Author's Note

In celebration of Amazon Prime Video's newest series Panic, I am thrilled to be teaming up with Amazon Prime Video and Wattpad to write this exclusive chapter that puts my characters from this story into the world of Panic!

I hope this chapter intrigues and inspires you to learn more about Panic. Visit the #PanicWritingContest on Wattpad for the chance to put your creative writing chops to the test and learn more about the show!

To find out more about the contest, prizes, and how to enter, check out the #PanicWritingContest here: wattpad.com/AmazonPrimeVideo

Don't forget to watch the series premiere on May 28th, only on Amazon Prime Video, here:

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*AU where Sam, Blair, Shawn and Megan live in the Universe of Panic*

In the tumbleweed town of Carp, Texas, there isn't much.

There isn't much to do, there isn't much money, there isn't much hope – or hope of escaping – for that matter, especially for Sam and Blair. Some say the town is cursed, but not by the supernatural forces you may or may not believe in. Instead, Carp, Texas is cursed by forgottenness. A tiny town of 12,000 people in the middle of nowhere, plagued with a widening wage gap, too many people and not enough jobs. One bad choice, one financial disaster, one accident, and the chance to escape crumbles.

"Like the town wants to trap people here," Blair likes to say.

Sam wasn't much a believer in supernatural forces or believed the town of Carp was cursed, per say, she just takes it for what it is. A suffering town in the middle-of-nowhere, Texas with victims who just happened to be some of the unluckiest people in the birth lottery.

"Maybe," is all Sam says in response, a half-smoked cigarette hanging from her lips.

It falls silent between the two friends. Blair picks at her fingers while staring up at the clouds, lying on her back across the rear of Sam's Camaro. Sam smokes slow in the parking lot of their high school. Technically, smoking on campus was forbidden, but technically, Sam didn't care. She didn't care if she got caught. She didn't care if she got her diploma held tomorrow as a result. She didn't care about much because there wasn't much to care about in the first place.

Not in the town of Carp, where she's convinced she'll spend the rest of her empty life.

"Graduation's tomorrow," Blair reminds, twisting her head to face Sam who's staring into nothing.

"Yep."

"Are we still doing this?"

This snaps Sam out of her head. Her eyes twitch with the realization that after tomorrow, there would be no rest for the weeks to come. When the judges flew the signal, and Panic commenced, she and Blair's deal would come to fruition. And as nervous as she is, especially after last year, there's no way she wasn't going to at least try.

"I don't think we have much of a choice." Sam lights another cigarette, flicking the old one to the ground. "I mean, we have a car. That's more than most. But that money, however much it is, that's our real ticket out of here."

"You know, I always thought that I would play in Panic once I graduated but, after last year..." A cryptic look falls onto Blair's face. "After Abby and Jimmy died..."

Blair can't find the will to finish her thought. She hadn't witnessed either death due to not having the guts to watch, but the stories and going to Abby's funeral had been enough to make her take a step back. She had known Abby, despite being a year behind her, and knows she should be here. They should both still be here.

But they weren't, all because of Panic.

* * *

A week passes after graduation. Time moves slow, and the sweltering heat seems to possess the town of Carp, leeching what little life remained in its nearly lifeless citizens. Blair works all day at the pharmacy while Sam works at a local mechanic. Problem is, hours are scarce, and so is pay. What little they've managed to save is tucked away someplace safe only they know about, and it'll stay that way until they can finally escape this dead-end town and never look back.

It's the seventh day after graduation when the signal is sung. Sam and Blair are leaving the local café when the sound of fireworks fill the dead air. Bright green, red, and yellow bursts light up the dark sky, and not long after, there are police sirens.

In a town that's under a drought advisory nearly all summer long, popping fireworks is illegal. Yet another small joy Carp, Texas has managed to take away. Sam and Blair watch the explosions for a moment or two while cop cars take off toward the disturbance, their sirens cutting into the night. Little do they know, they're doing exactly what the judges of Panic want, which is taking them far away from where Panic's opening ceremony will take place.

"Well," Sam sighs. "To Pilot's Point we go."

"To Pilot's Point," Blair finalizes.

