The camp counselor was certainly annoying, but it was by no means the worst thing Don had had to put up with in his long and storied existence. His former profession had brought him into contact with the absolute worst of the worst, the darkest blights on the fabric of humankind that ever walked the Earth. I’m like Jerry Springer without the fame, Don thought, amused by his own analogy. After his previous occupation, it didn’t take much to amuse Don.

Well, the fame part is about to change.

Losing the counselor in the forest was a simple matter. One moment, the kid was an arm’s-length away. The next, Don was a quarter-mile ahead of him. The path wound its way down a hill, dense thickets of forest obscuring the view. It would all be over before the counselor caught up.

The lake itself was pristine and beautiful, its glassy surface rippling with the slight breeze. An amazing summer day, one like Don hadn’t seen in… too long to remember.

“Ew! Don’t touch it with your bare hands!”

Don’s head turned an unnatural degree to find the source of the shout. It had come from a girl, about ten years old, running away from a boy of the same age.

Justin Black.

“You’re gonna get warts!” the girl cried, desperately dodging away from the frog in Justin’s outstretched hands.

“No I won’t,” Justin said, “my brother said frogs give you herpes.”

“What’s that?” the girl asked innocently.

“I dunno. Why don’t you ask the frog?” Justin thrust the amphibian at her, only to have it leap out of his hands and into the bog at the lake’s edge.

“Great, now you made me lose it,” Justin complained.

He reached down into the bog to find the lost creature, but another pair of hands got there first. Don lifted the frog out of the swampy water, holding it delicately, as if the slightest pressure would shatter it.

“It’s not lost, my boy,” Don said, a warm look on his face.

Justin took a step back, confused.

“Dad?”

“No, Justin, not exactly.”

The frog croaked loudly, startling both of the children.

Justin’s brow furrowed.

“Mom said you’re not supposed to come see me. She said the police wouldn’t let you.”

“My boy, that was the old me. There’s a new set of rules, now.” Don held out the frog to Justin, trying to bring the boy closer.

“You like frogs, don’t you?”
----

Caleb’s mind was racing. Where had the man gone? Should he call the cops? How the hell had he got so far ahead? He began to run, hurtling down the path as he started to panic, stumbling over the uneven ground. Then he felt his foot hit a rock, sending him tumbling down the slope and slamming into a tree.

“Damn it!” he groaned, as the pain shot through him, bringing tears to his eyes. Wincing, he shifted into a sitting position and peered at his leg. His pants were ripped and a trail of blood was seeping down his thigh.

Crap.

He pulled himself up, took a step forward, and collapsed. Oh God, I can’t stand. Maybe it’s broken.

Fear filled his mind. Fear of what would happen to the kids at the lake, fear of what would happen when his boss found out about his inattentiveness, and fear of dying slowly of bloodloss out in the woods where no one could find him.

Calm the hell down, he thought, this isn’t even that bad. It’s barely even bleeding. That realization helped him get back to his feet. He had managed to hobble a few steps forward when he heard it.

The blood-curdling scream of Justin Black.

End of Prologue