CHAPTER 1: THE NIGHT BEGINS

Hello everyone. This will be a little different for me, considering I'm more used to creating OCs to toss into the universe and mess around with the rules and storylines that have been created. For Until Dawn however, I've decided to do an alternate telling of the game instead. So, a few notes before we start.

I've seen a lot of Sam/Josh fics and Chris/Josh ones too. Even some with events going past the events of the game… This fic will follow a sort of epilogue near the end, but the main thread will be a more Sam/Chris pairing. Certain story elements will also change from the base game, though the prologue will for the most part remain entirely the same.

If that explanation is a little too much to digest, don't worry. This chapter will cover the initial parts of it. Enough rambling, let us proceed with our tale…

February 2, 2014

Blackwood Mountain

2.25 AM

Beth Washington

She had been washing up the dishes in the kitchen, late into the night. It tends to be what happens when you invite all your friends up for a weekend getaway. The others had been in here about 45 minutes ago, talking in hushed whispers far away from her. Jessica skipping away, Sam looking a little concerned with what they had been discussing…

Looking back at the table behind her, Chris and Josh were nearly passed out drunk, barely coherent as they continued to chug down a bottle of Jeremiah Cragg, seemingly not worried about being completely inebriated. Walking over to them, the young teenager picked up one of the empty bottles right next to her brother.

"Jeez, Josh. Once again brother, you've outdone us all." Beth laughed, tapping on the sleeping Josh's shoulder, eliciting a groan from Josh, his eyes flickering wide open from the touch.

"Wha… What's going on?" Josh said, his voice slurred and almost incoherent.

"Nothing, Josh. You drunk…" Beth snorted, fingers pressed against her lips to keep from laughing too hard. Josh, despite his drunken state took the comment in offense, though his inebriation left him little muscle control to express even a modicum of offense.

"I'm…not… drunk." Josh answered with a slur, clutching his head as Beth's voice seemingly rang in his ears. Beth had already moved towards the door, thinking that a nice long rest would keep her refreshed for the day ahead. As she walked past, she saw a rather scruffy looking piece of paper, a small ring on the right corner of it. Her curiosity piqued, Beth took the paper and read its contents on the other side, made out in hastily written pencil. The further she read, the further her face shifted into a look of shock, putting two and two together.

Hannah,

You look so damn hot in that shirt. But I bet you're even hotter out of it. Come to the guest room at 2.00AM. :)

Mike

"Oh no… What did our naïve sister get herself into?" Beth said aloud to herself, shaking her head at the sheer audacity her friends were demonstrating. As she set down the paper, she heard the front door and someone run outside into the storm beyond. Stepping back a little, she shifted her head left and right, forced to decide whether to try and wake her brother or just go and see what was going on. By instinct, she moved to wake Josh up from his drunken slumber, shaking him for all she had.

"Josh, Josh!" Beth shook him again and again, speaking at a high-pitched tone.

"Hmmm… What?" Josh stirred awake yet again, eyes blinking as he looked at Beth.

"There's someone outside." Beth said, moving towards the door and swinging it open on the way outside. Josh followed suit behind her, his movement shaky and barely coherent.

"Ugghh…" he groaned as he kept walking. Beth had grabbed her winter clothing from one of the seats, hurriedly pulling it onto her person as she raced outside, hearing Sam call out to Hannah in the woods. The others, save for Chris were gathered outside, also looking at the edge of the woods.

"What's going on? Where's my sister going?" Beth pushed aside Mike and Matt as she moved towards Sam.

"It's fine. She just can't take a joke." Jessica sighed, moving away as she stepped inside the lodge with a shaking head.

"It was just a prank, Han." Emily called out, the tone carrying a half-apologetic nature to it. Matt and Ashley remained silent, not really wanting to call Beth's attention and thus her wrath down upon them.

"What did you do?" Beth responded, voice accusatory, her eyes trained on Mike.

"We're just messing around, Beth. It wasn't serious." Mike tried to explain himself to her, hands slowly raising up in the air in defense. He even backed up a little, so biting was Beth's glare.

"You jerks!" Beth angrily said, about to run after Hannah. That is, until Josh finally caught up with her. Seeing everyone gathered at the front door, he had to wonder what was going on. Beth looked very worried, which immediately set off warning bells to the older Washington sibling.

"What's going on?" Josh asked, eyes still flittering in their sockets amidst a hazy drunken fog.

"Hannah ran out into the woods." Sam explained, still attempting to find her amidst the trees, looking more and more worried with each passing second.

"What?!" Josh screamed in shock, shaking whatever ill effects the alcohol had on him, concentrating solely on going out there to get Hannah back.

