Kelly shook her head, thinking, They still don't get it, Boone. Fun? They were in for fun, all right. But it wasn't the kind of fun these guys were talking about.

Am I right, Boone? she asked silently. Am I right?

It wasn't until they were back in the car, driving out toward the old abandoned campsite, that Boone finally answered her.

"You're right, Kell," Boone said sadly. "They don't know what they're in for."

Boone said it right out loud.

Kelly was sitting in the front seat, riding shotgun, as Boone used to call it. At the sound of her brother's deep voice—a voice so familiar! — she turned around fast. Which meant she stuck her face right into Tina's face, since Tina was sitting right behind her and leaning her head on the back of Kelly's headrest.

Tina gasped. "What's the matter with you?"

"Scared! Scared! Tina's scared!" Miguel cried; then he laughed wildly. "Cool, heh-heh-heh! Cool, heh-heh-heh!"

"Would you stop with that Beavis and Butthead crap?" Tina shouted at him. "I'm sick of it!"

Kelly wasn't listening. She was staring at the tall twenty-one-year- old with the brown hair who was squinched into the backseat between Miguel and Tina. Boone was grinning back at Kelly with his half-rotted face.

"That's right, Kell," he said, "they can't see me. They can't hear me. But you can, can't you, Kell?"

She nodded slightly, tears welling in her gray-blue eyes. She didn't feel like she was going insane; she just felt so glad to see him, and so sad at the same time. She smiled and mouthed the word Boone.

"Well," Boone said with that cocky grin of his, "aren't you going to say something? I mean, it's been a while, you know?"

"Yes," Kelly said out loud. "It has."

Tina stopped in the middle of her argument with Miguel and gave her a look. "Yes it has what?" Tina studied Kelly's face. "What are you looking at?"

Tina snapped her fingers in front of Kelly's face, breaking her concentration. Kelly shook her head, turning to focus on the pretty Japanese girl. Then she looked back at Boone. But he was gone.

   Chapters 10-11

The man came closer. Through cracks in the leaves and branches, Miguel could see the big man standing only yards away, turning his big masked face slowly back and forth. Miguel couldn't breathe.

Finally, the big man turned and continued on his way. Miguel was about to leap up out of the trap when—

He heard more footsteps. These were softer steps, nowhere near as big a man this time. "Big Red," called a voice.

It was a familiar voice, but Miguel couldn't place it. He didn't have time to think about it. Because now the big man was coming back toward his hideout.

Again the familiar voice. "He's right here, Big Red. No, here." A laugh. "Look down!"

The huge man looked down. Miguel was too scared to move.

   Chapter 21

"Sorry," Boone said with that lopsided grin of his. "This ax is mine."

Kelly let go of the ax, gaping at her brother in horror. His hands, she now saw, were bony skeleton hands. He closed them around the ax and pulled. There was an awful sucking sound as the ax came out of the cop's stomach.

Kelly swayed; she had to lean against the car for support. Boone was waving a bony hand in the air. "Over here, you fool!"

Big Red came out of the cabin, staring dumbfounded out across the grassy field at Boone and Kelly.

"Yeah, over here," Boone repeated. "God, you're dumb. Do I have to show you everything?"

To Kelly, Boone said, "I knew you could take him, Kell, that's why I had to help him out a little."

Kelly stared transfixed at her brother's face. There were tiny white worms oozing in and out of his rotted cheek. He grinned. "You built a really terrific scout nest, kid. You really learned what I taught you. If I hadn't stuck Big Red's face right into that hole, he never would have found Miguel."

Kelly opened her mouth but didn't speak. It was as if all the anger and all the fight and all the hope were flowing right out of her. As if her life force was whooshing out of her like air out of a popped tire.

"Boone," she said softly. "Why are you doing this... to me?"

He stared at her thoughtfully a moment, brushing his rotted face with the back of a sleeve. "Why not?" He cackled. Then he waved to Big Red. "Come on! I haven't got all day."

At last Big Red started forward and—

Dropped straight down into the trap.

There was a scream from Red, a thigh-slapping guffaw from Boone. "Gee, Kelly, you got him with that trap business after all. All right!"

A big hand appeared at the edge of the trap. Big Red pulled himself up out of the hole. He had a stake going right through his good leg. He stopped to pull it out, screaming in agony.

"Hmm," Boone said to Kelly, "maybe the trap wasn't such a good idea after all. 'Cause he's still coming, and now he's going to be really mad." He laughed some more.

Kelly was crying. She could taste the tears that curled down into the corners of her thin mouth; they were mixed with her own blood. She felt something that amazed her almost more than everything she had seen that night. Fury.

"You... bastard!" she cried.

Boone looked surprised. "What's wrong?"

"You told me he wouldn't come until tonight!"

"Oh, yeah. Well, see, I meant he wouldn't come for you until tonight. He killed your friends during the day. I'm sorry. Did I forget to mention that?"

Kelly stared at Boone's grinning face in disbelief. "I came back here for you!" she screamed.

"I know," Boone said. "And it was really sweet of you." He chuckled. "Took you long enough to show up, though, I must say."

It was the final blow. Kelly lunged forward, trying to pummel him; even her wounded hand closed into a fist. But Boone reached out and pushed her back effortlessly. He seemed to give her only the lightest of shoves, but she went flying back into the cop car, her head banging back against the metal roof.

"Don't make me mad," Boone warned her, "or things will get really bad for you." Then he laughed. "That's funny, isn't it? I don't see how things could get much worse for you, do you?"

She glared at him. It was as if a huge door had been shoved open inside her, and everything that was hidden behind the door was rushing out. And what was hidden behind the door was anger and hate. Fury at her brother, who had let himself be killed. Boone had always taken such terrible risks with his own life. He was the older brother. He was supposed to be protecting her, looking after her. Instead he'd gone off and gotten himself—

"I hate you!!!!" She was amazed by her own words.

Boone's eyes were cold. "I hate you, too. That's why I'm going to help kill you."

"Kill me? You can't kill me!" she cried.

"Oh, no?" He smiled.

"You can't kill me, because you already did! You killed me last May, you bastard! You killed me when you came out here and let yourself be—"

She didn't finish. She was choking on her rage.

Boone kept smiling. "Gee, Kell. You really seem angry at me. That's kind of a big secret you've been carrying around, huh? I mean, no wonder you've been so depressed." He laughed, but then his rotted face twisted with guilt. "Listen," he said. "Don't blame me for this, okay? I died, Kell. You don't know what that's like. It's—" He stopped, waved a bony hand in disgust. "Aw, just wait. You'll see soon enough."

Sure enough, just then Big Red stumbled slowly around the cop car, the red siren light turning his white mask red, then white, then red again. He was soaked in blood. There were several dark holes torn in his uniform, the spots where the spikes had gone through.

"Here, Red," Boone said, handing him the ax. "Here you go, big fella. Chop her up nice, would ya?"

He handed the bloody ax to Big Red, who took it in both hands. For a moment, Big Red just stood there, looking at Boone stupidly. Then the masked head turned and pointed at Kelly.

Kelly turned and stared down at the ground. She found what she was looking for almost at once. The knife she had dropped. She bent down and reached for it as the ax came down.

   Friday the 13th: Jason's Curse, chapter 26