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“Seán! Weren’t you supposed to bring the sleeping bags?” Brian called from the kitchen. Seán peaked his head into the kitchen, raising an eyebrow.
“I thought Kevin was bringing them? I brought the tents this time.” He answered. Then, he turned around and yelled into the general direction of Kevin. “HEY KEVIN?! DID YOU BRING THE SLEEPING BAGS?” Causing Brian to jump and almost drop the cup he was holding.
“I DID NOT SEÁN! YOU WERE BRINGING THEM FOR SURE!” Kevin responded, before making a dramatic noise and sitting down on a couch in the living room.
Daniel was standing in the middle of the living room, going over the list of things everyone was supposed to bring with Daithi.
“Okay, so Seán was bringing the sleeping bags, he forgot. He brought the tents instead, which I already had. Brian did bring everything he was supposed too, so did I. Did Seán at least bring the food for him, Brian and Kevin?” Daniel finished talking, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. Why did they ever think this would go well?
“I think he did. We can just bring a heap of blankets from here instead of the sleeping bags maybe? It won’t be ideal but it will work.” Daithi answered.
“Good, that’s good. So, to reiterate. Two days, visiting some cool remote spots in the countryside. We sleep in Killarney National Park. Brian drives, you read the map, I babysit Kevin and Seán.” Daniel said, earning an indignant
“We don’t need a babysitter!” From Kevin. Daithi nodded.
“Sounds like everything. We should probably get the others together and leave if we want to reach the first stop in time.” He said. Daniel made a noise of agreement.
“I swear. This planning took weeks, nothing can go wrong, right?” He said, before turning and walking into the other room to fetch Seán.
***
“FOCKEN’ HELL KEVIN! NO FIRE IN THE CAR! ARE YOU TRYING TO CAUSE ME TO DRIVE INTO A TREE?!” Brian shouted. Daniel dropped his hands into his head in frustration, before reaching over Seán to Kevin and pulling the lighter out of his hands. They had been on the road for about three hours, and were about to arrive at their first gas stop. Which was both good and bad, because Kevin and Seán were getting as restless as a little kid with restless leg syndrome on a sugar rush.
Brian turned the car into the gas station. “Okay guys, 10 minutes to go to the toilet and stretch legs. Then we're on the road again.” He said, unbuckling his seat belt and getting out of the car. Kevin and Seán raced out of the car and into the gas station for the toilet and some more snacks (they had gone through their collection of brought snacks way faster than expected. Thinking of it, it could explain why they were so hyper) Daniel took a bit longer to get out of the car, having to grab the umbrella before getting out.
A few minutes later, Daniel had his back turned to where he last saw Kevin and Seán when he suddenly heard a shout from Daihti. Turning around, he saw Kevin holding one of his lighters and playing with it… inside of a gas station. Daniel sprinted over and smacked the lighter out of his hands.
“KEVIN! No fire in the gas station! Seriously dude, you could blow up this whole place with us in it. We don’t want that.” He said. Kevin looked at him, clearly insulted.
“I wasn’t planning on blowing it up!” He said, walking away without hearing Daniel’s response. He didn’t get far however, before in a flash he was pulled back by Daniel just as a car raced past him into the gas station. If he had stayed still or continued walking he would have been hit.
The situation didn’t hit him for a few seconds, but when Daniel started asking him if he was okay it did. He started shaking and his breathing sped up. Not quite hyperventilating, but getting close. It had been years since his accident, and normally the psychological effects weren’t very present anymore. But getting as close to being hit as he just was brought back memories he’d rather not have anymore.
Daniel wrapped his arm around Kevin’s shoulders and gently led him back to the car, talking to him to try and ground him again. Brian and Daihti were already in the car, laughing about some joke Brian had just told. When the door opened they both turned to the back, ready to make a joke about being late, when they saw Kevin.
“Are you okay Kev? You look… rattled.” Brian said, concern creeping into his voice. Kevin shook his head and muttered
“Car. Close, way too close.” Before going silent again. He rubbed his chest in discomfort, it felt tight from the residual panic. He sat in the middle of the back seat this time, Seán and Daniel on both his sides. It took him a while to properly calm down. The lads honestly weren’t always the best at comforting each other, but usually they did.
“Ready to head back on the road Kev? We still have a few hours to go before we reach Killarney. We can take it slow.” Brian said. Kevin nodded, still not really feeling up to talk. His mood did slightly improve when Daniel handed him one of his lighters back (even though he still had most of his).
