allieoop: Not only do people on their own not survive these movies, but people are always doing THE EXACT THING THEY SHOULD NOT DO.
eatersofthedead: They split up. “I’m just going to check out this strange noise; you stay here.” The next time the other characters see them, all their insides are on the outside, as the saying goes.
finalgirl: Hard rule for survival—everyone stays together. Either you all go or no one does.
allieoop: Exactly, the killer can’t pick off a packed group one by one.
tyz7412: Well, some killers can.
THERE WAS A SCREAM, and then a gurgle, and then a thump that sounded very much like a body hitting the floor.
“Cam?” Madison said, her voice a tiny tremble. “Cam?”
Brad muscled his way into the cabin. His face said “panic” but he still managed to “accidentally” brush his body against Allie’s. What a piece of shit, Allie thought, and then reached out and grabbed his wrist before he went any farther. She didn’t like touching him, not even for a few seconds, because he made her skin crawl. But if there was someone in the bedroom who’d just hurt Cam—and Allie thought that was a more-than-fair assumption—then it wouldn’t help if Brad rushed in there and got hurt, too.
“What?” Brad said impatiently, trying to shake off Allie’s hand, but she just gripped tighter.
“Don’t rush in there alone,” Allie said. “We should all stay together.”
“Who the hell do you think is in there, Freddy Krueger?”
“Maybe,” Allie said. “Or maybe just the jerk who wrecked your car and banged on the cabin wall. Maybe he’s waiting for us to rush in there one by one. So let’s not do that.”
“Whatever,” Brad said, shaking his arm again, and this time Allie let him go.
“She’s right, man,” Steve said, following after Brad. “Don’t go in there alone.”
Allie had never before realized that Steve wasn’t completely stupid. This weekend was showing a new side of him.
Brad continued toward the bedroom, but much slower than Allie had anticipated. Maybe her words of caution had broken through the testosterone fence around his brain. Madison, of course, trailed after Steve like a puppy on a leash, so Allie brought up the rear—after carefully closing the front door. No need to invite anyone else inside.
And I’m closing all the windows, too. That’s how the guy—or maybe it’s a girl?—got in here in the first place. Of course, we’re assuming that someone attacked Cam. Maybe she just knocked herself out by tripping over the furniture or shoes on the floor.
Maybe, Allie thought, but deep down she didn’t believe it.
Brad crept slowly to the bedroom door, and the rest of them followed behind. He paused just outside the room, then jumped into the doorway and flipped on the light inside the bedroom, yelling “Ahhhhhh!” as he did.
Madison leapt into the air and onto Steve’s back at Brad’s cry. Steve made an oof noise and tried to grab her flailing legs. Madison wrapped her arms around Steve’s shoulders and yelled, “Is she dead? Oh my god, is she dead?”
Brad seemed frozen in the doorway. At Madison’s words, he dropped his raised arms and hurried into the room. Allie pushed past Steve and Madison and followed Brad.
He knelt beside Cam, who was crumpled on the floor. His hand was pressed to the pulse on her neck, but Allie didn’t need to know what he found there. She already saw Cam’s back rising and falling, gently.
“She’s alive,” Allie said.
“Oh, thank god,” Madison said, and started crying. “Thank god, thank god. I thought somebody murdered her.”
Brad shook Cam’s shoulder.
“Hey, don’t do that,” Allie said. “You don’t know what happened to her. Let’s try to turn her over, gently.”
Allie didn’t see any obvious injury on Cam’s back, and there was no telltale pool of blood beneath Cam’s body, so she helped Brad turn Cam to lay on her back.
At first, it didn’t seem like there was an obvious injury, but then Allie noticed a faint red mark on Cam’s throat.
“Look,” she said. “Someone hit her.”
Allie scanned the room. There was dirt and a few leaves on the hardwood floor, tracking roughly from where Cam had fallen to the open window. She stood abruptly.
“Shut the windows,” she said. “Shut all of the windows, now. And turn on all the lights in every room.”
“Why?” Steve said.
Allie pointed at the dirt and leaves. “Someone climbed in there, and waited in this room, and attacked Cam. And that someone could easily be waiting outside right now for us to settle down and go back to sleep so they can return. So shut the windows.”
“Right,” Steve said, and backed away from the doorway. Allie heard him saying, “Baby, I gotta put you down. I have to shut the windows.”
