Until Dawn: A New Path
Chapter 5 of my Until Dawn story, enjoy.
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Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Until Dawn or its characters.
Chapter 5
Exiting the lodge and into the frigid night, Matt and Emily stood on the back porch. Emily approached the edge of the porch while Matt sighed.
"Exiled." he stated blandly.
Emily rolled her eyes. "Whatever. At least we got away from those two idiots."
Matt bit his lip at that. "I suppose, yeah."
He approached her as she began rubbing her arms, shivering in the cold.
"Brr. How far away is this 'cabin', anyway?" she asked, a skeptical tone in her voice.
Laughing, Matt wrapped his arms around her and began to explain. "Not too far. Don't worry, we'll be back indoors and nice and warm before you know it."
"Psh..." She shook her head, shoving him off. "If we ever make it."
Matt shrugged casually, leaning on the balcony ledge. "Oh, I have a feeling luck's on our side."
Emily shrugged. "Well hopefully, because I want to get some alone time. Somewhere warm."
Matt grinned at that and straightened up, they were both prepared to get going. Just then, Josh opened the door and leaned out.
"Hey, glad I caught you!" he called out to them, throwing something to them. "You're gonna need these."
Emily caught it, revealing that it was the keys to the cabin.
She raised an eyebrow at this and replied, "Yeah, these would be really handy, Josh. Should've thought of it before."
Josh stepped out, laughing. "Alright, alright, sorry."
"Ugh, whatever." she replied, shaking her head.
Josh just laughed again. He then turned to Matt and sighed.
"Sorry to kick you out like that-" he began.
But Matt just casually waved his hand. "No worries, man."
Nodding, Josh remarked suggestively, "Oh, I'm sure you'll find a way to entertain yourselves."
"Don't even go there." Emily replied, doing her best to ignore his suggestive comment. "Well, you have fun with the gang back in there."
Laughing, Josh mimed a gun shot to the head and began to make his way back inside.
"Oh, almost forgot." he said, stopping suddenly and gesturing. "Gotta fire up the generator so you can see where you're going. It's dark out there."
With that, he headed back inside while Matt nodded and prepared to begin the journey.
Smirking, Emily turned to him and remarked. "Well, now that we've got the keys, maybe we should get going."
"Sure, sure." Matt replied, nodding.
Satisfied, Emily nodded and headed down onto the trail. Matt followed her, pulling out his flashlight and turning it on.
Back at the Washington Ski Lodge, Sam was upstairs in the bathroom, adjusting the taps on the bathtub and shaking her head. She checked the water with her hand, sighed, and adjusted the taps some more.
"Sammy!" Josh suddenly called up from back in the main room.
She straightened up and called back, "Whaaaaat?"
"You wanna help me get this fire going?"
She bit her lip and casually admitted, "Ummm, well, I was just getting into the bath."
There was a brief pause before Josh replied teasingly, "Oh! Well, do you need any help with that?"
"Hardy har." Sam groaned in reply, rolling her eyes and sighing.
She tried the taps again and checked the water. She was turning on the hot tap, but getting no hot water.
"Come on." she muttered, before sighing. "Alright Josh, let's see if you know how to hook up the hot water in your big fancy lodge."
She turned and left the bathroom, pausing briefly as she looked to her left. There was a door that had clearly been closed for quite some time. Despite knowing who the room belonged to and why it was closed, Sam couldn't help herself. She walked over and entered Hannah's old room.
She looked around. The place hadn't been touched since the disappearance of the girls. Looking around the room, Sam began to notice a few things that stood out: a postcard and a card about a tattoo shop. Sam remembered Hannah getting that tattoo. Continuing her exploration, she noticed that a whole noticeboard was on her wall, with everything being about Mike, a picture of Mike pinned to it underneath a party invitation written by him.
"Gee, Hannah. Crush much?" she muttered.
Looking around, she spotted something else: a piece of paper on the floor. She picked it up. It was a romance compatibility test...with a very unsatisfying result. No doubt Hannah was hoping to find out about her chances with Mike.
She shook her head. "Hello, could this be any more about Mike?"
Shaking her head, she left Hannah's room, returning to the matter at hand.
Making her way across the upper floor and onto the balcony that led to the stairs, she could hear Josh, Chris, and Ashley down below.
"Come on..." Josh was complaining, much as she had been earlier.
There was a pause, then Chris queried, "How long do you think it'll take him?"
Sam could easily tell that Ashley was shrugging as she answered, "My money's on blankets for everyone!"
They then started jokingly cheering him on and Sam smiled, amused by their antics as she descended the stairs and approached them. Josh stood up from the fireplace and turned to them, shaking his head.
