Disclaimer: I own nothing.
(In Dr. Alastor's office, the windows are once again boarded up and torn curtains hang on the sides. A set of monitors are now in the room showing camera footage of several different locations on the mountain. Alastor himself paces in front of the monitors. Despite that he still has a big smile, he's very angry now.)
Alastor: You have gone too far now.
(He turns to the psycho standing behind the desk.)
Alastor: (enraged) Don't you see?! Huh?! Don't you see that this... torture porn has gone too far?!
(The psycho just stands still staring at the doctor.)
Alastor: Now what gives you the right to play God, in these people's lives?! What makes you so special then?! Huh?!
(Alastor steps closer to the monitors to get a better look at them before facing the psycho again.)
Alastor: You're sick! You're a sick fuck!
(He steps closer to the psycho and glares hard at him.)
Alastor: Now what the hell have you done to them?! Huh?! What the hell have you done to them, you psychopath?!
(The psycho continues to stand there without moving like he's ignoring the doctor completely.)
Alastor: Psychopath!
Chapter 7: Violence
(Four hours until dawn.)
(Luz sits tied in the spinning chair alone in the room in the old hotel where she was found. She slowly wakes up and observes her surroundings before hearing a nearby whispering voice.)
Dipper: (whispers) Luz... Luz, wake up!
(She turns and sees Dipper through a grate behind the wall. She's surprised to see him.)
Luz: (whispers) Dipper! Is that you!?
Dipper: Shhh!
Luz: What?
Dipper: Get over here!
(Luz pushes herself on the chair over to the grate. Dipper uses his machete to carefully cut the ropes on her hands and feet. She breaks free and stands up.)
Luz: (relieved) Damn, those things were tight...
(She gets down close to the grate to talk to Dipper.)
Luz: Oh, Dipper, thank God you found me.
Dipper: (assuringly) It's okay. You're okay.
Luz: (confused) I don't understand... How did you get here? How did you find me?
Dipper: There's some fucking maniac up here on the mountain-
Luz: Yeah, I've noticed.
Dipper: He lives in this like, web of tunnels... I was down there trying to get out and then I found this grate and saw you.
Luz: Where's Pacifica? She's not with you?
(He pauses for a second before answering.)
Dipper: (gloomily) Pacifica is dead.
Luz: (shocked) What!?
Dipper: He killed her, Luz. There's some maniac on the mountain who is trying to kill us. All of us. And I swear to God, when everyone is safe and accounted for I am gonna hunt that fucker down and rip his nuts off one at a goddamn time.
Luz: Whoa... Listen, this guy who you're talking about... he attacked me. He showed me these videos, too, and one of them showed Max being killed... just... ripped appart by this huge fucking sawblade...
Dipper: Jesus Christ! What the fuck is going on around here...
(He sees a door next to him in the storage room he's in.)
Dipper: There's a door here, it won't open. Can you unlock it from your side?
(Luz nods and goes to the door in the room. She finds her backpack hanging on the doorknob and takes it. She leaves the room and finds the door on Dipper's side. She removes a wooden plank blocking it and opens it.)
Dipper: Hey...
(She sees the bruises and burnt marks on him.)
Luz: Jeez. You look like hell.
Dipper: Nice to see you too.
(Luz goes across the room behind some shelves and puts her backpack down.)
Dipper: What are you doing?
Luz: Well actually, the towel didn't turn out to be the best outfit for fighting off killer maniacs, you know? Do you mind? Dipper?
Dipper: Oh. Right. My bad.
(Dipper turns away as Luz removes her towel and takes some clothes out of her backpack. She changes into a white shirt, red hooded jacket, grey yoga pants and dark sneakers.)
Luz: Okay. Done. (determined) Let's put this thing to bed.
Dipper: Amen to that.
(The two hear faint voices screaming and sobbing through the walls.)
Luz: What was that?
Dipper: Is that crying?
(They go to nearby metal door and force it open. They enter a wide room and see Lincoln and Ronnie Anne at a table tied to chairs. Ronnie Anne is crying due to thinking that Lincoln just shot himself. Then she notices Lincoln alive and unharmed holding the gun in confusion. The psycho then appears out of the darkness and casually approaches them.)
Ronnie Anne: (scared) No! No no no! Get away!
(Luz and Dipper enter the room as Dipper takes out his own gun that he found in the sanatorium. Lincoln shoots at the psycho with the gun. It goes off but doesn't do anything.)
