Until Dawn: Seeking Hope

Chapter 5 of my Until Dawn story, enjoy.

Reviews

Boris Yeltsin: Thanks.
TheSparklyKitten: Well, something surprising will actually happen in this chapter, anyway, glad you enjoyed :)
thedarkpokemaster: Well of course, who doesn't :) Well, something interesting might happen here :)
Wolfgirl2013: Thanks :)
Marina Ka-Fai: Thanks.
Wallflower: Well, wait and see.
A13x: Oh yes indeed :)

Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Until Dawn or its characters.

Chapter 5

Emily took one look and instantly felt her anger spike and, glaring she snarked. "Oh my god. That is so gross. Are you trying to swallow his face whole?"

All eyes turned to her, especially Mike and Jess, with Jess glaring at Emily's comment.

"Em..." Matt called out, warningly, worried that she was about to start something again, like usual.

Emily, however, turned to him and shook her head. "Seriously, can she be any more obvious? No one wants in on your territory, honey."

Jess stood up and turned to face her. "Excuse me, did you say something?"

"Oh, did you not hear me?" Emily shot back. "Was your sluttiness too loud?"

The others all shared a worried glance. It was hard to believe that these two girls had been best friends only a year ago.

Jess, however, responded to Emily's insult with a superior smirk. "Sounds like someone's bitter that she didn't make the cut." she taunted. Mike had, after all, dumped Emily in favor of Jess.

Unmoved, Emily rolled her eyes. "Yeah, it's all a big cattle call with that dreamboat. Congrats, you're top cow."

With a short, disparaging laugh, Jess shot back, "Cuts real deep calling Miss Homecoming a cow."

Trying to stand up for Emily, Matt spoke up. "H-hey, you're making everyone uncomfortable, Jess."

"Jealous, much?" Jess taunted him. "Emily too frigid for you too?"

Matt stepped back, a little taken aback. "Hey, that's...uncalled for. Look-"

Jess simply waved her hand. Everybody who watched was unsure if they should step in or not, especially Mike. Although, Josh seemed to be having the hardest time, grinding his teeth and no longer even trying to light the fire.

"Whatever..." Jess remarked to both Matt and Emily. "I don't give a crap what you think."

But Emily would not let it lie. "At least I CAN think. 4.0, bitch. Honor roll. Suck on that when you're trying to sleep your way into a job."

It was clear that things were getting more and more heated, which worried the others even more. But none of them could see a way to intervene without things getting even further out of hand.

"Who needs grades when you've got all the natural advantages you can handle?" Jess replied with a smirk as she gestured to her body.

"Oh, please..." Emily muttered darkly.

Jess merely shook her head, her smirk and superior look growing, clearly intending to once again take things further. She opened up by snarking at Emily, once again acting as if she had the advantage.

"You couldn't buy a moldy loaf of bread with your skanky ass!"

"Are you serious?" Emily shot back, almost laughing. "Do you think that's insulting?"

Jess turned to Mike, pointing at Emily. "That bitch is on crack or something!"

"Oh for God's sake, will you both shut the fuck up already?!" a voice suddenly yelled.

There was an awkward silence, everybody staring wide-eyed in disbelief at Hannah, who was the one who had snapped. Even Jess and Emily were shocked into silence as Hannah stalked towards them, glaring.

It was Emily who recovered first. "Excuse me? Just what do you think you're-"

Hannah cut her off sharply. "I'm telling you to shut up! This is bullshit! We didn't come here for the two of you to start your own pointless drama! So what if Mike's with Jess now? If you really care about him, then you can at least respect his decision like I have!"

Recalling the time he had spent supporting her over the past year, Mike was well aware that Hannah was a lot more confident than before. Josh knew about these changes, too. A year ago, Hannah wouldn't have dared to speak up. Now, she wasn't holding back. The others, however, were completely taken aback, having not expected anything like this from the soft-spoken Hannah Washington.

