Until Dawn: A New Path

Chapter 18 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 18

Jess whimpered as the stranger approached her. He reached out and seized her hand.

"Urgh!" he grunted as she lashed out, striking him.

"ARGH!" she screamed out, trying to get free.

He seemed to be glaring at her as he insisted, "Shhh, quiet!"

"NO, STAY AWAY!"

Just then, there was an inhuman shriek. The man turned his head, let go of Jess' hand, and pulled a pack off his shoulder and threw it to her.

"Use these!" he told her, raising his flamethrower in the direction that he had been looking. "And get the hell out of here... Now!"

Jess was so startled by this, that she stumbled backwards, falling onto her butt. She pushed herself further back, only to fall down a ledge. The man screamed as he fired his flamethrower.

"Whoa!" Jess cried as she fell.

When she finally landed on the ground on her back, she groaned, only to have the bag that she had been given land and bounce off of her stomach.

"What?!" she cried out, before forcing herself up. "Oh shit... Oh shit... Oh boy!"

She slowly sat up, biting her lip. 'Oh God, that guy, he... Shit... I feel...'

She shuddered, feeling scared as she suddenly realized that apart from whatever was making those noises and that creepy man with the flamethrower, she was all alone. This was something that Jess hated; being alone and isolated. It brought out all of her insecurities.

'This isn't the time for that. Keep it together, Jess. You can do this, you just need to get out of here and find the others.' she told herself firmly. 'Keep it together, find the others, then you won't be alone.'

Muttering to herself, she got to her feet and opened the bag and saw that it was full of flares. Seeing her chance, she pulled one from the bag, standing up on her feet and slinging the bag over her shoulder.

"Yeah!" she cried out, lighting her flare. "Oh my god!"

She was in another tunnel. This one looked a little older, but thankfully, still seemed stable, or as stable as possible.

She took a deep breath to compose herself. "Alright, Jess..." she told herself, "Let's go."

She began her journey down the tunnel. She grimaced lightly at the stinging from the gash on the side of her face. The path was pretty straight, although the ground was uneven, and with her injured leg, Jess was soon walking with gritted teeth, trying to bear the pain. Eventually, she stopped. There was no direct path forward for her, with one exception: the wooden boards ahead of her were divided by a small gap. There was a narrow passage through.

"Okay, okay..." she told herself. "This has gotta be the way."

So she carefully slipped inside and began shimmying along the gap.

"Shit! Shit!" she cried out as a monstrous, clawed hand burst through the boards and swiped.

She yelped as the left side of her face exploded in pain, as did her right inner forearm. The claw had struck her, lashing her face and arm.

'Fuck, fuck, fuck! What was that? Oh no, it's chasing me!' she thought in a blind panic, hearing the screech and skittering noise behind her.

She ran desperately, trying to ignore the blood oozing from the side of her face. She didn't want to think what she looked like now.

'Fuck, my... My face, it... Shit, now's not the time for that.' she thought desperately.

She began to cross a bridge, which was broken. She quickly leapt the gap, but missed the second gap. Although she was able to reach the other side, she lost her flare. Silently cursing herself, she hurried onwards, glancing over her shoulder to see, to her shock, the monstrosity chasing her.

It was roughly human-sized and human-shaped, but it was most certainly not human. It was pale, its skin was almost slick and shiny, and it seemed completely hairless and naked, save for tattered clothing that resembled panties. Its eyes were white, its teeth were razor sharp, and its claws were the same. It moved on all fours and leapt around, climbing the walls and ceiling as it chased after Jess.

'Oh, fuck! Oh God, no! Please!'

With those desperate thoughts, Jess soon faced a dilemma when she reached a fork in the road and had to decide which way to turn. She soon had the choice made for her when the monster leapt in front of her, blocking the right path. She turned and ran as fast as she could down the left path.

To her great relief, she saw an elevator ahead. She prayed that this one would save her and got on, pulling the lever and then pressing herself against the wall as it began to rise. Using this reprieve, she fought to catch her breath and calm down.

"Come on!" she told herself sternly. "Breathe out...breathe in... Oh God, oh God... Snap out of it, Jess."

