This wasn’t my idea. II

Following the water line as she went, Betty kept thinking about what happened. The… whatever it was, attacked her first. It gave her no choice. A glance over at the water made her freeze. Mirrored in its surface, Betty squinted at the twin suns. Red and yellow, twins. An asteroid field was dimly visible as well. This planet had rings.

And twin suns.

She was really in an alien world.

Shit.

Fuck.

Bollocks.

Somehow she hoped this would be more E.T. and less the dark rooms and blades kind of thing. Less vivisection and more charming kids. Her class argued differently. Betty was no stranger to the Slasher genre. She had spent almost every Saturday afternoon of her childhood watching the things. Yes, her childhood.

Her parents had been charming, distracted people. Busy. So they didn't care what the kids watched when it came to having an afternoon for themselves. So while her friends watched My Little Pony and played with Barbie, Betty watched Slasher movies and hand-sewed her own Michael Myers doll.

It murdered Barbies.

And Ponies.

A lifelong movie buff, Betty slowed as she saw a series of docks jutting into the lake. She had seen this movie before as well. The alien stumbles out of the forest and is immediately shot by the terrified locals. She ignored the inevitable murders that followed because she doubted she would survive a bullet. And also because she was not the wanton murder kind of girl.

Despite her reservations about what was going on, Betty was of a practical mind. So she hid and observed. A group of the…. Locals? She would go with locals, were splashing about in the water. They were smaller than the first she had encountered, only just under four feet tall. A strange, perch-like object was affixed in the center of the dock. One of the larger ones was crouched on it, watching the little ones play in the water with a bored expression.

Children playing in the water, with a lifeguard watching. All the shirts looked the same, with some symbols on them. Betty shook her head. It was a bloody summer camp. By a lake.

“Seriously?” Betty muttered to herself. Betty snuck around the docks, keeping to the forest. No one cried out, so she assumed she got away with it. She moved as silently as she could, following a path away from the docks. A series of large houses on stilts, hexagonal in shape, they otherwise looked identical to camp buildings on Earth. Things got busier the further she went. Reluctantly, Betty dropped back. She had no urge to terrify some alien child.

Over the next few hours Betty carefully mapped the camp. The main housing was up from the docks and a larger building that she would guess was the cafeteria. It was set back a few hundred meters from the dorms. Another path led off into the forest; following it, Betty found something like an archery range. Instead of bows and arrows, she saw long poles used to propel spears. Despite being a bit too small, she grabbed a spear and pole. Betty might need to hunt or scare someone away. No matter what her class said, she was not a slasher on some murder spree.

Her mind spun off onto that tangent. Betty was sure she wasn’t thinking clearly. She was in an alien world, lost and alone. She thought she should be curled up somewhere, crying. To be fair, she would be if she could find somewhere. But survival demanded effort, and Betty swore to herself she would survive this.

She gripped her stolen spear tightly.

Beyond that strange archery range, she found the usual camp stuff, flags, and stuff for games set out in an open clearing. An assault course. It was comfortably every day. Betty continued to circle the camp and found a set of showers she seriously considered using after a night in the woods. Promising herself, she would return when everyone was asleep and get clean, she moved on.

Betty thought how crazy this all was as she followed another trail deeper into the forest. She was an alien visitor to a strange world. Her brother would flip out. He was a massive conspiracy nut, always insisting aliens were hiding in the wilds. So now she was the hiding alien. A new set of hexagonal cabins emerged. Smaller and more widely separated. This must be the councilors dorms. The creatures would only be teenagers, but at least that was closer to adults.

Finding some nice dense bushes to hide in that shielded her from all sides, Betty settled in to wait. Then, finally, she would find an adult, approach them carefully and peacefully, and this would all turn out to be E.T.

Slasher class be damned.

The sun had long set, and Betty was dozing lightly. No one had come back to the huts all day. Then, finally, a series of voices approached. They were boisterous; she could understand the tone even if she couldn’t understand the words.