"Josh, it was just a joke." Mike said meekly, albeit with a heavy sigh. He was expecting to be yelled at by his friend. Josh, balling his hands into fists concealed his anger. 'Gotta find Hannah...' Was the only thing running through his mind.

"Stay here. I'm going to go get Hannah." Josh said. Beth, thinking that Hannah would need something to keep her warm in the frigid cold took off her winter coat and handed it over to Josh, who nodded as he yanked it out of her hand and raced off to find his sister.

"Hannah!" Josh called out as he disappeared into the cold abyss, the wind slowly obscuring his form until at last he could no longer be seen. As Beth watched her brother leave, the others, all still feeling a little guilty due to their participation in the prank walked back inside into the safety of the cabin. Beth followed suit after them, silently praying that her brother and sister would get back safe. How could she have known that Josh had spoken his final words to her, that she would never see them again? As the night dragged on, the howling wind continued to storm across the mountain, covering up the screams of the two Washington siblings as they fell over the cliff, never to be seen again.

And the dawn soon rose upon that dark day, a bright light amidst a sea of darkness…

February 2, 2015

Blackwood Pines Cable Car Station

9.00PM

SAM

A year. A whole year to this day...

It was never easy, not for anyone who was there that night when Josh and Hannah Washington vanished into the woods, never to be seen or heard from again. It was this very anniversary that Sam was here, having just been dropped off by a rather empty bus on the path towards the cable car station situated at the base of the mountain. Walking forward along the path beneath a sea of trees all around her, the place brought up painful memories of that day. 'I should have gotten to her before them. I just hope Beth's doing okay.' She mused silently, fingers breezing over her phone, which she had just watched Beth's video on during the trip here.

Hey, everyone. Beth Washington here. Darn thing… How do you… Ah, there. That's better.

Before anyone asks, I'm doing fine. It's hard, I know. And if I didn't think it'd help, I wouldn't have sent this, or sent like a thousand emails to each and every one of you. Sorry about that.

I hope you'll all come to the lodge with me. I just wanted to… you know get together, share some memories with each other, move on at long last. I know that's what Hannah and Josh would have wanted. And I know they would want us all to be happy, wherever they are, move on with our lives. It means a lot, should you decide to come.

So, I guess… I'll see you here soon, guys. Can't wait…

Now, how do you turn this thing off…?

'Anything for you, Beth.' Sam sighed, doing her level best to fight the fear running through her veins. Marching over to the station, she came up towards a large wrought iron gate, a single note tapered onto the handles. Rubbing her arms together in a shiver, Sam yanked the note down. On it was a simple note made out by Chris, one of Josh's best friends and usually known as the joker of their little tight knit group of friends.

"Gate's busted… Climb on over. Chris." Sam read out the letter. On the back of it, Sam saw an email that Beth had sent to Chris, in response to his query on how to get to the cable car station. Sam tossed the paper aside, moving over to the wall on the side of the gate and started climbing, putting all those hours of rock-climbing to good use. Soon enough, she was over the railing and on the other side.

Further up the road, she came across a small signage tucked away by the side of the trail, a thin layer of snow covering the top of the plaque. Leaning in to read the print, Sam was intrigued by its contents. On it, an ancient native myth was parroted back, about the belief that butterflies held the key to prophecies and that they could provide brief glimpses of the future to the viewer. Based on the color of the totem, a different form of future would be revealed to them.

"Huh, cool." Sam said, her eyes travelling down the long lines of text, voraciously consuming the knowledge imparted on the plaque. That was when her eyes landed on one such totem, a small little wooden carving with shades of yellow painted all over its design.

"Must be a guidance totem, if this plaque is to be believed… Alright, what do you have for me?" Sam said, slowly picking up the totem before spinning it around, revealing a butterfly shaped hole with a yellow outline around it. Suddenly, she felt her entire body lurch forward as if being sucked into the totem itself. Her vision went dark and her sense of spatial awareness dimmed considerably.

Her eyes suddenly flashed open, revealing the cable car station at the top of the mountain, drenched in a rather chilly filter, a blue tone obscuring the images flashing through her head. She saw a cute, little bird chirping happily amidst the snow, perched on top of a small wooden bench and table laid out amidst the snow. A lone figure wielding what appeared to be a snowball remained crouched behind a nearby tree. The bird then flew away, just as the figure started to move out from the cover. With that, the vision ended and Sam 'awakened' back where she was, still clutching the totem in her hand.

"Weird." Sam shook her head, rubbing at her eyes as if to check to see whether the vision was actually real or not. Thought still on her mind, she continued on towards the cable car station nearby.

