After a great deal of setup, we finally move on to the main event. For those of you who have been following this, even if you're not a reviewer (though I'd absolutely love if you became one), I want to thank you for sticking with this, and I hope you enjoy the following bloodbath.
The Most Dangerous Game
For a while, Beth just laid on the floor, crying at the nightmare she had woken up too. Her friends were about to hunted for sport like animals, and her sister had been brainwashed into a murderous cannibal. Crying felt like the only thing she could do. She knew this was all her fault, but wasn't ready to just sit back and let it happen either.
She forced herself to her feet, sniveling as she made her way up to the exit of the theater. Beth couldn't just leave her friends and her brother to be slaughtered like sheep, she would never be able to live that guilt down. She'd wake up every day and feel like a failure. Every time she'd look in the mirror, she'd see a coward staring back at her. She knew that she had to help, even if it meant putting her own life in danger, or killing a few cannibals. By the time she made it to the stairs, she wasn't crying, she was fuming. She was mad. She wasn't even sure what she was mad at, if it was herself, her friends, or Hannah, but she tried her best to stay that way. It would have to be that anger that would keep her going through this.
She opened the door to her room, heading for the bed. She had spent a lot of time in this cabin in the past on hunting trips with her brother and father, but she had obviously never seen these freaks around before. That had to mean they hadn't been around for very long, certainly not as long as her. Not many knew this mountain better than her and her brother. Beth fell to her knees, reaching under her bed and pulling out a large, black case. She took a long, deep breath, undid the latches, and opened it. She just sat there, looking at the gun in front of her. A 12 gauge double barrel shotgun, this thing could be used for hunting both small and large game, and it would put a huge hole in anything it hit.
But could Beth really do this? Was she really about to go out there and hunt down human beings like in that short story she had read in high school? It always seemed like such a ridiculous concept to her. Intentionally trapping humans and hunting them for sport? It made for a good story, she thought, but she never imagined for a second it was within the realms of reality. Now, it was her reality. She had shot plenty of animals, but shooting a human being was hardly the same thing. She was just going to have to picture them as wild animals. By the way those freaks behaved, hopefully that wouldn't be so hard. She didn't have time to think about the idea of killing Hannah, there was no time at all. Who knows how long it would be until this "Hunt" started, or if it started already. Beth took the shotgun, but she was going to need more than this. Luckily, there was all types of hunting equipment in the lodge.
About ten minutes later, Beth was ready. She walked out of the lodge for what she hoped wouldn't be the last time. She had changed out of her purple coat and into more appropriate, camouflaged attire. It might have been her favorite color, but wearing a color like purple in the middle of the woods? She'd stick out like a day walker in a monastery. In addition to her shotgun, she had Josh's rifle slung over her back in hopes of running into him, along with a few other surprises. She started out into the dark woods; she would take the trail for a while but she knew staying on it would be a death sentence. The Hunters would be watching the trails for anyone dumb enough to walk on them, and she wasn't sure how experienced her friends were in mountain trekking, besides Josh, who she had been hunting many times, and Sam, who she remembered did plenty of hiking. But someone like Emily? A spoiled rich girl like that? She wouldn't last five seconds. Beth's family was rich too, obviously, they owned this mountain, she was richer than any of them, but Beth wasn't treated like a princess who got anything she wanted like it seemed Emily was. Emily may have been a bitch on more than one occasion, but she was still Beth's friend, and no one deserved to be hunted down like a wild dog. She had to save them. She had to make this right. She had to stop Hannah, no matter what. She wasn't sure if there was any trace left of her sister, but she seemed pretty mind fucked when Beth talked to her. Beth didn't want to face the reality that she might have to shoot and kill her sister, she just had to keep going, and not think about it. After about fifteen minutes of travel she hadn't run into anything or anyone, and she broke from the path. These mountains were vast, and she had no idea where to start. She didn't rate the chances of herself getting out of here alive very high, but she had to at least try. She was only nineteen, she wasn't ready to die yet, but she wasn't ready to let everyone she cared about die either.
