Until Dawn: A New Path
Chapter 14 of my Until Dawn story, enjoy.
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Boris Yeltsin: Yeah, things aren't looking good, we can only wait and see what's next.
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Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Until Dawn or its characters.
Chapter 14
Back in the lodge, Ashley paced frantically in front of the stairs, clutching her flashlight tightly. She could still feel the stickiness of Josh's blood on the side of her face and clothes. She heard rapid footsteps and looked up, nerves on a hair trigger. It was Chris, hurrying down the stairs...alone.
"Sam wasn't up there?"
He shook his head. "I don't know, I didn't see her. She must have come down here."
As he said that, he gestured to the signs: balloons with arrows and, at least until they faded, damp footprints.
Ashley shook her head. "I haven't seen her, either."
Chris bit his lip, worried. Using his own flashlight, they began to walk towards the stairs leading to the basement, incidentally following the arrows on the balloons. Just then, the candle on the table to Ashley's left suddenly lit by itself.
"Ahh!" she screamed. "Did that just happen?"
Chris was seriously getting freaked out now. "Dammit, what is going on around here?!"
They were all the more desperate to find Sam now, so they continued onwards. As they made their way downstairs and, seeing that the door was open, into the cinema room, Ashley bit her lip.
"Chris..." she said suddenly.
"Sa-!" Chris began to call out, but stopped. "What?"
She shuffled her feet and shyly spoke. "Chris, I just want to say... What happened back there in the shed... I know how hard that was. Josh was your friend..."
He turned to her, shaking his head. "Ashley, stop."
Wincing at the massive bruise on his forehead, just above his left eye, she continued. "No, I want to say... I mean, thank you. Thank you for saving my life."
Chris shook his head. "Ash, what was I gonna do? I...I couldn't let anything happen to you, I couldn't..."
They both stood awkwardly, aware of the various meanings implied by Chris's words.
Finally, Chris broke the silence. "Let's just find Sam, okay?" he said firmly. "That's what we're doing now."
Nodding, Ashley followed Chris as they exited the cinema room and into the hallway, just as the door suddenly slammed shut behind them.
"What the heck?!" Ashley whimpered in despair.
This was seriously doing a number on her nerves. Chris gently put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and she exhaled softly, trying to relax. It only lasted until she tried to open the door to the guest room. It suddenly closed, nearly taking her hand with it.
"This is so eff-ed up!" Chris cried out.
Ashley was compelled to agree. All they wanted was to find Sam and get the hell out. She couldn't help but wonder and worry about the others.
"Wait a minute!" Ashley screamed, upon seeing the door to another hallway open by itself and seeing a ghostly figure at the end of it. "Did you see that?"
"Uhh..." Chris replied, turning. "Did I see what?"
"That, Chris! That!" she cried out, gesturing.
Chris shook his head. "What 'that' was that?"
Groaning, she tried to explain. "It was like...a see-through shape, like a ghost."
"Oh boy."
"I'm serious! Why don't you believe me?!" she insisted. "I said I saw it. Doesn't that count for anything?"
Ashley was frantic and Chris wanted to calm her down. This incident in particular was crazy and he didn't want to say the wrong thing.
He tried to help her understand where he was coming from without insulting her. "We've been through Hell tonight. Okay? Your mind is fried. My mind is fried." he explained, adding gently, "I don't even trust what I've been seeing."
Ashley sighed. She had to admit that Chris had a point, but still. "I don't know, I don't know... I just... I saw something, Chris."
He gently touched her arm. "Ash, it's okay. You're just... We're both... kind of out of our heads right now. I mean, we just... We gotta pull it together, okay? You with me?"
She bowed her head and he said softly, "Let's just keep our heads."
"Are we going crazy down here?" she whimpered.
Chris didn't know, but he reasoned, "It's the only place left that Sam could be, Ash."
She agreed and they walked onwards a bit, before stopping again.
"I wish we could just go and find everybody else and-"
"What if Sam needs us?" Chris asked. "What if she's in trouble?"