"Chris? You here?" Sam yelled out, hands towards her mouth as impromptu microphone. Nothing answered back save for the howling wind billowing from up high. Walking over to the station, she attempted to open the station door, only to find it completely locked.

"Why is it locked?" Sam pondered aloud, stepping away to look for another way in.

"Your bag's here, but where are you?"

"You're not in the bag, are you?" She said aloud, looking around. Just as she was about to move away, she heard the soft rustle of footsteps pressing against snow. Spinning around, she saw her friend march out from behind the station, waving over to him.

"Sam, you made it!" Chris said cheerfully, his goofy smile a welcome sight for Sam, having spent most of the trip here with rather unsavory characters.

"Hey, Chris. Get here okay?" Sam asked, smiling.

"More or less… Though… I really wish I had taken climbing class before trying to scale that wall." Chris grumbled, pressing a hand against his back, wincing with the touch.

"You mean gym, right?" Sam chuckled, deciding to crack a joke. Chris, smiling took it in stride, though Sam didn't see his red cheeks, embarrassment etched on the poor boy face as plain as day.

"Oh, so I found something kinda amazing." Chris recalled, grabbing his bag and swinging it onto his back.

"What?" Sam shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm not going to tell you. You've gotta see it for yourself. It's right around here." He pointed towards the direction he had come from, a small place to the side. Following Chris, Sam came across a torn up paper, a wanted poster detailing a convicted killer that was last seen in the mountains about five years ago. Sam did a double take with the poster, a little unsettled by the idea considering the last year. Continuing to follow Chris, she eventually saw Chris standing in front of a shooting range, complete with rifle and targets.

"Ta-da! Pretty rad, right?" Chris held out his hands away from his body, doing jazz hands like he was showing off new cars to potential customers. Sam merely looked a little concerned, her expression of a similar state.

"Oh, come on. Look at these beauties." Chris picked up the rifle, looking it over through his glasses. For a weapon that was more or less untouched since last year, it looked to be in perfect condition.

"Not the word that comes to mind when you're describing a shooting range." Sam moved forward and closer towards the range. Chris, finished with his checks saw Sam approaching and being the gentleman he wanted to be, offered the rifle to Sam.

"Nah, you go ahead." Sam waved him off, Chris nodding and taking aim with the rifle. The first few shots were relatively simple, a bag here, and a can there and perhaps even an empty whiskey bottle just to spice things up. Chris took some time to adjust at the beginning, often accidentally hitting his glasses against the iron-sights of the rifle. Eventually however, each shot rang out with success, targets falling left and right.

"Boom! Expert marksman right here!" Chris celebrated, perhaps a little too soon. Sam shook her head, secretly smirking underneath.

"I'm gonna guess that was a lucky shot right there." Sam teased him.

"I don't think so, girl." Chris went back to focus, noticing a small squirrel had scurried up onto a small barrel, nibbling away at some nuts left behind. 'Probably shouldn't shoot it. Especially with Sam here…' Chris thought quietly, glancing briefly at Sam quietly watching him from behind. All this time, Chris was often chided for not acting on his apparent crush on Ashley, a girl he usually spent a lot of time with. Only Ashley knew where his heart laid and him being himself, he hasn't had the courage to even try. After all, Sam wasn't like the others in the group. She was usually the voice of reason and action, just like last year. Resolving to try a little harder, Chris took a shot at a nearby bag instead, the bullet zinging against the sand as a small stream of it trickled out onto the snowy ground.

"Nice shot." Sam complimented him.

"Your ass just got saaacked!" Chris whooped at his own pun, Sam visibly groaning in the background. Looking up, Sam saw the gears of the cable start to spin and a single box-like shadow start to loom closer and closer towards them.

"Hey, look. Cable car's on its way. Time to go..." Sam nudged Chris in the ribs, breaking Chris' concentration. Nodding reluctantly, Chris set down the gun, hand sliding down the length of it with a sense of pride.

"And I was just getting the hang of this." He glumly stated as they made their way back to the station. Once again, Sam tried the door and once again, it refused to budge.

"Let me get that. Beth wanted to make sure no squatters make home in the station." Chris replied, pulling out a key to the station Beth had sent him earlier. He moved to unlock the door, the lock clicking open with a resultant 'tick'.

"You keep in contact with her?" Sam asked as they walked inside to wait for the cable car.

"Yeah, well. She wanted to see if I had any of Josh's old stuff. For some memorial she's planning to give. I brought some of them in here with me." Chris pointed at the backpack behind him, the clunk of certain items swishing around unmistakable to her ears.

