Author's Note - My search history is bloody suspicious at this point. Between research on knots and guns, I am going to be on a watch list for a while. It also led to me wondering how... descriptive to go in some of these scenes. I'm going to be more reserved in this chapter until I get around to rereading/editing it. But as my eyelids are drooping when writing this note you are getting it as of now and I will come back tomorrow to have a look-see.

But on the bright side, the next story to be updated should be A-Z with NAWWAL coming closely behind - the writing style is taking a bit to get back into.

Loyalty

It took six paces for Amy to realise something was amiss. Six paces before Bumper's confusion led to a fear-filled scream. Six paces that left her in Bumper's dust as his leg was dragged vehemently into the bush he had been standing beside. Six paces and yet it felt like a mile to her. She could hear him, feels his emotions in every breath, but the sight of him now eluded her. His voice hung around the trees like nooses, the vocality looming over her head all the while she searched for his whereabouts.

It took a further six paces to kickstart Amy's instincts. Where she once doddled, her shock wearing her intuition thin, she now shuffled her feet through the snow. Her hands thoughtlessly sieved the snow where he once stood. Her knees froze into the snow as she searched for discrepancies in the textures. The blind hope to find him emerged within the dunes slowly dwindling as her recollection returned.

Her head shot towards the bush her boyfriend had been inspecting. "Bumper!" She didn't care about the birds she spooked into flight. "Bumper!" Fighting all her instincts, she ran towards the anguished screams. His fears fueled her feet into moving faster. She could feel the gentle twigs pierce into her jacket before breaking off into the harsh environment. She hadn't seen what she was going towards. No idea of what had gotten to Bumper. Every few minutes brought new tracks. Large strides left footprints embedded within the snow before being followed closely by the soft trivets alongside them.

Amy stopped to inspect the trivets. The footsteps she knew. Every human knows footprints it was nothing revolutionising. But. as her hands hovered over the imprints, she realised just what they were. "Bumper!" Her legs pushed further. Her shins burned from overuse as she flew passed the trees.

Bumper's voice faded further into the background despite the leeway she was making through the forest. Each new tree that passed her peripherals awakened a potential path to take. She didn't know the woods like Jesse did. She did know she had two options; continue zig-zagging her way through the trees, following a fading voice; or try to cut them off with a more direct route.

She started to try to cut them off. Her feet skimmed over the ground. Her feet grew heavier as the snow melted within her shoes. She had flicked more branches out of the way than she could count. The world blurred beautifully around her. Each step she took moved the Earth faster around her.

No matter the route she took, Amy couldn't find him. She had seen glimpses through the twigs ahead of her. She moved past small streams as she descended the hill. The small gradient propelled her faster than her legs could handle. Even with her body weight tempting her to fall over, she remained upright. Bracing herself on the occasional trunk that appeared in the moment.

It wasn't long for the trees to be more spaced than before. Where she could count them with each stride, they now took three. Amy didn't pay attention until her brace wasn't there to catch her, forcing herself over her feet and into the snow. "Woah."

Her head spun for a moment before instinct took over. Her hands grounded themselves in the snow as she took in her surroundings. She had a clear indicator of where her entryway was. The other side held a vast expanse.

Trees framed the area. Large infrastructures littered the grounds. Machinery was evident between the support beams. She didn't care about the wooden shelters. She didn't care about the incoming blizzard. About how the wind swept her hair into her mouth. She didn't care about the mill around her until she witnessed the main door close upon itself.

She did care about the scream that followed the door on its journey.

Her soaked knees pushed her body upwards. Lurching her into a sprint as she hunted the door down. Her body not stopping for the flimsy wood as she continued through the doorway. Splinters flew as she stumbled through her reckoning.

Her feet tripped over themselves for a few steps. The room around her held a nostalgic aroma that suffocated her nose. Layers of dust clogged her pores. Shaking her head, Amy scoped the area. Actively searching for a hint towards Bumper's whereabouts. She spotted rickety stairs leading above her head. The timber masked a broken walkway. The large metallic machines lay scavenged at the bottom of the staircase. The carcass was stripped of parts.

Sitting carefully on its edge beside the contraption was a rifle. Dissimilar to the one she had held earlier in the evening. This one held a thin layer of rust over its cobalt lever trigger. Amy snuggly fit her hand within the trigger. Her fingers tensed around the arctic metal. The once proud scope sat carelessly upon the floor, the hold long since warped into disrepair.

"Better than nothin'" She muttered to herself

Looking elsewhere, she spotted signs scattered around the broken floors. The markings faded over time but still held enough eligibility to reveal the secondary staircase. The steps long since moulded into fragility. The end of which welcomed a tunnel. Her legs quivered before a scream emanated from the ersatz abyss ahead of her.