"Oh, God..."
Just then, the door to basement opened by itself. Steeling himself, Chris gently urged Ashley to follow. She did, and together they made their way down. Once down, they were greeted by a loud nose, followed by a louder one, and then a cabinet to their right jerked as an item flew from the shelf, nearly hitting them. They both leapt back, startled.
"WHOA, WHOA, WHOA, WHOA!" Chris yelled. "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"
Ashley backed away, freaked out more than ever. "What the HELL is going ON?!"
She turned around to see a rocking horse that was disturbingly mobile. She screamed, getting Chris's attention.
She shook her head, holding up a hand to reassure him. "Oh my god, that scared me."
"You knocked into it, right?" Chris queried, before sounding worried. "You knocked into it?"
Ashley groaned. That was the part that freaked her out. "I don't...I don't think so. I mean, I don't know."
She turned back to Chris, clearly upset. Chris couldn't blame her.
"How did everything get so freaky around here? Doors slamming and candles lighting up out of nowhere and that specter, or whatever it was-"
Chris tried to reason with her. "Ashley, I think you're kind of ignoring what's really happening here..."
Ashley gestured and replied, actually sounding irritated for once, "Don't tell me you didn't see that translucent white figure just passing right by us?"
"We...we could be seeing things-"
"I'm not imagining things!" she insisted.
Chris sighed and replied firmly, reminding her, "Yeah, well, I saw things, too! I saw what happened to Josh in the shed! You know? And that's what I'm worried about!"
Ashley's shoulders slumped, her anger evaporating. She could see the pain and terror in his eyes. "Oh...Chris..." she whispered softly. "I know, I know."
He just nodded and then explained, "You know what I'm really worried about? Okay? I'm worried about Sam! What's happened to her?"
He paused before adding, "If there's some maniac out here, then she could be dead, too."
"Don't say that. Please, Chris."
He nodded and they continued exploring the hallway for any clues. The only thing they saw, however, was a large dollhouse. Taking a closer look, Ashley gasped.
"Look! Look-look-look, Chris!" she said, gesturing for him to come closer. "You can see in the windows."
Chris shook his head, incredulous. "See what? Tiny furniture?"
She rolled her eyes and replied, "No, it's a whole scene with dolls and everything."
Something about what little she could see disturbed her. Seeing this, Chris thought it might be worth taking a closer look. It could be another twisted clue left behind by the Psycho.
But then they hit a snag. The dollhouse had a hidden keyhole and was locked.
"Huh. I guess you need a key if you want to play around in there." he muttered.
Ashley straightened up and looked to her right, down the end of the corridor, and saw the translucent figure again.
She quickly pointed, growing frantic. "Wait! Chris-Chris-Chris-Chris-Chris! The ghost!"
He spun around. "What?!"
She looked at him, incredulous. "Didn't you see it?"
Sheepishly admitting that he didn't, Chris was revealed to be holding his phone.
Ashley glared. "You were looking at your phone, you dip! What are you tweeting?! Hashtag There's a freaking ghost after us?!"
Sighing, Chris tried to calmly explain. "Ash, calm down, okay? There is no ghost here. You're freaked out because of what happened with Josh-"
"You're not paying attention." she hissed. "I saw it, I saw a ghost and it looked like Hannah, it looked like Hannah!"
"Wait, wait, wait..." Chris spluttered. "WHAT?!"
Ashley sighed and admitted, "Or...or maybe Beth."
"Jesus, Ash..." Chris groaned. "What do you think, they followed us up here from the seance?"
Ashley shook her head indignantly. "I don't know, maybe!"
"They didn't, because ghosts don't exist, okay?!" Chris tried to reason with her.
Glaring, she shot back, "Okay, who was talking to us at the seance, Chris?"
Chris admitted that he didn't know, just in time for a scream to rend the air and the picture down the hall flew off the wall.
They watched in stunned silence before Ashley choked out, "What did that?"
Chris was even more freaked than ever now. "How does a picture just jump off the wall like that?"
