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" FUCKING HAND SANITIZER?! "

alexa, play COME OVER (AGAIN) by crawlers
(towards the end, please play fourth of july by sufjan stevens. i will tell you when to begin playing said song)

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"God damnit!" Richie's voice was filled with undeniable frustration as Sidney fell to the ground with one hand on her fresh stab wound. Brielle, Sam, and I all went to help Sidney, and I noted that Gale was falling out of her chair. Under any other circumstances I would've laughed about that, but instead I felt a genuine pang of pity. I considered that to be my character development.

"Woah woah woah!" Richie was talking too much. "Hey, sit the fuck down! Get back!"

The only reason I listened to the son of a bitch was because of the gun that he obviously was not afraid to use. Slowly, all three of us backed up to our original positions spread along the counter. It gave me an immense amount of anxiety to not be able to help right now, but I needed to wait. My time would come, but if it didn't come soon, I would have to become an instigator of sorts.

"I am so sorry, Sidney." Richie said with a complete lack of empathy in his voice. "We can't let you live either. I mean, surviving this many times? It would just be ridiculous. This time the fans are gonna be the ones who win." A beat. "That about cover it?"

"Nailed it, baby." Amber's reply almost made me throw up.

"Get Tara out of the closet," Richie demanded as he and Amber rose up to their full heights, "we gotta go start staging the bodies!"

Amber walked out of the kitchen, and I was taking deep, steady breaths-or trying to, at least. Gale said something to Sidney that went along the basic, paraphrased lines of 'don't fucking die', and Richie stupidly decided it would be a solid move to talk again.

"You really should've listened to Dewey!" He reprimanded the lot of us, and I pushed myself off the counter again. "He nailed it in one, dude, look at the love interest! Are you fucking stupid? I even had you convinced it could be your sister."

"Um, she's not here!" Amber's voice sounded muffled, and Richie's face showed instant panic.

"The fuck do you mean she's not here?" He called out, trying to keep his tough guy act on the surface.

"She's not here!" Amber shouted again after closing a door.

"I untied her." Sam finally spoke up, and I found it difficult yet doable to keep my jaw from dropping. "Guess you're not as persuasive as you thought."

The landline rang, causing Richie, Brielle, and I to jump-everybody else seemed to be too injured or too expectant of the ringing. The second ring passed.

"That's for you." Sam cleared up the confusion.

Richie chuckled maliciously, "Yeah. You think your gimpy little sister's gonna make a difference? She's our fucking pin cushion at this point. Amber! Fan out, she couldn't have gone far!"

"I can't find her!" Amber shouted, this time sounding like she was on the same floor, and then we heard the thud of a body falling down. There were cries and grunts of pain, and it sounded like something was repeatedly hitting Amber-hopefully Amber was the one that fell, and not Tara.

"Amber?!" Richie took a step forward, and Sam charged towards him. The gun in his hand shot a bullet into the ceiling, and then a second one into the cabinets after she got him down to the ground. I couldn't see what exactly was happening, but I could hear a fight going on. Ten seconds later, Sam darted out of the kitchen, and Brielle-after exchanging a look of understanding with me-ran out after her. They would lure Richie out of the kitchen together, that way Sidney, Gale, and myself would have Amber all to ourselves.

Amber came into the kitchen once Richie pulled himself up and out; Sidney pulled the black haired (and black hearted) killer down to the ground by using the costume as leverage. The gun got kicked back into the left corner, closest to Gale. As Amber began to stand, I propped myself up on the counter, jumped up, and kicked her square in the face. I managed to keep my balance and initially land, although I stumbled backwards a bit and collided into Sidney. Amber grabbed a knife and began to charge towards both of us. "I'm gonna...fucking kill you!" She threatened; Gale grabbed the hand in which Amber held her knife.

Sidney grabbed a glass hand sanitizer dispenser off of the kitchen counter, and in a moment of understanding, I ducked down while she threw the hand sanitizer right into Amber's face. Amber let out a cry of pain, doubling over and holding her hands to her face.

