Chapter Nine

Sam's POV

I wake up to Mike whisper-shouting my name. I scoot over to where he is and after he helps me out of my restraints through the grate he's behind, I kneel on the ground. 

"Mike, you found me!" I say gratefully. 

"It's okay," he assures me. "You're okay."

"I don't understand... How did you get here? How did you find me?"

"Sam, listen. There's some maniac up here on the mountain!"

"Yeah. I've noticed."

"Yeah, but he lives in this like, web of tunnels... I was down there trying to get out and then I found this grate and saw you."

"Listen, this guy who you're talking about... he attacked me. He showed me these videos too, and one of them showed Josh being killed... just... ripped apart by this huge sawblade." I start to cry. 

"What the hell is going on here!?"

"And Mike... I think... I don't know... that maybe Josh is somehow involved in all of this?"

Mike raises an eyebrow in confusion. "What?"

"I'm not sure... But when I was blacking out during my run-in with the psycho, I could have sworn I heard him use the nickname only Josh uses for me. But... but he was dead by then. I'm not sure... Maybe I was just hearing things out of grief or something. I don't know..." I hide my face in my hands.

"Hey, it's alright, Sam. It's going to be alright. There's a door here. It won't open. Can you unlock it from your side?"

I nod, standing up, where I find my backpack on the door handle. I take it off the handle and swing it over my shoulder, walking out to find the door Mike needs me to open. 

I walk down the stairs and reach the wooden door, lifting the plank up to unlock the door. I set the plank down on the ground and swing open the door to find Mike standing right there. 

I look him up and down, noticing that he must have been through a lot. He looks terrible!

"Hey..." Mike starts, looking happy to see me.

"Jeez, you look awful," I tell him.    

I walk past him as he retorts, "Nice to see you too."

I go to a corner and set my pack down.

"What are you doing?" Mike asks. 

"Well, actually, the towel didn't turn out to be the best outfit for fighting off killer maniacs, you know?" I explain. I make a circular motion with my pointer finger. "Do ya mind, Mike?"

"Oh. Right. My bad." Mike turns around.

I quickly change, deciding to leave my backpack here for now. "Okay. Done. Let's put this thing to bed."

"Amen to that," Mike agrees, turning around as I walk towards him. 

Then we hear voices.

"Please!"

"I can't! I can't decide!"

"What was that?" I ask. 

Mike continues to follow the sound. "Is that crying?" 

Mike and I push on a metal door, opening it to reveal Chris and Ashley restrained to chairs with saws above their head. I notice a gun in Chris's free hand. 

Then I see the psycho, walking towards them. 

"Noo! No! No! No!" Ashley cries. "Get away!"

Chris shoots the psycho over and over with the gun, but nothing happens. 

The maniac shakes his head. "Oh, Chris... Oh Chris, Chris, Chris, Chris."

Chris stares at the gun for a brief moment, confused. "What?"

The psycho walks towards them. "Oh, you've heard of blanks before. I mean really?" Then he reaches up and removes his mask, revealing...

Josh.

"Josh!?" I cry as the others do the same.

Josh just laughs. "Oh, oh. Very good! Every one of you! You got my name!" 

I hurry over to help Ashley out of her restraints as Mike goes over to help Chris.

"And after all you've been through!" Josh continues. "Good, good-good-good. I mean how does that feel? Right? How does it feel? Do you enjoy feeling terrorized? Humiliated? I mean, panicked? All those emotions that my sisters got to feel once one year ago!? Only guess what? They didn't get to laugh it off! No! Nope! No, no, no! They're gone!"

"I don't know if you noticed this, Josh, but none of us are laughing," Mike scolds. 

"Oh, come, come-come-come-come. Why the long faces? Come on! It's good to get the heart racing every now and then, right? And race they did! I mean, every one of you. Just pitter-pat, pitter-pat! I hope you appreciated my little phantasmagorical spectacle! I mean, no detail too small! No opportunity missed! It was such a delight to play the puppet master to all of your Pavlovian panic! And all that gore? I mean, gore, there was gore galore! Fake bodies... I mean, that stuff was expensive! And no retakes! Nope, nope, nope! Only double takes! You should have seen your faces! Hook line and sinker for every little stinker!"

