Until Dawn: Embers of Hope

Prologue of a new Until Dawn story I've decided to start; bit of a twist in this one regarding Ashley as her romantic interest in this is not Chris, but Sam. They are still friends however and Chris is supportive of her crush on Sam. Anyway, in regards to this, the prank at the beginning is different and not so much a prank, more of a set up and aimed at Ashley, however Hannah and Beth still fall victim to the Wendigo.

Additionally in this, the 'killer' on the mountain isn't something made up by Josh; although he still carries out his 'prank' due to the disappearance of his sisters, but there is actually a killer on the mountain, thus the group faces three threats, rather than two. Anyway, hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Until Dawn or its characters.

Prologue

The snow billowed around the mountain, the moon was high and the night dark, standing defiant against the elements was the large building known locally as the Washington Lodge, property of the Washington family; it's lights shone bright. Outside the lodge a mysterious stranger clad in dark clothing stood, he clutched a machete tightly in his hand.

Inside the lodge were ten teenagers, all within the age range of seventeen to nineteen. Right now the majority of said teens were in the dining room, two of them passed out drunk. The others were all talking quietly amongst themselves, except for one of the girls who was standing separate from the others. Three of the occupants of the lodge were the children of the Washington family.

The eldest of those was nineteen year old Joshua Washington, known as Josh to his friends, he and his sisters all had dark chocolate-brown hair and caramel complexions, unlike his eighteen year old sister's who were twins, Josh had green eyes. The Washington sisters meanwhile had dark brown eyes.

One of the sister's, Beth, was in the same room, she was the girl standing separate from the others, looking out the window. Her hair came to just below her chin with bangs framing her face. Apart from her hair being longer, down to her shoulders, the other sister, Hannah, was the perfect image of Beth.

Josh was one of the two boys passed out drunk; the other being his best friend, eighteen year old Christopher 'Chris' Hartley. A man with fair skin, short dirty blonde hair worn in a faux-hawk style who also wore a pair of grey rectangular glasses.

The remainder of the friends were all gathering together, further along the room, talking amongst themselves.

One of them, a girl of seventeen with green eyes, beige blonde hair in small pigtails and a bisque complexion, Jessica 'Jess' Riley, was smirking as her best friend, Emily Davis, an eighteen year old Asian-American woman with above shoulder length black hair and light brown eyes, an olive complexion and a small birthmark above her right eyebrow, placed a note on the table where it could be found, by it's intended recipient.

It was two in the morning, the group of teens had been partying and enjoying themselves and, some of them quite giddy from the drink, had decided to plot a set up on another member of the group, Ashley Brown. While a set up, they actually hoped it would have a beneficial effect.

Ashley had, for a long time, been crushing silently on another member of the group, another girl, Samantha Giddings. They planned to trick Ashley into going to Sam's room, dressed somewhat provocatively and, since they also knew Sam quietly felt the same way about Ashley, they intended for it to lead to them finally connecting the dots.

"I think this is a bad idea guys, I mean..." Hannah was saying, looking worried.

Jess cut her off. "Relax Hannah, it'll be fine; yeah okay it might be a bit awkward and Sam will no doubt be...kinda confused. But this could be the push they need."

"Yeah, you can't deny Ash needs a push to admit what's in her heart." Emily replied. "Sam's braver, as soon as she sees what Ash is doing, she'll realize the truth and make the first move, then Ash has the easier job."

Hannah shook her head, Emily's plan just did not sound right at all.

She turned to the other two members of the group, both young men, the first was Emily's boyfriend, Michael Monroe; a muscular young man with short dark brown hair, brown eyes and fair skin. The second was Matthew Taylor; Matt to his friends, an African-American male with short black hair and brown eyes.

"And you guys think this is a good idea?" She asked warily.

Mike shrugged. "Hey, relax, it'll be cool, it's about time the two of them acknowledged what's obvious to everyone else."

"But Ashley is..."

Matt smiled. "Hannah, you worry too much; like Jess said, Ashley...showing up like this, will help Sam realize the truth, then, encourage her to act, Ashley just then needs to reply."

Hannah glanced over at her sister, but Beth was too far away in her mind to help her. She felt as if the others were ganging up on her about this.

She then pointed out her main problem with their plan. "And, you're filming it, why?"

"For posterity." Jess replied sassily. "For them, how many couples can say have the moment they declared their love for each other on video."

"Then why does she have to wear..." Hannah continued to protest.

"Because it's Ashley, get her in something like that, she's all super awkward." Emily shot back, as if talking to a five year old. "Sam finds that cute somehow, plus, getting Ashley to show even a little skin will be a miracle anyway, certainly can't hurt."

With that they all began to head off to their destination, Sam's room. Sam wouldn't be in yet, but she'd be back soon so they had to hurry, make sure they were ready for Sam arriving, then Ashley.