They walked carefully down the hall and where the picture had been was a hook. On it was a key, a key that looked like it would fit the dollhouse lock. Smiling a little, Ashley took it. Looking back, she saw the ghost again.
"Oh my GOD! There, look there, Chris! You can't tell me you didn't see that!" she cried out.
Only half of her sentence was finished before Chris turned, this time actually seeing the figure and gaping in shock.
"Wow, that's..."
"See? You DO see it!"
"That's..." he stammered. "I dunno, I-I just... This is fucking crazy..."
Ashley couldn't agree more, but they had to press on. They hurried down towards where the ghost had been, realizing it had disappeared near the dollhouse again.
"Chris..." Ashley realized. "It's showing us the way."
Chris didn't reply, so Ashley unlocked the dollhouse and opened the front of it and to her shock, she was confronted with a dollhouse scene of that fateful night where they had played that cruel prank on Hannah.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what is going on here?" Chris gasped.
"Oh God, it's like..." Ashley whispered.
He shook his head, however. "It's not 'like' anything. That's us. Hiding there, waiting for Hannah last year."
Ashley let out a strangled gasp, particularly at Chris saying the word 'us', when he himself hadn't been involved. It still freaked her out, however.
"But it's so accurate. I mean, that's exactly where I was sitting...and that's where Matt was..."
Chris noticed this too and shuddered. It certainly was freaky.
After debating what could possibly be behind this setup, their suspicions ranging from the ghost to the Psycho, they were treated to a doll's head turning to the side and eyes opening, surprising them. They leapt back, but recovered just as the top of the dollhouse opened to reveal something inside. Picking it up, Ashley realized right away what it was.
"It's...it's Hannah's diary..."
Biting her lip, she opened it and read through some pages, reaching the last entry, dated just the day before their last visit to the lodge the previous year.
"'...Everyone being together here...on the mountain...is gonna be so awesome...cozy fires and hot tubs...'" she read aloud. "'And OMG Mike...I am so psyched to spend some time with him...' I can't read this! It's so sad, Chris..."
She put the diary back and then suddenly froze at the sound of a door creaking open. Both sharing a wary glance, they approached the door at the end of the hallway. Suddenly, the ghost appeared, shrieking. Ashley cried out, jumping back. Chris ran forward, crossing the threshold of the door, which slammed shut.
"Oh, Chris, Chris!" she cried out, hanging onto the door.
It opened to her relief and Chris stood there, thankfully unhurt.
"Nothing." he said, looking around warily.
Ashley inhaled sharply. "But you did see it, Chris. For real?"
Chris shrugged and admitted, "I saw...something. But where'd it go?"
Ashley just shook her head, not particularly eager to find out. She entered the next room too and they continued their search for Sam. While searching, Ashley found something strange: a catalogue of sorts, relatively recent.
"Hey, look at this." she said quickly. "Doesn't seem as old as some of the stuff down here."
Chris looked at it too, raising an eyebrow. "A catalogue...for industrial lightbulbs?"
"That is so random."
She turned a page and they both noticed that one of the bulbs was circled, a particularly powerful bulb. Putting it aside as Chris turned away, Ashley spotted a pair of scissors. She quickly picked them up and stowed them in her back pocket, just in case the Psycho appeared again.
It was while they were searching that Ashley found a camera hidden between a pair of boxes.
"Uh...Chris?"
He approached and stopped dead when he saw the camera.
Biting her lip, Ashley asked, "You think it's the guy?"
"Well, that makes sense."
Shaking her head, Ashley muttered, "I don't like being watched."
Chris nonchalantly reached over and turned the camera around.
"Better?" he queried gently.
Ashley rolled her eyes and picked the camera up, talking directly into it. "Go suck an egg!" She put the camera back in the position Chris had turned it to.
Looking up at him, she shrugged. "Now it's better."
Together, they resumed their trek until suddenly, the lodge shuddered and Ashley looked around, worriedly.
"Uh, what was that, huh?"
