Nightmares Vs Magic

"We literally just told you, we've already been through hell. It's not gonna matter."

"Going to actual hell as a price for bringing demonic creatures to life would make all of your efforts up till now, completely meaningless." Dove retorted.

Instead of thinking on it, they began arguing. 

"River got out of here after bringing up a bunch of dead kids to life. And none of you are talking about how they're going to hell. Maybe you just want us to put our friends down because they're annoying."

"Green managed to escape because of an already existing dead figure that gave them a ride. What they did is different and didn't require making any deals with Satan."

"Okay!" The boy replied sarcastically while rolling his eyes and looking away.

"You guys know aaaallll about how demonic stuff works, ok, next thing you know, you're gonna tell us that we're being dramatic."

There was a bit of silence, Joon opened his mouth again to retort but Dove raised her hand to stop him, opting for a new approach. 

"May I have both of your names?"

They both huffed and rolled their eyes. One of the workers in the root cages tried to get out but he got stuck, and he wouldn't be quiet about it. 

"Their names are Georgie and Hannah, don't bother thinking you can talk with them, they've always been useless." He said. 

Joon took one of the rocks from the ground and threw it at him.

"What the fuck?!" He yelled.

"Sit the fuck down, you reek of beer." Joon told him.

Dove slid her baton out of her sleeve, the two flinched and the guy smiled. The kids recognizing the shape and attempted to scoot away, close to yelling curse words at her. It definitely didn't help when Dove transformed the edge into a blade. 

Georgie yelled for one of his kratts, Dove reached with her knife, right behind him. 

She cut the rope after some slices, the blade facing away from him so as not to hit the struggling boy. She did the same for Hannah and stood up as the rope fell. 

The guy looked at her in disappointment.

Hannah massaged her wrists as they both looked up at her in confusion.

Dove seemed to change, not physically but presentation and atmosphere-wise, for the next words and mannerisms she used was similar to that of Bence when they first formally met. 

"Forgive me, I must've come off as a very uncomfortable person to you. I should properly introduce myself." She folded her hands in front of her and gave a slight bow with her head. 

Joon frowned, wondering what she was doing. 

"My name is Dove, don't let my appearance fool you, I am just an intern, and only eighteen years old at that. The suit is just so that I can be taken seriously at work, you remember that necromancer man who was talking with and guiding your friend? He wears suits all the time, so I just want to blend in." 

This first line got them to relax more; they even took her hands when she offered to help them stand back up. 

"I may have also come off as too insensitive. We came over, ransacked the camp, and even messed up your plans to escape. And now we're trying to tell you what to do, when we have no clue about your stories." 

They both nodded, now close to getting along with her as well as they did Joon, who had better people skills. 

"You're damn right about that." 

"If you're willing to listen finally, we'll tell you exactly why we can't get rid of these dolls." Hannah said as she pointed to each of the chained kratts. 

"You guys essentially need them for vengeance? That's a pretty small goal in exchange for going to hell." Joon said. 

Hannah and Georgie glared at him, not that it would push him back, Joon only leered back. No surprise, he is twenty, doesn't matter how much people skills he has, he can't completely understand them. 

"It's not actually vengeance that they care about." Dove told Joon for them as she read their body languages, hands in her pockets. 

"That was just the most immediate thing they could think of. They can't give up their contracts because even after killing their oppressors and then fleeing, they know they'll still need help in the outside world."

The two kids looked at her, surprised at how perceptive her guess was. She still kept her hands in her pockets as she began to slowly pace around them, a wide circle for their comfort but also so she could continue studying to monologue. 

"When your friend with the green eyes left the camp, they left on a creature not tied to hell, and was actually a friend to our coworkers."

"Wait, speaking of which." Joon interrupted as he suddenly remembered, looking around. 

"Where is that headless Hollow guy?"

Dove hummed in thought, wondering that herself before shrugging. 

"We can ask Bence later."

She turned her attention back to the two who were now wondering what Joon meant.

"Your friend, who we call Green, was brought to the building we work at, and we learned from them just a sliver about what they escaped from. That's the only reason we even knew about this place and came here. Because Green was worried about all their friends here, and they wanted to prevent their friends from doing anything that could harm them in anyway, either currently or eventually."

