Until Dawn: Seeking Hope
Chapter 9 of my Until Dawn story, enjoy.
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Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Until Dawn or its characters.
Chapter 9
Recovering from the sudden attack on Jessica, Mike darted forwards, still holding his lantern.
"Oh fuck, oh fuck, what the fuck?!" he cried out.
He grabbed the hunting rifle that he had spotted next to the door when they entered and darted outside the cabin, leaping down into the snow.
"JESSICA!" he yelled, before noting the footprints and drag marks in the snow. "Oh my god, oh my god..."
He took off running, following the trail.
"JESS! Jess..." he cried out, listening, praying that he could hear her respond, even if it was only a scream.
His heart was hammering, the blood pounded in his head, the wind rushed past his ears. All Mike could think about was saving Jess from whatever or whoever had grabbed her. As such, the cold barely affected him, not even when he stopped to contemplate his choices, for he saw two routes ahead.
One was shorter but more risky. Jumping over some fallen metal tubing to cross the river, or following the path around. For Mike, it was a no-brainer and he began to leap from metal tube to metal tube until he finally crossed the river and took off running again.
"JESS! JESSICA! JESSICAAA!" he cried out as he continued to run.
But his frantic searching was still getting no response. He stopped when he reached a ledge and looked around. It was dark, hard to see, and the ground was some distance below. Gritting his teeth, he set his lantern down and aimed the hunting rifle, trying to use the scope to see the path below. He searched without any result and began to panic.
"Jesus, fuck...fuck..." he whispered, but then stopped. "JESS, NO!"
He spotted her, a little worse for wear. Dirt had smeared onto the back of her jeans and arms and she was frantically crawling away from something. But then, whatever it was, as Mike couldn't see it through the scope, grabbed her and began pulling her away.
"Agh, NO!" she screamed, before pleading loudly, "MICHAAEELLLL, HELP ME! HELP ME!"
She was yanked away out of sight, still screaming. Mike leapt to his feet, picking up the lantern and shouldering the rifle again. He wasted no time and jumped down, sliding down the cliff.
"Holy SHIIIT! FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK! URGH!"
The whole way down, he cried out, managing to grab a branch on the way down to slow his fall. It broke, but allowed him to land on his feet. He quickly retrieved the rifle and lantern and kept running.
"Keep going, keep going." he told himself.
His adrenaline pounded, making him move faster, ducking under low hanging tree branches and leaping over protruding tree roots. He silently cursed, since he could no longer hear Jess screaming. His only source of finding her was the unusual footprints and drag marks still fresh in the snow.
He stopped again briefly as he found himself at a chasm. There were two ways across. He could either shimmy across the edges, or use the rock platforms to jump across.
'Okay, c'mon... Fuck it. Jess' life is at stake.' he told himself and threw caution to the wind.
It was a startling experience, but he managed to make the jumps, some of them only just. Once on the other side, he wasted no time and resumed pursuit, once more picking up the trail.
He shook his head as he pursued. 'There's no way that this is a freaking bear, but what else is so fast or strong? This doesn't... I swear, if it is some person, I am gonna really lose it.'
Growling and urging himself onwards, he soon stopped again. He was standing at the top of a cliff, overlooking an old abandoned mine building. Looking at the path below, Mike made up his mind at once and began to slide down the ledge, taking care to arrest his fall and slow his descent. Soon, he reached the bottom, landing on his feet. He picked up his rifle and lantern again and began to make his way towards the mine building. The trail stopped there, which worried him.
"HELP ME!" Jess suddenly screamed.
"Come on, shit! Shit! Shit, shit!" Mike growled as he entered the mine building.
Following her screams, he tried to find her.
"Oh no! Michael!"
"JESSICA!" he yelled back, trying to get her attention.
Her scream this time was more focused, telling him that she had heard. "HELP ME!"
"JESSICA!" he called out again, but this time, getting no reply. "JESS!"
Instantly, panic settled within him and he hurried through the building, descending a set of stairs when he found them. His heart leapt into his mouth when he heard Jess shriek again.