The game of Panic always starts at Pilot's Point, in homage to tradition. It all started back in the early 2000s when a group of seniors took turns daring each other to jump from a waterfall. Soon after, it became a spectated tradition. Then Panic's inception was in 2007 when a judge was appointed to help formulate challenges. Once money became part of the game, courtesy of each student "donating" a dollar every day during the school year, came more problems, and inevitably, rules.

The game follows a point system, depending on how well you perform under pressure, hence the name Panic. And there was only ever one winner.

"God Sam, are we really doing this?" Blair whispers as the hot wind whips around her copper-colored ponytail.

"Listen," Sam starts. "We have an advantage. We're a team. We've kept our heads down, for the most part, and no one knows much about us, which means they can't individually target either of us in the challenges to come."

Blair continues to pick at her fingers in the passenger seat while watching the firework show disappear in the distance.

"It's swim or drown," Sam finishes.

"Okay, that's the last thing I wanna hear before cliff diving."

Sam just makes a noise in the back of her throat as she pulls down the secluded dirt road. Taillights glow in front and headlights glare from behind. There will be a crowd. There's always a crowd. Then again, Sam never was one to care about attention. Considering she was the hot-head of their senior class, including a few other boys, fights and altercations already decorated her track-record. Not to mention her occasionally kissing a girlfriend or two at parties while drunk. Blair had kept her head down, with not doing so much as sneezing out of place.

Sam on the other hand...

Well, she has a lot of enemies.

After finding a place to park, Sam and Blair exit and begin the trek to Pilot's Point. White beams of light illuminate the dark as kids excitedly head for the water, alcohol, and other goodies in hand. As if this was some type of social event. Sam shakes her head cynically.

Sam knows Panic is a trap. Its systemic flaws target the poor of Carp and pit them against each other while the wealthier kids watch and cheer from the sidelines, like the fucking Kentucky Derby or something. They place bets, pick favorites, and even try to give their bets a leg up since they have money riding on them. It's like Carp's sick version of the Hunger Games. Thinking about it used to make Sam sad.

Now, it just makes her angry.

She knew her feet had all but been cemented to this town after the death of her alcoholic father and decline of her dead-beat mother. Shawn, her older brother who managed a local Taco Bell, was barely able to keep a roof over their heads. When he lost Panic a few years ago to his best friend, Megan, she had begged him to leave Carp with her, but he couldn't. Not without Sam, she remembers him saying to Megan, who stood on their doorstep with a packed car behind her.

Since then, Sam made a silent vow to herself she would win Panic, not only for Blair, but for her brother, too. The three of them would escape this Hell Town, together.

As the sound of music grows closer and closer, Blair can feel her heart climbing to her throat. Her stomach cramps with nerves, but she knows there's no backing out, even if she wanted. Sam wouldn't let her, just like she wouldn't let Sam if it ever came down to it. Not that Blair expected Sam to back out, because Sam feared very few things. After years of knowing Sam, Blair was sure not even death scared her best friend.

"Can I have your attention?" Diggins, the emcee shouts from a bull horn.

The crowd falls quiet as Sam sips heavily on her tall boy she had stolen from the gas station earlier today. Blair had been a successful distraction by knocking over that one, tiny display that held the assortment of nuts every gas station seems to have.

Worked like a charm, Sam said as they drove away.

"Gimme a sip of that," Blair orders while reaching for Sam's drink.

For once, Sam offers it willingly, likely sensing how nervous Blair is in the moment. That, or her shaking hands were enough of an indicator.

"Welcome to Panic!" Diggins announces.

The crowd cheers, Blair chugs and tries not to gag, Sam lights a cigarette and remains indifferent, refusing to show any emotion that resembles excitement for what's to come.

"My name is Diggins, and this summer, I will be your host with the most," Diggins says. "This year's winner of Panic is gonna take home the grand prize of 50,000 dollars."

This information manages to crack Sam's stone demeanor.

"Holy shit," she whispers, her cigarette nearly falling from her lips. "That's... Last year it was 30 thousand..."

The crowd murmurs in awe at the revelation. Suddenly, the stakes rise even higher, past the clouds, and maybe even the burning stars in the sky. There would be at least twenty competitors this year, no doubt.

"You know the rules." Diggins paces across the wooden pier, yielding his bullhorn. "What happens at a challenge stays at a challenge, so I don't wanna see anyone posting, tweeting, or gramming about it. No exceptions!" A serious look crosses his face. "Anyone found in violation risks losing game privileges."

