Until Dawn: The Light of Day
Chapter 6 of my Until Dawn story, normally I would wait till next month as that was how I originally planned this. But I was just not able to wait anymore, so...rest of chapters coming up over the rest of this week.
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Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Until Dawn or its characters.
Chapter 6: Vengeance
Five Hours Until Dawn
Emily
02:03
Panic gripped me as I looked around, Matt, Brian and I were standing warily at the edge of the cliff, the deer surrounded us, some moving a bit closer, but we couldn't move back any further.
"Matt…!" I cried out, unable to stop the terror coating my voice. "What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do!?"
Matt tightened his grip on the axe for a minute, but then relaxed it. He seemed to be forcing himself to stay calm and focused. Brian too seemed to be fighting back his fear, he just looked at me, shaking his head slightly.
Matt spoke softly "Stay calm... relax... they're just deer... they just want to check us out is all…"
"No, no, no Matt they're gonna hurt us-" I whimpered, not at all reassured.
Despite our argument Matt seemed to remain focused and gently tried to calm me and, gesturing for is to follow his lead, he began to slowly, carefully, walk forwards. I followed, edging forward, with Brian right next to me. He kept the axe held loose, at his side, not in any threatening position. I moved slowly, eyes half-closed as I didn't want to see the herd closing in on me, but couldn't let Matt out of my sight.
The deer however stepped back, or moved around us, allowing us to walk through the herd without much issue. However, amongst the deer were their close cousins, Elk. One was now blocking our path. Matt stopped, prompting Brian and me to do the same. The Elk sniffed at him but he did not react, although his nerves were clearly on edge, I suddenly wished he didn't have the axe.
The temptation to use it against this potential threat was clearly strong. Especially as more time passed, the Elk sniffed at him but simply would not back down, or even move, I was getting restless and trembling, just behind Matt. I had practically pressed myself right up against him and Brian who had edged closer to Matt.
"Don't do it man." Brian whispered. "Don't antagonize them."
Resisting the urge to attack, Matt slowly began to move again and to our relief, the Elk backed down. Finally, we emerged from the herd, unharmed and reached a small bundle of rocks we could climb.
Quickly doing so, Brian, Matt and I emerged safely from the herd, now on the path that would lead us to the radio tower, amazingly falling into place with our plans perfectly. Letting out a sigh of relief, now we were finally out of that danger, I began to lead the way, holding the flashlight steady again. As we walked I began thinking carefully.
"If we do manage to get someone on the radio-"
"We will." Matt insisted.
Rolling my eyes at his confidence I continued. "Then, we tell them we need help. What do we do while we wait?"
Matt thought for a moment. "I guess, we go back to the lodge and get everyone else."
"Oh God, no the lodge." I shook my head. "We should stay here. In case whoever it is needs to get back in touch with us?"
Brian interjected. "Let's get that radio working first."
I silently agreed with him, we'd try and call for help first, then we could worry about what to do next. We were almost at the tower, now it was just above us, across a small snowy clearing. As we approached the base of the tower, a blinding light suddenly flared to life.
"Ahh, that's freakin' bright!" I cried out, holding a hand in front of my eyes.
Matt did the same and grimaced. "No kidding!"
I shook my head, frustrated. "I can't see- what is that?"
"It's just a security light." Brian confirmed at last, squinting to try and see. "Motion sensor probably."
I bit my lip and followed Matt and Brian, squinting my eyes until we were past the light and could see clearly again. We were now at the base of the fire tower and would have to climb the ladders to get up to the main room.
Before we could move however I heard something, it sounded like heavy breathing, but before I could react I heard a dull clang and heard Matt cry out. I spun around, in time to see Matt fall out of sight off the platform we were on. Standing there was a tall figure, clad in some sort of overalls with a horrifying clown mask. He turned to us and I couldn't help it, I screamed. He laughed.
"Well now...who's first?" He remarked with a cruel laugh.