Chris, however, had stopped, looking through a doorway ahead. "Wait, there's a whole 'nother room through here." he gasped. "It's mammoth."
Ashley groaned, hearing that. She wasn't sure how much more she could take.
However, she followed him and they soon both stopped, gazing in wonder at the ruin of what seemed to be an old hotel, right underneath the Washington's ski lodge.
Walking slowly onwards, Ashley whispered, "Where in the world are we now?"
"Are you kidding me?" Chris exclaimed as he too took in their surroundings.
She turned to him. "Did you know this was here?"
He shook his head. "This? This is like a whole 'nother hotel. I had no idea that this was here."
Ashley shuddered. She was finding out more and experiencing more this night than she ever had in her whole life and she really didn't like it.
Turning to Chris, she said as much. "I don't think I can take any more of this."
Chris nodded slowly. "Yeah, I'm about at my limit here, too."
"All I wanted to do was forget last year ever happened..."
"To be honest..." Chris said softly, "I'm not sure what Hannah thought she was doing."
"Yeah, well, you know how it is when you're crushing pretty hard on somebody." she said with a rather knowing tone.
Chris shook his head, however. "Great, so you're basically saying that we put a vulnerable friend in a terrible situation and essentially caused her to run away and never be heard of again?"
"If it was you, don't you think you would have run away?" she asked desperately. "I mean, who likes being made fun of?"
Chris scoffed a little. "People don't make fun of me."
"To your face."
"What?" he gasped.
She shook her head, looking guilty all over again.
"Chris, we made her look so stupid in front of all of her friends and the guy she liked." she explained. "I can't imagine doing anything worse to somebody."
Chris nodded sadly, both of them lost in thought while exploring the hotel.
It was during this search that Ashley found something that confused her and Chris both: a bunch of newspapers telling the story of the escaped convict, but the dates didn't add up. The newspapers were fakes, something which confused both of them. Their exploration led them to a staircase leading further underground.
Ashley, however, was pretty much done in. "You know what, no."
"Ash-"
"No!" she replied, her voice rising. "I've had enough. I'm not going down any further into this nightmare, Chris!"
He nodded sagely. He could understand her reluctance. "Ashley...I understand, okay? I'm really freaked out, too. But if Sam's down there all alone with a maniac and we leave her? We're basically killing her ourselves."
Ashley bit her lip at that. She knew that Chris was right, although it didn't make her feel any better. Still, with a sigh, she chose to swallow down her fears.
"Goddamnit." she muttered.
"Ashley, come on." Chris coaxed gently.
"Why are you always right?"
"I'm not always right." Chris corrected her absently.
She sighed. "Well, when you're right, you're right."
Chris smiled gently to her and admitted, "I don't want to be. I want to leave."
"No, no." she replied, putting on a brave face. "We've gotta find Sam. Let's go."
Nodding, he began to descend the stairs with Ashley following.
Thinking over everything they'd found as she walked, Ashley shook her head. "Chris, I'm gettin' a really weird feeling from all of this."
He turned to face her. "What do you mean?"
Ashley began to sum up her thoughts. "So we're saying that the same guy who made the newspapers also set up the camera, right?"
"Yeah...I think so..." Chris replied.
Ashley shook her head. "It's just... It feels like he's constructing the whole story for us...then watching us run around, freaking out, seeing what we do, like it's...like it's some sort of fucking experiment!"
"Yikes, that...that's kinda..." Chris gasped, shocked. "That actually makes a weird sort of sense..."
Ashley nodded in agreement. Still, they pressed on, searching the corridors and finding, strangely enough, sets of batteries and timers which seemed to be connected in some weird way. Entering another room that closed them in, Ashley was the first to discover the source of the unpleasant odor.
"Oh no, you've got to be kidding me! Repulsive!" she cried out, covering her mouth, almost throwing up.
Hanging from a hook was a gutted pig's carcass.
"This can't be for eating." Chris replied with a grimace.
"Why the hell is it here?"
Chris shook his head in disgust. "It's like a goddamn grindhouse in here."