"Bumper!" Her soles sunk into the broken ground as she started her traverse with renewed vigour.

"How much farther is this trail?" Aubrey called out. CR had long since started to walk ahead. The silence between them was accentuated with each step they took. The dark-skinned girl had ignored all her previous attempts at conversation once her tears had dried up.

Sighing to herself, CR looked at the minute markers on their paths. She noticed the low cluster of purple peaking from the snow. Her mind marked where they were compared to where they had come on their journey up the mountain. While they weren't taking the same path she had, she was still more adept at navigating the trails than the house itself. "We're almost there! Only a few more turns!" She called back towards her companion.

Aubrey sighed in relief. She didn't like having to battle the crystal in the air for a lung's worth of oxygen. The once reassuring crisp air now felt more like a mouth full of chewing gum.

They made good work at making it around the corner in a reasonable time. The crossroads were one of the few hallmarks of the main trail. Each path made its way towards either a dwelling or a scenic view. The central cross that they were at held the most branches to choose from. One led to the lodge (back the way they came), another tracked them to a small pavilion with the tourist trap of binoculars, straight ahead would take them towards the cable carts and the last two CR had never travelled before.

The group were creatures of habit. They went up the mountain, then raced back to the carts. Hardly anyone would stray off the path, even then that was more to lurk behind someone to scare them at a later point. It made the small pavilion all the more recognisable. CR could see the small perch to the side that she had hidden behind to give her more of an impact as she jumped out at the couple. It was concealed behind the blue slats of the walkway.

Where they had emerged on their trek initially had completely blanked with newly laid snow. The path they had come from was now the only way that had any signs of life behind them. Their footprints were still prominent while they retraced their invisible steps. Aubrey could remember where her bags had been flung, even as she faced where that was, no signs of her ever coming from that way remained. The frame didn't conceal much, acting more as a landmark than a working shelter. But, nonetheless, she made quick work to shuffle the snow away with her boots. The quick footwork did little to uproot the simple dirt underneath. The snow powdered at the side of her administration.

Following her lead, CR moved her feet in similar patterns. The snow melted quickly into her jeans. The soft material hardened around her legs as she continued. Mutely, they divided the area between them. Aubrey was seemingly hyper-focused on the area she berated Jesse at only a few hours ago. She, on the other hand, took the more aggressive route. Her knees followed the guide rail on her right as she worked columns up the path.

Reaching the other end, her foot snagged itself on the ground. "What is that?" CR took a step closer to her interest. The low-hanging sun all but disappeared from the light source. She dragged her phone out to investigate closer. She could faintly make out a blob in the shadows.

"What's what?" Aubrey turned towards the girl's light stream. From where she stood only a silhouette remained in its path. Curious, she took a step away from her previous search to inspect the spot.

The two of them moved in tandem towards their curiosity. Aubrey's stomach raised slowly in her stomach with each new step. CR, on the other hand, had her interest take control of her body. Her hand reached farther than should be comfortable. Her fingers locked firmly upon the object. The torch lagged shortly behind.

Her body recoiled the second the light shone intently upon it. A cold layer of viscous liquid remained coated on the palm of her hands. Almost instinctively, she rubbed her fingers together trying to comprehend the situation.

CR took a moment to process the sight. The hand coated in the liquid felt dirty. The substance dried quickly into cracking plates. "It's blood!" She shouted, her hands rubbing themselves upon the denim jeans she wore. She didn't care about the smear working its way up her legs, her fingers still held a layer upon them.

"It's what?" Aubrey went to inspect closer. Her hands locked around her friend's, stopping her from rubbing her skin raw. Even in the darkness, she could make out the colour difference.

"It's a fucking pig's head!" The girl gritted out. She jerked her hands free, uncaring of the offending look she received. Her jaw was still clenched as she tried to make sense of what was happening. Looking back at the object of her ire, she saw the rectangular shape billowing in the breeze.

Hesitantly, she looped her fingers around the sheet. With a deep breath, she tore it free. Not stopping to right her torch she used what little light from the sun that she could. "We've got to get to the others." CR didn't wait to turn around. Her hand was still caked in the blood. The page dropped lightly into the snow behind her. The girl strutted her way back up the mountain, the bag long since forgotten.

Looking at the note in the light, Aubrey's heart plummeted. She turned to catch up with the girl, her legs working overtime to make up the distance. Only two words had shone back at her.

Game on...