Allie went straight to the bedroom window and lowered it. That’s when she noticed the other strange thing about this cabin. “No locks?”
“What do you mean?” Brad said. While Allie shut the window, he’d lifted Cam from the floor and put her in bed, pulling a sheet up to Cam’s neck.
“Just what I said.” Allie pointed at the window. “No locks. Are they all like this?”
Brad had gone around opening all the windows when they’d first arrived, claiming that the cabin needed to be aired out.
He joined her by the window, his eyes following where she pointed. “I dunno. I guess I didn’t notice.”
“You opened all the windows. How could you not notice?”
He shrugged in that careless way that always infuriated Allie. “I just didn’t.”
“No locks and no screens. There might as well be no windows at all.”
“Hey, did you know there’s no locks on these windows?” Steve called from the main room.
“You stay here with Cam,” Allie said.
“Why?” Brad said. “She’s fine, and the window’s closed now.”
“She might have a concussion or something,” Allie said. She didn’t want Brad to be near her anymore. He smelled like sour alcohol and sex and the remnants of yesterday’s deodorant, and she was tired of the way he took every opportunity to stand too close to her chest.
“She got hit in the neck, not the head,” Brad said.
“But she’s unconscious. She didn’t make a noise when you moved her. I’m worried that something is seriously wrong.”
“She probably just needs to sleep it off.”
“Do you not give a shit at all that your girlfriend was attacked by an unknown assailant?” Allie said. She felt like her fury was a ball of pressure behind her eyes, swelling to the point of explosion. “I saw you express more anger that your car got wrecked.”
“Of course I care,” Brad said.
“You could care less, you mean,” Allie said. She started toward the door again but he stepped in front of her, blocking her way. She tried to step around him and he mirrored her movement. “Back off.”
“What is your problem with me, Allison? You’re always giving me shit,” Brad said.
“Back off, I said. Get out of my way right now.”
“No, I want you to answer my question,” Brad said, and he reached for her.
Allie didn’t know what Brad intended to do. She didn’t know if he was going to grab her arm, or touch her face, or what. All she knew was that she had told him to back off, twice, and now his hands—which she most definitely did not wish to be on her person—were heading in her direction.
She kneed him in the balls. Hard.
“What the fffffff—” he said, his face reddening. He staggered backward and Allie stepped around him, hurrying out of the room.
“I told you to back off,” she said as she stepped into the main room.
Madison was on the couch. She turned as Allie emerged, and Allie saw that her face was pale and wet with tears.
“Allie, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? There’s some psycho out there who wants to hurt us and the windows don’t even lock and neither does the door.”
Steve was going around the room, placing chairs in front of the windows. He looked slightly embarrassed as he said to Allie, “It was the best idea I could come up with.”
“And it was a pretty good one,” Allie said, because at least Steve was trying. Steve seemed to grasp that there was some danger, that they should attempt to protect themselves. Then she realized the last thing Madison had said.
“There’s no lock on the front door, either?” Allie said. She couldn’t keep the disbelief out of her voice. Who owns this cabin? Do they trust that no one will break into a building with no locks on the doors and windows? Just how far from civilization is this place?
Allie helped Steve push the dining room table against the front door. She wished that they had more to use—wood to barricade the windows, or at least some kind of object that they could wedge in to keep the bottom sash of each window from opening. She started rummaging through the kitchen cabinets. Steve went to sit next to Madison, who appeared to be in the throes of a full meltdown.
“This is crazy,” she said, her voice a sobbing croak. “Crazy. We’re literally trapped in the middle of nowhere and someone is outside fucking with us, someone who wants to hurt us, and Brad brought us to this goddamned cabin where there are no locks and no way to keep ourselves safe.”
“I’ll keep you safe,” Steve said, and Allie had to give him credit—he did sound sincere.
She turned from her cabinet-rummaging in time to see Madison smack him on the shoulder.
“How are you going to do that? Are you going to be a big man and take down some psycho killer all by yourself and then die right in front of me? Do you think I want to see that?”
“Well, no, I don’t . . .” Steve began, then trailed off as Madison threw herself against his chest and cried even harder. Steve gave Allie a helpless look.
She sighed, very softly. In Allie’s opinion, Steve ought to be able to comfort his girlfriend when she was upset. This seemed like the least a boyfriend could do. But Madison was clearly working herself up into full-blown hysteria.