Psycho: (shakes head) Oh, Lincoln... Oh, Lincoln, Lincoln, Lincoln, Lincoln.
Lincoln: (bewildered) What the fuck?!
Psycho: Oh, you've heard of blanks before. I mean really?
(He stops a few feet away from the table and reaches for his mask. Dipper and Luz walk over to where they are and the four of them all look at the psycho as he removes his mask and reveals the face of Max smiling mischievously at them.)
(Diamond Tiara wakes up and finds herself hanging upside down by a cable tied around her ankle. She hangs from the collapsed tower that's wedged against the cliff wall over the gorge leading into the mines.)
Diamond Tiara: (terrified) Oh, God! Oh, my god! Spike! Spike! Oh ... Jesus... Shit. OH, SHIT! Dammit!
(She sees a fallen ladder hanging over a ledge and immediately starts swinging over to it. The cable holding her snaps as she grabs the ladder. She drops down on the ledge as the wrecked tower starts to come loose.)
Diamond Tiara: Shit! Shit!
(She gets off the ledge as the tower falls. It breaks off the ledge and descends into the gorge. She stands up and catches her breath.)
Diamond Tiara: (panting) Oh, God.
(She looks at the dark tunnel in front of her. She rips off part of her shirt under her coat and wraps it around a stick.)
Diamond Tiara: Here goes six hundred bucks. Better be worth it. I looked great in that top.
(She sticks it in a barrel of oil and then in a flaming piece of debris from the fire. It creates a torch.)
Diamond Tiara: Alright. Now we're talkin'.
(She makes her way through the tunnel and hears a shrieking noise up ahead.)
Diamond Tiara: (nervous) Hello...?
(She follows the path down to a mine cart track. A wooden gate blocks her way so she unlatched the brakes on a mine cart and it rolls downhill and smashes through the gate. She enters a wide area with an old elevator system. She tries to activate it but it doesn't work.)
Diamond Tiara: (annoyed) Shit. Okay. How do I get this thing on?
(She finds another tunnel but it's blocked by debris.)
Diamond Tiara: Fuckin' busted elevator's my only way out.
(A blast of fire suddenly occurs in the distance followed by a loud shriek.)
Diamond Tiara: (startled) Ah! What?! What the hell?
(She then finds a ladder leading to a walkway. She climbs up and sets her torch down so she can pull herself up. However, the ladder breaks and sends her crashing down through the wooden floor. She slides down a slope screaming and lands in a lower tunnel.)
Diamond Tiara: (irritated) Fuck! Ugggh... god damn...
(With no light source, she takes out her phone and turns on its light. A bunch of skeletons and skulls suddenly appear before herald she jumps back.)
Diamond Tiara: (horrified) No! No no no! GROSS, GROSS, GROSS! Oh, God. UGH. Disgusting!
(As she calms down a little, she starts to slowly goes down the tunnel.)
Diamond Tiara: Spike...?
(She gets to a rock wall that looks climbable.)
Diamond Tiara: Okay... Alright...
(She struggles to climb up but manages to reach the ladder at the top. She gets up and proceeds through the next tunnel. She hears another strange scream far off.)
Diamond Tiara: (scared) Spike!
Emily's phone begins to die.
(Her phone starts to turn off due to a low battery.)
Diamond Tiara: (irritated) Come... on... for... fuck... sake!
(The battery dies and the phone shuts down.)
Diamond Tiara: (sighs) Son of a bitch.
(She keeps moving without a light. Another blast of fire appears up ahead in the tunnel along with the sound of someone yelling.)
Diamond Tiara: (startled) Jesus, shit!
(She reaches the walkway she meant to get to before and finds her torch. With a light source again, she finds a power switch on the walkway and pulls it. The elevator system turns on.)
Diamond Tiara: Oh, my God. Finally. Something works.
(She heads down some stairs from the walkway and enters another tunnel to get back to the elevator. She hears another scream nearby.)
Diamond Tiara: (uneasy) Spike!
(She sees a light ahead and comes to a bright area with an icy slope leading to an opening in the ground above.)
Diamond Tiara: (relieved) Yes! YES!
(She tries to climb it but it's too slippery. She slides down after getting up a few feet.)
Diamond Tiara: (disappointed) Shit.
(She decides to find another way out. She looks around the area and finds part of broken sign saying "DANGER".)
Diamond Tiara: (sarcastically) Lovely. Danger is my middle-fucking-name.
(She looks around some more and spots a marking carved into the rocky wall. It's the date Amity and Nikki went missing.)