Diggins eyes what seems like every single person here, which is well over a hundred, before continuing his spiel.

"The first challenge is The Jump." He extends his arm to the cliff behind him while people make noises of angst and excitement. "Remember, it's out and down, unless you want the rocks to break your fall."

Blair's knees tremble at the visual. Sam believes having to spend another year in Carp will be no different to breaking her kneecaps.

"Lowest jump grants you 100 points, high point gives you a 25-point bonus, and for anyone drunk or stupid enough to chance jumping from Devil's Drop will get a 50-point bonus and immunity from any one challenge of their choice."

There's only one person who has ever jumped from Devil's Drop, and that had been Shawn. No one had ever had the nerve to do the same. And despite starting out with a 50-point lead, he still fell short to Megan in the end. Sam had convinced herself she would follow her brother's footsteps no matter what.

"If you wish to participate, please grab a number and a flare over on the table there!"

People begin lining up immediately. Sam watches from afar to scope out her possible competition while Blair shakes in her tennis shoes.

"Hey." Sam hands her the rest of her tall boy. "You've done this already, last summer when we came out here to prepare ourselves. Take the minimum drop and get it over with. Leave Devil's Drop to me."

Blair finishes the beer and feels her muscles loosen, but only slightly. As much as she loves Sam, her words burn her for some reason. Do the bare minimum. Don't push yourself too hard, you might break. You're fragile. You're nothing. You're not good enough to perform above average.

All words her abusive mother rattles off to Blair on what seems like a daily basis now. They seem to heave embedded in her skin and sunk down into her bones by this point, which only made Blair burn even more. The anger toward her mother and jealousy to be more like Sam fuels her to stalk to the table and stand at the end of the line. Sam follows behind her, oblivious to the red Blair is seeing.

"Little Blair Daniels playing Panic?" Emma, another favorite bet for the game this year, teases. "Hell has frozen over."

"Mind yourself," Sam says in a low, menacing tone.

"Oh, calm down, Carson 2.0," Ray calls. "Hey, how's Shawn doing after losing Panic to a fucking girl? I bet he loves slapping meat on tortillas while picturing Megan laughing at him from her high-rise in the big city, yeah?"

Sam feels the rage burn deep within her, scorching every fiber of her being, but she refuses to show any emotion. She and Ray quite literally hate each other, because he's an uber douche with a huge ego, compensating for his other tiny parts, Sam's sure. Not to mention that one time Sam embarrassed him by giving him a bloody nose when he jokingly groped her ass. The suspension was worth it.

Ray seems to grow angrier at Sam's silence.

"Or are you gonna try and avenge him and his humiliating loss?" he continues.

Sam steps closer to Ray, and that tiny flame of fear in his eyes makes her smile. Blair and Emma move back, afraid to be in Sam's path because of that silent anger she radiates. Sam let's her eyes travel up and down Ray's body, but everyone knows Sam isn't into his type. Arrogant and male, so the move in strictly for intimidation purposes.

"You know what, Ray?" Sam whispers. "In the end, I hope it's between you and I." She tilts her head and moves in closer. His Adam's apple bobs with nerves. "Because I'm gonna enjoy humiliating the shit out of you in front of everyone."

"Piss off, Carson."

He turns briskly to shove his way to the front of the line and nearly bolts to the jump. Sam just finds joy in his anger. Blair pulses in her own irritation and nerve next to her without saying a word in response to what just happened.

"Contestant number 13, state your name!" Diggins calls.

"You already know who it is, Diggins!" Ray screams. "Your mom screams it every night!"

The crowd laughs, Ray jumps without much hesitation and solidifies his spot in the competition.

"Too bad he only jumped from the lowest point," Blair says through clenched teeth.

"Yeah, too bad," Sam adds.

Before Sam and Blair get to the table, they strip from their over-clothes and down into their swimsuits. The heat of the night keeps them warm, but they know the lake will be cold. Just the thought of the icy plunge makes Blair clench her teeth. Sam keeps her head as she gets a number branded on her hand, like goddamn cattle, and ignites a flare. She turns to Blair, who is the last contestant.

"Remember, you've done this, and you can do it again," Sam encourages, although it does little for Blair who grows angrier and more nervous by the second.

All she does is nod, lights her flare, and follows about 20 feet behind Sam.