Hysteria, Allie thought. A word that was originally meant to describe the “disease” of women who were, by the definition of supposedly learned men, shallow and volatile and attention-seeking. But I don’t think Madison is looking for attention right now. I think she’s scared to death.
(And I am too)
That last thought was like a little voice in the dark, a little voice that Allie didn’t want to hear, so she pushed it down, deep down, where she didn’t have to listen. There were many more important things to deal with at the moment besides her fear. Fear was not a productive emotion. They had to keep vigilant, make sure they were safe in the cabin overnight. They could do it, if all of them helped keep watch. Unfortunately, Cam was out cold and Madison was not in any shape to help. That left Allie and Steve (who had, at least, demonstrated the ability to follow directions) and Brad, who Allie was absolutely certain would not follow directions and might actively hinder any work for the greater good.
Especially if I’m the one directing that work. He’s not exactly receptive to the thoughts of women, unless they revolve around him.
Allie sat down on the other side of Madison and took her friend’s hand. Madison lifted her head from Steve’s chest and stared at Allie, her eyes huge and streaming with tears.
“It’s going to be okay,” Allie said, and she felt the inadequacy of the words.
There was no guarantee at all that everything would be okay on any given day, much less in a potentially dangerous situation like the one in which they were caught. “It’s going to be okay” was just something people said to walk their friends back from the cliff, to pretend the screaming edge of the world wasn’t right there in front of them, waiting to swallow them whole.
And yet, she found herself saying those words again as Madison gripped her hand tight and Madison’s eyes searched hers, looking for the truth. “It’s going to be okay. We just need to calm down and work together. We’ll get through this.”
“Do you really think so?” Madison said, wiping her face. “I’m sorry I freaked out. I just can’t stand the idea of someone coming into the cabin, hurting us for no reason.”
“I don’t know if whoever is doing this really wants to hurt us,” Allie said, even though that was a lie. She was pretty certain whoever was outside, whoever had climbed through the window, did want to hurt them. “It might just be some jackass pulling a prank, trying to see how freaked out we can get.”
“I don’t know about that,” Steve said. “Whoever smashed up Brad’s car has got some major issues. That didn’t seem like a prank to me.”
Allie widened her eyes meaningfully at Steve as Madison turned back to him, and he seemed to realize then what he’d said and what kind of effect it had on Madison.
“But Allie’s probably right,” he said hastily. “It’s just a prank that’s gotten out of control.”
“Maybe,” Madison said, but it didn’t seem like she believed it. She turned back to Allie. “You don’t think it’s like that movie with the freaky people with the masks? You know, that one you like?”
Allie liked an astonishing number of movies that featured freaky people with masks, but she thought she knew where Madison was heading.
“The Strangers?” Allie asked.
“Yeah, I think that was it! The couple is in the vacation house or whatever, and these three people show up in masks and spend all night fucking with them, and then at the end they stab the couple for no reason at all. That’s like what’s happening to us.”
“Nah,” Allie said. “It’s not like that. This isn’t a movie. People don’t do those things in real life.”
“I don’t know,” Steve said. “The Mansons and all that.”
Allie let go of Madison’s hand. “Steve, you’re not exactly helping here.”
“You’re right,” he said, holding up his arms in the air in surrender. “You’re right, I’m sorry. I have a big dumb mouth and dumb things come out of it when I’m nervous.”
“You’re nervous?” Madison said.
“Sure,” Steve said. “I mean, whatever is happening—it’s not normal. Allie’s probably right and whoever is out there is just some stupid kid getting high off watching us freak out. I don’t think we’re really in any danger or anything. But this is definitely not the way I thought the weekend would go, that’s for sure.”
“Aw,” Madison said, and hugged him. She seemed calmer now that she knew Steve was nervous, which didn’t make any sense to Allie, but if it meant Madison would stop screaming and crying, then it was all to the good.
“All right,” Allie said. “We’re agreed that there’s no real need to freak out, but let’s be cautious. We should all stay in this room the rest of the night. We can shut the bedroom doors and block them with furniture. If anyone tries to climb in the windows here in the main room, we’ll know, and we’ll all be together. Safety in numbers, right?”
Madison nodded. “I knew that you would know what to do. You’re the smartest person I know, Allie.”
