Notes: Finally an update. It's been months, I know. Hopefully this chapter will make up for it though.
...
Andre's eyes fluttered open as he laid on the wooden floor. Cat's head rested on his shoulder as she slept peacefully. A sigh came from his lips and he wrapped his arm around the girl's petite waist and kissed the top of her head. In his mind, he knew there was probably no possible way for them to escape this death trap. He had already promised her that he'd make sure she got out alive, but there was such a small chance of that even happening. He probably had already gotten her hopes too far up - then again, she didn't seem to believe him the previous night.
Suddenly, the previous night hit him and he jumped up from his spot on the floor, startling the red-haired girl who was leaning against him. His breathing became ragged as he waited for the beast to come back to finish its job. Andre was ready to throw his body against the dresser again if only to stop the evil beast. He stood there, staring at the door while Cat leaned against the dresser, staring up at him with worry in her eyes.
After about twenty minutes of silence throughout the whole house, Andre let out a deep sigh. He glanced down at Cat and then sat back down next to her. "I'm going to move this dresser a bit, Cat," he told her quietly. "I'm going to see if the coast is clear."
Cat grabbed his arm immediately and started shaking her head no. "You can't do that!" she whispered angrily. "It'll get you."
Andre looked into her eyes and lifted her chin up to face him better. "I swear to you, I will be back. You will be safe." He kissed her quickly and then stood up. "Stay here while I go check everything out." Andre went towards the side of the dresser and pushed it away from the door so he could get through. He glanced back at Cat, who was biting her nails as she watched him. His hand slid onto the doorknob and he slowly turned it. He pulled the door towards him and then peaked his head out, not seeing a thing in the hall. He turned back towards Cat and smiled happily at her, trying to let her know that he'd be safe.
Andre tiptoed across the wooden floors to check each room on the upper level of the house. Each one was destroyed completely - broken windows, destroyed beds, clothes thrown all over, doors knocked down. He gulped, glad to know that he and Cat and somehow managed to stay alive that night. After his sweep of the top floor was done, he went back to the bedroom to check on Cat. She was staring at the door as he opened it and a sigh of relief came from her mouth. Andre nodded his head and gave a thumbs up and then proceeded to go downstairs. He took a deep, shaky breath - scared of what was to come. He walked down the creaky steps, slowly and carefully moving. Finally, he reached the bottom step and he looked around, still not seeing anything. The downstairs was just as destroyed as the upstairs. The table for the dining room was broken in half, the television was broken, glass was all over the floor, and the couch cushions were ripped up completely. As far as he could see, the beast wasn't anywhere in the house.
He walked over towards the fridge that was on the floor on its side. He sighed, certain that there was no food left in the fridge. Andre pulled on the door, and found that it had been broken off but placed back. He raised an eyebrow, but let it go. He looked inside the fridge and saw that most of the food in it had been eaten - he could tell from all the trash and bits of food laying on the floor. However, there was a drawer in the fridge that hadn't been gotten into. He opened it and saw raw meats in it. A grin came over his face and he put all the meat in his arms. He ran up the stairs quickly and opened the door.
"I have a plan," he told Cat when he went into the room. "Just keep these." He set the food down on the floor and then ran back down the stairs to get the ones he'd left. He finally decided he had enough meat for the beast and left it all in the floor of the room.
"What's your plan?" Cat asked since she finally received the chance to talk to him since he was no longer busy running around.
"We're going to set up a trap," he simply told her. "All this raw meat is going to be used. We're going to tie this up somewhere outside with a hook. It will only hold it for maybe ten seconds, but that's good enough."
"Won't we need rope?" Cat suggested.
"Damn it," Andre cursed. He looked around the room. "There has to be rope somewhere around here, right?"
"I guess," Cat replied.
"Well, then let's get to searching. You search upstairs and I'll go downstairs." The two then took off in different directions to search for rope and hooks. It took them a while, but after searching a few closets, they found about five hooks and six long pieces of rope. They met back up in the bedroom to get to work on their traps.
Andre took out the meat from their containers and slid the hook on them. He then tied the rope to the hook. With the last piece of rope, Andre tied it around the meat. It'd be used for their last trap - their last chance of survival.
"Where are going to hang these?" Cat asked him as she played with the end of one of the ropes.
"In a tree," he answered. "As we run, we'll stop once in a while and tie them to a strong branch. Hopefully it'll keep it occupied long enough for us to run as far away as we can."
Cat nodded her head in agreement and grabbed three of the traps. "Let's get started then? We still have enough daylight, right?"
