The early morning hours were beginning to make themselves known as the rain slowed and small bouts of sunlight were beginning to send a glow into the sky beyond the horizon.

Carlisle and Esme surpassed the cars, all unusable with slashed tires and looked around the New England wilderness.

"Let's just hike out of here," Esme told him, "Right now. We need to go."

"What about the others?" Carlisle asked, "We don't know where Jacob and Leah are, or -"

"Alice!" Esme extended her arm toward the lake, eyeing a canoe that drifted thirty or forty yards award from the shore.

Carlisle turned to look in the direction she was pointing, and then grabbed her hand and headed for the water.

"Is she alive?" he asked, knowing Esme didn't know the answer.

The two of them continued to run and Alice's body was slumped down on the inside.

"Alice!" Carlisle called out, "Alice!"

Esme's heart began to beat out of her chest. Alice didn't move; didn't stir.

"Alice!" she echoed Carlisle's shouts toward the water, thinking the worst when she continued to lay still.

A moment later, as their feet met where the water kissed the sand, Alice slowly began to move and groggily sat up in the canoe.

"Alice!" the two of them cried out at the same time.

All thoughts of Jason and the nightmare around them were pushed out their minds for a moment when they realized Alice was alive. Hope was restored, and if not for the angst and fear and sadness, Esme would have smiled.

Alice looked at them appearing a bit dazed as her eyes flickered open. Her hair and clothing were wet from the downpour that she had obviously gotten caught in throughout the night. Finally, life seemed to filter into her pale, damp skin and she perked up to stare at Carlisle and Esme.

"Come on." Carlisle pulled Esme's hand and ran with her down the long dock that extended into the lake.

"Get in!" Alice finally said back. She waved her hand toward them, and her voice was meek but had that same speck of hope that the two of them felt.

The were about to jump off the edge of the dock in an attempt to join her in the boat, when they jumped back as water was thrown into the air as a figure leapt from below behind where Alice sat unexpectedly in the canoe.

Carlisle kept himself from leaping into the water and flung his arm out in front of Esme to keep her from going in.

Alice screamed and managed to only look halfway over her shoulder as Jason, still with the machete engulfed in his shoulder, capsized the boat, pulling her down into the lake with him.

"Stay here," Carlisle instructed, not waiting for a response from Esme before he dove into the lake.

"Carlisle!" she shrieked, watching him disappear beneath the murky water.

The next thirty seconds felt like a lifetime, as Esme waited and waited. The only ripples in the lake were remnants from the chaotic assault on the canoe, that was slowly drifting down into the depths as it filled with water.

Esme balled her fists, feeling her knuckles grow white and her jaw clench as she waited... and waited...

Finally, there was a rush from below; some type of movement that indicated that something was moving beneath the surface.

She squatted to get as close as she could before finally jumping back as Carlisle emerged with Alice under one arm. Both of them were gasping for breath and Esme struggled to pull Alice up onto the dock as Carlisle hoisted his body up just after.

He breathed heavily, and helped pull Alice to her feet as she coughed violently, adjusting to the rush of oxygen she was desperately granted.

"Let's go," Carlisle ordered, putting one of Alice's arms around his neck.

Esme followed his lead, doing the same with her other arm and the three of them headed down the dock toward the beach.

...

Flashes of blue and red bounced off the trees at Camp Crystal Lake as ambulances and police cars surrounded the area.

Carlisle, Esme and Alice sat together, each wrapped in their own blanket and spoke with the town's chief of police.

"Are they all dead?" Esme asked, unable to cry from the shock of their situation.

The officer looked down and back up again, "Yes. We, uh, we thought you all might be dead too."

"Jasper's dead," Alice said quietly. "As soon as I saw him I got into the canoe and... I just ended up passing out." She swallowed hard and Esme cradled her against her body.

"What about the man who did this?" Carlisle asked.

"Do you have any idea who it might have been?" the officer asked him.

Carlisle and Esme exchanged a glance, "Jason," they said at the same time.

The man stared at them for a moment and hesitated before writing the name down on his pad. "Jason?"

"The boy who died here," Esme added, "The one who saw his mother beheaded."

A silence fell over them as the officer was clearly skeptical. "Ma'am-"

"He has a house in the woods," Esme went on, "His mother's head is there. You'll find it if you just look."

"We haven't found any house in the woods," the officer explained, but lifted the hand-held radio from his hip."

"I was there, too," Carlisle explained, "I saw it. There's a shrine."

"Jerry," the officer spoke into the radio.

"Yeah, Chief," a voice came back through the small speaker.

"The kids here say there's a house in the woods, belongs to, uh..."

"It's past the main cabin," Carlisle explained, "Maybe a quarter of a mile straight back into the woods."

The officer rattled off the details he was provided and the conversation with his co-worker was ended with a "Ten-four."

"We're going to get you all down to the local hospital," the man told them, "We've contacted your families and they're on their way to meet you."

"Thank you," Carlisle and Esme said at the same time, and Alice nodded politely but didn't speak.

The officer nodded back and leapt out of the back of the ambulance, shutting the doors behind him.

A pair of EMTs moved in to re-check their vitals before the engine started and the vehicle slowly began to crawl away from the camp.

Carlisle leaned his head back against the side of the ambulance. He closed his eyes and felt Esme's head on his shoulder.

For the first time in hours they felt at peace, and more importantly they felt safe.

"Sorry I dragged you out to work here with me this summer," Esme said quietly.

Carlisle didn't speak. He pulled her tighter against him and kissed her temple. His eyes flickered open and he turned to stare out the back window as the view of the lake disappeared as they rounded a bend in the dirt road.

He sighed and sat leisurely for a moment before something out in the trees caught his eye. He sat up and stared, feeling his heart rate quickly pick up.

"What is it?" Esme asked, noting the alarm from his abrupt change in posture.

Carlisle pointed, seeing the blood-stained flannel shirt of the hulking figure that walked in the opposite direction of the road, blending in with the trees as he went. He couldn't see his face, but the black strap across the back of his head from the hockey mask was unmistakable.

Esme followed his stare, but saw nothing. She stared back at Carlisle. "Carlisle..."

"He's out there," he said, shaking his head. "I saw him... he's..." He swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "He's alive."

...

THE END... AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN :)