t h i r t e e n

___________

SAM, now not only betrayed but also confused by the revelation, asks, "How did you know?"

"About your father? It's a small town and your mom's a drunk! I met Richie on the Stab subreddit. I've been obsessed ever since my parents bought this house. We realized pretty quickly we had similar ideas."

"Wasn't that hard for me to find you in Modesto. Wasn't that hard for me to fuck you either. But I guess being a sexually available woman is supposed to be empowering these days."

"Fuck you!"

"Well, now you're just quoting the original."

"But it wouldn't work with just you, Sam. We owe a lot to Alex, Eli, and Jamie, actually. Where they go, the legacy characters follow. All to protect poor Jen's naive little babies. I mean, did they really think they'd get to live normal lives?" Amber scoffs.

"Have to hand it to that Alex, though. She's smart. But not smart enough," he chuckles.

"At least she'll finally be reunited with her mommy," Amber pouts.

"That's no way to talk about our star," Richie jokes.

"Stars die out, remember? I mean, look at Dewey," she grins. "He had to die to make it real. To show that this wasn't some bullshit, cash-in run-of-the-mill sequel. Because our movie has fucking stakes. Because anyone can die in a requel."

As she steps back to dramatically say the end, Sidney lunges for the knife on the counter, only to get Amber's in her side.

"No!"

"God damnit! I'm so sorry, Sid, but we can't let you live either. I mean surviving this many times, that would just be ridiculous. This time the fans are gonna be the ones who win. That about cover it?" he turns to his "girlfriend."

"Nailed it, baby," Amber swoons.

"Alright, get Tara out of the closet. We gotta start staging the bodies!"

"Come on, Sid," Alex listens as Amber stalks up the stairs, shocked to not find Tara there.

"You really should've listened to Dewey. He got it in one, come on, 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 furrows her eyebrows.

"What the fuck do you mean, she's not here?"

"Tara's not here!"

"I untied her. Guess you're not as persuasive as you thought," Sam smugly responds, just as the phone starts ringing. "That's for you."

"Right, like your gimpy little sister's gonna make a difference. She's our fucking pincushion at this point. Amber, fan out, she couldn't have gone far!"

As Amber enters the living room entryway, Tara hits her with her crutch.

Alex pops out of the closet right after, lodging her knife into Amber's back, which makes her drop to the ground in pain.

"Ah!"

"You were saying?" Alex pulls the knife out with just as much vitriol as Amber had earlier.

Tara takes this time to hit her with the crutch a few more times, which works until she hits her broken ankle, pushing her into the wall.

Alex doesn't let her do much damage, wrapping her arms around her neck, and pulling her away from a coughing Tara.

They wrestle shortly, Alex ending up on top, which allows her to hold the knife up, prepared to stab when Amber jabs at her wound, making her cry out.

The knife clatters to the floor, the noise basically the soundtrack to Alex's nightmare as she tries to reach for it in time.

Just as she gets close enough to grab it, Amber pulls her hair, snatching the knife right out of her hands.

"Nice try," she chuckles, dragging her into the kitchen with Sidney and Gale.

Alex tries to fight, to no avail, but luckily for her, Sidney tackles Amber as soon as she enters the room, making her drop the brunette, the knife, and the gun.

"Ah," Alex groans, hip burning from the impact.

"Gonna fucking kill you!" Amber tries to attack her with the stray knife on the counter, but Gale holds her back, letting Sidney bash a vase of hand sanitizer in her face.

"Fucking hand sanitizer?" she gasps, too distracted to stop the two from tossing her over the counter.

Alex weakly comes to stand with them, leering over the psychotic girl as she pleads for mercy.

"No, no, no, it's not my fault! It's not my fault!"

"Let me guess, the movies made you do it?" Sidney mocks.

"No, it was the message boards! I was radicalized."

"By movie fans?"

"Please grow a spine," Alex sneers.

"You don't get it, they're so mad. Please, it's not my fault. I'm just a dumb kid. I just wanted to be a part of something," she grasps at straws.

"A part of something?" Gale tilts her head. "You killed my best friend!"

"Yeah, and he died like a pussy."

Gale, now fed up with the disrespect, socks Amber in the jaw, reaching out to choke her when she jabs at her gunshot wound, pushing her into the fridge.

Sidney tries to grab her, but she steps back hard, knocking the woman onto the countertop.

The black-haired girl then turns to Alex with a taunting smile. "Your turn?"

"Fuck you, Amber," she eyes her from across the island.

"Do me a favor, tell Jamie she's almost as naive as her mother was," she continues to taunt, successfully riling Alex up. "I had her in the palm of my hand, I mean, Jesus, Alex."

"Shut the fuck up, Amber," she shouts, hitting her across the face with the knife block.

She stumbles only for a moment, only made worse by Alex grabbing her and pushing her to the ground.

