Her name was Crystal

It was Monday.





The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, shedding it's light over the woods surrounding Camp Crystal Lake. A morning mist was resting above the tips of the trees, creating the dew that coated the damp grass on the ground. The woodland creatures were stirring, and the birds were singing their early day songs.







It was glorious and peaceful.







And it was all about to come to an end.







A huge tractor trailer was rumbling down the road that the villagers used only when they absolutely had to. It's brakes hissed to a halt at the entrance to the camp. A large, weathered old sign with the letters 'Welcome to Camp Crystal Lake' written on it sat beside a dirt road. It was the same road children were carried down in a large green and yellow camp bus nearly twenty years before. It was the same road Jedd and Jake had used when they found and kidnapped Crystal a few nights before.







The tractor trailer was too large to go down this road. So it was forced to unload it's cargo at the entrance. The cargo, an over sized bulldozer, could drive itself the rest of the way.







One man sat in the drivers seat of the bulldozer, carefully backing it down the ramp while another was guiding it's progress. Other men were pulling up behind the tractor trailer in their large, rumbling trucks. There were many men. With many guns.







"I still don't like this, Jedd.." Jake said quietly, watching as the bulldozer backed up and away from the tractor trailer, then turned and slowly started it's journey past the Camp Crystal Lake sign and down the old dirt road. The trucks pulled in behind it, following it as it made it's way through the woods.







"What're you worried about?" Jedd grinned. He was pulling huge shells from a small cardboard box and loading them into his shotgun.







"I've got a bad feeling. Something bad is gonna happen." Jake's eyes were on the back of the bulldozer. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel. He and Jedd were the second truck in, following after the huge machine.







"Something bad is gonna happen alright," laughed Jedd, "a psychotic bastard is gonna get himself killed today if he shows his face." He cocked his gun and rolled his window down. He leaned out and aimed into the trees as if expecting Jason to jump out at any moment. The men in the other trucks were all doing the same with their firearms, their eyes scanning the thick foliage.







Jedd picked up the mouth peice for the CB Radio sitting on the dash of their truck.







"Breaker Breaker One-Nine. Everyone got their ears on?"







The radio crackled with various responses from the other trucks.







"Copy that, good buddy Jedd. Go ahead."







Jedd winked at Jake.







"If y'all happen to see a pretty little lady out here, we don't wanna go about shootin' her. She's worth about ten grand. But if you see anyone else skulking around.. shoot first and ask questions later."







"Ten-four."







Jedd hung the receiver back on the radio and returned to watching out the window, his gun at the ready. Jake just shook his head and continued to drive.







The camp was about a mile in from the main road. The dirt road was narrow, winding and full of steep, rolling hills. The bulldozer had to grind it's gears to get up these hills, slowing the entire caravan down even more. Everyone's eyes were peeled and on the watch for any unusual activity in the woods that surrounded them.. but after twenty uneventful minutes the group began to relax. All except for Jake, who's nerves were making him hit the brakes too hard when the bulldozer slowed ahead of them to climb another hill.







"Will you calm down? Fuck." Jedd swore, annoyed with his brothers twitchy nerves. Jake apologized quietly and slowly followed as the bulldozer climbed the hill. They reached the top, then eased down after the huge machine. Without warning the earth beneath the bulldozers treads gave way. It fell forward into a great, gaping hole that had been dug into the earth. Thanks to the angle the bulldozer had been coming down, the fall forward made it tip down and over. The driver screamed and tried to jump away but it was too late. The huge machine roared as it crashed, upside down, it's treads kicking dirt up high into the air.







The trucks behind all screeched to a halt and the men scrambled to get out and run to the over turned bulldozer, swearing and yelling out their confusion over what had happened.







Jedd jumped down into the hole, and grabbed for the man who was trapped beneath the huge machine... but it was too late. The man was dead. He was crushed to death. Blood and oil dripped to the muddy ground and mixed together.







