Hello once again. Thank you for staying with me, and for the reviews. :) It seems the killer has been stopped, so we've just got to wrap a few things up in order to conclude this. I hope everyone sticks around to read the last few chapters, as I think they are important to the story overall... Here goes:

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Dewey groaned as he struggled to open his eyes. He had a splitting headache and wasn't sure if he was alive or dead. He could feel that his clothing was soaked, even more soaked than it had been before. The last thing he remembered was fighting with the killer. He had told everyone else to run. He hoped they had gotten away.

As he brought his hand up to his head, he realized he wasn't just lying on the ground. He was in someone's arms.

He opened his eyes in time to see a very unfocused image of Gale's face starting down at him, "Dewey?" her voice sounded so worried.

"Gale," he blinked a few times to focus his vision, "are you okay?" he wondered as he dragged himself up into a sitting position and stared into her eyes. She looked worried, and she was just as soaked as he was, "what happened?" he frowned.

"I'm fine, Dewey," Gale smiled but had tears in her eyes, "are you okay?"

Dewey forced himself to sit up completely and looked around the scene within which he presently found himself. By the pool was a body covered by a sheet. Sheriff Jones squatted near the body as he took photographs of something on the ground. Woodsboro's newest police officer, Samantha knelt down near the corner of the building, talking to someone Dewey couldn't see, as they were around the corner and on the other side of the wall.

"What happened?" Dewey frowned. The body under the sheet was unsettling. While he wanted to hope it was the killer, and while it made sense for it to be considering he and Gale were still alive, he didn't want to assume only to be crushed with grief. Sidney and Randy were nowhere to be seen, "whose body is that? How did Jones get here? Gale, tell me what happened. Are Sidney and Randy okay?"

Gale shook her head, "they're fine, Dewey. It all happened so fast. After you told everyone to run, Xavier hit you and you fell in the pool. I went in after you, and I thought for sure that were were going to be shot. I didn't know what I could do... But then the sheriff showed up and shot Xavier. He's dead, Dewey. It's all over. Jones helped me get you out of the pool, but that was only a few minutes ago. I still don't know how he knew to come here. Everything has been so hectic."

"Let's figure out what's going on," Dewey suggested, pulling himself to his feet.

Gale stood up next him, "are you sure you're okay to walk?" she frowned, "he hit you pretty hard..."

"I'm fine," Dewey insisted. His head did hurt, but he couldn't just lie down and give up over a headache.

He smiled as Gale wrapped her arm around him. He put his arm over her shoulders as well. They were both lucky to be alive.

The two of them made their way to the corner where Samantha was and finally saw who she was speaking to. As Dewey suspected, Sidney and Randy were sitting on the sidewalk. Randy looked like he was in pain as Sidney sat next to him. Someone had given Randy some sort of bandage to hold over the bullet wound on his arm.

"Oh!" Samantha seemed surprised when she noticed Dewey and Gale, "Officer Riley! Sir. You're okay," she breathed out a sigh of relief, "there are some ambulances on the way. That's what I was telling Randy, here. I think he'll be fine, so don't worry. I've called for backup, so we should be able to get this scene in better order in a few minutes."

Dewey nodded. The scene was a fairly huge mess right now. Considering all that had happened here, two officers taking care of it all seemed like not nearly enough. Randy had been shot, the motel's manager was dead, and whoever was in the room next to Gale was probably dead as well. Cotton seemed to have been shot as well, but they had never gotten a chance to check and see if he may have survived.

"Sam," Dewey started, "Cotton Weary was here with us. We went up on the roof and tried to sneak up on the killer, but we heard a gunshot and haven't seen him since... He's still up there. He might be alive."

"I'll check right away, sir," she began to walk briskly off toward where the sheriff was working.

"Sam," Dewey called after her, "there's a ladder at the back of the building."

She nodded and walked off.

"You guys okay?" Dewey turned now to Sidney and Randy.

Randy nodded, but still looked pained. Sidney nodded as well, "we'll be fine Dewey," she frowned, "I didn't know what to do when you told us to run. I didn't want to leave you there. But then I thought maybe we could at least try to find someone who could help. It may have been our only chance to get away for a moment. We were going to run toward the road and flag someone down before coming back, but we ran into the sheriff and Sam on their way in."

"Why were they here?" Gale wondered, "how did they know to come?"

"I can explain that," Sheriff Jones walked up from behind them, "After Dewey left the crime scene at Sidney's house he followed her to make sure she and Randy got there safely. After that, I couldn't get a hold of him on his radio. So naturally I was pretty worried. He wouldn't answer the phone at his house either, so I assumed he may have gone in your direction, Gale. Knowing that this murderer had seemed to imply wanting to reunite those who survived the Woodsboro murders of two years ago, and taking into account who all was murdered and who had personal connections with the victims, it was logical to think the killer might be targeting any one of you. Since I couldn't get a hold of Dewey, I figured I'd check here for him, and maybe even scan the area briefly while I was here, just to make sure everything seemed to be calm. I hadn't expected the killer to actually be here."

