Unfortunately, it appears Fanfiction is being weird and followers are not receiving updates. I'm not sure if it'll be fixed by the time I post this, but I hope you guys see this, because I honestly think this is the best chapter yet. I think the characterization here is some of my best, and an awesome chapter deserves an awesome title.

The Princess and the Hunters

Luckily, this cave wasn't as steep as the one the Washington sisters had fallen into last year, and after some bumps along the way, Josh and Beth slid safely to the bottom. Emily was just getting to her feet from her own, more unprepared plummet into the depths. She looked a little banged up, some scrapes and bruises, but none too worse for wear.

"Emily! Thank God you're alright!" Beth smiled as she threw her arms around her stunned friend, squeezing her and pinning her arms to her sides.

"Uhhh, okay..." stumbled Emily, thrown off by Beth's warm reception of her, considering how their last encounter ended. "What happened to 'I fucking hate you'?"

"Shut up," Beth said simply, not letting go.

Emily looked to Josh in an uncomfortable, yet relieved confusion.

"She's just glad to see you're okay," Josh said, brushing himself off. "Everything's really fucked up right now, so we didn't know what to expect."

Emily's mind immediately went to more urgent matters. "You guys haven't seen Ashley have you? We were together before those freaks showed up and we got separated."

Beth's smile dropped in an instant, releasing Emily from her grasp. Beth could only hang her head, once again being reminded of her failures. She couldn't even bring herself to say the words.

"What's going on? What happened?" Emily asked, noticing Beth's attitude change,

"Emily..." Josh started, the words proving too difficult for him as well. "Ashley's gone Emily."

Emily just stared at Josh, a horrified look on her face. "W-what do you mean... 'gone'?"

"Come on Em, don't make me say it," Josh said solemnly, shaking his head.

Emily suddenly felt as if she couldn't stand, stumbling forward into Beth, who held onto her with all her strength. Beth fell with Emily to her knees, the latter quickly breaking out into a bawling, weeping cry. Beth held her friend in a shocked state, not expecting this type of reaction from Emily. Beth couldn't think of anything to say. No words of comfort came to mind, all she could do was hold Emily tight as she could.

Josh stood uncomfortably as Emily cried in Beth's arms for several moments. "Beth, I'm so sorry!" Emily said suddenly.

"What?" asked Beth, confused. She didn't know what to expect Emily to say, but it certainly wasn't that.

"I'm sorry! Hannah, the prank, it was all my idea! It's all my fault! I'm so sorry Beth!"

"Oh forget about that Em!" Beth said, shaking her head. "I don't really hate you, I was just mad."

"No! No!" Emily screamed, breaking from Beth's grasp. "We're gonna die! Ashley's dead! And it's all because of me!"

"What are you talking about Em?" Josh said, coming forward.

"I saw Hannah," Emily explained, trying her best to get a hold of herself. "She's here, she's alive! She's the one who was chasing me!"

Beth shot a look to Josh, "Do you believe me now?"

Josh didn't know what to say. "You're sure it was my sister?"

Emily nodded, "She was taunting me, saying that some of us made the mistake, but we'd all have to pay the price for it! She was trying to kill me guys! Hannah was trying to fucking kill me! They're gonna kill all of us, and it's all my fault!" Emily confessed, breaking down under the immense load of fear and guilt.

Emily was hysteric, and Beth had to say something to her. What she ended up saying was what Beth should have been telling herself. "Emily listen to me," she said, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Look at me." Emily lifted her head to the suddenly serious Beth. "This is not your fault. It's not. You didn't make Hannah this way, and you didn't kill Ashley! It was just a stupid prank Em! It was just a prank!" she repeated the words to Emily, words she herself had said try to justify her actions before. Beth could see the fear in her eyes, the pain of knowing her friend was dead, and being made to think it was her fault. Whatever sins Emily committed she had paid for and then some. "Hannah is wrong. You don't deserve this. You're my friend...and I forgive you," Beth said, finally being able to say it, and mean it.

Beth's words stunned Emily. She had confessed everything, expecting the same hatred and threats she received at the cabin, but instead Beth had shown mercy. Emily didn't have a response at first, she just sniveled, looking away, wiping at her eye with her torn sleeve. "I-...well," she said, embarrassed she had let herself been seen like this. It certainly wasn't in her usual persona. "Thanks Beth," was all she could think to say.

