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It was funny, you know?
Richie actually thought that he had any part in this plan.
Contrary to what everyone thought? There weren’t two killers. There were three.
Richie was one of them.
But he had broken the trust of the other two killers.
He had attacked Tara Carpenter.
So, he had to die.
It was why Amber had gone after him in the hospital, after he had gone after Tara again and had killed the guard watching her.
She had dressed as Ghostface and had sliced him up, while Tara tried to flee in her wheelchair.
Amber left before Sam and Dewey got out of the wheelchair and got into the hallway.
Sam had stalled Dewey and before she and Richie sought Dewey out, Amber had asked Sam what exactly they should do, should they have Dewey at their mercy.
Both Amber and Richie wanted to kill Dewey, seeing it as a notch in their belt, but Sam didn’t allow it.
She said, her exact words being, “No, Dewey isn’t our main prerogative. We’ll deal with him later. Besides, if we actually kill him, do we want Sidney Prescott and Gale Weathers to be after our lives if we actually succeed in killing him?”
That shut both Amber and Richie up.
All this might have been Richie’s plan, but Sam tended to call the shots.
It wasn’t just because she was the daughter of one of the original Ghostface killers, Billy Loomis.
It was because she seemed to operate with solely common sense, as well as ruthlessness.
And when Richie had betrayed both Amber and Sam and had gone after Tara in her own home, stabbing her hand, breaking her leg, stabbing her in multiple places?
That had been the end for both Amber and Sam.
They had made it clear to Richie, he wasn’t to touch Tara.
But he had betrayed them. So, Amber had cut him apart in the hospital.
Then she had left, allowing Sam and Dewey to come out of the elevator several minutes later, and get Tara out of there.
Then there was the rest of the plan.
Sam had sent out a false call from an anonymous location, luring Dewey to that area, making him think that Ghostface was there. And while that happened?
Amber set up the party at her house, that used to belong to the Macher family. The plan was to kill the rest of the partygoers or as many as they could.
Make their film look better than the more recent films.
Amber was the one with the higher stake in all this. Sam did it because she wanted to make people pay for how they treated her family.
Amber also wanted to punish them for how they treated Tara because her mom was a drunk.
And if they could make a good movie out of it as well? Well, wasn’t that just gravy?
Tara’s extra inhaler went missing-not Sam or Amber’s fault-they would learn later on that Richie had snatched it at the hospital.
But it was too late.
Sam brought Tara to Amber’s house and Amber asked Tara what she was doing there and sent a look at Sam, angry.
Sam shook her head.
Neither of them liked the idea of Tara being caught in the crossfire. But here they were.
Sam gave an announcement, that she wanted everyone out, earning the ire of many of the partygoers.
It was a test though.
Sam and Amber knew that they couldn’t kill everyone at the party. There would be too many people.
But those that stayed? They’d be dead meat.
Amber had already attacked Chad. She had no idea if he was alive or not, but she had quickly bolted, when Sam had driven up to the house with Tara in the backseat.
Tara and Amber looked for the extra inhaler Tara had at Amber’s house, and Sam began making the preparations.
They both had decided what to do, should Tara get involved in the “big finale.”
They would bind Tara up in duct tape and put her somewhere safe.
And that was essentially what happened.
Amber shot Liv in the head, and everyone started running.
Tara gasped, grabbing Amber’s arms and trying to stop her from shooting people.
Unfortunately, Tara was weak after al her injuries and was tired, and even at her strongest, she still wasn’t as strong as Amber, so, Amber overpowered her easily.
It occurred to Tara, as Amber pocketed the gun and held Tara captive in her grasp and dragged her to the closet, grabbing some duct tape, that Amber could kill her at any time, right?
Amber could shoot her in the head, Amber could strangle her to death, Amber could stab her.
But Amber wasn’t doing that. So, why?
Tara struggled and was panicking, but that was the question that ran through her head, as Amber started tying Tara up with duct tape, using the gentlest of care as she handled Tara.
As Amber lowered Tara down to sit on the floor in the closet, Amber said softly to Tara, after she leaned down and kissed the crying girl’s forehead, “It’s going to be okay. You’ll be safe here. I promise you, Tara, I didn’t have anything to do with your injuries. I didn’t attack you at your house. Richie did. Sam and I had nothing to do with your broken leg or stab wounds.”