"Fucking hand sanitizer!?" She questioned, then shoving Gale off of her. I quickly stepped in, grabbing Amber from behind and hoisting her up off the ground. Sidney grabbed her legs, and although it was a bit of a mutual struggle, we managed to throw her over the island counter. It was tremendously satisfying to watch her slam into the cabinets-and before anybody calls me a monster for saying that, let me remind you that she has killed both my father and my boyfriend, I think I can catch a break on feeling satisfied to see her in pain. We were cornering her now-Sidney to the left, myself in the middle, and Gale on the right.

"No, no, no, no, no, no," Amber began to plead, holding her hands out in front of herself, "it's not my fault-it's not my fault!"

"Let me guess, the movies made you do it?" Sidney questioned monotonously-she had gone through this far too many times to not expect what the killers would say.

"No, no, it was the message boards, I was radicalized!" Amber began to pull herself up into a standing position again; all of us were tense.

"By movie fans?" Gale scoffed, and Amber nodded.

"Yes, they're so mad," the fake tears were coming down, "please, it's not my fault! I'm just a dumb kid, I just wanted to be a part of something!"

"A part of something?" I repeated, raising my eyebrows in disgust and disbelief. "You killed my fuckin' father!"

"Yeah, and he died like a pussy." She hissed out, and the rage that filled my body was simply unmatched.

"He died like a pussy?" I went with the repeating tactic yet again, quickly seeing red. "You knew him your entire frigging life! He watched you grow up, for fuck's sake, you were my best friend, Amber! And you killed him for what, to make a good Stab movie? You're a coward, Amber. You're a fucking coward, and I would've never done this to you." I was right in her face, holding back tears. "I would've never fuckin' done this to you."

"Tatum." Gale's voice was my final trigger. I didn't hold back-I refused to hold back any longer. This bitch wanted to kill my father and get away with it? No. She kills my father, I kill her. That's how this thing is going to fucking work.

I grabbed her by the throat and slammed her against the counter, making sure she hit her head on the way down. Stunned and in pain, Amber fell to the ground, letting out another cry. Two seconds passed, and Amber kicked my legs out from underneath me. As one would presume, I fell down, rolling over on my side to try and get up, but one strong kick in my back had me seeing stars. I cried out when Amber kicked me; my vision became blurry; I halfway brought my knees to my chest and tried to focus on something else-on anything else, really.

I could hear a fight going on, and I could still hear Richie calling out for Brielle and Sam from another area in the house. There was a lot of commotion. I felt a foot on my leg, and five seconds later-if that-Sidney collapsed down onto the ground just three feet away from where I laid. I brought myself to prop up onto my elbows, and Sidney locked eyes with me. Everything came back into focus, and all the longest living final girl needed to do was nod.

"I was the last thing Dewey saw before he died too!" Amber was bragging to Gale, who she was currently strangling. "I can't believe I get to do you both!"

Her excitement made me see a blinding red.

"No last minute saves this time," Amber was too focused to realize that I was creeping up to stand behind her, but Gale took note of what I was doing. "Your story's over! Time to pass the torch!"

"It's all yours, bitch!" Gale finally fought back, headbutting Amber and then kicking her in the gut with one of her heels. Amber flew back and fell into me; I grabbed her hair and smashed her head against the stove. I noticed the stove turning on, but instead of immediately using that to my advantage, I wrapped Amber up into a chokehold. Sidney and Gale helped one another stand up, and they both watched me with indiscernible expressions on their faces.

"No, no!" Amber was struggling to get her words out of her mouth. "Don't-don't, do...please, Tatum-I can-"

"What's a matter?" I hissed into her ear. "Cat got your tongue?"

Not giving her a chance to reply, I tossed her into the kitchen-stove area and stepped back, readily accepting the gun from Gale's hands. I looked at both of them, and they both gave me a half-smile. "For Dewey," Gale said, and with that, we all turned to face Amber again; I raised the gun to point it right at her head.