"Come on, we can get through this," Beth said, lifting her back up to her feet. "We don't have to die here."

"Okay, yeah, you're right," Emily agreed, pulling herself together. "Beth?"

"Yeah Em?"

"Don't you dare tell anyone about this, or you're dead, you got me?"

Beth chuckled, "Yeah, I got it Em."

"Alright guys," said Josh, "I'm glad you guys made up, really, I think it's awesome, but we gotta find a way outta here. Mom and Dad always told us never to go in these caves, so I don't know what's down here."

"Probably more of those freaks who killed Ashley!" said Emily, "Who knows how many of them there are!"

Josh saw Beth walking forward into the darkness, seemingly blindly. "Hey! Beth, what're you doing?"

"I've been here before," Beth said, her tone changing, feeling the wall. "I don't know how, but...I think I know the way," she announced turning back to Emily and Josh. "I know how to get through."

"What? How?" asked Emily, not understanding.

"It's just pieces, but I'm starting to remember things. I think I was down here when I was missing for that month. I remember when me and Hannah first fell into the caves last year, we met this psycho who tried to kill me, I think he's from the same group that are after us now."

"Wait a minute, hold up," Emily said, holding up one hand, "Are you saying you knew about these psychotic freaks? And you didn't fucking say anything?!"

"I didn't remember Em! I'm just putting it back together now! After I saw Hannah!"

"Jesus, fuck!" Emily cursed, "That must have been when they grabbed Hannah, right?"

Beth nodded, turning back to the darkness. "I wandered these caves for days, I think, weeks even. I, I think I can remember it as I go."

Josh walked up to Beth from behind, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You know, there's gotta be a reason why you shut all those memories away sis, you sure you wanna remember all that?"

"She doesn't have a choice, Josh! We could die down here!" Emily added.

"Emily." Josh shot her a dirty look, not wanting to distress his sister any more already, but Beth turned around on him.

"No, she's right, I don't have a choice here. My memories are the only chance of us getting out of here. I have to try Josh."

Josh sighed, not liking the idea of any of this. "Alright," he said, lifting his arm to the darkness ahead, "Lead the way sis, we're right behind you."

Beth turned around, "Okay...okay..." Beth said to herself, trying to keep herself calm as she began her descent into the dark. Then she remembered something she packed that could definitely come in handy down here. She didn't want to use it at first in the forest because she was afraid it would give away her position to the hunters, but down here there wasn't much choice. She dug into her bag, grabbing the high power flashlight from inside. She turned, tossing it to Emily.

"Catch Em."

Emily caught it awkwardly with both hands, fumbling with the device, nearly dropping it.

"Hey, how about a little more warning next time?" Emily commented, irritated.

"You're the official flashlight shiner," said Beth, turning to go forward.

"Why me?" Emily asked nervously, struggling to figure out how to turn the thing on while walking at the same time, obviously inexperienced with just about all utility tools. "I've never had to use something like this before."

"It's a flashlight Em, it's not rocket science," said Josh, honestly amused by the difficulty she was having. "You're a big girl, I'm sure you'll figure it out."

Emily glared at Josh, flipping the on switch and shining it in his face.

"Hey watch that light! That's powerful!" Josh said, shielding his eyes.

"Jerk," Emily said, turning back to Beth and moving the light ahead. "Why do I have to shine the stupid light?" she complained to Beth, worried she might not see something and then it'll be her fault when they got in trouble.

Beth rolled her eyes. Even at her best, Emily was still a pain. "You ever shoot a gun before, miss Emily?" Beth asked mockingly, not turning around, being careful to watch her step.

"Of course not!" Emily said, watching her head on the low ceiling. "You might be a girl who likes to shoot guns Beth, but you're definitely in the minority on that one. It's mostly a guy thing, in case you haven't noticed. You'd be better off with that meathead asshole Mike," she reminded Beth, thinking of her ex-boyfriend's interest in firearms and the like. While they were dating, Emily had discovered he was a pretty stereotypical guy, who liked sports, action movies and guns, although she wasn't sure if he actually ever fired a gun before. Josh and Beth on the other hand, definitely had experience with firearms. "What does that have to do with me being the 'flashlight shiner'?"

