Chapter Six

Matt's POV

Emily, Y/N, and I start walking, eventually reaching a gate. I press the button to open it, but the light comes back red instead of green. It's locked. 

"Hey... it's locked!" I yell. "The hell? Who did that? Man, there's some seriously uncool crap going on up here tonight..."

I turn away from the gate, following Emily and Y/N down the path. I look Y/N up and down worriedly as she numbly follows behind Emily.

"I can't believe Josh is dead," Emily says. 

"I can't believe how he died..."

"No, I mean, what if they were wrong?"

I watch from behind as Y/N's fists clench. 

"What?"

"Maybe we should have checked the shed to see if it was really true."

Y/N stops short. "Are you serious!?"

Emily pauses, turning around. She glares at Y/N. "What?"

"How dare you question what I saw. I said I saw it! Josh got split right in half! Right in front of my eyes! You don't unsee something like that. I can't believe you'd say that, make me relive it. I can't believe you'd say I was wrong."

"Y/N..." I begin. 

"Stop it," she demands, turning back to Emily. "Why can't you just get along with us! We're dying and you don't seem to care!"

Emily walks closer to Y/N, getting in her face. "Of course I care! I am trying to get us help!"

"No, you're trying to save yourself! You treat everyone around you like crap. You don't care about any one of us!"

"Well, I certainly don't care about you right now, bitch." Emily then ends the conversation by hitting Y/N hard across the face. 

Y/N falls to the ground, curling up into a ball and starting to cry. 

"Emily!" I yell. "What the hell!? She just went through a bunch of crap and you slapped her!? All because she got offended that you didn't believe her!?"

Emily just shrugs and rolls her eyes, starting to walk towards the cable car station again. 

I bend down and offer a hand to Y/N to help her up. She looks up, sniffling before taking my hand. 

"I'm really sorry about that. Are you okay?" I ask, eyeing the red spot on her cheek.

She just nods, wiping the tears from her face. "Let's keep going. Sorry for picking a fight with your girlfriend, Matt."

"Hey, Y/N..." I try, but it's too late. She's already walking to the cable car station. 

I sigh and follow her, meeting up with Y/N and Emily, who points to an axe wedged in the door.

"Huh, an axe." I pull the axe out of the door. "I'd feel better with this axe."

Emily tries to open the door. "Oh, what now? This is locked, Matt!" She looks over at me, gesturing to the door. "Well, break the door down, will ya?" 

I try to curb my anger towards her for now, replying, "Woah. Wait a second. We start smashing stuff down he's gonna hear us."

"You got any better suggestions?"

I glance over at Y/N to see if she has any input, but she just shrugs, looking away. 

I look around. "I dunno. What about..." I notice a window that is slightly open. "Look!" I point to the window. 

"What?" Emily asks. 

"A window!"

"That's great, Matt. I can just about fit my lip balm through that little slot."

"No, come on."

"You will never fit through there, big guy."

"I won't fit, but you will."

"Are you nuts? You're gonna shove my ass through that little hole?"

"I've seen you slip into some pretty tight jeans, Em."

Emily scoffs. "Uh? Excuse me?"

I roll my eyes, backtracking. "It's a talent!"

"Think again, lug head. No can do. For one thing, that maniac is probably just sitting there under that window waiting to blend us into pińa coladas!"

I sigh. 

Y/N steps forward. "Help me through."

I blink in surprise. "You sure?"

"Yes. I'm sure. It's the best option. And if something happens to me, you guys can have enough time to escape."

"I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with..."

Emily claps. "Great idea, Y/N! Of course, Matt will help you through! Thank you for volunteering!"

I give up. "Uh... yeah. Of course. I'll help you..."

"I'll stay here at the door," Emily says. 

Y/N and I walk to the window, Y/N stepping onto the bench right below the window. She pulls the window more open.

"Y/N..."

She turns around. "Hm?"

"Just be careful."

She nods, giving me a slight smile. 

I put my axe down momentarily and walk closer to help her through. 

Y/N manages to get the first half of her body through the window before she grunts. "Matt, I need some help. I didn't think this through."

I put one of my hands on her left thigh and the other on her right thigh, helping her get through.  

I hear her fall to the ground once she makes it through. "Ahh!"

I panic, rushing to the window. "Y/N! You good?"

"Yup! I'm good. Sorry!"

"No worries. I'll meet you at the door!"

"Sounds good! I just need to make it around all this stuff. It's really busted up in here! And dark!"

I pick up the axe again, walking to the door, where Emily is impatiently tapping her foot. 

I hear Y/N fumbling with the handle, opening the door for us. She steps aside, smiling. "Got it!"

Emily walks through in a huff and I walk in after, smiling at Y/N. "Nice job!"

We high-five and then I notice how trashed this place is. Emily turns the light on, but I didn't need the light to notice how wrecked everything is. 

"Oh, damn," I breathe. 

"What happened?" Emily questions. 

I continue walking around, marveling at how broken the cable car station is now. "This is crazy-"

"We were just here like a few hours ago. This must have just happened!"

"What's going on?" Y/N asks, looking around with the rest of us.

Emily shifts nervously. "It's gotta be the guy... the one who got to Chris and Ash and Josh and Y/N..."

"He's gotta know this is the only way back," Y/N agrees, horrified.

"Oh no. Don't say that."

I gesture to the cable car. "Look. The cable car is all the way back there!"

