Light pierced the dimly lit room as Ash entered quietly. He came over to the bed in the corner, where Linda was still unconscious, understandably so. He kneeled down next to the bed and took her hand, checking if she had a fever. She didn't have one, but her pulse was very sporadic.
Ash fought back the urge to panic, and kissed her on the forehead. "It'll be alright, Linda... I promise." He whispered, then got up and left, closing the door behind him.
Out in the main room, Shelly and Scott were sitting on the floor by the fireplace, trying not to look over at the cellar door, which Cheryl was pushing up as far as the chains would allow, staring at them and making strange groaning sounds in her throat the entire time. Ash entered and Cheryl's gaze drifted to him, her hands coming up and gripping the chains holding the door closed too far for her to get out.
"What're we gonna do?" Ash asked, crossing the room towards the others.
"We gotta get out of here." Scott said. "It'll be light in a few hours, then we'll take the bridge and..." He trailed off, realizing that wouldn't be possible.
Cheryl started laughing, slow, steady and bubbling as strangely colored fluids ran from her mouth. Shelly couldn't take it anymore and turned around. "Why does she keep making those horrible noises!"
"I don't know!" Ash shouted. "Just leave her alone, she has to have time to get better!" He said, then fell into a seated position on the couch. Ash knew he was just fooling himself, but he could see that Shelly's terror at the situation was forcing her to be ultra realistic now...
"Her eyes... Just look at her eyes..." She said, tears falling down her cheeks now. "For God's sake what happened to her EYES!" She demanded, looking from one of them to the other for an answer, but nobody had one. Cheryl slowly retracted from the edge of the cellar door, letting it close and she sat on the steps. Laughing harder now.
...
The thing in the woods' attention perked. It felt another one, and began racing toward the Cabin once more. It smelled the fear, the insanity brewing in their minds, but one in particular seemed to have a weaker will then the others now. The thing reached the cabin, gliding to the front room windows, and looked in.
"Join us."
The dark-haired woman glanced over at the window where it lurked, and the thing in the woods got excited, that was the one. After a moment, her mate helped her to her feet from in front of the fireplace, leading her to the bedroom door. The thing watched the other for a moment longer, then followed its prey, gliding along the side of the cabin to look in through the bedroom window. There, her mate kissed her and she sat down on the bed as he left to go back to join the other male.
The girl began to cry now, and it tasted delicious to the thing in the woods.
"Join us."
Her head raised and she got up, slowly moving towards the window, peering out to find the source of the sound... It knew she couldn't see it, but she could feel it, which is exactly what the thing in the woods wanted... It moved forward, forcefully directing its energies and she backed away in sweet, delectable fear. The thing roared with anticipation and the window glass shattered, knocking the very frame of the window in. The woman covered herself in terror, and a vain attempt to shield herself from it.
...
Scotty jumped to his feet, looking towards the bedroom. That scream was Shelly, and the breaking glass... He grabbed the buck knife from the kitchen counter and rushed to the bedroom door. Scott flung it open to find the window shattered inward, and Shelly nowhere to be found, he rushed over to the window, looking out, but only fog and darkness greeted him. He looked down, not seeing any blood, which meant she hadn't gone over the glass and out the window.
"Sh-Shelly?" Scott murmured, heading for the bathroom door, opposite the one he'd entered. Scotty's blood was ice cold now, as he couldn't even comprehend an idea of Shelly being dead too now. Glass crunched underfoot as he reached the door and opened it, sticking the knife into his belt to free up his hand. He flung the door wide, but nothing was in the bathroom. He poked his head in, checking the corners, but again, nothing was in sight.
That was when the closet door of the bedroom creaked, and Scotty froze. How had he been so stupid?
The bedroom door in the main room burst open and Ash jumped up, cowering against the wall as Scotty and Shelly came rushing out, Shelly latched onto Scott's back and clawing at his head. Scott spun around, making Shelly lose her grip and topple to the floor, but she slid too far and her head fell right into the roaring fire in the fireplace.
Scott and Ash looked on in horror as Shelly's head ignited like dry leaves, and the smell almost made them vomit, but worst of all... She was still talking.
