Howl To Me

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College was supposed to be a time in your life when you were discovering who you wanted to be when you grew up. It was not the time to be fighting for your life, and yet, we found ourselves doing that very thing. A camping trip to the mountains seemed like just the thing we needed to get over the stress of finals. We expected fun in the sun, no stress, and time to unwind from the rigors of attending college.  And we got that...until we didn't. No one expected a green glowing meteor to explode in the night sky or for it change us in ways only written about in Hollywood horror stories. 

~ Remy ~

Vanya was a fantasy I thought about late at night when I was all alone. He was also my best friend's older brother and saw me as just a kid. When we are inexplicably brought together by something we didn't understand, we had to learn to accept the new world we had been thrown into. Accepting him was the easy part. Accepting what I had become was going to take some time to get used to, time I no longer had if I wanted us to live.

~ Vanya ~

After getting out of the service, all I wanted to do was get away from the world. Going to my family's campground in the mountains seemed like the perfect thing. When my world exploded around me, I found myself desiring things I had never allowed myself to want. Remy was my baby brother's best friend. He was almost a decade younger than me. I had no business being with him, but I couldn't seem to help myself. Everything about him called to me. But I had changed in ways I'd never dreamed of even in my nightmares and I was terrified that those changes might cost me the one man I wanted more than anything.

"You know you want to go."

No, I really didn't.

"Come on, Remy." Yeri tugged on my arm. "It'll be fun."

I seriously doubted that. 

"You just pack enough stuff for about a week and I'll do all the rest. I've already got food and everything all ready to go."

"I don't camp."

Ever.

"Please?" Yeri wheedled. 

I groaned as I dropped my head down to the desk in front of me. He had to pull out the please card.

Damn it.

Obviously, he knew he had me, but then, when didn't he? Yerik Sokolov, better known as Yeri, was my best friend. He knew just what he needed to say to get me to agree to just about anything.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you."

I grunted as Yeri wrapped me up in a hug that squeezed the air out of my chest. As slight as he was, no one ever expected him to squeeze the stuffing out of them.

Idiots, all of them.

"I'll take care of everything. You don't have to do anything. Just be ready to go tomorrow morning at six."

I shot Yeri a look of horror. "In the morning?"

God, was that even a real time?

Yeri's grin was not reassuring. "It's a three hour drive to get to the cabins and then just a little bit of a hike from there. If we leave early enough, we can get there before the day ends."

I grunted.

"Everyone is meeting by the campus library."

My eyes narrowed. "Define everyone?"

I wasn't about to spend my break with a bunch of people I either didn't know or didn't like. It was one week, seven measly days that belonged just to me. It was my way to regroup after finals, which had been pure hell.

"A bunch of people," Yeri replied, but his eyes darted away.

"Yeri!"

Yeri sighed and plopped down next to me. "Okay, so it's just our usual crowd, plus a few extras."

I swear I was going to smack the stupid right out of him. "Who?"

"Well, Charlie and Akio are going, and Cindy."

So far so good.

"Who else?"

I knew I was in trouble when Yeri winced.

"Margot, Olivia, Charlie, Brad, Carmine, and Levi."

I gaped at him. "Why would you invite them up to the camp for a week?" 

Charlie I could understand, and maybe even Carmine, but the rest of them? Margot was a bitch and Brad was her homophobic boyfriend who worshiped the ground she walked on. Olivia was Margot's best friend and Olivia's boyfriend Levi was Brad's best friend.

They were pretty much a matching quadruplet.

"So, I was talking to Carmine, telling him about the camping trip. I was really hoping he'd agree to go because Akio is going, and you know Akio has a crush on Carmine."

I nodded. Everyone knew that except Carmine. The man was romantically blind as a bat.

"Well, Levi and Brad overheard us talking, and one thing led to another, and now they are all going." Yeri smiled weakly. "I couldn't not invite them, you know?"

Oh, yes, he could.

"Yeri, I am not going to spend an entire week listening to Brad's shit. I refuse." I'd rather have my eyeballs plucked out by a flock of birds. "The man is a homophobic prick."

"You don't have to talk to him. There are six cabins up there. He's bringing Margot. I doubt they will even leave their cabin." Yeri snickered. "Too busy fucking all week long."

I didn't want to hear that either.

"Listen, there are enough cabins for all of us if a few of us double up. Brad and Margot can have one, Levi and Olivia another. Everyone else can go from there."

"What about Akio?"

Yeri's smile brightened and became evil. "I'm putting him with Carmine."

I snorted out a laugh. "He's going to kill you. You know that, right?"

"He can try," Yeri cackled as he jumped up and started walking away.

I shook my head in disbelief. Yeri liked to live dangerously. It was a family trait. Both his father and his brother had served in the military. Yeri came from a long line of men who faced danger on a regular basis.

I was not that brave.

I turned my attention back to the book I was reading. Technically, my classes were over for the term, but I had already signed up for next term. I was using this time to do some reading for some of my upcoming classes, hoping to get ahead a little. 

Medical texts were a little hard to understand when my heart wasn't in it at the moment, but it was better than the alternative. I had no desire to follow in my parents' glorious footsteps.

I'd rather shovel shit for a living.

Pretty much the same thing in my mind.

I knew at some point I would need to head back to my dorm and pack for the trip, but I honestly wasn't looking forward to it. Yes, the time away from the university campus would be good for me, but no, I did not want to go camping.

It wasn't camping that I minded—although I wasn't thrilled with it—as much as it was the people that were going with us. Not once in the year I had been attending the university had I had a good interaction with Brad or his girlfriend Margot. 

He was the football team quarterback, which made him very popular. Hence, the gorgeous head cheerleader girlfriend. He was also an asshole who seemed to take great delight in throwing homophobic slurs at me every chance he got.

His best friend and fellow teammate Levi seemed to be okay as long as he wasn't standing right beside Brad. He, at least, didn't ridicule me when he was on his own.

Same with Olivia, who was Levi's girlfriend and Margot's best friend. Separately, they were okay. Together, I wouldn't cross the road to piss on any of them if they were on fire.

Personally, I was pretty sure that Brad was in the closet. He was just a little too interested in my sex life to be straight.

I never should have agreed to go.

I read until my alarm went off. I'd set it for two hours so I didn't spend my entire day inside the library. Studying was all well and good, but man did not live by bookwork alone.

I needed food, too.

I stuffed my books back into my bag, slung the strap over my shoulder, and then got up and headed out of the library. The campus cafe wasn't too far away. I could pick something up on the way back to the dorm.

I wasn't really looking forward to packing. 

I picked up a chicken salad at the cafe and then made my way back to my dorm. Rooming with Yeri was an experience. I knew just how much when I opened the door and found myself in complete chaos.

"What the hell happened in here?"

It looked as if our room had exploded.