Vinnie Balducci is excited about starting as a camp counselor at Camp Crystal Lake. It will be nice to go to a place where people don’t know who his father is, and anyway, they found the people who killed all those other counselors. Didn’t they? When Vinnie sees future law student Chad Rogers though, he forgets all about those crazy murders, and knows exactly what he wants to spend the summer doing.
Chad Rogers doesn’t know anything about the previous murders of camp counselors at Camp Crystal Lake until he runs into sexy Vinnie Balducci at a diner on his way to the rural camp. When he hears of the three other times camp counselors were brutally murdered, Chad is certain he can get another summer job, one where there’s a good chance no one will want to kill him. But after Vinnie wraps one of his Giorgio scented arms around Chad, and tells him about the five thousand dollar bonus they’ll get for living through the summer, Chad finds himself following Vinnie up a mountain and into a camp that time has almost forgotten.
As Vinnie and Chad head into Camp Crystal Lake, will they win their fight to stay alive, or will they just be part of the same old story?
“You just take State Road Two Hundred straight up,” Marge said. “It’s that road over there. It’ll cut to one lane in a few miles, and get wooded. It’s a straight shot from here. When you’re about three quarters of the way up the mountains, you’ll see signs for the camp on your right. They just made a new one.”
“Why’d you roll your eyes when you mentioned the new sign, Marge?” Vinnie asked.
Marge shook her head. “Let’s just say this isn’t the first time they’ve tried to reopen this camp.”
“Well, what happened the other times?” Chad asked, a drop of concern in his voice.
Marge looked around the diner. Everyone but the three of them was silent. “Nothing anybody around here really wants to talk about,” she said in a whisper.
Vinnie’s hand was still on Chad’s arm, and Chad didn’t seem to mind. Vinnie looked at Chad confidently. “Don’t worry, I know the stories. I’ll tell you outside. Let’s get out of here.”
“Okay.” Chad reluctantly allowed Vinnie to lead him toward the door.
As they exited, Vinnie turned back to Marge. “Thanks for the hospitality. We’ll drop by on the way back.”
“I hope so,” Marge said. “I really hope so.”
* * * *
Chad allowed Vinnie to lead him to the door and out into the parking lot. As the door closed behind them, Chad turned to Vinnie.
“What was that all about?” Chad asked.
“It sounds crazy, but it’s really just some bad luck,” Vinnie said, leading them over to a black Trans Am. “This is my car.”
Chad looked at the car. It was just about as sexy as this guy who still had his hand on his arm.
“It’s nice,” Chad said, and nodded toward his old Bug. “That one’s mine.”
Vinnie seemed to take in the Bug, and then looked back at Chad. “It’s a classic.”
“That was diplomatic,” Chad said. “Now tell me about this camp. What the hell was she talking about?”
Vinnie seemed to scope the parking lot for anyone that might overhear him. He lifted his arm, and motioned for Chad to get a little closer.
Chad moved in, noticing the smell of Vinnie’s cologne. Was that Giorgio? Chad knew he needed to concentrate.
“So what happened?” Chad asked.
Vinnie leaned his face towards Chad’s. “Some college kids died there. Nothing to make you not want to take the job.”
“How did they die?” Chad asked.
“Well, the first time, back in the fifties, it was some horrible accident.”
“There were other times?”
Vinnie shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, a few. Still, nothing that should make you not want to take the job.”
“Okay, how many other times?” Chad asked.
Vinnie hesitated.
“I’m waiting,” Chad said, giving Chad a serious look.
“Two or three,” Vinnie said.
Chad raised an eyebrow. “How many times was it? Two or three?”
“Three,” Vinnie said. “It was three. No more than three.”
“Well, three’s kind of lot when you’re talking about people dying, isn’t it?” Chad asked.
“Some people could see it that way,” Vinnie said. “Other people might think three is not so many.”
“Are you planning on going to law school too?” Chad asked.
Vinnie smiled. “You’re thinking of law school. That’s great. You’ll be good at it. I can tell from all the questions. To answer your question though, no, I think I’m going to study finance.”
“Okay, that’s great, but how did the other people die?”
Vinnie opened his mouth and closed it.
“Vinnie, you got to tell me.”
“Well, it sounds so horrible when you say it out loud, but they were kind of ... uh ... they were ...”
“They were what, Vinnie?”
“They were kind of murdered,” Vinnie blurted out.
“Murdered?!” Chad asked.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Vinnie said. “Calm down. Remember what Marge said. The people around here don’t like to talk about it.”
“Why? Did they kill them?” Chad almost shouted.
“Shhh,” Vinnie said. “We’re in a small creepy town. Let’s not draw too much attention to ourselves. To answer your question though. It probably wasn’t the townspeople. That’s not exactly what the evidence has found.”
Chad looked around. Vinnie had a point about not drawing attention to themselves, especially if this town might be full of murderers. “So, if they didn’t kill them, who did?”
