-Not terribly much to say this time around, other than I'm trying and devoting all of my time to this story in particular. Hope you enjoy this latest chapter! -


"Oh- FUCK!"

In the span of mere seconds, Mike's entire world was flipped completely on its head. What the hell just happened!? Jess, she was... taken?!

Mike practically flew forward through the room, taking the nearby lantern in his hands. He barely registered that his other hand was empty by now, apparently having dropped the Kama Sutra book at some point. That was the least of his worries now; his greater concern was crying out for him likely miles away! As he rushed closer to the door, he made a quick grab for the nearby gun that was mounted on the wall.

"Oh fuck, what the fuck-?!" Mike practically threw the door open as he threw himself outside and screamed, "JESSICA!" As he dashed down the steps, he suddenly came to a stop upon reaching the very bottom stairs and into the ice. He found his boots crunching upon snow, but also something else a little harder. Looking down he could see broken shards of glass littering the snow, but the more alarming part was the small red droplets that stained their white image.

"Oh my GOD!" he breathed as he gazed upon the ground in horror, "Oh my god..." It had to have been from the glass cutting her, but if anything else laid a single hair on her...

He shot his head up to look out into the thick of the woods. Directly in front of him lay another path that stretched out from the front of the front of the cabin itself, as opposed to the path he and Jess had come from on the side before. Terror still gripping his being, he felt some reassurance in the strange drag tracks seen along this trail; that had to be where Jess was taken!

"Jess!" he called out again before breaking off into a full-blown run. Rapid snow-crunching was heard beneath his boots with each step he took. This lantern he held in his hand was a little better than his flashlight, as it was lighting up the darkness from different angles as opposed to only what was directly in front of him. Unfortunately, the drag marks on the ground continued on despite how he'd been running thus far. Even worse was that Jess herself couldn't be heard at all, whether from her screams or anything else, which only filled Mike with more dread.

All around him the trees gradually began to thin out as he found himself emerging from the thickest of these woods he'd been running through. He came to an eventual halt outside of the tree line and took in where he stood now. He stood next to a rushing river, with the trail itself leading along its length and a rustic fence set up in between. Thankfully the drag marks could still be seen along the ground, meaning that's where Jess had to have been taken along. He quickly scanned forward along the trail and frowned upon seeing that the trail seemed to stretch on even further along the river's bank... before eventually crossing over the river itself. This was no good! There had to be a faster way to catch up with...

He looked to the opposing side and saw that there was a break in the wooden fence. But not only was there a break in the fence, but looking down into the river itself, a few metal-looking pipes could be seen laying across in the water barely submerged. They weren't connected to each other, but they did seem to span the width of the river just enough. He wanted a shortcut? This was a close to one as he'd get!

Mike neared the edge of the riverbank, flanked on both sides by snow-covered rocks, then gently lowered himself feet first down onto the first metal pipe. The metallic structure held its ground, or in the water as it were, which Mike was quickly thankful for. He then steadied himself on his feet and nudged his way carefully and closer to the edge. This was going to take the nimblest of jumps that he could manage...!

Hefting his gun into his hand, his lantern held out in front of him for light, Mike took the first leap! He landed squarely upon the edge of the next metal pipe, then took a quick moment to re-balance himself before moving on to the next one.

"Come on, come on Mike...!" he grunted as he leaped onto the third pipe. His land was successful yet again! Now there was only one pipe left to leap onto before he'd reach the other side...

His foot made contact with the edge of the final pipe, and Mike's world was suddenly thrown all around as he felt his foot slip out from underneath! With a cry he fell onto his side on the pipe before sprawling over into the icy cold, thankfully shallow river beneath!

Mike hit the water with a splash. The shallowness of the water may have produced a small splash, but it might has well have felt like a tsunami in his mind. He cried out as stinging ice bit at his skin from all sides where he hit the water, made only worse when it laid bare before the whipping ice winds.

With gargled grunts and groans Mike clambered up to reach back onto the pipe, desperate to pull himself up and out of the water. After a few attempts at clawing his way out, he finally drew himself from the icy river. His entire body felt like a shivering mess and for a moment Mike was almost aware of this. But his feeling of desperation quickly overrode his self-preservation instincts. He still had to get to Jessica!

After carefully pulling himself to his feet and successfully balancing on the pipe again, Mike took greater care in jumping onto the opposing riverbank. He was now clear of the river entirely, though he could've done so without drenching himself.

Looking to the side, the path itself was now stretching from over the river and into the thick of the woods on the side he was on.

"Jess!" he called out as he rushed over to rejoin the path. His lantern held aloft in front of him provided him adequate lighting to not only see where he was going, but to confirm the drag marks were still present along this trail. She had come this way, now he just had to get to her!

"JESSICA!" he shouted out as he ran. There was still no reply of any sort from his girlfriend. No screams, no cries, not any sort of noise at all. His worry only grew along with his quickened breathing. His soaked pants were beginning to stick to his legs, only accentuating the feeling of pure ice gripping him. If it weren't for his legs feeling like they were on fire with how fast he was pushing himself, he might've almost had reason to care.

Mike then came to a sudden halt by what lay in front of him. Or rather, what didn't lay in front of him. The path he was following on came to a sheer drop! Down below held only thicker shadows from where the moon's light wasn't quite able to reach into. The drag marks had continued along the edge though, so there wasn't anywhere else Jess could've gone! But where was she...?

"Okay, okay..." Mike brought himself down to one knee, set the lantern down, and hefted his gun up to his front. He'd be able to see a little further with the weapon's telescope, and maybe he'd even get a shot in on whatever took Jess, "Jesus, fuck-FUCK-!"

Through the narrowed vision of the scope and its crosshairs, Mike looked out at what lay down before him. A couple of snow-covered rocks and a tree were all that he could see at the moment. Aside from that, nothing else. No Jess, no whatever that took her, not even any sort of disturbed brush or snow-tracks to give away-

As Mike drew the gun and its scope to the side, his eyes widened. There, sprawled along the snow-covered ground, was Jess! She was alive! He felt his breath quicken as he took in more of her. She was crawling along the ground after looking back behind her.

"Jess!" he called out to her. She had to have heard him, and maybe see where he was.

Just like that, Jess' form suddenly was pulled in the direct opposite of where she was crawling! Her distant screams could be heard along with her cries for him.

"Nooo-!" Mike cried out himself. From the speed in which she was moving, he wasn't able to get a good fix on whatever it was that had her! His good feeling was then soon dashed as her form disappeared behind a nearby rock, completely gone from his view.

He lowered his gun from his view and rose to his feet, before shouldering it and picking up his lantern. He had seen her down there, in that shadowy part of this little canyon, which was where he had to be!

Without any second thought, Mike jumped over the edge of the cliff. Try as he might, he aimed his fall so that he was dragging himself along the wall behind him to slow his descent. His efforts were met with a slower fall, but also with the harsh feeling of cold scratching against his back.

"Fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-FUCK!" he called out. At some point he had lost his grip on the lantern, having caught sight of it falling to the ground much faster than he was. This was no good; he had to catch something before he hit the ground hard!

His eyes darted up just in time to catch sight of a nearby low-hanging tree root. It was jutting out of the rock wall from behind him. That was his best chance! He shot both of his hands out to grab hold of it. Fingers clamped down hard upon the entire width of the wood, with ice biting into his fingers from the snow on top of it.

Mike suddenly felt his breath quicken as he felt movement from under his hands. His grip was slipping! It was rotating fast that at this rate he wouldn't-

One at a time, his hands lost their grip on the slippery wood, causing him to fall again. This time. he was in faster free fall. His eyes widened in shock, and he cried out as he fell back first towards the ground.

At last, his back and the ground met, rather hard. Mike felt the wind knocked out of him as well as stinging snow bite into his back and neck. Thankfully the snow had acted as a cushion between his back and whatever hard ground he had fallen upon, but it didn't make it hurt any less; neither his back, nor his pride for having missed that chance to land on his feet.

Eventually, Mike pulled himself to his feet painfully, cursing himself for the amount of time this was taking him to chase after Jess. His back was hurting bad, almost like he landed on some rock. He then hastily reached down to pick up the nearby lantern that had fallen down already and resumed his race after Jess.