"Alright peanut gallery, you know what? I got an idea for you two." he remarked.
"What?" Ashley replied, taken aback by his sudden remark.
Grinning, Josh explained, "Okay, well, I'm pretty that somewhere in this crazy place we used to have... a spirit board."
Ashley made a face at that. "A what?"
"Wow..." Chris sarcastically gasped. "You have 'a spirit board'?"
Finally realizing just what he meant, Ashley asked incredulously, "Wait, are you saying...we should have a seance?"
Chris, however, shook his head. "Those things are a joke, man. They don't do shit."
"No way, bro." Josh insisted. "We used to do it all the time, me and...well..."
They all went quiet at that, knowing that he was talking about his sisters.
Sam decided now to make her presence known. "Hey, Josh." she called out. "No hot water's kind of a major oversight, doncha think?"
Josh just smiled and gestured. "Yeah, yeah, just gotta fire up the boiler. It's in the basement."
"You guys see if you can find the spirit board." he said, turning to Chris and Ashley.
Enthusiastic, Ashley stood up. "Chris, let's go find it! It'll be like a scavenger hunt."
"Ummm...okay..." Chris replied uncertainly. "I guess so."
"Rad..." Josh replied happily. "You're not gonna regret it."
So they split up. Chris and Ashley headed off on their search while Josh began to walk towards the basement, inviting Sam along, and she followed.
Once down in the basement, Josh turned to Sam, smirking. "Hey, you notice how I gave Chris and Ash a mission together?" he queried, and when she nodded, he continued. "Yeah, I was thinking they could use some 'alone time'."
Sam laughed good-naturedly and nodded. "They are very sweet together. I wish they'd just freakin' get on with it already."
Josh casually shrugged. "I swear, they just need, like...something to bond over, y'know? Some sort of traumatic event to send them into each others' arms."
Sam wasn't so sure if she'd word it that way, but didn't say anything as Josh retrieved a flashlight from a drawer and opened the door. They began to descend, heading for the basement.
Stopping just past the door, Josh sighed. "You know, Sam..."
She turned to him, a little concerned.
"I just wanted to say..." He hesitated, but, encouraged by her, continued. "It really means a lot to me that everyone came back this year and, you know…that you came, Sam."
Gently touching his shoulder, Sam spoke as reassuringly as she could. "Josh, we're here for you, really. Whatever you need, whenever. We're all gonna make it through this together."
"Um, I want us to have a good time, you know." Josh stated.
Sam nodded and they began to make their way down, joking around with each other on the way, a little. Soon, they found the boiler cabinet and Josh got to work, opening it and preparing to set things up.
"Alright, sorry to drag you down into the bowels."
Sam shook her head. "Just get me some hot water and I'll be super-fine."
"I mean...I wouldn't want you coming down here on your own, you know?"
Looking around, Sam bit her lip. "Well, it is definitely creepy down here."
"Yep, not a place to be on your own."
While Josh worked, Sam spotted something in the cabinet and picked it up, a little surprised. It was a baseball bat.
"What's this doing here?" she asked, turning to show it to Josh. "Is this yours?"
Smiling widely, Josh took it from Sam and examined it, even giving a practice swing as he spoke.
"You bet it's mine." he said excitedly. "I used to play ball with my dad all the time. Of course, that was before he got too busy to hang out with me. Oh well, save it for the couch, right?"
Sam couldn't deny that she was a little worried at how rapidly Josh's mood seemed to switch, but she held it back.
Setting the baseball bat against the wall, Josh examined the boiler again.
"Okay, lemme see what I can do with this old hot water machine." he quipped, handing Sam the flashlight. "Here, can you...can you hold this?"
Sam took it, but then turned quickly, hearing a strange noise. "What was that?"
Josh turned to her. "What was what? Just shine it here so I can see what I'm doing."
Turning, Sam did so and held the light steady while Josh worked.
"Nice one." he said once he was finished. "Okay, first things first: we gotta increase the water pressure before we get the boiler fired up."
Sam bit her lip. "Sounds kinda complicated."
Josh shook his head. "No, it's actually pretty simple."
He then walked her through it and Sam took her place, ready. While Josh worked, the water pressure began to build and, when the light flashed, just as instructed, Sam pulled the lever and the boiler came rumbling to life.
"Whoa!"
Josh grinned. "That's more like it! Alright! Five, girl!"
Returning the grin, Sam high-fived Josh, who smiled widely before turning and closing the boiler cabinet. It was then, suddenly, that Sam was sure she heard the noise again.
"What the hell is that…?"
Josh stepped forwards, shrugging. "Could be a lot of things...and none of them nice..."
Seeing his smirk, Sam shook her head. "Hey, quit it."
