Until Dawn: The Light in the Darkness

Chapter 24 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 24

SAM POV

I looked around in terror, unsure of what to do or how to get out. I tugged at my bonds but they wouldn't move. The gag stopped me making any intelligible sound, not that there was anyone around to hear it, as far as I knew.

'Oh God, I've got to...urgh, can't get out...Chris, Ash...' my thoughts raced, jumbled in a panic.

I had seen him, taking them away, and now I had no idea where they were. Were they even still alive? Was I next? Not helping matters and increasing my fear and adding to my feelings of violation was the video camera focused on the chair, clearly set to record my terrifying and humiliating captivity.

I shuddered at the mere thought of it. 'If only I had something other than this damn towel, this is...'

"Sam." I heard someone whisper-shouting. "Sam, over here."

I looked around wildly, and then saw the grate in the wall close to the floor. There was someone there, someone very familiar.

Despite being gagged, I gasped, "Mngm!"

Mike nodded and began gesturing to me. "Get over here."

I nodded and, with as much effort as I could, due to my bound legs, began pushing myself along the floor. It was a relief that the chair was on wheels, which made it so much easier. Before long, I was able to position the chair right next to the grate, my back to it, which served perfectly. I could feel something cold and sharp close to my skin on my arms and I felt relief flooding me. Mike had something which could cut my bonds.

Before long, my hands were free and, with great relief, I took the weapon from Mike, a machete, and soon got to work cutting away the bonds around my legs. Finally, they were gone and I yanked the gag out of my mouth, throwing it aside as I pushed the chair away, kneeling down next to the grate. I handed Mike the machete back and then clutched the towel tightly, afraid of it coming loose.

"Oh Mike, thank God you found me." I said, expressing my relief and gratitude. I meant it, too. I had never been more relieved to see Mike. Or anybody, for that matter. I was shocked to see the state he was in, however. He was filthy, bruised, and looked like he had gone through some terrible things.

Still, he managed a small smile, as if feeling my gratitude to him. "It's okay. You're okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah, are you…?"

He nodded at that, the smile widening, grateful that I showed such concern for him. "As well as can be expected. We've got problems."

I nodded slowly. That was an understatement, but Mike clearly wasn't joking around in any way, nor did he seem uninformed. Things might be worse than I thought.

"As if we don't have enough already." I replied worriedly before realizing, "Wait, where's Jess and Grant? Josh said that you went to find them..."

Mike shook his head sadly. "I couldn't find Grant at all...Jess is...She's gone."

I froze at that, horrified. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, it was beyond horrible. Yet Mike's next words took me by surprise.

"Listen, we have to get you outta there. There's some maniac on this mountain trying to fucking kill us all." He paused briefly and then said, "I'm not gonna let him get any more of us, I'm not gonna let him get you, Sam."

I couldn't blame him for his statement. Right now, I was in a very vulnerable position.

I then confessed, "Listen, this guy you're talking about? He attacked me. He's the one who tied me up...He's got Chris and Ash, too. They tried to save me but he caught them. Not only that, he, he showed me these videos. One of them showed Josh being torn apart, just...ripped in half by this huge fucking saw blade."

Mike gasped at this and shook his head. "Jesus fuck, what the fuck's going on around here?"

Finally, he composed himself. "We need to try and save Chris and Ashley. I can't get outta here, though. There's a door here but it won't open, think that you can find a way from your side?"

I nodded. "Leave it to me."

I then straightened up, wincing at the sight of the blood around my right knee, but there was nothing that I could do about it just now. Instead, I approached the only other door in the room, save the one Chris and Ashley came through earlier. I was startled to see my backpack slung across the handles with a flashlight set on top of it.

I quickly retrieved them, feeling more relief. I could finally lose the towel, since I had a change of clothes in my backpack. Turning on the flashlight and stepping out into a dank hallway, I knew that my first task was to get to Mike. I went down a small flight of steps to reach two doors. One had a wooden beam across it, jamming it. But if my memory of the layout was correct, this was the door to where Mike was. I set the flashlight down and quickly lifted the beam away before opening the door. Mike stood there, looking more relieved than ever when I stepped into the room.

"Hey..." he sighed, relieved.

"Jeez." I gasped, finally getting a good look at him. "You look like hell."

Mike laughed a little. "Nice to see you too."

I just rolled my eyes. He clearly had been through a lot, but hadn't let it get to him too deeply, thankfully. I saw the perfect place and moved over to the other end of the room, moving behind some shelves, which offered sadly only minimal cover.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Mike asked.

I replied sarcastically as I was able to finally clean the cut on my leg, as well as most of the blood. It had scabbed over, so it hopefully wouldn't cause any more issues, unless it reopened.

"Well actually, the towel didn't turn out to be the best outfit for fighting off killer maniacs, you know?" I paused and then gestured for him to turn around. "Do you mind? Mike?"

Realizing quickly, Mike did just that. "Oh. Right. My bad."

He quickly turned around and I dropped the towel at last and began pulling my spare clothes out of my bag before pulling them on.

Before long, I had redressed in a simple white shirt, a red hooded jacket, gray yoga pants, and simple sneakers. A head torch was also part of the outfit, although I kept it slung around my neck for now.

