Until Dawn: The Light in the Darkness

Chapter 20 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 20

GRANT POV

Letting out a sigh of relief, we were finally out of that danger. I followed as Emily began to lead the way, holding the flashlight steady again. As we walked, I could see her eyes narrowed, clearly thinking carefully.

"If we do manage to get someone on the radio-" she began.

"We will." Matt insisted.

I saw her smiling at his confidence before she continued, "Then we tell them we need help. What do we do while we wait?"

I had to admit, that was a good point. I wondered that myself.

Matt answered after thinking about it for a moment. "I guess we go back to the lodge and get everyone else."

"Oh God, not the lodge." Emily shook her head. "We should stay here. In case whoever it is needs to get back in touch with us?"

"Let's get that radio working first."

I nodded slowly. "Matt's right, we're getting ahead of ourselves."

Emily didn't argue, apparently silently agreeing. We'd try and call for help first, then we could worry about what to do next. We were almost at the tower, now it was just above us, across a small snowy clearing. As we approached the base of the tower, a blinding light suddenly flared to life.

"Ahh, that's freakin' bright!" Emily cried out, holding a hand in front of her eyes.

I turned away, silently cursing. "Son of a bitch..."

Matt did the same and grimaced. "No kidding!"

Emily shook her head, frustrated. "I can't see- what is that?"

"It's just a security light." Matt confirmed at last, squinting to try and see. "Motion sensor probably."

Squinting, I saw that he was right. Typical, things had become so fucked up around here that we were jumping at normal things now. I saw Emily bite her lip before we followed Matt, keeping our eyes squinted until we were past the light. As we did so, I shook my head in frustration, brushing my hair back again. We were now at the base of the fire tower and would have to climb the ladders to get up to the main room.

Seeing this, Matt reluctantly put down the axe and we began our climb, with Emily in the lead. I brought up the rear.

"Ugh." she grit her teeth as we climbed the second ladder and complained, "Why is it so windy all of a sudden?"

I heard Matt do his best to calm her. "We're almost inside."

Meanwhile, I merely thought to myself, 'Urgh, take it easy, is there anything you don't complain about?'

We climbed the third ladder, finally reaching our destination. Once inside, we closed and latched the trapdoor.

We began to look around the tower room. Finding the radio, Emily tried to interact with it, but got nothing.

"Ah, come ON! Great." she cried out before realizing, "No power. Gotta be a switch or something around here..."

I nodded slowly. For once, I was on the same page as her and her complaint was at least valid.

Resuming our search, we had no choice but to venture outside into the catwalk around the tower room. Exiting through the door once we opened it, we found a fuse box almost immediately. Emily opened it and flicked the switch and grinned as the power flared to life in the tower.

"Fuck yeah, here we go!"

"Nice work." Matt replied, also grinning.

I smirked, relieved that things were finally going our way for once.

As we closed the door behind us, I savored the return of the warmth, quickly approaching the radio along with the others.

Emily got to work, trying to fine tune the radio to pick up any broadcasts that we could communicate with for help. She gasped as she heard one, although it wasn't very clear.

"Ranger service for Blackwood County. Over."

"Hello? Anyone there?" she tried, hoping that she could get through. She had found just who we were looking for, the people best equipped to help us. "Hello! Please say something if you're out there! Please, we need help! Over! Over! Shit."

I remained tense, hoping against hope that this would work. But the way things were going, I wouldn't be surprised if this failed. There was a pause, and then suddenly...

"...Hello?" the ranger spoke.

Emily gasped and spoke at once. "Oh my god, thank you! We need help, please!"

The ranger replied and it was clear that he had at least picked something up from us. "...Hello, is someone trying to contact us? This is the park ranger service for Blackwood County. I'm not getting your signal very well. Please speak slowly and clearly, over."

Emily tired to, but I saw that she was too worked up, everything came spilling out. "Please, please, please, please help! Oh my god, we're stuck on Blackwood mountain and there's a maniac..."

"If you can hear this, please repeat your message as I am unable to understand what you are saying, over. "

Emily grew more desperate. "We need help, please!"

The ranger continued, however. "Hello? Can you please identify yourself? Over."

I sighed and touched Emily's shoulder. She turned to me and I spoke quietly. "Calm down, deep breath, talk clearly." I whispered.

She nodded and took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. So, trying hard to maintain her self-control, she did as the ranger requested.

"Oh my god." she whispered before speaking slowly and clearly. "Okay, this is...My name is Emily...hello?"

She checked the tuning on the radio as the ranger replied, "You're not coming through clearly, please repeat, over."

She shook her head and tried to explain, as calmly as possible, what had happened. So, she cleared her throat and explained, "We're on... Blackwood Mountain... by the ski lodge... there's a killer and he's after us and he's already killed one of our friends. Oh God, please help, you've got to help us!"

Just then, the security light below flared to life again, startling us both. I spun around, but Matt rushed to the window and spoke.

"Something tripped the motion sensor." Matt muttered, before trying to reassure us, most likely. "Probably a fucking deer."

Emily was about to reply when the ranger spoke again.

"I read you, ma'am. Please do not leave your position."

We all grinned and relaxed, until his next words.

"We will send out helicopters to get you as soon as the storm has subsided, over." the ranger explained.

Sharing a worried look with Matt, Emily tried to get clarification, while I just sighed and shook my head.

She asked intently, "What? When? How long?"

The ranger hesitated before replying, "Dawn, at the earliest. Not until dawn, over."

Before we could say anything else, the hatch banged loudly. Someone or something was trying to enter.

