The ol' Summer camp in the woods

"There's an old Summer camp by a lake pretty deep in the woods to the north of here," Derek tells you. "The four of us used to work there as camp counselors back in high school. The place closed down a couple years ago, I hear they've been renovating it into some sort of woodsy resort spa; I don't think they've reopened yet, though. Last time I was there, the place had running water and the pantry was well-stocked with enough non-perishables to last a few months. The place is pretty damn remote, we should be able to hole up there without anyone or... well, anything finding us."

It sounds good enough for you. At this point, any plan is better than no plan. Derek gives you driving directions as Amanda gets on her cell phone to tell Megan and her friends the plan. It takes you almost a couple of hours to drive to the place, the last hour or so through winding woodland road. Derek's right, the place is pretty damn remote, and you don't expect anyone else, human or otherwise, to come across it by chance.

The camp looks like pretty much like you expected, a series of wood and stone cabins sprawled near a large lake with crystal clear blue waters. The place looks deserted, as you pull up and park your car you don't see any signs of recent habitation.

You and your passengers disembark and stretch out from your hours long ride. Derek waves to a modest-sized, more modern-looking concrete building off behind the majority of the cabins. "That's the generator building. I'll go and see if I can start the power up. Sundown'll be in a couple hours and I don't want to be out here without any light."

Maya, the cute, tough-looking Latina, hefts her baseball bat and moves to follow him. "I'll come with you; we shouldn't be going off alone until we've checked the place to make sure everything is alright."

As the two of them walk off to the generator building, Amanda goes over to check on her sister, who's getting out of her car with her friends. Besides Megan, there are three other teens her age, one girl and two boys. The girl has slightly messy light brown hair, pale delicate features, a pert nose, and a mouth hanging slightly open to show dainty, mouse-like teeth. She's cute in an adorable, teen-girl-at-the-mall kind of way. Of the boys, one is average height but surprisingly well-built for his age, with attractively aggressive features that are still boyish but will likely be described as "smouldering" in a few years, along with bronze skin and spiky cropped dark hair. The other boy is an astronomy club-looking kid with gentle features, a messy mop of curly light brown hair, and a surfer boy's skinny, lightly-toned body. Megan introduces the girl as Kristen, the well built boy as Jake, and the skinny kid as Warren.

Meanwhile, the beach body blonde dude points to one of the cabins nearby. "If I remember right, that's the storage cabin. We should check if we can find anything to arm ourselves with there. There's a whole bunch of tools, some hatchets and axes, there was even a gun safe in there back when we were counselors here. In case of, y'know, bears or whatever. I'm Mick, by the way."

You raise your eyebrows, more than a little concerned. "There are bears out here?"

Mick just shrugs. "It was never an issue while I was here. Better safe than sorry, I guess."

Motioning for Amanda and the teens to follow you, you and Mick make your way to the storage cabin. Not surprisingly, the front door turns out to be locked. Raising a finger as though he's just had a brilliant idea, Mick circles around to the cabin's side, smashes open a window, and climbs inside. After a couple minutes, he climbs back out holding a steel crowbar.

"Here, we can pry the door open with this!" he exclaims proudly.

"Um... yeah," you reply dryly. "Or, you could have unlocked the door from the other side while you were in there."

"Oh." is all Mick can say in reply.

Amanda laughs, for the first time in a long time. "That's Mick alright. Never change, buddy."

You all share a much needed laugh, before you make your way to the window, climb inside, and unlock the front door for everyone else. Just as Mick described, the storage room is full of tools, gardening supplies, various barrels and crates, and other miscellaneous equipment. As the teens start arming themselves with axes, machetes, pitchforks, and other tools, you notice the tall, dark metal gun safe Mick described in a dark corner. Amanda walks up to it, looking somewhat surprised it's still there.

"Huh, I wonder if the old combination still works," she thinks to herself out loud. Sure enough, Amanda has the gun safe open in no time. You're a little disappointed at the contents, though. There's a rather rustic-looking, small caliber, lever-action survival rifle (of the type designed mainly to be used against rabbits, not bears), an older-style 9mm handgun, and one box of ammo each for each gun. You load both guns, giving the pistol to Amanda while keeping the rifle for yourself. Mick continues to wield his heavy metal crowbar as the teens finish arming themselves with assorted tools.

"Alright," you tell the gathered group, "let's makes sure this place is clear before we try to set up camp. We'll go in groups of two and search all the cabins. Stick close together and yell for help if you see anything at all."