Andre sighed and looked outside. He could tell it was almost midday. It probably wouldn't be enough, but he couldn't let Cat's hopes get let down. He didn't want her to have to stay her one more night. One more night with the monster. One more night of being terrified. He couldn't let her be like that.
"Let's go," he told her. He grabbed three of his own traps and then took a deep breath. He looked back at Cat before leaving the room and set them down on the dresser real quick. He walked over to Cat and placed his hands on her shoulders. "We're going to live, Cat Valentine. I promise you." Andre leaned over and kissed her lips and pulled away after a few seconds.
"I trust you," she told him. "I trust you so much." She kissed him once more. To Andre, it seemed as if they were already saying goodbye to each other - as if they had already given up on everything. He wasn't going to give up though. He knew they could make it. It was a slim chance, but it was going to work out in the end.
The two then each took a deep breath at about the same time. Then, Andre turned towards the door and started running out of the room and down the steps. "Move quietly when we're outside!" he told Cat, glancing back at her quickly. They glanced around and saw a few winter coats had been saved and quickly pulled them. There was a pair of gloves and Andre had Cat put them on so her hands wouldn't get frostbite. They each put on a pair of boots. "Ready?" Andre asked her.
"Wait!" Cat exclaimed. "Jade had a gun, right? There was a gun cabinet upstairs in the master bedroom."
Andre smiled and walked over to Cat and kissed her on her forehead quickly. "You are a genius." He ran upstairs quickly and grabbed the two small pistols left. They wouldn't do much to the beast, but it was good enough. He ran back down and handed one to Cat. "Can you use it?"
"I... No..." She sighed and took the gun anyways. "Life or death situation. Maybe."
The two walked out of the large cabin and into the frosty winter world and the beast's deathtrap for them. Andre looked around and found what he believed to be a good tree. He nodded his head at for Cat to understand and they both ran towards it. Cat handed him two of the traps in her hands and climbed up the tree. She tied the rope around what seemed to be a strong branch. She yanked on it to make sure it'd stay and then decided it was good enough. She hopped down from the tree and then the two continued running through the snow. They followed the road so they wouldn't get off track. After about ten minutes, they stopped and Cat put up a second trap.
About five hours later, the sun was starting to set. Andre could tell they were only about a third of the way there. They only had one trap left - one last chance of surviving. Andre stopped their running after a few minutes and looked over at Cat. "Time to hang it up," he told her. She nodded her head and ran over to a tree and climbed up it quickly and started hanging it up. Andre watches her as she works, but starts to wander around the small area. He knew they hadn't been this far since driving up this way. He hoped that it was far enough away from the beast, but something still didn't feel right about this place. He kept walking around, finding it strange how they hadn't even heard the beast yet.
He kept walking around when suddenly, his feet lost their footing and he was falling down. He screamed and then heard Cat screaming out his name. He grunted as he hit a hard rocky ground. "What the-" His eyes grew wide before he could finish as he saw bodies of dead animals and people all around him. "Fuck." He scrambled away from the center of the cave and pressed his body against the wall. His eyes searched around the room. There was no sign of the beast, but the skeletons and a few recent kills were all around him. He gulped and hoped that Cat wouldn't come back to him, but would instead start running. A shadow came from above the cave and he glanced up, seeing Cat's head poking down to look at him.
"Andre!" she whisper-yelled.
"Cat!" he whispered back. "Run! Run as fast as you can and don't you dare look back. Don't look back and run away."
"I'm not leaving you, Andre."
"Caterina Hannah Valentine, I demand that you run away now. Let it be my last request."
"You can't make it a last request if you don't-"
"Cat!" Andre yelled at her one last time. "Please leave me now. Consider this a last trap for the beast. I'll make enough noise for it to come after me and give you enough time to run."
"Is that Beck?"
"What? Cat, run now."
"No, really," Cat said. She pointed down at a body that was near Andre. "That's Beck."
Andre rolled his eyes and slowly stood up to go to where she was pointing. He made it and looked down, shocked to see it was in fact Beck. He sighed, knowing the beast had gotten him. He already knew it, but now it was completely confirmed. Andre squat down and looked at Beck. "I'm sorry, man," he whispered.
A cough came from the dead boy's body and Andre gasped and jumped away from him. "What is it?" Cat asked from above.
"He... He just coughed.."
"He's alive!" Cat screamed.
"Cat! No screaming!"
"Sorry," she whispered. "Poke him with a stick."
Andre rolled his eyes and went back over towards Beck. He started shaking his friend until he woke up. "Wha.."