The idea of doing this alone scared the shit out of her. She was using every ounce of her courage just to keep going forward. She didn't want to have to kill anyone, but she had the feeling she wouldn't have a choice. She just hoped she'd be able to pull the trigger when the time came. Beth wasn't in the best shape for this, she wasn't exactly in a sound state of mind, and the last thing she needed was for a panic attack or one of her violent episodes to strike. Then again, maybe this was the perfect time for a violent episode. She had packed her medication, she just had to hope it would keep her sane while she took on this monumentally insane task. Maybe that's why she was here, because only someone out of their mind would consider doing something as crazy as this. Beth tried to keep her mind clear, but all she could think about was how fucked up this all was. How could one stupid prank snowball into a mess of this magnitude? She was a nineteen year-old who had just graduated high school, and here she was, armed to the teeth and going out into the woods like she was Rambo or something, only this was way more fucked up than Rambo. What did she really think she was doing, wandering around the woods in the dark with a double barreled shotgun, trying to hunt psychopaths as if they were rabbits? Did she really think she could do this? She wasn't a soldier, although she had enough PTSD and flashbacks to know what a war hardened soldier felt like. She was going into the woods alone with no idea what to expect. Was it bravery? Not really, it was pathetic desperation, and not much else. Some futile, deluded attempt at control of this uncontrollable situation, but she was already here, there was no time to doubt herself now. She would just have to act louder than she felt. From what she could tell, these Hunters seemed to have low tech, Hannah and that other creep from a year ago had knives, and she imagined that they had other primitive hunting weapons, like spears and bows. At least she had the advantage there, when it came to killing power guns were far superior to sticks with points on them, but when she started firing, everyone would know where she was.
As she wandered, she found herself thinking about her Dad and Josh, and how reluctant they both were to start taking Beth with them when she showed interest in not so feminine activities, like hunting and hiking. Despite their initial doubts, Beth's most major enemy in being herself was not her father and her brother, as they weren't particularly against the idea, they just didn't think Beth could do it. Sexism comes in many forms, it's not always about hate or discrimination, and it doesn't always come from men. Beth's main obstacle was always her mother. She hated the idea of her daughter using guns and shooting animals. Beth's mother was always kind of traditional, and had the idea she would raise her daughters like she was raised, and Hannah seemed to be fine with that, but Beth certainly wasn't. Her mother still didn't approve of Beth's more "masculine" choice of hobbies, and hoped they were just a phase she would grow out of. She never did, of course.
Beth wasn't trying to prove anything, and she didn't reject every essence of her femininity like her mother seemed to think she was doing. She just had more flexible interests. Ever since, she always felt judging eyes coming from the direction of her mother, and while she still loved her, Beth and her mother's relationship never truly recovered from that "betrayal." Her father honestly didn't think Beth would be able to pull her weight and survive, to him she was his little girl who played dollhouse with Hannah. It wasn't just because she was a girl, it's because she was "girly." Beth had never been a tomboy, and she never tried to act like a guy, whatever that even meant. Beth was Beth, she wore make up and liked dresses, and for whatever reason, she liked guns. It wasn't something her father and brother understood at first, but she soon proved their expectations wrong.
She was trying to distract herself from this awful situation by remembering all these things, which was understandable, but also foolish. If she wanted to survive and save her friends, she would have to be one hundred percent alert, otherwise she'd be dead. If she kept going around like that, she probably wouldn't have lasted. Luckily, something came along that brought her attention back to the present, although, it wasn't a sight she'd consider herself lucky to see. In fact, she would give almost anything to unsee it. She came upon a human body, a rope snared around their ankle, hanging from a tree like a piece of meat, and that wasn't the only way they resembled a slaughtered cow. They had been skinned from head to toe, after their throat was cut. What was left was just a bloody carcass of muscle and tendons. When Beth figured out what she was looking at, she instantly became sick to her stomach. She turned, throwing up violently at the gruesome spectacle. She was shaking, her anxiety about to blow. She rummaged through her bag, desperately trying to find her medication in hopes they would calm her down. She hastily swallowed them, but she had a feeling she was trying to extinguish a forest fire by throwing a bucket of water. Nothing would be able to make her calm after seeing that.
It wasn't anyone she knew, far as she could tell, even though she imagined it would be hard to recognize someone who had been skinned. The clothing discarded nearby wasn't anything her friends would wear, a flannel jacket, an old cap among the items. Just some unlucky hunter or wanderer at the wrong place at the wrong time? She had no idea how long this had been here, but seeing as they were cannibals, and they hadn't eaten him yet, she figured it couldn't have been too long. She had to find her friends before they wound up like this poor soul. Her mind was definitely back on track. If there was any doubt that her life was in serious danger, that sickening sight quickly did away with all of it. She had to focus, or she would wind up the same way, or worse. That is, if anything could be worse than that, she wasn't sure.
