Malevolence

Back in the guest cabin, Mike stood in horror at what just happened. Seeing Jessica being dragged out of the cabin door window.

"Oh fuck! What, what the fuck!" he cried out

Mike quickly ran to grab his jacket and padded vest, hastily putting them on in horror. He also grabbed the electric lantern near the fireplace and sniper rifle by the cabin door darted out of the cabin.

"Jessica!" he yelled, looking down to see footprints and drag marks on the snow

He followed the trail in due haste, running to catch up to her screams. Taking shortcut to shortcuts to save her from metal tubes on the rivers to jumping two floors down once he saw her being dragged again. His heart hammering and his blood pumping the more he ran in order to do everything in his power to rescue Jess, Mike went over dangerous obstacles to reach Jessica in time. The trail lead Mike to an old abandoned mine building, as he saw Jess being dragged inside with the door closed shut. He barge inside, running hard the more he heard Jessica's screams. After going down bottom and exiting a corner, he finally found Jess laying on the elevator.

"No!" Mike rushed to her side in dismay, but his expression changed when he realized she was breathing

"Help…me…" she weakly said

Mike brought his hand forth to grab her, but the elevator suddenly descended down rapidly as it crashed down below.

"JESSICA!" Mike screamed out in horror seeing what transpired

Mike suddenly heard a sound coming from above as he used the scope on the sniper rifle to see a head pop out. With rage and anger consuming her after what he witnessed happen to Jess, he fired. Mike began to wonder if he either missed the shot or the figure avoided the shot, leaving him to shoulder the rifle and climb up taking a couple of leaps even. He reached topside and spotted a figure opening a shaft gate before levering it down with a button, causing Mike to run toward the closing door as he slid through. Once he got through, he saw the figure again and aimed the rifle at their head. But when he fired the rifle, the bullet jammed inside the gun, causing Mike to furiously throw the weapon down on the floor. He followed ahead out of the hole, being embraced by the harsh coldness of the mountain. Mike stopped as he saw a strange building in the distance.

"What the fuck is that place?" he whispered, following the trail

With his head still pounding from the blows he received, Chris slowly began to regain consciousness. He saw that he was in a room with a smorgasbord of molded meat that lay on the table. There was also an old pale lady on a wheelchair, staring at him with cold and ominous eyes. From what Chris could tell, it was a sort of makeshift dining room to find his hands tied to a chair as he remembered what happened before he was knocked out.

"Ashely!"

"Look who's awake!" Chris turned to see the strange man from before walked in the room, with two paled people. "I hope you ready for some supper there, boy. My wife Marguerite fixed up something real nice for the occasion. The name's Jack, by the way."

"Where's Ashely and the rest of my friends?! What did you do with them?!" Chris demanded as Jack and Marguerite sat down at the table.

Chris felt a slap across the back of his head from the hooded man. "Oh, don't you worry 'bout them friends of yours. Especially that saucy little redhead you got with ya." He said sitting down left of Chris. "Not like you gonna sleep with her anyway."

"Quit your worrin' now. A growing boy needs to eat." The woman cackled taking another bite of her food. "Taste it, it's good."

"The dumb son of a bitch wouldn't know good food until it hits him, mama!" The hooded young man cackled, throwing a plate of meat at Chris's face earning the disapproval of his mother

"Lucas!"

Before Lucas could throw another plate of meat, Jack grabbed his hand and chopped it with the knife. Chris screamed in shock as Lucas held his chopped hand, finding trouble to breath from what he just witnessed in front of him. Lucas on the other hand went to grab his recent dismembered hand as both his hands were under the table.

"Jesus Christ, daddy! Not again!"

Jack got up from the table as he held a piece of meat in his fork, walking over to Chris. "My wife is right, son. You need to eat." He grabbed Chris's mouth and forced the molded meat inside, causing the captive cough up and spit the food out of his food which earned the wrath of Marguerite and the rest

"You fucking son of a bitch! How dare you after I spent an hour-"

"Marguerite, shut the hell up!" Jack yelled angrily, now glaring at Chris grabbed a steak knife and leading it to Chris's cheek as blood slowly came from his cut cheek. "My wife made this lovely supper for you and your friends. And this is how you treat US!"

Before Jack could force some food down into Chris's mouth, a loud buzzing sound was heard as Marguerite left the room away from the noise taking the old woman on the wheelchair with her. Lucas got up from the table and headed to a small room and came back running a minute after.

