𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 ~ 𝐚𝐧 𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐃𝐚𝐰𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐞𝐧 ~ 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐌𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

It was Josh, he orchestrated the whole thing and now he stood laughing at all of them. Laughing at their ignorance, their fear, their terror.

Once the screaming and the begging started, the trio ran into an adjacent room where Chris and Ashley were strapped in. Chris held a gun, he needed to make a choice and yet again, he chose to sacrifice himself instead of Ashley. Josh revealed himself soon enough, the gun was a fake. Josh continued to spiral out of control. Michael had had enough and lost it, smacking Josh on the head out of anger. But Josh didn't stop, his maniacal laughter only grew louder. Sam was stunned, shocked, in disbelief. Ashley stopped sobbing, somehow she looked desensitized. Chris was angry but beneath the anger there was also sadness, he had lost a friend. She just stood there, in the corner of the room, taking it all in like it was a movie; was this the climax? Was this the end? The villain had been revealed after all, would they all get a ride at the back of an ambulance after their harrowing night? Somehow she doubted it.

Sam composed herself soon enough and freed Chris and Ashley from their restraints. Michael grabbed Josh, intent on stuffing him in the shed until the authorities were contacted. The group soon left the basement and found their way back upstairs to the lodge. Michael and Chris were soon gone, delivering their prisoner to the shed.

Ashley sat in silence, she almost wanted to hide herself, make herself as small as possible. She stared straight ahead, looking at nothing in particular. Sam continued to pace around, trying to process the whole ordeal. The gears were running in her brain, she would reach a conclusion soon enough. She left the other girls and went to the kitchen, in search of another bottle. She found one where she left it, in the cabinet. She grabbed it, unscrewed the lid and poured half of its contents into her open mouth. It burned but when it reached her stomach it warmed her up, it was better than any heater she had encountered. Her stomach grumbled once more in hunger. She searched the cabinets to satisfy the protests, she soon found a lone protein bar, an expired protein bar to be exact. She shrugged her shoulders in indifference and cut through the wrapper with her teeth. She took a bite out of the bar, it tasted just fine. She boosted herself up and sat on the counter, swinging her legs wildly as she consumed the expired bar and drank the amber liquid, looking for the bottom.

A scream radiated though the whole lodge but it did not sound like it came from within.

"What the hell was that?" Sam had stopped pacing. They waited in silence, for something to reveal itself as the source. Eventually it did.

"Let me in! Let me in!". The incessant knocking began, urging them to open the door. She left her perch and went to the living room to witness the scene as it unfolds.

~

"Something's out there! A monster, A monster!" Emily continued to yell hysterically.

"Emily, wait, are you okay?", Chris asked earnestly.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I didn't think I would make it.... There was this thing and it was moving so fast - ".

"What thing?" He interjected once more, not allowing her to finish her story.

"Em, you need to relax. It was just Josh he was messing with us... but we-" Sam tried to explain.

"You're not listening to me".

"Em, can you tell us exactly what happened?" Chris asked, calmly.

"I am trying to tell you, we were climbing up the tower, and it fell. The whole tour just fell into the mines-"

"Whoa, what mines?"

"There are these mine shafts running under everything and when the tower fell, we ended up down there".