Until Dawn: The Light in the Darkness

Chapter 16 of my Until Dawn story, enjoy.

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Now onto the story.

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

Chapter 16

CHRIS POV

Slowly, with my head pounding from the blow I had received, I felt consciousness returning to me.

"Ungh, ugh..what the fu..." I groaned.

As I did so, I slowly stumbled to my feet, picking up a flashlight that had been put on the floor next to me. It was rather odd for it to just be there, but I wasn't complaining. No doubt, I'd need it.

"Oh no..." I choked out, suddenly remembering what had happened. "Ashley!"

I immediately looked around, seeing no sign of her, I began to search, looking around wildly, using the flashlight to aid my search.

"Ash...ASH!?"

I exited the kitchen and spotted something on the floor. Picking it up, I saw it was Ashley's coin purse.

"Not good..." I muttered. "Not good at all."

I hurried onwards, searching all the more frantically after seeing a horrific sight; bloodstains decorating a wall, very recent. I began to fear for Ashley's life.

'Please don't let her be, please...' I thought desperately.

I soon spotted a door that lead outside, wide open. I hurried out and began calling out as I began to follow the path.

"Ash! ASHLEY! Ashley! Anyone out there? Ashley? Ash...? ASH?!"

But all my calls went unanswered, only increasing my panic. There were footprints in the snow, recent ones. Someone had clearly been through there lately. The question was, who? Was it the guy who jumped us? Did he have Ashley with him?

I came to a fork in the road with tracks going both ways, no doubt to confuse me. I had to make a quick, random decision and initially tried to turn left, only for a mannequin to spring up, clad in a scarecrow mask.

"WHOA!" I cried out, utterly aghast. "What in the hell? Who would do this?"

Looking past it, I was greeted by the unwelcome sight of a severed pig's head. Shivering in disgust, I turned and followed the other path, heading towards the old shed. I quietly entered, not seeing anything, save what the light from my flashlight showed me.

I bit my lip as I slowly walked. 'What is going on here? Wait, that's, that's...'

I could hear quiet sobbing and immediately recognized the person crying as Ashley. Just then, a cage dangling from the roof fell, nearly landing on me.

I leapt back. "HEY, GOD DAMMIT!"

"Chris…?" Ashley called out, no doubt having heard me yell.

Reacting at once, I looked around wildly.

"Ash I'm here!"

"Please..." she choked out through sobs. "Help me..."

Trying to follow her voice, I spoke again. "I'm comin', Ash – just kept talking to me! What happened?"

"Chris, he tied me up..." Ashley sobbed. "I can't move!"

Even more worried than ever, now terrified for her safety, I spoke again. "Ashley, I'm gonna get you out of this, don't worry!"

"I'm really scared, Chris!" she replied; her voice trembling. "Hurry, please! Oh God, Chris! You have to get me out of here before he comes back!"

I continued to follow her voice until suddenly, a light flared, revealing a horrific scene. I gaped in sheer horror at the sight before me. A mesh cage prevented me from getting any closer, but there was a small gate set in the cage on my right hand side, but it was clearly locked.

Before me was a lever, in the middle position, it could be turned left or right. What disturbed me most was that on the panel behind the lever, two pictures of two very familiar people were shown. Looking up, I saw Ashley and next to her, out cold, was Josh. They were attached to a large metal board, held up by their arms, secured in chains.

Beneath them were mine cart tracks which joined into a single track. What chilled me to the bone, however, was the mine cart itself, sitting at the end of this track. On it, situated so that it would be at waist height of the two captives, was a coldly gleaming circular saw.

"Unnghh...Chris..." Ashley spoke weakly, squinting against the light. "Are you there?"

Before I could respond, another voice, distorted, spoke up, coming through speakers.

"Hello."

Ashley screamed and I jumped, looking around.

"And thank you all for joining me." it continued.

Freaking out now, Ashley cried out to her fellow captive, "JOSH! Oh my GOD! JOSH, WAKE UP!"

"Huh?" Josh groaned as he finally recovered, horror dawning as he realized his position. "What…? What is this?"

