*SEVEN YEARS EARLIER*
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"Damn It!" Alex shouted as he kicked the side of his broken down station wagon. It was the first day of spring break and the freshman was eager to experience the epic parties of college spring breaks. The metal spike on the side of the road, it seemed, had other plans. Bending down, he examined the puncture in the side of his front left tire. It was in tatters and the spike he'd hit also had managed to jam its way through the Whewell, drawing a jagged line of twisted metal through the car's exterior. This was no simple fix.
Standing, Alex examined his surroundings. They were in the middle of nowhere. The endless road was surrounded on all sides by trees, no sign of civilization or cell towers in the vicinity. Opening the car door, he look in the mixture of anger, annoyance and uncertainty in the faces of his fellow passengers.
"Well fuck. Looks like we aren't making it to Florida any time soon" he announced to the crew as he returned to the drivers seat.
"Fuck." muttered the occupant of the passenger seat, Greg, under his breathe as he crossed his arms. Greg was your typical jock, muscular, popular, and surly. His beefy exterior streched his shirt, causing the fabric to perfectly outline his muscles.
Behind him sat Laura and Matt. Like Greg, Matt was fairly athletic, but without the beef or the attitude. Matt's pride in life, however, was not his athleticism but his brain. A wizz at math, he had already excelled in his engineering program and had shot to the top of his class. His aim to be valedictorian was slowly being realized.
Laura was the shy member of the group. Thin, slight, but not unattractive, Laura was never a girl anyone would call beautiful, but certainty fell into the category of 'cute.' Never confident, nor outgoing, Laura was still surprised she had fallen into this rag tag group of misfit friends. None of them were alike and Laura's quiescence made her somewhat of an outcast even among this bunch. Still, when spring break planning had started, Alex, ever an advocate for inclusion, had made sure she was coming. Laura happily accepted, but was nervous nonetheless. She desperately wished she was more confident, more...powerful. While confident in her femininity, she was certainly envious of Greg's raw charisma and masculine energy.
"Anyone get a signal?" asked Matt, as he desperately tried to find a tower with his phone.
"No luck dude, we're fucked." Replied Greg with a huff. "I shoulda just gone with the football crew down to Miami. They're sitting on the beach right now, bikini's all around and here I am, stuck in rural...…wherever...."
"You agreed to this trip just like the rest of us dude" Replied Alex, annoyed at his roommate's sour attitude "If you want to get to Florida, how about you try helping us get a signal."
Greg's eyes narrowed, his roommates comments fueling a low level burn of anger in the pit of his stomach. Huffing again, he pushed open the door and stepped out, hoping to get a lay of the land. As he did, a strange breeze passed over the road, chilling the air and creating a sound akin to an indecipherable whisper.
As the wind calmed, the three passengers in the car saw Greg stiffen as he stood just outside.
"Um...guys?" Greg called to the others inside the car "was that....always there?"
Confused, the other three opened their respective doors to see whatever Greg was talking about.
What stood before them certainly wasn't there before. What was once an unbroken tree line was now a dirt road topped with a wooden sign that read:
CAMP CRITTERCREEK