Camp Rivalry (M+F+/MF)

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Tapebot
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Camp Rivalry (M+F+/MF)

Post by Tapebot »

Hey everyone! Figured I'd write a story in my favorite setting (if my pfp didn't give that away). Hope you enjoy.

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"Do we really have to do this?" Thomas asked with a bit of a pout. He looked around at the rest of the campers in his cabin -- eight in total, including himself -- with a stick in hand, like the rest of them. Unfortunately for him, he'd drawn the shortest stick.

"Yes," another camper, Lydia, snapped back at him. "We're in hot water after that last prank. They're extending the olive branch, we need to take it before any of us get into real trouble."

For the past few weeks, there had been an ongoing rivalry between the cabins of young adult counselors at the summer camp they worked at, which culminated the night before when they stole their rival cabin's clothes while they were showering -- forcing them to run back to their campsite without anything to wear. Just as Lydia had reminded him, it didn't go over well with some of the camp management.

Thomas began to retort, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just not happy about being the one to beg for--"

"Oh, relax," Deb cut him off. She waved her stick around his face, which while not quite shorter than the one he'd drawn, was pretty close. "You're not going alone. And you won't be begging for anything, anyway. They don't want forgiveness, just to make things all right between us."

"Mmhm. But we're only supposed to send one person, that was the agreement," Lydia butt in. "Same as them. So Deb, since you drew the shorter stick, you're only going to make sure that they were on the level about this whole thing."

"What, you expect a trick?"

"Maybe."

"Great. That makes me feel a lot--"

Once again, Deb cut her unhappy camp-mate off. "Will you go if I promise you my serving of ice cream at dinner?"

A brief pause followed before Thomas spoke up sheepishly. "Yes."

"Good," she replied. "Because we're supposed to be meeting them soon. In the clearing. You know, the one about halfway to their campsite, with the big termite mound in the center."

After only a small amount of chatter later, the two of them departed on their diplomatic mission. The other six stayed behind. Lydia, who had been deeply invested in the rivalry from the start, eagerly awaited their return. The other four -- Kim, Robin, Clint, and Christ -- were just happy not to be the ones sent on this silly quest. Then there was Roger who had disavowed any involvement in the prank war from the start, and was therefore paying no attention to the commotion.

"What are the chances that they actually want peace?" Thomas asked as the two of them trekked through the woods.

They both wore hiking boots with cargo shorts, though Thomas had on a plain tank top while Deb was purposefully wearing the camouflaged camp t-shirt. His short, brown hair hung down to just past his ear tips while her sandy blond hair was done up in a ponytail.

Deb shrugged. "Dunno. I doubt they want to get into any real trouble anymore than we do, and I don't know what they would have to gain from tricking us into a fake peace agreement, anyway."

Something about her coy tone and the way she diverted her eyes while she poke gave Thomas the impression she was hiding something. Unlike him, this wasn't her first summer camp. And it probably wasn't her first prank war either.

Nonetheless, he let the matter rest. If she wanted to tell him, she'd have done it in the first place. No need to push the matter. After about five minutes of hiking through the woods that separated the various camp sites, they reached the clearing allotted as their meeting ground.

"I'll watch from here," Deb said, coming to a stop several meters away from the tree line. She found a tree wide enough to cover the entirety of her body and hid behind that, leaning against it with her head poking out from one side. "You know, just in case."

"Right," Thomas said as he brushed some hair out of his eyes and peered at the clearing that lay ominously ahead. "And I'll do all the talking. What's the worst that could happen?"

Deb simply smiled and gave him a thumbs up. Next time, I'm staying out of the games... Thomas thought to himself.

From the forest, Deb could see most of the clearing besides the other side of the termite mound, and watched her companion's every move as he emerged from the tree line. There was no sign of the other campers, but that didn't worry her. They could have just been early.

She opened her lips to give Thomas one last word of encouragement, but before she could make so much as a squeak, a hand clamped over her mouth. Another arm wrapped around her torso, pinning her arms against her sides and pulling her in to a tight grip before she even knew what hit her. Eyes shooting wide opened, she kicked back at her mysterious assailant, which only prompted him to push her up against the tree that held her in place.

Just like Thomas feared, it was a trick -- and she was already helpless to warn him.

Emerging into the clearing, the tall grasses tickled as high up as Thomas' knees. He spun his head over his shoulder to take one last look at Deb, but she wasn't there. Well, she was wearing camo, he thought to himself, trying to dispel any unhappy thoughts.

Suddenly, the clearing exploded with activity. Two campers from the other cabin -- who he recognized as Elijah and Tim, burst from the tall grass where they had been hiding prone. At the same time, Jennifer and Lana -- sure enough, from the other cabin -- came around from either side of the massive termite mound.