"Josh... why are you doing this?" I ask, hurt and confused. 

"Don't even ask this squirrelly little runt. He's got no clue. He's out of his tree!" Mike says.

Chris just looks at Josh, hurt and anger flashing in his eyes.

"Aw, come on, you guys. Revenge is the best medicine!"

"You're done!" Mike states.

Chris looks like he's going to say something, but I guess he decides against it because he remains silent. I can tell that his emotions are too strong for him to come to Josh's aid at all right now.

"What? Come on, you guys are all going to thank me when you guys become internet sensations!" Josh assures us. 

"Wait, what!?" Chris demands, finally speaking.

"Oh, you better believe this little puppy is going viral ladies and germs! I mean, we got unrequited love..."

I watch as Chris and Ashley tense at Josh's words.

"We got... we got blood!" Josh continues enthusiastically. "I don't think there's enough hard drives in China to count all the views we're gonna get, you guys!"

Chris abruptly stands up, something I didn't expect. I then notice blood dripping from his wrist and hand, causing me to gasp. 

"What the hell, man!" Chris, yells, walking towards Josh. "Matt, Emily, and Y/N are out there, missing! They went to get help because of you! Y/N was like a sister to us, man! I thought you cared about her! I thought you cared about all of us. But you gave Y/N so much pain by having her watch you die! You made me choose between you and Ashley! Some kind of wingman you are. But I guess you're just a hopeless cause in the love department, right? I mean, you scared Sam here half to death. I don't think she finds that very attractive."

I blink several times in confusion. What?

Josh looks over at me. "Sam... I..."

"No," Mike interrupts, "save it. JESSICA IS DEAD!"

"What?" Josh asks.

"Did you hear me!?" Mike questions, walking towards Josh and Chris.

"Jessica is dead. And YOU ARE GOING TO PAY, YOU DICK!" Mike hits Josh hard over the head, knocking him out.

"Josh!" I cry, rushing over to him. I kneel over to the ground next to Josh's head, glaring up at Mike. "What the heck, Mike!?"

"He killed Jess!" Mike yells, tears streaming down his face. "I can't believe you're wanting to help him right now."

Chris puts his face in his hands, causing him to get some of the blood from them onto his face. "I didn't want any of this to happen. I can't believe this is happening. This can't be happening..."

Ashley, who had been shocked and silently observing from her chair, finally speaks up, "Chris... everything is going to be alright."

He shakes his head. "Not this time, Ash."

Ashley walks towards Chris, noticing his wounds for the first time. She gasps. "Chris, you're hurt!"

Chris takes his hands off his face, revealing that he got it bloody. "I'm fine," he lies.

"Come on," Ashley coaxes. "I'll patch them up for you."

Mike nods. "Yeah, Chris. Go with Ashley. I'm going to have Sam stay with Josh while I look for some rope. Then you and I can take him to the shed."

I open my mouth to protest, but Mike interrupts my unsaid words. "Sam, it's for the best."

I just look down at Josh.

He never wanted to hurt anyone. He's just... broken.

Chris's POV

After Ashley helps me with my wounds, there's only silence.

She notices my fuming and whispers, "Chris?"

I look up and into her eyes. "Yeah, Ash?"

"I know you're upset, but please don't do or say something you'll regret, alright?"

Looking right at her black eye only makes me angrier. "I'll only give him what he deserves."

Ashley stays silent, thinking. 

"Thanks for helping me," I tell her. 

She gives me a small smile. "Of course. It's the least I could do. You've done so much for me."

I return her smile. "I'm just doing my job." My expression changes from one of concern. "But are you sure you don't want me to tend to your black eye?"  

She nods. "Yeah. Sam will help me with it. You have to go see if Mike is ready to take Josh to the shed."

"Alright. If you say so. I'm really sorry I wasn't there to protect you."

