Dead End

Chapter I: Shortcut

Rated: R (For violence and language)

A/N: This storry will be dark and angsty, a Huddy of course, what else do I write? LoL! Anyway this is a mix of two of my favorite horror movies and you might recognize them, if not, it's still a good story so enjoy!

"Did you check the map?" House asked for the umpteenth time. Cuddy dropped the map, which she was holding, onto her lap. She wanted to ask him how she was supposed to find their location on the map when they hadn't seen a street sign for miles. On top of that, they were so in the middle of nowhere that the road was dirt, not paved.

"Yes I did, and for the last time I can't tell you where we are if I don't know the road name." Cuddy replied, shaking her head in annoyance. She looked up into the rearview mirror and saw Cameron's reflection. She had a look on her face as if she knew exactly what Cuddy was thinking, House was being a complete ass.

"This is why no one ever takes shortcuts from toothless weirdos at backwater gas stations with one pump." Chase piped in.

"His name was Bubba and he was very well read." House tried to defend himself, although he wasn't pleading his case very well. A few miles back they had stopped to refuel and House had taken it upon himself to chat up the owner of the station, hoping to find a quicker route back to New Jersey. Cuddy had heard the whole conversation as she some how got stuck pumping the gas from a pump that looked like it hadn't been upgraded since 1963.

"Since when does viewing pornography require one to read?" Cameron asked. This caused Chase to laugh. House quickly grabbed the half folded up map from Cuddy and turned in his seat, he then proceeded to beat Chase over the head with it. Cuddy rolled her eyes and just before she turned around to grab the map back from House, something in front of the car caught her eye. It was shiny and red and…

"LOOK OUT!" She screamed suddenly. House jammed on the break but it was too late. He plowed right into the front of the red shiny thing, which happened to be a car. Luckily they were in an SUV and had hit a sedan, and also the car was a rental. Cuddy's body lunged forward with the force of the break, but was quickly caught by the seatbelt across her shoulder. She knew that in the morning she was going to have a bruise there.

"Everyone okay?" House said after the car had come to a complete stop. Everything was silent now except for the occasional chirping bird. Cuddy's heart was pounding and her mind was racing, if she hadn't seen that car the impact might have been ten times worse. As it was both hoods of both vehicles were crushed severely and when House tried to start their engine again it wouldn't turn over. Cuddy didn't know much about cars but she was guessing a spark plug had come loose or something.

"Who knows how to fix a car?" House asked sardonically. Cuddy ignored him and opened the door. She unclipped her seat belt and stepped onto the dirt underfoot. They were surrounded by trees so thick that it seemed that no sunlight was coming through. Either that or it was about to rain. She wondered why a car, facing their direction, would be parked on the wrong side of the road. Didn't matter much though, both cars were now officially ruined. If they were going to get out of there they would need a tow truck. She walked to the front of the car to assess the damage, not that she knew enough about cars to be doing that.

"Hey! That's my car!" A female voice called. There was a rustling of underbrush and a woman appeared, a very attractive woman. She was wearing a black miniskirt and matching bikini top. House looked at her like he had never seen a pretty woman in his life. At that point in their history, her and House had become semi-public with their relationship, meaning that the only people that knew about it were Chase, Cameron and Wilson. House's new team didn't need to know that he was boinking the boss and it was better that way.

"Who the hell are you?" House asked loudly. The underbrush rustled again and another woman appeared. She had longer, red hair, and smaller breasts but she was wearing a very similar outfit which was red instead of black. "What kind of idiot parks in the wrong direction on the wrong side of the street? Now we are all fucked."

"Calm down, House." Cuddy said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "I'm Lisa Cuddy." She then said with a smile, offering her hand to the first woman who had come out from the forest, the short haired brunette.

"Candi. That's Pepper." The woman now known as Candi said.