This statement made them think. 

Hannah crossed her arms as she looked down at the ground. Georgie spoke up. 

"Well, we did what we had to. Like you said, we need something to keep us safe after we escape." He shrugged. 

"You want to leave this place, but, based on how none of you have said anything about your families, I'm guessing no one wants to go back home?"

"Obviously."

She hummed again in thought. 

"So, are the kratts supposed to be your new guardians? Or are most of you genuinely ready to die?"

They both stared at her, looking uncomfortable now, stepping back as she began stepping close to them. 

"When you escape, are you just going to use these dolls made of hay and farm tools to hijack a car and travel? Or to help when you need to camp in the woods? Do you know how to camp in the woods? What were your plans exactly?"

They lashed out at her on this question. The truth is that there really was no plan. But they were haunted, they have seen ghosts and demons, they knew how to create dolls to do their bidding, how and where? Well, who knows. It was a Wednesday night, they just made some dolls the same way one would make a voodoo doll, drew some blood to bleed over the dolls because that seemed demonic enough, and made their wishes. 

I saw their cuts when I pulled them both up. Both cut themselves on their arms, below the wrist, not their palms, the typical body part used for sacrificing blood, and a very painful area. The arms are less scary and painful. So, I could tell that even though they insisted they'd be ok with going to hell, they didn't really want to die just yet, but they probably felt shitty enough to think they do. 

"Fucking bitches, bastards, dumbasses, all of you! Always telling me what to do!" Georgie spoke, or more spat out as he got more upset again. 

"I am not. I just want you to be rational about this. I know you feel like you can only depend on and trust yourselves right now, but you can't." 

Her words only made them even more upset. Hannah attempted to shove her as they began walking past, but she didn't really budge, Hannah was a tad too weak, so she just kept scowling. 

"Fuck off. We'll take care of ourselves. Should have known you wouldn't get it. You probably lied about being eighteen too, didn't you?" She said as they walked away, heading towards the mess hall, where Chris was having an easier time with the non-haunted kids inside. 

They could be seen quietly through the open doors, some were sitting down, Chris helped them get their phones back, so that gave him lots of points already. 

Hannah and Georgie were slowly walking over to them, but not before looking at their kratts and figuring out how to unchain them. Bence's magic wouldn't let up any time soon. 

"It looks like Chris is at least getting valuable information on his side." Dove commented. 

"Meanwhile the ones we're dealing with are too upset, I kinda sorta blame you for getting them more upset but I will still hit them, with your permission this time." Joon said as he took his own baton out, ready to turn it into a baseball bat. 

He heard the guy in the root cage chuckle, and so did some of the other adults in the cage with him.

"I tried to tell ya. They won't listen, not unless you force them. You think their parents sent them here because they were sweet little angels?" He laughed with his full chest, shaking his head.

Another one piped up. He looked cleaner, but also like a drill sergeant out of uniform. 

"The kids come here to get behavioral correction, they're all menaces."

Joon looked at Dove, she looked at them and then back to him. They rolled their eyes. 

"Tell that to your liquor farm."

"And to the dead kids."

"And to the ones who literally made a deal with Satan just to get away from yall."

"Hey!" The drill sergeant looking guy raised his voice as he walked right up to the roots, trying to get through them as he spoke. "Before you get all disrespectful, how about thinking from our perspectives? Their parents pay us to discipline them by whatever means necessary. These kids are the types who are the brink of no return."

Joon walked right up to the drill sergeant, but not too close to the cage. He looked him up and down. 

"You guys use corporal punishment often."

"We have to. Not every kid is gonna listen to words alone, which you both should've learned earlier."

"What's your name mister?"

"I don't need to tell you my name. You need to earn that, until then, it's just Sir to you. Tell me your name first."

Joon smirked, which only made the man scowl more. 

"We know you guys used tasers. What actions qualify using tasers as punishment?" He asked with a growing smile. Annabelle's trait is spreading. 

The man who insisted on being called 'Sir' almost reached out and grabbed him, veins could be seen popping out of his neck and forehead.