Allie flushed, especially since she’d had some unkind thoughts about Madison earlier in the evening. “I’m not smart. I’ve just watched a lot of horror movies and I know what people definitely should not do.”
“Don’t investigate strange noises,” Steve said.
“Don’t go outside alone,” Madison said.
“See, you guys would know what to do even without me here,” Allie said lightly. “Should we take turns keeping watch? Does anyone even feel like sleeping?”
“I couldn’t sleep if my life depended on it,” Madison said.
“I mean, I could,” Steve said. “But I don’t think I should sleep right now.”
“It’s only a couple of hours until dawn,” Allie said. “Once the sun is up, we can all hike toward the road, try to flag down someone who can help us.”
“Cam is not going to want to hike,” Madison said. “You know how she is about walking.”
“She’s not going to have a choice if she wants to get out of here,” Allie said, although privately she was worried about Cam’s injury. Cam might not be physically able to walk in a couple of hours. “Speaking of Cam, I’m going to check on her and move her and Brad out to this room. You two shut up the other room and the bathroom door, and double-check that all the windows are as secure as you can make them.”
Steve and Madison got up to do as Allie instructed, and Allie went to Brad and Cam’s bedroom. She was a little surprised that Brad hadn’t charged out of the room already, spoiling for a fight with Allie because she’d kicked him in the balls. It wasn’t like Brad to brood silently where no one could see him.
Maybe he passed out from the pain, Allie thought. If so, she was not sorry at all.
She hesitated just for a second before entering the bedroom.
So that’s why Brad didn’t come out right away, she thought.
Brad was gone.
Allie started for the window, to check outside for him, and then stopped. He could be waiting to grab her. Or the person who’d banged on the cabin wall could be waiting for her. That person could have taken Brad—although Allie was sure that there would have been more noise, some kind of struggle if that was the case. She didn’t see any evidence of a struggle. There was nothing disarranged, no telltale dirt on the floor or meaningful spray of blood on the wall. The curtains blew in the breeze from outside, showing that the window was open. It was as if Brad had just silently stepped over the window ledge and out into the night.
That’s probably what he did do. He went outside to be a hero and left his girlfriend here alone, Allie thought furiously, checking to see if Cam was okay. Her friend felt cool to the touch, and her breathing was deep and slow. But she didn’t respond at all when Allie shook her shoulder.
Allie heard Madison and Steve closing the other interior doors and walking around the main room of the cabin, checking the windows.
“Steve!” she called. “Can you come and help me for a second?”
Both Steve and Madison came to the door, as Allie had expected. She didn’t think Madison wanted to be alone for even half a second.
That’s good, though. She’ll be safer with other people. We all will be.
“What’s up?” Steve asked, looking around the room. “Where’s Brad?”
“Who the fuck knows,” Allie said. “I need you to help me get Cam into the main room. Can you carry her?”
“Sure,” Steve said, but he hesitated. “But shouldn’t we look for Brad? What if something bad happened to him?”
“I suspect,” Allie said, trying hard not to sound impatient, “that he went outside looking for the person who wrecked his car, and he didn’t say anything about it because he knew we would object. It doesn’t make sense for us to follow him—it’s still dark out, and we don’t know which way he was headed.”
“But what if he gets hurt?” Madison asked. “I know you think he’s a jerk, Allie, but you can’t want that.”
Guess I was never that good at hiding my contempt. Everyone’s onto me regarding Brad, Allie thought, and then said, “Of course I don’t want him to be hurt. I don’t want anybody to be hurt. But remember how we were joking about horror movies earlier? You know how people get picked off in horror movies? They go off to do tasks one by one. I can tell by the look on Steve’s face that he’s thinking about going out looking for Brad.”
Steve flushed guiltily. “I was just going to take a quick walk around the cabin.”
“Right,” Allie said. “And the three of us wait in here, and then you don’t come back, and then what? None of us know where we are except you and Brad, and you’re the only ones who can get us out of here.”
“I don’t know how to get out of here,” Steve said, looking slightly alarmed at the prospect that he might be expected to provide directions.
“What?” Allie and Madison said together.
“Yeah, I have no idea. I passed out in the car. I always sleep on long car rides.”
“Great,” Allie said. “Just great. Brad brings us to the middle of nowhere, none of us knows where we are except him, and now he’s disappeared into the night. Steve, you are not going outside to look for him. We can hunt around for him when it’s light out. Assuming he doesn’t get beaten up by our creepy stalker or break his ankle on a tree root, he’ll probably come stumbling back here sometime soon.”