"What? No "salt"?" Was the next comment to come from Chase. House groaned and rolled his eyes but once they were settled back into place the didn't leave the cleavage of Candi. Cuddy punched him in the arm, not quite playfully, trying to get him to knock it off. She couldn't understand why two scantly clad women were in the middle of the woods, seemingly doing nothing. There was no purpose for it that she could see and because they were there, Cuddy couldn't let her guard down for a second. If one of those barely legal ladies even so much as winked at House she would be on the warpath. She smiled at them though, a very genuine looking smile, no one could know that the part of her brain marked "jealousy" was in overdrive.

"I'm Allison Cameron, and this is my husband, Robert Chase." Cameron said and the couple both held out their hands waiting for the new comers to shake them. House, on the other hand, didn't introduce himself and instead turned to the car and pushed the hood up so he could look inside. Cuddy doubted that he knew anything about how to fix an SUV but she had come to expect nothing more than surprises in this relationship.

"What are you two doing out here?" Chase asked. This snapped Cuddy out of her reverie and she turned to look at the two girls. She also wanted to know what they were doing out there but she wasn't brash enough to out right ask it.

"Filming Lesbian Wilderness 3." Pepper answered. Cuddy had never hear of Lesbian Wilderness 1, and she was wondering how big of a hit it must have been for them to make two more movies of it. As Cuddy looked the girls over she got the feeling that they weren't very educated, they probably had only graduated high school a few years ago and decided that they could use their bodies to make money, so why even try going to college?

"Wait a minute, you're Candi Rain!" House said, pulling away from the car to look at them. Cuddy felt her face flare up red. Of course House would just happen to be one of the fans of the Lesbian Wilderness series. "I've seen you in Face Down Ass Up!"

"House, now is not the time to brag about how much porn you watch." Cuddy said to him, trying to project her voice so that Chase and Cameron couldn't hear her. They did, though, and Chase started to laugh. Cameron suddenly looked embarrassed to be standing as close to House as she was, so she took a few steps sideways and nuzzled into Chase.

"Always nice to meet a fan." Candi said with a smile and stepped closer to House, "You know I direct every movie I am in."

"Produce them too." House added and they both laughed.

"Sorry to interrupt this fan boy meet and greet but what are we going to do about these cars? They aren't going to work and we need a tow truck." Cameron said, interrupting all of them. Cuddy could tell that Cameron also didn't care to hear about what other talents porn stars had in their repertoire.

"I have my cell…" Chase and Cuddy said in unison as they swiftly pulled out their respective Blackberries. House looked at them like they were all idiots, but before he could make some smart ass comment, Pepper spoke up.

"Cells don't work out here, need a satellite phone. Our best bet is for some of us to stay here, while the others walk to the gas station. It's about three miles down the road and they have a tow truck there. Whether it actually works is another story." She said. Even after hearing this, Cuddy didn't believe her cell phone wasn't going to work. She started to walk around the car, holding it in different positions and at different angles only to find that Pepper was right. They were probably a hundred miles from a cell tower, she was bested in logic by a porn star.

"Well I can't walk long distances so I'm out." House said, moving so he was leaning up against their car. Cuddy knew he was right but she hated the fact that he had to announce it like he was all pious or something. He then looked at Chase, "You can walk. Besides, you're pretty if a truck driver comes along who knows how far you'll get."

"C'mon Chase, I'll go with you." Cameron said, obviously sensing that a fight was coming on and didn't want to be a part of it.

"Why do we have to go? I don't understand why he is automatically exempt because--"

"Shut up. We're going. See you guys in a few hours." Cameron said, interrupting Chase.

"Here, take this." Pepper said, she pulled a flashlight from the backseat of the red car and held it up. It was one of those huge, mega flashlights. Cuddy looked at her watch and realized that it was almost seven thirty. They would be losing daylight soon, and she didn't know how well Chase and Cameron would fair in the wilderness with very little light. Chase took it and held it in his hand, if he was worried about this trek in the dark he wasn't letting it show. Cameron however didn't look very eager to take off now that she realized it would be getting dark.

