Until Dawn: A New Path
Chapter 13 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 13
Panic gripping them, Mike and Jess stood warily at the edge of the cliff. The deer surrounded them, some moving a bit closer, but they couldn't move back any further.
"Mike!" Jess cried out, terror coating her voice, "What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do?!"
Mike tightened his grip on the axe for a minute, but then relaxed it. He forced himself to stay calm and focused. He was always the first to admit that he wasn't the smartest, but he knew enough about certain subjects and animals was one of them. He knew that if they stayed calm, they wouldn't be in any danger.
"Stay calm... Relax... They're just deer... They just want to check us out, is all…"
"Right, right, got it, okay." Jess whispered, trying to reassure herself. She put her trust in her boyfriend.
He gently tried to calm her and, gesturing for her to follow his lead, he began to slowly walk forwards. He kept the axe held loose at his side, not in any threatening position. Jess moved slowly, cautiously, keeping as close to Mike as she could.
The deer, however, stepped back or moved around them, allowing them to walk through the herd without much issue. However, amongst the deer were their close cousins, Elk. One was blocking Mike and Jess' path. Mike stopped, prompting Jess to do the same. The Elk sniffed at him but he did not react, although his nerves were on edge.
He suddenly wished that he didn't have the axe. The temptation to use it against this potential threat was strong, especially as more time passed. The Elk sniffed at him but simply would not back down or even move. Mike could feel Jess getting restless and trembling just behind him. She had practically pressed herself right up against him. But, resisting the urge to attack, Mike slowly began to move again and to his relief, the Elk backed down.
Finally, they emerged from the herd unharmed and reached a small bundle of rocks that they could climb. Quickly doing so, both Mike and Jess emerged safely from the herd, now on the path that would lead them to the radio tower, amazingly falling into place with their plans.
Letting out a sigh of relief, now that they were finally out of that danger, Jess began to lead the way, holding the flashlight steady again. As they walked, she began thinking carefully.
"If we do manage to get someone on the radio-"
"We will." Mike insisted.
Smiling at his confidence, she continued. "Then we tell them that we need help. What do we do while we wait?"
Mike thought for a moment. "I guess we go back to the lodge and get everyone else."
"Oh God, not the lodge." Jess shook her head. "We should stay here, in case whoever it is needs to get back in touch with us."
"Let's get that radio working first."
Jess silently agreed with him. They'd try and call for help first, then they could worry about what to do next.
They were almost at the tower, it was just above them now, across a small snowy clearing. As they approached the base of the tower, a blinding light flared to life.
"Ahh! That's freakin' bright!" Jess cried out, holding a hand in front of her eyes.
Mike did the same and grimaced. "No kidding!"
Jess shook her head, frustrated. "I can't see! What is that?"
"It's just a security light." Mike confirmed at last, squinting to try and see. "Motion sensor, probably."
Jess bit her lip and followed Mike, squinting her eyes until they were past the light and could see clearly again. They were now at the base of the fire tower and would have to climb the ladders to get up to the main room.
Seeing this, Mike reluctantly put down the axe and they began their climb, with Jess in the lead. Climbing up the second ladder, Jess was caught off-guard by sudden winds and nearly lost her grip.
"Ugh." She grit her teeth and complained, "Why is it so windy, all of a sudden?"
Mike did his best to calm her. "We're almost inside."
They climbed the third ladder, finally reaching their destination. Once Jess pushed up the hatch, they got inside, with Mike closing and locking the hatch below them. They were still wary of the Psycho following them and Mike hoped that it would present at least something of an obstacle.
"You alright?" he asked Jess.
She nodded. They were inside now. It was a bit warmer and she knew what Mike had just done and why.
They began to look around the tower room. Finding the radio, Jess tried to interact with it, but got nothing.
"Ah, come ON! Great." she cried out, before realizing, "No power. Gotta be a switch or something around here..."
While looking, she found a locker and opened it, freezing when she saw, stuck to the door, a missing person poster for Hannah Washington.
She sighed sadly, guilt bubbling inside her. "Sorry, Hannah. You're still missing..."
"After tonight, their disappearance is starting to make more sense." Mike commented.
Jess couldn't deny that he was right, although it made her feel very uneasy.
Resuming their search, they had no choice but to venture outside to the catwalk around the tower room. Exiting through the door once they opened it, Jess searched and then spotted something. It was a box, situated against the wall, with the words 'Emergency Flare' on it. She opened it to find a flare gun.