It was then that elevator ground to a halt, not reaching the surface, but certainly not that far from it. But the way it stopped was what terrified Jess. That wasn't a normal stop. She heard the skittering again, far too close. The thing was climbing the outside of the elevator.

She went rigid and stood so stiff that she couldn't even tremble. Her heart pounded heavily and she could hardly hear over the blood pounding in her ears. But she knew roughly where it was. She could feel its rancid breath through a gap in the wood on the back of her neck. Finally, it faded and she heard the skittering fade away.

She began to run down the passageway ahead. It was then when she realized it was a trap. The thing had been lying in wait for her and she screamed again as she was suddenly grabbed.

"No, no, NOOOO!" she screamed in terror.

It had gotten a hold of her parka hood and was dragging her back. She screamed in pain as the rough ground cut into her back, and at the exposed skin between her pulled up parka, top, T-shirt, and her jeans. She kicked her legs and struggled, but the thing was too strong.

She reacted instinctively and did the only other thing that she could. Despite the pain, she grabbed her zipper and pulled it down. Once unzipped, she raised her arms and wiggled downwards. Her plan worked and she was free. She leapt to her feet and ran on again, now no longer wearing her jacket.

The creature shrieked and threw the parka down furiously before resuming pursuit. Crying out, she ran as fast as she could, but it was gaining on her. Seeing a chain in front of her, she pulled it as she passed. Rocks fell from above, temporarily halting the beast. But it continued its pursuit.

Tipping a barrel over, trying to slow it down some more, Jess ran frantically.

'No, no, no, please! Don't let it... God, I don't wanna die!'

She pushed over a third barrel, only for this one to leak oil. She leapt back with a disgusted yelp. But then an idea struck her. She pulled another flare from her bag and lit it, throwing it onto the oil leak, creating a small fire. She then resumed her flight.

Her path, however, terminated in a drop. Taking a chance, she jumped down, finding that the drop wasn't that steep. Still, she winced as a jolt of pain shot up her injured leg. She wasted no time recovering, though.

Ahead of her was a conveyor belt, possibly her only chance out of here, as she could see that it led to a drop. But if she could jump the gap, she'd reach an upper ledge. Her only hope. So she yanked the lever and climbed onto the belt, which began moving slowly. She couldn't wait, since that thing would catch up to her at any second.

"Oh, come on..." she muttered as she began to crawl up the belt, hoping to expedite her progress. She saw another belt and took no chances. She leapt over to the other belt and hurried up it. She ran on until suddenly, something collided with her.

"AH, NO!" she screamed.

Then came a voice that she had desperately wanted to hear. "Jess?!"

She gasped, seeing him there, hurriedly helping her up. "Mike!"

She immediately latched on to him, but he pulled her back.

"Shit, what happened to you?" he gasped, seeing her injuries.

Then they heard the shrieks.

"Look out, it's a monster!" Jess cried, just at the beast emerged level with the walkway that they were on.

Mike stepped in front of her and then suddenly reached into his back pocket. Jess couldn't help but smile at his bravery as he pulled out the flare gun and fired at the monster. Immediately, he grabbed Jess' hand and they ran onwards.

They entered a wooden building that, to her relief, had moonlight filtering through the gaps in the roof. They were at the surface at last, now they just had to get outside. They immediately ran towards the door ahead and hurried through it, slamming it shut. Jess turned and bolted it shut before turning and pressing her back against it.

"Oh, please..." she gasped, trying to catch her breath and recover from her ordeal. "Oh please, oh please, please, please!" She felt like breaking into tears, but she had to keep her wits about her.

Mike grabbed her hand. "Jess, c'mon. We can't stay here." he said.

She nodded and they turned and ran, leaping across the gaps in the floor until they reached a power line. They spotted a bar hanging from the line and, taking the risk, used it as a zip-line, narrowly avoiding the beast pursuing them.

They both cried out as they escaped...until the zip-line broke and they landed in a heap in the snow below. They struggled to their feet. Jess was struggling a bit more, due to her wounds. Just then, they heard the shriek again and terror seized them. That thing wasn't done chasing them!

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.