All she can see is red as she chokes the murderer out, not noticing the silver poking out from under the counter.

Amber does, though, stabbing her in the same spot that was already bleeding out. "You just don't give up, do you?"

She triumphantly stands, watching as she poorly attempts to crawl away. Just before she can finish her off, Gale pulls hard on her leg, making her land face-first on the wood.

"Not so fucking fast."

This pisses her off, eliciting her to wrap her hands around Gale's neck, stealing her breath away with each passing second.

"I was the last thing Dewey saw before he died, too. I can't believe I get to do you both!" she squeals. "No last-minute saves this time. Your story's over! Time to pass the torch."

"It's all yours, bitch!" Gale headbutts her, kicking her with her stiletto right into the stove.

In an attempt to keep her balance, she accidentally switches the flame on.

"You wanna do the honors?" Gale turns to Sidney, who holds the gun up.

"This one's yours," she passes it off, both women standing up.

"No, stop, stop stop, stop. I'm sorry about Dewey."

"Fuck you," Gale shakes her head, shooting her three times.

To (literally) add fuel to the fire, Amber's alcohol-covered face lands on the stove, setting her aflame.

Alex scoots back at the commotion, eyes wide as she watches her burn.

"Alex, hon, are you okay?" Sidney rushes over to help her up.

"I'm fine," she shakes her head. "Are you guys okay?"

"Alexandra, you really need to learn to worry about yourself," Gale chuckles, pulling her in for a hug.

"Thanks for saving me," Alex glances up at her, squeezing them both for dear life.

"Let's not make it a habit," the reporter jokes.

"It's not over yet, come on," Sidney nods out the door, hearing the commotion between Sam and Richie.

"Oh, my God Sam," Alex tries to rush out, immediately stumbling as the weight of her injuries finally comes down on her.

"Easy, tiger. I don't think she needs the help," Gale points to Richie's heavily stabbed body.

They slowly walk over as the girl drops her knife.

"Careful, they always come back."

"Somehow I don't think that'll be a problem," Alex remarks, leaning against the wall.

Sam takes the gun anyway, shooting him three times to really make sure he is down.

Some would call it overkill, right now, Alex called it justice.

Just as they think everything's fine, a now fried Amber comes screaming with a knife, quickly taken out by two shots to the head.

Turning to see the source, Alex breaks into a grin at the sight of Tara and Jamie holding up their guns, anger in their eyes.

"I still prefer the Babadook," Tara comments.

"Bitch," Jamie adds, running over to her sister with tearful eyes.

"You're okay?" Alex cries. "I thought you... I thought you were dead."

"I know, I'm sorry. I should have listened-"

"Jamie, stop," Alex shakes her head. "No, I told you so. I'm just glad you're okay," she wraps her in a tight hug. "Nice aim."

"Shut up," she chuckles, before wincing. "Oh, it hurts to laugh."

Sidney smiles as she watches the girls, mind unconsciously wandering to when Jen and she were in this exact spot, holding onto each other for dear life after killing Billy.

Funny how history repeats itself.

It was odd to do this for the first time without her. Almost felt like they were missing something. Gale felt it too, a faint hole where Jen should be making a snarky remark.

The sirens come shortly after, EMTs flooding the home as they load everyone onto ambulances.

One helps Alex, wrapping her abdomen to hold her off until they get to the hospital. "You're very lucky. Any further to the left and you wouldn't be here right now."

"Yeah, I'm not feeling all that lucky right now," she grimaces, saddened by the thought of her friends' deaths.

At least she still had her family.

That thought dissipates at the sight of Chad and Mindy being loaded onto ambulances as well.

"On second thought, you might be right," she smiles softly, lying back on the stretcher.

Meanwhile, Jamie was just ready to get the fuck out of here. "Can you believe I made out with a serial killer? I'm a living cliche."

"Ma'am, please stop talking."

She completely ignores him, continuing to blabber on. "You know what they say about becoming your mother. Yeah, I take that to a whole new level."

"Jamie, you're giving me a headache," Alex sighs.

"Which one of us got their head bashed like three times? My head is killing me."

"Ma'am can you look at the light?" he shines it in her eyes, concerned by her delayed reaction time.

"Why'd you wince?"

"Can you state the date and time?"

"Sunday, September 19, I think. It's past midnight, right?"

"Jamie, Alex, hey," Sidney and Gale walk over. "You doing okay?"

"We've had better days," Alex grins. "Are you?"

"We've had worse. We called Ross, he's having Eli transferred to the hospital you're going to. We'll be right behind you."

"Okay. Is he mad?"

"Or disappointed?"

"The opposite. He's proud," Sidney assures. "And girls? Your mother would be proud, too."

With that, they walk away, leaving the sisters with a newfound warmth to replace the guilt and regret from this disastrous weekend.

A WEEK LATER

"Alright, is everyone ready to go home?" Ross looks at the bags in his hands, practically twitching to get back to OC.