"Okay, done. Let's put this thing to bed." I said at last.

Turning around, Mike joined me, nodding. "Amen to that."

We had yet to determine our next destination, however. We had no idea where Chris and Ashley had been taken. But we soon got our answer when we heard screaming and Ashley's voice.

"What?!"

"No, but that's...How?!" Chris' voice could be heard, too.

We each shared a worried look and ran to the door at the other end of the room, where the screams had come from, and soon forced the door open. What we saw, I can only say was horrible. So horrible that we froze at the sight before us. Chris and Ashley were strapped to chairs on either side of a table. Above them, having stopped mere inches from their heads, were circular saws, still spinning. Ashley had one hand free and was holding a gun. They both looked distraught and traumatized, both were bearing several injuries.

Then we all saw him, the Psycho stepped out of the shadows towards Chris and Ashley, who had been looking around in shock, mostly likely at still being alive despite the death trap.

The Psycho ominously approached and Ashley cried out, "No!" She shook her head, struggling desperately against her bonds. "No, no, no! Get away!"

I cringed and started to move forwards. Mike stopped me, however, for at that moment, Ashley just reacted and suddenly shot at the Psycho three times. We all stopped and stared in disbelief, as the Psycho was unharmed.

"Oh Ashley..." he muttered in his distorted voice. "Oh, Ash, Ash, Ash, Ash."

Chris shook his head in utter shock, looking at the gun, then the Psycho. "What the fuck!?"

Ashley was frozen in total disbelief.

"Oh you've heard of blanks before. I mean, really?" the Psycho replied, revealing the truth.

That gun had been loaded with blanks. He must have been playing some sick game with them. It was then that the Psycho removed his terror clown mask, revealing his identity to us. I couldn't believe it. Anger and shock overwhelmed me. I felt more betrayed than I had ever been in my whole life, for it was none other than a very alive Joshua Washington.

Chris was the first to recover. "...Josh?" he spluttered, unable to comprehend what he was seeing.

Josh burst out laughing as I yelled his name, anger seething through me hotter than ever. I also heard Mike voice Josh's name, sounding just as shocked as Chris.

"Oh, oh very good." he said, sounding overly cheerful. "Every one of you! Got my name! And after all you've been through! Good, good-good-good. I mean how does that feel?"

During this time, Mike and I had quickly untied Chris and Ashley and we all now stood, staring in shock and anger at our friend as he explained.

"Right? How does it feel? Do you enjoy feeling terrorized? Humiliated? I mean, panicked?" he queried, actually sounding a little crazed. "All those emotions that my sisters got to feel once one year ago? Only, guess what? They didn't get to laugh it off! No! Nope! No, no, no! They're gone!"

By the end, he was laughing again, actually sounding completely unhinged. It was a veritable maelstrom of emotions that I felt coursing through me. I felt as if I had been violated all over again, everything I endured at the hands of the Psycho, seeing me in the bath, chasing me as I had only a towel on, all of it was Josh. The others looked just as shocked and angry as me.

Mike finally replied angrily, "I don't know if you noticed this, Josh, but none of us are laughing."

Josh raised his arms and spoke. "Oh come, come-come-come-come. Why the long faces? Come on!"

He began to make expressive gestures while revealing his role in everything.

"It's good to get the heart racing every now and then, right? And race they did, I mean, every one of you, just pitter-pat, pitter-pat! I hope you appreciated my little phantasmagorical spectacle!"

I shook my head, but Josh continued.

"I mean, no detail too small! No opportunity missed! It was such a delight to play the puppet master to all of your Pavlovian panic! And all that gore? I mean, gore, there was gore galore!" he continued to brag. "Fake bodies... I mean, God, that shit was expensive! And no retakes! Nope, nope, nope, only double takes! You should have seen your faces. Hook, line, and sinker, for every little stinker!"

He was clearly enjoying himself, feeling as if he had triumphed.

I shook my head in dismay, the only words that I was able to get out were, "Josh, why are you doing this?"

"Don't even ask this lunatic, he's out his fucking tree." Mike replied dismissively.

Chris shook his head sadly. "Well, he's definitely off his meds."

"Oh come on guys, you're all gonna thank me in the end, and besides, none of you really got hurt."

I saw the fury flare in Mike's eyes and knew right away what he was thinking. I confess, the thought did cross my mind, too.

"What are you talking about, you ass hat? Jessica is FUCKING DEAD."

"What?" Josh gasped, suddenly deflating.

We all watched Mike carefully as he moved towards Josh, reaching into his waistband to pull out a revolver.

"Did you hear me!? Jessica is dead..." Mike growled. "And YOU ARE GONNA FUCKING PAY, YOU DICK!"

As he uttered the last word, Mike slammed the butt of the revolver into Josh's head, knocking him out cold.

I bit my lip, but said nothing. We didn't have much time, I just wanted this nightmare to be over. But as we secured Josh and dragged him back upstairs, Chris and Mike ready to take him somewhere secure, I thought that it was indeed over...I couldn't have been more wrong.

It was time for the real nightmare to begin.

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