Until Dawn: A New Path

Chapter 24 of my Until Dawn story, enjoy.

Reviews

Boris Yeltsin: Yes, indeed, and it most certainly will get worse.
Wolfgirl2013: Thanks :)

Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Until Dawn or its characters.

Chapter 24

Josh struggled desperately, trying to rise from the ground. His mind kept tormenting him. He was all alone and deeply afraid. He could hear the skittering and strange screeching that echoed nearby, then he heard something else, also echoing.

It was Hannah's voice, singing, "Frere Jacques, Frere Jacques. Dormez vous?"

He whimpered. His sister was haunting him again. "No, no, no, no..."

Then Beth's voice joined Hannah's, starting the song as Hannah continued. "Frere Jacques, Frere Jacques. Dormez vous?"

"Dormez vous? Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines! Ding dang dong."

"No, no, no... Not again!" he moaned.

"Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines! Ding dang dong." Beth's singing continued as Hannah finished. "Ding dang dong."

Josh was on his feet by now, gripping his skull, which felt like it was about to burst. He staggered back and forth, pleading.

"Not again! Get away, get away!" he cried in desperation and terror. "Get away from me!"

Finally, Beth finished. "Ding dang dong."

His sisters' voices then dissolved into laughter as he covered his ears, tears streaming down his face.

Trying hard to compose himself, he cried out desperately, "No, you're dead!"

He soon became overwhelmed, hearing more voices.

"Sorry." Dr. Hill's tone was almost disparaging.

"You're dead!" Josh screamed in fear at his sisters, still haunting him.

Dr. Hill's voice continued. "You can't change what happened last year."

"Josh." Hannah called out.

"Shut up!"

"We miss you, Josh." Hannah's voice continued, undeterred.

Josh shook his head vehemently. "No! You're dead!"

Hannah's voice suddenly became menacing. "Come with us."

Josh shuddered and tried to get a sense of his surroundings, in order to find a way out of this nightmare.

Suddenly, Mike's voice echoed in his head too, followed by his own and then Chris's.

"A goddamn murderer is what you are!"

"...It's not ready..."

"You manipulated us!"

He shook his head in denial. "No, they're gonna love it..."

"You're a coward!" Chris's voice snapped. "Are you insane?!"

He heard his own voice again. "I just want us to have a good time. They're gonna love it when it's ready."

But it hadn't turned out that way. They'd overreacted and now he was stuck in this living nightmare.

He heard Ashley's voice screaming in his head, her cry of terror. Then suddenly, his own voice, distorted as the Psycho.

"Hello there!"

Josh shuddered and hissed, "I don't take orders from you... You can't tell me what to do..."

He heard Ashley again, from the time that they did the seance. "Josh! I don't know what's going on!"

Josh grit his teeth, hearing the Psycho again. "How does it make you feel?"

"You can't tell me what to do anymore..."

The Psycho just laughed. "Time has run out for Josh."

But soon, the voices began to fade and he felt something else. This new feeling, whatever it was, felt as if it was guiding him.

Hannah's voice echoed again. "Come with us."

"I trust you." he said at last.

Composing himself, he soon found himself standing, ready to try and find his way out of this nightmare. He stumbled along a nearby path, towards the edge of the cavern, seeking a way out.

Suddenly, however, Beth appeared, blocking the path. Her skin was heavily decayed, as expected of a corpse.

"Josh!"

He stumbled back, panicking again. "No! No, no, no, you're not real!"

Beth spoke again, her voice hoarse. "We were all alone down there..."

"No, no... No, no, not again."

He stumbled away, attempting to head the other way.

Unfortunately, this time, when Beth appeared, an equally decayed Hannah appeared alongside her.

"All alone." Hannah exclaimed. "But you're with us now."

"No!" he cried out. "Get away!"

"Family."

He tried to run away, down another path. "Get away from me! Get away!"

"Why didn't you save us, Josh?" Beth demanded in an accusatory tone. "Why did you want us to die?"

Josh shook his head desperately. "I didn't, I didn't want you to die, I swear!"