The narrow canyon didn't provide much room, but in this case that was a good thing. It meant that Jess could've only come this way. And the lantern Mike held in his hand before him provided just enough light for him to see where he was running. This was it, no more delays, no more screw-ups! He would get Jess back, no matter what!

Directly in front of him lay a large tree that had fallen over, nearly blocking the entire pathway. Thankfully though, there was enough of a gap underneath it for Mike to quickly duck into a roll and maintain his momentum. However, he almost wasn't ready for the next obstacle, in the form of a fallen log resting upon the pathway itself. Reacting quickly, he leaped up and over it easily enough. It was by this point that the burning feeling in his legs was starting to overpower the icy sting of his wet pants. This was good, no time to be frozen now!

With the light held before him, Mike easily saw the next smaller tree that lay across the pathway and quickly vaulted over it, as well as an even smaller tree log directly after that one! Jeez, was something actually trying to stop him from getting to Jess?!

Mike came to an almost sliding, abrupt halt as he forced himself to stop. If he hadn't had this light up and in front of him, he might not have even seen this sudden drop in the path in the form of a small pit! Well, whether this was a pit or not, a couple of interspaced rocks that served as platforms would be his only way across this thing! Unless...

The direct right side of this pass showed him that there was a small ledge, running the length from his side all the way to the other, which was where he needed to be. The ledge itself was just big enough for his feet, but other than that, looked to be a little narrow...

"Drgh, screw it!" Mike dismissed the idea. Keeping firm grip on both his gun and the lantern, he backed himself up to prepare a decent running start. He then dashed forward and leaped as hard as his legs would allow. For a brief moment Mike caught a glimpse of down below, however far it stretched down. He quickly brought his gaze up just in time to stick the first landing on his foot. With his continued momentum, he rushed forward to jump to the other side, and stuck the landing! Having reached the other side, he continued his chase!

The path by now was beginning to take a sharp incline, almost looking like a small hill. Up in the sky, the moon was shining down upon him from a cloudless sky, practically lighting up the snowy ground into a natural lighted path for Mike to trek up along.

Finally, he cleared the top of the hill and came to a halt. His eyes scanned downward at what all lay before him. There were some old looking wooden buildings, probably for mining. Everything looked decrepit and run down, as well as completely snowed over. The more Mike looked around, the more scared and alarmed he became at what he saw; or rather what he couldn't see. Jess was still nowhere to be seen at all!

"Come on Jess, where are you...?!" he said to himself. From this pass he had exited, there was literally no other way that anyone could've gone. Whatever it was that took Jess had to have taken her into that creepy mining town! Which was where he himself had to be! The only question remained: how was he to get down?

A small path curved to the left side that would lead him towards what looked like a sawmill, with a large wooden wheel and everything. He could go that way, and take that long, winding walkway all the way to the bottom ground. Mike shook his head; there couldn't be any more delays or messing up. He had to get down to the lower ground NOW! Which could only mean sliding down this very sheer downward slope on the right side...

"Oh shit..." he said as he carefully eased his way forward towards the drop. Maybe if he moved slow enough he could at least control himself as he-

His plan immediately was dashed as he felt his foot slip out from underneath him on the slippery snow! His balance thrown off, Mike began to tumble straight down the snowy incline.

"Oh no no NO! Dammit!" he cried out. At some point during his free fall tumble, he again lost grip of his lantern. Snow was beginning to nip its sharp cold sting on the exposed skin of his shoulders. Through his disoriented vision his eyes darted around, and his arms flailed, desperate to grab onto something, anything to stop himself!

His fingers suddenly felt something underneath them and he clamped down as hard as he could. For the briefest of moments, the world around him stablized.

That hope was again dashed as yet again his fingers slipped from the snow-top of what was a tree root, and Mike began to slide unhindered yet again! He cried out as he felt his back smack against the side of a rock, which inadvertently altered his fall to slightly straighten it out. Mike had a much clearer view that he was now passing over the slope's snowy edge and straight towards the ground. Unfortunately, there was nothing anywhere for him to reach out and grab onto.

With a thud, accompanied with the wind knocked out of him again, Mike hit the ground on his back hard. This time there was no snow to cushion the blow. Pain erupted all throughout his body from the point of impact, and only grew duller from there. Mike winced as he struggled to pull himself up from the ground.

"Come on, come on..." he grunted, trying desperately to roll himself to his side, "Let's go, Mikey-boy!" Eventually he powered through his pain and rolled himself over, his hands pressing into the ground. Dull pain shot up his back, and it was only now that Mike realized why exactly his back had hurt like this. He had apparently landed straight on the gun that was directly between him and the ground! He mentally hoped he hadn't broken it during the fall; he was definitely going to be needing it later!

One foot beneath him followed by another, he finally rose to his feet. He shook off the loose specks of snowflakes that had clustered on him from the fall before reaching down to retrieve the fallen lantern. In a morbid way he was glad that Jess wasn't around to see all the times that he'd been messing up; she'd probably never let him hear the end of it! Instantly Mike's mind was brought back to reality as he was reminded that he had to keep chasing after Jess! Except, where was she? And for that matter, where was he?

He held the lantern's light up to shine light upon where he now stood. Old rotten wood boards were seen all around him, a primitive wooden shack with hardly anything inside of it. Yet directly above him were no board or anything to serve as a roof for this shack, which explained why he had fallen practically unhindered into it in the first place. The only exit lay in a door-less threshold directly in front of him, which would lead straight out into the open snowy grounds, lit up by the moon-lit sky.

As he exited, a familiar scream ripped through the air again, prompting Mike to bolt into a run again. That was Jess' scream, meaning she was still alive! It also sounded much closer to where he was, which would make it easier to track her.

"Fuck!" he panted, "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck...!" He ran in the direction he was certain he'd heard her screams come from. Various rotting wood boards that no longer served the purpose of what they were made for were seen all around him, making this mining town a regular ghost town. In between his running Mike tried to pant a little softer himself so he could hear his girlfriend's cries better. Unfortunately, there was little he could do to make the sound of his own snow-crunching footsteps any softer; time was of the essence after all!

"Oh no! MICHAEL!" Jess' cries could be heard again, right as Mike rounded a corner of one of the wooden buildings. The next thing before him was a much larger, yet no less run-down mining building, practically a silhouette against the moonlight being cast from directly behind it. That wasn't the only thing to be seen however; even from the distance between them, Mike could see movement in front of the building! Jess' thrashing form was being pulled towards the central door in front before disappearing completely through it!

"JESSICA!" Mike cried out, pushing himself to run faster than ever before!

"Help me-!" Jess' voice became muted as it was cut off from the door closing behind her. Luckily Mike didn't have that much further to run to get to her. A little bit further with running over barely seen iron mining railway tracks and he'd be there in no time!

Mike finally reached the door, gripped the handle with a free hand and pulled as hard as he could. Fortunately, there was no resistance at all as the door simply swung right open, almost off its hinges from how hard he pulled. He threw himself inside and slammed the door behind him to behold what lay inside.

His fear and anxiety only escalated as Jess was nowhere to be seen in this room. What? Where the hell was she?! All that could be seen a big empty room, with parts of the ceiling having already broken in to allow some snow to fall through inside. It didn't make sense; she was right here, how could she have been taken 'this' fast?

"No no NO! MICHAEL! HELP ME!"

Mike's mind snapped to alertness again upon hearing Jess' screams, somehow distant yet again, yet still within this building he stood in.

"Jessica! I'm coming!" Mike called out, quickly dashing towards the nearby wooden steps, "I'm coming!" There was literally nowhere else this room could lead to other than where these stairs went. A nearby sign on the wall next to it indicated it would lead to an elevator as well. Mike only felt his fear rise when his calls for her were only met with more incoherent screaming. She wasn't screaming in direct response to his own cries; did she know where he was? Did she know if he was getting closer to her? Did he himself even know?

He reached the bottom end of the wooden steps and walked back upon dirt ground. With no other doors or hallways around, a massive tunnel in the nearby wall was the only other way to progress. As Mike prepared to charge into the tunnel, something caught his attention.

There, at the very entrance of the tunnel, a small pink object lay on the ground. Its color greatly contrasted against the drab brown of the ground around it. Even before Mike brought the lantern's light closer to investigate, he could feel his heart skip a beat upon realizing what he had found.