"Bumper!" Amy's head turned in every direction. Every wall is just like the others. Crumbling rocks and wooden beams littered the infrastructure. She cast her eyes along the floor, hoping for more tracks to become revealed. With each step she took, she couldn't stop her heart from beating inside her throat. No matter how many steps she repeated, the pace did little to ebb the thought from her mind. Her eyes burned as she concentrated on her surroundings. His voice bounced off the walls in terror.

The pain embedded within each syllable etched its way into her soul.

Her torch scanned her surroundings. While her feet lay heavily upon the metal passageways below her, she did not consider it easy to her thoughts. The world she knew was metallic. The world Bumper knew was metallic. And yet, the floor below her was as alien to her as the rocky walls surrounding her. A thick earthy smell invaded her sinuses. The pungent smell clogged her nose more than her sporadic breathing ever could.

"Bumper!" She tried again. The gun sat heavily in her hands as she searched her surroundings. Bumper's once consistent yelling had fallen into unintelligible noises. Screams and whimpers took hold of his vocabulary until his voice grew hoarse.

Soon enough all Amy could hear was the soft scuttle of his capturer. The thing having dragged him further ahead than her shortcuts would let her catch up to. She had never once wanted to hear him scream more than she had at that moment. The thought that he was unable to express his fear properly terrified her. The thoughts that embedded themselves into her head about the reasons behind them all consumed her. She cringed at every pain-laddened scream, but she knew where he was. Knew that he was alive. The silence held more mystery than she would like to discover. His whimpers were painful, she could tell from where she was that his jaw was bound shut. That his sounds couldn't make it far out of his mouth. That his teeth were bound to be grinding themselves smooth.

Amy continued past her thoughts. Focusing on the world around her while she subconsciously listened out for him.

A stream of the falling Sun strews in from the top of the chasm like the heavens had highlighted the way for her. Unassuming in its stature, the rickety structure, much like the rest of the mountain dwellings, was consumed in moulded wood and rusted corrugated iron sheets. Even from the opening of the tunnel, Amy could feel the sensation of tetanus working its way through her bloodstream.

She paid more attention to the support beams than the coating. The way that the blistering coating wrapped its way around every exposed piece of metal was discouraging. The thought of something being in such disrepair scared her just as much as her journey had. She didn't want to think about how Bumper was experiencing the same journey. While she knew she could walk across the panels, she knew he wasn't so lucky.

A whimper screamed from above her head. Her eyes rose to find the source. She knew what the source was. She just dreaded finding the cause. She prayed to see him move, to find him freeing himself from his capture's clutches. So, seeing movement upon the structure, she let out her breath. His name mutely fell out of her gleeful guffaw.

His body hardly did more than tremor. From her distance away she could see him wriggle his way forward with unparallelled tenacity. His jaw remained shut. Not one word made it past his lips again. But even as he pursued an escape, she could see his head flicker back and forth behind him.

Unlooping the gun from her holster, Amy took perch. A quick kneeling position had her arms swaying partially as she took a cautious look through the scope. Small scratches impaired her vision enough to blur the rocks around the edges. But she could still make out the terror in Bumper's eyes when she landed on him. Following his body along the elevator shaft, she could see his legs kicking at a leathered glove trapping his ankle. Any small momentum he made to get away would be halted by the grasp they had on him.

The trigger felt snug underneath her fingertips. She aimed the crosshairs upon the glove. The textured material was all she could make out from the assailant. As her fingers tightened upon the metal, she held her breath. The gentle sway of the gun dropped significantly. The moment that she saw the hand move its claws, her hands clenched. Trapping the trigger with it.

Amy couldn't help but flinch from the loud blast that shot from her right ear. It was ten times the sound that the previous gun had been. A piercing ringing drilled itself through her head. Even as she tried to massage the irritation she couldn't free herself from the curse. Remembering the reason for the pain, she walked slowly towards where she had shot. Her body moving as if a siren song was playing. She could see where they had left Bumper. His body remains on the beam above the elevator shaft. His fingers remained gripped on the beam while his body lay precariously between the rusted roof and the beam itself.

Looking back towards her target, she saw nothing. There was no hand. No scream of agony and from what she could see, Bumper had stopped kicking. He instead slumped on the spot. His limbs hung loosely at his side before his body relaxed completely. Sending him sprawling onto the roof of the shaft. The latch of which gave out underneath the unabridged weight.

"Bumper!" Her relief flooded her system just as quickly as her fear returned with a vengeance. Her boyfriend had fallen into her lap almost literally but he did not move. His head didn't acknowledge her voice. His eyes remained clenched shut as his body oozed more blood than she could tolerate seeing. An array of cuts varying in size littered his body. "God, no!" She screamed while she reached towards him. His chest seemed contracting with effort. The silence he had once displayed was broken by heavy wheezing. No decipherable words came out, only grunts and moans. "Bumper!" She locked her hand on his shoulder. His only response was another groan.