"Deb, it's a--" Thomas tried to cry out a warning. But before he could, he was swarmed. The two guys were the first on him, one of them pouncing from behind and tackling him to the ground. The whole world spun around Thomas as he hit the dirt hard. Even if he hadn't been dazed, he'd have been no match for the four of them at once. Next thing he knew, face down in the dirt, two of them were sitting on him to keep him pinned down. It was over as soon as it had begun.

"Gotcha," he heard Jennifer's voice from somewhere above him. "Keep him in place, we'll get him trussed up."

Even without seeing what was going on, Thomas could piece together the proceeding events in his head. Judging by the amount of weight he was feeling, Elijah and Tim were the two seated on his back and legs respectively, which gave him very little room to wiggle, if at all. Meanwhile, Jennifer and Lana were doing the rope work. His wrists and ankles were first, naturally, being wound up in a length of rope each.

"Get off me...!" He protested, his voice strained by the weight on his chest. "What happened to don't shoot the messenger? Or, uhh, don't capture the messenger?"

His plea got some laughs from his assailants, if nothing else. "Stuff his mouth before he can call for help. Who knows, he might have brought some friends with him."

"I don't think-- phhnph'ph nmcmphphnrm..." Before he could say much in return, a pair of socks were shoved between his teeth, stuffing his mouth full enough to make his cheeks puff out.

But they were right to be worried. Surely Deb just saw everything and would already be on her way to alert the others, who would be around in no time to rescue him...

"He brought a friend all right," someone else chimed in. It was Dean, another member of their cabin, and the only big prankster who had yet been unaccounted for. "I found Deb snooping in the woods. So nice of 'em to send us two, huh?"

Peering up, Thomas's heart sunk as he saw his lookout being held with her arms behind her back and a hand over her mouth. She spewed off a series of unhappy, muffled grunts and slammed her boot down onto Dean's foot, which only prompted him to lift her into the air.

"Brilliant," Lana replied. "Hold her tight, we'll get her tied up once we're done with poor lil' Thomas here."

Time seemed to drag on, in no small part because of the mild pain ever present in his chest. Eventually they finished with him, leaving him bound with little room to wiggle. His wrists were tied behind his back and other rope was wrapped around his chest to keep his arms pinned to his torso. His legs, bound at the wrists and thighs, likewise weren't able to go anywhere. Finally they had tied a handkerchief between his lips to keep the stuffing in and another over his eyes to plunge his world into darkness.

Ten or so minutes later, Deb suffered the same fate.

"All done!" one of their captors proclaimed -- Elijah, judging by the voice. "We'll get them back to camp. Jennifer, you wanted to deliver the ransom note?"

"Gladly," she replied, and darted off through the tall grass.

Thomas kicked his legs back and forth as he was heaved off the ground and thrown over someone's shoulder. It had to be Dean, who was the biggest of the group, and the most likely to be able to carry him.

Tim snatched up their other captive. Deb dangled over his shoulder, mumbling incoherently into her gag and flailing her legs about while she was carried off.

Walking through a forest was perilous enough when trekking through uneven ground, slippery piles of leaves, and hanging branches. It was even worse when tied up and slung over someone's shoulder. Completely blind to their surroundings and unable to do little more than wiggle around, Thomas and Deb yelped and squirmed each time their captor nearly slipped or a branch caught onto their clothing.

Eventually they reached their captors' campsite. Usually it would have been filled with other campers, but this week was for counselors only. It was no coincidence that their prank war reached a boiling point the same week. The door to the cabin swung open and they were carried inside onto the even, concrete ground, giving them much relief. Escape seemed even less possible behind the walls of the cabin, sure, but at least they were on stable ground.

"Easy does it," Tim said as he set Deb down first. She was put on the floor in the back of the cabin, back leaning against the wall. Thomas joined her soon afterwards.

"Right then," came Lana's voice from above them. "Here's the deal. You two are going to stay put right there like a couple of well behaved captives, and once your buddies give into our ransom demand, we'll let this go. We might even call our little feud even then. Got it?"

Their prisoners grunted into their gags in response. Not that they had any choice.

"Good," Lana replied excitedly. "I'll keep an eye on them until we hear back from Jen. You three can do whatever you want. I doubt they'll be any trouble."

With the sound of footsteps, the group of campers dispersed. The door was pushed open three times, suggesting that Elijah, Tim, and Dean had all gone off to do something else, leaving Lana behind with the prisoners.

"Scoot, scoot," she told the two. Thomas could hear her getting closer, then felt his legs nudged to the side by her boots. Lana maneuvered herself between the two and plopped down on the ground, forcing them apart.

"Perfect," she said. "Now, if you two don't mind, I'm going to make myself comfortable and get back to my book while we wait."