The road was becoming slightly dark when they finally reached Killarney National Park. Which was good, as it would leave them with most of the night to hang out and do stuff. They took their time setting up the tents and putting out at least five fires started by Kevin. He also managed to set fire to a blanket and scaring the shit out of Daithi and no, he didn’t scream like a girl, how dare you say that.
Somehow they ended up in a game of hide and seek (with Kevin being the referee as he would be found in an instant) Seán was up in a tree, calmly playing with one of the leaves when something strange invaded his senses. The familiar smell of humans. But something wasn’t right, it smelled off.
He jumped out of the tree and set off in the direction of the smell. It only took him a few minutes to find the source of it.
Two dead bodies.
They looked fresh, and they looked bad. Something was driven through their hearts, and they looked to be covered in bite wounds. It felt familiar to Seán once again, but not a good familiar. He turned around and fetched the other lads, earning first frustration and later concern from them. They arrived back at the bodies.
“I wasn’t joking around guys. Not this time. Possibly staked through the heart and covered in bites. Anyone thinking what I’m thinking?” He said. The silence could be cut with a knife. Daithi broke it.
“Hunters.” He said.
“And idiotic ones at that. These guys weren’t vampires.” Daniel said. He had walked over to the bodies and checked them out. “They bled after being stabbed. They are also still a little warm. These hunters may be well equipped, but they are stupid.”
“We might have made a mistake, but you all more than make up for it.” A strange voice said. Quickly turning around, the lads were confronted with a group of around six monster hunters and their angry dog. “Looks like we hit the jackpot boys! GET THEM!” The apparent leader yelled. The ensuing fray was chaotic. Somewhere along the line Kevin must have gotten stabbed in the leg and badly scratched up at the stomach, but he didn’t notice until all the hunters were dead on the floor. As soon as the adrenaline left him his knees buckled and he hit the ground. His breathing was ragged and the pain was pretty overwhelming. Daniel was the first to notice Kevin on the ground.
“Kevin? KEVIN!” He shouted, running over to him. “Injured?” He asked, getting a nod from Kevin. Daniel had to cut away part of Kevin’s jeans to see the wound.
The scratches seemed mostly superficial, but the leg wound was worse. While it had luckily missed major arteries it looked like it definitely needed stitches, which would be a challenge as they really didn’t want to deal with having to explain how he got the wound (Seán wasn’t the best liar and the Kevin effect was also present in hospitals)
In the end they decided to temporarily keep the wound shut with cut up bandaids and copious amounts of bandages until they got back to the mansion, where Brain would stitch the wound. The other lads had also been wounded. Some more than others, but luckily not as bad as Kevin.
Just when they thought that the chaos was over, as they were back on the road to the mansion (plans be damned, they weren’t staying in a park where they were just attacked.) they saw a… cop checkpoint in the distance?
“Oh you gotta be kidding me. This won’t be good. You guys stay quiet, I’ll talk.” Brian said, putting up the hood of his sweater. Daithi went invisible. Kevin was sleeping, which was actually pretty convenient. They drove up to the police car, a taller woman stopping them.
“Good night gentlemen. I’m sorry to bother you. Can I ask you a few questions?” She asked Brian.
“Of course officer. What is the problem?” He asked politely.
“There has been an incident of violence in Killarney National Park. I was asked to question anyone heading away from the park if they saw anything.” She said.
“I’m sorry officer, my friends and I only drove past it. We have been traveling all day and night to get back to where we live.” Brian lied, Daniel and Seán nodding in agreement. The officer cocked her head, slightly suspicious. But she luckily seemed to let it go.
“Very well then. Thank you for your cooperation. Have a nice drive sir.” She said. Brian nodded and quickly drove off.
“I want it to be stated that we are never heading on a damn roadtrip ever again. Next time these guys might know how to aim better and hit one of us fatally. Or we might find more bodies and get accused of murder.” Daniel said.
“Seriously.” Daithi said, reappearing (and making Brian jump). “I blame Dan.” He said after a bit of silence.
“Why?!” Daniel said indignantly.
“You said ‘What could go wrong?’ therefore you cursed it!”
“Did not!”
“Did!”
“Did not!”
“Let’s agree to disagree before we have a murder in the car, shall we?” Brian said.
“Fine…
I still blame Dan though.”