Speaker 1: The following is a special presentation of the micro Terrors
original novella Skinless, written by Scott Donnelly narrated by Darren Marler.
This is part four. You'll want to listen to parts
one through three first in order to catch up.
Speaker 2: Welcome to micro Terrors, scary stories for kids where it's
always the spooky season, full of chills, thrills and spine
tingling spooks. Micro Terrors are family friendly frights for those
ages eight and up, and while our stories are for
younger years, we are still talking about things that go
bump in the night, and some children may not be
able to handle what others can. Parental consent is recommended.
Now Portal Knights micro Terror Skinless Part four. Gap Rest
in the Stone is owned by the Cunningham Estate. Otto said,
I'm a Cunningham. The land was bought and renovated by
my parents back in the late nineteen nineties. They opened
to the camp for the first time in two thousand
and two. I was a counselor along with a few others,
including my sister Pam Colver. As you may have already heard,
there was a tragic accident our chef and groundskeeper Memory
gut was out in the woods, not far from where
my cabin is, tending to some overgrown shrubbery, and the
ground he was on caved in. He fell into an
old military bunker that still housed unsecured vats of acid
used for the acidic flusher's experiments. I heard Gemma gasp
and cup her hands over her mouth. Even though I
didn't share her reaction, I still could picture what happened
to Emery. Next, the acid spilled everywhere, Auto continued. They
said it would have taken less than thirty seconds for
every ounce of skin on his body to melt away.
It left only his bones. When the emergency and as
mad Cruz arrived, they determined the area to be unsafe
and dangerous, so to save themselves from any further casualties,
they decided to leave his bones in the bunker and
permanently seal off the area. That's horrible, I said, They
just left him there now. Either One of his monikers
is the unrest, Nol added, feeling sympathy for the long
lost groundskeeper. He was never laid to rest, He was
just covered up forgotten. Otto continued.
Speaker 1: When my parents passed away a couple of years ago,
the camp and all of its assets were given directly
to my sister Pamela. She was insistent on opening it again.
She put her son, my nephew Max in George. I
was there for the meeting where she said that the
camp must succeed at all costs. At all costs, I
said that means even if things go wrong, that it
needs to be covered up. Otto finished, My thought, Yes,
you guys are right. Kids are going missing, and Max
knows about it. But for his sake, his mother's sake,
and the camp's sake, kids can't go missing. So if
they aren't on the camp roster to go missing, then
they can't technically go missing. Noel concluded exactly, Otto said,
we could tell he was growing uneasy. He stirred anxiously
on the chest. What does he plan to tell the
parents when they come to pick up their kids, Jemma asked,
Auto shrugged between us, Max isn't the sharpest tool in
the shed. He is a tool, though, Nel said. Otto
stood up. Look, I have to get back before he
realizes what I'm doing. Wait, Auto, Jemma reached out to
stop him from leaving. If he knew about all of this,
then why are you working here again. Otto faced us.
There was a glimmer of something in his eyes. He
glanced back and forth between the three of us. I
was the one who instructed Amerie to clear out the shrubbery,
he said, in doing that, he was lost forever. On
that note, Otto turned and left the cabin. The door shut,
and the three of us just stood there, soaking in
everything he'd just told us. Finally the truth, and the
truth proved that Max had been lying the entire time.
Poor Auto. Jemma said. She looked at me. He feels
responsible for what happened to Emory. Hey don't forget, Nel said,
coming between Gemma and I. He's still a Cunningham. This
could all be part of a sick game they like
to play. I don't think so, Jemma said. He seems genuine.
He has a deep connection to this place. Put yourself
in his shoes, no thanks, Nel said, you aired him.
He's Max's uncle. Families are known to stick together. That
thought lingered for a moment. He was right, unless, of course,
your family dropped you off at a cursed summer camp
and split for a couple's vacation. That wasn't very sticking together,
like Suddenly, squealing feedback from the loudspeaker pierced the air outside,
and we heard a muffled voice come over it. I
rushed over to the door and opened it so we
could hear the announcement better. The three of us shuffled
outside into the after he strapped. High up on a
nearby tree was a rusted loud speaker with wires coming
down that burrowed under the dirt. The voice coming through
was that of Max. Attention campers, he said commandingly, I
am calling an urgent emergency gathering that includes all campers
and all employees in one hour. I want everyone to
meet at the archery range, no exceptions. See you there.
