Bound By Blood

In a desperate situation like this, you learn to appreciate what you have, and for siblings Josh and Beth, all they had was each other. Ashley was dead, and they were next if they didn't start moving. However, Josh was having a hard time getting his sister on her feet. Beth had cried more times in the past twenty four hours than any person should have to.

"Beth, come on, we can't stay here," Josh said, forcibly lifting the sniveling Beth to her feet.

"Yeah, yeah," Beth agreed, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

A minute ago she was ready to give up, but now Josh was here. She had to be strong for him, if not herself. Now that they were together, they had a better chance of making it out of this alive, even though those chances still seemed pretty slim. Beth still had to tell Josh that their sister was not only alive, but a member of the group of freaks who had just killed Ashley. She wasn't quite sure how to explain that, for she was barely able to grasp it herself. Before any of that though, she had something for her brother.

"Josh, I brought this, in case I found you." Beth said, handing him the rifle that had been slung over her back along with the ammo for it from her pack.

"Oh, uh, thanks," Josh said uneasily, taking the rifle with shaking hands. He looked over to the dead hunter in the snow. Beth knew what he was thinking immediately.

"It's not the same as shooting an animal, I know...but this doesn't make you a murderer Josh. They're trying to kill us! They fucking killed Ashley! They're not even people at this point. They're monsters Josh."

Josh nodded, not saying anything as he loaded the scoped rifle bullet by bullet. Beth turned around, walking over to pick up her shotgun she had dropped in the snow earlier, her eyes soon falling on the corpse of Ashley. Beth just stood there, shotgun hanging loosely in her hands, staring helplessly at her dead friend, an arrow sticking out of her chest as if she were a deer hunted for sport. Beth wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to go hunting again after seeing this inhumanity, if she could survive this at all that is. Beth remembered hating Ashley at first because of her part in the prank, but now all she felt was guilty. In her weakest moments, she wished Ashley dead, and now she was. She couldn't help but feel like she was responsible for this. Josh noticed her standing silently, rising up in an attempt to comfort his sister.

"I'm sorry Beth, I know this is totally fucked, but," he said, trying to get her to look away from the haunting sight, "but we can't do anything for her now. She's gone Beth."

Beth couldn't stand the idea of leaving Ashley her for those psychos to do God knows what to her body, but they were hardly in a position to do anything about it. Hauling her body around would just slow them down and probably get them killed too. They didn't have the time to bury her either, not to mention all the snow on the ground. Beth felt pathetic, like a helpless little girl. She couldn't save her friend, and she couldn't save her body.

"I'm sorry Ash," Beth said, trying her best not to cry again. Apologizing was all she could do, but it wasn't enough. It never was.

"It's not your fault Beth, you didn't kill her," Josh said.

Beth turned away, saying no more as she reloaded her shotgun. Then she took a deep breath, preparing herself for what she was about to say.

"Hannah's behind this Josh," she said bluntly, just to get it out there.

"What?" Josh gaped at his sister, positive he had heard her wrong.

"Hannah's alive Josh. She's part of all this. She's with these freaks," Beth confessed, knowing it would be hard for him to accept.

"Beth, are you sure that you're not just... you know... seeing things?"

"I really wish I were Josh. I wish I were hallucinating all this, I thought I was at first too, but..." she turned to her brother, meeting his eyes. "I talked to her Josh, she...she wasn't even Hannah anymore!" Beth couldn't help it, finding herself sobbing again as she struggled to tell Josh the disturbing news. She wasn't even sure if her own brother believed her. She honestly hoped she was crazy. She'd rather be insane then know her sister had been transformed into a cannibal psychopath.

Josh wasn't sure what to say or do with this information, feeling just as helpless as his sister as he watched her cry. He didn't know if it was true, but it didn't matter right now. He couldn't let Beth suffer like this, she had already been through more than enough tragedy for one lifetime.

"Okay Beth, alright," he said, embracing his sister. "If she really is out here, then we gotta try to help her."

"...Alright," Beth replied, not totally convinced her brother believed her, and even less that Hannah could be helped. She desperately wanted to believe there was some trace of Hannah left in there, but she seemed pretty far gone when Beth talked to her.

"Come on, let's go. If we stay here we're screwed," Josh said, leading his sister away from the grisly scene.

Beth tried her best not to look back as they left Ashley behind.

Even though they were now together, Beth and Josh still weren't sure what to do. They knew where they were but not where they were going. The only thing they could hope for was to try to find their friends before the Hunters did. Unfortunately, Josh didn't seem to know where any of them were any more than Josh did, which was probably why he was out by himself in the first place. They took their time making their way through the snow, keeping their eyes and ears open. They tried their best to be quiet, but trudging their way through the snow made that more than a little difficult.

"So, uh, what did she look like?" Josh whispered.

"What?"

"Hannah, what did she look like?"

"I told you, she's one of them. She's wearing the same ugly crap they are. Animal skins and cloth. It was Hannah, but she didn't look like Hannah," Beth described her as best she could.

"Well, how did she look?"

Beth didn't answer, she suddenly stopped walking, "Shhh, do you hear that?" Beth asked, looking around.

It was the sound of footsteps. Someone was coming their way, and fast. They turned to where they thought the footsteps were coming from, but it was so dark they couldn't see it until it was right on top of them. A familiar figure burst from the trees and ran right past them.

"Emily?!" Beth said as she passed.

"RUN!" yelled Emily, not even slowing down when she recognized them.

An arrow suddenly stuck itself in a tree less than a foot from Beth's face.

"Shit!" Josh yelled as he fired into the darkness.

"Don't waste your ammo just run!" Beth said as she grabbed his shoulder and pulled, learning her lesson from last time.

The pair ran in the direction their friend took off towards, struggling to keep up with the sprinting Emily, who was a lot faster than Beth would have given her credit for. She'd tell her to slow down, but given the circumstances it'd be better if she didn't. Problem was, Emily didn't know where she was running to, but the siblings Beth and Josh didn't have much of a choice but to follow her. Emily was the first one they had stumbled upon, and they weren't about to let her slip away. Still, that didn't mean Beth couldn't try to guide Emily to a path that wouldn't get them all killed. Beth could barely see the figure of Emily running fast in front of them, and in the dark she had no idea where they were going. Beth and Josh would just have to hope Emily didn't lead them off a cliff. They saw Emily stumble and scream as she disappeared from sight, the two siblings managing to stop before they fell as well. Emily had fallen down a cave. They could barely make out her tumbling down the edge and out of sight once more.

"Jesus," Josh said, looking down the dark cave.

"Come on, we can't leave her," Beth said, determined not to lose another friend so quickly.

"We don't know what's in that cave."

"Could it really be worse than what's out here?!" Beth didn't give him time to respond, jumping into the cave after Emily, sliding on her back.

"Oh, this is dumb, this is dumb, this is dumb," Josh said to himself, sliding in after her sister. He only hoped that this would go better than his family's last cave adventure.