Chapter Eight: Split Up

(Loyalty)

***

They'd almost made it back to the lodge and about to pass an old shed when they heard the screams.

Something cold slithered into Jordan's bloodstream and weighed heavy in her gut at hearing the screams, her mind instantly thinking of the worst to befall her friends if it could elicit such horrified, terror-filled screams. If her friends could be hurt, or dead, or...

Or disappeared into the cold winter air and never be seen again and left with questions and the unknown thought if they were dead or not, just like Hannah and Beth.

Jordan had been about to run to the screams when she saw Chris and Ashley running down the trail and from the shed, faces ghost-white and terrified, and... oh God, was that blood all over Ashley?

What the hell happened to her and Chris?

"Chris? Ashley!" Matt exclaimed as Jordan ran to Ashley, checking her for any injuries that could have been responsible for so much blood covering her with a doctor's focus, but she could see nothing—no open wounds, no cuts, nothing. Ashley was unharmed.

If she had no injuries... then whose blood was that?

"Blood. Blood! Whose blood is that, Ash?" Emily demanded, voicing the same question Jordan had been thinking as she, Matt and Mateo ran up to Jordan and the sobbing, shaken pair.

"Jesus, what the hell happened to you guys?" Mateo breathed.

"Are you okay?" Matt questioned.

"Ashley, is someone hurt? Why are you covered in so much blood?" Jordan grilled.

Ashley just let out a body-shaking sob as Chris struggled to speak, before Emily demanded, "Chris, what happened?"

"J-Josh..." Chris started, voice strained.

"Josh what, dude?" Matt interrogated.

"Is this his blood? Chris, where is Josh? How badly is he hurt? Do we need to call for help? Where is Josh?!" Jordan demanded.

"He's dead!"

Jordan took a step back, shock falling over her harshly. "What?!"

"Wait, what?" Matt demanded, also in shock.

"What the hell do you mean Josh's dead?" Mateo questioned, frowning.

"He died right in front of us, man," Chris sobbed.

"What are you talking about?" Emily demanded as Jordan stood there, trying to process that Josh was dead. While he wasn't her best friend—Emily would always hold that position—Josh was one of her closest friends, that they understood each other in a way no one else in their friend group really did with their mental health battles, with her anxiety and his depression. She'd worried about him and always called or texted him to check to make sure he was doing okay and not drawing into himself with the guilt and regret over his sisters, of letting his depression win, and reminding him to take his meds and if he was still going to therapy, and cheer him up with terrible dad jokes, and he would cheer her up with ridiculous memes and check up on her as well and remind her about therapy and her meds, that when Jordan first started being prescribed for her meds they made a promise they'd always keep taking their meds and remind each other about it, and if it wasn't talking about their mental health battles and having long, candid, vulnerable conversations about it, of reaching out to each other and talking during their darkest days, then they talked about college, about new movies coming out, especially horror ones, or whatever topics they wanted to talk about. If they could, they would go to each other's places and spend the day there watching horror movies ranging from the classics to ones so horrible it was funny to the ones Josh's dad produced—Scream always being at the top of the list, as Jordan and Josh both loved the slasher franchise and how it twisted around the tropes that made the slasher genre and the whole horror franchise as a whole. And Josh was always conscious of her panic attacks and her triggers for them, that like Mateo and Emily, he knew what to do if she was suffering from one. And more importantly, they could always make each other laugh when nothing else could on their darkest days, and when he didn't respond to any of her texts and calls for months, Jordan had been worried sick about the state of his mental health until the invitation came. And now, he was dead.

Josh was dead.

"How... how did he...?" Jordan questioned, but she couldn't finish, the word sticking in her throat, too damning to be said aloud. Too final for Josh's fate.

"T-There's a maniac," Chris forced out between his sobs, not even hearing Jordan's question.

"Maniac?" Matt repeated as Mateo's arms wrapped around Jordan, holding her firmly.

"Oh my God. We gotta get outta here," Emily decided.

"Agreed. We all have to leave now," Mateo decided.

'I don't understand what happened," Matt said, directed to their terrified and clearly traumatised friends.

"There's a maniac! And... he was—there was a saw... and it was either him or Ash and I didn't know what to do!" Chris exclaimed, voice choked with sobs.

"Oh God..." Ashley sobbed as Jordan clutched Mateo's hand, horrified at the sadistic choice Chris was forced to make and the horrible fate that had befallen Josh.

"Cut right through him and spilling out fucking everywhere," Chris cried out and Jordan stifled a horrified sob, heart lurching in grief at Josh's fate, at how much pain and fear he would have been in before he met his brutal end.

"What?! Oh my god Chris, what?!" Emily demanded.

"I-I killed him! I-I killed him," Chris despaired, face wracked with grief, guilt and pain as Ashley continued to sob, kneeling on the ground.

"Jesus," Mateo breathed in horror.

"Oh my God," Jordan whispered.

"Whoa, Chris," Matt murmured.

"Oh God!" Ashley sobbed.

"It was my fault, Matt!"

"Dude, that psycho forced you to make that choice! It's his fault more than anything. I... Jesus fucking Christ," Mateo breathed, letting go of Jordan to turn around and grip his hair, breathing in and out shakily as Jordan did the same, torn between panicking and trying to keep collected. What were they going to do?

Her answer came courtesy of the only one still thinking rationally, Emily Davis.

"No. No, this is insane. We need to go get some help," Emily declared.

"Em's right. We have to get help and see if we can also get the fuck off this mountain before that psycho comes back for the rest of us," Jordan agreed, because her best friend was right. Their best option was to try and get help and maybe see if they could escape through the cable car.

