Until Dawn: A New Path
Chapter 9 of my Until Dawn story, enjoy.
Reviews
Boris Yeltsin: Yes, indeed, and it's only gonna get worse.
Wolfgirl2013: Thanks :)
Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Until Dawn or its characters.
Chapter 9
Slowly, with his head pounding from the blow that he had received, Chris recovered consciousness.
"Ungh, ugh... What the fu..." he groaned. He slowly stumbled to his feet, picking up a flashlight that had been put next to him.
"Oh no..." he choked out, remembering what had happened. "Ashley!"
He immediately looked around, seeing no sign of her. He began to search, looking around wildly, using the flashlight to aid him.
"Ash...ASH?!"
He exited the kitchen and spotted something on the floor. Picking it up, he saw that it was Ashley's coin purse.
"Not good..." he muttered. "Not good at all."
He hurried onwards, searching all the more frantically after seeing a horrific sight: bloodstains decorating a wall. He began to fear for Ashley's life.
'Please don't let her be... Please...' he thought desperately.
He soon spotted a door that led outside, wide open. He hurried out and began calling out as he began to follow the path.
"Ash! ASHLEY! Ashley! Anyone out there? Ashley? Ash...? ASH?!"
But all his calls went unanswered, only increasing his panic.
He came to a fork in the road and initially tried to turn left, only for a mannequin to spring up, clad in a scarecrow mask.
"WHOA!" he cried out, utterly aghast. "What in the hell? Who would do this?"
Looking past it, he was greeted by the unwelcome sight of a severed pig's head. Shivering in disgust, he turned and followed the other path, heading towards the old shed.
He quietly entered, not seeing anything, save what the light from his flashlight showed him. He bit his lip as he slowly walked.
'What is going on here? Wait, that's...that's...'
He could hear quiet sobbing and immediately recognized the person crying as Ashley.
Just then, a cage dangling from the roof fell, nearly landing on him. He leapt back. "HEY, GOD DAMMIT!"
"Chris…?" Ashley called out, hearing him yell.
Reacting at once, Chris looked around wildly. "Ash, I'm here!"
"Please..." she choked out through sobs. "Help me..."
Trying to follow her voice, Chris spoke again. "I'm comin', Ash. Just kept talking to me! What happened?"
"Chris, he tied me up..." Ashley sobbed. "I can't move!"
More worried than ever now, terrified for her safety, Chris spoke again. "Ashley, I'm gonna get you out of this, don't worry!"
"I'm really scared, Chris!" she replied, her voice trembling. "Hurry, please! Oh god, Chris! You have to get me out of here before he comes back!"
Chris continued to follow her voice until suddenly, a light flared, revealing a horrific scene.
Chris gaped in sheer horror at the sight before him. A mesh cage prevented him from getting any closer. There was a small gate set in the cage on his right hand side, but it was clearly locked. Before him was a lever in the middle position, it could be turned left or right.
What disturbed him most was that on the panel behind the lever, two pictures of two very familiar people were shown. Looking up, he saw Ashley, and next to her, out cold, was Josh. They were attached to a large metal board, held up by their arms, secured in chains. Beneath them were mine cart tracks which joined into a single track.
What chilled Chris to the bone, however, was the mine cart itself, sitting at the end of this track. On it, situated so that it would be at waist height of the two captives, was a coldly gleaming circular saw.
"Unnghh...Chris..." Ashley spoke weakly, squinting against the light. "Are you there?"
Before Chris could respond, another voice, distorted, spoke up, coming through speakers.
"Hello."
Ashley screamed and Chris jumped, looking around.
"And thank you all for joining me." it continued.
Freaking out, Ashley cried out to her fellow captive. "JOSH! Oh my GOD, JOSH! WAKE UP!"
"Huh?" Josh groaned as he finally recovered, horror dawning as he realized his position. "What…? What is this?"
Acting frantically, Chris tried to open the door, to force it, but to no avail.
Detached and casual, the distorted voice continued. "Tonight we're going to conduct a little experiment. A sort of test."
Just hearing those words struck fear into the hearts of all three of them.
Trying to struggle against his bonds, Josh cried out, "Ashley, what the hell is going on?"
"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know!" she screamed, totally freaking out.
Chris found himself breathing heavily, his heart thumping, terror coursing through his veins. What was going on? Was he going to watch his friends die? Was this saw he could see before him…
"Now, for this experiment," the voice continued, "We'll need the cooperation of our two test subjects... Joshua and Ashley..."
"Holy shit. Oh my god..." Josh gasped as he realized with dawning horror what that meant.
Ashley also realized and took another panic attack.
The voice then revealed the true horror of its plan. "But we're going to need one more brave participant to help us decide which subject will live...and which will die."
"OH NO! MY GOD, OH MY GOD! OH GOD, CHRIS! GET US OUT OF HERE!" Ashley screamed, completely losing it.
Josh, sadly, wasn't much more composed himself. "NO! YOU CAN'T DO THIS! LET ME DOWN FROM HERE, YOU MANIAC!"