Acting frantically, I tried to open the door, then tried to force it, but to no avail.

Detached and casual, the distorted voice continued, "Tonight we're going to conduct a little experiment. A sort of test."

Just hearing those words struck fear into my heart. I could only imagine how Ashley and Josh were feeling.

Trying to struggle against his bonds, Josh cried out, "Ashley, what the hell is going on?"

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know…!" she screamed, totally freaking out.

I found myself breathing heavily, heart thumping, terror coursing through my veins. What was going on? Was I going to watch my friends die? Was this Saw that I could see before me…?

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

"Holy shit, oh my god..." Josh gasped as he realized with dawning horror what that meant.

Ashley also realized it and took another panic attack.

The voice then revealed the true horror of its plan. "But we're going to need one more brave participant to help decide... which subject will live, and which will die."

"OH NO! MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH GOD, CHRIS! GET US OUT OF HERE!" Ashley screamed, completely losing it.

Josh, sadly, wasn't much more composed himself. "NO! YOU CAN'T DO THIS! LET ME DOWN FROM HERE, YOU MANIAC!"

"Please, please, please, everyone calm down." the voice stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "It's all very simple."

I shook my head. 'Simple? What's fucking simple about this, psycho?'

I then realized that this person had to be the masked man who had attacked Ashley and I earlier.

The psycho then gave his instructions. "Christopher, you will find a lever placed directly in front of you. All you have to do... is choose who you will save!"

I froze, this whack-job was forcing me to choose something so horrific. I had to kill either Ashley or Josh in order to save the other.

Ashley broke into a blind panic again, just as she began recovering from the last time. "Oh no... please! This can't be happening...! Oh God, oh God, oh God...! This isn't right..."

"Shit... shit... no!" Josh cried out, before forcing himself to calm down. "Okay... okay... okay... okay, this is gonna be okay..."

My mind whirled and I found myself pacing back and forth, panicked, due to the stress of what I had just been told.

"Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap." I muttered to myself frantically.

I then heard Josh trying to reason with me, while Ashley pleaded desperately.

"Dude... buddy... Let's just think about this for a minute..." he said as calmly as he could.

Ashley began crying in despair, "Oh my God! CHRIS! YOU CAN'T LET ME DIE!"

"Just, just, just..." I stammered, feeling dizzy from too much pressure. "Gimme a second, I, I can't think straight, shit..."

I could feel their eyes on me, watching frantically as I thought about it. I thought as quickly as I could about everything; my friendship with Josh, my crush on Ashley, too much was whirling through my mind. In the end, I made my choice. However, no matter what I chose, it would be gut-wrenching to me, but I went with my heart.

"Ashley, I'll get you out of this, I won't let you die!" I cried.

Ashley's relief was palpable. "Oh God, thank you! Oh thank you, thank you!"

"NO, please no!" Josh cried out, shock and anger waging war over his features.

Hand trembling, I turned the lever and the saw blade started up, the track points switched and the cart began to slowly move.

Seeing the path that the cart was taking, Josh cried out, "AAHHH! NO, CHRIS!"

The Psycho spoke again. I could almost hear his grin. "Ah...I see. You have chosen...to save Ashley."

"Oh...Oh no..." I stammered, unable to believe that I had to make such a choice and now watch the consequences. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no..."

"OH GOD, JOSH!" Ashley screamed, realizing what was about to happen.

Freaking out entirely, Josh began screaming at me. I tried to speak to him at the same time while the saw blade edged ever closer.

"I thought we were FRIENDS, man! I thought we were FRIENDS! Why would you DO THIS!?" Josh yelled desperately.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! THIS IS MADNESS, PLEASE!"

The saw blade was nearly reaching Josh and he cried out again. "NO! OH GOD, WHAT DID I DO!?"

He never finished his statement, for at that moment, he just screamed as the saw started to cut him open.

"Stop it, you can't do this! Please, no!" I screamed. "Oh Josh, Josh I'm so sorry!"

Hearing Josh's screams, Ashley continued to freak out, eyes clenched shut. "OH NO! MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH GOD, CHRIS! GET US OUT OF HERE!"