There was another burst of squealing feedback, and just like that,
Max's booming voice over the camp was gone. Gemma Null
and I looked at each other. What are the chances
you think this will be good news? Null asked, as
a joke, zero percent, I said, at Max Kulber's request,
at two pm exactly, Gemma Null and I arrived down
at the archery range. It was only a short walk
from where our cabin was, but did cut through a
heavily overgrown area of woods that now made me a
little more nervous than I would have been before. I
just kept thinking about what happened to Emory Gut. As
much as I tried not to visualize it, I couldn't
help myself. I kept imagining what it would have looked
like for his skin to just melt away from his bones.
Part of me felt bad for Emory, but most of
me feared him. What's not to fear about a skeleton
stalking of woods and snatching kids. Once we were at
the archery range, something stuck out as extremely odd to me.
It was the amount of kids that were there after Arnie, Mallory, Riff,
and Autumn had gone missing. That dropped the total number
of campers to twenty, But now by my account, I
was only seeing fifteen, and that included us. Had five
more gone missing or were they still on their way?
Max walked out in front of the crowd of fifteen
kids and stood between two of the circular archery targets.
At his side was Irena, curiously, though was nowhere to
be seen. Max cleared his throat, waiting an extra moment
to gather his thoughts, and then spoke to everyone who
waited quietly and anxiously for his urgent announcement, I want
to thank you all for coming to camp resting Stone.
Max finally said, we couldn't do all of this without you.
After all, what's a summer camp if there aren't kids.
Everyone kind of just looked at each other, wondering if
he was building up to something, but then what he
said shocked us. Next on the agenda is archery training.
Speaker 2: Max said.
Speaker 1: There are buckets off to my side that have bows
and another bucket with arrows. What I instruck everyone to do.
So you will form an orderly line and each grab
a bow, and then Arena will hand out some arrows.
You'll then get back in line. And where's Browdie? Null shouted?
Max stopped talking. He glared at Null and shook his head.
You know, Max said, you and your little companions there
are becoming quite the thorns in my side. Null, Nell shrudk.
We has want the truth for once, you seem incapable
of telling it. Now, where's Brody? Max shot a glance
at Arena, who refused to look back, although it was
obvious she wanted to. Max then looked back out at
the massive campers with an arrogant smile he fell ill.
Max said, I sent him home for the rest of
the week. Who's gonna watch over the boys? Then Neel
continued his interrogation. I will Max said. There was a
hint of intimidation in his voice. Okay, Nel said, now
that we know Brody existed at some point, what about
the other five kids that have gone missing since this morning?
Max scrunched his face, a nervous laugh escaping him. What
are you talking about? I was pleased to know that
Nell had noticed it too. Our numbers were dropping fast,
and I was curious as to how Max was going
to respond to it in front of everyone. They're a
total of nine kids I'm missing right now, Nel said,
looking around. I mean we were just all imagining them
or what? The chatter amongst the campers began. I heard
bits and pieces of what people were saying. Where's Rodney,
what happened to Elise? Did Tom ever come back? I
had known most of them suspected something, but now they
were really wising up to it. Max squirmed uncomfortably between
the archery targets. Okay, look, everyone, he said, there is
something you need to know. Everyone hushed and focused their
attention on Max. Even Arena watched him carefully, not knowing
what he was about to say. That's when Max pointed
out our trio directly and said, these three children are
trying to get the camp shut down. I think one
of their parents is behind it. Honestly, they're spreading rumors
about kids disappearing and a monster lurking around in the woods.
This camp is safe, it has always been safe. Max's
words bounced around on the archery range. Not a single
camper responded. They were either pining over that possibility or
just knew Max was full of garbage. Max turned to Irena.
You believe me, right, he asked her desperation now in
his voice. She could only offer him a half smile
and slight shrug. Jemma nudged me on the arm. When
I looked her away, I noticed a look of concern
on her face. What's wrong? I asked her Otto? She said,
Where's Otto? I scanned the archery range. She was right.
Otto wasn't at the meeting. The meeting was called for
all campers and employees. But if this was just for
an archery lesson, like Max was now trying to imply,
why would Otto have had to be here either?
Speaker 2: Way.
Speaker 1: He wasn't I wasn't so sure it was by choice.
