***BROOKLYN’S POV***

I cringed at the piercing scream, looking at Allison and her face held worry, “What the fuck was that?”

I became worried, and I ran to the door, and it swung open, hitting me in the face, revealing a very frantic Kate. My head throbbed from the impact, but Kate had her back against the door, she was crying hysterically, if you even wanted to call it crying. 

Something was wrong…

I stood, grabbing her shoulders, “Kate? Kate! What the hell is wrong!?”

She shook her head vigorously, she was in shock, she was crying, screaming, but nothing was coming out of her eyes. She sunk to the floor, knees pulled up to her chest, she sobbed, “N-Nathan… he’s d-dead.”

What? Did I hear that correctly?

I shook my head, “What? Kate… where’s Nathan, stop playing stupid.”

She screamed in my face this time, making sure I understood her, “He’s fucking dead Brooklyn! There’s a man out there! He killed him!”

My heart sank. The man in the woods. The dark figure I had seen the night before…

He was real, and he was here. With us. 

Kate was crying frantically, and Lyle and Zeke had finally joined us downstairs, “What the hell is wrong with Kate?”

I ignored them, expecting Allison to deliver the horrific news. I looked at Kate, she was broken, completely, she was so shattered… there was absolutely nothing I could do to make her better. I pulled her into me, this wasn’t happening to us… not me. There was no way… 

These things only happened in movies…

I wanted to cry, I wanted to break down and give up already… but no telling what Kate had witnessed at the lake. The dampness on my shirt was sticking to my skin, and I pulled Kate’s eyes up to me, I wiped her tears, “Kate…”

She shook her head, “We need to get out of here… now.”

I nodded, agreeing with her 100 percent… I never thought we should’ve came here in the first place. 

My intuition was right. 

But I needed to focus, I needed to get us out of here. 

Obviously Allison had told Lyle and Zeke what happened because they were both looking at me, desperation and complete terror in their eyes. I locked the cabin door, running over to the window that went out to the lake.

There he was, Nathan’s body, lying on the edge of the pier, hatchet sticking out the back of his head. 

I gagged, feeling sick to my stomach instantly… I mumbled, “Please God no…”

I looked at Lyle, “Where did Nathan keep the keys to the car?”

Lyle looked down, as if trying to think but he couldn’t quite focus because he was so terrified. He shook his head, grabbing his hair, “I-I don’t know… he might’ve left them in the car… in don’t remember.”

Zeke shook his head, “No… he brought them inside, he threw them over there,” I followed his finger to the kitchen counter but all that held was red Solo cups. 

There were no keys in sight. 

Kate nodded, “That’s where I put mine to… I remember.”

I looked at her, “So where are they?”

She was becoming even more frantic, and I was to. Did the bastard come into the cabin?  Take our keys?

Then something clicked in my head. 

My cell phone. 

I ran upstairs, I had never moved so damn fast in my life, and I heard footsteps behind me. I knew it was Allison, she was terrified to, and I couldn’t blame her. The only thing that was keeping me going were my four friends that were still alive.

I bolted through the door, searching the top of the dresser frantically, but found nothing. 

My phone was there this morning. 

I slammed my fist onto the dresser, “Fuck! No!” 

This wasn’t happening, the asshole came into the cabin! He had the fucking keys and the cell phones! What the fuck were we going to do? 

I sat on my bed, feeling completely numb, was there anything we could do? It was dark outside now… it was going to be hard to see if we went outside and tried to hotwire the car… and we would risk getting caught by him. 

So what were we going to do? Stake out in the cabin until sunset?

Allison geld my hand, I looked at her, she smiled weakly, “We’re gonna get out of here, right?”

I wanted to cry at those words, they were so optimistic, so hopeful, and I wanted to say yes. I wanted to relive her, to tell her everything was going to be ok… but I couldn’t. I didn’t know if we were all going to make it out of here alive… but I was going to try. 

I wasn’t dying here. 

I felt tears rolling silently down my face, and I wiped them away. Now was not the time to break, we needed to come up with a plan, soon, but our only safe way out was the car.

And even if we got to the car with the keys didn’t mean the bastard didn’t fuck with the engine or something. 

Our luck he took the entire engine out of it. 

I stood, grabbing Allison’s hand, “Stick with me. Don’t leave my side.”

She nodded, understanding that sticking together was our best way out of here. I walked her down stairs, Kate, Lyle, and Zeke were in the kitchen, Lyle was still trying to console Kate but Lyle was having a hard time himself. 

I mean what could you possibly say after one of your friends had just been brutally murdered?

I was barely coping with it myself.

They all looked at me, searching my eyes for an answer, a way out of here, but I had nothing. It was the hardest thing I was ever faced with, because I wanted nothing more then to get them out of here safely. 

 I didn’t want to die here, I was way to young, we all were, and I wasn’t going to give up. 

Not until he killed me to. 

I wasn’t afraid to die, but I was afraid to die horrifically, and I had a feeling that’s exactly what he intended to do to us. 

It would only get worse from Nathan. 

Kate looked at me, “What do we do…?”

I shook my head, “I think the only safe way out is through the cars… but we need the keys. We can’t hotwire it in the dark… plus there’s no guarantee it’ll start if the asshole fucked with the engine.”

Kate’s eyes  fell, along with everyone else’s, and my heart hurt. 

What were we going to do?

Then there was a brutal banging on the door, and I knew exactly who it was.

My heart was speeding up, we knew it was coming, we just weren’t prepared for it. He was trying to get in… and it wasn’t going to be long before he did. 

I looked at Kate, I shook my head, “Everyone try to stick with someone. Don’t be alone. Hide. Find anything you can to protect yourself with.”

The door was being hammered, and I knew it wouldn’t be long, I grabbed Allison’s hand, pulling her through the cabin, praying that everyone was still behind me.

Then the door fell open, crashing to the ground.