AN/: I'm sorry in advance.
April 16th, 1973
3:22am
The Family House
Song recommendation: "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd
TW: Character death
The Ultimate Sacrifice
Ana
-.-
Everything was happening so fast I could barely keep up. I reunited with Maria and I was in shock before relieved - thinking she'd been dead this entire time and I'd find her dead corpse like we found Connie's. Then we found out Sonny was also dead which shattered Leland. The poor guy blamed himself for his best friend's death. Maria got injured by the leather faced man - whose name is apparently Bubba. His giant powered saw had grazed her leg - leaving a giant gash that Danny poorly tried to mend by using his ripped sleeve. It then ended with us outside, finding Johnny's truck, but an angered Bubba still hungry for a kill.
"RUN!" Leland yelled at all of us, "FUCKING RUN!"
Julie took off into a full sprint - the track star running down the main dirt path of the road leading to the house of horrors. I was right behind Maria and Danny - who were both struggling but making a desperate attempt to escape. Leland was behind everyone - trying to protect all of us.
"STOP! STOP, STOP, STOP!" Julie yelled as she halted at the end of the pathway. Maria and Danny stopped as I quickly grabbed Maria - noticing her bad leg beginning to tremble from the amount of pain and blood loss. Danny heaved heavily as he held onto his ribs. Leland abruptly stopped - a dirt cloud forming all around us as we all noticed what Julie had us stop for.
On the ground was a cattle grid that was electrified - tiny sparks of electricity zapping everywhere.
"Do we jump?!" Leland asked as he glanced over his shoulder, Bubba still running full force at us. We had less than a minute to make a decision.
"No!" I shook my head at him, "Danny and Maria won't be able to. Plus we can get hurt if we don't jump high enough. It's basically suicide."
"Yeah, well, so is sticking around for Big Boy back there with his saw to cut us up!" Leland spat out before running his fingers through his hair. He swallowed hard as he took a deep breath. He knew what this meant. Either we all risk being electrified, died by Bubba, or… someone had to make a sacrifice. Leland swallowed hard as he hung his head to the ground - lost in his thoughts. He took a deep breath and nodded - accepting something silently - before turning back to Danny. He spoke once again, "Gaines, I need you to yell at me."
"What?!" Danny gasped out, "Why?!"
"Just do it!" Leland protested, "Be like Coach Hobbs and yell at me!"
"Leland now is not the time for your theatrics!" My voice shook slightly with fear as Bubba was now halfway down the driveway and didn't plan to stop and take any breaks. He was coming to kill one or all of us.
"JUST DO IT!" Leland yelled at Danny - his voice full of determination yet an underlying fear.
Danny flinched before nodding at his friend, "COME ON, MCKINNEY! YOU CALL THAT A DAMN SHOW?! GO GIVE THEM WHAT THEY CAME FOR! FUCK HIM UP, YOU DAMN PUSSY!"
Leland jumped up and down in place, hyping himself up some more, before turning to me. He gave me a gentle and reassuring smile, trying to silently tell me everything will be okay, before turning towards Julie. He gently cupped her face and gave her a deep kiss - which she immediately returned - before kissing her forehead.
"I love you, Jules." Leland whispered to her before pulling away. Julie stood there shocked - not expecting him to utter the words. Was that the first time he said it to her? Not knowing what was going to happen, it was also the last time he said it too.
Leland let out a guttural yell before taking off full speed at Bubba. His shoes kicked up dirt, leaving a cloud behind him, as he ran towards the larger man with the chainsaw. We all screamed at him to stop, turn around, and so forth but it was too late. Leland was on a mission. Nobody could convince him to turn back around after the fate he decided to accept in those final moments.
Bubba stopped running. He made a loud startled yell before turning back around - heading towards the house. He must've gotten scared from when Leland shoved him down in the basement. This only encouraged Leland more as he let out another yell - running even faster to catch up to the man. In one swift movement, Leland's strong arms wrapped around Bubba as the larger man went down in a tackle. Leland landed on top of him with the chainsaw starting to swirl around on the ground nearby - losing control without someone to handle it. We all gasped in shock as we watched Leland slowly stand up - leaving Bubba knocked down.
"WOOOOO!" Leland shouted out in massive victory, "TAKE THAT YOU STUPID MOTHER FUCKER!" Julie and Maria cheered in victory as Danny and I stared at him in shock. Leland began to celebrate his victory - throwing his fists up in the air before flipping the sky off. He let out a loud victory yell before speaking again, "YOU THINK YOU CAN TAKE ME?! THINK AGAIN, FUCKER! THEY DON'T CALL ME THE FASTEST COYOTE IN THE STATE OF TEXAS FOR NOTHIN! COME AT ME YOU PUSSY BI—!"
