Until Dawn: A New Path
Chapter 1 of the Until Dawn story, enjoy.
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Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Until Dawn or its characters.
Chapter 1
The bus drove slowly through the mountain road. The snow fell softly, lying heavily on the ground. It was late at night and Samantha Giddings found herself as the last passenger on the bus. She could hardly believe it had been a whole year since her last visit. Now here she was, on her way for the annual get-together of her and her friends. She was currently looking out the window, listening through headphones to a radio podcast about the incident from a year ago.
'Still, no one ever found Hannah and Beth...and we're going back to the lodge now.' she thought to herself. 'Is this really the right thing to do?'
She lowered her gaze, casually checking her nails, painted light blue with small white snowflakes on them. She listened to the podcast mentioning a person of interest and the old sanatorium before pressing a button on her iPhone, showing a video of Josh.
"Hello, friends and fans." Josh greeted on the video before shaking his head. "Let's try that again." He stepped forwards and adjusted the camera before stepping back into shot.
Smiling widely, he spoke again. "Hello, friends and fans. It is beyond awesome to have you guys all back this year."
Sam bit her lip, watching carefully. Something about Josh's attitude in the video made her feel worried for him.
"First of all, I've gotta say I am super excited to welcome back all my pals back to the annual Blackwood winter getaway." he explained before doing a mock cheer similar to a live audience in a TV show.
Sam continued to watch, glancing up to check where she was. She wasn't sure how Josh had been coping throughout the year. He had been saying that he was fine, but it always felt to her that he was hiding something, and she knew him better than anyone.
'It also doesn't help that Chris and I were the only ones to really stay in touch with Josh afterwards.' she reflected sadly.
The video was still ongoing and she listened more. "So, um...let me just take a moment to address the 'elephant in the room', so to speak. I know you're probably all worried about me and I know it's gonna be tough on all of us going back, after what happened last year."
He paused for a moment before smiling again and continuing. "I know it would mean so much to Hannah and Beth that we're all still together, thinking of them."
Sam knew that, officially, Hannah and Beth were still missing, but it was pretty obvious to all but the most optimistic they were likely dead.
"I really want to spend some quality time with each and every one of you and share some moments we'll never forget." he explained. "So let's party like we're fucking porn stars, okay?"
He laughed and the video ended. Sam smiled lightly and put her iPhone away, removing the headphones before standing up and moving towards the front of the bus. She quickly spoke to the driver.
"This is my stop here." she said.
The driver nodded and stopped and Sam disembarked from the bus. With a sigh, she looked around as the snow gently swirled around her.
She was grateful that she had dressed for the weather in a purple long-sleeved shirt, a black leather jacket wrapped with a lipstick-red thick scarf around her neck, grey boots with white trimmings, a fur hat, and a red plaid skirt, along with black tights.
As the bus drove off, Sam did not notice the black-clad figure wielding a machete who stood on the other side of the road, watching her for a moment before turning and walking away. With the bus having driven away, Sam prepared to make her way up to the cable car station which would take her up the mountain, closer to the lodge. She knew that the others would be arriving, or were already there. As she began to take a step forwards, she heard a distinctive noise. It sounded like a twig snapping and she could swear that she could hear heavy breathing.
"Hello?" she called out, looking around worried. "Someone there?"
No response. The noises stopped. Shaking her head and feeling paranoid, Sam began to walk up the path, her boots crunching through the snow. It did not take her long to reach the gate. She reached out a hand to open it, but stopped.
'Huh? What's this?' she wondered, spotting a note attached to the gate.
She picked it up and read it. "The gate is busted. Climb over. Chris."
She sighed and shook her head. "Oh man."
Looking around, she finally spotted a possible section of wall that she could scale to her left. She walked over and immediately began climbing, going as quickly as she could. She stopped for a moment, looking up and judging the distance. Taking the risk, she jumped up, grabbing the top edge of the wall. She pulled herself up with a grunt and once on top, deftly leapt down, bending her knees to absorb the impact. She straightened up, smiling once she was on the other side, and resumed her walk.
She glanced around again, sure that she had heard something. She had a strange feeling that something or someone was watching her. She brushed the feeling off, however, stopping when she saw something else. Smiling, she squatted down, gently lifting up a small pile of nuts and holding out her hand with the nuts in them.
"Hey, cute little squirrel." she said quietly. "C'mon, it's alright."
She stayed as still as possible until the squirrel came up and took the nuts from her hand before scampering off.
Straightening up, Sam laughed softly. "Cutie."
Still smiling, she made her way up to the lower cable car station, looking for any sign of the others. The only other person she knew for certain would be around here was most likely Chris. She looked around, however, and didn't see anybody.
"Chris? You here?" she called out to no reply.
She paused and spotted Chris's bag. "Your bag is here, so where are you?"