"Oh, Chris. You're really sweet, you know that?" Ashley asks.

I shake my head in objection. "Nah. I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

I chuckle lightly. "Alright, alright. But I'll only agree to accept that compliment if you admit that you're sweet too."

Ashley puts on a serious face. "Oh I know I'm sweet. I'm basically the sweetest person on the planet."

I laugh. "You're very humble too."

Ashley's fake face falls, breaking into giggling. 

We both laugh for a while, and for a moment, I forget the night of torture we just went through. I forget that I have to tie my best friend in his shed.

But then Mike calls my name. 

And the spell is broken.

I frown, walking towards the bathroom door. "I have to go now. I'll see you later, Ash."

"When will you be back?" she asks. 

I shrug. "I don't know. But I'll be back at some point."

She nods, giving a small smile. "Alright. Sounds good. Be careful."

I nod in agreement and turn, walking out of the room.

"Wait, Chris," I hear Ashley say. 

I turn around, seeing Ashley standing in the doorway of the bathroom. 

"Yeah?" I ask.

Ashley seems thoughtful for a moment, but then shakes her head as if deciding against something. "Nothing. I'll just miss you."

I smile warmly. "I'll miss you too, Ash. But I'll be back before you know it."

I wave goodbye to her and meet up with Mike, the two of us taking Josh to the shed, who has now come out of unconsciousness. 

Mike pushes Josh ahead of us on the trail.

"Guys!" Josh pleads, stumbling as he turns to face us. "Guys, come on..." Mike keeps pushing him.

"Seriously, this is crazy, you know?" Josh continues.

"Shut up," Mike orders.

The anger that has been boiling within me flares up again. "Why did ya hit her, man!? Why'd you have to FUCKING hit her!?" I lunge forward and punch Josh in the face, causing him to stumble to the ground.

"What are you talking about?" Josh asks.

"You punched Ashley, ya dick!"

Josh stands back up. "I... got so mad."

I shake my head in disappointment. "You don't hit a girl. You just don't."

"Dude... dude, Chris... Bro... I-"

"I'm not your bro!" I counter.

"Where are we going? Where are you guys taking me?"

Mike continues to push Josh forward, mocking him. "Locking you up, bro."

"What!?"

"So you can't do anything stupid before we call the police in the morning."

Josh stands up after being pushed to the ground by Mike yet again. "Come ON! I didn't DO ANYTHING."

"Are you SERIOUS!?" I roar. "You betrayed us! You gave Ashley a black eye! You made me pick between my crush and best friend! And now Y/N might be dead thanks to you! Don't you get it!? You hurt everyone you care most about. You have done something! You've done many things! You are not innocent!"

"You're a murderer!" Mike yells.

"I didn't do it!" Josh tries. "Michael, please! Just listen to me, man! I did not hurt Jessica!"

"Are you insane!? Like, really? Do you not understand what you've done!? After all I've just said!?" I counter.

"I'm a healer, man! I bring people together! Not like you assholes."

I glare at him. 

"That's enough," Mike says, continuing to push Josh closer to the shed.

When we're almost there, Josh yells, "You only see what you want to see! You're blind!"

"Stop talking!" Mike lowers Josh to the ground forcefully.

"You are-argh-"

"Dude," I interject.

"It's not my fault you suckers can't take a joke!"

Mike points the gun in his hands at Josh's head while pushing him into the snowy ground with his free hand. "Oh, oh, wait. Did I hurt you? Did you just feel a little... little bit of pain? Right now I am SO... SO... SORRY!"

"Stop it!" Josh pleads.

"Dude..." I repeat.

"Stop..." Josh says as Mike lifts him to his feet by the rope around his hands. "Michael... I'm sorry... Man... I can't tell you how sorry I am that something happened to Jessica but I swear... I swear to you I have no idea what happened to her..."

"Josh? Be honest with me," I tell him. "Do you really expect us to trust you for a single second after all you just put us through?"

Josh just laughs. "Can't we all just get along?"

Mike gives me a look before manhandling Josh again. 

