UNMASKED.

chapter 18.

sam quickly took the knife out of carter, causing him to cry out in pain. after putting the knife in her pocket, she picked up the gun and turned to kirby, assuring her, "i'll get help."

sam climbed up the railing, followed closely by tara and elena.

"careful." tara said to sam as they made their way up.

tara was moving up behind sam but before she was able to, she lost her footing and began to slip, all thanks to bailey.

both sam and elena quickly caught ahold of tara, keeping her from going over the railing. they heard bailey's laughter and order call to carter, saying, "go get her! get her!"

"i can't, i-i can't." tara stuttered, struggling to hold on.

"it's okay." sam tried to tell her.

"i can't- i can't grab on." tara teared up, her grip loosening.

carter started stabbing upwards at tara, his knife inches away from her. sam and elena shouted, "no!" in unison, desperate to save her.

"i've always wanted to stick something in you, tara!" carter yelled, his knife pointed upwards still.

elena, annoyed by carter's taunts and desperate to help tara, leaned closer, shouting down to him, "leave her alone, you fucking dick!"

carter's smile widened as he heard elena's words. he looked up at them, his eyes fixated on elena as he replied, "aww... looks like the princess is mad!"

carter's words made elena's anger worse. she replied with a cold glare, "i'm not just some princess. don't underestimate me!"

carter chuckled and then he smirked as he yelled back, "oh really? then why don't you come down here and show me what you've got!"

"fuck you!" tara shouted down at carter, who of course yelled back, "fuck you!"

tara tried to hold onto sam but the blood from sam's hands made it difficult for her to keep her grip.

elena, who was holding onto taras wrists, tried to help her.

quinn appeared through the nearby door as carter spoke, he smirked, yelling out, "you guys are so fucked now!"

quinn's smirk widened as she glanced quickly at the girls, her knife twirling between her fingers with ease.

tara tried to get sam's attention, shouting, "sam!" sam looked down at the gun left on the floor of the railing, her mind racing.

quinn then proceeded to spit out some blood and scraped the knife against a pipe, making a sharp noise.

"sam?" tara's voice echoed again. she said, "let me go." sam and elena shared a look, unsure of what to do.

"no." sam replied as tara began to slip again, her grip weakening.

elena's grip on tara only got stronger, she spoke, "we're not letting you go, tara."

carter shouted up from on the ground, encouraging sam to let tara go, "yeah! let her go, sam. come on!"

quinn had already started scraping her knife against something again, the sharp noise heard through the air.

"trust me." tara nodded for sam to trust her, her eyes locked on the knife still tucked in sam's belt. sam glanced over at quinn, who was slowly getting closer and closer.

after a moment of hesitation, sam slowly reached for the knife, gripping it tightly before passing it onto to tara. "you have to let me go." she gave a slight nod, silently telling tara that she trusted her. tara gave a small smirk before elena and sam finally let go of her hand.

tara had fallen down to the ground below. sam then turned to face quinn, who was holding the knife out in front of her. elena had quickly made her way down from the railing, standing next to tara.

as carter exclaimed, "gotcha!" he placed his knife into tara's stomach, causing her to cry.

tara was about to get carter, her knife held inches away from his mouth but then elena stopped her by shouting, "no!"

carter stepped back and chuckled, looking at elena with a smirk. "oh look, the princess is trying to play the hero." he said mockingly.

elena looked at carter with annoyance, her gaze intense. "i'm not a princess. i can handle myself just fine."

carter smirked and replied, "if you can handle yourself just fine, then why did you stop her?"

elena, for some unknown reason, still found herself drawn to carter even after learning that he was a ghostface.

carter continued to smirk as elena spoke, her voice surprisingly soft. "i-i don't know. i just... i didn't want her to do something she might regret."

tara, who had been holding her stomach in pain, weakly spoke up, her voice whispering. "i don't regret anything..."

carter's gaze shifted from elena to tara, his smirk widening. "oh really? you don't regret anything?" he asked her, stepping closer. he inched even closer to tara, looking down at her with a smile. "you sure you don't regret anything, tara?"

tara's eyes locked with carter's, her voice shaky. "i-i don't regret a thing."

carter let out a soft scoff at her words. "you're either very brave or very stupid." he continued, "but you know what i think?" he stepped even closer as he said, "i think you're a little bit of both."

tara, despite the pain, managed to reply, "well, what if i am?"

carter chuckled, his smile widening slightly. "then i say you might be making a big mistake."

elena spoke up, "what do you mean, a big mistake?"

carter turned his gaze to elena as his smile faded. "i mean, she's going to find out."

elena looked at carter with confusion, her eyebrows furrowing. "find out what, exactly?"

carter let out another scoff, his tone mocking. "you'll just have to wait and see, princess."

(authors note: almost doneeeee!!!)