He stumbled away, trying to drown out the sounds of his sisters' voices. But when he stopped and opened his eyes again, he saw that the wall in front of him had taken on the appearance of pig skin and a knife cut through it, the head of a squealing pig emerging. Josh screamed and cried out before lashing out, punching the thing in the face.

As it hit the ground, he let out a sound of disgust, before panicking again as it began to writhe and turn into a gigantic pile of pig entrails, which suddenly morphed into Hannah and Beth again, now blood-stained and towering over him.

"Josh!"

"No, no, n-n-n-no... I don't... I don't take orders from you! No..." he pleaded.

Hannah suddenly reached up and ripped the skin off her face, revealing a skull. "Is this what you want?"

"NO, NO!" he screamed. "Why are you doing this?! Leave me alone! Why are you doing this?!"

Hannah suddenly began accusing him again. "Why didn't you save us, Josh? Why did you want us to die?"

"You're dead!" he screamed. "You're dead!"

Suddenly, he heard an unearthly screech and from within the walls, another face appeared, gaunt and stark white. Sightless eyes glared at him as its razor sharp teeth parted. Josh started at it in utter panic and disbelief.

Sam shook her head as she walked alongside Mike, searching for Josh. She did her best to ignore the sticky feeling against her shins, how her yoga pants now stuck to her shins. She had reopened or gained fresh wounds to her legs, as well as scratches on her right collarbone and up her neck a little. She also felt the two large scrapes on her right cheek and above her left eyebrow.

Mike now sported a black eye, several scratches and scrapes, and was covered in grime. Neither of them said much at first, both still reeling from their close encounter with the Wendigo.

"I was not prepared for how ugly that thing would be up close." she said at last.

"Yeah." Mike replied, hesitating briefly before continuing, "So, I noticed something kind of weird about it..."

Sam turned her head towards him, biting her lip, worried. "Uh...what?"

"The Wendigo, it had a scar."

"So?" she queried.

Mike sighed. "I've seen it before."

Sam stopped. "What are you talking about?"

"I saw these old pictures of some guy with that same scar and he was transforming into a Wendigo." Mike explained.

Sam gasped. "You're kidding."

Mike nodded. "It was one of those miners who'd been trapped, back in the fifties, in the cave-in. Which means that thing is eighty years old, at least."

Sam shook her head and resumed walking. "Spunky for an old timer."

She just prayed that they'd find Josh soon. This was starting to fray even her nerves. This was all crazy, it had been the scariest and most nerve-jarring night of her life. The things she'd seen, the things she'd felt and endured, and the feelings of violation that she had felt were still lingering. She was certain that the others felt the same.

'Urgh, after all of this, if I get outta here alive, I just wanna crawl into a bed and not move for a week.' she thought.

She was drained, physically and mentally. But until she was able to help the others and get everybody out, she couldn't afford to rest. She relied on her adrenaline to keep her going, at least for now.

"They cleaned the place out..." Mike said at last, continuing their earlier conversation. "Killed a lot of people."

"They?" she asked, suddenly realizing just what he'd said. "You mean there are more of them?"

"Oh, yeah."

"How many?" she asked worriedly.

Mike's answer didn't help, either. "Too many."

Suppressing a shudder, Sam thought for a moment. "I think we're close to the lair."

"How can you tell?" he asked, incredulous.

"I don't know, I just..." she replied hesitantly. "Feel really terrible all of a sudden."

Mike sighed and replied honestly, "Ditto."

She shuddered and tried to focus on moving forwards.

Their path continued onwards until they found themselves at the edge of an underground lake, certainly going to be frigid cold.

"I really don't want to go in there." Sam muttered.

Mike shrugged. "There's no other way through."

But Sam wasn't convinced. She decided to see if the path to the right could get them around. As they walked, however, her hopes soon died. But then she saw something else.

"Mike, is that what I think it is?" she asked warily.

"Shit..." he muttered. "Looks like a grave."

Getting closer, they saw that it was indeed a grave. A grave that had been dug up. Something glinted in the center of it. Sam carefully stepped in and picked it up. Stepping back out of the grave, she and Mike examined the object. It was a wristwatch. Engraved on the back it were the initials B.W.

Sam gasped, recognizing it. "Oh God... Mike, this is Beth's! This is her watch!"