Amongst the other freaky things they found was a series of hooks and chains attached to the wall and, in quite a spooky fashion, a photo arrangement of all of them. They were more than glad to get out of that room, until they saw the next door.
Their journey led them to, of all things, a door smeared with blood.
"Oh crap, look at that..."
"Blood?!" Ashley gasped, worried.
Chris nodded, sharing her worries. "Might be Sam's... Let me see if I can get this."
He began trying to open the door, managing to do so, but seemed strained.
"Ugh, got it, but...damn, this thing is heavy."
Ashley stepped closer. "Be careful!"
"You gotta come through...Ash..." he told her. "I can't hold it... Ugh, come on..."
It was then that Ashley spotted motion in her peripheral vision and then saw a figure to her right.
"Oh, Chris!"
"What?" he grunted.
"I think I just saw Sam over there." she said quickly, pointing.
Chris shook his head. "Ash...are you SURE?"
She sighed and shook her head. "I don't know, but come on. I think we should check it out."
"Well, I'm pretty sure whoever's bleeding came through here, okay? So we really got to get moving, like, now!" Chris pointed out.
Ashley pondered briefly, but in the end, agreed with him. "Okay, yeah, you're right. I'm coming."
With that, they were able to slip through the door, which slammed shut behind them. They recovered quickly and began searching again until they came to a room with double doors. Opening them, they could see a figure slumped in a chair.
"Oh, Chris... Oh no..."
"Hello?" Chris called out hesitantly.
Ashley also did the same. "Sam?"
They approached the chair and Ashley turned it.
"Sam!" she cried out, but then paused. "I don't...I don't get it."
The figure in the chair wasn't Sam, but a mannequin that was wearing Sam's clothes. Ashley and Chris were both heavily confused and debating their discovery, both expressing extreme concern for Sam, when suddenly, Chris cried out.
"CHRIS!" Ashley screamed as she saw the Psycho attack him, gassing him to sleep. "OH SHIT!"
He then turned to her and began approaching.
"AHHH, NO!" she screamed, fumbling in her back pocket. "GET BACK! Stay the hell away from me!"
He raised the mouthpiece, ready to gas her in the same way. With a scream, Ashley was able to pull out the scissors and stab them into his shoulder.
"Oh, no, no, no..." he cried out in his distorted voice.
Ashley looked down at Chris, praying that she could do something.
"Live and learn."
"What?" she gasped, looking up.
The Psycho had recovered and with tremendous force, punched Ashley right in the face, knocking her out.
"Live..." he growled venomously, "...And learn."
Ashley groaned while Chris looked around frantically. They had both just woken up to find themselves in a rather bland room, except for the center, where they were. In the center was a table with two chairs. Ashley and Chris found themselves tied to these chairs, sitting across from one another. Ominously, a gun was situated on the table in front of them. Ashley was utterly helpless, strapped in and unable to get free. To Chris's surprise, his right hand had been left free.
"Oh shit... Oh crap..." he muttered, looking around. "Ash! ASH!"
She lifted her head to look at him and he gasped.
"Jesus, Ash. What did he do to you?"
Ashley was still dizzy and had only a vague recollection of the encounter. She was now sporting a heavy black eye, bruising all the way around her left eye.
"I think...he hit me." she choked out, wincing at the pain.
Chris growled, a suddenly feeling of rage building up inside him. "Shit. I'm gonna murder his fucking face off."
Ashley looked around frantically. "What is this?"
"This is him..." Chris realized. "This is the guy who killed Josh-"
"No, Chris! Oh my god, no!" Ashley screamed, realizing now that they had to be in some sort of death trap. "Oh God...Chris!"
Chris looked around, fuming. In his anger, he yelled out, "You murdering piece of shit! You MONSTER!"
"Look around!" Ashley cried out. "We're gonna die, Chris! I don't think I'm ready to die!"
Chris bit his lip. He had to calm her down. It hurt, strangely. It hurt him so much, seeing Ashley like this.