Diamond Tiara: That's... exactly a year ago...
(Below the date is a set of tally marks.)
Diamond Tiara: What does this mean...?
(She then searches a small passage with a dead end. She finds a cross made with wooden planks on the ground. She turns it over and sees the name Nikki inscribed on it.)
Diamond Tiara: (stunned) Nikki... oh, Jesus.
(She finds another passage leading somewhere. As she walks through, she finds an amulet with an orchid gemstone on a barrel. She recognizes it as the one Amity Blight wore.)
Diamond Tiara: Amity? She was down here...
(She moves a chainlink door aside and steps into another room. She sees a figure in the shadows and slowly approaches it. She gently nudges the figure and it stumbles backward into the light revealing to be the decomposed head of Nikki that was sitting on her clothes. Diamond Tiara screams and falls back.)
Diamond Tiara: (hyperventilating) Oh God! Oh, God! Nikki. No. Oh, God Nikki. No!
(She calms down a little and looks at the head again.)
Diamond Tiara: Oh... Nikki.
(She gets away from it as soon as she can and reaches a latched door. She opens it and finds herself back at the elevator area. She gets on and pulls the lever. The elevator ascends towards the surface.)
Diamond Tiara: (desperate) Come on! Let's GO!
(It stops at a level before the surface.)
Diamond Tiara: No!
(She gets off and is about the go through the tunnel in front of her when she sees a mysterious figure heading towards her. She immediately hides behind the elevator wall.)
Diamond Tiara: (whispers) Oh, god please don't come this way.
(The figure stops as he reaches to where she is and looks behind him. Diamond Tiara takes the chance to make a run for it down the adjacent path. The stranger sees her and hurries after her.)
Stranger: Get back here!
(She runs across a small bridge and jumps over a gap in it. She runs over a puddle of spilled oil and throws her torch on it to start a fire and block the way, but the stranger just runs past it. Diamond Tiara eventually comes to a dead end.)
Diamond Tiara: (scared) Oh, god. Shit shit shit shit!
(She quickly hides behind some wooden boards next to the wall as the stranger reaches the end of the tunnel. He slowly approaches Diamond Tiara's hiding place and sees her. She screams.)
(Luz, Dipper, Lincoln and Ronnie Anne all stare at Max in complete shock and confusion as he laughs hysterically.)
Lincoln: ...Max?
Luz: Max!
Dipper: Max...
Max: (maniacally) Oh, oh very good! Every one of you! Got my name! And after all you've been through! Good, good-good-good. I mean how does that feel?
(As he speaks, Luz unties Ronnie Anne while Dipper unties Lincoln.)
Max: Right? How does it feel? Do you enjoy feeling terrorized? Humiliated? I mean, panicked? All those emotions that my sisters got to feel once one year ago! Only guess what? They didn't get to laugh it off! No! Nope! No no no! They're gone!
Dipper: (unamused) I don't know if you noticed this, Max, but none of us are laughing.
Max: Oh come, come-come-come-come. Why the long faces? Come on! It's good to get the heart racing every now and then, right? And race they did, I mean, every one of you, just pitter-pat, pitter-pat! I hope you appreciated my little phantasmagorical spectacle!
(In the weeks before he invited everyone to the lodge, he had orchestrated the entire horror scenario they found themselves in. He set up a control system that lit up candles and opened and closed doors on their own. He also put fake clues about an escaped convict hiding on the mountain where they could find them.)
Max: I mean, no detail too small! No opportunity missed! It was such a delight to play the puppet master to all of your Pavlovian panic!
(He had them find the spirit board so he could be the one to move the pointer and convince them that the ghosts of his sisters were haunting them. He also put together a fake ghostlike body that resembled his sisters and moved it with wires attached to it.)
Max: And all that gore? I mean, gore, there was gore galore! Fake bodies... I mean, God that shit was expensive!
(In the shed where he was seemingly sawed in half, he tied a fake body with his clothes on it to the wall and stuck his head through a hole over it to make it look like it was his own body. He also filled it with the blood and intestines of the dead pigs in the secret lab.)
Max: And no retakes! Nope, nope, nope, only double takes! You should have seen your faces. Hook, line and sinker, for every little stinker!
(The others are left in disbelief as he explains how everything that happened was by his doing.)
Luz: (dumbfounded) Max... Why are you doing this?
Dipper: Don't even ask this squirrelly little runt. He's got no clue. He's out of his fucking tree.