"Well it's shine or shoot sister, and no offense princess, but I think we'd be better at the shooting," joked Beth.

Emily huffed, "Fine, whatever."

Josh chuckled, "Heh, princess..."

Emily scowled, shining the light back in Josh's eyes again.

"Hey, quit that, seriously! That shit's blinding!"

"Stop making fun of me!"

"You make it too easy!"

"Emily come on," Beth said seriously now, "I need that light."

"Okay, okay," Emily said, shining the light ahead.

They walked for a few minutes in silence, coming to several forks in the road that Beth seemed to navigate rather confidently, if taking a second or two to remember.

"How'd you find your way around here before, without a flashlight?" Emily asked, knowing she must have done so, for she definitely didn't have one when she fell.

"I don't know, I can't remember," Beth said, "Maybe my eyes just, you know, got used to the dark."

"I don't think your eyes can get so used to the dark you could see in almost total blackness," Emily said back.

"What does it matter?" asked Josh.

"I'm just curious, aren't you curious?"

"I think there's more important shit to worry about right now."

As he said that, the trio came to something they didn't expect to see down here. A clearly manmade wooden structure built around the cave wall. It looked pretty old, but still pretty sturdy.

"What the heck is that?" asked Emily, shining the light all over it.

"Those are built to prevent cave-ins," answered Josh.

"Okay...but who built it?"

"How the hell should I know?"

"It's your mountain!"

"Like I said, I've never been down here. What do you think Beth?"

Josh didn't get an answer, he looked to his sister, to see her standing silently in the open passageway, looking forward.

"Beth?"

"Shhh, look," she said, pointing forward. At the end of this passage, there was a faint light around the corner. "Shut off the light," Beth said urgently.

"What?"

"Shut off the damn light!"

"Okay, okay," Emily panicked, fumbling with the flashlight until she found the off switch.

The whole area around the group went dark, the only thing visible now was the light at the end of the tunnel. Beth stayed in the same place, waiting for something.

"What are we doing?" Emily whispered, confused.

"Just shut up and wait," Beth quieted Emily. Beth watched the light, waiting for it to move, but it never did. "Okay, let's go, quietly. Josh, be ready," Beth warned as she started to move forward.

"Yeah," Josh replied nervously, pulling the bolt back on his rifle, making sure it was ready to fire.

"Oh god oh god oh god," mumbled Emily, scared stiff, but trying her best to keep up with the two without making too much noise.

After who knows how much creeping and what seemed like an eternity, the three reached the end of the tunnel, the source of the light was just beyond this corner. Beth whipped around the side, shotgun held high to shoot, but no one was there. The source of the light was a torch hanging on the wall, and there were many of them littered throughout the chamber. In front of them were tracks for a cart, and a rusty old cart sat on said tracks. There were stairs and tunnels all around them. The place had been redecorated with strange banners. An unnerving, red colored design Beth couldn't make out was painted the white cloth, although Beth got the feeling that it wasn't actually paint.

"I think we found where the assholes live," Beth said. Luckily, no one seemed to be here at the moment, they were probably all out hunting their friends.

"It's a mine," Josh said, stating the obvious.

"No shit," Emily replied, although just as shocked as he was. "Why is there a mine here?"

"I don't know, but we sure didn't put it here," Josh said back. "This complex must be decades old, way before my dad bought the place."

"Great, yeah, perfect," Emily said, walking out into the center of the room, fed up with all of this. "Crazy cannibals, creepy old mine, what's next? It's like we literally wandered into a horror movie."

"Emily, quiet! Your voice is echoing, who knows who can hear us."

"Emily?!" Came a voice from up ahead, apparently hearing her voice. Emily's turned, her eyes widened. She recognized that voice.

"Matt?! Oh my god, Matt?!" She yelled, suddenly running ahead.

"Emily wait!" Beth yelled after her.

Emily did no such thing, running as fast as she could to where she thought her boyfriend's voice came from. Up some stairs, in a passage to the left. All Beth and Josh could do is follow their friend once more.