"No way..." he breathed, reaching down to pick up Jess' phone. She just had it with her too; she must have gone through here! Or was taken through this hallway! Placing the phone in his back pocket, Mike entered the tunnel.

All fear and reservations for the spookiness of the tunnel itself were completely lost in this moment. Mike's only fear and concern lay squarely with Jessica. Which were only exacerbated by him walking further into this tunnel and not seeing any signs of her besides darkness. His footsteps echoing along the walls against the wooden ground floor were the only external sounds he could hear. At least, up until he progressed a few steps further into the tunnel.

"Oh no- MICHAEL!" Jessica's screams were heard once more.

"JESSICA!" Mike called back out to her while moving faster.

"HELP M-!" There was no denying she heard him that time. And her voice sounded a little bit closer too! Mike had to be getting closer to her by now! Just how much more of this tunnel was there to go through?

His answer came a few steps further, when the tunnel opened up into a larger chamber area. The place was bathed in almost complete darkness, with only his lantern in hand to provide any sort of light. What he could see before him was a metallic structure in the center of the room with chain-link walls on almost all sides of it. Likely this was the elevator that sign had indicated would be here.

There was still no sign of Jessica though. It didn't make sense; she was calling out to him earlier, and she had to have come through here. Where else could she have gone? Mike carefully approached this elevator shaft, pausing just outside of the entrance to it. He then heard a noise from up above him, which drew his attention. In that moment, he wished he hadn't heard anything at all.

Jessica came freefalling from up above, falling straight down towards the bottom of the shaft near where he stood.

"Jessi-!" Mike exclaimed while jumping back. Jess' body hit the bottom with a resounding thud of metal vibrating. Mike's heart positively felt crushed upon what lay before him. From the angle of her head, Jess' eyes rolled up to look at him... and kept rolling up further. That was not the worst of it thought. Mike's own eyes widened, and his mouth slowly opened upon seeing his girlfriend's own mouth. Or rather, what was left of it.

The entire jaw was gone!

Splotches of red blood stained her skin where her lower jaw once was, in addition to her tongue that somehow remained in place. Despite having no jaw, a low moan of a death rattle managed to exit her mouth.

In that moment, Mike's entire world felt like it shattered to pieces.

"NOOOO!" he exclaimed, "Oh GOD!"

He set the gun down next to him, or he let it slip from his fingers; he didn't care in that moment. This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't! There was no way this was real! She was still alive, she had to be! There was no way...

He quickly closed his eyes, as tightly as he could. This wasn't real; not at all. Jess was still very much alive the last time he saw her. Panicked or something sure, but she was still alive! And when he opened his eyes, he was going to see her alive still. Her eyes looking up at him, and her mouth smiling upon seeing him again. That's what was going to happen...

His eyes opened, only to be met with instead of blissful fantasy, a harsh reality.

Did he take too long? Did he take too long in getting to her? From those times he kept tripping and falling in chasing after her?!

Mike quickly felt a mounting feeling in his stomach, followed by a repression on his throat to keep anything from coming up. How could this be happening?! Jessica was his girlfriend! The light of his life! She couldn't be dead, she just couldn't!

"Jessica!" he called out to her. Her expressionless face gave no response, "No... no, Jessica...!" He could feel his eyes start to sting a little. She was really gone, wasn't she? He could feel a deep chill run up and down his spine, then spread all throughout his entire body. His entire body felt like ice; completely deep frozen, but also stinging pain of frostbite. In this moment Mike was certain: nothing could ever hurt him as painfully as what he was feeling right now. He had failed her, and now she was gone.

Gently, Mike reached out his hand to touch her face. Just one last time, he had to feel what her skin felt like-

He yelped as the metal platform Jess laid on suddenly broke in place, before tumbling straight down. Mike leapt to his feet as he watched the elevator drop down and take his girlfriend with it. Metal scraping on metal squealed throughout the cavern as it descended, and Jess' body slowly fell out of sight before disappearing into the deep darkness below. Mike couldn't tell just how far it had fallen, not even with the sound of a deep thud from the elevator hitting what might have been the bottom.

"JESSICA!" he called out yet again. As if it weren't bad enough that she was gone from him, now she was physically gone from him that he couldn't even bring her back! Just how far down had she fallen...?

"Huh?!" Mike's head snapped up upon hearing a sound. A scraping sound of something scratching against rock, echoing in the surrounding cave walls, "What the fuck-?!" His attention slowly being away from where Jess had fallen, and more upwards, he was reminded that she had in fact fallen from above! And if she herself had fallen, that could also mean...

Mike hastily reached down to pick up the rifle, then aimed along the scope towards the top of the cavern. With one eye closed, his open eye felt the sting of light upon looking at the top of the cave, opened up to the world above. But that wasn't the only thing he could see. There, as a dark silhouette against the bright of the night sky, was the outline of a head. It wasn't moving at all- no wait; it twitched a little! Mike felt his teeth grit hard in response; that had to be what killed Jess! Whatever that thing was would pay dearly, starting with a bullet to the head!

Mike pulled the trigger, and the loud gunshot sound exploded throughout the cavern. Did he get it?! No, the head moved a little before pulling itself in and disappearing behind whatever ledge it was perched on. Mike lowered his gun and his eyes narrowed. The heavy shock he had once felt at Jess' death was now replaced by deep anger. His once frozen body was now beginning to feel hot, warming him up with purpose. So he missed his first shot, but that wasn't all he had! He'd chase whatever that was down and kill it dead! For Jessica!

The only way to get up there however would be to scale around this elevator shaft itself. Why couldn't there be any ladders in this creepy mine shaft, especially when he needed one now!? Luckily, upon looking to the side Mike noticed a couple of the metallic support structures on the outer sides of the shaft must have come loose in the elevator car collapse as well. They looked strong enough to provide a makeshift catwalk for him to get up there, not like he had any other choice.

He reached down to pick up the lantern, only to find that it wasn't there. Confusion quickly turned to realization and frustration as he remembered he'd set the thing next to Jess, on the elevator itself. He shook his head of the worry and made his way up and around the large shaft.

Mike rushed up and along the makeshift walkway, adrenaline coursing through his veins by this point. There would be no more delays from this point on; whatever that was up there, he'd make it there without anything stopping him at all!

His first test came in the form of a break in the walkway directly before him. A gap had broken in the metal between him and the other side. Mike saw it coming though, and with one well-placed leap he landed squarely on the other end, not even breaking his running speed.

As he rounded another corner of the ascending corkscrew however, before him he could see that the catwalk had ended completely! Mike gritted his teeth in anger and frustration; there was no way he could get up there now! How was he supposed to... wait a minute. As he had reached the 'rear' end of the shaft, there was nothing but a wire wall that stretched up towards the ceiling! A really long shot, but... there was little other option here. His resolve hardened again and his goal in mind, Mike secured the gun strap over his opposing shoulder for tighter hold. He was going to need free hands for this.

He reached both of his hands up to grab hold of a nearby metallic piece that acted as a handhold. His weight secured, he lifted on leg to place it on one of the lower footholds. Looking up however showed him that there were no other handholds within reach, except for that one well above where he was. Ther was no way to reach it unless he were to jump for it.

Mike grit his teeth, pulled himself slightly lower, then kicked off hard. His hand reached up, desperate to take hold of the metal that jutted out from the side. Once in range, his fingers clamped down hard, and he felt the full weight of his body through his arm as his grip held. He then dangled in place for a brief moment before reaching up with his other hand to secure his hold. This was quickly followed by his two feet finding footholds to plant themselves and further secure him in place.

His next place to ascend lay directly above him, in the form of a metallic panel that looked like a later addition to this shaft.

"Right, come on, come on..." he spoke in between breaths, "Come to Poppa...!" With a quick steadied breath, he leaped up and forward again, both arms reached out and prepared to grab. His fingers clamped down hard on the upper edge of the panel, and his feet came up quick to anchor himself in place further. This was going good so far, in fact he wouldn't even bother looking down out of curiosity to see how far up he was. Instead, he scanned his eyes up to find the next-

"WHOA-!" Mike cried out as he felt a massive shift in motion. The metal panel he was holding on suddenly broke loose from the top, causing both it and him to begin to fall. On instinct he reached his hands out to grab at something, the most immediate object in front of him to stop his fall. Luckily his fall came to a halt again as he caught himself on one of the I-beam supports for the shaft.