"Hannah, what the fuck do you think you're-" Jess began.

But Hannah cut her off, yelling, "I'm putting a stop to this stupid nonsense right now!"

Jess bit her lip, shocked by this, while Emily glared.

Shaking her head, Emily stepped closer. "Listen, Hannah. I don't know what you think you're doing, but I'm-"

"You're going to shut up and listen for a change, Em!" Hannah snapped. "This trip was so that we could take time to heal and find closure for what happened last year, not for you to start stirring shit up! If neither of you can just get along, then you can both just leave and go back home...NOW!"

That startled even Emily into silence. A silence only broken by Josh.

"Hannah's right. We don't have to put up with this. If we can't get along for ten minutes, then maybe we need a little bit of a break, right? Mike, why don't you check out the guest cabin, the one I told you about."

"Yeah, yeah, alright." Mike replied, jumping to his feet, relieved. "Want to go do that, Jess?"

Jess turned to him and nodded, firing a parting shot at Emily. "Any place without that whore."

Hannah's glare, however, stopped things from going any further.

Once he was sure that things weren't about to start up again, Josh gestured towards the rear exit of the lodge. "It's right up the trail." he said.

Nodding, Mike took Jess' hand and they headed out the back. There was a stony silence. During which, Emily turned to Matt. He shook his head and imitated his head exploding before sighing.

"Phew, glad that's over!" he remarked at last.

Emily just rolled her eyes and turned to her bags. Josh, meanwhile, continued to work on the fire.

"Yeah..." he said, gently.

Matt shifted awkwardly. "So Josh, uh, should we get this fire going?"

Josh smiled at Matt's awkward attempt to pretend that nothing had happened.

"Where's my bag?" Emily suddenly asked.

Everyone tensed at that and Matt turned to her quickly, everybody sensing another drama oncoming.

"Huh?" Matt replied, worried.

"My bag!" she emphasized. "The little bag with the pink pattern? The one I got on Rodeo?"

Silence greeted her and she shook her head.

"Matt, are you listening?" she demanded. "Oh my god, don't you remember? Next to the Italian shoe place where I got the stilettos and you knocked over the rack while you were drooling all over that girl at the counter?"

Matt quickly walked towards Emily, getting defensive. "Well, I mean, she was asking about my letter jacket..." he stated.

Emily rolled her eyes and replied sarcastically, "Right, because she gave a shit about your 'designer' letter jacket."

Matt gave a short gasp as he responded at once. "Why do you hate my jacket?"

"Matt, I NEED my bag!" she shot back, reminding him of the 'real issue'.

Hannah, hearing this, muttered, "Who cares about one stupid bag? Even if it's important, it's nothing to freak out over."

Nobody else heard her, however. Matt looked around, but everybody was staying out of it, leaving him to handle things alone. He tried to reason with her.

"Oh my god, Em, maybe you just forgot it-"

She didn't respond well to that, however. "Do you seriously think I'd forget my bag?"

"Well, I-"

Do you?" she demanded.

Matt sighed. "Guess not."

Nodding, satisfied, she stated calmly, "You must've left it down by the cable car station."

He let out a groan and she quickly responded, "C'mon, hun. We'll be back soon."

"And then we can get warm?" he queried, already tired of arguing and freezing his ass off.

She grinned and remarked suggestively, "We can get VERY warm."

Matt nodded and agreed at last and together, they left, preparing to head back to the cable car station.

After a brief, awkward silence as the group of eight found themselves reduced to four, Hannah let out a relieved sigh and stood up.

"Okay, I am gonna go take a bath." she stated before turning and climbing the stairs.

Although she hadn't told anyone, Hannah still harbored some animosity towards Jess and Emily for instigating the prank that led to the disappearances of her sister and best friend, which was another reason why Hannah had spoken to them so forcefully while they were arguing. With this feeling still fresh in her mind, along with feeling the stress of the drama created by Jess and Emily, Hannah needed to calm down and relax. And for her, a hot bath was the best way to do that.