Sam starts with a light jog as she watches jumpers in the distance. All of them, so far, have done the minimum drop. She seems to be the only one even thinking of taking a bigger chance. She finds this to fuel her even more. She finds a fresh pile of untouched flares at the midway and lights another, sparking yells of excitement from those eager to see someone finally take a higher plunge.

But when she passes the high point and starts for Devil's Drop, Diggins' voice comes through the bull horn.

"Contestant 22, are you sure you want to do this?"

Sam laughs to herself before throwing her flare down the drop, watching its flame shrink until it's doused in the black abyss below.

"Of course, I do, Diggins! What the hell do you think?"

"Sam Carson, everybody. A true ray of sunshine."

The laughs and screams from the crowd shrink even more until it's nothing but white noise in her head. She takes in a deep breath and thinks of her brother, and if he had felt afraid to do this. She finds she's not afraid at all, because even if she died from this jump, that meant she could escape Carp once and for all.

She takes one glance at Blair, who's almost to the first jump point and clenches her jaw. Then she makes a run for it, a quick leap, and the fall that lasts a good ten seconds. Then, the shock of the water and the spinning in her head. Everything is quiet and black. This is how she pictures death, but the only indicator that she's not, is her racing heart and struggling lungs.

When she comes back up, people are cheering.

She swims back to the pier, which exhausts her more than the climb up, and finds people slapping her back and handing her extra beers. Her eyes find Ray, who's sneering at her shamelessly. When she passes him, she makes sure to twist the knife.

"This is just a taste of how much I'm gonna humiliate you during this game," Sam warns.

That's when more screams break the tension. Sam's eyes shoot to where Blair is supposed to be, but her flare's light is still moving, up and into space. Sam's heart constricts with emotion at the sight, something that usually never happens. She runs to the edge of the water despite her now shivering body.

"B-Blair!" she yells.

"Holy shit."

"Is that... Blair Daniels?"

"She's going for Devil's Drop!"

Blair can't look around. She just stares at her feet, careful not to trip on any loose rocks or a cliff's edge. Her heart is slamming against her chest, blood pounding through her skull. Her body is aflame, and she's desperate for the cool plunge because she feels like she's on fire. She knew Sam would go through with Devil's Drop, but it wasn't until she was standing in line, hearing the whispers about her, aside from Emma and her loser friends.

People saying that she'll back out as soon as she gets up there, or would have to be helped down, heaven forbid. Blair was many things, and a coward used to be one of them. That was until she heard the whispers and found a way past her mother's sharp words in the line to sign her life away.

Perhaps this is what she had needed all along.

"Contestant 23, what's your name?"

Blair can barely hear him. His voice is like a whisper. Should she even yell her name? Would anything come out? Would they even be able to hear her? She wasn't going to tell them. She didn't have to. Sam had already basically told them when she saw Blair climbing to Devil's Drop.

"Contestant 23, you don't have to do this!"

"Blair come back down!"

"You don't have to prove anything!"

The echoes continue and Blair finds them impossible to silence. She knows the only way to do so is by jumping. From her memory of jumping last year, the plunge hadn't been that bad, it was just the build-up. When she did finally jump and was submerged, the silence... God, that silence had been everything. She had craved that silence ever since.

"Blair, please!

"C'mon, we ain't got all day!"

"Don't choke!"

Blair takes a few steps back and stares at the edge of the cliff. Then, with shaky legs, she takes off running. When her feet hit the edge, she catapults herself and catches sight of the black lake below. For a few seconds, she's flying, hurtling into space and away from Carp, Texas. She's being sucked into a black hole and would cease to exist in a few short moments.

And when she hits the water and the silence surrounds her, that's exactly what happens.

For a moment, it's silent, and cold, and dark. When she screams underwater no one can hear her. She allows another minute to pass, just to give the people up there who didn't believe in her a good scare. The thought makes her laugh.

Then, when she brings her still shaky body to the surface, people scream, they jump up and down, and they cheer like goddamn maniacs. Like they know and love Blair, when, most of them hadn't known who she was until today.

And Sam has this really proud look on her face that makes Blair begin to cry.

*END NOTE*

This was actually so much fun to write and I can't wait to watch the rest of Panic! when it airs on Amazon. Let me know if this is something you guys would want to read more of!

Lauryn