"Drgh, this is getting...!" Mike groaned to himself. Scaling up this shaft like this; there had to be a better way to get up there!

With great care, he turned his head to look over his shoulder behind him. As luck would have it, there was a small break in the wall in the form of a cave, with a metallic platform that extended out from it. That looked to be as good as any for Mike to leap off onto. Once he was there, he could try ascending upwards with better focus.

Very carefully, he readjusted himself to spin in place so that he was facing directly outwards. Unfortunately, this meant that he now had an almost unhindered view of the world below him. That was quite a drop, one that he'd almost had just now if he hadn't caught himself. He could feel the vertigo begin to well up within him, forcing him to swallow it down hard and focus.

The platform in front of him was thankfully about level with where he was positioned himself, so all he'd need to do was just leap out onto it. Should be easy enough, right? He reshifted his gun off his shoulder so that he now held it in his hand. His other hand then planted flat against the metal fence that was behind him. This was not the time to fuck this up...

With a great push of both his hand against the wall and his legs off the beam, Mike leaped forward across the gap between the shaft and the platform. He landed with a thud in a kneeling position on the metal. He'd done it! At least something was going right so far. Now he just had to follow up.

As he pulled himself up to his feet, and his gun back up level to his upper body, Mike looked up at where he had landed. What he was not expecting to see before him was movement. His eyes widened as he caught sight of a figure within a wooden tunnel before him. Someone was there! Probably the one that killed Jess!

"Oh shit-!" Mike muttered under his breath as he quickly brought his gun up to point at the man's back. He was walking away and didn't seem to notice Mike himself, but he was quickly advancing away from him until he had completely moved around a nearby corner, out of his view to get any clear shot, "Yeah, there he is..." Swiftly, yet as quietly as he could, Mike rushed forward to catch up to where the figure went. He had only rounded a corner not too long ago, so Mike felt confident enough that he'd be able to catch up to him.

Upon rounding the corner however, Mike found another tunnel before him. Another rock-filled tunnel with ramshackle boards laid here and there to act as supports for a walking tunnel, and the figure itself had somehow already reached the far end of it! This was getting nowhere fast; he'd have to take his shot, here and now!

He lifted his gun up in front of his face again and peered down the scope. The figure appeared before his eye in slightly clearer detail this time. The figure was definitely that of a humanoid, maybe a man? Not much could be shown of what he looked like though, since not only was his back turned but he was wearing rather thick winter clothing that kept most of his skin concealed. That didn't matter to Mike though, he'd unmask this guy 'after' he'd taken him down for killing Jess!

The crosshairs zeroed in on the man's back as he continued to walk forward. Mike steadied his breath and squeezed the trigger-

*click!*

"What the-?!" Mike's eyes widened in disbelief. No, no way this was happening now! Not of all times! The gun had to be out of bullets or something?! He reached up to pull on the little bolt thing where the bullets went into- or tried to. It was jammed?! Seriously?!

"Come on! Come-" he whispered while barely keeping his frustration low in volume. The stupid thing didn't wanna work with him, so Mike tossed it to the ground beside him, "Jammed up piece of shit..."

He then looked back up towards the man, only to catch sight of something else. The man in question was lowering himself on bent legs, then dropping down off a ledge before him! Not only that, but a metal door directly behind him was closing from directly above! He was about to be cut off from Mike at this rate!

"Christ, gotta make it-!" Mike quickly rushed forward, abandoning all notions of trying to remain quiet at this point. It would all be for nothing if he ended up caught on the wrong side here and now! Wind rushed past him as he ran for the fast-closing door. It had closed to about waist-level by this point, even when he himself was about five or ten feet away from it!

In the midst of his run, Mike dropped himself down into a slide, maintaining his forward momentum. With his forward movement, and thankfully the wood beneath him not scratching him or leaving splinters, Mike slid completely underneath the door. The metal came to a resounding thud behind him, even as Mike came to a slow halt on the other side. Finally, something was going right for him for once! Except, where was he now...?

The room he stood in now was much more adequately lit, with a small lightbulb supplying light to this mining entryway. He also apparently came to a stop directly in front of mining tracks that would lead directly through the door he had just come through. Unfortunately, the man himself was nowhere to be seen, somehow. Where the hell was this guy that he could disappear so fast?! The only thing of note was that upon these tracks that Mike noticed a small unlit lantern resting upon the rail. At the very least he could have some light and heat with him as he continued to track him.

Mike dropped down to one knee and then pulled forth his lighter from his pocket. His legs quickly stung with ice cold of his pants as they touched his legs. Thankfully the lighter itself was still working enough to provide a small flame as he flicked it on. His other hand twisted the lantern's knob to open the small slot underneath the base, and he held the lighter's flame into it. The lantern's base and its glass were quickly illuminated with a gentle orange glow and accompanying heat, and Mike pocketed his lighter again as he picked up the lantern and rose to his feet.

With a new source of light now in hand, Mike held the lantern all around in front of him to survey where he stood. Unfortunately, not even with light on his side did his surroundings appear any different. The only thing that he could identify now was the wooden ledge he now stood before, which dropped down to a stony ground below him. Thank goodness he didn't slide too far, or else he'd have fallen down there, however far it was.

There was only one way out of this cavern however, which was about the only other place that guy could've gone. Mike then crouched his legs again and dropped down to the ground below. He let out a grunt of exertion, the ground beneath thankfully not being too far. With his lantern held up before him, he quickly resumed his run up through this cave's joining tunnel.

While the small amount of light from the lantern didn't seem to reach out too far, that actually didn't seem to matter here. The tunnels themselves were small and narrow enough that the light lit them up well enough. All around Mike were wooden boards acting as support beams for a tunnel for walking through. His footsteps echoed lightly through the tunnel rapidly as he ran up and out. The more he ran up, the more he noted that he began to feel colder again.

This was punctuated from him turning a corner, where his suspicions were confirmed. He was immediately set upon by a hard gust of wind, carrying razor snowflakes on them and stinging his skin. Mike was unfortunately brought to a slower walk as he emerged from the tunnel's exit. He brought his free hand up to his head to shield his eyes from the wind, for all the good it would do. He was out of the tunnel, and out of these caves, but now where was he to go? Where did that man even go?!

"Ah fuck... fuck..." he cursed to himself with each small step taken into the open. His own lantern he held in his hands was acting like a beacon for him to follow, even though he was holding it. Why did there have to be wind and snow now, of all times?!

And suddenly, just like that, upon looking straight up and out, the thick of the snow-filled wind broke ever so slightly. Mike held his lantern up to see what was revealed to him. In the distance stood a building, about a mile or so in front of him upon a rise of land, with a small chasm between him and it.

"Jesus..." he said to himself, "The fuck is that place-?" Mike cut himself off from speaking as he caught sight of something else. There, at the base of the building and walking towards it, the man could be seen trudging through the snow! He didn't appear to have seen him, as he continued to walk forward at his normal brisque pace.

Stinging cold wind whipped at his skin, yet Mike began to feel his blood warm up a little in him again. His determination reaffirmed: that scary building was where he had to get to! For Jessica!


"Ugh..."

Chris' eyes slowly began to open, where they were immediately beset upon by a harsh light. He was almost tempted to close them again, but he powered through to open them fully.

He witnessed his own hands reaching before him, pawing at this strange light in front of him. Senses gradually coming back to him told him that not only was this light a flashlight but was not pointing at him directly. He shifted the large utility item away from his face, and his eyes felt more at ease without the strain of light upon them.

"Ugh... what the fu-" Gripping the flashlight in his left hand and rising to his knees, Chris brought his hand up to his head to rub this strange spot that was hurting him for some reason. Ouch! Why did his head hurt like this?!

That was when he thought back and instantly remembered: he was attacked! Something or someone had hit him! Punched him in the face? Someone had knocked him out for who knows how-

"Oh no..." His eyes widened upon further realization that he was alone. Ashley had come into this room earlier where it looked like she was attacked as well! But now, she wasn't here...?