Jedd sat back on his knees and stared wide-eyed at the crushed man, shaking his head in disbelief. Beneath him was a large, green tarp. It must have been pulled over the hole and covered in dirt to hide it. The man driving the bulldozer obviously had not seen the trap and had paid dearly with his life.







The blood and oil was beginning to spread and pool, so Jedd had to stand up and climb out of the hole before it got all over his boots.







The stupid little bitch and her monster boyfriend had killed one of them already.







Jedd stormed over to his truck and pulled out his gun.







"You think you're so smart!!" He screamed into the trees, "You got one of us! But there's fourteen more of us to go, you damned son-of-a-bitch!! See if you can manage to kill all of us!!"







Nothing but a breeze blowing through the leaves answered him.







"Jedd.." Jake tapped on his brothers shoulder, glancing around nervously through the trees, "Jedd, let's get out of here.... please? I don't like this.. I don---"







A loud rush of concentrated air whooshed from out of nowhere and Jake was violently thrown into his brother's back. Jedd yelled in surprise and turned just in time to see his brothers limp body sinking to the ground, his eyes rolled back in their sockets. There was a large, black arrow sticking out from the back of his skull.







Jedd screamed out in shock. He sunk to his knees and this time he didn't care about the blood that gushed onto his hands and clothes. He cradled Jake's lifeless form to his chest and screamed again, crying in anguish over the loss of his brother. The men around him had all run, ducking behind and beneath their trucks in an attempt to avoid any more deadly arrows that had seemed to come from nowhere. They remained there, scared stiff while Jedd crouched, holding his brother and rocking back and forth, his cries echoing through the forest.







A long time passed before Jedd's sobs subsided. He picked up Jake's body and put it inside the cab of their truck. He scrubbed away his tears, leaving streaks of blood all over his face as he once again went to pick up his gun. He gazed around to see all of his men cowaring by their vehicles.







"You fuckin' cowards.." he rasped out, his voice breaking, "Get up, all of you! We're gonna find that son-of-a-bitch and the damn wench and we're gonna burn 'em both... together!!"







Jedd climbed back into his truck and slammed the door. He carefully maneuvered around the gaping hole and the upside down bulldozer, then sped off towards the camp. The remaining men climbed into their trucks and did the same.









Five large trucks drove into the camp, tearing up the overgrown grass as they went. They stopped and parked, but no doors opened. No one was brave enough to get out.







Jedd peered through his window, gazing around at the empty, deserted cabins. The place looked different during the day than it had late at night. It looked deceivingly inviting. Like a good spot to stop and have a picnic lunch. The swings of the playground swayed back and forth in a gentle breeze.









Standing between two of the cabins Jedd saw the girl. She smiled, gave a little wave, then ran off.







"Get her!!" Jedd yelled, kicking his truck's door open. One of the men jumped out and raced towards the cabins. He suddenly tripped and fell, hitting the ground hard. He hadn't seen the chains and cords hidden in the long grass.





A loud snap followed by a sickening crunch rang out through the air. The man screamed in agony. He'd fallen right into a bear trap and it had snapped closed around his arm and shoulder. He struggled to sit up and get loose, but another trap snapped closed around his legs.





Held immobile, the chains attached to the traps slowly began to pull the man backwards into the bushes. He begged the others for help, using his only remaining free, unbroken limb to claw at the ground, trying to get a grip on something. Jedd and the other men could only stand and stare in horror as he disappeared into the bushes completely.







The screaming stopped.







Jedd cautiously stepped forward and peered into the bushes... and saw the mans broken, bleeding body hanging from the branch of a tree.









Jedd shook his head, backing away.







"Ok, this is pissing me off." He spat on the ground and turned to the other men. "Everyone split up. They can't have that many booby traps around here to pick us all off. One of us is bound to shoot one of them."









* * * *







"There's tweleve of them left..."







