Tessa wrenched herself away from the figure with a cry of shock and fear, not taking time to study him, only to be yanked back, a sharp pain tugging at her ankle. The girl looked down, dismayed to see that her ankle was cuffed to the bedpost at the foot of the bed, preventing her from moving far in any direction.
"I knew you would be a difficult one," came a metallic voice from the stranger, drawing Tessa's attention back to him. "So i took precautions."
"C-Chris this better not be one of your stupid-"
She was cut off by an amused, gravelly laugh as the intruder shook his head and advanced upon her with a tank in one hand and mask in the other. This was definitely not Chris.
Tessa only had a brief few seconds to observe her attacker before her instincts kicked in. He was dressed in saggy denim overalls, big black boots and a grimy blue shirt underneath. The mask was truly disturbing; a pale face with black eye sockets and lips that seemed to have cracked off, baring the teeth and pink gums beneath. Long, greasy curly black hair protruded from the back of the mask and it was hard to tell whether it belonged to the maniac or was simply part of the mask.
What was most strange and disturbing, thought, was the small camera he had strapped to his chest. He was filming her struggle! For what, she had no idea, but it could not be good.
As the stranger neared, Tessa sent a quick swipe kick to the side of his head, knocking the man to the ground with a loud thud. This gave the girl precious second to tug at the cuff only to see that the man approached the dock on the other side of the room. He switched on the music and turned the volume up to full then, with ominous leisure, turned back and advanced once again.
It suddenly dawned on her that no one would come if they heard the commotion, thinking it was simply the music. She was on her own.
In her despair, Tessa had let the intruder get too close, and he sprang on her with a growl, knocking her back onto the bed and climbing on top of her as he tried to force the mask over her mouth and nose. But she fought, tossed her head from side to side with defiant snarls and managed to elbow him in the face and push him away with her knees.
She used this time to grab firmly onto the suspended bars and hoist herself up. She gripped the handhold as support and proceeded to kick her attacker backwards so hard that he crashed against the wardrobe and the mask fell from his face.
Instead of wasting more time to look at his face, Tessa turned around and reached over to the other side of the bed, where she knew Hannah kept a sharp letter opener. It wasn't much but it would do.
The chain kept her from reaching the bottom draw properly and she knocked the lamp over in the attempt. Tessa groaned. Her fingers finally scraped the handle.
Suddenly, a rough hand on the back of her head slammed Tessa's head down onto the corner o the nightstand an caused her vision to swim. She tried to struggle, but by then the intruder had straddled her back and pulled both arms painfully behind her back. The exhausted girl howled in pain when the man pulled on her arms even more aggressively. The mask appeared in front of her eyes and all she could do was move her face to stay away from it. The mask retreated, only to be replaced by a hard fist to the side of her jaw. An, in that following dazed moment, the intruder held the mask to her face. She tried to hold in her breath but eventually Tessa had no choice but to inhale.
Slowly, her eyelids became heavy and all became black. The last thing she remembered seeing was another little camera peeking out of the bookshelf at her.
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When Tessa finally went limp in his arms, the man let go of her and let her arms and head slump to the bed. He carefully climbed back and went to turn off the music then unlocked the ankle cuffing locking her to the bed.
He retrieved his mask from the ground and secured it back on his head, more tightly this time.
He gave the raw ring of red on her ankle little thought as he pulled he girl off the bed and hefted her onto his shoulder. With that done, he crept carefully out of the bedroom, past the bathroom, down the stairs and into the kitchen. There he dropped Tessa's body unceremoniously to the ground and nudged her out of the way with his foot.
Crouching down beside the nineteen-year-old girl, the man pulled back a lock of fiery auburn hair that covered her mouth. She looked peaceful in sleep, despite the bleeding cut above her left eyebrow and the dark purple bruise forming on her jaw.
That was going to have to change.
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Chris stopped and turned to Ashley as the two came back into the main living area of the lodge. "So, um. I've just been thinking about something I saw earlier with..."
"What?"
"There was, like, this like full on western-style, you know?
"So?" Although Ashley was not entirely sure she actually wanted an answer.
"And Sam really thought there was someone following her around... And, I mean, Tess did too a couple weeks ago, Sam told me."
"So...so what? You're saying that there's some criminal up on the mountain with us?"
Chris thought back to earlier when he was trying to find a way to open the door to the lodge, the voicemail from that Deputy. "There was a message...on this answering machine I found and i-it was from this Sergeant saying there was this guy who had just gotten out of prison and there was nothing he could do-"
"What do you mean?"
"He was saying it like-like a warning."
Remembering the library, Chris had an idea. "I mean, maybe that was whoever was down in the basement before."
"What?" Ashley asked in dismay, everything becoming far too real and far too scary far too quickly.
"Under the floorboards in the library. The light!" He reminded her. "And, well there was that guy I told you about-" He began, only to be cut off by an increasingly panicked Ashley.
"Wait wait wait. What guy?"
"The guy who threatened the Washington's." Chris clarified. "He said he wanted to take revenge by burning the whole place down. And I found that crazy psycho letter!"
"Chris, if this is your way of trying to make me feel better, you're fired."
Just then, the pair were interrupted when the double doors beside them, which they had previously found locked, began to rattle, like someone was trying to get through. They looked around and, when the doors finally stilled, they were horrified to hear what sounded like Josh's cries of terror.
"You hear that?" Chris asked, making sure he wasn't just going crazy from all the creepy shit happening. Turned out he wasn't, just more crazy shit was happening.
"That was Josh!" Ashley exclaimed and ran to the doors.
"Coming from the kitchen..."
Ashley opened the door, which was surprisingly no longer locked, and stood in the dark entrance.
"Josh!" She yelled into the black.
"Josh!" Chris joined in. "We're coming! Hold on!"
All of a sudden, Ashley was yanked inside and the door slammed shut, separating the pair. From behind the door Chris could hear her screams and grunts before he even reached the door. He slammed on the oak wood door to no avail; it was locked again. Or barricaded at the very least.
"Ashley!" Chris cried in despair. "Ash! What's going on? Lemme in!"
He heard her groan and a clatter, which he presumed to be her struggle.
"Ashley? Are you okay?" His voice was beginning to crack. He pushed against the door "I'm...gonna..."
With a grunt of effort, Chris forced the door open, stumbling o the ground in the process. As his vision focused, the young man saw not only Ashley's unconscious body lying on the floor in front of him, but Tessa's as well. His vision was blurred given that his glasses had been knocked askew in the fall, but he was fairly certain he could see her face was in pretty bad shape and she only wore a top and jeans, not even any socks.
"Ash...?" He groaned heavily. "Ash! Tess!" A masked man came into view and approached the floored Chris. "Hey-!" He tried to yell only to receive a swift punch to the side of his face.
The last thing Chris could see before he blacked out, was the overall-clad figure dragging away both Ashley and Tess by the arms.