The creatures walked into sight. There were definitely two sexes. But, if you ignored the eyes, horns, ears, tails, and hooves, they were just like humans. She squinted. Almost.

“Three tits, nice,” Betty muttered to herself. “Parker would love her.” She smiled as she saw a moss-green-haired and rather buxom alien flashing one of the males.

The group dashed in and out of the cabins before moving up a path she hadn’t noticed. Maybe to the head counselor for a meeting?

Betting that was where they were going, Betty followed. She tiptoed but could have driven a steamroller through the woods with all the noise the group made as they played grab ass with each other.

After about a half hour of trekking, they came to a clearing with a small bonfire prepared in the center. Unfortunately, it was fully dark, so Betty could not see very much.

There was something next to the fire, but…

The fire bloomed as one of the males reached a hand out to the pyre, flame flicking from his fingers. Betty raised her eyebrows. They obviously had some form of magic or a class. She forgot all that when the fire lit the rest of the clearing.

The figure next to the fire was Paula. She was dead. The group went over to the dead body, marked with burns and cuts. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she saw the kindly old woman’s body. What had happened to her became evident as one of the females took a branch from the fire and giggled as she burnt the side of Paula’s face. The others laughed as the grey hair caught fire.

Betty watched as the horror continued. The bastards drank and talked, kicking or burning the body or dancing around with it held between them while the others laughed. They stripped her and laughed at her body before the climax of the evening; they threw the body on the fire after pausing to pose with it while little balls in their hands flashed. They took selfies.

Betty backed away and fled through the woods. Tears spilled from her as Betty gasped. Her blood ran cold as the memories of the smiling, sweet old woman passed through her mind. Finding a hollow between some boulders, Betty climbed inside and curled into a ball. She rocked back and forth, her blood running cold at what she had seen.

This was not E.T.

She stayed there all night and the following day. It was only thirst that drove her out of hiding. Something had changed as Betty lay there, the horrors repeatedly replaying in her mind. She became angry. The fury of the indignities the corpse had suffered, let alone her murder, burned in her mind. Only the hunger and thirst were keeping them at bay.

Once night had well and truly fallen, she crept from her hiding spot and moved towards the building she had tagged as the cafeteria. Moving slowly and carefully while clutching the spear and pole to her chest, the anger burned inside her as Betty ground her teeth. The forest was quiet, with no sounds coming other than the wind. She crouched and moved from one tree to the next, stepping over strange yellow rocks. Her mind had been hiding the strangeness of the forest from her. Alone in the dark, the differences stood out so much more. The stones were strange enough; the pine trees were worse. Now that she looked at them closely, the red flesh of the wood showed through the dark brown bark. Feeling an idiot but doing it anyway, She sniffed the tree, finding them to be the source of the spicy scent.

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The constant tension made her stiff and achy, not helped by dehydration and hunger. She moved into sight of the large building. No lights were showing; listening carefully, she heard no sounds of movement within. Anxiety warred with hunger. She wanted to go in to find food and water. But those creatures killed Paula. What if they found her?

Betty bit her lip, unsure. There was a way to be sure, but she didn’t want to do it. Her skill, Slasher’s Senses. She had refused to use any of the skills so far. Betty would never have to face how she got them if she never used them. Or what they said about her.

Hesitating every other step, Betty moved onto the steps up to the wide doors. She pushed them as there seemed to be no handle she could find. Inside were tables and benches, just like there would be back on Earth. Gliding her feet along the floor to prevent any footsteps and keeping low, she made her way to the half doors at the back. Passing the small raised stage at the front of the hall, Betty pressed her ear to the wall. When no sounds came, she moved through. It was a kitchen, as she expected. The place looked almost identical to the camp kitchens she had seen in movies. Betty guessed there were only so many ways to make a kitchen, no matter the world.