Crystal panted after her run to where Jason was squatted on the ground near the lake. He was pulling a cord tightly between the ends of an old, heavy plastic bow. His own bow was strung tightly around his chest and back, while his large black arrows were dangling in the quiver tied to his leg. Crystal squatted down next to him and picked up her own quiver, tying it to her leg next to the large hunting knife she'd stolen from Jake and Jedd. Jason handed her the finished bow, then silently gave her a few more pointers in how to aim and shoot it. For the moment they were well hidden by thick trees and bush.







"I don't know if I can do this..." She whispered, straining to pull the cord back on the bow in practice. It was just a childrens bow, left over from the archery lessons the children of the camp used to get. But it was still taut and tough and it took all of Crystal's strength to use it. While Jason had set up the traps around the camp and dug the pit on the old dirt road, Crystal had practiced shooting arrows into targets. She only hit something about half the time.







Jason took her chin with his hand and tilted her face up. He leaned his head down until their foreheads touched, hers warm and slightly sweaty from the days heat and his covered in the cool plastic of his mask.







"I love you," she whispered, and Jason trailed his thumb across her cheek. He didn't need to be able to speak the words. She knew he loved her too.







Jason stood and started off at a run down the shore of the lake. Crystal watched him go. She was terrified... but no longer for herself. Even though they'd managed to kill three already, there were still alot of men left... and only one Jason. It was her job to be bait to these men. To draw their attention whenever possible to give Jason the element of surprise. He had to kill them fast and avoid being out in the open where he could get shot. Crystal had her bow, arrows and the hunting knife just in case she needed to defend herself. Or if Jason was in danger. She knew he wanted her to stay out of harms way as much as possible, but if she saw Jason about to get hurt or killed... she was more than willing to jump into harms way for his sake.









The men were now split up into small groups, their guns cocked and aimed in every direction. They wandered throughout the camp, searching every corner, careful not to step into any more traps.







Jason was in his element. He was a master at stalking and killing his prey. All of these men were his prey now. They were different from the usual rabble of teenagers that normally wandered in his territory. Teenagers were easy to dispatch of. These men were much more of a challange.







He was so concentrated on staying hidden while he selected his next targets that he didn't even notice something very different about himself. So focused was he on protecting both his land, and more importantly, his Crystal, that he did not notice that his head was perfectly silent. His mother was not screaming for him to kill the intruders. There were no screeched instructions to bury his machete into the flesh and bones of the guilty ones. There was only a strategic plan to remove any and all danger from the girl he loved.









He waited for four of the men to wander out of sight of the others, then quickly climbed up a tree nearby to crouch on a thick branch. Shielded from view by the leaves, he would have one shot with an arrow. He pulled his bow from his chest and grabbed one of his arrows. He lined the arrow up and pulled the cord back, his single eye trained on the head of his first chosen victim.







When all four men had their backs to him, he loosed his arrow and it flew straight and true, then buried itself into one of the mens necks. The sharp tip severed the man’s spinal cord and jugular. He was dead instantly and made no sound of pain to alert the three others. Before he fell to the ground, Jason had jumped out of the tree, already having thrown his machete which buried itself in the back of another of the men. Jason hit the ground and grabbed for the hilt of his weapon, ripping it free from the dying body, then slashed out at the third man, taking his head clean off. The fourth man had just enough time to shoot at the massive murderer, but he missed. Jason sucker punched him in the face with such force that his nose smashed and his jaw snapped. The man fell, spitting blood, then twitched and went still when Jason’s machete speared through his ribcage, pinning him to the ground.







Jason had disappeared back into the trees before anyone left alive had realized what happened.









On the other side of the camp, Crystal was making her way to the trail that led to the burning place. Jedd saw her and shouted to the others, taking off at a run to chase the girl as she ran through the trees.







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Sorry this chapter was a little slower in coming. I love the Friday movies, but trying to think of interesting ways for Jason to kill people was a little hard for me, I admit. ^^;;