'Ah, here we go.' she thought. This could certainly be useful.
She thought for a moment and decided that it would be better off in Mike's hands.
"You take this." she told him, handing him the gun. "You might need it."
Mike took it, smiling, as he replied, "Aye-aye, captain." He pocketed the gun and they resumed their search.
Finally, they found a fuse box. Jess opened it and flicked the switch and grinned as the power flared to life in the tower.
"Fuck, yeah! Here we go!"
"Nice work." Mike replied, also grinning.
They headed back inside with Jess adding, "Okay, score one for Mike and Jess!"
As they closed the door behind them, Jess jostled a printer on a nearby table, hitting the print button, which prompted it to print out a single sheet.
Picking it up, she remarked, "Oh, it's alive."
Turning it over, she was consumed with guilt again. It was a missing person poster for Beth Washington.
"Sorry, you're still missing too, Beth."
Mike gently set the paper down, touching Jess' shoulder to reassure her. Nodding, she composed herself and approached the radio.
She got to work, trying to fine tune the radio to pick up any broadcasts that they could communicate with for help. She gasped as she heard one, although it wasn't very clear.
"Ranger service for Blackwood County, over."
"Hello? Anyone there?" she tried, hoping that she could get through. She had found just who they were looking for, the people best equipped to help them.
"Hello! Please say something if you're out there! Please, we need help! Over! Over! Shit."
There was a pause, and then, suddenly...
"...Hello?" the ranger spoke.
Jess' heart leapt and Mike grinned beside her. "Oh my god, thank god! We need help, please!"
The ranger replied and it was clear that he had at least picked something up from them. "Hello, is someone trying to contact us? This is the park ranger service for Blackwood County. I'm not getting your signal very well. Please speak slowly and clearly, over."
Jess tired to, but she was too worked up and everything came spilling out. "Please, please, please, please help! Oh my god, we're stuck on Blackwood mountain and there's a maniac..."
"If you can hear this, please repeat your message, as I am unable to understand what you are saying, over. "
Jess grew more desperate. "We need help, please!"
The ranger continued, however. "Hello? Can you please identify yourself? Over."
"Jess, calm down, okay?" Mike told her, softly reassuring her. "You need to stay calm so that they can hear us."
Jess took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. She needed to do this right or they'd miss their chance. So, trying hard to maintain her self-control, she did as the ranger requested.
"Oh my god." she whispered before speaking slowly and clearly. "Okay, this is... My name is Jessica... Hello?"
She checked the tuning on the radio as the ranger replied, "You're not coming through clearly, please repeat, over."
She shook her head and tried to explain, as calmly as possible, what had happened. So she cleared her throat and explained, "We're on...Blackwood Mountain...by the ski lodge. There's a killer and he's after us and he's already killed one of our friends. We need help, over."
Just then, the security light below flared to life again, startling them both.
"Something tripped the motion sensor." Mike muttered, before trying to reassure Jess. "Probably a fucking deer."
Jess was about to reply when the ranger spoke again.
"I read you, ma'am. Please do not leave your position."
Jess and Mike both grinned and relaxed...until his next words.
"We will send out helicopters to get you as soon as the storm has subsided, over." the ranger explained.
Sharing a worried look with Mike, Jess tried to get clarification.
She asked intently, "What? When? How long?"
The ranger hesitated before replying, "Dawn, at the earliest. Not until dawn, over."
Before they could say anything else, the hatch banged loudly. Someone or something was trying to enter.
"Jesus!" Mike cried out, stepping back.
Jess backed herself into one of the corners, panicking. "Oh, holy shit!" she cried out.
The hanging then stopped and things seemed to calm down until the tower rocked violently and began tipping.
Jess screamed and Mike cried out, both of them stumbling as the tower sagged and rocked again.
"OH MY GOD! Mike, WHAT IS HAPPENING?!" she screamed in raw terror.
Mike could only cry out, "The tower!"
At the same time, Jess yelled, "Oh, God!"
The tower began to fall. Mike tried to reach for Jess but was unable to do so. Finally. the tower lay on its side. Jess had fallen and landed hard on one of the windows, which had cracked badly. She was now sporting a bloody nose and a scratch on her forehead from the impact. Mike, meanwhile, was hanging from a support beam, clutching it for dear life.
"No..." Jess got out through the pain.