There were two doors out of the kitchen. One led outside, and the other led to what she was betting was a pantry. Betty praised crappy camp food control throughout the universes as the door gave under her pressure. Shelves upon shelves lined the walls. Bottles filled with various liquids were stored at the back. Ignoring any colored liquids and choosing the first clear one she saw, Betty twisted off the cap and sent a silent prayer. An acid smell hit her nose. Vinegar. With a sour face, she discarded it and tried the next one. Three more attempts found various noxious-smelling liquids, even clear oil. Finally, she came across some water. She guzzled it down, praying it was safe for her.

Continuing her search as she drank, it was time to look for food.

It only now occurred to her to wonder if she could eat any of this food. Packages and boxes lined the room. Were any of them edible? It took a lot of careful tasting to determine that some were at least palatable. But were they edible?

Betty would know if the food stayed down and she didn’t die.

Sitting in the middle of the room and chewing on some jerky-like dried meat, Betty was lost in her own world. The gasp behind her was the first she knew about the visitor.

Betty looked around in shock, seeing one of the camp counselors from the bonfire. It was the pudgy male one she had seen as they danced Paula’s corpse between them. Her eyes narrowed as the teen opened his mouth to scream.

There was no thought on Betty’s part. She was on the floor one second and staring up; the next, she stood behind the teen. Her foot connected with his back, sending him stumbling forward. She appeared before him, spear in hand, and jabbed the point into his mouth. Pushing with everything she had, the tip speared out the back of his head. Stepping back in horror and throwing up, Betty shook her head.

That was not her fault. He was going to call the others. They would kill her just like they had Paula. If she had hesitated, then she would be dead now or worse. A girl alone could not take chances, especially on an alien world.

This was not her fault.

Not her FAULT!

Her breathing slowed as the teen lay in a pool of his own blood. As he had fallen forward, the spear had driven clean through him, standing up from the back of his head like an obscene flag pole.

Realizing that someone might come looking for the dead counselor made Betty get moving. She cleaned up the blood and vomit using a big tissue roll. Next, she tore a bag from a storage bin and filled it with water and food.

Once she was done gathering supplies, Betty turned back to the body. It could not be found here; if they found a dead camp counselor, they would call the local police or whatever they had on this planet.

Betty wrapped the body using more bags, but she encountered a problem: the body was too heavy to carry over her shoulder while carrying the supplies. Betty did not want to leave either behind, so she turned to something she had been determinedly ignoring. The chime sound in her head.

Level Up!

Level Up!

2 points left to assign….

The recommendation is…. Body.

Figuring that meant stronger, which she needed at the moment, Betty accepted. A cramp, like an electric shock, ran through her body. Once it passed, she felt refreshed and energized. Also stronger. The body was easily shrugged onto her shoulder while the other hand toted the supplies.

This leveling thing was not half bad.

Using her foot, she wiped up the last of the blood, dumping the bloody wad of tissue into the supplies bag. After a moment’s hesitation, she added the roll of bags. Betty nodded at a job well done. Of course, there was probably a lot she missed. But at least a casual glance did not scream murder scene.

Once she got to the stairs, Betty was stuck. It was dark, and the steps were narrow, designed for hooves instead of feet. She was worried a missed step would make her fall.

Redoubling her grip on the bag with her supplies, she put the other hand out in front. Keeping the point of the bloodied spear facing the floor, she activated the Slasher’s Step. Arriving smoothly at the bottom, Betty was immediately aware that the dead body's weight was gone. She winced as she watched it roll down the steps, crumpling at the bottom with a wet slap.

“No. No. No.” Betty said repeatedly as she grabbed the body and hoisted it over her shoulder. Blood leaked from the bag, drenching her shoulder and leaving a trail as she moved. Looking back, there was a trail of blood down the stairs that glistened in the pale moonlight. “Fuck!” Betty swore before growling to herself, so much for hiding the dead body.

It was time to come up with plan B.

Thinking furiously, Betty came up with an idea. It was not a great idea, but….