The others all nodded, with Chris and Ashley moving to sit on the sofa while Josh continued to work on the fire.

Exiting the lodge into the frigid night, Mike and Jess stood on the back porch. Jess approached the edge of the porch while Mike sighed.

"Exiled." he stated, blandly.

Jess gave him a wicked smile as she joked. "You mean sex-iled?"

He laughed at that. "Works for me."

He approached her as she began rubbing her arms, shivering in the cold.

"Brr...how far is this 'cabin', anyway?" she asked, a skeptical tone in her voice.

Laughing, Mike wrapped his arms around her and began to explain. "This cabin is the coziest, most romantic love den you will ever lay your eyes upon."

"Psh..." she shook her head, playfully shoving him. "If we ever make it there."

Mike shrugged casually, leaning on the balcony ledge. "Oh, I have a feeling that luck's on our side."

Laughing at this, Jess remarked teasingly, "Play your cards right and maybe YOU will get lucky."

Mike grinned at that and straightened up. They were both prepared to get going.

Just then, Josh opened the door and leaned out. "Hey, porn stars!" he called out to them, throwing something to them. "You're gonna need these."

Jess caught it, revealing that it was the keys to the cabin.

She raised an eyebrow at Josh's comment, however, and queried, "Porn star?"

Josh stepped out, laughing. "Well, I'd pay to see it."

"Uh, gross?" she replied, shaking her head.

Josh just laughed again. He then turned to Mike and sighed.

"Sorry to kick you out like that-" he began.

But Mike just casually waved his hand. "No worries, man."

Nodding, Josh remarked suggestively, "Oh, I'm sure you'll find a way to entertain yourselves."

"Mmm-hmmm." Jess replied, doing her best to ignore his suggestive comment. "Well, you have fun with the peanut gallery."

Laughing, Josh mimed a gun shot to the head and began to make his way back inside.

"Oh, almost forgot." he said, stopping suddenly and gesturing. "You gotta fire up the generator so that you can see where you're going. It's dark out there."

With that, he headed back inside while Mike nodded and prepared to begin their hike to the cabin.

Smirking, Jess turned to him and remarked, "You know, I think that Josh was flirting with me."

"Mmkay..." Mike replied, before joking, "You want to invite him up with us?"

"Wait, really?" Jess replied.

"What?" Mike gasped, shaking his head. "No!"

She just laughed and headed down onto the trail. Mike followed her, pulling out and turning on his flashlight, noting that she had stopped. He approached her, confused, until she turned, smiling widely as she held out her phone.

"Hey, hot lips, photobooth?" she offered.

Laughing eagerly, he replied, "Alright, you read my mind."

He took the phone and they prepared for a selfie together. He soon took it and Jess took the phone back, examining it.

Jess grinned widely. "Oh my god, this is perfect! We're, like, the cutest couple!"

"Damn, you should be a model." Mike replied as he too observed the picture.

Jess smiled coquettishly. "You keep that camera handy and maybe I'll let you start my portfolio...at the cabin."

"Wink. Noted!"

Jess then began to move along the path again. Walking along, she called out. "Okay, let's go, I've got cabin fever." She paused briefly before rubbing her arms through her jacket again. "Brr, it's freezing out here!"

"Now that's something that I can help you with." Mike told her, confidently.

Liking the direction that this conversation was going, Jess fired back, "And how are you gonna do that?"

Mike grinned and said cheerfully, "I've got a few things in mind."

As they walked on, heading for the shed where the generator waited, Jess shook her head. "Emily's as dumb as she looks if she thinks that she can cut in on what we've got going on." She then lowered her voice, adding vindictively, "Maybe if we're lucky she'll try and follow us out here and get eaten by a bear."

Shrugging, Mike casually noted, "Well, I think you bring out the worst in her."

"Is that so?" Jess queried, raising an eyebrow.

"EPIC jealousy." Mike confirmed.