"Questioning me is disrespectful when you hadn't answered my question first."

"Is raising your voice out of the blue also disrespectful?" Joon asked, his smile growing with more plot. 

"What. Is your name?"

"You said it was rude to ask a question if you hadn't answered!" Joon took some steps back, grinning as he planted one foot.

"I am the one you should be listening to! I am the adult! You are the kid-"

Buzzing and screaming mixed as the man's voice shook along with his body. Joon kicked him with his prosthetic to push him away from the bars. His body flew back from the static.

The other adults inside the cage stepped away as the man fell to the ground, twitching, almost drooling, but most importantly, silent. The center of his green shirt had a burn mark the size of a foot. The others watched in shock and silent surprise.

Joon sighed as he lifted the knee of his prosthetic up, pulling up the foot part to check. There was some blue light emitted from the sole of his metallic foot, they soon faded and he planted it back down. He's very good at balancing on one leg. 

She chuckled lightly, then gripped her own baton, shifting it into coils of black rope, surprising Joon and making the other adults in the cage flinch.

"You know what? Let's try something like that."

As the two were plotting, Hannah and Georgie were fiddling with the chains. The boy kept trying to pull and yank, nothing worked, and he only ended up throwing himself back. Hannah kept telling the kratts she summoned to break free from the chains, and they did, but no use. 

Normally, a kratt will disappear if they are given an impossible task, but none of them disappeared, meaning it is possible for them to get out of their chains somehow. The two must've known this, because they both got ideas. 

Hannah went to the skeletal one made out of farming tools and a random deer skull she found. Its movements were rickety and awkward, but it could stand just fine. 

"Fall apart and be still, I'll reassemble you." She told the creature.

It became still and undid itself, the skull falling first, and the sticks and rods of it's body going limp, now only connected by the strings keeping it connected. She began pulling each piece, maneuvering it out of the chains. It worked well because the chains came loose, there was no reason to hold on tight because it no longer recognized a being in its grasp, only objects. There is no need for chains to keep objects tied to the ground and it wasn't the command that Bence intended. 

Georgie however made most of his kratts out of bales of hay, bones, and some heavy metal junk he would find from broken parts, tied together with chains that used to be heated and used as whips, so having them fall apart so he can lift or move them would not be easy. 

He had time, so did Savannah as Dove and Joon ended up getting distracted and interrogating the adults instead with some other questions they had, which surprisingly, was easier. 

One of the camp counselors put on another tough act and tried to scold Joon for what he did to the apparent owner of the camp. Dove pulled them closer by her rope to be the next victim, close enough to the bars to do what they wanted.

"We explored your barn house and saw all the liquor. Is that like a side hustle or is this camp a side hustle?"

"That's classified you rude fucks."

Joon tased him by first tapping his shin through the bars.

He passed out instantly like the previous man, which was actually inconvenient. 

"I needed to ask him again." Dove said to Joon who was now sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. 

"Yeah, I realize that I made this a little too lethal for self-defense."

Next was a man who tried to stay far away from both of them by going to the other side of the cage. Dove merely walked to where he was, leading to him repeatedly trying to get away from her as she asked questions, simply following him like a pacing lion on the other side of the cage. 

"Who's the real owner of this camp?"

"You just tased him."

"No, the real owner. The one who does all the paperwork for your distillery business, not the military-looking guy who gets off from traumatizing kids."

"We don't know! We just make the liquor!" Said one of the guys. 

He wore a vest and the typical khaki shorts, a camp-themed t-shirt of his own. He also looked thinner, almost pale enough that his skin would get bright red under sunlight after just an hour. mix that with his Southern accent, and frantic personality, and Joon and Dove have finally found a compliant one.

"The real owner rarely ever comes here, he sends his watchers to come check the progress and stuff, but that's it! We're more like factory workers."

Dove was tempted to find a way inside to bring him out before she heard Chris' voice calling out to them. 

"Weren't you kids supposed to be dealing with helping two new haunted kids undo their contracts?" Chris approached them, holding the laptop under his arm. 

"Weren't you supposed to be gently interrogating the other campers?" Joon sassed back at him, playfully, not disrespectfully. He was however hiding his taser by firmly planting his prosthetic foot down, hiding the glow on his sole with the grass. 

