The rocket launcherâs power was immediate. After the ammunition exploded, the entire hillside was engulfed in roaring flames, and no more cold arrows came flying down from above.
But Everly knew that the killer, Gary, would not die.
His body possessed terrifyingly strong regenerative abilities. Even if he were cut into countless pieces, after a period of recovery, the largest fragment would sprout flesh, bone, skin, and blood vessels outward. Sooner or later, a new Gary would rise from the heap of corpses.
Discarding the disposable launcher, now scorched from use, Everly waved to the three still huddled behind the sedan, signaling them to squeeze into the back seat of the jeep.
Once the doors closed and everyone was inside the safe zone, they finally exhaled in relief.
Old John was still pinned in the driverâs seat and couldnât move.
The arrow had hit at a tricky angle. Its tip had pierced Old Johnâs arm and lodged into the seat, wedged between the metal frame inside. The shaft was made of carbon fiber, not easy to snap. Old John gritted his teeth and, enduring the pain, tried little by little to pull the lodged arrow tip out of the seat.
With the driverâs seat occupied, the vehicle couldnât move until Old John freed himself.
Fortunately, this carâhaving undergone countless modificationsâwas practically a mobile fortress, armed from top to bottom, down to the tires. Unless the revived killer Gary managed to fire an anti-tank rocket at them, with his current abilities, he couldnât threaten the people inside the vehicle for now.
Everly and Misha squeezed into the passenger seat, anxiously pressing on Old Johnâs wound to prevent further tearing while he extracted the arrow. Old John bit down on a towel, sweat pouring down his face, carefully twisting the carbon arrow lodged in his wound while trying to pull it backward bit by bit.
With every pull, the nerves and muscles in the wound rubbed against the arrow, sending unbearable waves of pain through Old John. Within moments, he was drenched in sweat, his clothes soaked through.
Everly watched, growing ever more furiousâshe wished she could dig Garyâs corpse out of the fire and chop it into pieces with a kitchen knife just to vent her anger!
After several attempts, the arrowhead finally came free. Old John managed to pull the carbon-fiber arrow out of the seat and felt a sense of release.
âWrap it with gauze for now. Weâll remove the arrow properly once we reach a safe place,â Everly instructed.
She leaned in to examine the arrow. Its tip was metal, the shaft made of carbon fiber, and feathers adorned the end. To remove it fully, the carbon shaft would have to be brokenâbut this had to be done carefully, or the wound could tear further and seriously injure Old John.
Once the arrow was removed, Old John could take the universal remedy to heal the wound, but clearly now was not the time for treatment.
Old John seemed to have the same thought.
The three people in the front row opened the doors and switched seats. Everly took the driverâs seat, Old John, as the injured party, moved to the passenger seat alone, and Misha slid to the back row to squeeze in with the other three.
Once everyone was settled, Everly patiently waited until Old John was stable, pressed the accelerator, and was just about to drive offâwhen a panicked female voice rang out from nearby.
âWait! Hold on!â
Everly tilted her head and, through the rearview mirror, saw two figures supporting each other at the end of the narrow crescent-shaped path.
The figure on the left was Christinaâthe only girl among the trio of Danâs group. She was caked in mud and water, looking completely disheveled, and was helping the blood-soaked manager Andy limp toward them.
Seeing this, Everly glanced at the hillside still ablaze from the explosion, pressed the accelerator, and steered the vehicle toward the two of them.
âWhat happened to you?â
She didnât roll down the window, asking calmly through the glass.
âI⊠I donât know⊠After you drove away, you didnât come back. Dan said he would go to the nearby houses to borrow bullets, but⊠but everyone⊠everyone was dead! The corpses were crawling with flies, and the smell was awfulâso awful. Dan and Hans were searching for bullets in that house when a person wearing a white porcelain mask suddenly appeared and attacked us.â
âThat person killed Dan with a single axe blow. Hans and I were so scared that we ran out immediately. That person chased us, shooting arrows at us. I accidentally fell down a slope, got stuck in the mud, and passed out⊠When I woke up and climbed back up, I saw that Dan had also been shot and was dead. I was so scared, I got lost in the woods for a long time. Later, I heard explosions over here. I thought the police had come, so I sneaked over to take a look⊠and then I saw you about to leaveâŠâ
Christina was clearly terrified. Her words tumbled out in a jumble, and as she spoke, tears and snot streamed down her face, making her look utterly pitiful.
But Everly felt no sympathy for her. Everyone here was already an adultâthey needed to learn to take responsibility for their own choices. If she had known today would turn out this way, why had she followed those two boys in the first place?
âWhat about him, then?â
Everlyâs expression remained steady as she looked at Andy, whom Christina was supporting.
âI⊠I found him on the road. He was covered in blood, lying on the ground. I thought he was dead, but when I passed by, he grabbed my hand. He didnât seem to be dead yetâŠâ
As if to confirm Christinaâs words, Andy, leaning weakly against her, opened his eyes, coughed, and spit blood. Despite his injuries, he managed a faint, weak smile at Everly.
Truly like a movie âmale protagonistââeven after such severe wounds, he was still alive.
Everly glanced up at the hillside again, pressed a button, and rolled the window down slightly.
âHold on tight.â
She gave Christina a quick warning, then raised her gun. Before anyone could react, the muzzle slipped through the glass gap and she pulled the trigger repeatedly, aiming at Andyâs head.
âBang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!â
It wasnât until all 19 rounds were emptied that Andyâs head was nothing but mangled flesh, riddled with holes. Only then did Everly drop the pistol and open the car door.
âLet go.â
âW-what⊠What are you⊠What are you doing?! Youâyou killed him! Why?!â Christina, still supporting Andy, was inevitably splattered with blood.