"ASHLEY?!" No response to his call met his ears. He regained his balance and shook his head of his unconscious state for the last time. His head was hurting much more now, but at least he was fully awake by this point. He shined his flashlight around the dark room of the kitchen to find nothing. Nothing at all was out of the ordinary, but neither was anyone here at all; not Josh, nor Ashley.

"Ash...?" he called out, "ASH!" No sounds of any kind could be heard. Chris' worry only continued to grow with all he could not see. He dragged the flashlight's beam towards the left side of the room and onto the ground, where he did see something.

Chris swiftly made his way over to where his flashlight pointed at, and nearly gasped at what he found. There on the ground was a small splatter of red liquid, with a small cloth-looking item on top of it. He reached down, took the item in his fingers, and flipped it over to reveal the other side. The stitched words 'ASH' greeted him; the pure white font stained with what Chris feared was red of blood.

"Not good... not good at all...!" he said. This was definitely Ashley's coin purse, but where was she? Pocketing the item, he stood up to look around again.

"Okay Chris, just stay calm..." he assured himself. There's no way she could be dead; she just couldn't! "She was out when I saw her, now she's gone... she's gotta be alive still...!" Whatever knocked her out could've killed her right there, but for her to be not here? She had to have been moved!

Chris shined his light around the living room, only to find no trace of Ashley there either. Even stepping over and around the central chimney column, no one could be found behind it neither. His panting started to grow a little heavier by now, as well as the beating of his heart in his chest. She wasn't responding to his calls, which had to mean she wasn't in this room...

His flashlight shined over towards the nearby double door that led to the entry hallway and to the outside. He felt his blood chill a little, even while he stood within the relatively cool inside of the lodge.

A thought suddenly crossed his mind: he could call her, on his phone! She could answer it, or maybe he could hear her ringtone somewhere? Whatever the case, it was an option that he had to try!

He reached into his pocket to pull forth his phone. It was still on him, thank goodness! As his screen lit up in front of him, his hopes were immediately dashed once again: there were still no bars up here! No cell service whatsoever! Dammit, this was an actual emergency that he'd need his phone for, and he couldn't do it now of all times?!

"Come on...!" he grunted in annoyance before pocketing his phone once again. With that option gone, his only remaining one lay in those doors, and what lay past them.

Gingerly this time Chris approached the dual doors. He took hold of the right knob and pushed it open-

"Gaah-!" he suddenly exclaimed. The cawing sound of a bird cried out in the hallway, followed by the flapping of wings. Was that a crow? What the heck was a bird doing indoors?

Pushing the door open, Chris' question was immediately answered. Directly in front of him, splattered upon the wall, was bright red liquid, dripping down to the ground!

"Oh shit- no...!" he held the light up to the wall to illuminate the offending red liquid. His eyes widened and his mouth trembled ever so slightly. That was quite a splatter of blood, much bigger than the one seen in the kitchen. At least, Chris hoped this wasn't blood, much less Ashley's. Nevertheless, his fear and anxiety only increased the more he studied it. From the direction of the splatter, it seemed like it came from the right side before beginning to drip downwards.

This drew Chris' line of sight to where the blood splatter 'pointed', to show him that the nearby door to the outside was open! So that's where that draft he felt was coming from! Small specks of snowflakes carried on the wind were being blown in through the open door this whole time.

"Ash-!" he called out towards the door as he slowly walked towards it. Again, there was no response. While the worry was still present, there was still some idea of where she might be. Chris stepped through the door and further into the night and its cold, his skin shivering underneath his long sleeve sweater. The descending wooden steps creaked with every step he took walking down, until the familiar sound of snow crunching met his ears once again.

What beheld him now was a long, dark pathway, stretching all the way out further into the woods. The sky itself was not completely darkened, thanks to the light of the moon barely keeping it illuminated. This in turn caused the nearby trees around the path itself to almost appear as silhouettes against it. They either stood straight up or even were bent at strange angles, all while having the barest number of leaves on them. This did nothing to ease the creepy feeling within Chris' being.

'Was she... taken, all the way out here?' he thought to himself. There was literally nothing down this way. Well, except for the...

The shed.

Chris had only seen it once or twice before and was always with Josh during then. There was a shed out down this way that was at one point used by Josh's family for menial storage. Ever since they stopped using it for that however, opting to use the lodge itself, the shed just kinda went unused, unremembered. Josh even mentioned at some point that the groundskeepers used it nowadays to store their lawn machines. And from what Chris had remembered of it from back then, he was glad that had happened to it.

And now Ashley could be out there, right now...!

"Ashley!" he called out down the trail. No response reached his ears, aside from his own echo from being outside this time. This was no good: there was nowhere else she could be and she was still not answering him. With no other options, he made his way down the dark, scary trail.

As he progressed further along the trail with each snow-crunch, there came a point where the path became slightly more visible in the moonlight. Chris brought his flashlight's beam the center of the trail, and almost regretted doing so. As if there was any doubt he was literally on the right trail, another trail of red, hopefully-not-blood could be seen in splatters, leading him towards where the shed would be. Each step he took, and the more blood discovered only caused more bone-chilling shivers to run up and down his very being. The fact that it was this scary time at night wasn't helping things neither.

Eventually a path began to break off to the left. Chris knew that the shed would be down the main path that stretched to the right, as he had been on. But that wasn't the only thing he noticed. The blood trail itself had coalesced into a singular pool of it, before breaking to the left. As if whatever was... bleeding, had paused here in this spot, before going over there...

Chris brought his eyes to the left, following the smaller blood trail. There was nothing of note down this way, but why did the blood lead off in this direction at all? Could whatever had been bleeding have come down this way? Could it have been Ashley even?

"Ashley!" he called out again and was again met with silence. He glanced once more towards the main path before shrugging and walking towards the left side. What harm was there in investigating-?

Chris' whole world exploded as something burst up before him! He jumped back and gave a huge cry in response to the surprise. But just as quickly as it happened, it had stopped, and Chris was left to view what had just happened.

Some kind of... figure, popped up in front of him from the ground, buried underneath the snow! It was supported entirely by a single stick and had no legs, but also had sticks for arms. Aside from that the most striking feature of this... thing, was its face. Or rather, its lack of one.

"What the hell...?" Chris gingerly approached the figure while still trying to calm his nerves from the scare. The figure wasn't doing anything, which he then deduced was little more than a dummy, a scarecrow even? Its entire torso was concealed underneath some old, burlap sack looking material, with ripped holes and blood dripping from them here and there. In fact, when Chris brought his flashlight up close to this thing's 'face', the texture of burlap cloth with a row of bloodied teeth underneath greeted him. Bloodied teeth also... this must've been where that blood from before came from!

"Who would do this!?" he spoke aloud to himself. Why was this here? Just to scare someone? Well, good job to them for scaring him half to death anyway. Chris traced his light along the ground at the blood trail that clearly led to this... 'blood scarecrow', and promptly stepped away from it. While the majority of him felt shivers in his bones from being scared by this thing, a part of him felt relief that this might've been where all the blood was coming from. One more hope that Ash was still alright, somewhere...

He pulled his gaze away from the dummy completely this time and resumed his careful trek along the main trail. He walked through a completely run down and broken fence that was meant to set a perimeter around the shed area. The entire time he walked his flashlight was fixed upon the snow in front of him. The fact that he found no more blood trail before him did not ease his worry. In fact, his worry only fueled even further at not finding any blood, footprints, nor anything else that would give some indication to what exactly was going on here! Was this even where Ash could've gone to? Doubt was beginning to creep up into Chris' being as well.

"Anyone out here?! ASHLEY?!" he called out yet again. Silence, and the surrounding shadows of silhouetted trees were his only reply. He could feel his grip on his flashlight gripping ever so tighter, the light's beam seemingly shivering in place as a result. To his right a couple of crows could be seen perched upon nearby tree stumps, who then took the the air upon him walking close to them.

Then, as if out of something from some horror novel, the dark image of shed began to take form from the darkness. Because of only a single lit lightbulb on the exterior surface that didn't provide that much illumination, nearly the entire structure appeared to be cast in darkness. The silhouetted image steadily grew in size and shape the closer Chris walked to it. Its sheer size created an unintentional sense of foreboding that sent even more shivers running down Chris' spine. A part of his being wanted nothing more than to turn around and run back to the safety of the lodge, back towards familiarity.