“But what if he doesn’t?” Madison said. “What if this isn’t a joke and Brad gets killed by some psycho?”
Allie saw the light of panic rekindling in Madison’s eyes. “I don’t think that’s going to happen. Movies are fun and all, but that kind of stuff doesn’t usually happen in real life. Usually.”
“Usually,” Madison repeated. “But it could happen.”
“Okay, it could,” Allie acknowledged. “But I think it’s unlikely. I’m sticking with my ‘stupid kid trying to mess with us’ theory until I’m proven otherwise. Look, can we get Cam moved to the couch in the main room and finish this discussion there?”
Steve went to the bed and gathered Cam’s limp body up in his arms, carrying her out of the room. Madison and Allie followed. Allie thought about shutting the bedroom window but decided against it. If someone was lurking just outside, it would give them an opportunity to grab her. If Brad had used it as an exit, he might want to use it again as an entry.
And anyway, the stupid windows don’t even lock.
She pulled the bedroom door shut behind her, then quickly crossed the living room and grabbed the last two dining table chairs. She hooked one under the doorknob of each bedroom. If Brad returned, he wouldn’t be able to get out of the bedroom easily, but they’d let him in if he called. If their prankster climbed in through one of the bedroom windows and tried to get into the main room, they’d have fair warning.
Madison had collected the blankets from the bedroom and made a little nest for herself and Steve on the floor next to the couch. She’d also pulled the blankets off the bunks so Allie would have something to keep warm. Steve was rooting around in the cabinets, pulling out bags of potato chips and other snacks. Allie wasn’t sure how he could eat at a time like this. She had a knot in her stomach that felt like it was never going to go away.
Madison was folding the other bunk blanket over Cam when she stopped, frowning.
“Allie, look at this,” she said, pointing at Cam’s arm.
“What?” Allie said, joining her.
“There,” Madison said, kneeling beside the couch to peer more closely at Cam. “There’s a little bruise on the inside of her elbow.”
Allie squinted, then knelt next to Madison. She saw the tiny blue bruise on the vein and sucked in her breath.
“Someone drugged her,” Allie said. “That explains why she hasn’t moved a muscle since she was knocked out.”
“What the hell? Why would someone drug her?” Madison asked. “And who did it? That person?”
“If you mean our mystery intruder, then, yes, I think it has to be. Unless Cam’s taken up some habit I don’t know about?”
Madison shook her head. “No way. She would never. Nothing stronger than pot.”
“Then if she didn’t do this to herself, and Brad didn’t do it to her—”
“If Brad didn’t do what?” Steve asked, his mouth full of nacho-flavored corn chips.
Allie explained about the bruise on Cam’s arm. Steve frowned at her.
“Why would Brad do something like that?”
Allie threw her hands up in the air. “Who the hell knows? Why did he bring us to this cabin in the first place? How did he even know about it? Why aren’t there any locks on the windows, and why didn’t he mention it? You guys act like I’m being ridiculous because I don’t think Brad is a saint, but his behavior hasn’t exactly been saintly.”
“Are you saying he brought us here for some bad reason?” Madison asked, looking at Steve as she said it. Allie could tell that she was wondering if Steve, as Brad’s best friend, was involved in such a plot. “Like he wants to scare us? Or hurt us?”
“I’m just saying I’m not real clear on his motivations,” Allie said. “And now he’s disappeared.”
“I still don’t think he could have drugged Cam,” Steve said stubbornly. “I can go along with the idea that maybe he set us up for some kind of big joke, but I can’t believe he’d stick a needle in his own girlfriend.”
“Yeah, and to let his car get smashed up like that, too. That seems weird,” Madison added. “He loves that car.”
“His daddy can always replace it for him,” Allie said dismissively. The more they talked, the more a suspicion solidified in her mind. “Anyway, what about the fact that all four of us were passed out—”
But she never finished what she was going to say, because the air was filled with the sound of breaking glass. Allie, Madison and Steve spun toward the front of the cabin and saw a brick lying just underneath the window next to the front door.
Madison screamed, but Allie wasn’t worried about the brick. She was worried about the shadow moving outside the window, the one just visible through the fluttering curtains.