His voice was distorted an evil, I was sure this was the guy who attacked Chris, Josh and Ashley before. Before either of could react he lunged forwards and, clearly assessing him as the bigger threat, shoved me aside as he attacked Brian. I grunted as I hit the wooden platform. Struggling to me feet I found the man standing again, Brian was out cold on the ground.
"No!"
He lunged for me, before I could move. He was holding a strange canister with some sort of breathing mask which he forced over my mouth and nose while grabbing me.
I cried out but the cries were muffled. "No, don't, you can't…!"
There was a hissing noise as I was suddenly overcome by some sort of gas and soon blacked out.
Matt
02:21
I groaned as I woke up and found myself entangled in a dense clump of bushes. Struggling free I soon found myself standing once more on the platform beneath the fire tower.
I looked around wildly. "Emily, Brian!"
There was no answer, they were gone, so too was the guy who attacked us. Not only that I had lost the axe.
'Shit, shit...that guy, he must have...he's taken them, but...' I thought in a panic before trying to calm myself. 'What do I do, I still need to get help, but they...'
I groaned; I couldn't be sure how long I had been out cold for. In the end I did the only thing I could think of doing and began climbing the ladders leading up to the fire tower.
As I did so my thoughts raced. 'Alright, climb up, call for help, then go find the others.'
Despite the wind picking up I managed the climb and soon I was up in the fire tower. Closing the trapdoor and locking it I took a deep breath, looking around. I soon spotted what I was looking for, a radio. I hurried over and tried it but there was no power.
"Shit...gotta be a switch..." I hissed.
Looking around I was soon forced to go back outside by opening the door leading to the balcony, luckily that indeed led me to a circuit box which, after I turned it on, brought power to the radio. Acting quickly I hurried over and began working with it until I could get a clear signal.
I was relieved to hear the voice coming through and tried to make contact.
"...ranger service for Blackwood County. Over."
"Hello?" Anyone there?" I tried, hoping I could get through, I had found just who we were looking for, the people best equipped to help us. "Hello! Please say something if you're out there, please we need help. Over."
There was a pause and then, suddenly.
"...Hello?" The ranger spoke.
I tensed hearing that, I had got through.
The ranger replied and it was clear that he had at least picked something up from me. "...Hello is someone trying to contact us? This is the park ranger service for Blackwood County. I'm not getting your signal very well. Please speak slowly and clearly, over."
Taking a deep breath I replied. "Please, we need help, we're in danger, there's a criminal on Blackwood Mountain..."
"If you can hear this, please repeat your message as I am unable to understand what you are saying, over. "
I grimaced, trying to stay calm and focused. "We need help."
The ranger continued however. "Hello? Can you please identify yourself? Over."
I took a deep breath and forced myself to do this right or we'd miss our chance.
So, trying to hard to maintain my self-control, I did as the ranger requested.
I spoke slowly and clearly. "Okay, this is...My name is Matt...hello?"
I checked the tuning on the radio as the ranger replied.
"You're not coming through clearly, please repeat, over."
I shook my head and tried to explain, as calmly as possible, what had happened.
So, I cleared my throat and explained. "We're on Blackwood Mountain by the ski lodge. There's a killer on the loose, he's after us and he's already killed one of our friends. We need help, over."
Just then, the security light below flared to life again, startling me.
'Something tripped the motion sensor.' I realized, before trying to reassure myself. 'Probably a fucking deer.'
Just then the ranger spoke again.
"I read you sir, please do not leave your position." He said. "We will send out helicopters to get you as soon as the storm has subsided, over." The ranger explained.
I bit my lip at that. "How long, exactly?"
The ranger hesitated before replying. "Dawn, at the earliest. Not until dawn, over."
Before I could say anything else, the hatch banged loudly, someone, or something was trying to enter.
"Jesus!" I cried out, stepping back.
It had to be him, the Psycho.
The banging then stopped and things seemed to calm down, until the tower rocked violently and began tipping.