The cons of not putting a shoe on his foot, not that any would fit anyway.

"And besides..."

Joon pointed with his chin to gesture over to the area where the kratts were chained down. He noticed how the two haunted kids were attempting to disassemble their creations to slip out of the chains to then put back together. Savannah was having an easy time moving the parts of her spawns, Georgie looked like he was trying to get help, but all his friends were still wary of his puppets, whom they all now know were legitimately summoned through demonic means. It seems that Chris filled them in on whatever they were curious of.

You could see even from a good distance the other kids Georgie was trying to persuade in helping him were hesitating. You could hear each of them trying to reason with him about even touching the things. Apparently, they already saw how much destruction the kratts caused. Which really begs the question on my mind, how in the world did the kratts not manage to kill any of the counselors or farmers in the time Green summoned those Revenants, and then the horseman, and then left. 

"Those two are too closed off around us, it's better to let their friends persuade them." Dove interjected. 

The line surprised Joon, but she made a good point and stared at him for a second, giving him a nod. His turn now. He got the idea.

"Yeah! We're outsiders, even if we could give them good reasons, they don't want to listen."

Chris hummed and then pointed to the cage filled with half the group of adults awake but cautious, and the other half passed out. 

"And what answers are you hoping to get out of them?"

"From what we gathered on our end, this camp is only half the business, the other half is running what is most likely an unlicensed distillery with free labor. We were just asking about the owner."

"We have a license!" One of the counselors interrupted. It was the same timid guy in khaki that Dove was about to reach for next.

He quickly gulped and stepped back despite being protected by the roots, when Dove, Joon, and Chris, each sent a glance his way. 

"We have a license to run this place." He repeated with a wavering voice. "That what each of the visitors would tell us. We're just doing our jobs. Stop making us out to be the bad guys here."

There was a long, tense pause. Dove looked to Chris, able to tell he had something on his mind when he continued to stare at the timid looking park ranger who spoke out.

Chris stepped closer.

"I spoke a lot with the kids gathered at the mess hall, or, at least, the only ones gathered together so far. It was after I did some searching prior, and gave them back all their phones, some spare clothes they brought, and other comfort items, which were taken away from them since the start of their arrivals here." He said in a careful tone, spacing out his words just right as he made sure to have all of the camp managers' attention. At least the ones left awake anyway. 

"That was for discipline! You know how kids are these days with their devices." One of them answered before the shaky park ranger could. 

Still trying to stand tall, like he felt the need to compete in out-intimidating Chris. He also threw a glance at Joon, who returned his glance with a silent sticking out of his tongue in cheeky mockery. It makes it hard to remember that Joon is twenty.

"And yet, even with those devices, none of them ignored me. So perhaps that's just a skill issue on your part." He said with a light chuckle. Then spoke again right before the guy could retort. 

"But the other items? Now, what reason could there be to take away spare clothes and only give them camp uniforms? Is it the same reason some of the kids recall the counselors taking one or two kids from their tents, and bringing them to the cabins on random nights?" He said, and most of the adults in the cage stayed silent, except for the guy who still tried to stand taller than Chris.

Dove's eye twitched as she stood a little far behind Chris, her arms crossed.

"They're exaggerating!" The park ranger responded, though his tone sounded more desperate.

"Yeah! These kids will do anything to get sympathy, they know they'll get attention if they lie about that st-"

The other farmer who spoke up, choked on his words. 

Because Dove launched forward, reached through the bars, and snatched his throat, squeezing the front flesh of his throat by her fingers that bent like claws. 

"Keep talking. Go on, do it. Say they lied."

She gritted her teeth as she stared at him like death waiting for a dying patient to finally pass, and she would've actually done it had Chris not pulled her away. However, her grip was so tight that she just pulled the guy by the throat with her, only letting go because she banged his head against the roots and dropped him. 

Chris gave her this look, it wasn't an angry one, but it wasn't one that said he agreed with her actions. She only gave him a blank expression. 

"Why did you stop her?" Joon asked, seeming to have this same blank stare, frowning. 