Lincoln: Well, he's definitely off his meds.
Max: Aw, come on, you guys. Revenge is the best medicine!
Dipper: You're done.
Lincoln: Dipper, he's sick-
Max: (ecstatic) What? Come on, you guys are all going to thank me when you guys become internet sensations!
Lincoln: (stunned) Wait, what...?
Max: Oh, you better believe this little puppy is going viral ladies and germs. I mean we got unrequited love. We got... we got blood! I don't think there's enough hard drives in China to count all the views we're gonna get, you guys.
Dipper: (enraged) What are you talking about you ass hat? Pacifica IS FUCKING DEAD!
(Max stops grinning like a maniac and shows confusion.)
Max: (puzzled) What?
Dipper: Did you hear me?! Pacifica is dead, and YOU ARE GONNA FUCKING PAY, YOU DICK!
(He aggressively hits Max with his gun and knocks him down.)
(A short time later, Dipper and Lincoln are outside with Max whose hands are tied behind his back. They force him down the path away from the lodge.)
Max: (annoyed) Guys! Guys come on... seriously, this is crazy, you know?
Dipper: (sternly) Shut up.
(Dipper pushes Max to get him to keep walking. Lincoln steps forward.)
Lincoln: (furious) Why'd ya hit her, man!? Why'd you have to fucking hit her?!
(He ouches Max in the face and sends him down.)
Max: What are you talking about?
Lincoln: You punched Ronnie Anne, you piece of shit!
(Max stands back up.)
Max: I got so mad.
Lincoln: You don't just hit a girl. You just don't.
Max: Dude... Dude, Lincoln... Bro... I-
Lincoln: I'm not your bro!
(Dipper pushes him forward again.)
Max: Where are we going? Where are you guys taking me?
Dipper: Locking you up, "bro".
Max: What?!
Dipper: So you can't do anything stupid before we call the police in the morning.
Max: (insistently) Come ON! I didn't DO ANYTHING-
Lincoln: Are you serious, bro?
Dipper: You're a goddamned murderer is what you are.
Max: I didn't do it, Dipper please! Just listen to me, man! I did not hurt Pacifica.
Lincoln: Are you insane? Like, really? Do you not understand what you've done?
Max: (stubbornly) I'm a healer, man. I bring people together. Not like you assholes.
Dipper: That's enough.
Lincoln: You need to shut up.
Max: Lincoln, hey, come on Cochise, we're partners...
Lincoln: Stop! Don't say that.
Max: Oh, fine. Be a dick!
(They take him to the shed where he faked his death. He keeps taunting them.)
Max: You only see what you wanna see! You're blind!
Dipper: Stop talking.
Max: You are-
(Dipper shoves Max down and punches him in the stomach. He grunts in pain.)
Lincoln: Dude.
Max: It's not my fault you suckers can't take a joke.
Dipper: (sarcastically) Oh, oh wait, did I hurt you? Did you just feel a little... a little bit of pain? Right now I am SO... SO... SORRY.
Max: Stop it...
Lincoln: Jesus, dude...
Max: (pleadingly) Stop... Dipper... I'm sorry... Man... I can't tell how sorry I am that something happened to Pacifica, but I swear, I swear to you that I have no idea what happened to her...
Lincoln: (aggravated) Max? Be honest with me. Do you really expect us to trust you, for a single goddamned second, after all the shit you put us through? You can't talk your way out of this one.
Max: (teasingly) Can't we all just get along?
(Dipper tightens the bonds on his hands.)
Max: OW! DAMMIT!
Dipper: We're not dicking around.
Max: (agitated) It's not right... nope... this is not how it's supposed to go down...
(The enter the shed. Max turns around and glares at them.)
Max: You're just a bunch of bullies... You can't hang out a guy just to dry like this, guys. Huh? Not like... Not like you got the guts to really do anything about it anyways!
(Dipper pushes him down again. Lincoln glares back at him.)
Lincoln: Oh, stuff it. You're the biggest coward there is.
Max: Uh huh? I DID something. I MADE you believe in the world I created and I showed you parts of yourself you were too afraid to visit-
Lincoln: You manipulated us, you tricked us, you hurt your friends and you did it all while you hid in the shadows. You're a coward Max, that's all you are. And you really, really, really need to shut up, man.
Max: Oh... that's... that's... I mean, I don't even know what you mean because I don't have anything to regret.
Lincoln: (annoyed) Oh, my god.
