Barely Alive - Josh Washington x Reader

Chapter 7

Y/n's POV:

I opened my eyes, and was immediately met with the sensation of fear. I was gagged, and my hand were tied to the chair I was seated on. Nothing could describe this moment except for fear, absolute fear that I had never experienced in such an intense form before.

There was someone laying on the floor in front of me, and as I squinted I recalled it was Chris. As he rose from his unconscious state, I screamed into the gag to try and get his attention. He rubbed the back of his head, disoriented as he looked around and tried to look where he was.

"What the? Y/n?" I squirmed in my seat, trying to scream for help, but the only sound coming out of my mouth were muffles. Chris stood up and walked over to me, rubbing the back of his head. He pulled the gag out of my mouth, before untying my wrists.

"Chris, what the hell is going on?!" I yelled, eyes already brimming with tears. Chris placed a finger over his lips, motioning me to keep quiet.
"We don't know if anyone can hear us." I rolled my eyes and snapped at Chris.
"I don't care about anyone hearing us! Where are Ashley and Josh?" Chris looked around us and shrugged, cursing to himself.

"We need to find them."
"No shit Sherlock." I hissed, standing up and trying to find a flashlight or something. I used my hands to guide me, and I found a lighter. I put it on, creating a light source, Chris walking over to me.

"Whoa..." I shined my light in front of a wall, and noticed a big blood stain, splattered on the wall. We both gasped.
"Not good. Not good at all." Chris muttered. I noticed something on the ground and picked it up. It was Ashley's wallet.

"Shit, Chris. We NEED to find them!" I followed the trail of blood, and noticed it led to a shed outside the lodge. I opened the door, stepping into the freezing cold, Chris following me.
"They're probably in that shed!" I pointed towards a small shed, quickly running towards it.

"Ashley! Josh!" I yelled once arriving at the shed. I could hear someone respond, it was muffled, probably in the same condition as I had woken up in.
"Ashley! Where are you?!" Chris yelled, and I could hear someone respond again.
"Quick, this way!" I ran towards the sound, but the room turned dark again. The lighter being the only light source, wasn't helping at all.

"Ashley..." Suddenly something fell to the ground creating a loud noise, something metal, forcing my heartbeat to speed up.
"Jesus Christ!" Chris and I both jumped at the sound, before turning to each other, checking if we're okay.

"Y/n!" I turned around and ran toward the sound, arriving at a big window.
Suddenly the lights turned on. I could see Ashley and Josh being tied up against a large wooden board, with a huge saw in front of them.
"Ashley!" She looked up at me, but for some reason she couldn't see me. I started bumping on the window screaming their names.

"Chris, are you there?" She asked. I looked at Josh and noticed he was still unconscious. Suddenly there was a deep voice talking to us.
"Hello, and thank you all for joining me." He spoke, and my heart only started to beat faster. What the hell was this? Before you could comprehend what was happening, your attention was grabbed towards Josh, who was just now waking up, and blinking his eyes open.

"Huh...?"

"Tonight we're going to conduct a little experiment." The voice continued talking.

"What is this?" Josh looked helplessly at me. I jammed my shoulder into the wooden door, leading to Ashley and Josh, but it wouldn't open.

"Fuck!" I cursed and tried to break the window. My hands became bruised and my knuckles were bleeding at some point, but the rush of adrenaline running through my veins caused a daze before my eyes.

"Now for this experiment, we'll need the cooperation of our two test subjects... Joshua and Ashley." Chris was trying to open the door, but it was useless.
"But, we're gonna need one more brave participant to help decide..." As the voice said this I suddenly managed to crack the window. I stopped for a second, everybody looking at me expectantly. Josh' eyes widened and he trashed around. Trying to untie his hands.

"Which subject will live, and which will die." My eyes widened and looked at Chris. He looked back at me and then grabbed one of the tools laying around, starting to use it to break the door open. I grabbed a chair, throwing it against the window, creating another crack.

"If you don't follow my instructions, our subjects will both die." I stopped moving, my body freezing at the sentence. Chris became silent, looking at Josh and Ashley.

"Let me down you maniac!" Josh yelled, and Ashley cried out for help.
"Christopher, you will find a lever placed directly in front of you. All you have to do... is choose who you will save." His eyes widened and so did mine. we looked at one another, eyes wide in fear and confusion.
"Chris, this is serious. Don't do anything!" I warned him, wanting to look for another way out instead of listening to this maniac. There was no way someone was actually going to die.

"Please, Chris! You can't let me die!" She cried, chest heaving at the sobs leaving her lips
"Bro, I know we haven't been best buds lately, but I promise, I'm getting better." The way his voice cracked broke my heart, Chris looked at me, and I returned the glance. I shook my head, but before I knew it, Chris had pulled the lever towards Ashley's name, and you screamed out in shock.

"No! Chris!"  I pushed him away and tried to turn the lever, but the saw had already chosen its path.

"You have chosen to save Ashley." The psycho announced. The saw started spinning, the rail changing its direction to Josh. I pounded my fist against the glass, sobs shocking through my body and eyes staring at the scene in front of me. Josh' screamed for help, tears running down his cheeks, and body trying to get away from the saw. My voice cracked as the saw came in contact with his stomach, slowly slicing through the skin while an ear piercing scream left Josh'  lips.

Then it was silent. Ashley was crying by herself, and I just eyed Josh' lifeless body with tears continuously running down my cheeks. My shaking hands grabbed the roots of my hair, and I began to cry my heart out. Chris was cursing to himself behind me, ragged breaths leaving his hoarse throat.

The door opened, and Chris didn't hesitate to run in, untying Ashley as fast as he could. Tears were running down my cheeks, full on sobbing as I approached Josh with unbelief in my eyes. I swallowed thickly and cried out in agony as I cupped his still warm cheeks. It hurt so much.

"Y/n, we got to go." I shook my head and turned to Chris.
"You did this! You betrayed your best friend for a girl! How could you do this?!" I yelled at him, turning back to Josh. I caressed his cheek, and they were still wet from his tears, making my heart shatter in a million pieces.

I could hear Ashley's sobs on the background, but I was too focused on Josh. Suddenly Chris flung me over his shoulder and carried me out of the shed. I screamed and pounded on his back, begging him to let me go.

"You piece of shit! Let me go!" I fell on the cold ground, as Chris let go of me.
"You just let your best friend die." I mumbled angrily to Chris as I wrapped my arms around my knees.
"I know, I know, I know... and I'm so fucking sorry!" He broke down, falling to his knees and covering his eyes with the palms of his hand. Ashley tried to comfort him, but he pushed her away. I sighed and gripped my shirt tightly in my balled up fists.

"He was the last person to deserve this."