Hannah however was worried; She looked to the others in the room, her brother and Chris were still out cold from the drink, Beth was still lost in thought. She didn't think she could get their attention, she had to do this herself.

She thought of warning Sam so that together they could find Ashley and stop her before she did something that might embarrass her for the rest of her life. Then she thought of directly warning Ashley; she was the one most at risk here.

'Oh please, don't let this...' She thought worriedly.

She quickly left the room and went looking for Ashley or Sam, praying she found of them before it was too late. Unaware of those hidden in her room, Sam returned from where she had been taking a bath, unwinding after a long day.

Sam was a young woman with fair skin, medium long blonde hair which she tied in a classic bun style at the back, leaving a few locks framing her face and hazel eyes.

She was dressed for actually going to bed, wearing her pyjamas which consisted of simply an oversized PETA T-shirt, which came down to the middle of her thighs.

She settled down on top of the bed, deciding to pass the time a little before trying to get to sleep; she pulled out her iPhone, plugged in her headphones and began to listen to some music.

Meanwhile, unaware of what was truly going on a young woman quietly padded her way down the halls of the lodge, blushing considerably, due to her attire. This was Ashley Brown, a young woman with long auburn red hair, brown eyes and pale skin.

The young woman made her way to Sam's room. Her hair was loose and the only thing covering her nudity was a sexy somewhat revealing red bikini. She hoped Sam wouldn't be disgusted by her.

Was she thin enough? What about that birthmark she had on her upper curve of left breast? The two moles on her left thigh?

'Get a grip of yourself Ash, Sam sent you that message, she wants to see you.' She told herself. 'She wouldn't ask you to wear your most revealing clothes if she wasn't...interested in you, would she?'

Trying hard to compose herself, despite her embarrassing attire, despite the pebbling on her skin from the cool air, she approached Sam's room, this was it, her moment of truth.

Meanwhile, down in the dining room, Beth was looking out the window at the snow.

She bit her lip. 'Wow, it's really coming down...Huh, where has everyone, what the…?'

Her thoughts were cut off as she spotted something outside, it looked like a person, standing out in the snow. The figure turned and left immediately but Beth saw them and turned quickly, calling out.

"Hey...Did you see that?" She queried. "Dad said it'd just be us this weekend...Josh?"

No response. She approached her brother and tried to shake him awake, to no avail. She then spotted the beer bottle next to him, amongst others. She picked it up and raised an eyebrow.

"Jeez Josh." She laughed. "Once again brother, you've outdone us all."

Shaking her head she looked around, trying to find the others, it was then she saw the note on the table and checked it.

She gasped as she read it.

"What the hell?"

The note was addressed to Ashley, it was signed by Sam, there was just one problem. Something that Beth only noticed as she examined the letter carefully, reading it:

"Ash
I was wondering if we could spend some special time together.

To see if you are like the fireplaces' inhabitant true namesake: burning hot!

I always thought you'd make a fine bikini babe
Sam"

Beth shook her head. "God this is wrong, why would…Has Ashley already seen this?"

It was subtle, but Beth had seen one problem which worried her greatly, this wasn't Sam's handwriting. Beth was now worried that Ashley was walking into a trap, something was going on here and it wasn't going to be to Ashley's benefit.

Ashley fought not to tremble as she opened the door to Sam's room. Surprised by the door opening, Sam quickly pulled her headphones out and sat up.

"What, the...Ash?" She remarked, then her eyes widened. "What are you…?"

Ashley bit her lip; suddenly very self-conscious about her now mostly exposed body. "I um..."

She tried desperately to act calmly, to try and entice Sam, letting her see her body. She could see Sam's eyes were wide with surprise as she looked her up and down, taking in the bikini, the exposed skin.

"I got your note..." She explained; trying to be as alluring as possible.

Sam stood up, confusion crossing her face, as well as something else, an unusual fluttering feeling in her stomach as she observed Ashley's mostly uncovered body.

"Note?"

"Y-yeah, the one, left in the kitchen." Ashley replied, suddenly uncertain.

Sam shook her head. "Ash, I didn't..."

Just then a thumping noise from Sam's wardrobe and a muffled squeak caught their attention, they weren't alone.

Sam narrowed her eyes while Ashley panicked, her face going scarlet, someone was here, someone had seen her dressed like this.

"Who's there, come out." Sam demanded sharply.

To her shock and horror, and Ashley's dismay, aside from Hannah, Beth, Josh and Chris, all their friends suddenly emerged from various hiding spots in her room.

"Wh-what, what the hell?!" Ashley cried out; especially upon seeing the camera.

It had been videoed; she was on video, looking like a fool, wearing such skimpy clothes; humiliation spread through her entire being. The noise, it turned out, had been Jess, accidentally knocking over a shelf in the wardrobe.