"You kids do not want blood on your hands. At least, you're both too young to make that choice just yet." Chris replied as he let go of Dove's jacket, and she smoothed out her coat herself. 

He seemed to have this pained expression, listening to the farmer in the cage cough and catch his breath as he stood on all fours on the grass, and looking between the two kids who now were clearly more upset. 

"It's alright. I'll make sure they give me all the answers I need. I just have to be very careful and precise." He changed the subject and turned his attention back to the adults. 

"You kids heard them and me correctly, right? With those earlier snippets of the hell the kids went through?" He then nodded his head over to the two summoners who are almost done disassembling and reassembling their kratts. 

At least, Savannah was, Georgie appeared to be getting into a verbal argument with one of the other campers. 

"Well, now you've got something to work with. And also, I actually kinda need you to get the kids out of this area, far away, temporarily, if you could."

"Why?"

Chris didn't say much else, other than give the camp workers in the cage this new, dark look as he raised one hand. 

Fire emitted from that hand. 

The two camp workers who tried to argue with him before, yelped in surprise and backed away. 

Joon and Dove got the idea, and they went to get all the campers away from the area. 

"Okay, I get we have something to be sympathetic towards them about, but still, how are we supposed to convince them to let go of their contracts?" Joon exclaimed in a whisper to Dove as they planned and thought. 

"They clearly want to kill the workers and then use them as support to live in the woods or whatever their plans were."

"They have no plan actually, just a goal and a desire, but no ideas or knowledge of how to achieve them." Dove replied, then, her eyes changed, not into a frown, but the gaze was sharper. 

"I'm pretty sure they have all the means to kill though, don't they? With their creepy puppets?"

"They don't have the courage to." She stated, making Joon stop in his tracks, and she did too, just to be polite as she continued.

"They honestly had every opportunity, between the time when Green hit their necromancer puberty, to when Bence and the others came here. The two had every chance to kill all of the workers, even had the power to order the kratts to attack Bence and the others, and if they truly had the nerve, they would've. But none of that happened."

"Because they're too scared?"

"Yes." She said with form belief. 

In the distance, they could hear Georgie arguing with one of the campers. He was trying to convince them to help him move his kratts out of the chains and reassemble them, reasoning that they needed them. That the kratts will be the solution to all their problems. 

One of the campers he was arguing with asked if he intended to use his 'creepy dolls' as they called them, to kill people.

He couldn't answer. Instead, he reasoned that unless any of them wanted to go back to their shitty homes and shitty parents, then they need the kratts. 

None of them were convinced. 

"C'mon! It's kill or be killed in this world, might as well play along!" He said with a gravely tone, putting on this tough mask. 

"Think about what life did to us. We don't have to be nice."

"This isn't about being nice." A girl with many freckles responded, eyeing him and his dolls with caution.

"We don't have to be nice, but killing isn't gonna solve anything! Do you want us all to get in trouble?"

"We're not gonna get in trouble!" Said Savannah as she began putting more of her kratts together. 

So far, she had the one made from farming tools, then the one from wood planks and skulls, and then the one with sickles for hands. It was like if one was told to make the skeletons of certain animals from anything but proper bones. Although, there was also one with a quilt draped over its head, either to resemble a face or hair, it wasn't clear, but the quilt had so many holes and stitching from being repaired so much, that it resembled a type of face that's not pleasant to see in the dark.

All of their creations were unnerving to non-haunted folk, but Georgie and Savannah refused to acknowledge that part.

"Because technically, none of us will be doing the killing! We'll be innocent the entire time!"

"But you guys made those things, so it's still technically your fault, what are you gonna do when police come?"

"We already have a bunch of police here. Some type of police, and they aren't doing much against us. We're fine! Just help me get these guys out of these fricken chains, and then we can leave this place!"

"How are we gonna leave?! We don't know how to drive, and we don't know where to go!"

"We'll figure it out! We just gotta get out of here!! Listen, it's either you guys help, or you're getting left behind!" 

A sound came after Georgie lashed out at his friends. Dove walked up to them, arms crossed as she clicked her tongue quietly. 

"First time trying to lead a group of people, I'm guessing?" She asked.