Josh cries out. "OW! DAMMIT!"

"We're not dicking around!" Mike warns Josh, forcing him to move into the shed. 

"It's not right... nope... this is not how it's supposed to go down! You're just a bunch of bullies! You can't hang out a guy just to dry like this, guys."

My heart breaks at his words, despite all the anger that I am still storing inside. 

What happened? What happened to all of us?

We used to be so close. All of us. 

I mean, sure, some of us were closer than others in the group, but we were actually... good friends.

"Do it! Do it! Do it!"  Everyone chants around me.

I sigh, getting up on a table in front of my closest friends: Josh, Y/N, Ashley, Sam, Hannah, Beth, Jess, Emily, Matt, and Mike.

We're having a party at Mike's house. Surprisingly, he didn't invite the whole school. He said he just wanted to spend time with the ten of us. 

Naturally, I'm honored. So I don't want to ruin anything for everyone. Especially since Ashley and Y/N were so excited about coming to this party. They don't get to go to enough of them. 

Then again, neither do I.

So that's why I tell myself to suck it up and just have fun.

"Alright, alright," I say, lifting my hands up to stop the chanting. "What embarrassing dances do you want me to do?"

Emily and Jess whisper hurriedly to each other, Emily eventually suggesting, "Why don't ya twerk, Chris?"

My eyes go wide. I was not expecting this one.

"Oh my gosh! Emily!" Y/N scolds in between laughing hysterically.

"It was Jess's idea!" Emily counters, sharing a giggle with Jess.

Y/N rolls her eyes with a smile and looks directly at me. "Don't you dare do it, Chris. I'll have to look away or I'll need eye bleach."

Matt laughs. "That makes two of us."

"Three," Mike corrects, fist-bumping Matt.

I can feel the few drinks I had earlier start getting to me as I fake-glare at Matt and Mike. "You guys don't think I can do it? I'll up the stakes." I take off my shirt, accidentally throwing it on Ashley's face.

Josh laughs hysterically. "Smooth move, bro."

Y/N removes the shirt from Ashley's face. 

Ashley, upon laying her eyes on my shirtless form, promptly goes wide-eyed and her cheeks turn bright red, causing her to have to look away.

My face instinctively heats up.

"So are you going to do it or not?" Hannah asks.

"Hannah!" Beth interjects.

I laugh. "You bet I'm gonna do it."

So I do. I twerk and everyone bursts out laughing. 

I twerk until Y/N throws my shirt at me and begs me to stop. 

Then, I join the others in literally rolling on the floor laughing. 

When we're done, we collectively sigh, earning a few more laughs.

Y/N sighs again. "Guys?"

"Yeah?" we reply in unison.

"Can we always be like this?"

I watch as Matt looks over at Y/N and takes her hand. "Yes. We'll always be here." After he says this, he quickly lets go of her hand and looks away, blushing.

I smile, amused as I watch Y/N start to blush too.

"Damn. I wish we could stay just like this forever," I say.

"No, I'd prefer a time when your twerking wasn't still fresh in my mind," Ashley comments.

I fake-glare at her and grab a pillow laying nearby, squishing it in her face.

She giggles, taking the pillow and hitting me back.

Then the pillow fight breaks out.   

"Not like you got the guts to really do anything about it anyways!" Josh continues, crying out more as Mike continues to shove him.

"You really, really, really need to shut up, man!" I tell him. 

"Oh... that's... that's... I mean, I don't even know what you mean because I don't have anything to regret."

I shake my head in disappointment. "Oh my gosh." 

After much struggling, Mike manages to sit Josh down on a stool up against a wooden post in the shed. 

"Okay... tying me up now... okay...!" Josh says as I move over to help Mike tie Josh up to the post.

"Stay still, man," Mike orders.

Mike helps me as I work at tying the rope around the post. 

"Right, right, right, right... still..." Josh rambles. "Can't tie 'em up if they just wiggle around-" Josh begins to rock side to side.

"Josh, dude," I say as Mike and I increase our efforts.