Emily turned the corner to come to a large, dimly lit room, and it was the most horrifying sight she had ever seen. Skinned bodies hung from the ceiling, and even more bodies and parts of bodies had been trapped in cages all over the room. The cold weather was more than enough to keep the corpses preserved. Emily had found their meat locker, so to speak.

"Jesus...fuck!" Emily shrieked, stepping back out of the room.

"Emily!" came the voice again.

Emily looked forward, seeing her boyfriend trapped in a cage. He looked to be the only living thing in the whole room.

"Matt!" Emily ran over as quick as she could, wrapping her hands around the bars of the cage. "Matt, oh my god are you ok?"

Beth and Josh were just entering the room, gawking and gaping at the horrific sight.

"Y-yeah, I'm okay, I think, but listen, Emily —."

"Don't worry, we're gonna get you out of here, okay? You're gonna be fine!" She tried to open the cage, but it was locked. "Shit, I'll try and find they key!"

"Emily wait!"

Emily turned around to come face to face with another hanging corpse, but this one was wearing a familiar face. He had been butchered in ways Emily couldn't even imagine, but the face was recognizable enough. She stood petrified, unable to look away. She wished she could, but this image would be burned into her mind forever anyway.

Beth and Josh came to Emily and Matt. They were annoyed Emily had run ahead like she did, but the sight of Matt alive changed their expression.

Josh smiled, "Whew, we were scared there for a second man, we didn't think we'd find you in one piece."

Matt didn't respond, he was looking worriedly at Emily, who still could not move or speak. Then Beth saw it.

"Josh," his sister said, tugging on his shoulder.

"What? What's going on?" asked Josh, turning to see what everyone else was looking at. At first he thought it was just another hanging corpse, but then he realized who he was looking at. "Oh no...no, no."

"Mike..." Emily whimpered, barely getting out the name. She collapsed to her knees, crying uncontrollably. Beth went to her side, consoling her friend while trying her best not to cry herself.

"Josh! Get me out of here! I have to be with Emily!" Matt demanded.

"Yeah, yeah alright," Josh agreed, tearing himself away from the sight. "Just give me a second to—"

"AHHHHHH!" A yelling figure suddenly slammed into Josh, knocking him face first into the metal bars.

"Josh!" Beth shrieked, rising to her feet and lifting her shotgun at the cloaked enemy.

The Hunter dashed forward and kicked Beth's gun off focus, causing Beth to miss her shot. The Hunter struck Beth hard in the face, sending her and her shotgun sprawling to the cave floor. Beth laid still, knocked clean out.

"Shit! Shit!" Matt screamed, powerless to help.

The Hunter turned to see Josh lifting himself up to his feet. He drew a knife, and advanced on Josh, pushing him against the cage once more and bringing the knife to his neck. The Hunter snickered sadistically as he pressed the knife against Josh's throat, a trail of blood starting to leak down his neck. Matt saw the shotgun lying next to Beth's feet. He reached out to try to grab it, straining himself, but it was just out of reach. He pushed himself even harder, managing to get his fingers on the grip. Suddenly a pair of hands took the shotgun away. Matt's eyes widened.

"You know, it's always nice when the prey comes to us," the Hunter taunted, enjoying Josh's pointless struggle before he slits his throat. "Makes my job so much easier!" He laughed, his eyes flaring with excitement and sick pleasure as he prepared to make the kill.

The look got frozen on his face when a volley of buckshot erupted from the shotgun, tearing off half the Hunter's head. Josh stared, disbelieving at the Hunter's disfigured skull. His right eye had been blown clean out, his jaw literally hanging off his face. The Hunter slumped lifelessly to the ground. Josh's hands went to his throat, breathing hard and falling to his knees. Thankfully, the Hunter hadn't managed to cut very deeply into his neck before he was blown away. Overcome with relief, he looked up to see the shooter, expecting to see his sister, but she was still on the ground, just now coming back around.

A tear ridden, shaking Emily stood holding the smoking shotgun.

"Holy shit Em," Josh said bewildered, climbing to his feet.

A hand reached out and grabbed Emily's arm, she spun around to see Matt, still in the cage. "Emily, you did it. It's over. You got him."