"Please, please, please, everyone calm down." the voice stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "It's all very simple."
Chris shook his head. 'Simple? What's fucking simple about this, psycho?'
Chris realized then that this person had to be the masked man who had attacked him and Ashley earlier.
The psycho then gave his instructions. "Christopher, you will find a lever placed directly in front of you. All you have to do...is choose who you will save!"
Chris froze. This whack-job was forcing him to choose something so horrific! He had to kill either Ashley or Josh, in order to save the other!
Jess yawned as she woke up, smiling brightly as she tightened her grip around Mike, who still held her in his arms. She felt the heat from his body, making her feel comfortable and warm in the bed. She wasn't sure how long they had slept, but she could still recall their lovemaking quite vividly, which felt better than any time before this one.
Moving to sit up in the bed, looking down at Mike still sleeping, Jess smirked. Her fingers gently rubbed his cheek, causing him to stir slightly. Jess promised that they would pick up where they left off once they woke up, and she was ready to fulfill that promise.
'That was incredible. I just hope that we can...' Jess' thoughts trailed off.
She had originally been thinking of their promise to continue with their lovemaking after waking up. But as she had been thinking, she looked around the room and saw something, something that made her forget all about that.
Quickly getting out of bed, she approached the shelf on the far wall, where she saw it more clearly, a blinking red light. After some careful searching, she let out a horrified shriek as she pulled out a hidden video camera.
"Jess?!"
She turned. She had woken Mike up. He rubbed his eyes and was looking at her, confused.
She glowered. "Look at this, Mike. Somebody was recording us as we were... One of those...goddamn assholes is trying to fuck with us!"
Mike took a moment to take this in before he glared, too.
"Oh, that is... Okay, I know we had plans, but fuck it. I'm not letting this slip. Nobody records us in bed together!" he growled.
Jess nodded. "Me neither. C'mon, let's get dressed and find out who did this!"
Mike agreed and got out of bed. Once they were fully dressed, they left the room and looked around. There were no signs of anyone right away.
"Well...one thing's for sure. We can rule out Sam." Jess remarked. "She wouldn't do anything like that, no matter what. Plus, I doubt she'd have time. We were right behind her coming up the stairs and she went straight for her bath."
Mike nodded. "Yeah, so...it could only be one of the others. Let's go."
So together, they headed downstairs, ready to give the others, especially whoever was responsible for planting the camera, a piece of their minds.
However, when they got downstairs, all they found was darkness, a few nearly burned out candles, an overturned Ouija Board, and no sign of anyone else.
"Okay, what the hell?" Mike muttered. "Where is everyone?"
Jess scowled. "Probably all holed up in a room somewhere, hiding. If they were watching us through the camera, they know we're on to them."
Mike sighed. "I don't know if it was that kind of camera, Jess. But, let's keep looking."
They continued to walk around the lower floor, searching for any sign of the others. It was while she walked through the kitchen and into the next corridor that Jess stopped, horrified.
"Mike!" she gasped.
He hurried over to her. "Jess, what- Holy shit!"
They both stood, staring in horror at the massive bloodstain on the wall and then Jess shivered.
"Fuck, it's cold." she mumbled.
That caught Mike's attention. "Cold... Wait, there's a door here. It leads to a shed and..."
Jess followed him and sure enough, they found said door wide open, letting the cold air in.
Looking out, Mike noticed, "Footprints and more blood... This might be more serious than we thought."
Jess shuddered, this time not from the cold. "Oh my god, if something's happened to the others..."
She couldn't finish, but Mike understood. He nodded and together, they left, determined to follow the trail. If they found anyone, they were determined to help if they could. Their initial anger was stowed away for now as they focused on the obvious danger before them.
Ashley broke into a blind panic again, just as she began recovering from the last time. "Oh no, please! This can't be happening! Oh god, oh god, oh god! This isn't right..."
"Shit...shit...no!" Josh cried out, before forcing himself to calm down. "Okay...okay...okay...okay, this is gonna be okay..."
Chris paced back and forth, panicking himself as the stress of what he had just been told hit him hard.
"Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap." he muttered to himself frantically.
Josh tried to reason with him while Ashley pleaded desperately.
"Dude... Buddy... Let's just think about this for a minute..." he said as calmly as he could.
Ashley began crying in despair. "Oh my god! CHRIS! You CAN'T LET ME DIE!"
"Just, just, just..." Chris stammered, feeling dizzy from too much pressure, "Gimme a second, I, I can't think straight, shit..."
They watched him frantically as he thought about it. He thought as quickly as he could about everything. His friendship with Josh, his crush on Ashley, too much was whirling through his mind. He soon made his choice. However, no matter what he chose, it would be gut-wrenching to him, but he went with his heart.
"Ashley, I'll get you out of this! I won't let you die!" he cried.
Ashley's relief was palpable. "Oh god, thank you! Oh thank you, thank you!"
"NO! Please, no!" Josh cried out, shock and anger waging war over his features.