"Goddamnit! We got someone who tripped the sensors come into our home." Lucas snapped. "Probably a fucking park ranger! And that girlfriend of Josh's ain't in the room we kept her in either."

Jack glanced at his son, then back at Chris. "What about Joshua and Ashely?"

"They still right where we put them." Lucas replied with a smug grin on his face. "I'll take care of that fucking park ranger myself."

"You couldn't take care of that damn hamster you had Lucas. I'll deal with this myself." Jack stepped back from Chris. "We're gonna continue this supper later, boy." He said leaving the room as Lucas kicked Chris down on the floor still tied laughing

Once they were gone, Chris tried to free his wrist while tied to the chair as he struggled to pull himself free. He heard footsteps nearby as he peeked at the door, only to see an unknown person rush in and grab the steak knife. She knelt down beside Chris and used the knife to cut his hands as she helped him up off the floor.

"Fran?"

"Thank God I found you, Chris." She said pulling him up from off the floor

"Aren't you a site for sore eyes." Chris thanked his rescuer. "What the hell is going on?"

"I don't know. Did you see Josh or Ash? Do you know where they are?" she asked worried

Chris was also worried about the two. "No, I only woke up recently." He answered. "I don't know where they are."

"Who are these guys?"

"I have no idea, but… I just saw the man of the house cut his son's hand off like it was nothing."

Fran's eyes went wide with shock and disgust. "What?!"

"I don't know what to tell you, but we need to find Josh and Ashely." Chris declared as Fran nodded her head in agreement, leaving out the room

"Do you think they brought anyone else from the lodge here?" she asked Chris while they both ran quietly

Chris shook his head. "No, at least I don't think they did. From what I could tell, they brought only the four of us here. Wherever here is."

"When I escaped, it looks like we're still on the mountain." Fran stated. "But it's just a different area we've never seen before because I was able to see the lodge west of here. From what I know, we're in a sanatorium."

"Before you sprung me free, I heard them talk about someone who snuck in here. Maybe it was a park ranger that found this place."

Fran looked at Chris as she queried. "What if it's someone we know like Matt and Emily, or Mike and Jess?"

Chris shrugged his shoulder while they ran. "I doubt that. But honesty, your guess is as good as mine. In either case, we need to move."

They walked on evading capture from the mysterious family, as a light shined on their faces. They slowly looked to see a park ranger outside the window.

"Hey, hey! You have to help us." Fran begged

"It looks like someone is here after all." The man said in a deep voice. "You two mind telling me what you're doing here? Because you don't seem to be dealing with a full deck yourself."

"Are you seriously? There are crazy people here in this asylum trying to fucking kill us!" Chris blurted out in a fear and panicked tone

"Whoa, whoa take a minute to slow down there. I need you two to explain to me what's going on here."

After Chris and Francesca explained to the park ranger of what happened, he suggested they let the park ranger in through the back entrance of the asylum. It was located two corridors down, to a large garage full of tools covered in blood and old, rusted equipment. There was even a forklift nearby with the key laying on a table of screwdrivers and hammers. Francesca found a door barred by a wooden plank as she walked over to lift the plank off the latch. She sat it aside as the park ranger went inside, his eyes spotted the bloodied tools from behind her.

"Enough games. What's going on here?! And where's your friend?" the ranger demanded holding a pistol in his hand

"What are you-" Fran looked back to see that Chris was completely gone. "No, it can't be! He was just here with me! CHRIS?!"

The ranger looked behind her as his eyes narrowed from what he saw. "What are you doing with that shutter. Open it back-"

Before Fran could ask the ranger what he was talking about, a shovel was shoved from behind the park ranger's head as the rest of his body fall to the floor. To her horror she saw it was Jack who killed the ranger, the park ranger's pistol left his lifeless as it hit the floor leaving her to scramble for it. Fran ran on instinct as she took the gun in her hand, but Jack caught her quick by grabbing her wrists and slammed her toward a wall. Jack then used his other hand to squeeze on Francesca's neck, choking her while she was using her hands to free herself to no avail whatsoever.

"You disappoint me, girl. You shouldn't have left your room to skip supper."

