LT Day 11 - Stalking Lotte

Lotte might be good at scheming, but she’s no ninja. You sneak up on her without difficulty, but you don’t make your move. You want to see who she’s following. It’s another blonde, and you creep among the trees and peer out to get a closer look.

It’s Sherry, from Red Team. You don’t know her, but you’ve heard she’s pretty scrappy on the field. All the same, she’s petite and very young, probably only eighteen. Lotte certainly has a nose for people she can bully.

You aren’t sure what Sherry’s doing, but you are sure what Lotte is not going to do. You go up behind her and grab her, covering her mouth with your hand. She jumps in surprise, but doesn’t fight you as you drag her away and behind a tree so that Sherry doesn’t notice. She hisses in pain, and that gives you pause. Could the injury be real? No way.

You push her against the tree.

“So what the hell do you want from her, huh?” you ask her quietly.

“Look,” she replies, indicating with her eyes.

Is she trying to distract you? You glance in the direction she is and notice something: there’s someone else out here. You pause, watching. It’s… a brunette?

She emerges, going into the clearing to meet Sherry. You hold your breath and watch, listening. Lotte keeps still. You can’t hear what they’re saying, but that’s Jill. She’s on Blue Team, and they won their game. Why’s she here at Crystal Lake?

“I thought she was in trouble,” Lotte whispers.

Bullshit.

Sherry and Jill are talking. Now you feel some doubt. As you watch them, they’re acting way more suspicious than Lotte was. They’re on different teams, after all. This is weird. You look suspiciously at Lotte, then at those two. They’re going deeper into the woods together. This doesn’t look like a romantic visit, either. They’re up to something.

Maybe Lotte just did the same thing you did: followed someone who was acting funny.

But is that likely? You let go of her.

“Sorry,” you say, but it’s probably obvious that you don’t mean it. “Let’s see what they’re up to.”

You should follow them. This way you can keep an eye on Lotte, too.

Lotte nods, a vaguely resentful look on her face. You can’t read her.

But there’s a problem, and it becomes obvious after less than half an hour: Sherry and Jill are outdoorsy, and you and Lotte are not. You have managed not to be noticed, but they’re too fast for you. You aren’t even sure you’re on their trail anymore, and you’re pretty far from Camp Crystal Lake.

Lotte sees you hesitate and points. “This way,” she says.

Trusting her doesn’t seem like a good idea, but you would have guessed the same direction, so it might be legit. You go that way, climbing up a hill until you hear running water. You climb down on the other side, finding yourself at a familiar river, on a bank of small stones. You and Lotte crunch forward and look around, but there’s no sign of them. You’ve definitely lost them.

“Son of a bitch,” you say, planting your hands on your hips. Well, you are an athlete, not a spy. “What do you think they were doing?”

“I don’t know,” Lotte says, sounding disinterested. Gosh. You almost prefer her in evil mode to this wilted, pitiful sack of depression.

You can’t even look at her, so you watch the water instead. It takes you a minute to realize where this is. This is where you and Lotte ended up after the canoe thing. In fact… you’re only like fifty feet away from the spot where you hate fucked and she threw your clothes in the fire. And how the hell are you going to get back to Camp Crystal Lake?