Opening the door and seeing that there was no one around the area, Matthew stepped outside. He had a shotgun, while Sarah, Sam, and Karen had a pistol. The guns are rusty and old, but they had no other choice other than believe they still worked.
Even though he gave the gun to Sam and Sarah, Matthew asked Karen to keep an eye on them in case they acted strangely, "I don't know how they would react in a dangerous situation, so keep an eye on them. If they try anything, like pointing the gun at you or me on purpose... you know what to do.''
The Karen of that time knew this was a possibility, and nodded. "You can trust me.''
Returning to the present, Matthew slowly made his way toward the car, with the rest behind him. He could see it in the distance, near the cabin. Slowly and quietly, the four of them got closer and closer.
RUSTLE
When they were less than 100 meters from the car, and near the cabin, a person came running out of the forest towards them. It was Bruce, and he had blood all over him.
Matthew immediately raised his gun in his direction, and the other three did the same reflexively.
Bruce, who was injured, almost fell over when he saw the scene. He quickly raised his hands, '' EASY, EASY! IT'S ME!''
With some hesitation, Matthew lowered his gun. But he kept an eye out for any strange movement, '' What happened? Sam told me you ran away with Catherina, where is she?''
Bruce looked to the ground, '' We were running together, but the Deadite caught up with us quickly... Catherina was caught immediately and the demon made me watch as it killed her...''
Sam and Sarah shed a few tears for their lost friend. Karen was also upset by the news, but Matthew, who only considered Karen to be a good person, did not cry.
''And where is the Deadite?'' Matthew looked behind Bruce and saw no movement in the forest.
Bruce shivered when he heard the name Deadite, '' It let me go. I don't know exactly why, but I think the demon is playing with us. And there's not much we can do about it.''
Even Matthew agreed. No matter which way you looked at it, the Deadite, even if there was only one of them (not counting Professor Dangerous), was stronger than all of them combined.
Seeing that everyone was silent, Bruce asked, '' Where is Janet? And Daniel?''
Sam hesitated a bit but replied, '' Daniel must still be in the cabin and Janet ... is dead.''
Bruce paused. He didn't know that as he ran away first. He began to cry but recovered soon, '' What do we do?''
Matthew walked back towards the van, '' We'll leave. The van might still be working.''
'' What about Daniel?'' Bruce asked when he saw that everyone was heading to the van and didn't even stop to call Daniel.
"What about him?''
''Aren't we going to call him?''
Meanwhile, the group was literally less than 10 meters away from the van, and the cabin was about 200 meters away, '' I won't bother. You have to thank me that I didn't shoot each and every one of you for what you did to Karen and me just now.''
Sam, Sarah, and Bruce winced. The so-called friends had literally thrown Karen and Matthew into the basement. Sure, they didn't know about the existence of the other Deadite and thought Matthew might be infected, but still, it was a dick move.
Bruce tried to justify, '' But-''
"No buts. You can go get Daniel if you want, but if the van works in the meantime, we'll leave without you.''
That made Bruce stop talking. He was convinced.
Finally, the group arrived at the van. Matthew opened the door and saw that the key was in the ignition. He looked at the others, "Who wants to try driving? The rest of us will cover you while you try to start the car.''
Bruce immediately agreed to drive, '' Let me try.'' So, he entered the driver's seat and turned the keys. The engine made a noise, but the car didn't start.
So, he repeated the process, while the rest stayed on watch, in case the Deadite appeared.
In the middle of the process, everyone heard a sound of a person coming in their direction. Matthew turned to face the place where the sound was coming from and noted it was from the cabin direction.
Matthew raised his shotgun in that direction. Everyone else did the same.
A person then appeared in front of them. It was Daniel, and he looked breathless and scared. When he saw the guns he almost fell to the ground. '' Wait! It's me!''
Everyone instinctively stopped aiming at him. Everyone except Matthew, who still had his shotgun pointed at Daniel, '' Don't move.''
When Daniel noted Matthew, he started to sweat cold, '' Hey, buddy. How about you drop that? I just want to leave this place like everyone else.'' He started to approach the van.
BANG
Daniel fell to the ground when he heard the shot. He checked his body and noted he wasn't shot. When he looked up, he saw Matthew looking down at him and checking his shotgun, '' So it works, huh.''
Matthew had just shot up in the air. Everyone, except Karen, was surprised by this chain of events.
Sam almost went to grab the shotgun out of Matthew's hands, '' Dude, what the fuck are you doing!?''
Matthew turned the shotgun in Sam's direction, '' You, shut up.'' Sam instinctively went to grab his gun, but Karen aimed her pistol at him.