"We could always just spend the night here and then go for help in the morning." Cuddy offered, seeing the look on Cameron's face. Cameron started to nod but Chase didn't see this as he grabbed her by the wrist and started to pull her off. She took one last look at Cuddy before turning her back completely. Cuddy got this strange feeling in her chest and stomach, it wasn't quite a panic attack, but she thought it could turn into one.

Cuddy took in a deep, shaky breath and walked behind the car. The cabin they had stayed at on the beach had been a rental, which meant that all the food they had brought with them had to be taken back in the rental with them because there was no telling when another person would stay there. She popped the trunk and lowered the tailgate and sat on it. She reached behind her for the box of food Chase had placed there in the morning. There were some wine coolers in the box and even though they were warm and barely had any alcohol content, she needed something to calm her down. She twisted the top off of one and took in a few gulps.

"No time to be getting drunk Cuddy." House said, appearing from around the side of the SUV. She gave him a glare and took a few more gulps of the drink.

"I'm having a drink, I don't get smashed on wine coolers." She replied. That was about the time that Pepper and Candi showed up. Acting like the food was communal now, Candi reached into the box and pulled two wine coolers, one of which she held out to her co-star.

"Where are you two going to sleep?" Candi asked as she opened her bottle. Cuddy was a little irked that this woman thought she was privileged to their food but she didn't say anything about it. If anything mean, or rude, was going to be said about the situation she would leave that to House.

"Back of this Escalade is fine for me." Cuddy said with a shrug.

"Guess I'll be sleeping there too." House added and then sat down next to Cuddy on the tailgate. It was pretty roomy back there so she knew they could fit, and she had brought her comforter from back home to the cabin they were renting because she didn't like sleeping without it. "You two gonna film or something?"

"Something like that." Pepper said and then winked at House.

"You anything to look at? We could use a good cock in the mix." Candi said with a sly smile. Cuddy felt a growl welling up in her throat. She was hardly animalistic or even that territorial, and even though House was currently dating her she wasn't sure that he wouldn't take them up on their offer. Candi seemed to notice that Cuddy was getting mad and so she grabbed Pepper's arm. "I'm sure we can find a suitable dildo, come on Pep." With that the both of them walked away and into the woods where Cuddy guessed there was a clearing that they were camping out in.

"Jealous much?" House asked.

"Shut up." She muttered. She pushed the box of food out of the way and then folded the back seat down. She climbed further back into the car and laid down completely, resting her head on her hands. The comforter was folded up near by, but it was still pretty hot and muggy outside so she wouldn't need it right away. She closed her eyes, hoping first that House wouldn't run off and fuck Candi when she was asleep but her thoughts soon turned to Cameron and Chase. She hoped they would find the gas station and be okay.

***

About a half hour into their walk they had lost all daylight and Chase was betting it was because the sun was setting and the trees were so thick they couldn't even let in twilight. He was walking about six feet in front of Cameron only because she hadn't worn the most comfortable shoes for the job. He wanted to yell at her and tell her that she could have quickly changed before they started the walk but what was done was done and it wasn't like they were going to backtrack a mile just so they could start all over again. "Allison, come on we're almost there." He called back to her.

Cameron was in pain, she had worn some black flip flops and although they were usually comfortable they were definitely not made for a three mile walk though the forest to a gas station. She could feel a blister forming between her first and middle toe and it was getting harder and harder to keep up. She had brought sneakers with her to the cabin so she could go running every morning but it had slipped her mind to change into them before leaving the car. "We aren't almost there!" She complained, knowing that they probably had two more miles to go before they would even begin to see anything.

"Stay with me I don't want you falling behind." Chase called although he didn't turn around to look at her. From where she was, the big flashlight illuminated enough that she could stay on the road but there was no way she could walk as fast as he was.

"How do we even know they are going to be open this late? We might be doing this for nothing." Cameron snapped back at him, and it was true, what the hell were the going to do if the place was closed? They couldn't just break in, there wasn't anything urgent enough going on for the use of a phone at that point.