Tara stared at Amber.
Sam? What did Sam have to do with this?
Was Sam one of the-?
Tara watched Amber, not understanding.
Amber said softly then, “It’s gonna be okay, alright, baby? Sam and I will take care of everything. After everyone else is dead? Sam and I will look after you. We’re doing this for you. We’ll give you everything.”
Tara stared at Amber, not comprehending.
Amber smiled gently at Tara as she closed the door, ignoring Tara’s muffled pleas.
Tara remained there, hearing screams throughout the house, shaking in fear.
Then the door finally opened.
It was Sam. Tara’s heart jumped in relief. Amber had to have been lying. Sam wasn’t a part of this.
Sam kneeled down.
“Tara,” Sam said, smiling, holding a small kitchen knife in her hands as she began to cut through the duct tape binding Tara’s wrists together.
Tara’s eyes widened then, when she saw Amber appearing behind Sam.
“Sam!” Tara screamed, her voice muffled behind the strip of duct tape over her mouth.
Sam saw where Tara was looking and she glanced over her right shoulder at where Amber stood, with a bloody knife in her gloved right hand.
“Oh, Amber,” Sam said, smirking, “How good of you to join us.”
Tara’s heart froze.
No.
Amber snickered as she said, “All finished. Now, we just have to wait till Christina Carpenter gets here. I’ll stage an accident while the two of you are somewhere public, where there are plenty of witnesses, and Tara will get whatever money Christina has. Then my mom will take us wherever we want to go.”
Tara shook, not understanding.
Sam had been a part of this, the whole?
Tara whimpered, causing Sam to look down at her.
“Tara,” Sam said, her voice soothing, “It’s okay. We’ll just take care of you, okay? Let us.”
Tara still shook, tears falling by the second. This couldn’t be happening.
Her sister couldn’t be…………
Sam said her voice somehow softer than before, “Tara, I abandoned you. I’m so sorry for that. But now? I’ll make sure no one hurts you again. We never planned for Richie to do what he did. He did it without our permission or awareness. He was the one that attacked you and we didn’t want him to. So, Amber killed him. I’ll make Christina suffer for every hurting you. There’s no need to be afraid. We’re doing this for you.”
Sam cut open the tape around Tara’s wrists and reached out, pulling the duct tape off of Tara’s face.
Tara gasped when her mouth was finally freed.
She whispered, staring at the two murderers, “How could you do this?”
“Easily,” Amber said, grinning, “With great pleasure.”
Sam said quickly, before Tara got more upset at Amber’s comment, “Because we’re trying to protect you. We just love you, Tara. That’s all. All this was for you.”
Tara felt a stone fall to her stomach.
When Sam and Richie had entered her hospital room and had greeted Amber-that…………that had all been an act?!
“What are you going to do?” She asked helplessly.
“Like we said,” Amber answered, “Take care of you.”
Sam reached inside and gently guided Tara up off of the floor. Tara whimpered as Amber and Sam held her between them, carefully guiding her through the house, to the door.
Amber peered out the window, making sure no one was outside, then she opened the door and she and Sam, both with gloved hands, carried Tara to the car.
They were both handling her gently, and didn't that make it worse? Tara almost preferred that they would be harsh with her, not treat her as if she were the most precious person in the world to them. It would somehow make this just a little less horrifying.
Sam said to Tara, “Don’t worry. Your crutches and inhalers on the car. We put them there after taking care of everything else.”
Tara cried.
That wasn’t what she was upset about.
But she had no way of getting away. Not now. And she knew it.
Amber gently kissed her throat as she said, “It’s gonna be okay, baby. We’ll take care of everything. Wherever you want to go, we’ll go. We won’t keep you from having friends, okay? We just had to get rid of a few assholes that treated you like the town pariah.”
Anything Amber or Sam had to say, was lost on Tara. She just couldn’t deal with it.
Sam opened the backdoor of the car, allowing Amber to pull Tara inside and placing her down onto the seat and putting the seatbelt on over her. Sam closed the door and went to the front seat of the car and started the car up.
Tara cried as Amber held her and soothed her.
She was trapped. And she knew it.