Barely Alive - Josh Washington x Reader

Chapter 9

"Great! Now lets go and find the others."

"Sam?!" I yelled as I walked up the stairs, my voice bouncing off the walls, and echoing through the empty lodge.

"Guys, look at this." I heard Ashley say, and as I jogged down the stairs, my eyes caught a red balloon just in front of stairs down to the basement. A very obvious arrow was written onto the side of it, pointing down the steps and into the dark of the basement.

"D-do you think it was meant for Sam? Or..."
"I'm not sure, but maybe it was meant for us."My eyes stared into the darkness of the basement, faintly noticing a source of light coming through the steps.

"Wait... Lets leave." Ashley eventually said, grabbing my forearm and keeping me from moving forward. 

"Leave?"

"If that's meant for us, we're walking right into a death trap, and let me tell you, I am not planning on dying tonight." I pulled my arm from her firm grip, motioning down the stairs.

"What if Sam's down there, if we don't help her, we're practically killing her ourselves." Chris agreed with my words, and it felt good to know he did have my back from time to time. I took a step on the stairs, my foot making the wooden stairs creak under the pressure. I swallowed thickly at the sound, but shook any scary thing I could think about out of my mind.

"Well, here goes nothing." We walked down the stairs, following the balloons into the basement.

Unknown POV:

She looked so beautiful, mesmerizing... and completely unaware of my presence. 

Sam was sitting in the bathtub, earplugs into her ears, making everything around her inaudible. With closed eyes, she shifted under the water, as if she completely ignored my entire existence. 

 But even while I had imagined this sight plenty of times before, actually seeing it in front of me suddenly had no affect on me. Sam was beautiful indeed, but the feeling I had grown for her seemed to fade completely as I watched her bathe. 

I groaned under my breath, and quickly left the room, accidentally slamming the door shut behind me.  I froze as I could hear Sam calling out for someone, wondering who had been in the bathroom. I froze and jogged down the stairs, hiding in the darkness behind the steps until I heard her footsteps.

After a few minutes, she arrived at the basement with only a towel wrapped around chest. I let my eyes roam over her body, and while the thin fabric barely hid anything from the eye, there was still no feeling of attraction towards her. 

She grabbed a flashlight from the little desk, and walked further into her trap. I silently followed her, closing the doors and locking them as Sam entered the cinema. Just as planned, the video started, and Sam was forced to experience Josh' death, just like the others had.

"Hello, Samantha." I spoke as I slid the doors back open. My strained neck cracked as I turned it, and it only added towards the scary effect of my costume. With a gas mask placed into my hand, I began to approach her, clicking the mouth piece against the tank to increase the tension.

 She screamed, her limbs shaking at the sight of me. Her chest heaved under the towel, and it almost slipped from her frame as she begged me to stay back.

"C'mon Samantha, don't be like this." I followed her as she ran into the hall next to the basement, the place where I set up Hannah's room, making her surrounding look just like it. 

She crawled under the bed, and tried to hide from me, but it was useless, as it was just like I had expected. Once she noticed me looking at her, she crawled away from the bed and started running. I followed her, but the large container was slowing me down.  Arriving at the boiler room I looked around, trying to see some kind of shadow or clue of where she could be.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are..." I sang, seeing something move from the corner of my eye, and smirking under the mask as I found her hiding in the corner.

"There you are..." She screamed as I grabbed the back of her neck, placing the mask over her nose and mouth. She passed out after a few seconds, and I let her body fall to the ground.
I breathed heavily at the intense action that just happened, but froze when I heard a certain voice. 

"Well, here goes nothing."

My heart skipped a beat as Y/n's voice echoed through the silent basement, and suddenly something inside of me snapped. I had lost my interest in Sam... but apparently my interest in Y/n seemed to increase every time she was near. Maybe it wasn't Sam I wanted... but rather Y/n...

"I should separate her from Chris and Ashley, right Sam?" I asked her unconscious body, caressing her cheeks with the back of my hand. Her body was limp as I carried her towards my working place, tying her up in a chair, before walking towards the monitors.

 I glanced towards camera number 52, seeing Chris, Ashley and Y/n walking down the stairs. I chuckled and let my fingers caress the screen over her appearance. She halted, and visibly shivered before glancing back over her shoulder. She eyed the stairs, before turning her head yet again, only this time, her eyes met with the camera installed in the corner. Suddenly she looked right into the camera, as if she could feel my eyes on her presence. Chris asked her something and she pointed towards the it, making Chris and Ashley look directly into it as well. 

"Good girl, Y/n. You have discovered one of my clues." I whispered to her, as she narrowed her eyes and continued walking.