Amy tried to shake him awake. She tried to garner his attention. She tried to reach passed his grogginess with any type of contact she could think of.

She received nothing for the first few attempts. His body too still to do more than breath. After the fifth try, his eye opened wide. The fear was palpable from afar. His pupils were blown and unresponsive. Like he could not focus on anything past his physical being. His vision swayed around his surroundings. "Amy..." He creaked. His voice was nothing more than a broken whisper.

"I'm here Bumper," She knelt further to reach his hands, careful of the litany of cuts adorning them. "I'm here." When she realised his hands were too hurt to continue holding, she stroked reassuringly at his hair.

Before he could respond once more, the ground shook. Not from beneath her. Her knees remained solidly underneath her. But from the way that Bumper hissed she knew something happened around him. "I'm gonna get you out of here, 'kay?"

As she started to loop her arms around his shoulders she saw the ground move. The mesh floor that he remained against was tremored as the chains scraped above them. As if in slow motion, she saw her arms reach towards him. Saw the moment his eyes widened in fear. The moment that they focused long enough to bore into her own. She felt her body hunker towards him. She felt the rush of wind flow past her cheek as she remained on the same level she had been on before.

She was trapped watching her boyfriend plummet into the darkness beneath him as the shaft he was on collapsed. She watched as the rusted chains part their own couplings and sent him onto a descent down a vacant elevator shaft. His scream cut abruptly as the tearing of metal took over the sound.

Lily didn't have the best track record of providing reassurance to her friend. She had rendered herself mute in a large ensemble, and yet, when left alone with her friends, she didn't feel the pressure to try and speak up. Instead, she opted to provide an atmosphere of understanding, she didn't pressure them into speaking and they let themselves become welcomed in her presence.

Walking after Jesse as he frantically searched for their friend was not something she was attuned to deal with. She could not provide a strong shoulder to rely upon. She could not welcome a flurry of words that would render a poet in tears from the genuity of their realism and encouragement.

"Chloe!" Jesse called out into the abyss. He halted his steps long enough to wait for a response. They repeated the same process for three hallways. His voice was still as strong as the lion he was imitating.

Lily's eyes calmly loomed over each room Jesse sprinted passed. There had been no sign of life from the guest room to the kitchen. She had seen the dull stone walls in the basic rooms, a soft layer of dust in the scarcely used rooms, and yet not a speck of that dust had been misplaced. They had worked their way towards the third floor when they were stopped by distracting sounds coming from another room. "Do you hear that?" She mumbled. Her eyes looked behind her towards the wall. She couldn't stop the sensation that had crawled up her back. While it wasn't painful or generally chilling, she couldn't help the discomfort it brought with it.

"Chloe!" Jesse ignored her words in his pursuit. His body stops short of another door. With their moving rate, Lily wasn't certain which section of the house they were still within. But nonetheless, she followed Jesse with the same level of hesitance she would give the others. His muscle memory was the only thing preventing her from trying to rein his commute in. If anyone would be able to find their way through the ways within the building's walls; it would be the owner. His shoulder barged against the newest door repeatedly. "This shouldn't be locked." He spoke to himself subconsciously.

"This is not right." Lily rivalled, her tone matching his own. She watched as he continued his impression of a battering ram. His face getting redder from his exertion. She could feel the bubbling ire building within him after each new barge.

After one too many thrusts, the door opened sending Jesse sprawling onto the floor. While Lily wished she could say that it was through his macho attempts at manhandling the door that got it to open, even from where she stood, she could see that the door frame remained intact. Whatever caused the door to open, it wasn't Jesse.

Scanning her eyes up from the disorientated boy, her eyes looked into the darkness. Her body worked its way into the room, jolting as the door shut behind her. While the room remained lit up from the scattered lamps around the room, she could only focus on the nothingness that stared back at her. On the far side of the room stood a figure. Bleach-splattered overalls cladded their body. The material hung heavily upon their frame. A lighter denim shirt poked out from under the straps.

"Who? Get out of here!" Jesse yelled, his body now kneeling as he tried to lunge towards the person. "We got a restraining order! Get out!" His body lurched but the figure calmly stepped away from his outstretched hand. His body fell carelessly on the floor as the person moved to rest their leather-encased hands upon his shoulders. With little effort, Jesse was twisted so that he was staring into the pale mask adorning his assailant. The boy's hands flailed in an attempt to grasp for support. The soft skin loosely grasped against the hoarse material of their utility belt. "Lily!" His tear-stained gaze flickered towards her. She wasn't sure whether the glint in his eyes was searching for a hail mary or giving permission for her to escape.