We should check his cabin, I said. Jemma nodded. She
tapped Knell on the shoulder and pulled him aside to
tell him the plan. The other campers were now getting loud, worried,
and scared. Max was in over his head fending off
questions and concerns. During the commotion, the three of us
slipped away. I wasn't sure if it was because of
the circumstances we found ourselves in, or if things that
the camp were starting to take a darker turn on
a deeper level. But as Gemma, Null and I walked
the dirt paths through the woods, the air seemed to
grow colder and took on an increasingly damper vibe. The
shadows also grew long, as the afternoon sun found a
sudden influx of scattered clouds to keep ducking behind. At times,
it felt like night was just around the corner, but
it was still just the afternoon. Everything seemed to be
escalating quickly, and thinking about the night time now gave
me the chills. If this many people disappeared during the day,
I can only imagine how many would go during the night,
would Jemma null, what would tomorrow morning look like. Would
the camp be completely empty or would there still be
a few of us left? And would I be one
of them or not. I tried not to think about
it too much and focus on the task at hand.
We were closing in on Auto's cabin. If he wasn't there,
then this whole trek would have been for nothing, and
we'd be back to square one. I looked off to
my right, and I could see bits and pieces of
the lake through the trees. The water seemed restless, a
little more choppy than it had earlier in the day.
It looked dark and foreboding. I could feel an extra
coolness coming up off the lake and into the woods,
carried by a heavy breeze. The trees all around us
started to wave and rustle wildly. That's what I looked
up and noticed that the sun hadn't been back out
from behind the clouds in a few minutes, and now
the clouds were looking grayer and darker. I think it's
going to rain, Jemma said, looking up through the bushy
canopy as well. The tops of the trees were hastily
swishing back and forth, showing off their lighter colored undersides.
Let's hurry, I said, this cabin is just up ahead.
We stomped past the area where the deer bones had
been discovered and up to Auto's cabin. As soon as
we got to the front door, that's when we felt
the first spit of rain. I knocked on the door
OUTO are you here? The wind was picking up all
around us. I looked to the sky, shielding my eyes
from the spritzing rain, and noticed that the dark clouds
were rolling in quickly in the distance. A low rumble
of thunder teased an incoming storm. Noel pounded on the
door next, Otto, man, it's starting to rain. Let us in.
Jema crossed her arms. I could tell she was cold
and growing uneasy. I wanted to comfort her, but I
wasn't sure what to say. Suddenly, a heavy gust of
wind clambered through the woods, throwing the falling rain into
our faces. Something repugnant inflicted its funk upon my senses.
It was a horrible, disgusting odor. I covered my nose
and mouth and held back a gag. Gemma and Null
did the same look. Jemma's voice trembled as she looked
down at her feet. Null and I looked down as well.
A light, wispy fog rolled close to the ground, like
the tide of an ocean coming in. This was familiar.
The fog, the stench Skinless Guts was coming back. We
need to get inside now, I demanded. Nell pushed hard
on the cabin door, jiggling the knob aggressively. Jemma kept
a close eye on the woods for any sign of
the formidable skeleton specter. I joined Nell's assault on the door.
With our combined strength, we were able to force the
door in. We both stumbled into the cabin as the
door gave way. The odor inside was overpowering, even more
so than outside, and a green fog stewed within the cabin.
As Nulan I stood to our feet, catching our balance,
we saw the silhouette of Skinless Guts standing awkwardly in
the middle of the cabin, the green fog flowing and
spiraling all around him. He was still unmoving, with an
awkward tilt in his stance. I noticed that in the
bony grip of one of his hands, he clasped onto
something large. As the fog continued to move about ethereally,
enough gave way for me to notice it was Auto
laying on the floor that Skinless Guts was holding on to.
Auto was out cold, unresponsive, and clearly the next victim
of the camp ghost story. Null and I were both
frozen in place, echoing exactly how Skinless Guts was acting.
The green fog weaved and snaked beyond his exposed ribs
and out through the hollow sockets of his eyes. His
bottom jaw opened and we could hear his bones begin
to creak and rattle. That's when Skinless Guts began to
unleash the most chilling wail I'd ever heard. Even in
a nightmare, this sound would have been intolerable. It was
loud and high pit It severed our nerves and set
fear pearling throughout our bodies. Jemma rushed into the cabin
behind us and halted with a loud gasp. Her sudden
arrival must have startled Skinless Guts. He turned his whole body,
his bones quaking, and unnaturally shambled out of sight and
into a shadowy corner of the room, veiled almost wholly
by the green fog churning in the cabin. I turned
around and saw Gemma. She was petrified, shaking in pure fear.
Go I urged her run. Jemma turned and ran back
out of the cabin. I turned back around where Noel
was still focused on the foggy, shadowy corner of the room.
Within the shadows, barely visible within the fog, we could
kind of still make out the shape of Skinless Guts
lurking within them. He stood as still as a statue.