Betty moved off toward the Camp Counselors’ Cabins in a wavy pattern as someone injured would. Halfway up the path, she veered sharply into the forest, continuing in a slow circle around the camp before arriving at the lake. When she arrived at the shore, she carefully unwrapped the body and braced herself.

This was the bit she had been dreading.

Grabbing the hooves in each hand, Betty began to spin. It was easier than she expected. Spinning like a hammer thrower at the Olympics, the world spun in a blur. Then, with a final surge of effort, the body sailed out over the lake. It splashed into the water and sank without a fuss.

Betty nodded in satisfaction, gathering the bloody garbage bags and shoving them into a spare bag.

Covered in blood, sweat, various foods, and liquids, Betty decided she had reached peak stink. It was time to go for the showers.

Betty was on her way to the showers when she stopped herself. She was just drawing level with the Counselors’ Cabins. One of those cabins was empty… and that kid was pretty chubby. She pulled at her sticky and blood-stained clothes.

It would be crazy to go in there… anyone could walk in. Unless…

Giving in to the urge for safety, Betty activated Slasher’s Senses. The world came alive around her. Scents wafted to her nose, complex and much more varied than she had ever encountered. Betty stumbled; the sounds around her were so sharp, and more than that… directional and distance information came through the sound.

As for the darkness of the night? What darkness? Colors were muted, and she could see the areas of deep shadow but… in terms of visibility. It was more like a cloudy day than the depths of the night. An aura of scent surrounded each cabin. All she had to do was figure out which scent was Chubby’s. With much hesitation, Betty opened the bag of bloody trash and sniffed lightly. Then deeper. The blood was a rich, coppery scent. It held hints of a rich meaty flavor. It smelled like the best rare steak in the world. Betty drooled slightly.

Eyes staring open in shock, Betty snapped the bag closed and blushed. She just drooled over a bag of blood. What the hell was wrong with her?

Betty focused on the huts again, shaking her head clear of the tantalizing scent she was now uncomfortably aware of, even through the plastic bags. Tilting her head back, she sniffed the air. Then, quickly zeroing in on the right hut, Betty noticed something else. A delicate glow in each of the cabins, two in some, one in others. None in Chubby’s place.

That glow was the other Counselors.

“Fuck that’s weird,” she muttered.

When she was sure the coast was clear, Betty Slasher Stepped to the empty cabin and slipped inside. Waving her hand under her nose, Betty noted the smell of Teenage Boy transcended species.

The cabin stank.

Crossing to a small set of sliding doors, Betty discovered another difference between these creatures and humans. They kept their clothes in bundles, hung from a series of rods. It was unsettling. Shaking that off, she grabbed all the clothes and stuffed them with her supplies. A quick Step out of the cabin and she was in the forest and moving away. It was time for a shower.

After much back and forth, Betty had decided to keep her new senses active. It was mentally draining, but seeing approaching lifeforms through walls was handy when you were a naked alien in a shower stall.

The warm water was a slice of heaven. It washed away not just the blood and sweat but also the horrors and worries of the last couple of days. Then, with a slight jolt, she realized today was her birthday.

“Happy Birthday to me…” Betty sang quietly as she washed the blood and mud from her feet. Seconds later, she collapsed to the floor and wept. She stayed there until the water finally ran cold.

Rising and drying herself with a towel she found in a cupboard by the sinks, Betty wiped her eyes as she found an acceptable set of shorts and this world’s version of a T-shirt. Her trainers were a mess, so she washed them out as well, setting out from the showers in her bare feet.

Trekking through the woods barefoot was not fun, but possible with her improved stats. She kept walking until sunrise. Deep in the forest, miles from the camp, she found what appeared to be an abandoned mine. On closer inspection, it had collapsed after the first few turns.

The tunnel ended in a large, empty room. It was dusty and a little dark, but… It was evident no one came here.

Betty used some clothes she deemed too small or too… weird to make a soft area to sleep in. The food and water she set out on a long, empty shelf.

She used the bags that had not had blood in them to pull over herself as a blanket of sorts.

She was safe.

For now.