I cried out, unsure what was going on, but soon lost my balance and fell as the tower began tipping. I groaned, managing to keep a hold of one of the support beams but then there was an ominous rumbling sound and with a mighty crash that led me to black out, the tower fell, plunging into an open cave that I recalled seeing earlier, a cave that claimed to lead into the mines under the mountain.
Jamie
02:43
Back in the lodge, Ashley paced frantically in front of the stairs, clutching her flashlight tightly, while I stood to the side, edgy as hell. We had no idea where Kyle was, or Mike and Jess. We could only hope that Emily, Matt and Brian had found help, meanwhile we had come back to search for Sam. We had checked the ground floor while Chris checked upstairs, but to no avail, we were now waiting for Chris. We heard the rapid footsteps and looked up, nerves on a hair trigger. It was Chris, hurrying down the stairs, alone.
"She wasn't up there?" I asked worriedly.
He shook his head. "I don't know, I didn't see her...She must have come down here."
As he said that he gestured to the signs, balloons with arrows and, at least until they faded, damp bare footprints.
Ashley shook her head. "I haven't seen her either."
Chris bit his lip, also worried, using his own flashlight he led the way as we began to walk around towards the stairs leading to the basement, incidentally following the arrows on the balloons. Just then, the candle to Ashley's left, on the table, suddenly lit by itself.
"Ahh!" She screamed. "Did that just happen?"
Chris was seriously getting freaked out now. "Dammit, what is going on around here?!"
I had to admit, I wasn't far behind, but was fighting to keep it together.
We were all the more desperate to find Sam now, so we continued onwards, as we made our way downstairs and, seeing the door was open, into the cinema room, I saw Ashley biting her lip.
"Chris..." She said suddenly.
"Sa-!" Chris began to call out, but stopped. "What?"
She shuffled her feet and shyly spoke. "Chris I just want to say, what happened back there in the shed...I know how hard that was, Josh was your friend..."
He turned to her, shaking his head. "Ashley stop."
Wincing at the massive bruise on his forehead, just above his left eye, she continued. "No, I want to say...I mean thank you- thank you for saving my life-"
Chris shook his head. Ash, what was I gonna do? I...I couldn't let anything happen to you, I couldn't..."
They both stood awkwardly, aware of the various meanings implied by Chris' words.
Finally, I broke the silence.
"Let's just find Sam, okay?" I said firmly. "That's what we're doing now."
Nodding Ashley followed Chris and I as they exited the cinema room, into the hallway, just as the door suddenly slammed shut behind them.
"What the heck!" Ashley whimpered in despair.
This was seriously doing a number on her nerves. It wasn't doing any good for mine I could say that. Chris gently put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and she exhaled softly, trying to relax. It only lasted until she tried to open the door to the guest room, it suddenly closed, nearly taking her hand with it.
"This is so eff-ed up!" Chris cried out.
I shook my head. "You're not kidding, urgh, fuck."
Ashley looked compelled to agree, all we wanted was to find Sam and get the hell out, but as we walked I could see she couldn't help but wonder and worry about the others like I was.
"Wait a minute!" Ashley screamed, upon seeing the door to another hallway open by itself and seeing a ghostly figure at the end of it. "Did you see that?"
"Uhh..." Chris replied, turning. "Did I see what?"
"That, Chris, that!" She cried out, gesturing.
"Ash, what are you talking about?" I asked, worried.
Chris shook his head. "What 'that' was that?"
Groaning she tried to explain. "It was like...a see through shape, like a ghost."
"Oh boy."
"I'm serious, why don't you believe me!?" She insisted. "I said I saw it, doesn't that count for anything?"
Ashley was frantic and Chris wanted to calm her down, this incident in particular was crazy and he didn't want to say the wrong thing. I was in Chris' corner here, but that didn't mean I felt any better about things myself.
I watched as he tried to help her understand where he was coming from, without insulting her.