She looked around, but he wasn't around.
She jokingly called out, "You're not IN the bag, are you?"
It was then that she spotted something else. Chris's bag had its front pouch unzipped. His phone was slightly hanging out and the screen had just lit up, vibrating.
"What do we have here?" she wondered aloud, pondering briefly on her options at the moment.
"Maybe I shouldn't snoop around Chris's stuff." She zipped the bag up, closing the phone off, not looking at the phone.
Just as she straightened up, she heard footsteps and then the familiar voice of Chris.
"Hey, Sam, you made it."
She turned and smiled when she saw him. "Hi, Chris."
Chris was also dressed for the weather in a layered light blue jacket over a green commando-style sweater, blue collared shirt, and a white undershirt and simple jeans. He paused briefly before grinning and going to pick up his bag. "Hey, c'mon, got something to show you."
"What?"
"I'm not saying, you gotta come see." he replied with a soft laugh. "Gonna blow your mind."
Rolling her eyes and laughing, Sam followed Chris. As they began walking around the back of the cable car station, Sam's eyes were drawn to a defaced wanted poster of a criminal. She was shocked, it seemed that the criminal was supposed to live in the nearby area.
"Whoa, have you seen this?" she asked.
Chris nodded. "Yeah, maybe we'll get a visit from America's Most Wanted."
Sighing at his joke, she followed him around the back where he revealed what he had found. It was a makeshift shooting range with bottles set up on various surfaces and stuffed sacks hanging from trees. A rifle was set on the 'table' at the edge of the 'range'.
"Well, what do you think? Sweet, huh?" Chris commented.
Sam stared with wide eyes at it. "Sweet isn't the word I'd use. What's a shooting range doing at the base of a ski lodge?"
Chris laughed a little as he picked up the rifle. "Uh, have you met Josh's dad? Guy thinks he's Grizzly Adams or something."
Sam just sighed and watched as Chris took aim with the rifle.
Taking careful aim, Chris made short work of shooting several of the sacks and a couple of bottles.
"See." he remarked with a grin.
Sam just laughed and in a faux southern accent replied, "Wow, nice shootin', Tex."
Also laughing, Chris smirked. "Alright, I'm bad."
"I'm gonna go more with a wild case of beginner's luck." Sam replied.
Chris gladly took up the challenge. "Oh no, watch this." With that, he casually no-scoped a bottle.
Sam shrugged before teasingly replying, "Well, anyone and their brother could hit a bottle that big, that close."
Chris laughed again and took aim one more time. He stopped for a moment, however, as he saw that one of the drums on which a bottle had been set now had a squirrel sitting on it, eating a small pile of nuts.
'Where did that little guy come from? Okay, that removes that target. No way am I even aiming that way.' he thought to himself. 'Doubly so with Sam here, given how much of an animal lover she is.'
So he instead aimed for the furthest sack and took the shot, striking it. Sam smiled and applauded lightly as the squirrel ran off, unharmed.
"Hey, c'mon, there's our ride." she said as she spotted the cable car on its way down.
Chris turned to her. "But I've almost got the hang of this."
She shook her head. "C'mon, Chris. The cable car? The others are likely waiting."
Chris sighed, but agreed, and together, they made their way back to the cable car station.
After some trouble due to it being locked, but Chris thankfully knowing where the key was, they entered and waited for the cable car to arrive. Once it did, they both got on and sat down. As the car began taking them up to their destination, Chris smiled.
"Just like going to the prom." he quipped. "Man, it's gonna be so weird seeing everyone again."
Sam nodded with a sigh. "Tell me about it. Everything just came rushing back and...Josh seemed quite excited about the thought of us all doing something together here. I wonder if he..."
"Hey, no, he was seriously psyched for this, I can tell." Chris replied. "I haven't seen him this amped up in like...forever."
"Yeah..." Sam replied softly.
There was a pause as they rode in silence for a moment. Then Chris broke it.
"Hey, you know how I met Josh?" he queried. When Sam shook her head, he continued.
"Alright, it was back in third grade. Josh sat at the back of the room, I sat at the front, neither of us had any idea the other existed. But one day, the kid next to Josh started strap snapping the training bra of the girl in the seat in front. So he got moved down to the front and I got moved to the back."
Sam raised an eyebrow before prompting, "And…?"
"And next to Josh. That's how we met and became friends."
Sam laughed. "A match made in heaven."
Chris shrugged. "If it weren't for the fact that Jeannie Simmons hit puberty, like, three years early and on that day decided to wear a low-cut shirt that showed off her training bra...I mean, who knows? You could be riding in this cable car alone. Right now. Or talking to some other person entirely. Boom, Butterfly Effect."
Sam nodded slowly, seeing Chris's point. It certainly helped her feel more at ease. Anything could happen. The best bet was to go with the flow and make the most of it.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.