Unknown to Jack, Mike slammed a sledgehammer across his head as he let go of Francesca causing the strange man to groan. Mike went for another swing after swing, hitting Jack from his shoulder to his leg as the paled man grunted in pain. For Jessica, Mike went for a final blow heading directly for Jack's head only for the man's hand catch it by surprise. Mike's eyes widened with shock once he saw Jack grab the hammer in his hand, grabbing Mike by the collar and held him up the ground.

Jack's eyes slightly widened once he saw his attacker was Mike. "Michael? Well hell, I wasn't expectin' you to be here until later, son." He brought Mike closer to him as he gave off a deadly glare on his face. "Consider yourself an early bird, boy!" he threw Mike on a bench of tools as they fall it

Frantically, Mike picked up a pipe wrench to defend himself against Jack who took a few steps closers and closer to him. Just when he took a step closer to Mike, he was shot in the arm causing Jack to turn around and see Francesca aiming a gun at him. She fired off another shot across the face, leaving Jack to stagger back and paused. He brought his face up slowly to show his shot cheek starting to heal, as Francesca widened her eyes in horror and shock. Mike hit him from behind with the pipe wrench, leaving Jack to grab the pipe wrench in his hand and struck Mike with his other fist. Mike began staggering over as Jack kicked him in the chest, causing him fall on the floor.

"Get away from him!"

Jack turned around to see Francesca ram into him driving a forklift. The impact struck him toward the wall, the lift through his chest only leaving more blood to pour out from Jack. Francesca got out of the forklift fired two between Jack's cheek and neck. Seeing the strange man lower his head make Francesca think he was dead in the literal sense. Unfortunately, that did not seem to be the case as Jack with all his strength moved the forklift away from him using his bare hands. Francesca was shocked that she didn't even have time to take another shot at Jack as he grabbed the hand of the gun she held.

"You wanna see somethin' really wounderful?" he asked

Francesca watched as Jack put the barrel of the gun in his mouth, forcing her finger to pull the trigger. A loud bang erupted as blood sprayed on the forklift and floor, with a huge hole blown through Jack's head. His body going limp as Francesca scramble, both her and the entirely of Jack's body fell at the same time. Her eyes wide in sudden shock, she suddenly induced vomit from her mouth. After the ordeal she coughed and coughed as Mike help her off the floor, checking to see if Jack hurt Francesca in any way.

"Easy, easy. You okay?"

"I-I- he just-"

"Yeah, that happened."

"Mike, how did you even get here? What happened?"

Mike looked down before facing Francesca. "I saw Jess get taken when me and her were at the guest cabin." His voice began to break. "Just fucking snatched out of the window. I ran for I don't know how long until the trail ended in the abandoned mine town. She… she's dead."

Francesca covered her mouth as her eyes went wide upon the revelation. "Oh my God! Mike…" she trailed as a tear began to stream down her face

"Wait, there's something I don't understand." He looked at Francesca. "Why are you here?"

"We got taken too." She replied as Mike's expression changed to one of shock and worry

"It's not just you? Who got brought her with you?"

"Josh, Chris, and Ashely. I don't know where Josh and Ashely, but I know Chris was with me. Then I looked back and-"

"It's okay. We're going to find them." Mike promised

Chris awoke again, only to suddenly find himself in a dark room linking to another room. A bright light then shone on his face to show a pack of TVs stacked together. Inside the TV screens he saw it was Lucas sitting down on a nearly worn out chair, lazily. He stared back as he stood up rapidly, grinning mischievously if he was looking at Chris.

He grinned evilly at Chris as Lucas leaned his face forward. "Hey there, Christopher! You up for a little excitement?"

"What the hell did you do to my friends? Where are they, asshole?!"

"You see, that's the best part of this. Because right now, you and I…" lights popped up in the other room. "Are gonna conduct a little experiment."

To his horror, Chris saw a mesh cage follow by a small gate set in the cage on his right side. A lever in the middle position along with two pictures behind as it showed one of Ashely and the other of Josh. The two were attached to a metal board, held up by their arms and secured in chains covered by a lock. Mine cart tracks leading into one trail and what chilled Chris to his very bone was seeing a circular saw attached to the mine cart, at waist height as it began spinning.

"Ashely!"

"Chris… is that you?" she asked with her eyes close due to the light on her face

"I like to thank our lovely participants for tonight."

"Oh my God! JOSH, WAKE UP!"

"Wha… what's going on?"

"Tonight we're gonna have some fun. I like to introduce our volunteers for tonight, ladies and gents. Joshua and Ashely."