"Yeah. She can suck it." Jess said in a confident, satisfied tone of voice.

Mike then entered the generator shed after their little talk and, finding the latch, he opened it and, carefully observing the controls, he soon flipped the switch and fired it up, turning on the lights.

"Boom! Nice one, Mikey!"

Jess cheered. "Woo! You are a wizard!"

They headed over to the gate and Mike opened it. Together, they headed through and began crossing a wooden bridge over a stream.

Deciding to add a little 'mood' to their walk, Jess turned on some music on her phone.

"Pretty good, right?"

Mike nodded. "Yeah, totally! This is...awesome."

"Awww, yeah! I bring the hits." Jess replied enthusiastically. "You psyched yet? You don't looked psyched yet!"

Laughing at her infectious enthusiasm, Mike reassured her, "I am so psyched right now!"

"It's like a little adventure." she continued, cheerfully. "A sexcapade."

Mike couldn't help but laugh at that. Although, the laughter died away as he and Jess stopped, noticing police tape wrapped around some trees.

"Police tape...?" Jess began to question him.

He sighed. "From Sam and Beth."

Shifting uncomfortably, Jess softly remarked, "You'd think they'd clean it up..."

Shrugging, Mike explained, "Well, they never closed the investigation."

"Okay, I'm gettin' the creeps now." Jess replied, with a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold. She was growing nervous. Death was a scary thing for her to think about.

Doing his best to reassure her and be respectful, he said, "Well, wherever they are...I'm sure they're happy that we're all thinking about them."

She smiled gently. "That's...a nice way of thinking about it."

Trying to put the unease behind them, they continued onwards. It was then that two things happened in quick succession, which caused them concern. The first was a scream that they could hear in the distance, which disturbed both of them. The second was finding a tree blocking their path.

"Ah, damn." Mike muttered. "I don't think we can get up to the cabin with the path blocked like this."

Jess shook her head vehemently at that. "Oh, no way am I going back to the lodge, a.k.a. wax museum, to drink hot chocolate with Emily!"

As she spoke, she began to walk the other way, along a separate fork in the path. "You know what? Fuck it. We're adventurous. We'll find another way around."

Mike joined her. They entered what appeared to be an abandoned mineshaft entrance with a wooden waist-high barrier blocking the way forwards. Jess leaned on it, only for the rotting timbers to break and for her to fall, screaming.

"JESS!" Mike cried out. "Fuck! Hey, Jessica!" He darted to the edge to find her standing up, breathing heavily, but apparently unharmed.

"Yep!" she called out, turning around. "Hey, I'm okay!"

Mike breathed a sigh of relief. "Holy crap, you scared the heck out of me."

Brushing herself off, Jess shot back, "Well, how do you think I felt?"

"Er, you didn't hit your head or anything?" he questioned, still worried.

With an impish grin, Jess replied, "As far as I can tell, I still have all seven of my limbs."

"Yeah..." Mike replied with a small laugh at her sexual reference. "Can you get out?"

She looked behind her and bit her lip. "Uh, I don't know. I can hardly see anything down here!"

Mike pondered for the smallest of moments on his course of action. For Mike, it was a no-brainer. "Alright, I'm comin' after you. Just stay put!"

With that, he jumped down, unaware of the dark clad figure with goggles and a scarf covering his face standing behind him, the same one who had been watching him through the window of the generator shed. Landing on the ground, Mike joined Jess, who smiled, impressed with his heroism.

"Hey handsome, wanna help me move this cart thing?" she asked playfully, gesturing to the mine cart blocking the path.

"Alright." Mike said, and began pushing. "Help me move it, help me move it."

Jess agreed and together they were able to push the cart, although it was still an effort.

"When I imagined us grunting together..." Mike quipped. "This is not what I pictured."

Jess laughed at that and soon they were able to get around the cart and continue their walk through the mine. However, it was then that they heard a rumble and another mine cart came around the corner, barreling towards them. They both cried out, but Mike was able to catch the cart and stop it.