"NO! No not in the fire! NO!" She screamed, and it sounded like Shelly, but it also sounded like Cheryl, and countless other voices came from her too. Scott couldn't stand it anymore, what if she wasn't like Cheryl? What if she'd just panicked and thought HE was turned too? He ran forward and pulled her from the fireplace quickly.
"Thank you!" Shelly said, suddenly sitting up and touching his arms. The flesh peeled freely from her scolded face, blood and puss ran down from her eyeballs, which were the same blank white that Cheryl's had been. "I don't know what I would have done if I'd remained on those hot coals... Burning my pretty flesh..." She said, her voice warping even more now. "You have pretty skin... GIVE IT TO US!"
She grabbed Scott's face, digging her nails into the sides of his head and clawing, literally trying to rip his face off. Ash rushed forward and shoved her off him, but she shot up to her feet immediately after and back-handed Ash in the face, knocking him into the wall, and into unconsciousness. She then returned her attention to Scotty, dragging him to the fireplace and trying to force HIS head inside. He resisted, so Shelly picked up the dagger from the pile of stuff they'd brought up from the cellar and tried to stab him instead. Scott was fast though, and grabbed her by the wrist, forcing the knife back upward.
Scott knew she was somehow stronger, so he had to act fast, pulling the buck knife from his belt and raising it to the wrist of the hand holding the knife. He began slicing through it like a slab of meat and she screamed in agony as he did. He rammed it harder, feeling the bone crack. She shoved Scotty away and he watched in horror as she looked at her useless appendage, then began chewing it the rest of the way off like a wounded animal. It plopped to the floor in a dead heap, still clutching the knife.
Ash was beginning to come around now, and saw what was happening. He pushed himself up, going for the Axe by the door that Scott had been using to chop wood. Scott couldn't take it anymore though, he grabbed Shelly's hand with the dagger still held in it, and reached around, sticking it right into the small of her back. She let out a loud, long, horrific screeching sound that made both Ash and Scotty's ears hurt. She slowly fell backwards onto the dagger, forcing it deeper and deeper into her body as her weight leaned into it. The tip of the knife emerged from between her breasts and she grabbed it, trying to stop herself, but it didn't work, she fell all the way on top of it, and began thrashing around, spewing multi-colored fluids from her nose, mouth, eyes, ears, and even the stump where her hand had been.
Scott looked on in horror and rejoined Ash by the front door, Ash clutched the Axe to himself like a security blanket. After a moment, Shelly finally fell silent and still on the floor, amidst the horrible puddle of fluids she'd spewed. "Y-You gotta chop her up..." Ash said, remembering Knowby's words and passing the Axe to Scott. "Only way..."
"She's dead already, Ash..." Scott said, not wanting to believe what his friend had just uttered. That is, until he saw Shelly's eyes open again and her hand started to move. Before he even knew what he was doing, he snatched the Axe from Ash and reared it back, screaming in fury and fear as he slammed the Axe down, hacking right through her neck. He brought it back up again and swung, this time taking off her hand, then hitting the shoulder, and so on, until he couldn't lift the Axe for one single swing more. He was panting now, sweat covered his face and he stumbled away from the pile of body parts that had been Shelly. He dropped the Axe and looked down at his hands, seeing blood. No fluids, or strange substances, just her blood...
"What're we gonna do, Scotty?" Ash asked, terrified beyond the possibility of rational thought.
Scott shook his head, not knowing. Then, through the fog of confusion, fear, and exhaustion, a thought came. He wasn't sure why, but it did nonetheless. "We're gonna bury her."
Ash looked at him incredulously, the craziness of it had been enough to tear his eyes away from the sight of Shelly. "We... We can't bury Shelly, she's a friend of ours."
"Ash she's dead!" Scotty said, angry at first, but then his shoulders drooped and his tone did too. "Shelly's dead... and we're gonna bury her now."
For a moment neither man said anything, then Ash nodded. "Okay." Was all he could muster, so he and Scott headed to the workshed out back to get some shovels.