Sam and Colby: The House

41

Colby ran for a couple minutes, ducking away from low hanging tree branches and jumping over stray rocks and short bushes.

"COLBY!" I heard Corey call out.

"NESSA! COLBY! GET OVER HERE!" Jake yelled.

"WE'RE COMING!" I screamed out, hoping it was loud enough for them to hear us.

"KEEP TALKING!" screamed Colby. He had slowed down, not knowing which direction to go in anymore.

"IN THE TRAPHOUSE!" yelled Jake.

"GETTING BLACKED OUT!" yelled Corey. Jake and Corey went back and forth screaming the Traphouse anthem. Every time one of them spoke, I prayed that it would be Sam's voice we'd hear next. But we had no such luck, no way to know if Sam was okay.

It took several more minutes of Colby running, carrying me on his back, until finally we could see Corey's bright red hoodie through the trees.

"Thank fuck," Colby breathed. He dropped me onto the ground and sprinted over to the guys so he could get there faster, knowing that I would be able to get there safely on my own. "Where is he? Where's Sam?"

"Down here," I heard Sam groan. Oh, thank god. He was okay. Well, okay enough to talk. His voice sounded strained though, like he was in pain. I finally got over to all of the guys, seeing three of them, but no Sam.

"Where—oh!" I said. I looked down at what all of the guys were staring at. There was a giant pit in the ground, seven or eight feet down. Inside of it was the car just like I'd thought, Sam sprawled out on the hood of it covered in leaves and branches, blood pooling out from under him.

"I'm going down there," Colby said. He shoved his camera against Jake's chest and leaped down before I could stop him. I was terrified Colby was going to get hurt too, but he landed on his feet on the top of the car, a loud metal clunk echoing out as he landed, denting the car's roof under him. Colby ran over to Sam, swiping away all of the nature debris that was on top of him.

"What happened?" I asked, looking up at Corey and Jake.

"Gein used the oldest trick in the book," said Jake.

"He covered this giant ass pit with branches and shit and Sam walked on it and fell in," said Corey.

"Shit," I whispered. I looked back down to see Colby roll Sam over onto his side.

"Oh, God," Corey whispered. Sam's tan NEVER hoodie was dark red on its backside, blood seeping through the thick fabric, more blood running and dripping down the hood of the car.

Colby peeled back Sam's hoodie and pulled it up to expose his back so we could see what was causing all of the blood.

There was a short branch, only a couple inches long, sticking out of Sam's lower back. It must have punctured him when he fell and stabbed him.

"Oh no," I whispered. "Colby, how far away is that from his spine?" I called down.

"I don't fucking know!" Colby yelled.

"Well figure it the fuck out! This is really important!" I yelled back.

"I don't know, like, three or four inches?" Colby called up.

"Thank fuck, oh my god," I said, placing my hand over my racing heart in relief.

"Thank fuck? Dude's bleeding out on the hood of Ed Gein's god damn car!" said Jake.

"Not helpful!" said Corey.

"If it punctured his abdominal aorta, he would be bleeding out. Or paralyzed. And most likely probably already dead. But if he's three inches away, he'll be okay. It might have nicked the artery, but as long as it didn't tear or puncture it, he should be okay," I explained.

"Well take the damn stick out," said Jake.

"NO!" I screamed. "Don't! The stick is plugging the wound, if you take it out then he will bleed out. Don't move it, don't touch it, don't let anything move it. Take off his hoodie," I said.

"Okay, okay," Colby said. He tried to pull Sam and sit him up, but it was hard when Colby couldn't lean Sam's back against anything. "Help, please," Colby said, his voice laced with desperation.

"Here," Jake said, handing me his camera. Jake jumped down onto the roof of the car as well, then lunged over to Sam and held him under his armpits while Colby took off Sam's shirt and hoodie.

"Okay, here, lift him up and Ness and I can pull him up," Corey said. I set down the camera and we both kneeled down by the edge of the pit closest to the roof of the car which was the highest point closest to us. Colby and Jake struggled to lift Sam up. Sam had lost a lot of blood, but the bleeding was slowing drastically. It'd stop bleeding soon, leaving Sam a little woozy. He definitely shouldn't walk. Jake set Sam's hands into mine and Corey's and we both heaved Sam up. I was glad it was Sam of all people that we had to lift up, he was easily the lightest of us other than me.

We pulled him out and then waited for Jake and Colby to carefully climb out. Jake and Corey helped position Sam on Colby's back, but Sam had passed out and couldn't hold onto Colby.

"Here," I said. I grabbed Sam's hoodie and rolled it up, then tied the sleeves around Colby's chest while the rest of it was wrapped around Sam's upper back, too far away for it to touch the branch. I used Sam's shirt to reinforce the hoodie's sleeve knot, then buckled Corey's fanny pack around it as well for good measure.

"Okay, let's go. We know the basic route back and we'll be able to run for part of it, so we should be able to make it back in an hour or two. If we don't touch the branch and call an ambulance as soon as we get to somewhere that it can drive to, he should be okay," I said. "If he starts bleeding again, stop what you're doing and we'll figure something else out, alright?"

"Okay, I'm going to run," Colby said.

"I'll stay back with Nessa," said Corey. "No offense, we just can't run as fast as they can."

"No, go ahead, Colby. Jake, go with him in case he needs help carrying Sam. Go. And make sure your phone volumes are turned up," I said.

"You got it," Jake said. He stooped down and grabbed one of the cameras, then took off next to Colby. Corey and I watched them disappear into the oncoming darkness.

I turned to look down at the car in the pit.

"Well, there's that. Let's go," I said. "Remind us to tell a cop or something that we found the car and that it's Sam's blood on it and let them know what happened."

"Are we going to get a trespassing charge?" asked Corey.

"Not if there's suddenly no sign or padlock on the gate saying that this area past the cemetery is closed. We'll take it when we make it back to the gate," I said.

"Okay, yeah. Let's go, then," Corey said. We started jogging after Colby and Jake, following the trail of compacted leaves and snapped branches that had been pronounced under the body weight of Colby and Jake running. We'd been running for only about a minute when I stopped.

"What?" Corey asked.

"I forgot the fucking camera. Hold on, I'll be right back," I said.

"No, don't go alone!" Corey called after me.

"I'll just be a second!" I yelled back to him.