"We've been through Hell tonight. Okay? Your mind is fried. My mind is fried." He explained; adding gently. "I don't even trust what I've been seeing."
Ashley sighed, she had to admit Chris had a point, but still. "I don't know, I don't know...I just, I saw something Chris."
He gently touched her arm. "Ash, it's okay. You're just... we're both... kind of out of our heads right now. I mean we just... we gotta pull it together, okay? You with me?"
She bowed her head and he said softly. "Let's just, keep our heads."
"Are we going crazy down here?" She whimpered.
Chris didn't know, but he reasoned. "It's the only place left Sam could be Ash."
"Exactly." I said; sending a pointed look at Chris not to interrupt. "I don't what you saw Ash, but even if it was a ghost, we can't let it stop us, okay?"
She agreed and we walked on a bit, before stopping again.
"I wish we could just go find everybody else and-"
"What if Sam needs help?" Chris asked. "What if she's in trouble?"
"Oh God..."
I then realized. "Yeah, not only that, for all we know...Kyle could be down here too."
Just then, the door to basement opened, by itself. Steeling ourselves, with Chris gently urging Ashley to follow, which she did, we made our way down together. Once down we were greeted by a loud nose, followed by a louder one and then, a cabinet to our right jerked as an item flew from the shelf, nearly hitting us.
Ashley and Chris both leapt back, startled as I crouched, just as freaked out.
"WHOA, WHOA, WHOA, WHOA!" Chris yelled. "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"
Ashley backed away, freaked out more than ever. "What the HELL is going ON!?"
She turned around to see a rocking horse, that was disturbingly mobile. She screamed, getting our attention.
She shook her head, holding up a hand to reassure us. "Oh my god, that scared me."
"You knocked into it right?" Chris queried, before sounding worried. "You knocked into it?"
Ashley groaned. "I don't...I don't think so, I mean, I don't know."
She turned back to us; clearly upset, I couldn't blame her. Chris certainly didn't by the look of things.
"How did everything get so freaky around here? Doors slamming and candles lighting up out of nowhere and that specter or whatever it was-"
I shook my head, looking around worriedly as Chris tried to reason with her. "Ashley, I think you're kind of ignoring what's really happening here..."
Ashley gestured and replied, actually sounding irritated for once. "Don't tell me you didn't see that translucent white figure just passing right by us?"
"We, we could be seeing things-"
"I'm not imagining things!" She insisted.
Chris sighed and replied firmly; reminding her. "Yeah, well I saw things too! I saw what happened to Josh in the shed! You know? And that's what I'm worried about!"
Ashley's shoulder's slumped, her anger evaporating.
I grimaced seeing the pain and terror in his eyes.
"Oh...Chris..." She whispered softly. "I know, I know."
He just nodded and then explained. "You know what I'm really worried about? Okay? I'm worried about Sam! What's happened to her?"
He paused before adding, uneasily. "If there's some maniac out here, then, she could be dead too."
"Don't say that, please Chris."
I shuddered. "I'm with Ash, we have to believe was can save Sam, and Kyle if he's down here."
He nodded and we continued exploring the hallway for any clues. The only thing we saw however was a large dollhouse. Taking a closer look Ashley gasped.
"Look-look look look, Chris, Jamie, look!" She said, gesturing for us to come closer. "You can see in the windows."
Chris shook his head, incredulous. "See what, tiny furniture?"
She rolled her eyes and replied. "No, it's a whole scene, with dolls and everything."
"Whoa...okay…?" I muttered; a little disturbed.
I wasn't the only one; I saw Ashley's expression. Something about what little she could see disturbed her, also seeing this, Chris thought it might be worthy taking a closer look. It could be another twisted clue left behind by the Psycho.
But then we hit a snag, the dollhouse had a hidden keyhole and was locked.
"Huh, I guess you need a key if you want to play around in there." He muttered.