'' Stay put.''
Sam raised his hand and returned to Sarah's side. Matthew returned his aim at Daniel, '' You see, now that I have the power, we will set things straight. I honestly don't even care about the Deadite right now, I just want you to admit something to everyone here.''
Daniel got up from the ground and started to approach everyone without saying anything, ' I know Matthew. He will not shoot me.'
He was so confident that he continued walking even when Matthew fired one more round into the air, '' This was my last warning. If you get any closer, I'll shoot you for real.''
Daniel just smiled and continued walking toward the van, ' He will not sho-'
BANG
His thought was interrupted when he heard another gunshot and felt something grazing his arm. He stopped and touched the place. When he looked at his hands, he could see blood.
Daniel looked at Matthew with shock, '' You -- shot me?!?''
Matthew sighed, '' Would you believe me if I said I missed?''
Daniel was flatesblaggerd. The entire situation had already gone to shit, and now this. '' Just why?''
Matthew started to laugh really hard when he heard that, '' Why? Should I tell everyone here?''
Daniel froze. He instantly forgot about the situation with the Deadite and now just wanted to make Matthew stop talking, ' If he says something, my life is over.'
'' Don't-''
But Matthew didn't listen. He recounted to everyone here what Daniel did. Well, he also did this before, but no one believed him at that time, but now, Karen also joined in.
'' It's true. Daniel orchestrated all of that just so he could end Matthew's life. I have the audios and texts to prove it... Sarah also knew from the beginning.''
When Karen finished speaking, Sam looked at Sarah with surprise, '' It is true?''
But Sarah stayed quiet, almost like she was in a trance. She was looking dead ahead towards the forest.
Sam knew something was up and looked in the direction she was looking. Sure enough, Sheryl Deadite was there, looking at the group.
'' Hello, guys. You can continue your conversation. Don't mind me.'' The Deadite waved at the group with an arm that was not hers. Probably belonged to Catherine.
Everyone froze. Bruce was the first one to act, as he got out of the driver seat and started to run towards the cabin. When everyone saw that, they did the same. Expect Matthew.
He sighed and aimed his gun at the Deadite, '' I'm honestly tired of this. If you could, can we end this now?''
The Deadite started to approach him, '' But then it would not be funny for me. I was imprisoned for a long time, it's just fair I play for some time. Besides, '' The Deadite returned to the normal Sheryl, '' Our kiss didn't mean anything to you?''
BANG
The answer was a shot that hit the Deadite in the chest, sending it flying for some meters. Matthew knew that wasn't the end, '' It took me some time, but I moved on from you. It's time to let our relationship end.''
While he was talking to the Deadite, it was clear this was meant for the real Sheryl.
Proving his theory, the Deadite got up from the ground, '' That was rude.'' She looked at Matthew, '' Ok, I'll stop playing.''
With a gust of wind, the Deadite appeared in front of Matthew, who shot at the demon point blank.
BANG
The Deadite dodged, but one of the shotgun shells did manage to hit one arm, making it fall to the ground. With the other one, the Deadite swung at Matthew. It was clear if one of those attacks hit, Matthew would die.
Rolling to the ground, away from the attack, Matthew aimed intending to shoot once more, but the Deadite disappeared from in front of him.
Instinctively, Matthew rolled once more, just as a swing came from behind him.
BANG BANG
Matthew shot 2x but it only hit the Deadite once, sending it to the ground. Using the little time he had, Matthew grabbed some shotgun shells and reloaded the gun.
By the time he finished, the Deadite already disappeared.
Matthew was mad, '' Are you serious!?'' This happened every time the Deadite got out of view. It would disappear before they could even react.
An answer came from behind, '' Yes.''
By the time Matthew reacted, the Deadite had already thrown him at the van. He hit it hard, but before he could gather his breath, the Deadite caught up to Matthew.
It tried to bite him, but instinctively Matthew put his left arm in front of the mouth.
CRUNCH
'' ARGHHHHHHH.'' The bite connected right at the hand, and while it wasn't going to fall off, it still hurt. Besides, Matthew now was supposed to be infected.
Matthew used his other arm with the shotgun to hit the Deadite in the head, but it still didn't let go of the hand.
To make things worse, the Deadite lifted the other arm, intending to attack. Matthew had to act fast, so he pointed the shotgun at the Deadite and shot it.
BANG
That did make the Deadite drop the hand and fall to the ground. Before the demon could recompose himself, Matthew arrived at where it was.
BANG BANG
More 2 shots right in the face of the Sheryl Deadite and it made the demon stop moving.