Suddenly she heard the unmistakable sound of a woman's scream, and it was close. She whipped around to see one of her friends, Ashley, who had stumbled on to the same slaughter she had. Beth was smart enough not to scream, because she knew it would draw attention, but Ashley either didn't realize that or was far too panicked to care. Nevertheless, Beth's eyes widened in joy she had found someone she knew, and alive for that matter.
"Ashley!" she whispered harshly, hoping it would be loud enough.
Ashley then noticed Beth who was standing not far off. It was so dark and the skinned corpse had stunned her so much she hadn't even noticed her friend.
"Oh my god! Beth!" said Ashley as she rushed up to Beth, embracing her. Beth couldn't really hug back, seeing as she had a shotgun in her hands, but it was a moment of quick relief, one that wouldn't last. Beth pulled away after a few seconds.
"Ashley, you need to be quiet, we're being stalked."
"Oh god Beth! This is so fucked!"
"Shhhh!" Beth hissed, turning her head around to try to see any movement.
As far as she could tell, they were alone.
"How much do you know about what's happening?" Beth asked to the panicked Ashley.
Ashley held her head, trying to get a grip, "A little bit after you ran upstairs, some guys just burst into the lodge out of nowhere with spears and bows and shit, dressed like they were straight out of the Ice Age or something! They forced us outside, and told us we had been chosen to be this year's prey in their sacred hunt. They said we would get a head start, and if we could survive until dawn, then we were free. I thought it was some kind of fucking joke, but, now..." Ashley trailed off, staring at the hanging body.
"Don't look at it," Beth said, drawing her attention away.
"Oh god Beth! I don't wanna die! I wanna go home!" Ashley said, panicking.
"Ashley! You need to calm down, and you need to be quiet! We can get through this, but you have to stick with me."
Ashley was more scared than she had ever been, but she managed to nod. "Okay, okay...Uh, Beth? Why do you have guns?"
"Why do you think? To try to fight back."
"...Oh," Ashley said, too distraught to make sense of anything.
"I feel like I already know the answer to this, but have you ever shot a gun before?" Beth asked her trembling friend.
"Of course not, what kind of teenage girl shoots guns?" Ashley asked obliviously, but soon realized what she had said, "Oh, uh, I didn't mean..." she mumbled awkwardly.
Beth's eyes narrowed, "I'll take offense to that later. Have you seen any of the others?"
"No, no. I have no idea where anyone is, I don't even know where we are."
Beth sighed. Just like she thought, Ashley wasn't going to be much help. But at least she had found someone, maybe she had a chance at this after all.
"Ashley, there's something you should know about all this. You know how my sister disappeared here a year ago?" Beth started to explain, figuring they all deserved to know everything.
"Oh god, was she murdered by these freaks? Is that what happened to Hannah?"
"No, but I honestly wish she had instead of this," Beth said, shaking her head. "Ashley...Hannah is—"
Beth stopped talking suddenly when she heard the sound of flesh being torn through. She wasn't sure what happened, it was too fast for her to see.
"Beth...?" Blood trickled from Ashley's lips as she spoke, she hadn't even realized it herself. Beth's mouth fell open in horror when she saw the arrow sticking out of Ashley's chest. "Beth, I...I," Ashley trailed off, collapsing to the ground.
They had been found.
Another arrow whizzed by Beth's head as she whipped around, seeing something move in the nearby trees. With no idea what to do, Beth fired one shell at the swiftly moving enemy, and then the other, but she couldn't see much, she was just shooting at shadows. She didn't think she hit anything.
She turned back to Ashley, who was bleeding out fast on the ground.
"Ash!" Beth screamed, her worst horrors coming true. She dropped the empty shotgun and kneeled down, cradling Ashley's head. "Ash? Ash!"
Ashley's eyes met with Beth's, "Beth...it hurts. Oh god, it hurts!"
"Ashley, you, you need to stay awake!" Beth tried to help, feeling herself start to cry.
Ashley was bleeding all over the place, it didn't take a paramedic to figure out she wasn't going to make it. Beth didn't know what to say. Her friend was dying in front of her, and she couldn't do anything to stop it. She thought if she could find them, she could help them, but she had failed. The delusion that she could protect her friends was instantly shattered. Beth felt herself slipping away as hopelessness took over her mind, she would break down any second. She watched helplessly as the color drained from her friend's body, her cries of pain eventually falling silent. Beth wanted to say something, but she felt as if her voice had been stolen away. She just found herself watching, crying as Ashley died in her arms. She heard rustling behind them as someone emerged from the trees, but Beth didn't even bother to turn around.