Just as her name escaped his mouth, the psycho launched their right hand towards his head. With an audible clunk, Jesse slumped towards the floor and the psycho turned their unseeing eyes towards her. From its position at their sides, Lily could see the out-of-place glint of an ice pick jutting out from their hands.

Her body wouldn't move. Even as the person worked their way towards her, her body remained on the spot. Her eyes bored into the eyeholes. Only darkness shone through. A small shimmer within the materials revealed the soft whites of human eyes. But, as her assailant reached her, she couldn't feel the urge to run. Soft drums of her heart remained as powerful as the terror she felt.

The moment they stopped their pursuit their weapon was placed into the tool belt. The handle was still visible but she knew it was remaining there as a warning. Instead of reaching for one of the plethoras of tools that she was sure resided in the same pouch, all the psycho dragged from within was a solitary ragged cloth. Stained in countless substances, Lily could only stand and stare.

"Let the game begin." A distorted voice echoed before the cloth made contact with her nose. Their hand locked onto her face while her arms attempted to pry the digits away. Her body's fight response kicked in all too late. Her hand knocked theirs minutely giving her enough leeway to duck out of the grip hold.

Her body lurched against the ground, her back staying turned away from both Jesse and the assailant. She pushed her legs further than normal. Her body hit the door. The handle remained stiff as she tried to pry the door open. Soon enough she managed to nudge it open. Calm thuds continued behind her. She continued to run her way towards the front door. Her legs started to drag every few steps. Her knees locked in place as she continued her path. She managed to keep upright long enough to see the door. The image faded into a blurred mess as she deteriorated under the weight of her own body. The world blurred until only the blinding blankness of the person's mask consumed her.

The once-fresh tears had long since dried up. The urgency that had consumed her dissipated the longer that Amy remained on the spot. Her thoughts only concerned Bumper. How he had once sat in front of her. How she could have saved him if she had been faster. If she had aimed properly. If she went about it a different way. If. She. Had. Found. The. Bastards. Face.

Anger fueled her at the thought that they could walk away unscathed. She knew that even if they found Bumper again there would be no evidence of foul play. Because of her, he fell down that shaft. Because of her, he was dead. Because of her.

Grabbing the gun securely, she propelled herself onto unsteady feet. The weight of the gun felt solid like she merely extended her hands. Turning towards the perch Bumper had come from, she could see the small trail of blood escape past the edge. "I'm coming for ya," She vowed.

They couldn't get out of the room. They had been trapped within the same library walls for the past thirty minutes. Benji had paced back and forth in front of the door waiting for someone to help them escape their tomb. The only response to his methodical knocking had been twenty minutes prior and that had been a forceful thud against it. Nothing more, not a voice, not a repeat. Just a simple thud. He almost thought that one of the others had gotten too drunk to stand while they passed them but there hadn't been a garbled talk that would soon follow.

Instead, he was forced to watch as Emily's confidence faded. She hadn't spoken since their minor frantic escape plan. She had claimed she was listening out for Chloe to say something. He wasn't sure what she was supposed to hear when her gaze filtered around the room. Something was unsettling to her more than normal. He wished it had been the scream to freak her out, but he knew it wasn't the first time that a prank had caught one of them off guard. Something he was hoping was the case. That Jesse had decided to make himself feel better by turning off the light in the bathroom she was in.

She hadn't moved past finding the door. Her eyes hadn't left the open void even as she stumbled backwards onto the desk. Her body perched itself as she rocked herself slowly on the edge. Her head followed her body's movement while rotating in the opposite direction as if she had been scanning for answers around them. While her body moved in reassuring patterns, her eyes held no light in them. They remained unfocused as she mumbled to herself. Too quiet to let him hear her thoughts. But from what he witnessed, he worried about what they were warping within her. It wouldn't be the first time she had taken something to heart easily.

Looking back at the desk, he searched for something to use. While he had previously attempted brute force he hadn't left a dent on the wooden door. He was sure there would be more of a bruise on his shoulder than imperfection on the door. Raking his way through the first drawer in the luxury desk he only found scattered stationery to choose from. He wasn't sure why they would need such a drawer when the desk tidy was already scarce in that department.

Moving to the mirrored drawer he raked through what he was wishing was recently eaten snack bar wrappers. Though, from the state that the house had been in, he was starting to doubt that they weren't severely out of date. He restrained the urge to recoil at the thought to reach the cold texture of a solitary pair of scissors. Just as his hand was to coil around the object Emily's voice rang out.

"Do you see that?"

"What?" His eyes flickered around where her head was facing. He could see the books, could see the gap where the spare

"It's glowing..." She trailed off as she moved towards the spot. Her body kneeling down for a closer look. She didn't blink as her fingers traced the wood of the floor. His fingers secured themselves before he followed blindly behind her.