When Matthew saw that he breathed a sigh of relief, ' According to Professor Dangerous, while dismembering is not efficient, right now is the best I could do.'
Matthew was going to use his shotgun to destroy all limbs of the Deadite, making it so it could stop attacking them and giving them a chance to escape.
But before he could aim at the Deadite, the hand that was bitten started to burn. ' What the -'
When Matthew looked down at his hand, he could see black lines cooling around it. Almost like fish were swimming on its hands, and every time they moved, it burned.
With no time to hesitate, and not knowing exactly what was happening, Matthew took off his shirt and made a tourniquet right above his hand. It seems to have worked, as now the black lines stopped moving upwards and now stayed only in his hands.
But Matthew knew that wasn't the end. If he could not find a way to stop this ... infection, he would become a full-fledged Deadite. He had already turned and unturned before, but now it seems more dangerous.
With little to no time remaining, Matthew looked over at where the Sheryl Deadite was previously. And just like he predicted, the demon disappeared, 'Typical.'
With no way of knowing where the Deadite was, he slowly started to go in the direction of the cabin. He was still on high alert.
Any sound that was made, Matthew aimed at the place. It didn't take long for him to arrive at the cabin once more. He didn't even have to open the door, as the door was broken some time ago.
When he entered the cabin, he noted no one was at the ground level. ' They must be upstairs.'
This was the second time Matthew entered the cabin, but each time he didn't even manage to look around. Just as he was going to go to the second floor, he started to feel faint. ' What the hell is happening?'
When he looked down at his body, to see if there was anything wrong, the bitten hand now had broken through the tourniquet and was moving up to his whole arm.
' Son of a bit-' Before Matthew could react to that, he fainted.
When Matthew woke up, he looked around in a hurry. He was still in the cabin, on the first floor. Looking at his hand, he noted that the black lines were still there, ' That was a livid dream?'
With no way of knowing what happened to him just now, Matthew made his way toward the second floor. He arrived at the stairs and started to climb it.
When he entered the second floor, Matthew noted there was only one door/room there. He knocked on the door, and sure enough, Karen opened for him, '' We heard you fighting that thing. The others thought you died, but I knew you'd survive.''
Entering the room but maintaining his guard against the others, Matthew sat down, '' Thanks.''
''Don't mention it.''
The entire room went silent, and the atmosphere was weird. While Daniel did send Matthew and Karen to the basement, Matthew also shot him in the arm.
Matthew wanted this chapter of his life closed. His trip to this cabin changed his mentality in a way he could not have predicted. Long gone was Matthew who accepted what life threw at him. In his place now stood the new Matthew.
'' I'll say it only one more time, and I promise I'll not miss it. Tell them what you did to me and Karen.'' Matthew pointed his gun at Daniel. Karen also took her pistol out, just in case.
But Sam didn't show a reaction to that, because he was also curious about Sarah's involvement with all that.
Seeing that everyone was waiting for him to speak, Daniel started to cry crocodile tears, '' I didn't do anything! I swear on the life of my father.''
Matthew sighed seeing that, '' While we were not close, I considered all of you family. So why did you destroy my life?''
'' I didn-''
BANG
'' Just for your information, I still have 10 bullets with me. This was the last warning shot. I'll start counting to ten, you have until then to tell everyone the truth.''
''1.''
'' I didn't do anything! I swear!'' Daniel started to look around the room for support but noticed everyone didn't really care about the situation between him and Matthew. They are there just so they could hide from the Deadite.
Seeing that, Daniel looked at Sarh for support, but she too looked away.
''2.''
Daniel was running out of options.
''3.''
'' 4 ... You know what, tell them now or I'll give you to the Deadite.'' Matthew went close and grabbed Daniel, intending to drag him outside. And while Matthew was a tad guilty, he knew if Daniel had the powers over him, he would've done worse already.
Daniel tremble, '' Wait! Wait! I'll confess!''
Matthew dropped Daniel to the ground and stared at him, '' Tell everyone what you did and why.''
Daniel knew his life was over the moment he opened his mouth. If they survive, he would've to - Wait. That's only if they all survive.
Coming up with a plan, Daniel didn't mind telling everyone the truth. So, for 5 minutes he told everyone his plan and petty motivations.
When it was over, Sam got away from Sarah, and everyone looked at Daniel with disgust.
Bruce even tried to apologize to Matthew and Karen, but Matthew said, '' We don't have any bond now. You all made sure of that 4 years ago. The only reason I still talk to Karen right, even though she betrayed my trust, is because she went through the same thing as me.''