"Leave me a little wiggle room, huh?"

"What does it take to shut you up!" Mike roars, backing up to look him in the eyes.

I finish tying Josh to the post and he cries, "Ow! Not so tight, okay? Not so tight, okay!"

I move over by Mike as Josh continues to ramble, "I can't wiggle around. Plastic ties. That's where it's at. Yeah."

"What in the world is he talking about?" Mike whispers to me.

"Plastic ties, plastic ties. Way more effective for hostage type scenarios," Josh continues in the background, oblivious that we're talking about him.

"This is hard to watch," I admit.

Mike glances over at Josh. "He ever say this kind of stuff before?"

"Guaranteed for at least three hostages or your money back!"

"No, I've never seen him like this!" I tell Mike.

We watch as Josh shakes his head. "Everybody is stupid, stupid, stupid... Chris and Ash. Chris is an ass. Ashley's a dumb-dumb."

"Excuse me? What did you just say?" I ask him.

"Well, I said you're a dummy, dummy!" Josh laughs.

"What is wrong with you!?"

"Oh Ashley. Oh Ashley," Josh swoons, mocking me. "I never imagined in my wildest dreams that you liked me!" Josh begins to make kissing noises. "You know what that sound is? It's the sound of never kissing Ashley, you pussy!!" 

I take a bat laying nearby, ready to use it if need be. "Stop it!"

"You know, you might as well let Ashley sleep with Mike. I mean, at least he's got a few notches in his belt!" Josh thrusts forward with every next word. "He'll. Treat. Her. Right! You're pathetic, Christopher!!"

I hold the bat up threateningly. "I'm gonna beat his head off!!"

"Don't listen to him!" Mike advises. "He's not worth it!"

"Hey, Mike," Josh says. "Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike. Mike!"

"What?" Mike demands.

"What happened with Jess, Mike?"

"You know what happened."

"No... No... I don't... I got a problem, Mike. I don't remember killing Jess."

Mike has to look away. "Oh my gosh."

"I mean, like, I feel like I would remember killing her, you know? She's so soft... and she's probably got like a really tight bod..."

Mike whips around to look at Josh again, pointing the gun directly at his face. "Shut your mouth!!"

I decide to trust Mike on this one and wait for the moment to pass.

"Ha!" Josh yells. "You guys are the worst!"

"What?" Mike demands.

"You expect me to believe that you were gonna shoot me!? Just little 'ol me tied up here and helpless?"

Mike turns to me. "Why don't you go back to the lodge and make sure everyone's alright. I'll stay here with this lunatic until morning."

"Oooh! Sleepover!" Josh cheers. "Can we order pizza?"

"You sure you're okay?" I ask Mike.

Mike nods. "They'll want to know everything's fine back there."

"You're right. See you in the morning." I walk away, dropping the bat on the ground on my way out of the shed. 

Emily's POV

I wake up hanging from a string of wire, bringing my hands to my mouth in shock. 

There's no time to dwell on the fact that I just got dumped. I have to get out of here.

So I swing over to a ladder, grabbing onto it as the wire snaps. I climb down the ladder as if it's monkey bars, avoiding being hit by burning objects falling.

I let go of the ladder and drop to the ground with a THUMP.

I watch with horror as the fallen fire tower continues to shift, moving towards me with its broken, sharp edges. I scoot out of the way a little, getting hit in the leg with a rock.

I grit my teeth in pain and grab my injured leg, scooting farther and farther from the still falling fire tower. 

It falls right past me and deeper into the mines. 

I breathe a sigh of relief, standing up and tearing the hem of my top off and wrapping it around a piece of wood. I make a makeshift torch and use its light to head deeper into the mines.

I keep hearing strange noises, so I walk as fast as my injured leg will let me, following the signs to the elevator. 

I reach a door I can't open, so I use a nearby mine cart to bust my way through, heading toward the elevator. 

I use the torch to light the light right next to the elevator, going in to try the elevator to no avail.

"Argh!" I let out my frustrations, searching for a way to get it to work. I spot a ladder and decide to try that.