Josh only stopped screaming once the saw finished its bloody work, and just like that, it was over. Ashley, now spattered across the left side of her face and clothes with the blood, began to turn her head.

Not wanting her to witness the horror that was nearly making me throw up, a horror I had caused, I spoke sharply, "No, no, no, d-don't look Ashley, don't look!"

"Why can't I look, Chris? Please tell me he's okay, please...!" Ashley pleaded, yet conceded to my words, keeping her eyes tightly shut.

At that moment, the gate opened and I rushed in. I quickly got to work freeing Ashley, trying hard not to look at Josh's corpse for longer than I had to.

"I'm coming, Ash! I'm gonna get you..." I said as I began untying her. She wept, either in terror or relief, or maybe both, I couldn't say. "Shhh – stop, please- Come on, come on, let's get you down... come on... we're gonna get you out of here…"

Once Ashley finally had the ground beneath her feet, I began escorting her away.

She opened her eyes then, only to scream in dismay at the sight of Josh's mangled body. I quickly covered her eyes and began escorting her, sobbing and shaking, from the shed. We kept going, both in tears and both traumatized by what we had just been a part of.

"Chris, Ashley!" I froze as I heard Matt's voice calling.

Looking up, I spotted him and Emily, rushing over to us. Emily's eyes instantly widened when she got a good look at Ashley.

"Blood? Blood!" she gasped. "Whose blood is that, Ash? Chris, what happened?"

Matt was immediately worried, asking if we were okay. I couldn't hide it, they had to know.

"J-Josh..." I choked out through my tears.

"Josh what, dude?" Matt asked softly.

Breathing shakily, I admitted, "He's dead...Right in front of us, man-"

I saw them both freeze at that.

"What are you talking about?" Emily demanded at once.

"There's a maniac..." I choked out.

"Maniac?" Matt echoed, his worry now increasing tenfold.

Emily shook her head. "Oh my God, we gotta get outta here."

Matt, however, was confused. "I don't understand, what happened?"

I tried to compose myself, but couldn't. In the end, I found myself giving a broken and choked account of what had happened in the shed.

"There's a maniac! And... he was- there was a saw... and it was either him or Ash and I didn't know what to do!"

Ashley sobbed at that and I continued.

"Cut right through him and- spilling out fucking everywhere-"

Emily reacted in horror and utter disgust. "WHAT!? Oh my God, Chris. What!?"

I whimpered as I added, "I-I killed him!... I-I killed him..."

"Shit, Josh, too?" a new voice cut in.

We all turned to see Grant, clambering down from the rocks above the path. He looked like a mess, his eyes desperate and filled with despair.

"What are you talking about?" Emily demanded.

He shook his head and revealed, "This maniac, I can't say for sure, but if not him...someone else...Jess is gone, taken."

I inhaled sharply at that, carefully observing the others. Fresh tears sprung up in Ashley's eyes, Matt looked horrified, and Emily...Well, after what happened at the lodge, she at least had the decency to show a flash of guilt. But she quickly composed herself.

"Matt, we need to go and get help, now." she said firmly.

"Em..." he replied, shaking his head. "What about Sam and Mike?"

I shuddered as I remembered. "Mike was sent out by Josh to find Jess and Grant."

Grant cursed under his breath. "I didn't see him."

Then I remembered, to my horror, "Sam, she's, she's still in the lodge-" I didn't need to finish. She was there, all alone.

"Fine, fine." Emily replied, keeping a cool head. "You're right. But if there's a maniac running around, I think we need to get some help too, right? Not just wait around?"

Finally, Grant stepped up. "Alright, look, we can't just go wandering off alone. Emily, Matt, and I can go for help and with luck, we'll run into Mike. Chris, Ash...go back to the lodge and find Sam. Make sure that she's okay."

It wasn't the best plan, but it was the only one we had. So with us all in agreement, we split up. With Grant, Emily, and Matt heading for the cable car station, determined to find anything that would aid them in sending for help. Meanwhile, Ashley and I hurried back to the lodge.

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