"Holy crap!" Jess screamed. "Oh my gosh, are you okay?"

Wincing, Mike nodded. "Ah, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

They glanced back at the mine carts and hurried onwards.

"Whoa nellie, this place is givin' me the willies. And not the good kind of willies." Jess remarked.

Smiling, Mike replied, "Can I offer you a little comfort and reassurance?"

Jess just laughed and said, "Save it for the cabin, buster."

Mike then happened to spot something to the right of them, on a dead end path. He went to examine it with Jess following, wondering what had piqued his curiosity.

"Huh...stogie." he revealed, as he picked up the cigar stub that had been sitting on an oil drum.

Jess arched an eyebrow, confused. "Weird place to hang out and smoke cigars."

Mike also noticed something else. "It's recent. I wonder who was up here..."

He trailed off as he put it down, for his flashlight had suddenly illuminated a strange symbol on the wall.

"Whoa, this place is like...historical." he gasped, upon seeing it.

Jess couldn't help but be amazed, too. "Holy bat cave."

Mike nodded. "It's gotta be Native American, right?"

Jess shrugged and they quickly returned to the path and continued making their way through the mine. Their trip was uneventful, save for a plank of wood nearly falling on top of them, and the discovery of a map, dated 1952, which showed that the place was in danger of structural collapse, all of which certainly made them more edgy. But to their relief, they finally found their way out of the mine and back onto the path, revealing a sign in the distance that read 'cabin'.

Eyeing the sign, Jess let out a low whistle. "Well, well, when Josh said 'cabin' I thought, like, Abe Lincoln." she joked.

Caught up in her mood, Mike replied, "Wait 'till you see the Lincoln Bedroom."

"Oh, are you planning to get presidential on me?"

"Wanna take a ride on Air Force One?" Mike joked.

Shaking her head, Jess replied, "Alright, alright, save it for the stump speech, buddy."

It was then that she spotted an observation telescope and hurried over to it, excited, and looking through it, all the while cheerfully muttering to herself.

"Gonna look at the trees... gonna look at the clouds... gonna look at the cabin-... Uh. Whoa." She stepped back, shocked.

"You alright?" Mike asked, concerned.

Jess bit her lip. "I just saw someone at the cabin."

Mike looked through it himself but saw nothing. He did his best to reassure Jess that it was just her imagination and she reluctantly accepted this before they headed through the nearby gate and onwards down another trail. They hadn't gone far when a bird suddenly jumped out at them, startling Mike.

"Watch out, bird-brain." Jess laughed.

Mike shook his head and offered up, as an excuse, "I was just...answering its mating call."

Laughing even more, Jess shot back, "Wow, you're easy."

"Yeah, got a lotta love to give."

Still chuckling, Jess continued onwards while Mike muttered to himself, "I was scared."

They continued until they found yet another tree blocking their path. Frustrated, Mike almost felt like yelling.

"Goddamn it, Josh. Couldn't you have at least cleared out the path before sending us up here?" he complained to no one in particular.

"Really?" Jess remarked incredulously. "I didn't figure you for the glass half-empty type."

"You got a better idea?"

Grinning, Jess took a couple of steps back. "Stand back, Debbie Downer."

With that, she ran up to the tree and vaulted up, climbing to the top of the fallen tree trunk.

"Oh, boooo! Show off." Mike remarked in response.

"Hey, Mike." Jess said, standing up straight. "You got something on your face."

Mike reached up to his face, then Jess suddenly threw a snowball, hitting him square in the face.

"Boom!" she cried out.

"Okay... Okay." Mike said as he recovered, making his own snowball. "Well, if that's how it's gonna be."

He turned around, ready to throw it, only to find Jessica gone from the tree trunk.

"Jess?"

Suddenly, he heard a scream, a scream that he instantly recognized: her scream.

"Jess!?"

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.