Coming up to her right, he watched as she caressed the metal air vent on the floor. The sight of the panel was not a shock to the boy, he had seen many of them around the lodge. Jesse had claimed it was a cheap trick from former butlers to eavesdrop on the lodge's owner from when it was created. Benji had never asked why they kept the idea through the renovation process but he was sure that it had something to do with the planning process and necessities. It would be the first time he had heard about needing to keep some authenticities when trying to rebuild an area. He had seen too many shows not to know about them.

Yet, his stomach twisted at the sight. Not for being there, but instead for the fact it no longer blended into the background to him. "Is that light?" Looking around him, Benji wanted to double-check. "But there isn't any power just now. How's that possible?" Emily didn't seem to hear him, continuing to pull at the panel. Her face scrunched under the effort. It didn't seem to budge. Looking closer, he saw the small indents from where they had secured it into its place. "Here." His hand let the scissors settle carefully into her awaiting palm.

Soon enough, each screw was undone. The thin layer of rust made it slightly more difficult to get traction on the pieces. Once again, she set off to move the obstruction. Her fingers paled as she wriggle the grate out of its resting place.

She was thrown off balance when the plate came off. Her body braced itself against Benji's legs as she threw the metal object to the side. "What is that?" Emily ignored it, seemingly lost in her own thoughts as she peered closer. Her hands reached before her eyes could make out more than the disorientating blur in front of her. Her head seemingly hovered for a moment in front of them before she was convinced to look into the chasm.

From where he stood, he could only discern one small detail. "Is that a projector?" He didn't pay enough attention to any answer that his girlfriend may have given him. Instead, he opted to perch closer to the gap, mirroring her pose ver batum. From his new angle, he could make out rows of chairs, varying in softness. He knew that they would alternate in size if he tilted his head in certain ways. Just as he knew that the flooring that would peer out from between them was stained red in various places from spilt slushies... He turned his head upwards, seeing the same look reflect back at him. But, nevertheless, he reaffirmed his thought. "It's the Theatre."

Lily wasn't a stranger to waking up in strange places. She had long since grown accustomed to blacking out and arising in the outdoors, typically surrounded by animals, caked in dirt. Yet, somehow, today was different. Today, she wasn't alone. Today, she arose to the sound of grunting and garbled screams. Her head still spun with the regular disorientation but she wasn't chilled to the bone. She wasn't tethered to the wall, so, she wasn't freaking out.

As much.

Walking around her enclosure, Lily tried to find an indicator of where she was. Judging from the rapid chills working their way through her, she knew she was still on the mountain. Cages hung vacantly above her. Their metal chains clink like a poacher's bag. The wooden frames seemed more revitalised than the structures she had seen before. The paint had started to chip, but unlike the others, it wasn't paling or peeling. A small tremor worked through her at the thought of her captures' upkeep routine. This was preordained, she thought.

The only things accessible to her were the broken spars in the room. The main door was barricaded by furniture, too heavy for her to move on her own. Whereas the other door seemed to be locked. Working her way towards the smaller door she spotted a new lock. It wasn't the typical pickable lock that she was hoping to see, instead, it seemed to be deadbolt. A small egg timer set up beside it, ticking away innocuously. Looking closer she saw it had only five minutes remaining.

Peering towards the cages, Lily took an experimental leap at them. Her fingers barely registered in their vicinity. Her hands only met air.

Too high, she thought. She was forced to walk around the area on repeat as she waited for the timer to tick all the way down to zero. She could have made a decent attempt to climb into the rafters but from her vantage point on the floor, the only thing it would have achieved was a pile of splinters. She didn't discount that the thought of dying from faulty upkeep was one of the more embarrassing ways for her to go.

As the clock finally reached its last moments, Lily could hear the grinding of mechanisms behind the door. The protected lock busted open the moment the timer dinged. The door seemed to push itself open to reveal only darkness on the other side.

"Who's there?" A frightened voice echoed through the abyss. "What do you want from me?" Terror shone through to the point that it propelled Lily to vocalise her response. Where her voice was typically mellow the tremors seemed to echo her voice tenfold.

"It's Lily." A simple phrase but she knew it was enough to settle the captive's nerves enough to form a complete sentence.

"I-I'm tied up Lily! My hands! I can't move my hands!" Her voice rang through the abyss in front of her. Lily took another step towards the other room. Her eyes raked around the bare walls for some tools. She would settle for a simple light switch if she had to. She was all for a wander in the dark, she knew her friend needed the visibility to ease her nerves slightly. And, as much as it would pain her to admit it, it would aid her escape attempt if she knew what she was walking into.