Emily didn't respond, she just stood in place, obviously disturbed by both what she had seen and what had just done, something she never believed she could do.

"I thought you were all bark Emily, but it looks like you've got some bite too," Josh said, still managing to be lighthearted, even in this situation. His smile dropped when he heard his sister groaning on the ground, "Shit! Beth!" He ran to his sister's side.

"Em," Matt said, "You think you can get me out of here?"

Emily nodded, "Y-yeah," she said, setting the shotgun on the ground. She went over to the dead hunter, figuring since he was looking after the captives, he was the "jailer," so to speak. Sure enough, she found a key ring on his person. Now she just had to figure out which key opened Matt's cell.

Josh cradled Beth's head, who was slowly but surely rejoining the living. Her face lit up when she saw Josh's face. "Josh, you're okay...or we're both dead."

Josh chuckled, "Neither of us are dead Beth."

Beth rose up, rubbing her head. "What the hell happened?"

"Emily saved us," Josh said simply.

Beth looked at him like he had told her she was in Wonderland. "No, seriously, what happened?"

"Screw you too!" Emily blew her off, not bothering to look at her as she tried all the different keys on the lock. Finally, she found the right one, the key turning and the door swinging open. Emily threw her arms around Matt.

"That was crazy Em," Matt said, still looking at the half headless hunter. "You fucking annihilated that guy." Matt had seen a side of Emily he never knew existed. The idea of his girlfriend doing that was terrifying, but if he was being honest, it was pretty attractive as well.

"Can we not talk about this?!" Emily cried into his shoulder, conflicted emotions of relief and grief rushing through her body. "I'm just so glad you're okay."

Josh helped his sister to her feet. "She really killed that guy?" Beth asked Josh, still shocked.

"Yeah, she really did."

Beth started walking, still wavering a bit, to pick up her shotgun from the ground. She popped open the chamber, putting new shells in each barrel. Thankfully, there was plenty of ammo at the lodge, so she wasn't running low anytime soon.

"Maybe we should let you carry a gun after all Em," Beth said.

Emily didn't reply, she was far too overwrought to think up a response.

"You sure he's dead?" Matt asked, holding on tight to Emily.

"Deader than Elvis," Josh replied, coming to Beth's side. "Well, that's two down."

"Two down is right," Beth said solemnly, looking back at what was left of Mike, and then immediately wishing she hadn't.

The Hunters were chewing through her friends just as quickly as they were chewing through the Hunters, but she was running out of friends, and who knows how many Hunters were out there. They still hadn't run into the same one who had threatened her last year, but Beth was sure she'd see him again. Ashley was dead, and now so was Mike. Beth wasn't looking forward to breaking the news to either Chris or Jess, provided they were still alive. She hadn't seen either of them since the Hunt started. At the same time, she couldn't help but feel joy at the sight of Matt and Emily being reunited. A moment of respite for both of them, just like when Josh had found her. Beth let them savor it. She walked over to the hanging corpse of Mike. She reached into her bag hanging from her shoulder, grabbing a knife.

"Beth? What are you doing?" asked Josh, honestly hesitant to get close to the butchered corpse of his friend.

"Just because he's dead doesn't mean I have to leave him hanging here like a piece of meat," Beth stated strongly, cutting the rope that was holding Mike up.

The corpse came loose and crashed to the ground. Beth inhaled and exhaled, bending down to slide Mike's eyes closed.

"Beth, it's okay to cry."

"I don't feel like crying. Not anymore."

"Sis, are you doing okay?" Josh asked, concerned for his sister's mental well-being. "You seem...well... different. Detached."

Beth turned to her brother, giving him a steely eyed look. "I've seen my sister lose her mind, and two of my friends die. I killed someone tonight, and now Emily has too! What do you want from me Josh?"

Beth's tone was making Josh uncomfortable. He had never seen her like this. She was always strong, but she was sensitive too, and compassionate. Now he was feeling something else. Something he never wanted his baby sister to be.

"I just don't want you to change, Beth. I love you sis, I don't want to lose you. Not again."

"You're not gonna lose me Josh," Beth said, looking over to see Emily, still in Matt's embrace. Emily was a killer now too, and Beth knew there was more killing to be done before the night was over. "But none of us are getting out of this the same."