"Beck," Andre whispered. "It's me, Andre."
"It's coming," Beck whispered to him. "It's coming back. It's been gone for... days... But it's going to be back."
"We thought you were dead."
"I wish I was dead."
"Lift him up to me!" Cat suggested from above him. "All three of us can make it!"
Andre only sighed and shook his head. He looked over at Beck who seemed to be slowly regaining little strength. "Do you think you can make it?" he asked him.
"Jade," he grumbled.
Andre closed his eyes and looked away, not about to say anything about the dark-haired girl who had driven off a cliff, who had tried to get revenge for the death of a man who was still breathing. Everything she had done was in vain - was completely pointless. If the girl wouldn't have been so vengeful, she could have made it to see her boyfriend still alive.
"Jade," Beck said again. "Is she here?"
"Beck," Andre said. "Do this for her." He grabbed onto the boy and started lifting him over his shoulder. He grunted as he tried to lift him up towards Cat. The small girl grabbed onto Beck's wrists and started to try to drag him up out of the cave while Andre pushed him from below. Finally, the weak boy made it out of the cave, leaving only Andre down there.
Then, the howl of a beast more terrifying than any the gang had ever met before rang throughout the cave. Andre's eyes grew wide and he looked up at Cat, who was staring down at him with shock on her face. "Run," he whispered to her.
She shook her head quickly. "Stay quiet. We have a rope."
"Cat, don't you dare."
She ignored him and ran away to untie the rope from the tree limb. Andre leaned against the walls of the cave and tried to breathe as softly as he could. The noises the beast was making echoed everywhere and he couldn't figure out how close it was to him or which direction it was coming from. His last thoughts started racing through his mind as he waited for the beast to attack him, to kill him. He was ready, but not really. The last thing he wanted was to die here in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. Then again, he was sure that none of them had wanted this. They'd all wanted a nice spring break, not a death festival.
Suddenly, a rope dangled from the hole going down into the cave. He sighed, knowing Cat wouldn't leave until she was certain there was absolutely no way to save him. He got up from where he was seated and went over to the rope. It was in arm's reach and he grabbed onto it. "It's not going to work," he whispered up to Cat. He swore the beast was getting closer and coming from his left side. He sighed and tried to pull himself up. He felt Cat pulling on the rope and then saw Beck was also trying to help her. Beck was in no condition to deal with any of this, but he knew Beck would die trying to save his friends.
Andre knew that Beck had probably already realized what had happened to Jade. It was obvious, of course. Beck had been gone for a while and Jade did too many stupid things. Beck had probably already done the process of elimination and had decided she'd searched for the beast to let it kill her since she couldn't be without him or she had went after it to kill it and get revenge. He had probably also then decided it was avenging his death since Jade wasn't one to be so dramatic as to die with him.
Finally, Andre was able to grab onto the ground and started pulling himself up with Cat and Beck grabbing his coat and helping him. Suddenly, the howl of the beast was below them and they looked down. "Just in time," Cat whispered. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
"No time for that. It knows we're escaping," Beck said. He stood up slowly and started walking, only to start tripping over his own two feet.
Cat went over to him and he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and they started running together, following the road. Andre was right behind them, pulling the gun out and ready to shoot whenever he had to. They kept running until about an hour later, the howling of the beast came from behind them. None of them say a word - knowing that if they do it'll hear them and chase even faster. Instead, they continue running, trying to pick up speed. Night was already coming and there's barely any light left in the sky to help them get through.
Before they even knew it, it's there - standing in the middle of the road in front of them. It's eyes staring at them, daring them to try to escape it.
Andre walked to stand next to Cat who was still holding onto Beck. "I have a plan," he whispered in her ear. He walked over to Beck's side and leaned over towards him. He couldn't believe what he was about to say, what he was about to do. He was certain that if he had told Cat, she would have said no and decided they all die right then and there.
But he wasn't going to let that happen.
"I'll distract it and you two run. Don't stop running. Keep running until you reach your grandparents. Don't stop. Don't look back." He saw the shock in Beck's eyes as he whispered those words to him. "Don't tell Cat. Just run and make her run with you."
"Put up a good fight," Beck whispered back.
"Wouldn't do anything else."
Andre pointed the pistol at the beast. Its eyes watched the pistol in fascination. Then, the bang of the gun rung throughout the forest as it shot the beast in the eye. It's howl was even louder than the gunshot.
Andre looked back at Cat and Beck for a quick second, knowing what he had to do next.
"Run!"