Until Dawn: A New Path
Chapter 22 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 22
Desperately pursuing Mike, Sam led the way. What she had seen in the stranger's journal had her worried enough that she was willing to abandon the relative safety of the basement for this. Ashley, Chris, Matt, and Jess all followed her. All of them were carrying flashlights to ensure that no one was caught in the dark.
"Come on, guys! Hurry up!" she insisted. "We've gotta find Mike, come on."
Chris was at the back of the group and falling behind, however. Limping heavily on his ankle, he was now definitely sure that it was sprained.
He shook his head. "Hey... Ahhh, I'm kinda gimping out here, guys."
They all turned to him, worried.
"I think that maybe you should go on without me." he said at last.
Ashley immediately hurried up to him. "Oh God, Chris. Are you gonna be okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, just go on..." he replied. "I...I can't keep up with you macho ladies."
"Oh God, Chris. Just stop it, okay?" Ashley sighed at his joke.
"Listen, just go on ahead, okay? You've gotta warn Mike. I'll be right behind you..." he said as reassuringly as he could. "I'm just gonna take a breather."
Matt stepped up. "Hey, I'll stay with him. Don't worry."
Ashley reluctantly agreed and joined the others as Chris sat down, Matt kneeling next to him.
Meanwhile, they continued onwards until they eventually reached a door at the end of the tunnel, the door to the Sanatorium, according to the map they had seen.
Sam tried to open it but it wouldn't budge.
"Oh, shit. Mike must have locked it behind him. CRAP!" She let out a frustrated groan. "There's gotta be another way in..."
They all looked around and that was when Ashley saw the manhole in the ground.
"Wait, hey, what about this?" she said, getting Sam's attention. "I mean, should we try it?"
Sam shrugged. "Well, it's not like we've got a whole lot of choices here."
Ashley conceded that point and, using a nearby pipe, was able to open the manhole cover and, together with Sam, was able to move it aside. Staring down the dank hole sent shivers down Ashley's spine.
"Okay, this is the last place I'd wanna be in right now." she muttered.
Sam just nodded. "So, who's going first?"
Ashley let out a short laugh and Jess smirked.
"After you."
Rolling her eyes, Sam began to slide her way into the hole and climb down the ladder.
"Not so bad." she commented. "You think this is the tunnel to the Sanatorium?"
"Of course it is." Ashley replied at once. "Where else would it go?"
Jess quickly followed Sam, but Ashley paused, looking back in the direction where Chris had been left behind.
She turned and called down to the others. "I wanna make sure that Chris can find us." An idea then came to her. "Hey, maybe if I leave some marks along the way, he'll be able to follow us."
Sam bit her lip, looking unsure.
Ashley, however, was confident and told them, "You know what? You go on, I'll catch up."
Sam reluctantly agreed and she and Jess hurried onwards.
Meanwhile, Ashley marked an arrow on the ground next to the manhole and paused for a moment, thinking. She wanted to make sure that Chris knew she had left the mark. An idea then came to her. She quickly removed her beanie and set it on the ground, next to the arrow. Smiling, she climbed down the ladder, heading into the caverns below.
She looked around, using her flashlight to try and see. No other way to find the others, except by going through the tunnels, it seemed. She walked onwards, keeping her eyes and ears open. She couldn't deny that she was scared. Her heart was hammering again, but she kept going. After coming this far, she didn't want to let the others down by remaining in hiding like a coward.
"Help me!"
She jumped, upon hearing the voice.
"H-hello?" she called out, realizing that it was coming from a side passage. She'd have to climb through a gap and then jump down to reach the tunnel. "Who's there? Anybody?"
The voice screamed again and Ashley realized that it sounded familiar.
"Emily? Is that you…?"
The voice continued to scream and Ashley decided to investigate.
"This is fucking crazy... Emily!"
She leapt down from the ledge and continued on the path, searching and calling out. She finally found the source of the noise. It sounded like Emily was screaming and banging on a trapdoor in the floor.
"Oh God..." Ashley muttered. "Oh no, no, no..."
She stopped before opening the trapdoor, however. While it sounded like Emily, Ashley suddenly remembered that it couldn't be. Matt had insisted that she was dead. Not only that, she suddenly remembered something that she had read in the stranger's journal about how Wendigos could mimic the voices of those close to the people they hunted, in order to lure them into a trap. A particularly hard thump on the trapdoor rattled it, making her jump, and convinced her that it was a Wendigo. Emily was definitely not that strong.
So, forcing herself to ignore the voice, she moved on, following the tunnel ahead until she was able to climb through another gap and reach the former path again, just in time to spot Sam and Jess just ahead.
"Oh my god, I am so glad to see you." she burst out as she rushed over to them.
They both turned and Sam smiled. "Glad you're safe."
Ashley looked at the wall ahead. It was rough, uneven. Then she saw the broken remains of a ladder, too high up for them to reach.
"Look, look there!" she cried, pointing it out.
They turned and Sam groaned. "Wow, great."
Ashley bit her lip. "The ladder's toast. We're never going to make it up there!"
Sam, however, shook her head and refused to give up, a steely glint in her eye. "No, no, no, I think I can... I think I can do it. It's like...a rock wall."
She smiled and turned to Ashley and Jess. "I'm gonna keep going. You should head back to the lodge. I've gotta get Mike."
"Good luck." Ashley replied.
Jess bit her lip before stepping up to Sam. "Sam, please, you have to find Mike and keep him safe."
Sam smiled and nodded. "I will."
With that, Ashley and Jess turned back and began heading back the way they came.
Chris limped closer to the door, Matt alongside him. Both of them were looking around. This was an apparent dead end.
"Sam!" Chris cried out. "ASH! You guys hear me?"
He looked down and stopped when he saw the open man hole. He examined it and then saw the arrow and something familiar.
'Ashley's beanie. She's never taken it off during the whole time we were here... She must have made the arrow...' he realized, grinning. 'Clever, Ash.'
Picking up Ashley's beanie, he climbed down the manhole, relieved that, while it still hurt, his ankle wasn't making it too hard to walk now. Matt followed, grinning, too. As he continued onwards, he heard something. A voice screaming for help.
"Huh, hello?" he called out. "Who's there?"
It sounded familiar, but he shook his head. It couldn't be, since Matt had assured him that Emily was dead. Matt was shaking his head, glaring, as if confirming his thoughts. So, pressing onwards, they soon had to jump down a ledge, despite the jolt of pain for Chris, and continued.
'Fuck, man. That hurt...'
However, he soon stopped and smiled when he saw Ashley and Jess hurrying back towards him.
"Chris!" Ashley cried.
"Hey!"
She noticed that he looked spooked. "God, what happened?"
He shook his head. "I thought I heard Emily."
"Oh my god..." Ashley shook her head.
Matt sighed and, nodding to Jess, he spoke. "We'd all better get going."
They began to leave, with the girls telling them what Sam had said. Neither of them liked the thought of leaving her there, but agreed.
Chris then grinned and pulled something from his pocket. "Here, I think this belongs to you, Ash." he said, handing her the beanie.
She smiled, blushing lightly. "Thanks, Chris. You got the message, then."
He nodded, smirking as she pulled it back on and they continued to head back.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.