The chainsaw entered Leland's stomach. The rotating blade cut into his back and stuck out through his stomach - his intestines wrapped around and cutting into smaller bits. Blood began to pour out of his shirt and down his pants. Leland's happy expression was replaced by shock and then major pain and obvious discomfort. His screams of victory turned to pain and fear.
"LELAND! LELAND, NOOO!" Julie screamed out in distraught. Maria let out a horrified cry as Danny's eyes widened in fear. I turned my head away and closed my eyes - not that it would help because I still could see the image in my head along with Leland screaming and the blade revving louder and louder. Danny swallowed hard as he looked over near Leland and Bubba. There was a tiny water well that probably led into the basement - as I had briefly noticed the circular entrances from above.
"QUICK, TO THE WELL!" Danny yelled as he grabbed Maria's hand. He pulled his lover towards the well - running past Leland who was still being sawed in the process. I had grabbed Julie's hand and forced her onto her feet. We ran after Danny and Maria. Danny fell into the well first - wanting to try and catch us on the way down. But as we ran past Leland, Bubba had lifted him in the air with him still stuck on the chainsaw. The open wound on Leland's lifeless body began to squirt and gush blood out - almost like a water fountain - and showering us with his blood and cut up stomach and intestines.
Julie screamed louder as she began to get covered with her new lover's blood alongside Danny, Maria, and I. I gagged but kept running to the well where Julie fell down first. I followed after her before Maria landed beside me. Great, we were back where we started. The basement of Hell. Maria cried out in pain as she held her thigh - picking out tiny bone fragments as we landed on a pile of sharp bones. I'm gonna try and assume it's from an animal despite the human skull looking at me.
Danny groaned in pain too - he had tried to catch Julie and Maria but failed due to his balance and ribs. He leaned against the disheveled walls, clutching his side in pain, taking deep and jagged breaths. I coughed as a huge dust and ash cloud had formed around us. A lot of the bones were basically nothing but brittle shards and ash. I wheezed before going over to Maria - trying to check on her. But underneath her pain was nothing but anger that kept boiling by each second.
"Leland?!" Julie cried out as she looked down at herself. She was almost completely covered in his blood like the rest of us, "LELAND?! FUCK! NO NO NO NO! WHY?! WHY?!"
Her screaming cries echoed off the walls of the basement. Her nails clawed away at his inside bits that littered her clothes and body. His blood smeared into her skin as it also drenched her clothes and hair. Her bloodied hands went into her braid where she began to pull her hair as her screams intensified. The amount of grief, trauma, and shock consuming her entirely. Tears slowly started to clean her face along with the mascara that ran down with the blood. She was a wreck on the inside and outside. He would normally be here to comfort her - like he did when we saw what happened to Connie.
But Leland isn't here anymore. Sonny is gone too. We saw what happened to Connie. Who's next? Will we escape? Will we even make it out alive? What about our friends and families? What would they think? What will become of us?
"Maria?" Danny gasped out as he saw his girlfriend stand up, using the wall for help, before beginning to limp away from the group. He spoke up again, "Maria?! Where are you going?!"
"To get us the fuck out of here." Maria snapped at him.
"We can try something else." Danny persisted, "Maybe they have a phone? We can call the police station and maybe they'll come."
"THEY'RE NOT GONNA COME!" Maria snapped at Danny as she spun around on her heel, "NOBODY IS COMING! EVEN IF THEY DID, THEY'LL END UP DEAD LIKE VIRGINIA! LIKE SONNY! LIKE CONNIE AND NOW LELAND!"
We all flinched at her words. We don't know who Virginia is - but clearly it was someone who must've tried to help her. I swallowed hard as I stood up and walked over to my bigger sister.
"You can't think that way, sis." I reassured her, "We're gonna get out of here, okay?! We just need-"
"I've witnessed almost everyone die." Maria stated coldly as she stared into the eyes of her little sister, "Everyone here is dead. We're outnumbered now. It's only a matter of time. There's no way we're escaping from here. Especially me."
"Come on, baby." Danny spoke up, "Maybe there's another way? We can try the tunnels and go to a property they don't use often. Like the mill?! Or try another truck. We just need—"
Danny was cut off by someone coming nearby. We all stopped in our places as Julie continued to sob silently. I placed my hand over her mouth as the voice came closer and closer. It wasn't until the person rounded the corner that I had recognized him - so did Julie and apparently Maria. Julie screamed against my hand as she quickly sprang to her feet. Maria began to run as fast as she could down the hall as did Danny. But that only made the person behind us laugh harder than before. It was the guy with the large birthmark who had dragged Julie out of Leland's van. Apparently meeting the entire family wasn't over quite yet.
"Ooooo, f-fresh m-meat!" They stuttered out, "T-this gonna be f-f-fun!"