Hand trembling, Chris turned the lever and the saw blade started up. The tracks' points switched and the cart began to slowly move.
Seeing the path that the cart was taking, Josh cried out, "AAHHH! NO, CHRIS!"
The Psycho spoke again. Chris could almost hear his grin. "Ah...I see. You have chosen to save...Ashley."
"Oh... Oh no..." Chris stammered, unable to believe that he'd had to make such a choice and now watch the consequences. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no..."
"OH GOD, JOSH!" Ashley screamed, realizing what was about to happen.
Freaking out entirely, Josh began screaming at him. Chris spoke across him at the same time while the saw blade edged ever closer.
"I thought we were FRIENDS, man! I thought we were FRIENDS! Why would you DO THIS?!" Josh yelled desperately.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! THIS IS MADNESS! PLEASE!"
The saw blade was nearly reaching Josh and he cried out again. "NO! OH GOD, WHAT DID I DO?!"
He never finished his statement, for at that moment, he just screamed as the saw started to cut him open.
"Stop it! You can't do this! Please, no!" Chris screamed. "Oh Josh! Josh, I'm so sorry!"
Hearing Josh's screams, Ashley continued to freak out, eyes clenched shut. "OH NO! MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH GOD, CHRIS! GET US OUT OF HERE!"
Josh only stopped screaming once the saw finished its bloody work and just like that, it was over.
Ashley, now spattered across the left side of her face and clothes with his blood, began to turn her head.
Not wanting her to witness the horror that was nearly making him throw up, Chris spoke sharply. "No, no, no. D-don't look, Ashley. Don't look!"
"Why can't I look, Chris? Please tell me he's okay, please!" Ashley pleaded, yet conceded to Chris's words, keeping her eyes tightly shut.
At that moment, the gate opened and Chris rushed in. He quickly got to work, trying hard not to look at Josh's corpse for longer than he had to.
"I'm coming, Ash. I'm gonna get you..." he said as he began untying her. She wept, either in terror or relief, or maybe both, he couldn't say.
"Come on, come on, let's get you down... Come on... We're gonna get you out of here…"
Ashley finally felt the ground beneath her feet and Chris began escorting her away.
'He saved me... He and Josh have been friends for years...' she couldn't help but think to herself. 'But he chose to save...me.'
She opened her eyes, only to scream in dismay at the sight of Josh's mangled body. Chris quickly covered her eyes and began escorting her from the shed, sobbing and shaking. They kept going, both in tears and both traumatized by what they had just been a part of.
"Chris! Ashley!" they heard Mike's voice calling to them.
Looking up, they spotted him and Jess rushing over to them. Jess' eyes instantly widened when she got a good look at Ashley.
"Blood!" she gasped. "Whose blood is that, Ash? Chris, what happened?"
Mike was immediately worried, asking if they were okay.
"J-Josh..." Chris choked out through his tears.
"'Josh' what, dude?" Mike asked softly, seeing Chris's distress.
Breathing shakily, Chris admitted, "He's dead... Right in front of us, man."
Both Mike and Jess froze at that.
"What are you talking about?" Jess demanded at once.
"There's a maniac..." Chris choked out.
"Maniac?" Mike echoed, his worry now increasing tenfold.
Jess shook her head. "Oh my god, what the hell happened?"
Mike, however, was confused. "Chris, Chris, deep breaths. Tell us what happened, man."
Chris tried to compose himself, but couldn't. In the end, he gave a broken and choked account of what had happened in the shed.
"There's a maniac! And...he was... There was a saw...and it was either him or Ash and I didn't know what to do!"
Ashley sobbed at that and Chris continued.
"Cut right through him and... Spilling out fucking everywhere!"
Jess reacted in horror and utter disgust. "WHAT?! Oh my god, Chris, what?!"
Chris whimpered as he added, "I-I killed him! I-I killed him..."
He kept lamenting that one fact while Jess and Mike tried to calm him down.
"We're gonna figure this out, man." Mike said, trying to reassure Chris.
"Mike, we need to go get help. Now." Jess said firmly. "But there's also the others to think about. I mean...isn't Sam still..."
"Shit..." he replied, shaking his head. "What about Matt and Emily?"
Biting her lip, Jess replied, "They're probably still at the cabin. Oh god, they don't even know. But if we don't get help..."
Chris then realized to his horror. "Wait, Sam's still in the lodge-"
He didn't need to finish. She was there all alone.
"Alright, we need to figure this out, we do need to find the others, but we also need to get help." Jess remarked.
Mike took a moment to think and then, as calmly as he could, relayed his thoughts. "Alright, Chris, Ashley, you guys go back to the lodge and get Sam. Jess and I will go and try to find help, then we'll try and find Matt and Emily. They're together, so they should have a better chance. We just need to have faith in them."
Finally recovering their composure enough to agree, Chris and Ashley immediately headed back to the lodge while Jess and Mike began heading for the cable car station, determined to find anything that would aid them in sending for help.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.