While they still could.

"Cut right in half..."

"We're gonna figure this out, man," Matt assured.

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know..." Chris whimpered, him and Ashley still sobbing. They were grieving, shattered and traumatised and their reactions were understandable but they couldn't keep going like this or they'd be the next ones killed, and it had Jordan torn between wanting to comfort them with her own grief over Josh's death, and to scream at them to focus on the bigger issue of getting out of here alive and not be killed once that psycho came back.

So Jordan decided to combine the two.

"Hey, Chris, Ashley, I'm sorry. I'm sorry about Josh. I...fuck, I don't know what to think. I just, I can't even..." Jordan swallowed, the words both conveying how she couldn't imagine seeing Josh die like that, or that one of her friends had died, as she added in a firm but still compassionate tone, "But we have to focus on the bigger issue, okay? We have to get help, get to somewhere safe and then..."

Jordan didn't finish, but the unsaid words were enough—they could all mourn Josh once it was safe and they didn't have to fear the maniac finding and killing them all one by one.

But it didn't seem Chris and Ashley comprehended what Jordan had said, still sobbing over Josh.

"Jordan, Matt, Mateo, we need to get help," Emily said, looking at her boyfriend, her best friend and her best friend's fiancé, focusing on that issue instead of Chris and Ashely.

"Em, we should look for the others," Matt argued.

"I agree. If this maniac wants to kills us, then us all being split up is the best way to do it," Mateo agreed, joining Matt's side.

"Mike and Jess are off 69ing each other and who knows where Sam is," Emily retorted.

"I think she's in the lodge," Chris revealed, pointing back to the lodge, voice thick with tears and grief.

"Fine. Fine. You guys are right," Emily said, looking at Matt and Mateo before she looked at Chris and Ashley, who'd now seemed to realise they had much bigger issues right now, and instructed, "Get everyone else together. But if there's a maniac running around I think we need to get some help too, right? Not just wait around?"

"Exactly. And if that doesn't work, we need to find a way off the mountain as well," Jordan put in, Mateo nodding in agreement with her.

"But what about—" Matt tried to say, only for Emily to interrupt, "Why are we still talking about this? Let's go!"

Matt frowned, but accepted what Emily had said as did Jordan, Chris and Ashley, before Mateo declared, "You guys go and get help and find Sam. I'm going to find Mike and Jess."

"Mateo, they're probably fine and fucking each other to boredom. I don't think that's a problem we need right now," Emily argued.

"Mike's my best friend, Emily. I don't care if they're fine, I still need to find them," Mateo countered. At the unwavering look on Emily's face, he asked pointedly, "Wouldn't you do the same if it was Jordan?"

Emily glared at him heatedly, but it wavered because he was right. She would have moved heaven and earth and raised hell if it meant finding Jordan and bringing her back if there was a psychopathic killer running about, and she'd do the same for Emily. And she still cared about Mike and, though she would never admit it even if it was on her deathbed, a part of her still cared about Jess, about their well-beings. If they were hurt or...

Mateo was right. Dammit, he was right.

"Fine. Go. But you better come back, Romeo, for Jordan's sake," Emily said, giving Mateo a pointed look.

"Trust me. I will," Mateo promised as he looked at Jordan, who was terrified and nervous.

"Mateo..." she whispered, but Mateo interjected, "I know. I'm terrified too. But I have to go. I have to find them."

"I know. I know. Just..." Jordan said, before she kissed Mateo and pulled away, whispering, "Come back to me, please."

"I will, querida. After all, we have a wedding to plan," Mateo murmured, lips quirking up in a smile. "And I gotta have my best man there."

Jordan smiled as Ashley asked, "Wedding? Wha—what wedding?"

"We'll tell you and Chris later, once we're all safe. Right now, we have to go," Jordan said, but before she could go, Mateo said, "Wait."

Jordan turned as he handed her the carry-on bag, taking out the knife he had inside and tucking it into his pocket before he did. "Take this."

"Why?" Jordan questioned.

"Inside's a spray-on can of deodorant and a lighter. If you run into that maniac and can't use the knife... then you can use that to make a flamethrower," Mateo informed.

"Oh. Thanks, Mateo," Jordan replied, slinging it over her shoulder.

Mateo looked at her before kissing her cheek. "Stay safe, querida."

"You too, honey," Jordan replied, kissing his cheek as well.

Mateo nodded, then he was running down the trail toward the guest that Mike and Jess were at, disappearing into the winter gloom.

Jordan watched him go before Chris and Ashley left hand-in-hand, going back toward the lodge to find Sam and leaving Jordan, Emily and Matt behind, with one clear objective in mind.

Get some help... and then try and get the hell out of here before that psycho that killed Josh came back for them all.

***

It's happening...

Yep, Jordan and Mateo know that Josh is "dead" and Jordan's grieving Josh, especially since they've both endured battles with their mental health (Jordan with her anxiety, Josh with his schizophrenia/depression, though Jordan only believes he has depression) Let's just say, it will crush her when she learns the truth after the mines :(

And yeah, Jordan was trying to be comforting while being as gentle as possible to have Chris and Ashley focus on staying alive and grieving later (which I can imagine as a choice in the game with her being comforting or harsh) Because yeah, she is compassionate and understanding, especially with her battles with anxiety, but when the situation calls for a clear head, Jordan will have that and try to have everyone recognise that, especially since she's gonna be a doctor and be in a LOT of situations where it calls for that. Hope this has her actions seem understandable. But let's just say, that will cause a butterfly effect later on...

Next chapter, Mateo's off to find Mike and Jess!

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GhostWriterGirl out!