Dewey looked toward the sound of a siren as an ambulance pulled into the parking lot. Another ambulance followed close behind, and a police car followed behind that.

The officer looked back toward the sheriff, "well, you had perfect timing, Sheriff," Dewey forced a smile.

"I certainly did," Jones clapped his hand over Dewey's shoulder, "you didn't look so well when I got here, and you certainly were in a precarious position, even if you weren't even aware of it. I think if I had been a single second later, the killer might have shot you both. Who was he anyway?"

"He was my camera man," Gale frowned and looked down at her shoes, "Xavier was his name. I had no idea... I came back to report on all this. I didn't know I was bringing the killer with me."

Jones nodded as he looked at the reporter who refused to make eye contact with him. For once, he actually seemed sympathetic towards Gale, who ordinarily frustrated him beyond reason, "you couldn't have known, Gale," Jones spoke in a comforting tone, "none of this is your fault, no matter what. He didn't come here because of you. You came here because of him. If you hadn't come back to report on the story, he probably would have just killed more and more people until you did. This is on him, not you."

"I know," She sighed, but Dewey felt under his arm that her shoulders were still slumped. Of course she felt bad for having been so close to the killer all this time and for having no idea all along.

Dewey squeezed his arm around her.

"I need a paramedic up here!" they all looked up toward the sound as they heard Sam's voice from up on the roof, "I've got a man shot in the chest. He's still breathing!"

Gale and Dewey made eye contact for a brief moment. Gale's blue eyes were huge, "Cotton," she whispered, "he's alive!"

At the same time, two of the paramedics who had just arrived and who had been walking toward the group looked up toward the roof, "where is she? The woman who's yelling? The roof? How do we get up there?" one of them asked as she looked at the small group of people who were gathered on the sidewalk.

"There's a ladder in the back," Gale informed her, "I'll show you," the reporter rushed off toward the back of the building, with the two paramedics following close behind her.

The other paramedics who were in the second ambulance to arrive walked up to them next, "we were told someone had a gunshot wound?" one of them spoke as he looked everyone over, immediately noticing Randy who had a very bloody wad of gauze pressed over his arm.

"That would be me," he offered a half-smile as he raised his uninjured arm up.

Randy, followed closely by Sidney, was led toward the second ambulance.

"What the hell happened here, Dewey?" Jones finally asked now that the two of them were alone. Why were you all here? How did Xavier get your gun? And where is your car?"

Dewey sighed, "I came by to check on Gale after I made sure Sidney and Randy made it home. When I got here, the killer was attacking Gale. He had her on the ground by the pool and was strangling her," he frowned as he remembered that horrifying moment he had lived through not all that long ago, "I had my gun drawn, but I couldn't fire. He held Gale too closely and I didn't want to risk her getting hurt. But she was unconscious and he threw her into the pool. So I dropped my gun and went in after her. While I was trying to wake her up, the killer took my car, and I guess my gun too."

The sheriff nodded as he listened, "sounds like you guys have been very lucky tonight. Everyone just so happened to show up at the right time. You and Gale are both lucky to be alive. How did the others end up here?"

"Cotton showed up and said the killer had called him and told him to meet him here. Sidney and Randy claimed the same thing happened to them. The killer allegedly said that he would kill me and Gale if they didn't listen to him. Sid, Randy, and Cotton didn't know that the killer didn't really have us held hostage or anything. We didn't even know the killer was still here. I thought he had taken my gun and car and went back into town. But I guess he was here the whole time."

"We're going to have to take down a hell of a lot of statements from all of you," the sheriff noted, "I mean, we've caught him. There's no fear of him killing anyone else, but we still need to wrap this up nicely and tie it with a big clean cut bow. We've got to be thorough."

"I understand completely," Dewey agreed, "I can even help with that if you want. With questioning people, I mean."

Jones shook his head, "that's probably not a good idea. You're a witness too. It would be best to have an unbiased third party to document everything."

The younger man nodded, "I guess you're probably right."

"You've been a huge help in all of this though, Dwight," Jones put his hand on Dewey's shoulder and squeezed lightly, "I don't think anyone on the force has been as dedicated as you. You worked long hours on this one, and didn't stop until the killer was caught. Sidney told me you saved her and Randy too. She said you tackled the killer so they could get away. You should be proud."

Dewey looked down, a bit embarrassed, "Well... I did what anyone in my position would have done. I couldn't let them get killed if there was anything I could do to prevent it. Sidney's like a sister to me. And Randy's a good kid too. They didn't deserve any of this. I had to help them get away. I think Xavier was ready to execute all four of us at that point. I had to do something."

"It was a bold, brave move, officer," Jones offered him a smile.

"Thank you, sir," Dewey couldn't help but smile as well. He had finally done something right.

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^_^ Dewey is so damn cute. Please review, and I'll post the last couple of chapters shortly.