"Yes, please," Alex sighs, wincing as she picks up her bag.

"You're gonna pull your stitches," Eli rolls his eyes, grabbing her and Jamie's bags.

"Yeah, and what about yours?" Jamie frowns.

"I'm just fine," he gives a sarcastic thumbs up. "Dad, can we stop on the way?"

"Stop where?"

"I have a... favor to return," he reaches into his pocket, feeling for the note Tara had left for him the night of the party.

Truthfully, he was shocked to receive anything besides an insult from her, let alone the gratitude she'd expressed.

To Elijah,

Do not think this is me waving the white flag. You're still a dick. Remember that. But you happened to have come to my rescue (ew) a couple of times, so thank you.

I guess I might've been wrong about you.

Anyway, don't let this blow your ego any bigger than it already is, but I guess I owe you one now.

- Tara

P.S. You're still my least favorite Roberts.

"Can you speak like a regular person just this once?" Jamie chuckles.

"It's none of your business. Dad, I'll be right behind you guys."

"You don't want to take your sisters?"

"Fine, come on," he mocks in annoyance, but deep down they could tell he was more than happy to spend time with them.

____

Three knocks at Tara's door are quickly followed by the girl opening it with a frown.

"Elijah? I thought you guys were leaving today, Chad keeps sending sad faces in the group chat."

"Yeah, I noticed. We are, I just wanted to talk to you before I go," he shrugs.

Oddly enough, he looked nervous, which was something she'd never seen him as in her life. In fact, he was typically too sure of himself.

"Yeah, come in," she opens the door, closing it behind them.

"Damnit, they went inside," Alex shakes her head, the door ruining their stakeout from the Jeep.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Jamie questions.

"Who knows? Maybe the murders inspired a peace treaty," she chuckles. "What about you? You doing okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Feel like an idiot, but that's not super new," she attempts to joke but sighs at Alex's sympathetic frown. "I'm alright, Lex."

"I'm sorry for yelling at you about the drugs. And Amber. And basically everything you do," she looks down. "I can be a bitch sometimes."

"It's because you care. You keep this family afloat," she chuckles.

"Still, I could be less harsh. I will be."

"Come here," Jamie engulfs her in a big hug, laughing at her noise of discomfort.

"Olay, that's enough," she chuckles.

"Love you too."

____

"So what's up?" Tara awkwardly fidgets from across the room.

"Are you okay?" Eli questions. "Your injuries seemed pretty bad."

"Yeah, I'm alright. Just gotta keep the boot for a while. It's more of a fashion crime than anything."

"You sure? I think this is the best you've ever looked."

"Oh, yeah," she chuckles, tossing a pillow at him. "Are you?"

"Fine. So about the note..."

"Erase it from your memory. It was a moment of weakness."

"Unfortunately, I have a photographic memory so I physically cannot. I just wanted to let you know you don't owe me anything. I'm just glad you're alright," he assures.

"You came all the way here for that?"

"I don't like texting, in case you haven't noticed."

"Well, thank you," she fights a grin. "Anything else?"

"Nope," he shrugs, casting a silence over them. "Well, I should g-"

"Why'd you do it? Help me. You hate me."

"Do I?" he raises an eyebrow with a smirk.

"You tell me."

"What happened this weekend was about my family legacy or whatever bullshit they were saying. I didn't think you deserved to be the collateral of that, that's all."

"Alright, what's the catch? You're being nice."

"I'm not nice, you know that," he scrunches his face up.

"Exactly."

"No catch, Tara. Take care," he walks out of the house, jogging to the car and finally letting out the breath he'd been holding.

As she gets in, ignoring his sisters' expectant looks, he tries not to ponder why he'd been so nervous in the first place. And why was he being nice? He hates Tara. Right?

"What's up with you?" Alex questions.

"Nothing, music, quickly," he waves her off.

"Nice to know nearly getting murdered hasn't changed you a bit," she retorts.

"Still the biggest jerk around."

"And you two are still unbelievably nosy, would you look at that?"

"Admit it, you were scared for us."

"No, I'm not doing the sappy thing."

"Fine. We're glad you're okay, Eli. And we love you too," Jamie sighs.

He glances over at their warm smiles, fondly rolling his eyes. "Come on, let's get the hell out of here."

"I second that."

"Third. Bye-bye, Woodsboro. Thanks for nothing," Jamie waves as they pass the welcome sign.

The ride home is much quieter than the first, filled with three overthinking, newly traumatized minds.

One thing they could all agree on though, was that their mom was at peace. Time for them to be, too.

_____

a/n: anddddd there she is! expect another chapter to fill the gaps between this and 6 coming soon. also heads up i will be writing for scream 6 but i'm making my own version of scream 7 (fuck spyglass 🍉). hope you guys enjoy so far and can't wait to continue!!

mwah <3