However, Chris caught the sight of the shed's open door banging against the back of the wall, almost as if it were calling for him. There was little other reason for why it would be open other than to give merit to Chris' fears; the very likely chance that Ashley was in there. Probably brought inside that scary place against her will thanks to that... that maniac.

Fear still gripped him even when swallowing hard, yet his resolve was hardened. Chris made his way closer to the shed and its door, cautiously stepping through the threshold and inside.

The chill of the snowy wind was almost immediately alieviated, but Chris' fears were no less present than before. Instead of standing within a large dark forest, he now stood within the darkened walls of the shed. The decrepit wooden boards were barely holding the structure of the shed in place, and they felt so small and tight! Everywhere Chris shined his light he was met with a wall that appeared so much closer to him. Chains hanging from the ceiling, windows boarded up from the inside; this place had definitely seen better days.

"ASHLEY!" he called out yet again. His voice was accompanied by a small, reverberating echo in the tighter space he now walked in. He trained his ears to listen in closer for any sort of sound that resembled Ash. But the only thing to be heard was the sound of his own footsteps, creaking against the equally rotting floorboards beneath him.

Upon rounding a corner and being met with even more chains and strange metal cages hanging from the walls, something did reach his ears. At first sounded so small he nearly missed it, like the sound of a small animal making squeaking noises. He almost wrote it off as just that, if not for something that followed very soon after.

"CHRIS?"

The boy's eyes, his attention, and his hopes flared back up all at once. That was Ash; she was alive! And she was here, somewhere!

"Ash?! I'm here!" he instinctively called out, "W-Where are you?!"

"I... I don't know...!" Chris should've been relieved to hear her voice again. Granted he was, but he still couldn't identify where she was in this shed. No matter where he shined his light in which direction, he was met with only run-down pieces of wood that comprised this place. From what he could hear from her voice, it sounded like she was behind something; or maybe that something was in between him and her, somehow.

"Are-are you okay?!" he called out again, frantically stepping further into the darker reaches of the shed, "What's going on-"

With a loud crash, something had dropped hard to the floor, directly in front of Chris. He jumped a little in place and flinched on instinct before realizing what had happened. In exploring this place his arm had bumped into one of the central wooden beams in the room and caused a nearby heavy chain to hit the floor. It might as well have been the loudest thing in the world to Chris in that moment, the way it it the ground with its metallic rattling.

"God DAMN it!" he cursed. Shaking himself of his surprise yet again, he resumed his frantic search for Ash.

"Please! Help me!" she could be heard calling out yet again. The more he heard her voice the more reassured he felt at knowing he could reach her. But that was only if she was talking consistently.

"I'm coming Ash! Just, just keep talking to me!" he called out to her, "What happened?"

"Chris... he tied me up..." she spoke a little softer this time, but Chris was still able to hear her, "I can't move!" The boy focused his hearing much more sharply this time as she vocalized her discomfort. His light following his line of sight, he deduced that while she could not have been in this first room, she had to be in the next. That was the room that was reserved for heavy duty vehicles that the groundskeepers would park here. That was definitely where she had to be!

"Ashley, I'm gonna get you out of here! Just-"

As Chris entered the next room, a burst of light suddenly met his eyes. Not from his own flashlight, but from a completely different direction. To his side, a wire-barred window lay before him and revealed what lay on the other side.

To his relief as well as shock, there was Ashley, standing up against a wooden board, in the center of the adjacent room. Wait... No, she wasn't standing up against it. She was... she was hanging in front of it by her hands! Even from the distance between him and her he could see she was trembling with fear.

However, that was nowhere near the worst of this. Ashley was clearly not alone, as the familiar form of Josh was next to her on her left, hanging similarly as her by his hands. Unlike her however, he was not moving, which left Chris to briefly fear that his friend was dead.

And if all that wasn't enough, in the very center of the room sat a large, intimidating looking sawblade, covered in red all atop its surface. With the train tracks that could be seen beneath each chained up teen, it wasn't hard to see the severity of this situation at all. Chris' flashlight dropped from his hands as he gripped his head, staring at complete horror at what lay before him.

"Chris! Is that you...?" he heard Ashley call out to him. The boy opened his mouth to speak and call back out to her, until another voice echoed out through the entire space.

"Hello."

It was a man's voice, at least upon first hearing. Except, there as a slight tinge of mechanical to his voice. Almost like there was a filter to it, making it sound robotic; unnaturally so.

"And thank you all for joining me."

"Gaaah!" Ashley yelped in response before turning to her side, "Josh! Oh my God, Josh! Wake up!"

"Huh...?" the other captive boy could be heard stirring back to consciousness, "What? W-what is this?!"

Meanwhile Chris' eyes darted to the side to see the nearby door that would lead into the joining room, where his friends were. He dashed over to it and pushed into it with all his might. The door did not give a single inch however, which only fueled his frustration as well as the feeling of futility. There just no way... he had to get in there, somehow! All the while he struggled, the man's voice continued to echo throughout the rooms.

"Tonight, we're going to conduct a little experiment. A sort of test."

"Ashley what the hell is going on?!"

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know...!"

"Now for this experiment, we'll need the cooperation of our two test subjects: Joshua, and Ashley."

Having moved back in front of the window again, Chris could see the looks of surprise and terror upon both teens' faces upon hearing both of their names mentioned.

"What?" Ashley said.

"Oh my God...!" Josh said.

"But, we're going to need one more brave participant to help decide..." the man's voice continued, "Which subject will live... and which will die."

A single chilling breath of air entered Chris' lungs in that moment. This chill was then dispersed to every fiber of his being, all within the span of a few nanoseconds. There was no way, there was just no way that what was happening here was real. There had to be a mistake! Who the hell was this guy?! Why was he doing this, to the three of them?!

While Chris' turmoil was in his mind, his two friends in the other room were much more vocal about the situation. Both of them were shuffling about in their bindings, desperately trying to free themselves, with Ashley shaking herself harder between the two of them.

"OH NO! MY GOD, OH MY GOD!" Ash cried out desperately, "CHRIS! GET US OUT OF HERE!"

"No, you can't do this!" Josh also called out, "LET ME DOWN FROM HERE, YOU MANIAC!"

"Please-" the man's voice tried to cut in between their cries, "Please please, everyone calm down. It's all very simple." In the midst of his mental panic, Chris was suddenly brought back to reality upon hearing those words. Did this... maniac, actually just tell them to 'calm down'?! He was threatening to have one of them, if not all of them killed, and he wanted them to be calm?! Who the hell did this guy think he is-

"Christopher."

Chris was broken from yet another mental train of thought from the sound of his own name being mentioned. This guy was addressing him personally now, and whatever he had to say could not bode well in the slightest.

"You will find a lever placed directly in front of you," the maniac spoke. The boy's gaze was instinctively drawn in front of him. Just as the man claimed, a rotating lever stood in the center of the window on his side. However, that wasn't the only thing before him; on either side of the lever were two pictures, both of his friends. Ashley on the left, and Josh on the right, exactly as they were posed on the other side of this wire window before him. In this moment, the harsh reality crashed into Chris like a tidal wave. Like a massive avalanche more like since he was on a mountain.

"All you have to do... is choose who you will save."

The maniac's words drove the point further into him. There really was no way around this, was there? This... choice; this absolutely terrible decision that no one in their right mind should ever have to consider, much less have to act upon ever... was something he had to do.

Ashley, or Josh?

All at once, the room was suddenly filled with the sound of machinery roaring to life. The three kids' attention snapped up to find that the massive sawblade in the center of the room begun spinning, the blood red atop it almost hypnotizing all in a dizzying display of imminent doom. The saw itself was on the other side of this wall, but rather that its sound be muted in light of that it might as well have been the loudest thing Chris could hear. In fact, the only thing louder than the spinning saw were the frantic cries of his friends, hanging perilously in its direct path.

Ashley was positively crying by this point and Josh could be seen breathing heavily and frantically.

"This isn't RIGHT!" Ashley exclaimed.

"Shit, okay, okay okay okay, it's gonna be okay...!" Josh spoke aloud yet to himself.

"Oh crap..." Chris was absolutely beside himself, muttering and pacing back and forth in front of the lever. His eyes darted back and forth between the photos of his friends, his friends in real life mirroring their positions as the pictures, and the lever itself. That damned lever, that with it he'd be forced to do something he would regret.