Beth refused to move, staying near her dead friend as the figure approached them. She felt herself shaking uncontrollably, unable to tear herself away from Ashley's now lifeless eyes. This wasn't just grief. She had felt this before many times, a feeling she always hated and wanted to shut away, but it always managed to find a way through. Now it was stronger than it had ever been. Beth was boiling with rage as she heard the figure speak.
"You should have joined us when you had the chance," came a much more feminine voice than she expected, and it wasn't Hannah's. She turned to see her assailant, a Hunter, and a woman. Beth honestly figured they were all lustful, psychotic men after the advances the one in the caves a year ago had made on her, and what she knows they did to her sister. But here, standing in front of her, was not a hunter, but a huntress. The bow in her hand gave no illusion to who she was. She had killed Ashley. Beth wasn't sure if this woman was a rapist too, but she didn't intend to find out. "Now, you will die with the rest," the woman finished, revealing a knife from her coat. "Tell me," she said, a wide, twisted grin forming on her face. "What would you say to a little fun before you die?"
Beth stood up from Ashley's body, the tears in her eyes masking the look of unbridled hatred and disgust. Beth had been heartbroken too many times, she couldn't take it anymore. All that anger had to go somewhere, and this psycho was about to feel all of it. This huntress had killed Ashley, and by her sexual remarks to Beth just now, she had made it clear she had something to do with the rape of her sister, and now it seemed she wanted the other. Beth clenched her fists, her tears not slowing down a bit.
"You... psycho bitch!" Beth lashed, disturbed even more by the fact these threats were coming from a woman.
"You dare insult Artemis, Mistress of the Hunt? It'll just make your death much slower."
Beth just stared at her, disbelieving at what she had just said. "You, you think you're a goddess?! You're insane! You sick fuck!"
"I wouldn't expect a nonbeliever to understand, now I've grown tired of talking," she said, coming forward.
"You killed my friend...like she was nothing!"
The cannibal just smiled and laughed. "She was nothing."
Beth's eyes narrowed now, a sharp gleam in her tear ridden eyes.
Beth's hand went into her coat, taking out a .357 revolver she had hidden away. She cocked it, pointing it straight at the cannibal huntress. The woman stepped back, visibly stunned. Beth stood there, trembling with anger, her finger on the trigger. All she had to do was pull.
The cannibal who called herself Artemis noticed Beth's hesitation, smiling once more. "Of course. You can't kill me," she said confidently, taking one step forward. "I'm chosen by the Gods."
Beth cursed through gritted teeth.
"You monster..."
Beth squeezed the trigger, firing her revolver with both hands. The woman stopped in her tracks as she felt the bullet tear a hole in her throat. Her eyes widened, stumbling back. She fell to one knee, blood spurting from her neck. Choking on her own blood, her fearful eyes met Beth's. The grief-stricken, psychologically damaged girl had been totally consumed by her violent episode.
"FUCK YOU! AND FUCK YOUR GODS!" Beth fired again, blowing out the back of the cannibal's skull. The woman's head jerked back violently, and then hung down, swaying limply before slumping face first into the snow.
Beth collapsed to her knees, breaking out in a howling, hysteric sob. Beth couldn't take it anymore, she was a mental trainwreck. Ashley was dead. She had failed.
"You fucking freak! You killed my friend!" she shrieked, putting another round in the woman's lifeless body.
This must have been how Hannah felt in that cave. Broken, powerless, and alone. Except Beth wasn't alone. Her cries had attracted attention. She heard footsteps coming towards her rapidly. Beth didn't even bother looking, she didn't care anymore. She just wanted to die. The figure dropped down and threw his arms around Beth.
"Thank God I found you little sister."
Beth's eyes shot open when she heard the voice. "Josh?"
Josh held his crying sister in his arms, "It's okay sis, you're gonna be okay."
Beth wasn't okay. She wasn't sure if she'd ever be okay, but at least she had found her brother. She was so happy to see him, but all she could do was cry.
"Ashley's...dead!" she said in-between sobs.
Josh squeezed his sister as hard as he could, trying not to look. "I know. I know."