Karen accepted the apology. While she was eventually accepted back into the group, the others looked at the with some reservation. Now, all is well, it just took a demon to kill some of her friends.
Daniel and Sarah were now shunned and the entire group knew the truth. That lifted a huge burden off Matthew's shoulder, '' Now that that's dealt with, let's leave this place.''
'' But the Deadite is still out there.''
Matthew looked around the room for a minute or so, until he found what he was looking for, '' And we got the thing that could kill a Deadite.''
In Matthew's hand, now there was a dagger. The Kandarian Dagger is one of the few things that could kill a Deadite for good, and now he had it.
'' Besides, we don't have other options.'' Matthew looked at Sarah and Daniel, '' I'll never forgive you both for what you've done to me. Never. But I also will not have your deaths in my conscience. You can go with us if you want.''
Sarah looked at the ground and muttered a small, '' Thank you.''
Daniel said nothing.
'' Ok then, let's leave this fucking place.''
Karen, though, stopped walking when she noticed something on Matthew, '' Matthew, what is that on your hand?''
She was looking at his injured hand. Matthew raised his hand high to everyone to see, ' This? I was bitten by the Deadite.'
'' This is nothing. Don't worry.''
' Huh?' Finally realizing something was clearly wrong, as he wanted to say one thing but said something entirely different. ' Wait, am I a Deadite?'
With that thought in mind, Karen continued, '' I was talking about the Necronomicon that it's on your hand.''
Sure enough, when Matthew looked really hard at his hand, besides having the black lines swimming around, the Necronomicon was there.
' What the fuck!'
'' This is no-'' While Matthew's mouth was saying that, his hand, the normal one, grabbed the Kandarian Dagger and tried to stab the infected one.
'' Wait, you're supposed to be gone! HOW?'' A demoniac voice come from Matthew, as the entire body was trying to stop him from hitting the infected hand.
' This is my body!' But as this was a surprise to the Deadite and this WAS Matthew's body, it was too late. The Kandarian Dagger hit the injured hand.
STAB
'' ARGHHHH.'' As soon as it hit, black smoke started to leave the wound, and a scream of pain came out.
After what seemed like an hour but it was only a few seconds, Matthew fell to his knees. Karen noted it was the normal one and came to help him, '' What happened?''
Applying more pressure on his tourniquet, now to stop the bleeding, Matthew answered, '' I fought with Sheryl Deadite and won. But in the fight, she had bitten me.'' He looked at Karen, his gaze uncertain, '' I lost control of my body ... I -''
'' Shhhh, it's okay now. You're back once more.'' Karen tried to comfort Matthew the best she could, but she never became possed by a demon, so she didn't know what to say.
Everyone in the room now looked at Matthew with uncertainty. Daniel was gloating seeing that, and tried to take charge, '' He is clearly still a Demon! I say we ki-''
BANG
Daniel, at this point, was the practice target of the group, as he just got shot one more time. It didn't hit him, but it did make him stop talking.
And it wasn't Matthew who shot, as he was still weak from all that. It was Karen. She sighed soon after, '' Daniel, can you stop? No one believes you anymore. I legit prefer a Deadite taking charge than you.''
While no one said anything, the rest clearly agreed with Karen.
Daniel wanted to say more, but when he looked at Sarah, the only 'ally' he still had, he saw her shooking her head, indicating for him to stay quiet. So he did.
Seeing that, Karen knew Matthew was in no shape to continue giving orders, so she took the lead, '' Look, now that everything is said and done, I honestly just want to leave this place, call the police, give a funeral to the ones we lost, and move on. What happened happened, and it's time to go.''
Matthew weakly said, '' Agreed.'' He just wanted a confession out of Daniel, to clear his name, and now he had. He wanted to do more, but the priority now was surviving.
'' What do you have in mind, Karen? Is the same plan as Matthew? Try the van once more?'' Bruce didn't know what to do in this situation.
Karen sighed, '' Bruce, that is legitimate our only option. The Deadite is way stronger than us, and the Van is the only 'secure' way of escaping. Or do you think the cabin is strong enough to hold the Deadite?''
To prove Bruce wrong, the Deadite had already broken the front door. It could've done way more damage, but the demon was toying with the group.
Bruce knew it was true, '' Okay. Let's leave... but what are we doing with that?'' He pointed at the Necronomicon on Matthew's hand.
Matthew looked at it. The cover that looked like a face seems to look back at him, '' I'll keep it. We have to find a way to destroy this thing.''
Bruce wanted to say something, but held back, '' Your call.''
Then, with Karen helping a now weakened Matthew, the group got out of the second floor, went to the first one, then left the cabin, going towards the van.