"Don't think like that." Chase replied, "How about you take your shoes off and walk barefoot?" He suggested. He then laughed at the thought of her feet getting all dirty, and he knew that would just give her something else to complain about. Cameron, however, did not give an answer. "Allison?" He called, his heart skipping a beat. He turned around swiftly, only to find that his beautiful wife was nowhere to be found.

"Oh shit! ALLISON!" He screamed and ran towards the edges of the forest. He shone his light into the underbrush but it was so thick that all he could see were the bushes a few feet in front of him. He didn't know what to do at that point. Someone or some-thing had taken her down so quietly, and she hadn't been that far behind him. Now here he was, all alone, and on top of the fact that he was worried that the same thing would get him, it now had his wife. "ALLISON CAN YOU HEAR ME?" The last thing he wanted to do was head into the trees, he knew he'd get lost if he didn't stay on the main road. He thought about running back to where the cars were, he had enough stamina in him to do that but he also didn't want to leave just incase she screamed for help. He was so confused about what to do, in the end he did nothing and just sat there, calling her name over and over again, hoping for some sort of response.

***

Cuddy had fallen asleep, surprisingly, but she woke up suddenly taking in a deep gasp of air. She couldn't remember her dream, or why she had even woken up so suddenly like that. She looked over next to her and House was totally out. He was half under her blanket, and he looked comfortable, so she didn't want to disturb him. She slid out of the back and stood up, stretching her arms up above her. She knew that she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep any time soon, so she thought she would go find Pepper and Candi to talk to. It was better than nothing and it would distract her from their predicament. She could see the glow of something off to her right, and she assumed it was either a campfire or lights from filming equipment.

She decided to follow the glow into the underbrush. As she got closer she saw there was a clearing and indeed there was a fire a few feet away from a large tent. She didn't know if Candi or Pepper were there, but she didn't hear any talking or other noises. The light of the fire was lighting up the side of the tent, but she couldn't make out any bodies inside. She was starting to get nervous, both of the cars were damaged beyond simple repair and the girls hadn't said anything about trying to leave to find a gas station.

"Candi?" She said softly, so softly that she wasn't sure she had said anything at all. She came closer to the tent and felt something hit her shoulder. It was light, like a drop of water, but she wasn't sure that's what it was. She kept thinking to herself, please don't let it be blood, please don't let it be blood. She brought her hand up to her shoulder and wiped it away slowly. Shakily, she brought her hand into her line of vision. It was blood and her stomach did a flip. Slowly she looked up and what she saw shook her down to her bones. There was a body up in one of the trees, and it was so mangled that if she wasn't a doctor she probably would have guessed that it was some sort of animal carcass. Her mouth opened to let out a scream but she quickly clasped her hands over her mouth.

If there was a killer, or killers, out there she didn't want to alert them to her presence by screaming. She had to get back to House, she had to tell him what had happened, but above all she had to remain calm. Tears streamed down her cheeks constantly and she couldn't catch her breath no matter what she did. As slowly as possible she started to walk back towards the broken down cars. She stepped as gingerly as possible over large twigs and dead leaves. She feared that any noise made by her feet would draw attention to herself. She knew that whoever was in the tree was not the only body out there to be found. Her thoughts turned to Cameron and Chase, were they okay? Maybe they had already made it to the gas station and were on their way back. At that point she had to believe that they were okay because if they weren't then all of them were royally fucked.

"House…House!" Cuddy barked in a loud whisper as she got to the tailgate. He didn't wake up right then and there and it was making her panic more, "House please!" She climbed in next to him and started to shake him by the shoulders. He groaned and swatted at her, managing to connect with her cheek pretty hard. She cried out in pain and surprise, bringing her hand to her face to hold it. This cause House to come out of his sleep.

"Cuddy?" He asked sounding concerned, "I didn't mean to hit you like that so you can stow the tears for--"

"House! Listen to me, someone is dead!" Cuddy tried to explain, keeping her voice at whisper level. House looked at her as if she had just grown a second head. She could almost hear the wheels in his head spinning, trying to comprehend what she had just said. "I found her body, it was hanging from a tree and--"

"Who's body? Are you on something?" He replied, obviously not amused by her antics.