Ashley straightened up and looked to her right, down the end of the corridor and saw the translucent figure again.
She quickly pointed, growing frantic.
"Wait! Chris-Chris-Chris-Chris-Chris! The ghost!"
He spun around as did I. "What?!"
She looked at him, incredulous. "Didn't you see it?"
Sheepishly admitting he didn't, Chris was revealed to be holding his phone.
Ashley glared. "You were looking at your phone, you dip! What are you tweeting?! Hashtag there's a freaking ghost after us?!"
"Guys..." I interjected but was ignored.
Sighing Chris tried to calmly explain. "Ash, calm down, okay. There is no ghost here. Ghost of what? You're freaked out because of what happened with Josh-"
"You're not paying attention." She hissed. "I saw it, I saw a ghost and it looked like Hannah, it looked like Hannah!"
"Wait, wait, wait..." Chris spluttered. "WHAT!?"
I sighed, face-palming.
Ashley sighed and admitted. "Or-or maybe Beth."
"Jesus Ash..." Chris groaned. "What do you think, they followed us up here from the seance?"
Ashley shook her head, indignantly. "I don't know, maybe!"
"They didn't, because ghosts don't exist, okay!?" Chris tried to reason with her.
Glaring she shot back. "Okay, who was talking to us at the seance, Chris?"
Chris admitted he didn't know, just in time for a scream to rend the air and picture down the hall to fly off the wall.
We watched in stunned silence before Ashley choked out.
"What did that?"
Chris was even more freaked than ever now. "How does a picture just jump off the wall like that?"
We walked carefully down the hall; the admonishment I planned for both of them completely forgotten. We reached the end and where the picture had been was a hook, on it was a key, a key that looked like it would fit the dollhouse lock. Smiling a little Ashley took it, looking back she saw the ghost again.
"Oh my GOD! There-look there, Chris you can't tell me you didn't see that!" She cried out.
Only half her sentence was finished before Chris and I turned out, this time actually seeing the figure and gaping in shock.
"Wow, that's..."
See, you do see it."
"That's..." He stammered. "I dunno, I-I just, this is fucking crazy..."
I shook my head. "That's putting it mildly, what the fuck is…?"
I got the feeling Ashley couldn't agree more, but we had to press on. We hurried down towards where the ghost had been, realizing it had disappeared near the dollhouse again.
"Chris, Jamie..." Ashley realized. "It's showing us the way."
We didn't reply, so Ashley unlocked the dollhouse and opened the front and to our shock, we were confronted with a dollhouse scene, of that fateful night where we had played that cruel prank on Hannah.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what is going on here?" Chris gasped.
"Oh God, it's like..." Ashley whispered.
He shook his head however. "It's not 'like' anything, that's us. Hiding there, waiting for Hannah, last year."
Ashley let out a strangled gasp; I guessed it was particularly at Chris saying the word 'us' when he himself hadn't been involved.
It still freaked us all out however. "But it's so accurate, I mean that's exactly where I was sitting...and that's where Matt was..."
Chris noticed this too and shuddered, it certainly was freaky. Me, I was stunned into silence, except a few strangled gasps of air, that night was certainly the worst I had experienced up till now. Unbidden memories of Beth flooded my mind, especially those last moments I saw her, her anger, my shame.
After Chris and Ashley debating what could possibly be behind this setup, their suspicions ranging fro the ghost, to the Psycho, we were treated to a doll's head turning to the side and eyes opening, surprising us. We leapt back but recovered, just as the top of the dollhouse opened to reveal something inside. Picking it up Ashley realized right away what it was.
"It's...it's Hannah's diary..."
Biting her lip she opened it and read through some pages, reaching the last entry, dated just the day before our last visit to the lodge the previous year.
"...everyone being together here...on the mountain...is gonna be so awesome...cozy fires and hot tubs..." She read aloud. "and OMG Mike...I am so psyched to spend some time with him..." I can't read this! It's so sad, Chris..."