"I'm just...just 'Joshing' ya."
Sam rolled her eyes and mock laughed at his bad joke.
Josh genuinely laughed, however, as he teased her. "You were really freaked out."
Sam scoffed and tried to protest. "I was not scared."
"No, no..." Josh replied quickly, still joking around. "You just jumped because you wanted to squeeze in some aerobics?"
"Don't be an a-hole, okay?" Sam continued to protest. "I totally didn't jump! All I said was, 'What was that?', which is a totally normal reaction to hearing a super creepy noise in a super creepy basement."
She was cut off by the sound happening again.
Josh tensed, stepping forwards slowly. Now both of them were looking down the corridor leading further into the basement.
"Okay, so you hear that too, right? Josh?"
"What…?" he whispered in disbelief.
Sam shook her head. "The rhythm's, like, weirdly regular..."
"No, nothing 'regular' about it." Josh replied in a whisper.
Sam shuddered at that, but then squared her shoulders and put on a brave face.
"I'm gonna check it out." she said as she began to move down the corridor.
Josh was startled by this. "What, why?"
"What do you care, fraidyface?"
"It's probably just, like, not anything."
Sam shook her head. "Why don't you hold down the fort while I make sure?"
"Okay, whatever you say, madam." Josh snarked back.
Sam continued down the corridor until suddenly, a man wearing a hockey mask and a monk's robe leapt out, roaring. Sam screamed and turned to run.
Josh stared and cried out, "Whoa, Sam, whoa..."
Sam ran to him, pulling down a wooden pallet against the wall as she passed. Josh stood his ground until Sam just passed him and then ran, too. They were so caught up in running, they didn't see the man stumble over the pallet and pull his mask off, although the hood still hid his face.
Sam and Josh's attempts to flee were hindered suddenly when they encountered a locked door.
"Oh come ON now." Sam cried as she struggled with it. "Why are these doors locked?!"
Josh shook his head frantically. "To keep out strangers!"
He tried to cover Sam as she struggled to open the door. But it was no use, the monk caught up with them. Sam spun around and they pressed themselves back against the door.
"Hey..." the monk said in a gravelly voice.
"What…?" Sam gasped.
"Heeyyyyy..."
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Sam choked out, her voice strangled from her earlier screaming.
The monk removed his hood and grinned as his identity was revealed.
"Boom! You just got monked!" Chris announced triumphantly.
There was a stony silence before Josh burst out laughing and Sam looked outraged.
"WHAT?!"
"Nice, nice one." Josh managed to say between laughs and he fist-bumped Chris. "That was good."
Sam spluttered, trying to get the words out, unable to believe what had just occurred. "Why? W...why would you do that?"
"There's all this cool old movie crap down here." Chris explained. "What, was I...was I NOT supposed to take advantage of the opportunity?"
"Are you...are you serious?" she shot back before turning to Josh and shoving his shoulder. "Were you in on this, you putz?"
"Nope." Josh defended, before admitting, "But I wish I was. That was too good!"
The two high-fived and Sam groaned before they all finally left the basement, Josh locking the door behind them before they made their way to the main room.
With a heavy sigh, Sam glanced over at Chris. "I'm ready to admit that your dumb little prank may have had a slight whiff of humor to it." she admitted.
Chris grinned in response. "Jokemaster!"
Shaking her head, Sam responded, "I said nothing about jokes. I said your prank, which was dumb-"
"Holy crap, you were scared! Admit it." Josh cut in with another laugh.
"I was not!"
Josh wouldn't let it go, however. "Come on, you totally pissed yourself."
"Josh!"
Chris walked further ahead than the pair to where Ashley was waiting. Sam stopped by the stairs going up and Josh followed Chris. Ashley took a moment to take in Chris wearing the monk's robe.
"What..in God's name...are you wearing?" she asked at last.
Jokingly making the sign of the cross in front of her, Chris replied, "I have found my true calling."
Clasping her hands together, Ashley jokingly replied, "Please tell me you're going to take a vow of silence."
Chris continued to joke, pretending to speak inaudibly, making Ashley laugh.
"Okay, okay. Did you at least find the...thingy?"
"Boi-oi-oi-oing!" Chris produced the appropriate sound effect as he pulled the Ouija board from his costume. "Here's our one-way ticket to the spirit realm!"
"You know what? You know what, no." Sam said. "I've just been through enough spooking for one night, okay? I see a hot bath in my crystal ball."
The others all nodded and Sam began to ascend the stairs.
She called back. "Alright? So have fun! Oh, but watch out for that Josh. He's a schemer!"
Josh just laughed and joined Chris and Ashley as they prepared to use the Ouija board, with Sam heading up for her bath at last.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.