As if on cue, lights blasted on from either side of the grid panel. Lily could make out her friends. The terrified scream etched on Chloe's face rivalled delirious unconsciousness of Jesse's. His head rotated around on the spot. His eyes remained lidded as he raised his head.

"What?" The shackles above his head clinked as he attempted to move his arms. As the grogginess from his head cleared slightly, the movement became more sporadic. His arms tremored from exertion. "Help!" He seemed to realise there were others beside him. His gaze trailed up Chloe's similar state before deciding to call out to Lily. "Get us out of her-"

His words cut off as he stared in front of himself. His eyes hung to lowly to have been trying to make eye contact with herself. Taking a step towards the wire-barred partition, Lily let herself look downwards. A stunted gasp escaped her at the sight of a rusted track that seemed to divide between both of her friends. She wished that they would be able to move but from the few inches between the track and her friend's feet, she knew that their uncomfortable position wasn't from the rope themselves. Chloe's feet seemed to tremble in the air as they searched for a perch on the wooden backboard. Her actions started tenfold as she saw the same cause for Jesse's panic before her.

"Lily!" All their eyes converged on the same sawblade. The machine strapped securely to the same track she had seen. The top of the blade had red splatters across the teeth. Before any of them could question things further a crackling startled them all into looking towards the far wall. A small door sat beneath the rustic speakers as they kicked themselves to life.

"Hello. I would like to thank you all for joining me." The voice was disjointed. Its tremble was deep and faked. Lily could tell from the slight squeak between words that it was either put on or doctored through an app. She wasn't sure which prospect held more weight.

"Tonight, we are going to conduct a little experiment. A test if you will. For this test, I needed two cooperative subjects: Chloe, and Jesse." The distorted voice chuckled as his 'cooperative' lab rats screamed for help as their arms thrashed roughly against the ropes.

"But, there was one role I needed a... brave participant to help decide which subject should live... and which will die." Lily could see her friends start to lose their own breaths, the reality of the situation seemingly twisting their bodies into hyper speed. Instead of watching their jerky movements, she opted to work her way towards the door. The metal plating stopped her from even attempting to break the obstruction down. She didn't know how thick it might be and injuring herself was not the smart way to go about this.

As if the man could hear them he ushered them to be quiet. His voice was still monotone. "Please, please, settle down everyone. It's a very simple situation." Her friends' screams halted in their throats. She could see where it lingered within them. Jesse's eyes seemed to swarm with tears.

"Lillith." Her body froze as she inspected the glass panel in front of her.

"You will find a lever placed directly in front of you," Lily moved towards the screen now that her attempt to find a flaw in the door had been anything but productive. Looking towards the lever she saw what he was discussing. A picture sat on either side of the erect lever. Each picture held a moment she had once cherished with them.

On the left was a picture that Chloe herself had taken. The girl had surprised her by jumping down the school steps to wrap her arms around the quiet girl. The image was blurred as she had taken the selfie moments before Lily had flipped her over her shoulder on instinct. The redhead had waved off her attempts behind a bruised smile and a promise to give her more warning next time. Nevertheless, the image had the same happiness around it as the memory of the ice cream trip they had gone on to have had.

Jesse's image, on the other hand, held more nuance. It was taken from afar and, had she not been there, to begin with, she would not have known it was her in the shot. She was caked under layers of makeup at a Halloween party. Jesse had convinced her to become the second part of a duo costume since Beca had declined when she saw what it was. She had spent the entire party sneaking up to people dressed as Billy the Puppet while Jesse cackled at their startled faces.

Looking at the innocent aces of her friends made the situation all the more real for her. "All you have to do... is choose who you wish to save." She could feel her hands start to twitch under the decision. Her ears had long since blocked out the screaming in the background. Her two friends' voices competed to be heard first as they actively tried to persuade her to choose. Her eyes flickered between the images and their respective person, the images hanging precariously in front of their owners.

"Make your choice." The stereo crackled as the man discarded his microphone. Lily wasn't certain whether they were in the room or the simple camera was still recording her decision. She wondered if the psycho was relaxing with a bucket of popcorn in his lap.

Seeing her friends struggle in their restraints as they fought to escape darkened her eyes considerably. They knew, they all knew that only one of them would be getting out of this alive.

All at once, the room was filled with an aggresive whirring. All of them stopped moving at the moment to take in the sight of the saw kick-starting to life before their very eyes. It started slowly, the teeth inviting them to watch their lap on the spot. But before long the teeth faded away, instead replaced by the red splatter consuming its spot. And, despite being on the opposite side of the wall from her, Lily could feel the wind move past her as if she were beside it tempting fate.

