank. A quick tally in his head had it spinning. Thirty-two campers and staff lived in those six cabins. Yasmina put a hand on his shoulder as they absorbed the news.

“Finn said his armor’s in there from the act, have you seen it? Could use the shoulder cushioning if we’re going to keep this up.” Brian said. Zoe looked back at him, her eyes hardening for a moment.

“Sure do, we were thinking about suiting up ourselves and trying to escape through the windows, but without knowing how many more might have been out there…” Zoe shrugged.

“Good thing you stayed put, we’ve killed five so far now, no telling how many more there are.” Yasmina said. Zoe nodded, turning to look back at the Craft Shop, where several other faces were looking out and around at the surroundings.

“Courtney, Sophie! Can you grab those shoulder pads you were looking at earlier? These guys are going to need them.” She called, and two of the faces nodded, disappearing back into the building.

“You said you’ve got all of your cabin plus one, right? Nine people total?” Jeremy asked. Zoe nodded, and Jeremy looked at the truck. “Not much room to squeeze everyone in. We need to get you all back to Andromeda, everyone’s meeting there.”

“We could walk alongside, put the girls in the bed.” Yasmina suggested.

“Better than having them go back themselves, wouldn’t want them to run into-”

“You have to help them!” They all turned as another girl sprinted out of the craft shop towards them, a wild, panicked look on her face. Jeremy’s heart raced as she drew near.

“Natalie? Help who?” Jeremy asked as she nearly tripped over herself. Natalie stopped, nearly collapsing as Zoe caught her.

“They ran towards the boathouse! I saw them before we got inside!” She babbled frantically. Yasmina came up to her, grabbing her by the shoulders to steady her.

“Who is at the boathouse? Was one of them following them?” Natalie nodded, tears streaming down her face.

“The rest of my cabin, plus some others. It got some of the boys with them, I don’t know if they escaped, but you have to-” She choked, sobbing as she sagged against Zoe. Zoe looked up at them as Brian quickly reloaded his gun.

“We’ll wait here, it’ll be safer than going back to Andromeda ourselves. Hurry!” Zoe dragged Natalie back towards the Craft Shop as Courtney and Sophie burst out, shoulder pads in their arms. Jermy took them and the girls disappeared back into the Craft Shop as they jumped back into the truck.

“Sounds like we got our work cut out for us.” Brian said as he buckled one of the sets on.

“As expected. What time is it?” Jeremy asked.

“3:21 AM!” Oliver called from the driver’s seat, and Jeremy sighed, looking up. The bright moon and comet blazed in the night sky, a sea of stars behind them.

“Morning can’t come soon enough. Everyone ready?” Jeremy asked, and everyone nodded.

“Let’s go!”