She put the diary back and then, suddenly, froze at the sound of a door creaking open. She and Chris shared a wary glance as I snapped out of my present state of mind.
"We...better push on, find Sam and Kyle." I muttered.
They nodded and we approached the door at the end of the hallway, suddenly the ghost appeared, shrieking. Ashley and I cried out, jumping back, Chris ran forward, crossing the threshold of the door which slammed shut.
"Oh, Chris, Chris!" She cried out, hanging on the door.
I tried to help her. "Chris, answer us, man!"
It opened to our relief and Chris stood there, thankfully unhurt.
"Nothing." He said, looking around warily.
Ashley inhaled sharply. "But you did see it, Chris, for real?"
Chris shrugged and admitted. "I saw...something, but, where'd it go?"
Ashley just shook her head, not particularly eager to find out. A sentiment I shared; my heart was pounding and this wasn't doing anything good for my nerves. We entered the next room too and we continued our search for Sam and Kyle. While searching Ashley found something strange, a catalogue of sorts,, relatively recent.
"Hey, hey look at this." She said quickly. "Doesn't seem as old as some of the stuff down here."
Chris and I looked at it too, him raising an eyebrow and commenting. "A catalogue...for industrial lightbulbs?"
"That is so random."
She turned a page and we both noticed one of the bulbs was circled, a particularly powerful bulb. Putting it aside as Chris turned away, Ashley and I spotted a pair of scissors, she quickly picked them up and stowed them in her back pocket, I nodded, it was a good idea, just in case the Psycho appeared again.
It was while we were searching that Ashley found a camera hidden between a pair of boxes.
"Uh...Chris, Jamie?"
We approached and stopped dead when we saw the camera.
Biting her lip, Ashley asked. "You think it's the guy?"
"Well, that makes sense."
Shaking her head Ashley muttered. "I don't like being watched."
Chris nonchalantly reached over and turned the camera around.
"Better?" He queried gently.
Ashley rolled her eyes and picked the camera up, talking directly into it. "Go suck an egg!"
She put the camera back in the position Chris had turned it to.
Looking up at us, grinning at her, she shrugged. "Now it's better."
Together we resumed our trek until suddenly the lodge shuddered and Ashley looked around, worriedly.
"Uhh, what was that, huh?"
Chris however had stopped dead, looking through a doorway ahead.
"Wait, there's a whole 'nother room through here." He gasped. "It's mammoth."
Ashley groaned hearing that, it was like she wasn't sure how much more she could take. As for myself, well, I wasn't faring much better either.
However we followed him and soon we both stopped, gazing in wonder at the ruin of what seemed to be an old hotel, right underneath the Washington's ski lodge.
Walking slowly onwards Ashley whispered.
"Where in the world are we now?"
"Are you kidding me?" Chris exclaimed as he too, took in their surroundings.
She turned to him. "Did you know this was here?"
He shook his head. "This? This is like a whole 'nother hotel, I had no idea this was here."
"Great, just what we need...shit..." I muttered, taken aback.
Ashley shuddered, I couldn't blame her. I was finding out more and experiencing more this night than I ever had in my whole life, and I really didn't like it.
Turning to Chris Ashley revealed she felt the same. "I don't think I can take any more of this."
Chris nodded slowly. "Yeah, I'm about at my limit here too."
"Me too."
"All I wanted to do was forget last year ever happened..." She exclaimed.
"To be honest..." Chris said softly. "I'm not sure what Hannah thought she was doing."
"Yeah well, you know how it is when you're crushing pretty hard on somebody." She said, with a rather knowing tone.
I bit my lip at that; again reminded of Beth and the feeling of overwhelming loss. I also noticed Ashley's not so subtle hint at her feelings for Chris. Yet again he missed it.
Chris shook his head however. "Great, so you're basically saying that we put a vulnerable friend in a terrible situation and essentially caused her to run away and never be heard of again?"