Even with the sound consuming the shed they were in, her friend's pleas drowned it into a reminder within the background. Their words became all-consuming as they both tried to bargain with her to get her sole attention. Their bodies not halting in their attempts to break free from their binds.

"Shit!" Chloe had uttered repeatedly since the machine had started. Her survival instinct opting to flee than talk Lily into sparing her herself. A slew of curse words had made up her entire arguments.

Jesse on the otherhand was attempting to remain more level headed. His words were rushed and his eyes remained wide but the meaning mattered most to him apparently. "Lily! Just think about this alright!"

That was her problem, she thought, she always thought things through too much. It was why her friends thought her to be weird. She never did things for spontaneity. Her entire friendship was built on being too lost in her mind to even let herself speak out loud enough to let herself be confident speaking out right. But now she was in a situation that demanded her heart to be on the line.

She had to choose between two people she was equally close with, who hadn't judged her meek demeanour. Instead, they embraced her. Choosing to stick by her even as she uttered things to freak the others out. They only smiled and continued on with their day.

"I don't wanna die!" Lily's eyes clenched shut as she tried to erase the pain-filled face of her friend. The redhead's emotions were too painfully clear on her face as she watched her friend hesitate before her. To see the emotionless queen stutter over her choices. "No!" She could see how her eyes had become puffy, the tears seemingly rupturing free in the wake of her blood-shot blues. "This isn't happening, it can't be."

"Yes!" The joyful expletive was too out of place not to garner her attention. Jesse's hand seemed to calm down in their restraints. His left hand moved with more slack than either of Chloe's. "I think I can get out of these!" He called back towards her. His administration is more towards the rope than the newly elected Judge and Jury. "My rope is fraying slightly!" He explained.

"Please! I don't want to die like this!"

"Chloe!" Jesse called next to himself. His voice seeming to bring them all together despite the fact the two of them were side by side. "You're not going to die! Lily won't let that happen alright." Both girls were stunned at his declaration. His confidence was mildly overshadowed by the gulp he made when staring back at the saw blade. "Lily!" Her eyes snapped onto his. "I need time alright. I think I can get out of these restraints. I just need the saw to not come next to me until then."

"So I have to die!" Chloe cut in a panic.

"No!" Jesse assured, his voice aghast. "I need her to not make a choice. I need as much time before she chooses to send it my way," His resignation to the fact was eerily secure.

The pleading words were what Lily wanted, right? To have someone opt themselves to be a sacrifice so that the blood wouldn't be solely on her hands. That someone else would be to blame when it came to light about what happened. And if all went well, then they wouldn't need to suffer any blame as Jesse would be walking them out himself.

He didn't give her much more of an option. It was a shot in the dark and one that she was willing to take even blindfolded. So, they waited. The short intervals dragged on for an eternity as he tried to slip his hands free. His fingers made frantic jutting movements before he would seemingly curse about it. His entire body jerked under the administration.

Her hand gripped the leather-bound switch and looked imploringly back up at the boy. His head was turned, too focused on easing one of his hands out of the loosened knot to pay her any mind. Her eyes flickered downwards just long enough to see the saw blade approach swiftly to the crossroads in the track. She didn't have much longer to decide.

Whispering a small apology to the person she was condemning, Lily pulled the lever. A strong screech worked its way through the room as she was forced to put more force behind the lever than she expected. Her body pulled with all its might to keep the lever in its place. Her face scrunching as she tried to lock it still. Yet, with each tug she gave, the lever gave as good as it got. It seemed to seek the centre of the control panel. Craving its anonymity as it sought out its own victim; something she was not willing to give into.

Screams continued long into the background. Even if she could make her body face the sight she doubted she would be able to keep her eyes open to witness the scene. She could hear Chloe's piercing scream in her ears even after she let the lever go. Her hands reached to cover the sound from her life.

Within a moment her screams had died to muttered denials. Something that told Lily all she needed to know. She knew what sight would greet her when she arose. But knowing and seeing were two very different things.

Standing with false confidence, Lily faced down the result of her choice. Bile raced upwards as she saw the litany of red the splattered around the board. Chloe was drenched in the sticky liquid as her tears drained some of it from her cheek. Jesse's head hung limply as his shoulders relaxed in his place. His eyes were half-lidded as they stared at nothing. One of his arms swayed by his side as the other remained locked in place above his head.

Even from afar, Lily could see how his body had a slight sway to it from where it remained. The saw blade sat in front of the boy. Its blade locked in place as his legs sat discarded beneath the contraption. His foot twitched under her vision while everything else say motionless.

"What did you do!" Chloe searched her as she actively ignored the sight beside her.

What had she done...