"What? Let me see..." he replied, shocked.

Sam then noticed and pointed out, "Look, there was a cross here."

"So this is where she was buried."

Sam looked at the desecrated grave. "But...who dug her up?"

Mike shuddered, disturbed. "Let's keep moving."

Sam quietly agreed and they returned to the ledge that they had approached earlier, by the waterside.

Sam cringed as she looked over the murky water before sitting down, Mike sitting next to her.

"Fine...I'm going in." she said at last.

But she hesitated. Mike just shook his head and slid into the water. He waded forwards a few steps.

"Come on, it's okay." he told her as reassuringly as he could.

Sam shook her head. "You sure?"

"I'm not dead yet."

"Famous last words." she replied casually. Still, she slid into the water and gasped audibly.

"It's freezing! I can't feel my fingers." she exclaimed.

Mike just nodded and they continued to wade through the water. Suddenly, Sam felt herself panic as the floor sloped down sharply, causing the water to get higher. Sam was soon in the water nearly up to her neck.

"Holy shit." Mike muttered. He wasn't quite as submerged.

Looking around worriedly, Sam grimaced. "Wait a minute, I thought you'd reached the deepest part."

Mike shook his head, turning his head towards her. "I didn't say that. I said it was okay, meaning, like, there weren't any sharks or anything in here."

"Sharks?" Sam groaned. "Great, thank you!"

Rolling her eyes, she was relieved to find that the path to the ledge was sloping upwards.

However, as they continued onwards, Mike noticed something which worried him. "It's getting deeper."

Sam cringed. "Yeah, um..."

She was now up to her chin, but pushed on. A little further ahead, Mike spoke again, his words a relief to her in the frigid water.

"Okay, okay... Hey, it's sloping up again. We're gonna make it."

Relief flooded her, but she replied in desperation, "Oh my god, don't jinx it!"

Finally, they made it to the other side and climbed out, much to their relief. Quickly gathering themselves, they approached the metal door at the other end of the ledge. They attempted to open the door when it suddenly burst open. They reacted in surprise as water gushed from the door. Amongst the water, however, shocking them both and making Sam scream, was a decomposing head.

"Jesus, she... Jee..." Mike stammered.

They slid through the door, suddenly dreading what they were going to find. Inside, in varying states of decay, hanging from the ceiling on meat hooks, were bodies. Two of them they recognized right away as the stranger, even without his head, and Emily. What neither of them saw was that in the water, watching them intently, was a Wendigo.

Still reeling from their discovery of the bodies, Mike suddenly heard something. He looked through a gap in the boards.

"Wait, hold on. I think I saw something."

Sam joined him and they looked carefully. At the other end, jabbering to himself, was Josh. Sam cried out his name as they found a door in the wooden wall and hurried through towards him.

"I don't take orders from you. You can't tell me what to do..." Josh was mumbling.

"Hey! Hey, Josh!" Mike called out.

They both shared a worried glance as Josh continued jabbering. They watched as Josh seemed to not even see them.

"What's the matter with him, Mike?" Sam asked, concerned.

Mike shook his head, recalling the incident in the shed. "He's tripping or something. Josh!"

As he shouted, he smacked Josh in the face. Josh staggered and blinked.

"M...Mike?"

"Josh... Hey, man." Mike replied, a little relived that he seemed himself again.

Josh shook his head, nearly whimpering. "Don't h-hit me, p-please-"

Mike shook his head. "You were deep in it, man. Full mental jacket."

"We didn't think we'd get you back..." Sam said softly. "Josh, do you have the key to the cable car?"

He quickly nodded. Josh handed over the key for the cable car to Sam and then she saw something. Light was coming from above, from a cliff wall.

"See that over there?" she said quickly. "That means there's a direct way out. C'mon."

Mike shook his head. "There's no way that Josh is gonna make it up there."

Josh just nodded, still looking a little out of it.

Sam thought for a moment. "Okay, if you can help me up, I can go back to tell the others we're okay. You bring Josh back the way we came and we'll all meet at the lodge.

"Yeah, yeah, good." Mike replied with a smile. "Be careful."

Sam nodded. "You, too."

With that, he gave Sam a boost and she began climbing the wall.

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