"OH NO! OH MY GOD! CHRIS! GET US OUT OF HERE!" Ashely cried out in tears

"Let us go, you maniac!" Josh yelled

"Hey! SHUT YOUR GODDAMN MOUTHS!" Lucas cleared his throat. "Now all 'a this is really simple. Christopher, you will decide who lives and who dies. Is it your best friend or is it the lovely redhead you've fell head over heels for?" he queried as the cart began to move. "Whenever one you pick to live, will have a key above their head in a small box to free them. Tick! Tock!" he concluded with the TVs going to a blue screen

Chris had to decide here and now who he should save. Should he save his best buddy who he's known since school? Or the girl he's been crushing over for years? He couldn't decide, began panicking as he didn't know what to do. His eyes closed, he took a deep breath and moved the lever. Not knowing who he chose to die, the best friend or his crush. He got his answer in the form of a cackling laugh.

The TV screens showed Lucas. "I see. So the person you chose to die is…"

The sounds of a scream echoed between his and the other's ears. Pain-aching, blood cluttering scream of horror coming from Josh as his whole torso was cut off from his body.

"JOSH! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Lucas cackled. "I have to say Chris, I didn't think ya had in you. I was expectin' ya to be bros before hos with yer buddy Josh over there! Well… you proved me wrong." His smile grew even wider. "Well, for now at least. Until next time." the TV screens turned blank again

The gate on Chris's right opened, leaving him to run toward Ashely who still hanged from the board. He took the box above Ashely's head and opened it to reveal a key, as he unlocked the lock to free Ashely's hands. Still sobbing having to experience a horrifying event, Chris helped her off her feet while her eyes were closed. After her feet were on the floor, she opened her eyes only to see Josh's torso cut in half.

"NOOOOO!" she screamed in sudden dismay

"Come on, Ash! Come on!" Chris exclaimed with his voice breaking down, exiting the room of where their friend had just died

Back at the lodge, Matt and Emily arrived back as they sat on the couch. Ever since they saw the decoration of dead animals forming spider legs, they were unease and suddenly afraid. For Matt, he noticed that everyone aside from Mike and Jess were nowhere to be seen.

"Where do you think everyone's at?"

Emily huffed. "Mike and Jess are probably 69'ing each other, and who knows where everyone else is."

Matt looked troubled, shaking his head. "I don't know. Something just feels off to me since we've been here."

"You mean that freakshow we saw outside?" Emily remarked referring to the dead animal corpses.

"Aside from that. I mean something seriously fucked is going here." Matt stated as he saw the picture of the Winters family. "Did you know this was here?"

Emily stared at the picture and shook her head. "Not really. It looks like some family use to left here."

"I don't think so. Josh was practically raised here almost most of his life, same with Hannah and Beth."

"Same with what?" Emily and Matt looked up the stairs to see Sam and David in bath robes

"This picture of a family." Emily said to them as Sam now held the picture. "Maybe whoever use to live here."

"Cute kid." Sam remarked at the photo of the daughter

David shrugged his shoulders. "Probably some family that rented this place for the weekend." He said nonchalantly as David walked into the kitchen. "Josh told me his parents allows renters to stay here if they had the money to pay for it."

Emily raised an eyebrow at David. "And just what were you two doing all this time?"

"Non of your business, nosy." David suddenly raised an eyebrow at the two of them. "What are you doing back? I thought you both went to the cable car looking for the lost mystery of Emily Davis."

Emily scoffed. "A: That is none of your business. And B: nice try with that distraction outside."

A confused expression donned on David's face. "Girl, what the hell are you talking about

"She means the tied up dead carcasses outside." Matt stated

Sam and David looked at each other, before staring back at Matt and Emily. "Matt, we didn't do whatever it is you're talking about."

"If it wasn't you..." Matt looked over to see something caught her eye. "Em?"

Said woman noticed a decorative coin purse on the floor as she knelt down to pick it up. "I recognize this." she stood up and turned the coin purse over to the back before coming back to the front of it. "This is Ash's. What was this doing on the floor?"

Matt nodded. "You're right, she never leaves this."

The four of them suddenly heard the phone ringing as David followed the sound of ringing much closer. the center of it came from the family dining room as the other looked at each other then at the phone, before David decided to answer it

"Hello?"

"Y'all never should've came back here." Said a mysterious woman's voice in a southern accent.