What was he doing? What was he waiting for? We
need to leave, I whispered de Noel. It took a
minute for Noel to respond, but when he did, it
was only with a half nod. He slowly backed up
so as to not alarm Skinless Gut, and I did
the same. We both backed up until we reached the
threshold of the cabin, keeping our eyes on the darkened,
foggy corner of the room the entire time. Skinless Guts
had yet to move. He still just stood there, occasionally
letting a light rattle of his bones reverberate in the air.
As we backed out of the cabin and into the rain,
Gemma Null and I converged near a tree a few
yards away from the cabin. After a blinding flash of
lightning from above. Thunder boomed over ahead of us, seizing
our full attention to the clouds. What do we do now,
Jemma cried out over the storm. I wasn't sure what
to say. In response, I looked at Null. The look
he had in his eyes, a look that was plastered
with fear. Let me know that he didn't have a
clue as to what to do or where to go. Look,
Jemma cried. She pointed to the cabin. We all looked.
The green fog spilled out from the doorway, and within
that fog we could see skinless guts dragging Auto's inert
body behind. We watched the skeleton creature drag Auto away
from his cabin and into the woods behind it. Once
he was out of sight, we all seemed to agree
on the next logical thing to do, even though we
were sure we'd be met with more lies and criticism.
We turned and ran back down the muddying pathway back
toward the camp. Soaking wet, we flew into the office cabin,
startling Max up from his chair behind the desk. At first,
there was a brief moment of concern on his face.
That was, of course, until he realized it was us again.
He threw his head back and sighed loudly. What he complained,
What now? Haven't you guys had enough of coming in
here with your lies? Still surging with adrenaline, Nul leaped
over the desk and tackled Match to the ground, peinning
him to the floor. We were all surprised by Null's flawless,
smooth attack. Get off me, kid, Max grunted, rolling to
the side and tossing Noel off. Match jumped up to
his feet and held out his fists, ready to fight.
You want a piece of this, You want some fists
in your face. Nol stood up fast and readied his
fists as well. Stop it, Jemma shouted, putting herself between
the two of them. Max, you can't fight a kid, decided.
When he arrogantly declared no, Jemma said, because you go
to jail. Max immediately lowered his fists and stood down.
Jemma turned and faced him. Auto is gone, she said,
he was taken by skinless guts. Max just stood there.
His mouth was a gape and his eyes were just
as wide. It was a clear look of shock and worry.
Then he caught himself and shook away the look. What
are you talking about? He said, with a forced fake laugh.
Speaker 2: Auto.
Speaker 1: Who Auno your uncle? Jemma shouted, stepping closer to Max.
She looked him dead in the eyes. That's right, we
know we know everything. We saw skinless guts take him
away from a cavin just now. I approached Max. Next,
we know about the family's connection to the camp. Max,
we know you're just trying to keep the camp afloat
by pretending like nothing is happening. But come on, man,
weird things are happening. Kids and now adults are disappearing,
and a twenty two year old ghost story is to
blame for it all. Max clammed up and listened to
everything we had to say. He gulped nervously, but still
refused to speak. Max, I pleaded, you have to do something.
Call your mom, Pamela right. Max looked at me. How
do you know her name? Otto told us. He told
us everything I said. Finally, I could see the gears
in Max's head start to turn in the right direction
he was thinking, and for the first time, appeared genuinely worried.
Uncle Auto's gone. He quietly asked Jemma and I nodded
he was helpless. Sculling bones dragged him away from his cabin,
added rubbing salt into the wounds. Max sighed, okay, he said,
I'm gonna call the police. Jenny, can you get the
arena and have her gather the girls to meet us
at the wreck holl it's Jemma, she said, but yes,
I can do that. Jemma turned and smiled at Nell
and I. She mouthed to the word finally, and then
trotted off out of the office and back into the storm.
Max turned to Nell. I think we can put away
our differences and work together. Noel was hesitant, but only momentarily. Yeah,
what do you want me to do? Sids Brodie is
no longer here. Can you go gather what's left of
the boys and meet in the wreck room?
Speaker 2: Max asked.
Speaker 1: That way we'll have everyone in one place when the
police arrived. That's a deal. Nel said with relief. He
turned to me and gave me a fist bump. Be careful,
I told him. Nol nodded and then left the office.
It was only Max and I now in the office.
Looked at me with puppy dog eyes. I'm sorry I've
been like this, he said, I didn't want to admit
to myself that this was a real problem. I shot
Max a glance of sympathy. Let me call the police,
he said. He turned and walked back into his small
office behind the check encounter. I stood there in the
office cabin, still dripping wet from the rain outside. I
watered to the wall where I gawked at framed pictures
of the camp. One of them was the grand opening
one from two thousand and two. I studied the photo.