"Guys, what the hell?" Sam demanded. "What are you doing here, and...filming this, why are..."

She then realized and glared.

"It was you, you put that note there, you did this to...to Ash...who..." She growled before realizing what she was saying.

She turned quickly, Ashley's eyes were filled with tears, she shook her head.

Sam bit her lip. "Ashley I..."

But she just cried out and ran from the room. Sam groaned before turning to glare at the others, who all shared an awkward look.

"Nice job guys, seriously...great work." She snapped sarcastically before running out. "ASHLEY!"

She wasn't sure how Ashley had managed it so quickly, but she briefly caught a glimpse of her, fully dressed, running from her room and going downstairs.

Back in the kitchen, Beth looked up and saw someone running past the window.

"What the…?" She gasped.

At that moment the door burst open and Hannah entered. "Beth!"

She turned sharply. "Hannah, what's going on?"

"It's Ashley, she..." Hannah choked out.

"Urgh, huh...what?"

They turned to see Chris sitting up, blinking rapidly.

Hannah shook her head. "You guys, we need to go, Ashley's in trouble we need to help her!"

Beth bit her lip, it was clear Josh was still out cold, Chris was still bleary eyed and clearly hungover, but he agreed and they departed the kitchen, just in time to see everybody else, all wrapped up, stepping out of the lodge.

Hannah groaned, she had been too late, they quickly grabbed their coats and hurried out after them.

Sam looked around desperately but couldn't see Ashley.

"Ash!" She called out, hoping she could hear, that strange fluttering she felt before returned briefly.

"What's going on guys?!" Beth demanded as she pushed her way to the front of the group.

Chris nodded. "Yeah, where's Ashley?"

Hannah glared. "Better to ask them what they've done!?"

"Han, it wasn't that big a deal..." Emily tried to brush things off.

Sam cut her off however. "Try telling that to Ashley...We've gotta find her."

The group agreed and soon split up, searching for Ashley. Chris grit his teeth, trying to focus, despite his pounding head.

The snow as picking up and he began to get worried; he wasn't sure where the others were and if they had found anything. He wished, not for the first time, that there was at least somewhat decent cellphone reception on the mountain, at least so they could stay in touch and inform each other of their progress.

'Damn, what if...this isn't good...' He thought sadly. 'Huh, wait a minute.'

He then heard sobbing nearby and quickly began to follow it. It did not take him long to find Ashley, collapsed in a heap in a clearing, crying her eyes out.

He hurried over to her.

"Ash."

She looked up, startled. "What...Chris?"

He shook his head. "Oh jeez, Ash, you must be freezing."

Ashley shook her head, trying to move away. "No, please, don't..."

But Chris took his coat off, giving it to her. "Ash, it's alright...I, I did hear what happened."

"Oh no..."

"Look, it's alright; everybody is looking for you, we're all worried." Chris tried to reassure her.

"I don't wanna go back to the lodge, I don't wanna see them." Ashley whimpered, hugging Chris' coat tight around herself. "They humiliated me, made me look like a total idiot, in front of, in front of..."

She couldn't finish; Chris just nodded. "It's alright, alright. You don't have to, but let's at least get out of the cold."

He had looked around and realized he knew where they were.

"Listen." He told her gently. "There's a cabin near here, if you don't want to face them back at the lodge, we can hold up there for the night. Give everything time to calm down. At the very least, we need to get you out of the cold."

Ashley didn't say anything, just nodded. Chris quickly helped her to her feet and led the way. He could hear Ashley as she walked behind him, the soft sniffles, he didn't have the full story, he just knew something cruel had been done to her, he couldn't blame her for not wanting to face the others.

Before long they finally reached the cabin and were soon inside. Once Chris got everything set up he turned to Ashley who was now seated on the sofa. Her knees were drawn up to her chest and she had her arms wrapped around them, rocking back and forth, still sniffling.

"Ash; look, I don't know..."

She shook her head. "They filmed it Chris; they humiliated me and filmed it, I'll never, I can't..."

He bowed his head. "Listen, Ashley, Sam isn't happy with them, even if they filmed it, it's not gonna spread, she won't let it."

Ashley bit her lip but nodded; Chris did have a point.

"Alright." He said at last. "The bed's through there, you can sleep there..I'll sleep on the sofa, okay. Just...let's just sleep and worry about everything tomorrow, okay?"

She nodded again and stood up. But at that moment a shrill shriek filled the air. They both started and looked around.

"What the...what was that?" Ashley whispered.

Chris shook his head. "I...have no idea."

They were both worried but neither of them dared leave the relative safety of the cabin. In the end weariness won out, they both found themselves drifting off into a fitful sleep; unaware that this night of humiliation for Ashley, was just the precursor, to something that would change things forever.

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.