Having endured several shocks in quick succession, Christina looked on the verge of collapse. Seeing Everly step out of the car, she dropped Andyâs body and instinctively tried to run.
âAndy? No. Heâs not Andyâyou canât recognize him? This is the killer who murdered your companion.â
âWhat are you saying?!â
Everly didnât have time to deal with Christinaâs shock.
She stepped out and glanced at the figure lying on the ground, eyes wide open. In just moments, tiny fleshy tendrils were already sprouting along the edges of the wounds, clearly part of the bodyâs repair process. Soon enough, this world-famous killer would regain full mobility and wreak havoc again.
Everly couldnât allow him the chance to rise. Horror Movie Survival Rule #15: finish the job.
Although finishing the job wouldnât kill the immortal, it could at least slow down his recovery.
She strode to the back of the jeep and pulled out a sturdy all-black shotgunâa Benelli M4 Super90. Powerful, known as the âking of shotguns,â it was standard-issue U.S. military equipment, built for combat.
With the black muzzle aimed at the âbodyâ on the ground, Everlyâs face remained expressionless as she pulled the trigger, hitting the most critical target first: the brain.
âBoom!â
The head, which had just begun showing signs of recovery, exploded instantly, sending blood splattering across the ground behind itâreminiscent of a watermelon smashed onto the floor.
Firing an anti-tank rocket at a hillside was one thing; shooting directly at a human head was another entirely. Earlier, all of Everlyâs actions had been fueled purely by adrenaline, leaving no time for reflection. But now, what she was doing was shooting at a humanoid being that was not yet dead.
Although she had long accepted that killing someone could be necessary for self-preservation, this was, after all, Everlyâs first time taking a life since crossing into this world. Even if the person in front of her wouldnât truly die, seeing the head explode in front of her was an intensely shocking image that triggered strong discomfort.
But there was no time for hesitation. Everly was skilled at enduring discomfort and kept a clear head. After destroying Garyâs head, she lowered the muzzle and fired at his elbows, knees, and anklesâhitting all the critical joints to ensure that even if âAndyâ awoke, he wouldnât be able to move.
In the early parts of the movie, Gary hadnât killed enough people yet, and his recovery wasnât so fast; a corpse could remain still for several minutes. So these kinds of tactics were effective.
Everly remembered that in the third installment of Blood Camp, a few students had used similar methods to temporarily immobilize Gary. If it werenât for his supernatural body and immortality, those unlucky students might actually have escaped the camp.
After Gary had finally been reduced, through continuous gunfire, from a humanoid corpse to a limp, shapeless heap of flesh, Everly reloaded with a crisp âclick,â holding the shotgun in one hand for defense. With the other hand, she methodically searched the body from head to toe, removing anything that could be used as a weapon and throwing it far away.
By now, the others in the vehicle had begun to react as well.
They huddled inside the vehicle, not daring to speak a word, a mix of fear and grim satisfaction on their faces as they watched Everly finish clearing all the weapons and fire another round of shotgun shells at Gary on the ground. Only when the magazine was empty again did the girl, covered in blood splatter like a war goddess, sling the shotgun over her back and climb back into the jeep.
She rolled up the windows, started the engine, turned the vehicle around, and drove forwardâevery motion executed seamlessly. Under Everlyâs control, the heavy jeep swung around, the front wheels aimed at the âcorpseâ on the ground, crushing him beneath the tires.
When the massive wheels rolled over Garyâs skull, everyone heard a faint crack.
Those with vivid imaginations could barely hold back the urge to vomit.
âH-heâs⊠heâs dead, right? It doesnât have to be like thisâŠâ
Everly heard the mutter from the back. She cut the engine and turned her head to the boy who had spoken. âDo you need to confirm with your own eyes whether heâs dead?â
The boy immediately shrank his neck like a frightened chicken, not daring to say another word.
âThis killerâs name is Gary. Because of his connection to a certain heretical cult, his body is extremely unusualâhe literally cannot be killed. Pressing him under the wheels is only a temporary measure. Later, weâll have to find a way to trap him somewhere.â
In Blood Camp, Garyâs immortality meant that in almost every film, the protagonists had to find a way to confine him at the end. Conversely, at the beginning of each new movie, some clueless, unlucky, or meddlesome character would unwittingly release the sealed chains, inadvertently âawakening the slumbering zombie king⊠uh, I mean Gary.â
Old Johnâs modified jeep, after undergoing a series of upgrades, weighed over two tons by itself. With several people inside and a trunk full of guns and ammo, no matter how resilient Garyâs life force was, being pressed beneath the tires rendered him completely immobile.
But the jeep still had to be driven, and they would need something else to actually trap him.
Of course, Everly could wait a while, let the police arrive, and hand over Gary, the hot potato. But to be honest, she didnât really trust the Viska police.
You see, isnât this a common trope in horror movies?
At the end of the film, the protagonists use their wits to finally defeat the killer and confine him. Sirens wail in the distance as the incompetent police arrive, ready to claim the credit.
The badly injured heroes are hustled into an ambulance, while the police handcuff the killer, sandwiching him between two officers, driving him to the station.
But because the guards are too lax, halfway there, the killer kills all the officers in the car and escapes. So the heroes, barely having survived, havenât even rested in the hospital before the killer comes back, and the final shot freezes on their terrified facesâŠ
Itâs such a classic development.
Even if the police were competent, Everly would still have to worry about the U.S. military. What if they heard about Gary and tried to take him to a research facility, intending to experiment on his immortal body to create super-soldiers for warfare? One slip-up, and Gary could escapeâor they might create some horrific monster, triggering a bioweapon disasterâŠ
In short, rather than leaving it to unreliable police or military, it was better if she handled it herself. At least she knew from the other Blood Camp films exactly how people dealt with Gary.