Once I get to the top of the ladder, I set down my torch before promptly falling off the ladder and through wooden boards before I have the chance to fully climb up.       

I scream, sliding down into a dark, unknown area and falling on my face. I groan. "Damn." I stand up and brush myself off, getting out my phone and turning it on for light. 

As soon as I do so, the skulls that were right in front of me are illuminated, causing me to scream and try to climb back up where I was dropped. 

I finally give up, turning around to face the skulls. "UGH. Disgusting!"

I walk down the dark tunnel, continuing to hear the weird noises. When I reach the end of the tunnel, I break through the wooden planks blocking my way. 

I walk into a new area, noticing that there's a broken off ladder I could use. I climb up and grab it, using it to climb to the top.

I keep walking through the mines, despite the noises and my phone dying, leaving me without light.

I finally reach where I had been before, picking up the torch I had left. A little ways away from the torch, there's a switch. I flip the switch up, turning the power on.

Now I just need to get back to the elevator.

I head down the flights of wooden stairs, continuing to walk down the dark tunnels of the mine. When I reach an area with a patch of light, I eagerly try to climb up it, but to no avail. 

So I continue on, and after finding Hannah's glasses, a cross with Beth's name on it, even Beth's HEAD and other clues, I finally reach the elevator once again. 

This time, it works. 

But it stops before I can get to the mine's exit. 

I know I have to keep moving to find a way out of here, but as soon as I leave the elevator, I see a strange man and have to hide, staying as still as I possibly can.

"Please don't come this way," I whisper.

Once I think he's distracted, I run past him, jumping over gaps in a bridge and lighting a spill on fire with my torch to slow him down. 

I keep running, but then I reach a dead end with nothing to do but hide.

But before I know it, I am face to face with the strange man. 

He's caught me.

He grabs me, making me struggle and scream.

"NO!" I yell. "STAY AWAY!"      

"Shhh. Quiet!" the stranger pleads before pushing me to the ground and tossing a bag of something to me. "Use these! And get the hell out of here... now!" 

I scoot back, causing me to tumble down more rocks.

I hit the ground hard, the bag of what he tossed me landing on my stomach before falling onto the floor. 

I can hear the stranger's yelling in the distance.

"Whoa. What!?" I exclaim from the ground, standing up. "Oh no, oh no, oh no. Oh boy!" I glance around. I find the bag and pick it up, finding flares inside. I light one of them and peer around at the surrounding darkness. I need to get out of here.

I continue walking, reaching a gap. "Ok..." I start shimmying through the gap. "Ok. This is gonna be the way."

Then a hand reaches through the wood in front of me. "Shoot!" I start to run, that hand continuing to reach through to me.

"What was that!?" I cry, running as fast as I can and looking back occasionally. 

Then I reach a fork.

Left or right?

Right. 

I decide to go right, but some... thing jumps in front of me before climbing up the mine wall.

I run and run, finally reaching the elevator. It works, and I hunch down as the elevator inches upwards. 

"Come on!" I cry, trying to get ahold of my breathing. "Beath out... breathe in... Oh. This thing better not be infected. Oh no." I stand up, newfound determination boiling within me. "Okay, okay... snap out of it, Em."

I reach the surface, but the elevator starts to jump as if something has jumped onto it. 

I freeze.

The elevator shakes as the creature continues to climb on it. It's not until the shaking stops that I run at full speed out of the elevator, leaving obstacles in my wake. For the finishing touch, I throw my flare on a spill to make a fire in the creature's way.

I jump onto a conveyer belt, climbing up it to maintain a faster speed. When I get the opportunity, I jump off the moving conveyer belt and onto a still one, running and climbing until I get safely behind a latched door. 

I take a deep breath. Finally...

The creature bursts through the door, biting me on the shoulder.

I scream, running away and jumping onto a zipline, which I ride until it breaks, dropping me onto the snowy ground.

I cry in pain, standing up and holding a hand to my injured shoulder. When I hear a noise, I book it to the lodge, hoping I can make it there.