He gently held out his free hand. "No one is going to die." He tried to sound convincing.
Ashley looked at him, teary-eyed. "I wish I could tell you. It's just not fair!"
"What?" he asked, confused. "Tell me what?"
"It's too late! Chris, what's the point?!"
Chris shook his head, however. "Stop it, just say..."
Ashley looked at him and through the terror and tears, despite being tied to chairs and likely awaiting a death trap, Chris could honestly say that he saw something very familiar in Ashley's eyes. Something he saw in his own, if he happened to even glance at a mirror while thinking about her.
"We're always talking around it." she choked out through her tears. "And now... I mean, we've wasted everything!"
Chris spoke softly, admitting the truth at last. "Ashley...none of it was wasted."
"What do you mean?"
"Every second that I spent with you was only thing I ever wanted to do with my time." he confessed, letting his voice carry his emotions.
"What are you saying, Chris?" She could scarcely believe it. Was Chris truly admitting that he had feelings for her? Also, what a place for it.
"I'm sorry..." Chris said at last. "I should have told you how I felt."
"Chris…!" she whispered, realizing the truth at last. They both knew now.
Chris nodded and began to talk. "Ashley, I swear, when we get out of this-"
But his words were cut short by a horribly familiar sound. They looked up in terror as two circular saws situated above them turned on and began their deadly high speed rotations, all the while slowly, but inexorably descending towards them.
They both immediately panicked. Ashley tugged at her bonds, but they wouldn't budge. Chris tried to free himself with his unbound hand, but couldn't reach any of the knots.
"Oh God!"
"AHH!" Ashley screamed. "No! Help, Chris!"
He spoke swiftly but firmly, with renewed resolve. "Ashley...I'll get you out of this, I won't let you die!"
"Hello there, my special little subjects."
Ashley screamed and began sobbing as the Psycho spoke again. Unseen, but no doubt watching.
"I'm so scared, Chris..." Ashley sobbed uncontrollably.
"Aw shit..." he muttered before talking again. "Don't be scared."
The Psycho cut across him. "Oh, you should be, Ash. Because here's the twist: Chris has made one fatal choice already today... And now, he must make another. Chris, you can take that gun in front of you and shoot Ashley...or you can shoot yourself. Whoever is left can live. The choice is yours."
Chris froze, as did Ashley. It was once again a choice of killing someone, as if Chris hadn't been put through enough tonight. But to lay the burden on him again?
Chris reacted at once, however. There was another choice. He grabbed the gun and aimed upwards, shooting at the saw, but it seemed that he missed, instead shooting out the light or the bullet simply ricocheted.
"Don't be so silly, Chris." the Psycho laughed.
Chris grit his teeth. The saws were descending and he didn't have much time. It seemed that when he made his choice, either shooting himself or Ashley, the Psycho planned to stop the saws and whoever was left alive could go free.
Chris bit his lip. He couldn't believe that he was considering this.
'What is there to think about? It'll be messy, it'll hurt like fuck, but then it'll be over...' he told himself firmly. 'At least this way, Ash will live... I can't let her die...'
Chris took a deep breath and lifted the gun, aiming it against his own head.
"Wait, stop!" Ashley screamed. "You can't do it, Chris! It should be me."
He gaped, staring at her, incredulous.
She shook her head. "You chose to save me before. Let me choose this time... Let me choose to save you."
She was crying again. Chris understood what she meant. She wanted him to give her the gun so that she could do to herself what he planned to do to himself.
"Oh, fuck!" he cried out. The saws were getting closer. They were running out of time.
"If I do one last thing in my life, let me do this!" Ashley insisted before desperation took over. "Chris, please. Oh God, no! OH GOD!"
Chris remained frozen, hand trembling. He tried to bring the gun back to his head, but couldn't. With a short cry, he slammed the gun onto the table again. The saws continued their descent and Ashley saw how close they were.
"NOOO!"
Chris jerked in his seat as Ashley screamed a single, long, blood-curdling scream.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.