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Max shook where he stood. The phone in his hand was speaking to him, but he couldn’t hear the voice on the other side past the ringing in his ears. All at once, his world had come to crash down on him. His teary eyes looked up from his feet to lock with dull ming-jades. They were once vibrant and all-encompassing when he looked into them. Now they barely held the fire of life behind them.
“Max,” David started as he leaned back a creaky wooden chair, “you know I’d do anything for you.”
The camper’s eyes glanced down at the bodies on the floor. His mother’s brain was splattered across the rug and floodboards. Her wrists had been slit and throat torn with a dull knife and pried open with bare hands. They gripped the arms of the rocking chair David sat in. Max could feel his lungs collapsing in on themselves as he tried not to scream. Beside his mom, his father lay unconscious. From his stomach, his entrails were strewn across the floor. His arms were tied behind his back and the man’s chest barely moved with each labored breath. If Medical attention didn’t come soon, then he would die.
“I know, David,” Max croaked. His voice threatened to betray him as tears bubbled over his eyes and blurred his vision. David’s obsession had gone too far.
The world around him stopped when he walked into the mess hall. He could hear the labored breathing of one of the other campers across the room. Someone was barely breathing and Nikki’s jaw barely hung to her face by a stretched piece of skin. The rest of her mandible had been ripped from her face and rested lazily on the ground. Max’s heart was crushed when he saw that the light in her magenta eyes had faded to a dull, lifeless pink.
A shriek left him as he shoved past the bodies of the other campers to his friends. His brain couldn’t register them all. Maximilian tripped over limbs and heads as he scaled the spinning mountain of death. The floor seemed higher than it really was and each step made his chest feel heavier and his legs. Every movement of his legs made them feel numb.
“NIKKI! NEIL! GUYS?” Max cried out desperately as he stumbled over Space Kid’s helmet and landed on his knees beside Nikki’s broken face. It was barely recognizable; dark bruises covered her form. She had been beaten before she died. He wailed out as he darted his hands out toward her face. They pulled back quickly when he felt air brush against the back of his hand. He glanced to Neil and his stomach dropped.
Neil’s face was rendered black and blue. It was bruised and broken, his skin cracked and bloodied. His blood was still wet and fresh. He was still breathing! Max screamed and pulled his friend’s head into his lap with a sob. Tears dribbled down his tiny tanned cheeks and his lungs burned with each sharp breath.
He snapped his head up. The familiar sound of boots against the mess hall floor rung in his ears. Max squinted and felt his breath catch. David stood at a distance with a baseball bat and blood all over his clothes. A broken machete was strapped to his back.
Snapped from his thoughts, Max clenched the phone in his hand tighter. Earlier that evening, he had gotten a phone call from David. His counselor rambled on and on about his love for the boy.
After escaping David at the camp nearly three days after the death of his friends, Max and his family had been placed into witness protection. David wasn’t supposed to find them. He was supposed to think they were dead . Although his phone was meant for emergencies and protection, he considered it a blessing. His heart stopped when he got a phone call from his mother and David’s voice came through the other end instead.
“David,” Maximilian voiced. The man’s name cracked and it felt sour on his tongue. How could a name he used to speak of with such fondness make his mouth burn? Acid was being poured down his throat. “I know you love me. But I’ve already called the police. Please leave.”
The man frowned. His eyes narrowed. David jumped up with his large pocket knife in hand and wild eyes. “Why?” Voice booming, his hands shook as he pointed the blade at Max. “I’ve only ever helped you! I’ve ridden you of people in your life that have done nothing but hurt you! You were right, Max; this world sucks! Life sucks! Your life sucks! But I can make it better!”
Max choked and flinched. He recoiled at David’s tone and his crazed mannerisms. His former camp counselor had always been eccentric, but not like this. Every word was accompanied with moving hands and twitching arms.
“I’ve done nothing but a good deed! I’d do anything for you! Look! I’ve killed for you! ”
Too tired to fight back, Maximilian slowly dropped to his knees. A sigh escaped him as he crossed his legs and clutched the phone in his hand. “No good deed goes unpunished, David.”