"I'm introducing a new rule, Amber." I began, and she shook her head.

"No, no, stop, stop, stop, stop!" She held her hands out to plea again, and I couldn't help but note how stunning her hair looked. "Look, I'm sorry about Dewey!"

"Don't fuck with a legacy kid."

One shot into her chest. Two shots into both of her shoulders. Her blood splattered onto my face. I didn't have the time to shoot her in the head, but honestly, something much worse than a shot in the head came to her. Amber Freeman fell onto the burning stove, and she caught on fire. Yes, Amber, fucking hand sanitizer. It's flammable. She let out screams and cries of agony, twisting and twirling around like some sort of delusional ballerina. But that misery only lasted a couple of seconds; Amber Freeman's burning body collapsed to the ground, now laying completely still.

"Enjoy that torch," Sidney's voice was like a whisper, but at the same time, it was at the exact same level as it normally was.

I could feel the adrenaline wearing down, and finally let myself relax. She was dead, and from the noises we've been hearing from the main entrance of the house, I could tell that Richie was dead as well. My eyelids felt like bricks, bricks that I couldn't possibly lift up. Sure, I once had the strength to do so, but that strength was long gone. Gale and Sidney seemed to be aware of this, and they both took it upon themselves to support me into the main entrance. Sam and Brielle stood over Richie's dead body; they both looked relieved to see the three of us.

(AYO!! MID-CHAPTER AUTHOR'S NOTE: please start playing fourth of july by sufjan stevens...right now, for maximum depression)

"Oh my gosh," Brielle breathed out, limping over and gently taking me out of Sidney and Gale's arms in order to wrap me in a hug. I instantly melted into the hug, and as one final gunshot was heard from Sam shooting Richie, we ignored it. It was only us right now-if it was anyone else, it would be too much. Now, this isn't at all insinuating a romance (in fact, I don't think I'll ever be able to love again), but it showed how much we needed one another.

"I'm so sorry, Tatum..." she mumbled, and I shook my head, pulling back.

"It's not your fault." I reassured her with a soft smile before looking to and limping over to where Laina had been for probably the past half hour. "Laina? Laina, can you hear me?"

Her previously closed eyes now fluttered open, and both Brielle and I let out a laugh of relief. The sisters embraced one another, and I found myself leaning against the wall, taking deep breaths. Time passed-I don't know how much time passed, but alas, time did pass. My eyes would eventually squeeze shut, only to be pried open by a paramedic. Somehow, I wound up being wheeled out on a gurney. They kept on saying things about my vitals, and about possible nerve damage, and other doctor-y things that I couldn't comprehend. Sidney and Gale stepped into the back of the ambulance with me, and five seconds later, Sam climbed into the ambulance as well, which left me a bit shocked.

"Hey, Tatum, uh..." She gave my hand a gentle squeeze. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about all of this. You didn't deserve to lose them, and um...yeah, I'm sorry." She pressed her lips into a sad smile. "But thank you for being a badass."

"I learned it from the best," I laughed, and Sam made a funny face. "Go, alright? Leave me alone, I'll be fine. Go and be with your sister. I'll be okay. Promise."

"As long as you promise." And with those words, Sam walked out of the ambulance and back over to where her sister was-which was simply in another ambulance. As my ambulance began to drive away after about ten more minutes, Sidney readjusted her position and clasped my hand with both of hers. She took a deep breath in and out, and then did her best to smile.

"He wrote you a letter, Tatum."

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holy shit. i just finished my first book on this account, and all i can say is...wow. i'll be writing a full author's note, but in the meantime, i just want to thank every single one of you. without you guys reading and commenting on nttd, i would be nowhere at all. thank you so much, every last one of you (even you silent readers)

you guys get to find out about dewey's letter in scream 6 <333

and don't fear, tatum will be returning!!!

special shoutout to lily, cupid, cassie ann, nyx, robyn, and spencer for sticking by my side through thick and thin

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO I BOTH DID AND DID NOT NAME!!!

ilysm, and until the next scream movie <3