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Raven’s cheeks flush bright red and she tries to hush Callie.
Callie shakes her head, “No, listen to me. You have always been my choice. I didn’t just end up with you by some fluke, Raven. You aren’t some cheap consolation prize. You are the whole ballgame. The grand prize. You are it.”
Tears pour from everyone’s eyes as they celebrate Callie’s survival and take in this moment of pure love. Raven leans down and presses her lips to Callie’s, knowing she will never go back from this moment. She is holding the rest of forever in her arms.
Sam smiles as she looks at her friends; happy, safe, and together again. The joy she feels for them is immense, but she still feels a sob climbing the back of her throat. This has all just been too much. She can feel herself cracking and lowers her head to hide the tears pouring out of her.
Head bowed and eyes tightly closed, Sam thinks about the ring and suddenly she is a teenager again, trapped beneath him. She can see him looming over her, can see that yellow stone glistening above her as he prepares to slam it into her face again and again. Thinking about it, she can feel the weight of every blow all over again. Her face aches as she relives it. She touches her cheeks to make sure it’s all just in her head because it feels so real.
As hard as she tries to keep it all inside so this moment won’t be tainted with her grief, a heavy sob escapes Sam. Her shoulders slump and she collapses into tears. Raven, Callie, and Emily crawl from their seats on the cold ground to be near Sam and the rivers of pain pouring out of her, but she pushes them off.
Sam speaks, voice quiet and cracking with emotion, “This is never going to stop.”
Emily wipes away a tear of her own, “Oh, honey. We’ll win. We always do.”
Sam shakes her head furiously and finds her voice, but it is coated in anger long repressed, “Will we? Have we ever really won? Seems to me, we just keep doing the same thing over and over. We never really win. We just fight him off until next time. We’re always just waiting for the next time and I am just so tired of doing it.”
Raven shakes her head now, “No. Every time we stop him from getting us, we win. Every day that we keep living, we win. We’ll win again. We just need to get the ring and-”
Sam cuts her off, yelling now, “Fuck the ring! He almost killed Callie just for trying to get it.”
Raven argues back, “It will be different next time. We’ll make a plan. We’ll figure out how to do it!”
“Don’t you get it,” Sam bursts out, “This is it. it’s over. He’s already won. He has Willow already. It’s only a matter of time before he gets the rest of us one by one. We’re never going to get his stupid fucking ring!”
Raven and Emily sit in stunned silence, not sure how to combat that argument. It’s what they’ve all been thinking. Sam was just brave enough to say it out loud. She’s right. How will they ever get what he will kill to protect? Especially, considering their need to protect the body he’s holding captive. Hope quickly drains from their circle. Sam, Emily, and Raven all stare at the ground, afraid to look up and face the truth sitting between them.
Callie stares reverently into the palm of her hand before squeezing it shut, “Uh, guys…” She extends her hand toward them and opens her clenched fist.
Laying in the center of her palm sits the goddamn ring.
The trio lay eyes on it and they cry out with relief. Sam loses all control. She cries out with joy so pure, it rains more tears down her cheeks. She crawls over to Callie and tackles her.
Squeezing Callie so tight, Sam says, “You’re my fucking hero.”
Raven clings to Callie’s hand as the others all peer down at her, unable to believe what’s happening.
His corpse stares up at them from Raven’s feet. She kicks and flails her legs trying to break free, but this only encourages him more. He uses her body and the cavern wall to claw his way up her, laying his decaying hands on her anywhere he chooses. Raven cringes at his touch.
Callie holds steady to Raven’s arm as Emily, Willow, and Sam snap out of frozen shock and begin pelting him with rocks and sticks. Anything they can get their hands on.
He is furious now and growls out hatred toward them as he makes his way up Raven’s back. He is cheek-to-cheek with her now as he rests his rotting chin on her shoulder. He laughs, “I haven’t had this one yet. I can’t wait to make you my bitch, Little Bird.” He opens his mouth and extends a sticky, putrid tongue and licks the length of her cheek before biting into her shoulder. Raven screams out in pain.
Callie screams at him, “Get fucking off her,” and pulls at Raven with all her strength. Raven can finally reach a second hand up now and hold tighter to Callie’s arms.
Callie quickly yanks Raven’s body toward her again and his grip falters. He slips down her torso to cling to her hips. Willow rushes to Callie’s aid now that Raven’s body is within reach and pulls at her sister’s shoulders. They slowly begin to raise her body out of the hole, which brings him even closer to them.
He swats at Willow’s hands and bites into the flesh along Raven’s sides, trying anything to keep her with him. Emily goes to search for more ammunition to throw at his face and Sam sees a golden opportunity.
As he is pulled closer to the top, Sam kneels at the opening. She stares him down and says, “Your turn, asshole.”
She pulls back her arm and slams her fist into his rotting face. His flesh gives way and tears like tissue paper, leaving behind chunks of clotted blood and bone. Sam isn’t even phased. She punches his face again and again, just like he had done to her. She punches his grotesque corpse face until nothing is left but his skull, smeared with decayed flesh. Still, he comes for them, flailing his free arm wildly and snapping his exposed jaw toward them. All the while still holding onto Raven with his other arm.
It isn’t enough to stop him, but it is enough to free Raven.
With a final pull from Callie and Willow together and one final punch from Sam, Raven’s body slips through his grasp. Her belly scrapes over the edge and she uses her feet to scramble back onto solid ground. While she is tended to, Sam continues to pummel him while he clings to the rock wall now. From behind her, Sam hears a voice calling out to her. It’s like she’s gone to another place. She can hear someone calling her name, but all she can think about is smashing his fucking face in.
Finally, Sam snaps back to reality as Emily yells her name right next to her.