(Dipper forces Max on a stool next to a pole.)
Max: Okay... Tying me up now... okay...
Dipper: Stay still, man.
(Dipper and Lincoln start tying Max's hands to the pole. Max wiggles to make it harder for them.)
Max: (playfully) Right, right right right... still... can't tie 'em up if they just wiggle around-
Lincoln: Max, dude-
Max: Leave me a little wiggle room, huh?
Dipper: (irritated) What does it take to shut you up?
Max: Ow! Not so tight, okay? Not so tight, okay! I can't wiggle around. Plastic ties. That's where it's at. Yeah.
Dipper: What... in god's name is he talking about?
Max: Plastic ties, plastic ties. Way more effective for hostage type scenarios.
Lincoln: (uneasy) This is hard to watch...
Dipper: He ever say this kind of shit before?
Max: (laughs) Guaranteed for at least three hostages, or your money back!
Lincoln: No, I never seen him like this...
Max: (mumbles) Everybody is stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid... Linc and Ronnie, Lincoln is an ass, Ronnie Anne's a dumb dumb...
Lincoln: I'm sorry what did you say?
Max: I said you're a dummy, dummy.
Lincoln: What's wrong with you?
Max: (mockingly) Ohh... Ronnie Anne... "I never imagined in my wildest dreams that you like me...!"
Lincoln: Stop.
Max: You know what that sound is? It's the sound of never kissing Ronnie Anne, you pussy.
(Lincoln picks up a wooden board and threatens to hit Max with it.)
Lincoln: (exasperated) Stop!
Max: Yeah, you know? You might as well let Ronnie sleep with Dipper, I mean, at least he's got some notches on his belt, you know? He'll treat her right! You're fucking pathetic, Lincoln Loud.
Lincoln: I'm gonna beat his head off-
(Dipper stops him.)
Dipper: (firmly) Don't listen to him. Not worth it.
Max: Hey, Dipper. Dipper, Dipper, Dipper, Dipper, Dipper. Dipper!
Dipper: What?
Max: What happened with Paz, Dipper?
Dipper: (somberly) You know what happened.
Max: No... No... I don't... I got a problem, Dipper... I don't remember killing Paz...
Dipper: Christ...
Max: I mean, like, I feel like I would remember killing her, you know? She's so soft... and she's probably got like a really tight bod...
(Dipper steps in front of Max and points the gun right in his face.)
Dipper: (aggressively) Shut your fucking mouth!
(Lincoln panics a little and hits the gun out of Dipper's hand with the wooden board. Dipper looks at him confusingly.)
Dipper: Seriously?
Lincoln: Wh-What?
Dipper: Did you think I was gonna shoot him?
Lincoln: I-I dunno..
Dipper: Come on, Lincoln, you know me better than that.
Max: (tauntingly) Yeah, Lincoln. You know me better than that.
Lincoln: Ah... yeah. Well, just, next time give me the heads up, alright?
Max: Oh, you poor little piggies, can't even get their good cop-bad cop routine to work. Leave to the pros, bros.
(Lincoln and Dipper just ignore him now.)
Dipper: (assuringly) Why don't you head back to the lodge and make sure everyone's alright. I'll stay here with this lunatic until morning.
Max: Oooh! Sleepover! Can we order pizza?
Lincoln: You sure you're okay...?
Dipper: They'll want to know everything's fine back there.
Lincoln: (calmly) You're right. See you in the morning.
(Lincoln throws the board down and leaves the shed.)
So Max brought them all to the lodge in first place to make them think they were in a real horror situation as revenge for the prank that caused his sisters' disappearance just like his character Josh did in the actual game.
Josh suffered from mental illnesses that only got worse after his sisters went missing. It got so bad that not only did he gleefully lure his friends to his family's lodge to play a cruel prank on them and expect them all to be okay with it, but he also involved those who were the least responsible. The only people he managed to torment in the game were Sam, Chris and Ashley. In the prologue, Chris was passed out with Josh while the prank happened and knew nothing about it. Sam knew about it but tried to stop it from happening. And Ashley was a part of it but was the least involved and showed the most remorse for it. Josh let Mike, Jessica, Emily and Matt, who were the ones to blame the most, leave the lodge before he put his plan into action. He might've planned to get them later, but he still made the innocent ones his victims. His illness got so bad, he didn't bother to think logically. In his eyes, they were ALL guilty no matter what.
However, we will soon learn that Josh, or in this case, Max is far from the only danger on the mountain this night...