Thomas mumbled into his gag as he felt her lean against him, using his shoulder as a headrest. Deb grumbled and shifted as well as she stretched her legs across his fellow captive's lap.

There wasn't much room to wiggle with Lana right there, but nonetheless, Thomas grunted into his gag as he shifted around, toying with his bonds. But no matter how much he twisted his wrists or ankles back and forth, it only proved to make his bonds even more uncomfortable. His head turned towards where Deb sat, even though he couldn't see. Judging by the sound of her fidgeting, she was trying to break free as well. It didn't sound like she was making much progress either.

"Shh," Lana snapped at them. "You're distracting. And you're not going to get out, anyway. I made sure of it."

With little progress to show, Thomas and Deb soon resigned to their captivity. The fidgeting and squirming slowed down before ceasing all together. Shortly after, the boredom began to set in. Time passed at a snail's pace while they waited for the ransom to be met, or anything to break the monotonous captivity for that matter.

After what seemed like an hour, the door to the cabin finally swung open. Several pairs of footsteps entered onto the concrete floor and Deb and Thomas both perked up, their blind eyes searching pointlessly for what they hoped would be their rescue.

"They want proof and assurance that they're being treated fairly," Jennifer said, returning from her task. "Lydia especially wanted to see them first, but I told her no. You should have seen her. She was fuming!"

The two of them were relieved of Lana's weight as she stood up. "Hurmph. Fine, we'll send them a picture. Elijah, Tim, go watch the campsite. They might try to sneak in and rescue the two now that they know what happened."

"On it," Elijah answered. He and Tim then left the cabin.

"Smile for the camera!" Jennifer teased as she walked before the two prisoners.

Deb particularly wasn't very fond of the idea. She protested incoherently through her gag, stomped her boots down on the floor, and shook her head side to side. This whole thing would be held over her head badly enough, but it would be even worse with a picture floating around.

"Oh come on, don't be such a poor sport," Lana butted in, pouting. "It'll be fun! Put your heads together, let your friends know how much you like being tied up together."

Thomas could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks at the idea, which earned a couple of laughs from the three other campers standing over them. He intently leaned his head away instead and waited for the click of the phone camera to go off, which couldn't have come soon enough.

"Got it," Lana finally said. "I'll send it to Lydia since she cared so much. Hopefully for you two they'll accept our demands soon and you can be on your way."

Both captives waited anxiously until her phone went off. The nervousness didn't go away just yet though, not until they knew what their cabin's response would be.

"Shame," Lana said, which initially made their hearts sink. "They accepted. That means we have to let you go-- BUT, if you ever pull another prank, you'll be the first two to be snatched. Got it?"

"Mmhmhm."

"Good. Someone can go tell the other two what happened, I'll get them untied."

It took upwards of ten minutes to get the absurd amount of rope untangled from around the two. Once they were untied, they pulled their blindfolds off, followed by the handkerchiefs gagging them, and finally spit the socks out of their mouths.

"I hate you," Deb said first. Her voice was strained from how dry her throat was after being gagged for so long.

"I'll give you some water if you forgive me," Jennifer said, offering out her water bottle.

Deb paused. She eyed the bottle, then Jennifer, reluctant to give in so easily. But the need for water vastly overwhelmed her urge to hold a grudge and she snapped the bottle out of her hand, downing a few long gulps.

Thomas, on the other hand, wasn't so eager to speak up. Not only was his throat bothering him, but he'd also rather just get this whole ordeal over with. He waited for his turn with the bottle and took a few swigs, then climbed to his feet, overcoming his sore limbs.

"Done?" Lana raised a brow, and once the two had their fill, Jennifer took her bottle back. "Okay, good. See you two at dinner later! Where your cabin will be doing our clean up assignments -- Every. Day. Of. The. Week."

Thomas and Deb blinked, looked at each other, then back to Lana.

"...Was that the ransom demand?" Deb asked, canting her head to the side.

"Mmhm!"

Another brief silence followed. The two liberated captives, short of words at such a mundane yet obnoxious condition to their release, released heavy sighs.

"Great," Thomas finally spoke up in a low voice. "We'll see you then."

The two of them finally left their former prison in the direction of their cabin. Sore from being stuck in one position and still a bit dry-mouthed, neither of them wanted to talk much on the return trip until they reached the termite mound.

"We're getting them back for that, right?"

"Oh, absolutely"
Beaumains
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Post by Beaumains »

Nice little story. I'm sure this will not escalate in more people tied up...
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Post by Caesar73 »

Agreed!
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Chris12
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Post by Chris12 »

That was a really neat story! Nice job.
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Canuck100
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Post by Canuck100 »

Great story! Now turnabout is fair play...
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slackywacky
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Post by slackywacky »

Where were these camps when I was young?

Great story, let's see what turnabout brings... ;)
Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment.
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