"I'm not on anything. Either Candi or Pepper is up in a tree. I know what I saw." She snapped at him. In the light of the campfire she hadn't been able to see more than bones and flesh and she sure as hell wasn't going to go back there to look again. It didn't matter, she assumed, if the killer had got one of them then he most certainly had gotten the others. Before House could say anything else, Cuddy shut the trunk and tailgate. She crawled past him and then pressed the lock button on the driver's side door.

"Locking the doors isn't going to matter much if the dude has a hammer." House said, still seemingly unnerved by this turn of events. Cuddy was wondering if he even believed her at that point. If he was trying to humor her he was doing a very good job of it and it was pissing her off. "Come on, show me this body." With that he moved to the back of the Escalade and started trying to open the tailgate.

"ARE YOU INSANE?!" Cuddy cried and then clasped her hands over her mouth once she realized how loud she was being. "I know what I saw." She said for the second time, looking him dead in the eye. He looked back at her and maybe in that moment he believed, she couldn't be sure at that point. Her instincts were telling her to run out onto the road and call for help at the top of her lungs, but that would only bring the killer closer to them. Obviously, whoever did this didn't think to check the two cars on the road. Maybe they could just sit there until morning and then try to walk to the gas station.

"Look, I'm sure Cameron and Chase have found help by now." House tried to reassure her, but it wasn't working.

"Cameron and Chase? CAMERON and CHASE?! They'd be the first ones to die!" Cuddy cried out in disbelief. House blinked a few times, giving her a look like she was losing her damn mind, and in a way she was.

"Chase would do anything to-"

"All that means is that Chase is dumb and got shot. There's no way he could kick the ass of a killer by himself." Cuddy said. The look House gave her was one of agreement, it seemed they both believed that Chase was an idiot and would get shot in order to protect Cameron. That was an ass backward way of thinking, but Chase wouldn't think when it came to Cameron. Either they were both dead or one of them was.

"We can't just sit here and wait to die, we have to do something." House stressed. She knew that he was right, and she didn't want to be known as the woman who sat around and waited to be butchered in her own car. If they started walking then they might be okay, although they would have to be very quiet about their movements. Slowly, Cuddy unlocked the trunk and tailgate, she then opened up the back and slid out as quietly as she possible. House, being like he usually was, made as much noise as possible getting out of the back.

"Could you BE any louder?" She snapped at him in a low whisper.

"If they are going to hear us, then they are going to hear us." House said, and she wondered if maybe he was thinking that death was better than a three mile hike to safety. Of course he would be in a lot of pain if he had to walk three miles. Just as she was thinking that he pulled out a bottle of vicodin and popped one into his mouth. From where she was she could see him because the lights of the car were on due to the fact that the doors were open. She knew as soon as she shut them, though, the light would be gone and they would be in complete darkness. "What are we going to do about visibility?" That was the first reasonable question he had asked in the past ten minutes.

"Maybe Candi and Pepper had another flashlight. We can find them, see that glow over there?" Cuddy said, pointing to the light that was illuminating from behind the trees. She didn't want to go back there again, she didn't want to see the body she had already seen, and she didn't want to discover a corpse in the tent.

"You can fare better in the underbrush, I'll wait here." House said, sounding a little bit annoyed. Cuddy glared at him, if they were going to do anything they were going to do it together. Without a word she grabbed his arm and pulled him into the underbrush, causing him to stumble before catching his balance. He sighed loudly, clearly not happy about what was happening. Cuddy wondered if he really did believe her or if he was just humoring her. No matter though, once they got to the camp site he would see the body and then maybe the fear of death would knock some sense into him.

