Mike and I had to travel through many tunnels, a web of tunnels that lead all the way back to the lodge, albeit the basement, or below it, as it seemed to us. We ended up bonding on the whole trip back to the lodge, and our friendship grew. It was still very much a friendship but it had grown from a seedling to a small flower, it was nice and I didn't want it to end.
It was beautiful, magical, and enough to satisfy my romantic needs for as long as I needed it to. I would deal with this new friendship, this new bond.
We had followed the tunnels until I caught sight of a small barred opening of sorts after I finished Die Hard with a Vengeance and we had had our small moment of future movie nights with my dad.
I moved toward the opening, subconsciously grabbing onto Mike's jacket sleeve and tugging him with me, not saying a single word to him, even when he demanded to know what was up. I just pulled him toward the grate, and that's when we saw her: Sam!
She was sitting on an office chair, tied up; her wrists and ankles bound together. She seemed to be unconscious, or dead, Mike had initially thought, gravely but I knew better. I could see her chest moving.
She was breathing!
"Sam!" I stage whispered her name; that jolted her awake with a soft groan.
Mike joined me in calling her name, telling her to wake up.
"Mike? Ness?" Sam replied groggily.
"Yeah, it's us, wake up," I wanted to cry, it felt so good to know for sure she was alive.
She obeyed me, "okay," she said softly.
"Get over here, Sam," Mike ordered, and I agreed with him; I could get her out of her bonds.
"Yes, we can get you untied, come over here," I told her, kneeling to unzip my backpack. I pulled the machete I still had out of my bag and tapped Mike's forearm, "Mike," I said his name and he shifted to grasp onto the machete handle while Sam wheeled herself over to us.
"Use the machete to cut the bonds on her wrists, Mike," I told him, and when Sam was close enough, he did so.
"Sam," I said, "Mike's gonna hand you the machete, cut yourself out of the bonds on your ankles but be careful."
"Unh, got it," Sam replied just as Mike finished with her wrists and transferred the machete to her hand so she could free her ankles, "ugh, got'em free," she said as she dropped the machete and shifted to stand up, then she moved the chair out of the way.
"Sam," I indicated the machete, "give it back, we may need it," I said and Sam slid it over so I could reach in and grab it, putting it back in my bag, doing the same thing I had when Mike and I first found it, "okay, we're good."
"Oh, thank God you two found me," she said in relief.
I nodded my head as Mike asked her if she was okay, she simply replied with a yeah before asking about how we found her. Mike explained while I put my backpack on my shoulders. We had been at the sanatorium where we thought the Psycho lived, then we had been wandering through tunnels until I thought I saw her through the grate and pulled Mike over with me when I went to look closer.
"The psycho you're talking about, he attacked me," Sam said and I gasped, "he also showed me videotapes, and one showed Josh dying, ripped apart by a saw blade," she cringed not wanting to believe it.
"Wait, what?" Mike was confused.
"What?! Josh?! Josh, is dead?!" I couldn't believe my ears! I could still feel his heartbeat nearby, how could he be dead?
"I know, I don't understand it myself but I saw it, Ness," Sam replied.
I began to sob, uncontrollably but I was silent about it.
Mike cringed, "Jesus Christ, what the fuck is goin' on around here?"
I couldn't think straight, I didn't understand what the fuck had happened so far. I didn't understand how I could still feel Josh's heartbeat but be told he was dead, ripped apart by a fucking saw blade. How could this be happening?
"Sam," Mike spoke, "there's a door here, it won't open for us on this side," he explained, "see if you can open it from your side."
Sam nodded her head, turning toward the door to her right. She noticed her backpack immediately but upon closer inspection, she pulled out a flashlight before grabbing the bag and putting it on her shoulders as she opened the door. She walked swiftly until she reached another door with a wooden plank holding it shut.
Meanwhile, Mike had to grab a hold of my shoulders and steer me toward the locked door we couldn't get through because I was crying so hard. I could barely even comprehend what they had just spoken about. I wanted to turn toward him and embrace him, I was so distraught but I willed myself to not do that because I didn't know how he would react and he might get upset, seeing as he was still with Jessica, relationship-wise, and then I would lose the new friendship we had just forged together. That would be the end of me.
We waited for Sam to open the door, and when she had gotten down the stairs leading up to the door, I couldn't help but embrace her, it was as if I hadn't seen her in years. "God, you look like hell, Mike," Sam embraced me back before gently pushing me away.
I obeyed her, wrapping my arms around myself.
"Nice to see you too, Sam," Mike replied to her.
She moved away toward a corner, moving to place her bag on the ground so she could change since she had spare clothing inside.
"What are you doing?" Mike wondered what she was doing and she simply explained.
"Well, I found that running around in just a towel isn't suitable enough to deal with a crazy psycho," cue the obvious smirk.
It was enough humor to snap me back into survival mode, "come on, Mike, let's give her some privacy," I grinned grabbing him by the bicep, pulling him away from the area so Sam could be alone that way she could get dressed without having to check if Mike was trying to peek, she appreciated what I did for her.
"Aah haha," Mike laughed, "okay, we're far enough away, you can let go now,��� he told me and I immediately let go of his arm but he playfully pushed me so I had to push him back, "okay, okay, not so aggressive," he said while laughing.
"Sorry, I don't know my own strength sometimes," I said grinning before wrapping my arms back around myself, just so I didn't do anything questionable.
Finally, Sam was dressed and ready to explore with us. We had only just decided on exploring and getting to the bottom of whatever the hell was going on when we heard crying in the distance, and shouting.
It sounded like Chris and Ashley!
I was immediately worried because Chris was like my brother, and Ashley sounded really upset. We all decided to follow the sounds because that meant we could save them. We found another door, "on three," I said counting down as we all pushed on the door, opening it to reveal a dimly lit room with two people sitting at a table.
"It's Ash and Chris!" I said and that's when they lifted their heads as if they heard me, "come on, you two," I urged Sam and Mike to quicken their pace as we stumbled our way toward the scene.
Ashley started screaming at an unknown figure, someone we couldn't see, and then Chris fired off a gun at something, which freaked me out.
"Hurry!" I cried to the two behind me.
We were almost to the table. I got there just before Sam and Mike had and I saw the figure before they did. I recognized the mask.
It was the same figure from before! The one that chased me out of the lodge before I went to find Mike at the sanatorium!
I was so shocked, "WHAT?!" I started to sob, I couldn't help myself.
"You have heard of blanks haven't you?" The Psycho said to Chris who was staring at the gun wondering what the fuck was wrong with it since he had just shot at the Psycho moments before and nothing had happened.
The voice of the Psycho seemed electronically altered like in the movie Scream but the mask and the videotaping were more like Saw.
"I mean really?" The Psycho had made a half-circle around Ashley's chair before removing his mask to show us his true face....
And it was not a face I was expecting to see....