All characters are over the age of 18.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Everything about this trip had gone wrong. Gabe never should have agreed to go camping with these people. His best friend, Benny, invited him, but it became obvious it was his last attempt to get in good with the popular crowd. It was an after-graduation party with a few people from school. What was the point of trying now? None of that stuff mattered anymore.
The night started fairly well. Everyone was dancing, drinking, smoking, and having a great time. Even Gabe, who had never been to a real party. He managed to snag a dance with Aleah Morse, who was easily one of the most beautiful girls in the whole school.
Of course, all good things must come to an end. And, of course, that end involved him being humiliated in front of everyone. After a significant amount of drinking, someone decided to shove Gabe and Aleah in a closet for a little seven minutes in heaven. He tried to be respectful as they drunkenly made out.
She was all over him, and the combination of booze and hormones made it difficult for him to stop her when she reached for his zipper. Once his pants came down, the door flew open, and everyone started taking videos and pictures of him--even Benny.
Slurs and derogatory comments were hurled at him while he struggled to get his pants back up and followed him as he ran to a nearby cabin. By some miracle, the crowd was more interested in laughing at him than following, so when he ended up cowering in the bathroom, Gabe found some peace to cry like an idiot. When he stopped crying, he pulled out his phone to call someone to pick him up, only to find no reception.
That's when things took a turn for the worse.
Screams. Horrible, gut-wrenching screams cut through the air. Followed by the sounds of people running and struggling.
Gabe listened before sneaking out of the bathroom to peek out the window. In the light of the campfire, he spotted a menacing figure that stood taller than any human should. The figure had broad shoulders and thick, muscled arms that swung a chainsaw as though it weighed no more than a whiffle bat. He cut down one of the guys, pushing the chainsaw through his torso like a hot knife through butter. When one of the football players tried to tackle him, the figure wheeled around and sliced part of his head off.
Gabe threw himself away from the window and vomited on the floor. His hand slapped at the wall for the light switch pitching the cabin into darkness. Without hesitating, he ran for the closet and yanked the door shut behind him.
His heart thudded in his chest as he huddled in the darkness. The muffled screams of his former classmates fighting for their lives rang through his head. The rev of the chainsaw stopped for a moment as the sound of someone getting brutalized filled the air, and then it started up again.
The sounds faded away until, eventually, everything went quiet. Only the sound of his breathing broke the stillness. Having seen many a horror movie in his time, Gabe knew the man was waiting for him to come out. If this was anything like the movies, he could find someone's car keys, but the tires would be slashed. He'd make it out to the highway only to be dragged into the woods just as a car came by.
He could sit in the dark and wait. Which was a stupid fucking thought. However, there was a chance that the guy hadn't seen him. Hell, it was possible that Gabe still had his 'power of invisibility' that served him so well during high school. By all accounts, if this was a horror movie, he was the nerdy character and he'd have the best chance of making it out alive!
He wasn't in a fucking movie. There was a legit chainsaw-wielding maniac skulking around the camp ready to turn him into mince meat.
But what if the guy didn't know he was there? What if he thought he got everyone and left? That was a possibility. A fucking slim one, but still a possibility.
One thing was absolutely true: If he was going to die, Gabe sure as fuck wasn't going to die in a closet. As ironic as that would be, he didn't feel like waiting in line in the afterlife with those assholes joking about his faggot death.
Taking a couple of deep breaths, Gabe carefully pushed open the door and peeked into the dark cabin. Nothing. He waited a few seconds, listening for any sounds in or outside the cabin. Nothing. Pushing the door open further, he gingerly stepped into the room and froze.
A heavy silence filled the air as he waited for something to happen. If this was what prey animals felt while being hunted, he'd go vegetarian. Panic knotted in his stomach to the point of nausea. But he had to keep moving.
Shuffling his steps, he moved closer to the door. A creaky floorboard nearly did him in. He nearly fainted as a sound akin to the wail of the damned cut through the silence like a gunshot.
At first, nothing happened. As he loosed a breath of relief, heavy footsteps sounded on the porch. That was enough to snap Gabe out of his fugue. He scurried under one of the beds and held his breath, waiting for the door to open.
When he expected the door to burst off its hinges, it instead creaked open like a coffin lid. Light from outside highlighted the edges of the figure's ragged overalls and glinted off the jagged teeth of the chainsaw. Blood dripped onto the floor with heavy plops. Massive, steel-toed boots were caked with mud and what could only be the viscera of Gabe's old classmates. The thick smell of blood filled the air, making Gabe nauseous all over again.
One booted foot toed the puddle of drying vomit beside the door before stepping into the room. The door shut, and the deadbolt slammed shut, cutting off Gabe's only exit. His eyes fixed on the scuffed boots as they trudged along the floor. A trail of blood followed as the figure moved about the interior, and the smell increased to an unbearable level.
Unable to hold his breath any longer, Gabe tried to breathe as quietly as he could. The figure moved to the closet, creaking the door back and forth as he inspected the inside. Then he walked to the bed at the far end of the cabin and kicked the metal leg.