There were a bunch of kids roughly my age front
and center. On either side of the group of kids
were some young adults, the counselors. I zeroed in on
one of them in particular. It was a woman we'd
bee in her very late teens or early twenties. Something
about her face looked familiar. I then drew my attention
to the man behind her. He wore a set of
dark colored coveralls, had dark shaggy hair, and a small smile,
thin lipped on his face. In his grip was a rake.
It was Emory Gut. Got it crazy to see pictures
from that long ago? Huh? I heard Max's voice from
behind me. I turned around as he walked up to me.
He loomed over my shoulder, also looking at the picture. Yeah,
I said, so this picture was taken before Emory died. Yep,
Max said, tapping on Emory in the photo. Definitely an
unfortunate thing that happened. Max then moved his finger across
to the other side of the group of kids, landing
on another person, a hefty man in his twenties. That's
my uncle Loatto, he said. Otto's the one who sent
Emory out to clear the brush where he ultimately lost
his life. He's never forgiven himself for that. That's why
he wanted to work here again. When my mom reopened
Camp restling Stone. He felt like he owed it to Emory,
owed it to the universe or this land or something.
Max moved his finger again to the woman next to Watto.
She was fairly young too, also, somewhere in her twenties.
That's her right there, Max said, my mom, Pamela. I asked,
uh huh.
Speaker 2: He mumbled.
Speaker 1: She was pregnant with me at the time I was
born in the fall. After all of this happened, my
attention went back to the woman on the other side
of the group of kids, the one that looked vaguely
familiar to me. Who's that? I could see Max smile
out of the corner of my eye. She looks familiar,
doesn't she? Yeah, I said, I take it you haven't
seen many pictures of your mom from this period of time.
Then Max added coldly, my mom. I leaned in closer.
The more I studied her face, her shape, and stance,
the more I could see myself in her. It was her.
My mom had been a counselor at Camp Restingstone when
it first opened in two thousand and two. No wonder
she was acting so weird and quiet when her and
my dad dropped me off. It must have brought so
many horrible memories for her. But knowing what had happened,
why would she have let me come here? She was
only eighteen or nineteen at the time, Max said, And
for what my mom says, she was pretty scarred by
what happened here. It took a lot of convincing her
to get her and your dad to allow you to
come here. I looked at Max, confused. He continued. We
had to tell her that the skeletal remains of Emory
gut had been located and removed. We had to tell
her the acid bunkers had been cleared out and deemed safe.
We had to pay her to let you come here.
Max chuckled, slightly maliciously. By any means necessary, he said,
that's what my mom said, By any means necessary. This
camp needs to not fail this time. Our Famili's financial
and social success depends on it. Max then glared down
at me, a glimmer of sinister intent in his eyes.
And that's when I realized he never even called the police.
The police aren't coming, are they? I asked, Just as
a blast of thunder from outside shook the office. Max
shook his head. Why would the police need to come.
There's nothing wrong here. Everything's going smoothly. But your uncle,
Max shrugged. Uncle Otto he died years ago. I couldn't
believe it. The lies that were coming out of Max
were corrupt and unreal. He was actually starting to believe
everything he was saying. How could he do this? How
could he act this way? I slowly started to back
away from Max. He just turned and faced me, not moving,
but only staring and smiling creepily at me. As I
backed up toward the door, another explosive boom of thunder
sent shockwaves through my body. The office door blew open,
and an onslaught of wind and rain funneled in. I
spun around and looked out into the storm. I saw
a heavy green aura outside, a wispy fog that swam
across the ground and poured out from the trees across
the lot. Then what I saw next made me scream
through the pouring rain and dusting winds that carried lost
leaves from the trees. Skinless Guts was eerily shambling across
the swampy parking lot, dragging Gemma and Null behind him
by the collars of their shirts. Thank you for listening
to part four of Skinless, a micro Terror's original novella.
Be sure to stop buy micro terrors dot com for
your chance to win the Skinless prize back, which includes
an autographed copy of Skinless, an autographed copy of Where
It's Always Spooky Season, a micro Terror's bookmark, and pen,
as well as a one year free membership to the
micro Terrors Fan Club. You have until August thirtieth to
sign up. The winner will be announced on September first
in the micro Terrors monthly newsletter. Tune in next week
for the finale of Skinless.
Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to micro Terrors, join us each
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for micro Terrors scary story Worries for Kids m