"If it was you, don't you think you would have run away?" She asked desperately. "I mean, who likes being made fun of?"
Chris scoffed a little. "People don't make fun of me."
"To your face."
"What?" He gasped.
She shook her head; looking guilty all over again.
"Chris we made her look so stupid, in front of all of her friends and the guy she liked." She explained. "I can't imagine doing anything worse to somebody."
Chris nodded sadly, both of them lost in thought while exploring the hotel. I joined them, trying to clear my head; but Ashley's words really put things in perspective for me. No wonder Beth was so angry, she had every right to be.
It was during this search Ashley found something that confused her, as well as Chris and I, a bunch of newspapers, telling the story of the escaped convict, but the dates didn't add up, the newspapers were in fact fakes, something which confused all three of us. Our exploration then led us to reaching a staircase leading lower underground.
Ashley however was pretty much done in. "You know what, no."
"Ash-"
"No!" She replied, her voice rising. "I've had enough, I'm not going down any further into this nightmare Chris!"
He nodded sagely, he could understand her reluctance. "Ashley... I understand, okay? I'm really freaked out too. But if Sam's down there all alone with a maniac... and we leave? We're basically killing her ourselves."
"Not to mention Kyle guys, he's been missing for so long...if' he's down there, they could both be..." I couldn't finish; but they got my point.
Ashley bit her lip at that; I hoped she would realize that Chris was right, even if it didn't make her feel better. Still, with a sigh I could see she had chosen to swallow down her fears.
"Goddamnit." She muttered.
"Ashley, come on." Chris coaxed gently.
"Why are you always right."
"I'm not always right." Chris corrected her absently.
She sighed. "Well, when you're right, you're right."
Chris smiled gently to her and admitted. "I don't want to be, I want to leave."
"No, no." She replied; putting on a brave face. "We gotta find Sam, let's go."
Nodding he began to descend the stairs, with Ashley and I following.
Thinking over everything we found as we walked, I shook my head.
"Chris, Ash, I'm gettin' a really weird feeling from all this."
They turned to face me. "What do you mean?"
I began to sum up my thoughts. "So we're saying that the same guy who made the newspapers also set up the camera, right?"
"Yeah... I think so..." Chris replied.
I shook my head. "It's just... it feels like he's constructing the whole story for us... then watching us run around, freaking out, seeing what we do, like it's... like it's some sort of fucking experiment!"
"Yikes that... that's kinda..." Chris gasped; shocked. "That actually makes a weird sort of sense..."
Ashley nodded in agreement, looking even more freaked out than ever. Still, we pressed on, searching the corridors and finding, strangely, sets of batteries and timers, which seemed to be connected in some weird way. Entering another room that closed them in, Ashley was the first to discover the source of the unpleasant odor.
"Oh no, you've got to be kidding me, repulsive!" She cried out; covering her mouth, almost throwing up.
Hanging from a hook was a gutted pig's carcass.
"This, can't be for eating." Chris replied with a grimace.
"Why the hell is I here?"
Chris shook his head in disgust. "It's like a goddamn grindhouse in here."
I just shook my head, turning away, only to find more freaky things such as a series of hooks and chains attached to the wall and, in quite a spooky fashion, a photo arrangement, of all of us, the whole group. We were more than glad to get out of that room, until we saw the next door.
Our journey led us to, of all things, a door, smeared with blood.
"Oh crap, look at that..."
"Blood?!" Ashley gasped, worried.
Chris nodded, sharing our worries. "Might be Sam's...let me see if I can get this.."
He began trying to opening, managing to do so, but seemed strained.
"Ugh, got it, but...damn this thing is heavy."
Ashley stepped closer. "Be careful!"
"You gotta come through...Ash..." He told her. "I can't hold it...ugh, come on..."
I quickly slipped through but then Ashley seemed to spot motion in her peripheral vision and then saw something to her right.
"Oh, Chris, Jamie!"
"What?" He grunted.