It was slow going, but soon they were at the camp site. House walked over to the dwindling fire and Cuddy moved passed him to get to the tent. She unzipped it slowly, keeping her eyes closed. She prayed to anyone that was listening that she wouldn't find another butchered body in there. When she finally convinced herself to let her eyes open all she saw were two sleeping bags, some filming equipment, and luckily enough, a large flashlight. It wasn't as big as the one that had been given to Chase but it would do. She flicked the on button and the light streamed out of it. She pulled herself out of the tent and looked over to House. He was staring up, not moving, she assumed her had found the body. She shone her light on him and saw him wince as a single drop of blood landed on his cheek.

"She's really dead." He whispered.

"Yeah, you think? I don't freak out over nothing." Cuddy said, she was feeling her skin starting to crawl and she wanted to get the hell out of there. She grabbed House's wrist and pulled his very creeped out ass onto the road. "Lets go." She said and started walking, although she didn't let go of House's wrist for a second. He didn't say anything and she supposed there wasn't very much more she could say to make things better. They plodded on together, her shaky hand holding the light up in front of them. They would just have to make it to the gas station and they would be okay.

***

They walked about a mile without incident. Every time Cuddy heard something she would shine her flashlight in that direction. Leaves rustling, twigs snapping, birds hooting, she was on top of all of it. House still hadn't spoken, he seemed trapped in his own brain, trying to figure out how to solve the problem that probably couldn't be solved. Cuddy couldn't help but think that they should have run into Cameron and Chase by now. Not them walking, but them coming back with help. No matter how much she squinted, she couldn't see any headlights in the distance. She wanted so bad to believe that help was coming, but it wasn't. Just as House was slowing down to take another vicodin, there was a screech off in the woods.

"Hello?" Cuddy called back, the screech seemed awfully familiar. It was definitely a female scream, even though she didn't doubt that Chase had a very feminine scream. House put a hand on her shoulder and turned her around.

"Don't be stupid Cuddy." House warned her as he placed the bottle of vicodin back in his pocket. Cuddy didn't think she was being stupid. Someone was out there screaming and they needed help. Maybe she wouldn't be the best person to help, but she couldn't just leave without investigating it. "It's a trap."

"Well it may be but--"

"HELP ME PLEASE! CHASE! HOUSE! CUDDY! SOMEONE!" Now they both knew exactly who it was. Cameron was out there in the dark, possibly in a life or death situation. Cuddy looked at House and then without thinking about it she darted into the woods.

"CUDDY!" She heard House scream from behind her, but it didn't matter any more she had to find Cameron. At least at that point she knew that one of her friends was alive. She was running at breakneck speed, she was barely looking at the things in front of her. Twice she almost slammed into a tree. As she ran Cameron's screaming got louder and House calling her name from the road got softer.

Finally when she thought she couldn't run anymore, she tripped and fell onto her knees. Even though she was in jeans, the fabric ripped and a sharp rock jammed into her right knee. "CUDDY!" It was Cameron, she was right there in front of her and she was tied to a tree.

"It's okay, I promise, I'll get you out of here." Cuddy whispered, "Just be quiet." Cameron started to cry softly as Cuddy went to untying the ropes that kept Cameron bound to the tree. She had set the flashlight down on the ground right next to the shaken woman, but it was aimed towards the tree so she could actually see what she was doing. The only part of Cameron's body that was visible was her abdomen and legs, Cuddy didn't even notice that the poor girl had suffered a terrible blow to the head.

"Hurry! Hurry! Please." Cameron whined. It seemed like she had seen some fucked up shit and wanted to get the hell out of there.

"Where's Chase?" Cuddy whispered.

"I don't know, I just don't know!" Cameron cried loudly.

"Shh! You have to be quiet!" Cuddy replied. Her hands were so shaky that she kept slipping and couldn't seem to get a firm grasp on any of them. She was now crying herself, but she was barely aware of it. Things went silent for a moment and then Cameron started to screech again. She heard House calling her name and he was closer, but oh so far away. She didn't know why Cameron was screaming the way she was and when she looked up. Above her stood a man, well over six feet tall and built like a brick house. There was a only a few seconds that passed and so she opened her mouth to scream. That's when a large wooden club came flying towards her face. It connected with a loud "crack" and moments later she was completely dead to the world.