"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!"

What should he do?! What could he do?! Save his best friend, whom he'd known since elementary school, or the girl that he liked that possibly liked him back. Granted nothing was really 'official' between the two of them yet, but still! Something could've been between them, if only he'd had the nerve to make something of it-

"Dude, buddy!" Josh called out to him directly, "Let's just think about this, for a minute!" Desperate, pleading eyes met his, and Chris beheld a side of Josh that he rarely did see before. Jokesters that they were, they always tried to have fun, no matter what was going on.

But there was nothing fun about this; he could very well lose his life, and there'd be no going back if that were to happen!

"Chris!" Ashley's voice called out to him this time, "You can't let me die!" Even from this distance between them Chris could see Ashley's tear-soaked eyes looking out to him. They were puffy and red, with a hint of blood-shot in them. Her eyes locked with his and held pure desperation within them. The girl that he liked... that he'd never forgive himself if something happened to...

"Just-just give me a second," Chris desperately said, clutching his head with his hands, "I... I can't think straight...!"

What should he do?!

He glanced up once more at Ashley's pleading, teary-eyed face yet again. He didn't even need to see her up close to see that her face was completely soaked with tears. Chris felt his teeth gritting at the sight of that; the girl he liked being forced into this kind of situation.

"Ashley just... just calm down, okay?!" he instinctively called out to her, "I'll get you out of this! I won't let you die!" Her crying did not cease altogether, but it did let up just a little bit at his words.

"Please, Chris! Help me-!" Her pleading was cut off by screaming instead, as her eyes were directed back towards the sawblade. It was moving, slowly moving forward towards them on whatever track system was beneath it! "NOOO!"

"Oh God, please no-!" Josh cried out in equal terror. His widened eyes were darting back and forth to the sawblade and Chris while shaking in his bonds as well.

All at once, Chris was filled with an idea in mind. Screw this choice! He just wouldn't choose between the two of them! Maybe if he could break this lever, the saw wouldn't go towards either of them! It was risky, but it had to work, it just had to!

Hesitantly at first, he gripped the handle of the lever and gave a tug towards him, rather than to the sides. The device did not budge at all. After another failed tug with one hand, he reached his other hand to grip it even harder. He squeezed it and pulled it with all his might towards him. The muscles in his arms were beginning to burn from how hard he was pulling.

In the midst of his pulling, he opened one eye to look back at the lever. Not only was it not pulling in the direction he wanted it to go, but in the process was beginning to slide towards the left, an unconscious action due to lack of attention paid.

Chris then abandoned his endeavor completely by releasing the lever. He looked back at the object with equal parts scorn as well as terror. This really wasn't going to work, was it? He really could only move the thing side to side; he could only choose left or right.

He could only choose, between Ashley or Josh...

"This is insane! This is nuts! This isn't happening!" Ashley could be heard crying out, "Chris, please tell me this isn't happening!" The sawblade continued its forward course, bearing towards his two friends without any signs of slowing down. Chris' own eyes darted back and forth between both Ashley in real life, and the picturesque version of her directly in front of him. One of the images immortalized in a state of serene calm, the other one in a state of absolute panic. He noted the exact same thing with Josh on the opposing side. One version of his best friend calm and tranquil, the other one scared for his very life. This was still so fucked up! How could anyone make this kind of choice?!

"I-I..." he stammered, "I don't know what to do...!"

"Bro!" Josh called out, "Bro, we've been through so much, come on...! I don't wanna die like this! Please!"

In that moment he wanted to grab this lever yet again and rip it out of this thing with all his might! Unfortunately, that had already been proven before by himself the futility of that attempt. All he could do now was grip the damned thing in his hands again, the cold metal stinging against his hand like a thousand icy needles.

The pleading words Chris was hearing over and over were not making things easier either. It was as if the words themselves were cold, dull spikes hammering into his very being. What was messed up was that not only would have to choose who lived and who died, but he'd have to live with it! This was like some kind of messed up court case where he was judge... jury...

Executioner...

"Chris please!" Ash could be heard even with his eyes clenched shut, "I'm so scared! Please don't let him kill us!" He wanted desperately to shut this all out; to wake up from this nightmare in a cold sweat like he hoped this would be. That's all this was, wasn't it? A nightmare? No, it couldn't have been. Nightmares you wake up from after sleeping in the dark of night. Yet somehow this was the dark of night, a nightmare was occurring right in front of him, and he was certain he was wide awake to it in its entirety.

Even with his eyes clenched shut, he knew the sawblade was drawing closer to them. Very slowly, he could feel his breathing slow to a crawl. Or, maybe the world around him was slowing down? Chris was finding little reason to care about such trivial stuff like that. Not when a perilous decision had to be made, here and now.

The lever handle in hand, Chris gave a small pull upon it, to the right. At first there was little movement, and he felt ready to rejoice at the prospect of whoever had set this up was actually just messing with him. Unfortunately, the lever continued to move along with his pull, all the way to the right.

Right in front of Josh's image.

Almost immediately, the sound of metal grinding could be heard in the other room. The sound of moving train tracks indicated the choice had been made. This of course only sent the two occupants into a further screaming frenzy, as well as another calmer voice filling the air.

"I see. You have chosen to save... Ashley."

"NOOOO! CHRIS!"

On instinct Chris yanked his hand away from the lever, as if it were the most feared thing in the world. That wasn't far from the truth though; with it he had just performed a truly unforgivable act. An action he may never forgive himself for.

"Oh no... No no no no no NO!" he pleaded over and over, his voice steadily growing louder. Soon his voice matched the cacophony that filled the entire shed's rooms. He could feel cold sweat practically pouring off of his forehead as he was forced to watch, completely helpless to act.

"I thought we were friends, man! I thought we were friends!" Josh cried out. His words, and even his pleading eyes locked solely at Chris, practically accusing him. It all felt like direct stabs at the latter's very soul. He couldn't even say he had no choice; there was a choice to be made. A choice that was thrust upon him against his will. A choice that would hold heavy consequences no matter what decision was made.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry...!" Chris chanted over and over while gripping his head in between his hands.

"Why would you do this?!" Josh continued. The entire time the sawblade continued its slow course, this time bearing straight for his open, unguarded midsection. The whirring of machinery maintained its droning sound while mixing in the screams and cries of the three teens present.

"This is MADNESS! PLEASE!" Chris cried out as well. His pleas were directed outward towards the maniac, wherever he was or where his voice was coming from. His cries were unmet though, as the sawblade continued to move. This was really it, wasn't it? Chris would lose his friend, and he had himself to blame...

"Oh God, what did I do-?!" Josh said before looking back down at the spinning sawblade now directly before him. His mouth opened again and filled the air with bloodcurdling screams.

"STOP IT! YOU CAN'T DO THIS! PLEASE!" Chris screamed yet again. Josh's screams as well as Ashley's continued to fill the air.

The very instant the color red was seen, Chris immediately clamped his eyes shut. He spun his head every which way. Unfortunately, that did nothing to block out what he could hear. What he could hear were the continued screams of both his friends, both of absolute terror. In addition, the sound of flesh being ripped carried out through the air. Tears stung ever harder at Chris' clenched eyes; he wanted it to stop. He wanted it all to stop.

THIS HAD TO STOP!

But it didn't stop. None of it stopped. The screaming, the ripping flesh, the sawblade. They just kept going, and going, and going...

At some point, Chris realized something. He no longer heard screaming. Not from Josh anyway. For a moment, he held a brief hope that his prayers were answered. That this was all just some cruel, absolutely sick joke that was nothing more than fantasy. He opened his eyes a tad, to look out and find Josh, perfectly fine-

"GAAAHH-!" he clenched his eyes back shut again, immediately regretting having ever opened them at first. He saw nothing now, but what he did see in the briefest of seconds was more than enough to confirm the absolute worst. He caught sight of Josh, with his head hung low, eyes closed, and the sawblade meeting his midsection, dripping with red liquid. He did not need see any lower than that, not that he wanted to.

The only sounds that filled the air at this point were the sounds of the sawblade that continued to spin in place, as well as whimpering. In that moment he was reminded that Ashley was still there, and still very much alive! Josh may be gone, but there was still a chance to make sure Ashley was alright.