"I think I just saw Sam over there." She said quickly, pointing.
Chris shook his head. "Ash...Are you SURE?"
She sighed and shook her head. "I don't know, but come on, I think we should check it out."
"Well I'm pretty sure whoever's bleeding came through here, okay? So we really got to get moving like now!" Chris pointed out.
There was a pause, I began to panic, even if I helped Chris, we couldn't keep the door open.
"Okay, yeah, you're right." She said before moving closer. "I'm coming."
With that we were able to slip through the door which slammed shut behind us. We recovered quickly and began searching again, until we came to a room with double doors.
Opening them we could see a figure, slumped in a chair.
"Oh Chris...Oh no..."
"Hello?" Chris called out, hesitantly.
Ashley also did the same. "Sam?"
"Sam…?" I also added my voice; while looking around, worried, still no sign of Kyle.
We approached the chair and Ashley turned it.
"Sam!" She cried out, but then paused. "I don't...I don't get it."
The figure in the chair wasn't Sam, but a mannequin, wearing Sam's clothes. I remained wary yet rather confused. Ashley and Chris were also both heavily confused and debating their discovery, both expressing extreme concern for Sam when suddenly Chris cried out.
"CHRIS!" Ashley screamed as she saw the Psycho attack him, gassing him to sleep. "OH SHIT!"
He then turned, on her and began approaching.
"AHHH, NO!" She screamed, fumbling in her back pocket. "GET BACK! Stay the hell away from me!"
He raised the mouthpiece, ready to gas her in the same way. I had frozen in terror With a scream Ashley was able to pull out the scissors and stab them into his shoulder.
"Oh, no, no no..." He cried out in his distorted voice.
Ashley looked down at Chris, I finally felt myself unfreezing.
"Live and learn."
"What?" She gasped, looking up.
The Psycho had recovered and with tremendous force, punched Ashley right in the face, nearly knocking her out.
"Live..." He growled venomously. "...And learn."
I quickly reacted. "Don't think so!"
With that I did my best to tackle him. But he just laughed, easily recovering.
"Big mistake."
"What?" I gasped.
But then it happened, he shoved me back, I was helpless; I had just enough presence of mind to see Ashley struggling to her feet, clutching her eye.
"Ashley!" I cried. "Run!"
She hesitated for only a second but then did so. Just as I too was gasped to sleep and slipped into unconsciousness.
Ashley
03:00
I tensed, holding my breath as I pressed myself up against the wall; I had ran away as Jamie ordered me to, but now I was lost, hiding from the Psycho who still seemed to be looking for me.
'Fuck this is...I can't just leave this, oh please...' I thought desperately. 'There must be something I can do, but what…?'
Unable to figure anything else out; I remained hidden in the shadows until the Psycho left and I heard his footsteps fade away. Slipping out and looking around I risked turning my flashlight back on. I still didn't know where I was. Determined to at least figure something out I choose a path and followed it. I had to find and rescue Chris and Jamie; if the others had been taken too, maybe they were also prisoner. At least, I hoped they were all held prisoner.
"AH, NO!" I cried out in shock.
At the same time a male voice burst out. "Whoa, what the fuck!?"
I staggered back, thinking I had collided with the Psycho at that moment. But their reaction and voice made me realize that was wrong.
I almost cried in relief. "Mike..."
It was Mike, looking a little worse for wear. "Ashley, what the hell are you…?"
"There's no time, there's a...guy here, some crazy psychopath; he's kidnapped Sam, and...Chris and Jamie, maybe Kyle too..." I bust out.
Mike tensed. "Jesus...He...he took Jess. I was sure he killed her, but if what you're saying is true..."
"She might be alive, held captive too." I finished for him, realizing.
"Ashley, are you with me, we've gotta find them and save them...and stop that fucker before it's too late." He asked.
I was scared as hell, but I nodded; and so together, we hurried onwards, determined to find and rescue the others.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.