"Jesus!" Matt cried out, stepping back.

Emily backed herself into one of the corners, panicking. "Oh my god, he's here, he's coming for me!" she cried out.

I cringed, all the while thinking, 'For all of us, Emily. All of us.'

The banging then stopped and things seemed to calm down, until the tower rocked violently and began tipping. Emily screamed and Matt cried out, both of them stumbling as the tower sagged and rocked again. As for me, I fell flat on my ass right away with a shout.

"OH MY GOD, MATT! WHAT IS HAPPENING?!" Emily screamed in raw terror.

Matt could only cry out, "The tower!"

At the same time, Emily yelled, "Oh God!"

The tower began to fall. Matt tried to reach for Emily but was unable to do so. Finally, the tower lay on its side. Emily had fallen and landed hard on one of the windows, which had cracked badly. She was now sporting a bloody nose and a scratch on her forehead from the impact. Matt, meanwhile, was hanging from a support beam, clutching it for dear life. Me, I was clutching onto a support beam too, tangled up against it and a desk which had become wedged between two of the support pillars.

"Fuck sake..." I growled, trying to free myself.

"No..." I heard Emily breath through the pain.

"No, Emily! Emily!" Matt yelled out.

I looked up and saw it; the printer was about to fall right on top of Emily. Crying out, she rolled out of the way and the printer broke through the window. As she tried to recover, the radio also fell and she screamed as she fell through the window, now hanging onto one of the catwalk bars.

"Fuck me! Jesus, shit!" she cried out. "Shit, ahh, no, don't, no!"

She barely had time to articulate as Matt also cried out, "OH, SHIT!" as the tower fell more and tumbled down, into the mines below.

"Oh, fuck!" Those were the first words out of my mouth as I finally recovered. The tower had fallen and was now only just hanging. We were underground, in the mines that ran under the mountain. I lifted myself up. It was a struggle. I could see Matt also moving slowly and carefully, climbing his way out of the tower, which shook ominously as he did so. I did so too, losing my jacket, along with the beanie in my pocket at the same time. But truthfully, I didn't care as I stood with Matt and we both saw that the tower was hanging precariously over a long drop; almost certainly too far to have good survival chances.

"Oh fuck...dammit, dammit!" he muttered. I agreed with him entirely.

"MAAATTT!" Emily suddenly screamed. "OH GOD! MATT, HELP ME PLEAAAAASE!"

Startled, we moved carefully, Matt calling out as we did so. "I'm comin'! I'm comin'! Em, this is pretty unsteady over here…"

He said it as a warning, for he now stood, looking over the edge of the tower, which was shaking some more. Emily was there, hanging onto the bars, desperate and clearly terrified.

"Matt, you've got to do something right NOW!" she screamed. "What are you WAITING FOR!?"

He shook his head. "I'm thinking, let me think!"

She grit her teeth and screamed again. "Don't think, you idiot! Just get me outta here!"

Matt shook his head. Even while hanging precariously from a fallen radio tower and close to death, Emily still had her sharp tongue and bitchy attitude. All directed at him, the only person who had even the smallest chance of saving her, no less.

I rolled my eyes, but Matt, despite himself, glared at her before sighing and speaking.

"I'm gonna try and get to you and pull you up."

I shook my head. "Matt, together, we're too heavy. If you try to get Emily now, this tower's gonna fall."

"So what do you suggest?" he shot back, exasperated.

I bit my lip and looked around, spotting a ledge. "Alright, I'll probably hate myself for this, but I'm gonna jump over there."

I knew that Emily could hear me too, since I saw the desperation in her eyes.

"Grant, hurry! The tower…!" she cried out.

I nodded and moved as carefully as I could before then leaping over to the ledge. The tower shook violently, but held.

Matt nodded to me and tested his weight carefully on the tower. It seemed to be holding for now.

"I'm gonna try and get to you and pull you up." he said at last.

With a gasp of relief, she shot back. "Now will you please get me off of this goddamned tower?! Please, please, please, Matt! Just do something!"

Matt began to cautiously edge closer to the ledge that Emily was hanging from. All the while, I watched, worriedly.

He reached out for her. "I'm coming...here...ugh!"

Emily screamed and Matt forced himself upright as the tower shook again, falling down a bit, nearly coming completely off the rocks, which were now the only thing holding it up.

"Shit, oh shit!" she cried. "Matt!" She had fallen and grabbed onto another railing. Only now, it was the last one. Another fall and she wouldn't have anything to save herself with.

Matt panicked, trying to equalize his weight. "I don't wanna tip it."

I tensed, this wasn't good. "Guys..."

"Oh...come on, come on..." he muttered as he tried again.

He moved slowly and soon was lying flat, ready to reach out. Emily looked up at him.

"Jesus!" she hissed, pleadingly. She reached up for his hand, praying that he could save her. But then the tower shook more violently and Emily lost her grip.

"EMILY!" he cried out, watching in horror as she fell, screaming. "Oh fuck, oh fuck!"

I froze in disbelief, which only made things worse as I was forced to watch as the tower then fell, Matt being thrown from it and out of sight. The tower was gone from view and Matt and Emily were gone.

"Fuck! Fuck, no!" I cried out. 'Not again...'

Looking around, I saw that I had no choice. I had to find a way out, and pray that the others were still alright. As I moved down the tunnel from the ledge, I froze, hearing a strange skittering noise, moving nearby, then getting further away. I had no idea what it was, but I realized, worryingly, that I wasn't alone down there.

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