He begrudgingly opened his eyes again, taking extreme care not to look to the right side at where Josh was. He could see the girl with her head turned to the right, looking away from the carnage that had taken place right next to her. The entire right side of her body was splattered with blood as well, hopefully none of it being her own. For the most part she appeared to be fine; relatively fine anyway. She was still scared, but at least she didn't look like she was harmed.

Chris then saw her suddenly shift her head to the side, as if to look upon what had just happened right next to her.

"Oh, no no no, d-don't look Ashley! Don't look!" he called out to her. Ashley instinctively pulled her head back to the side, shielding her eyes away from her left side.

"Why can't I look- Chris, please tell me he's okay! Please...!" he heard her pleading as well. Chris opened his mouth to say something, anything to comfort her. But the truth of the matter was that this was anything but okay, for all of them.

Chris' eyes were well and wide awake by this point, laying gaze upon all before him. He could see now clearly Josh's body had been cut clean in half by that sawblade. It reminded him a little of those old magic shows where a lady gets sawn in half. Except this time, as if the red blood that stained Josh's clothing wasn't indicative enough, this was no magic act.

The sound of something slamming next to him broke Chris out of his shocked stupor. He snapped his head to the side to find the door had opened. It was locked tight before, but now it wasn't! He rushed through the door, and carefully made his way through the room.

"I'm coming Ash!" he called out to her, "I'm gonna get you! I'm gonna let you down, just hold on...!" The entire time he moved he again took care to only focus his attention on Ash and not on Josh. However, the one thing he was made aware of with the close proximity of the body was the smell. The foul smell of both burning gasoline from the machinery, mixed with the rotten smell of entrails assaulted Chris' nostrils. He wrinkled his nose in disgust but kept his attention on the more important task before him.

Ashley was still crying and whimpering when he finally rejoined her. She still had her head turned to the right and could focus on his form while he himself focused on freeing her. Reaching his hands up he found the binds that held her own hands in place were little more than ropes tied about her wrists.

"Come on come on, let's get you down..." he worked until finally freeing her hands completely. Her arms dropped down, followed by her body, and Chris led her safely to the side and clear of the still-spinning sawblade, "Alright that's it, let's get you out of here..."

He instinctively held her head away from the saw and where Josh's form still lay. He gently pulled her away from the entire fucked up trap, step by step, up until her head managed to slip to the side.

"NOOOO-!" she suddenly screamed out, having gazed upon what had just happened in its entirety.

"Shhh!" Chris desperately tried to calm her down with a hand held over her head again, "We gotta go, okay?!" He had to put on a brave face in front of her, but inside he absolutely understood her pain. Now that she was with him he wouldn't let anything else happen to her tonight!

With that and with Ashley in his arms he led them both back towards the corner of the room he had come from. The nearby garage area that connected to the outside lay before them, where the groundskeepers would park their machines for immediate usage. For the moment Chris could find no reason to care how crazy it was that this was an exit for them. They were getting out of here, right here and now, and that was that.

The two practically stumbled back out into the freezing cold of the outside. Snowflake winds continued to whip at his face, especially his eyes and tears. It felt akin to lashes of punishment, as if God or whatever was punishing him for doing something so heinous and horrible.

But, it couldn't have been him, could it? He didn't want to kill Josh! He was forced to! By... by that maniac! He forced him to kill Josh, and nearly killed Ashley in the process too! But it still didn't change the fact that Chris himself did it. He pulled the lever that would completely kill his best friend. The earlier feeling of dread returned to Chris' being in full force; he had failed Josh, hadn't he? Josh trusted him, and he betrayed that trust in the worst way imaginable.

Even with Ashley still very much alive in his arms, little could stem that cold, undeniable fact.

"Chris...?" At the mention of his name, Chris could feel himself tense up. For a moment he thought he heard the maniac's voice, calling out to him again. It was only now that he looked up at exactly where he and Ashley were. They were making their way forward from the back end of the shed by now towards the front. Aside from that, there was no one else around to be seen.

"Ashley!" He heard the voice call out again. Only for the briefest of moments did Chris relax a little, only at finding that it was not the maniac speaking, but rather someone else. Looking up and back down the trail, the familiar forms of Matt and Emily were seen, snow-crunching their way to where he and Ashley were. Both of them sported looks of concern underneath the light of the moon.

"Blood! Wha- who's blood is that Ash?!" Emily pointed out with widened eyes.

"Are you okay?!" Matt spoke up as well. Having released Ashley from his arms, the girl simply bent over and continued to let the tears flow again. Chris himself barely could keep himself contained even in the presence of familiar faces.

"What happened?" Emily spoke again. For a moment Chris almost felt like not revealing what had just happened, what he had just done. One look at Ashley however and her current physical state told him that might not be an option. Something seriously wrong was going on, and these two might as well be made aware.

"J-Josh..." he started.

"Josh what, dude?" Matt pressed.

"He's... DEAD!" Chris exclaimed, turning his head back over his shoulder back towards the shed, "Died right in front of us, man!"

"Wait, what?!" Matt said, his own eyes beginning to widen himself.

"What are you talking about?!" Emily pressed further.

"I-It was a maniac-" Chris began to explain. God, just trying to put this whole thing into words felt impossible to do!

"Maniac?" Matt asked, partially skeptical.

"Oh my God, we gotta get out of here," Emily said.

"I don't understand what happened-" Matt pressed.

"There's a maniac!" Chris exclaimed, "And-and there was this saw, and..." Out of the corner of his eye Ashley could be seen crying tears anew herself, "It was either him or Ash, and I didn't know what to do!" Chris could barely contain himself at this point, neither from keeping his own voice under control nor from letting the words of what had transpired practically spill from his mouth.

"Oh God...!" Ashley cried as well.

"Cut right through him and spilling out... fucking everywhere!" Chris continued.

"WHAT?!" Emily exclaimed, "Oh my God Chris, what?!"

"I-I KILLED HIM!" Chris added, no longer bothering to contain his guilt.

"Whoa, Chris-" Matt tried to cut in.

"I killed him...! I-It was my fault, man! Cut right in half...!" The tears were beginning to sting his eyes yet again by now, which only helped in fogging up his glasses further. Pretty soon the sounds of his and Ashley's own crying were the only thing that filled his ears, and yet that was still preferrable to what he had been forced to listen to earlier in the shed.

He didn't even care who or if anyone was listening to him at this point. He killed his best friend, probably no different from the maniac that set the whole thing up!

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know...!" he muttered to himself. This was so fucked up! Why did this have to happen?! Why did it have to happen at all?!

"We're gonna figure this out-" Matt could be heard saying.

"No, no this is insane, we've got to get some help!" Emily added, "Matt, we need to go get help now."

"Chris she's right," Matt addressed him directly, "Who knows who'll be next, alright? We just gotta go." Chris took the time to lift his glasses a little to rub his eyes as well as the fog off of his lenses. The tears were starting to stop falling a little, which felt as relieving as they could be given the situation.

"Yeah-yeah; it's the only sane thing to do," Emily added with a shrug of her arms, "We'll go get help-"

"No, you just wanna save yourself!" Chris found himself pointing an accusing finger at the other girl.

"No no! I-I just don't wanna make hasty decisions that get everyone killed!" Emily defensively waved her hands in front of her, "You can get everyone else together while I go get help." She then turned to the boy next to her, an expectant look on her face, "With Matt, right?"

"Um... okay, yeah," Matt replied, "We'll go get help, Chris; just, get everyone else together, okay?" A shuddering, labored breath exited Chris' lips. The pressing trauma starting to lift a little, he could see the proposed plan wasn't really a bad one. And he'd be with Ashley the entire time to keep her safe too.

Hesitantly, he gave a nod of his head.

"Come on, Ash..." He took the girl back into his arm and led her back down the trail, back towards the lodge. His own plan remained that he'd keep Ashley safe, but there was now no shaking the ever-present reality that Chris would from now on have to face...

That he had failed his best friend Josh...


-I actually had to watch some Saw clips to get myself inspired with the pure sense of dread one must feel if they were forced into such a situation like those and like this one here! I hope I delivered this feeling more than well to you all too!

Not much else I can think of to say right now, other than keep sticking around for more. Keep on reading! -