"Well, that's... I mean that's not far, right? You... you can jump it?"

Y/N scoffs at Emily's comment. "No. He is not going out there. I'm not letting you risk his life like that."

Emily just glares at her and I know I need to speak before they break into another fight. "Yeah, Em. I mean... I'm good, but not that good. Flattered, though."

"Well, Matt if you can't jump that, what are we gonna do!?"

"I... I don't know." 

"Everything is like, so busted up," Emily mentions as the three of us begin walking around the cable car station.

"I think they knew exactly what they were doing." I walk into the control area, noticing the word "DIE" written all over in what looked like to be red paint. "Very friendly."

Emily scoffs. "Un-follow."

"Really?" Y/N mentions. "Un-follow?"

Before Emily can get another word in, I find a map, pulling it up and back in place. "Hey, look!" I point to a spot on the map. "Fire tower."

"Hey, Magellan. Maybe we should get the cable car working and take this show on the road, huh?" Emily says.

I sigh and turn around to get to the control panel. Y/N is already there. 

She points to the key slot on the panel. "There's no key. No key, no cable car."

I sigh. "Back to square one."

"What about the fire tower?" Emily asks me. "On the map you found?"

 "Well... I guess it's an option."

"Maybe it has a radio or something. I mean, it would, wouldn't it?"

"Probably, yeah."

"Matt, we need to get to that radio!"

I glance at Y/N, noticing that she seems unsure about that plan. 

"I dunno, Em," I say. "I mean, that could work, but I kinda think that maybe we should get back to the lodge for now. Everyone's been split up for so long..."

"Wait so first you wanna leave the lodge now you wanna go back. You don't know what the right thing to do is any more than I do, Matt. And I say that we should go to the fire tower and get on the radio and call for more help. And that's that."

"Hey, if you feel that strongly about it..."

"I do, Matt! I'm surprised that you don't too!"

I see Y/N back away from us out of the corner of my eye. 

I raise my voice. "I do! I do! Really!"

Y/N turns around and walks out, us following her close behind. Emily rushes to a ladder. "Oh! Hold up!" She grunts as she reaches for the ladder and tries to pull it down. 

I walk up to her, setting the axe down and getting down on my knees to give her a boost. "Here. I'll help."

"Thanks, Mister Meat for Brains," Emily replies, stepping on my hand to reach the ladder. She pulls it down with a CLANK.

Y/N walks up to us, eyeing the ladder. Without a word, she steps over to the ladder first, climbing down it and reaching a ledge. 

I follow her down once I pick up my axe, Emily coming after me.    

"We can totally get through here this way," Y/N assures us as she shimmies along the edge. 

Suddenly, she reaches the corner of the edge but doesn't notice. I hurry to her, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her towards me before she falls. 

Y/N squeaks before sighing with relief. "Oh gosh! Thank you, Matt! I could've died!"

I smile. "No problem. Want me to go first?"

She shakes her head, smiling back at me. "I think I'm alright. Thanks."

Y/N continues around the ledge, watching her feet to make sure she doesn't have another accident. 

One by one, the three of us reach the other side. 

Y/N bends down, putting her hands on her knees to catch her breath. "Woah."

"Holy cannoli. Glad that's over!" Emily says. 

"Yeah," I agree. "For real."

Since Emily has the flashlight, she takes the lead, Y/N and I walking side by side behind her. 

"What if it doesn't work?" Emily asks. 

"What?" I question. 

"The radio."

"It'll work."

"But... okay, if it doesn't... we need a plan."

"Maybe... we can just climb down?" Y/N suggests.

Emily scoffs. "Climb down what? The mountain? You serious?"

"What's the big deal?" I counter. "It's not like it's floating in the sky."

"It might as well be, it's pitch black out!"

"Hey... hopefully we won't have to."

"You think this psychopath is just going to give up and run away?"

"No.. but... maybe we should find a safe spot, hole up, wait it out. It'll be a lot easier to figure this all out in the morning," I tell her. 

Y/N nods in agreement.

"As long as we don't hide in the lodge," Emily says. "That's where he expects us to go."

The three of us continue down the trail, reaching wooden stairs and a wooden path. Once we pass it, we reach a fork. 

Y/N glances down the left path, walking down it. I follow her, Emily eventually getting the cue and turning around to follow us. 

Y/N reaches a broken-down, wooden, bridge-like area. She steps on a loose floorboard. "What?" She reaches under the floorboard, picking up... a phone. "This... this is Beth's phone..."

"I thought the police like, swept the whole area," I say. 

Emily examines the phone in Y/N's hands. "Well, looks like they missed this!"

Y/N hands the phone to me and turns around to go back to the fork. 

I stick Beth's phone in my pocket and follow her, Emily close behind. 

The three of us head down the right path of the fork, reaching a cliff. I bend down and see half of a danger sign. "Watch where you step around here, guys," I warn. 

"Yes, Matt. Given the choice, I'd prefer not to spend my evening plummeting to my death off a snowy cliff top."

We turn around to head back and away from the cliff, but the wind picks up, making it hard to see. 

With my eyesight blocked, I can only hear the strange sounds headed straight for us.

"Matt!" Emily cries. "What is that!?"

"I don't know. I don't know..."

We pause in our tracks. 

"Crap," Y/N breathes, backing up. "Crap. This isn't good."