"She sound like she's doing alright?" Sam pried, having lost contact with Beth about six months ago due to her new college. The schedule kept taking up all her spare time, Sam cursing silently at the thought of Beth having to deal with the tragedy all by her lonesome. It was good to hear that Chris had picked up the slack, if unintentionally.

"She has her days." Chris rubbed his blonde hair, uncomfortable in his words. It was tough, watching the once cheerful Beth descend at first into grief, then into vain defiance at the facts. The last few times he had visited the Washingtons before tonight, Beth had regained some of her composure and color to her demeanor, though she still had moments of anger and guilt from time to time.

"I hope this was the right thing to do, coming back for the anniversary and all." Sam's eyes nested upon her fingers, as if to admire her own painted nails.

"I'm sure it's fine. She seemed quite excited for this when I talked to her." Chris did his best to reassure her.

"Good, good." Sam nodded reluctantly, just as the cable car arrived at the station, its doors creaking open. Her reluctance came from the thought of seeing Beth again after a half-year apart. 'Hope she doesn't hate me…' she silently muttered to herself.

"After you…" Chris said to Sam, both of them ready to begin their next great adventure as they stepped inside the cable car, their destination set…

Blackwood Mountain Cable Car Station

9.32PM

JESSICA

Jess was bored. Again…

If she knew that waiting for new arrivals to turn up would be this boring, she would have asked Mike to handle this instead. As she sat down, reading her book to pass the time, she heard the cable car rumble to life as it returned on a path back to them. Matt and Emily had passed by a few minutes earlier, Emily having given her a scathing look. 'Damn bitch doesn't know when to quit.' She snorted as she rose from her seat to greet the others.

"Boy, oh boy… New people. Time to meet and greet!" Jessica chirped to herself, walking towards the station door with a skip in her step.

"Jess!" Chris called out, banging against the station door, nearly startling Jessica half to death. She leaped back in shock, only for her face to immediately brighten upon seeing familiar faces.

"Jessica, over here!" Sam called out as well, tapping against the glass pane to get Jessica's attention.

"What's the matter?" Jessica crossed her arms, looking slightly bemused at their predicament.

"We're stuck in this stupid thing." Chris bemoaned, still with a witty grin on his face.

"Can you please let us out? Pretty please?" Sam asked sweetly, a hint of pleading entering her voice. Jessica, sighing depressed on the button, deactivating the electronic lock and allowing Chris and Sam to push out into the bitter cold of the high mountains.

"Oh my god… Another ten minutes and I would have started chewing off my own leg." Chris dramatically enthused, clearly reveling in the act.

"Eww, Chris." Sam gave a look of disgust.

"What? I have a lot of meat on my bones. This is all muscle." Chris said flippantly, pointing down at his average-looking legs. Sam again groaned, more visibly this time. Chris took it as a positive sign. 'Good start to the weekend.' He thought to himself.

"Glad to see you haven't changed." Jessica smirked, unable to stay mad at the joker for too long. After all, it's one of the reasons why he's gelled so well with their merry band of misfits, or as Jessica calls it the peanut gallery.

"Who, me? Anyway, where's Mike? Aren't you joined at the hip these days?"

"Who told you that? Was it Beth? I told her to keep that quiet!" Jessica's jaw dropped, figuratively speaking, blurting out her retort with flushed cheeks of embarrassment.

"Me and my big mouth…" Chris winced, not wanting to think about how Beth would react when she finds out about this.

"Em must not be too pleased." Sam chimed in, hoping to direct Jessica's anger elsewhere.

"You're lucky. The snarling bitch came up a few minutes before you guys." Jessica scoffed, looking towards the path to the lodge. Chris glanced in the same direction, seeing only a way to somewhere nice and warm, not freezing cold weather at every turn.

"Alright, let's just get up to the lodge. It's freezing out here." Chris shrugged, moving towards the path leading up to the lodge.

"Agreed." Sam nodded, following behind Chris but not before waving farewell to Jessica, who had opted to remain behind and wait for Mike to come and get her. They had been dating for about half a year now and seeing as there was no parental supervision up on the mountain, plus a location as remote as they come, it was the perfect spot to unleash those teenage hormones, preferably on one another.

Jessica, so preoccupied as she was with Chris and Sam that she did not notice that the cable car had left for the station at the base of the mountain, a strange figure draped in thick winter overalls and tanks of flammable gas strapped to their back. Grumbling, the figure idly waited for the cable car, tapping impatiently on their flamethrower to pass the time. 'Those kids have no idea what's up there…' the stranger thought to themselves. They weren't wrong.

For if they were not careful, this night could very well be their last…

Alright, so that was the first chapter. Hopefully, this gets enough traction to warrant more chapters. Until then, have fun and have a very good day!