Mike then saw something and cried out. "No, Jess! Jess!"
She managed to turn just enough to see what he saw: the printer was about to fall right on top of her. Crying out, she was unable to roll out of the way as the printer broke through the window. As such, she was now hanging onto one of the catwalk bars with a large gash above her left eyebrow and bleeding, curving around her eye.
"Fuck me! Jesus! Shit!" she cried out.
She barely had time to articulate as Mike also cried out, "OH, SHIT!"
The tower fell more and tumbled down into the mines below.
"Oh, fuck!" Those were the first words out of Mike's mouth as he finally recovered.
The tower had fallen and was now only just hanging. They were underground, in the mines that ran under the mountain. Moving slowly and carefully, climbing his way out the tower which shook ominously as he did so, Mike saw that the tower was hanging precariously over a long drop, almost certainly too far to have good survival chances.
"Oh, fuck... Dammit! Dammit!" he muttered.
"MIKE!" Jess suddenly screamed. "OH GOD, MIKE, ARE YOU THERE?! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!"
Startled, he moved carefully, calling out as he did so. "I'm comin'! I'm comin'! Jess, this is pretty unsteady over here…"
He said it as a warning, for he now stood, looking over the edge of the tower, which was shaking some more. Jess was there, hanging onto the bars, desperate, and clearly terrified.
"Just be careful!" she screamed. "Is there...is there anything you can do?"
He shook his head. "I'm thinking. Let me think!"
She grit her teeth and screamed again. "Just don't take any unnecessary risks, you hear me?!"
Mike shook his head. Even while hanging precariously from a fallen radio tower, close to death, Jess was still just as worried about him as she was about herself. Mike knew that if Emily was in Jess' position right now, she'd only be demanding her own safety and saying so a lot less considerately. Nevertheless, he could hardly ignore the tension of this situation.
His concern for Jess overrode anything else. "I'm gonna try and get to you and pull you up."
She grimaced. "Alright, alright!"
"Jess, listen to me. You need to calm down, you're gonna be fine." he told her. "It's crazy here, I know, but just...trust me."
Jess bit her lip, trying to calm down. "Yes, I do trust you, Mike. I do." she replied at last, her voice softer. "Just be careful. I can't lose you. I don't want you to die just for my sake. I...I love you."
"I love you, too. Now, don't move." Smiling a little at her words, Mike nodded and tested his weight carefully on the tower. It seemed to be holding for now.
"I'm gonna try and get to you and pull you up." he said at last.
With a gasp of relief, she nodded and replied, "Okay. I'm ready!" She was calming down, the more he talked to her.
Mike knew that he had to save her, so he began to cautiously edge closer to the ledge that Jess was hanging from.
He reached out for her. "I'm coming... Here! Ugh!"
Jess screamed and Mike forced himself upright as the tower shook again, falling down a bit, nearly coming completely off the rocks which were now the only thing holding it up.
"Shit! Oh, shit!" she cried. "Mike! Hurry!" She had fallen and grabbed onto another railing. Only now, it was the last one. Another fall and she wouldn't have anything to save herself with.
Mike panicked, trying to equalize his weight. "I don't wanna tip it." All the same, he couldn't leave her hanging there.
"Oh... Come on, come on..." he muttered as he tried again. He moved slowly and soon was lying flat on his chest, ready to reach out. Jess looked up at him.
"Jesus!" she hissed pleadingly.
She reached up for his hand, praying that he could save her. But then the tower shook more violently and Jess lost her grip.
"Jess!" he cried out, watching in horror as she fell, screaming. "Oh, fuck! Oh, fuck!"
Reacting at once, he leapt off the tower to a nearby ledge as it fell with a thunderous cacophony of noise. The landing was bad and Mike ended up getting knocked out.
Groaning as he woke up, Mike slowly tried to get to his feet. Then suddenly, remembering what had happened, looked around wildly.
"Jess?!"
But all he saw was carnage, a few bits of fiery wreckage.
"Oh no, Jess...Jess...Jess! JESSICA!"
No response. He broke down into tears, staggering to his feet. He couldn't believe it. Was she truly gone?
'She is. No one could survive that. Oh, Jess...'
His grief was interrupted, however, when something he couldn't see made a sudden strange noise, as if it passed him by rapidly without being seen.
"What the fuck?" Mike gasped.
Now he knew that he wasn't alone down there.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.