"AGH! NO! MICHAAEELLLL, HELP ME! HELP ME!"
She was pleading and she wasn't scared, no, she was clearly terrified.
"JESSICA, I'M COMING!" he called out, trying to reassure her, but she continued to scream. "JESSICA! JESSICA!"
Hearing him, she cried out, pleading again, "HELP ME! Oh no, Michael!"
"JESS!"
He reached the bottom of the steps and rounded a corner, slowly approaching the center of the room. His eyes widened in horror. An old elevator was stationed there and lying in it, covered in blood with several gashes to her face and chest, as well as her arms and legs, was Jess.
It was clear that she had been attacked. Whatever attacked her only sought physical damage, however. For, although stained with blood and dirt, her clothes were still on and not disturbed in the slightest except by what would be expected from her struggling. But she wasn't moving. Mike fell to his knees next to her.
"NO! OH, GOD! Nooo... Jessica... Oh god!" he cried. He was too late.
But then she suddenly gasped and his eyes widened. "Jess! Jess! Are you okay?!"
She attempted to move, but clearly did not have the strength. Even turning her head seemed like a chore.
"Help..." she wheezed.
Mike began to reach for her when suddenly, there was a loud, metallic snap and the elevator dropped into the depths of the mines.
"JESSICAAAAA!"
Mike stared in dismay as her body vanished from sight. He had come so close and now she was gone. Head bowed, he nearly collapsed into tears, when he noticed a strange shape forming a shadow above him.
"Huh? What the fuck?" he mumbled as he looked upwards.
He could see the shape now. It was clearly a person, a figure looking down at him. A sudden rage then gripped Mike and a red mist descended. This had to be the person responsible for what happened to Jess. At that point, only one thing registered in Mike's mind: vengeance.
Reacting at once in blind anger, Mike raised the rifle, taking aim at the figure above, and firing. Mike wasn't exactly sure what happened. Either he missed or the figure avoided the shot. Either way, he shouldered the rifle and began to run up the stairs.
'Son of a bitch. You're not getting away from me!' he thought, furious.
Running up the stairs, he very nearly fell through a hole in the floor, but leapt over it at the last second. He stopped only when he reached the elevator shaft and began to climb it. Seeing a ledge above him, he leapt up to it, only for it to break. He let out a yelp, but quickly caught a lower ledge. Gritting his teeth, he struggled upwards, climbing still, moving as quickly as possible.
'Shit, shit, c'mon!'
Urging himself onwards, although the adrenaline was slowly wearing out now, he began climbing up the right side of the wall, using various protruding bits of metal as hand and foot holds. Gritting his teeth, he jumped over the gap and finally landed on the ledge that the figure had been standing on. Right away, he saw that it was a tunnel. Towards the end of a tunnel was a male figure walking away.
Mike pulled out the rifle. 'It's him. That's gotta be the guy... This is for Jess.'
He pulled the trigger, only for the gun to jam. Mike's anger gave way to dismay at that and he cursed angrily.
"What? Come on, come ON!" he growled, throwing the now useless gun aside. "Piece of shit..."
Looking up, he saw the man jumping down a hole and a gate beginning to close.
"Christ!" he yelled, as he took off running. "Gotta make it!"
He dropped and slid along the ground, only just making it past the gate before it fully closed. Catching his breath, Mike struggled upright.
'Dammit. Gotta keep after him, can't let what happened to Jess...'
He shook his head. He had to focus on following and finding out who this guy was, then he'd get his revenge. Spotting an older style lantern, Mike quickly claimed it, turning it on with his lighter before picking it up and following the path that the figure took. He leapt down the hole and made his way out of the mines and into the snow.
"Oh, fuck." he muttered as the cold finally bit at him.
But then he saw it. A strange, large building was in the distance. He could just make out the man he saw earlier, walking up the path towards it.
"Jesus..." he whispered to himself. "The fuck is that place?"
Slowly and carefully, he began to follow the path himself.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.