"None of your business."

"You won't get very far. Yelling can only do so much convincing. Or rather, you have no idea what you're doing and are only copying the actions of the "counselors" who would tell you what to do." She said, raising her fingers to mimic quotes when referring to the counselors.

"Shut up. Preach whatever you want and then go away." 

Dove could feel Joon's stare. He was shaking his head before she even said anything, but she gave him a look, as if asking 'Do you have a better idea?'. He shrugged. 

She put her hands in her pockets. 

"I drove here. My car is near the exit, if all of you, and I mean all of you come follow us, Joon will show you guys all the places near this camp that you can go to, and I can teach some of you how to drive."

The other campers lit up at this news, more open to her idea than to helping Georgie and Savannah with their dolls now. 

Joon gestured with his hands with all of the willing to follow him. 

The two haunted kids looked on in disbelief as nearly all of the kids followed him. Dove stayed and closed the gap as she walked closer, searching for the unconvinced. It was only the two haunted ones and a couple others. Savannah glared at her, then snapped her fingers at the nearest kratt standing next to her. 

"Don't let them le-" 

She never finished her sentence, dove was too quick. 

Georgie flinched when he watched her grab the girl's face and put her in a chokehold. Her hand cupped Savannah's mouth. She fought and attempted to punch Dove, hitting her arm and trying to kick her from behind. Dove brought her slowly to the ground, one hand cupping her mouth, the taking one of her arms and pinning it behind her back. 

"Don't just stand there, do something!" Georgie told one of the kids that stayed. 

Dove looked up to the unconvinced kids watching her actions, they became more cautious. 

"What do all of you want?"

"What?"

"What do all of you want to do with yourselves? Right now. After you leave this place? Do you want to just live? Or do you all have things you want to do?"

They stayed silent, but she still had their attention. 

"Don't listen to her! She's saying stupid stuff! Just get her to let go of Savannah!" Georgie yelled at them again as he kept trying to get his kratts out of their chains. 

"If you just do what both of these kids tell you, you're going to spend your days hiking in the woods, wondering when you're going to eat, how you're supposed to get money if you're living in hiding, and being afraid, tired and lost for the rest of your days." Dove said, now in a stronger tone to keep their attention.

"I know it seems like you kids can only trust each other, and that me and the others are just outsiders that you don't know anything about, but we can provide more help than two kids with no plans aside from making deals with the devil to summon slaves to do whatever they say."

She then looked down at the girl still struggling against her. She uncovered her mouth, just for a moment. All of the campers following Joon were gone.

"I'm going to kill you." She said with the most menacing voice she could muster, filled with pure annoyance and anger. 

"You can, but you won't. You don't have the nerves to." She said, making Savannah freeze and stare at her. 

"I mean it."

"If you really had the nerves to kill, you could've easily done it. You had every opportunity, could've ordered the kratts to kill the counselors and they would've done it like that." She snapped her fingers whilst looking down at Savannah. 

"You could've done that hours ago, but you didn't, and when I came here, right at the time to see there were multiple kratts, enough to act as a small team to kill plenty of people, all I saw was a bunch of creations flailing about. You and Georgie were only found much later, hiding and then found. Didn't even bother to stay and see what your creations were going to do, yet you claim you're fully intending to use them to help you, and the others escape?"

She then looked up. At Georgie, and then the other campers. 

"You already experienced a slice of hell in a controlled environment, are you ready to experience a new type of hell? In a situation following two leaders who have no control, no exact plans, and only their anger and stubbornness for decision making skills?"

"I will seriously kill you if you don't shut the fuck up and let me go!" The girl in her grasp screeched, but it didn't sound angry, more desperate. 

"Go ahead. Your mouth is free, give the command, tell any or all of your kratts to kill me." Dove said, even letting the girl go. 

She stood up, hands open to show nothing up her sleeves. 

"Kill me, or fight me. Either way, if you want to start making any progress to get out of this place, all you have to do, is follow me to the exit, and I have a car waiting. Joon is waiting with the keys, about to show your other friends. But if you don't take that one simple step, and do that one action, you'll have made zero progress, and have ultimately done nothing. The decision is yours."