Author's Notes: Hey there again! Thanks for coming here to read my first chapter :) My writing skills are 'meh'. I hope you find this ok... thanks! :)

Until the End

Chapter 1: Blackwood is Changing

Sam looked curiously at the morning edition of 'The Daily Press' and stroked her moist lips with her thumb thoughtfully. The bus rattled along a narrow road and the ill-lighted carriage was filled with seven people, all silent. The atmosphere was hard to not notice. It was solemn and no one spoke. Sam inhaled sharply when she saw a familiar page which her eyes had ran across countless times. There was a picture of a caged creature, grasping the iron bars. It's milky white eyes looked sightless, however Same knew how sharp it's eyesight was. It's long fangs were framed by bloody and ghostly white skin. It was a wendigo, and was trapped by a group of soldiers who went to investigate the mines that were hidden beneath Blackwood Mountain. The girl on Sam's left, Ashley, leaned over and put her arm around Sam.

"It's ok. We won't be alone. We are here together and we are going to see the wendigo." Ashley whispered, loud enough for only Sam to hear. Sam sighed and replied quietly, "I don't know. It's weird. I never dreamt of going back to those blasted mountains. And guess what? Here we are, all seven of us, coming here just like three months ago. What the hell... And Josh. Well, he's been missing and for all we know he could be all wendigo already too."

Ashley's eyes flashed. Sam knew that her good friend was traumatised by the 'game' that Josh played, and that she would probably never forgive the long lost dark haired man. She smiled forcefully and merely said, "Don't worry."

Sam nodded gratefully, though in the inside, she was not comforted by Ashley's words. However much she worried about Josh, she needed to focus on their trip. They weren't there just because they wanted to. They were there because they received an invite to go to the mountains. The researchers who were studying at the mountain (with the help of armed soldiers), managed to capture a wendigo found in the mines. In the article, the only information about the condition of the wendigo was that it was under observation and the researchers were taking samples of it's blood or urine, in order to identify the wendigo. The way the article phrased it, made the investigation sound fruitless. Ashley and Chris had decided on keeping the many journals that the 'flame-thrower-guy' had written and left in the basement of the lodge where Josh and his long-dead sisters grew up in. Sam remembered clearly, the look on Mr and Mrs Washington's face when they were contacted over the destruction of the lodge and the confirmed death of their missing daughters, Hannah and Beth. However, whether Josh was alive or not, transformed or not, was completely unknown. Chris glanced over at the pair of them and asked with thick concern in his voice, "Are you guys ok?"

"There has been better days." Ashley replied glumly.

"Hey there lemon face," Chris teased, "This is pretty cool! I mean, I can't wait to check this thing out! We got fifty million soldiers patrolling the mountain and this wendigo is in a cage. This is way better than running for your life from those disgusting excuses for living things."

Sam smiled weakly then pointed out, "But remember the last time we assisted them with searching through the mines? We found that flame-thrower-guy all mauled and sprawled across some rock. You have seen what they do."

Sam felt Ashley shudder beside her. They certainly wanted to stay at the cable-car station where the research tents were set up. The research tents were located at the cable-car station, where the wendigo was shipped in on a cable-car just to be taken into a high security tent by some jittery scientists. Sam and the rest had already met the lead researcher, Dr Mabel, and the rest of her crew. They all seemed unaware of what they had brought into their little research hut. Sam remembers Mike warning them consistently and always keeping a distance from the cage which caged a horror waiting to be unleashed. The even worst thing was, the research party basically transported the wendigo across the mountain, to the other side. Thankfully, the wendigo was caged in the middle of many high security chambers, where there would be checkpoints where security guards would check your identification and check if you had any criminal record. However, Sam and the rest were already notified and were considered 'Regular Visitors'.

"No matter what comes out of your mouth Chris, I don't like this." Emily whined from the front of the bus. She was peering out a window and gazing at misty snowy mountains lying ahead of them, interrupting the endless pine forest. Sam couldn't help but nod her head in agreement.

"Well we already signed the papers so can everyone shut up?" Jessica demanded from where she was snuggling up with Mike. Sam pursed her lips and channeled her concentration back onto the newspaper article.

"It says here that they have put a tag on another wendigo found deep within the mines. It escaped but they know its movements." Sam declared. Ashley removed her arm from around Sam's shoulders and peered at the article for a better look. Finally, Matt said, "That sounds great. I just wished that they killed it."

"What if it is Hannah or something? I mean, they could check for a tattoo." suggested Jessica.

"A wendigo is a wendigo Jess. There is no way that we can change it back to a human being." Mike said ignorantly and uncrossed his legs, continuing to gaze out the cloudy window. Sam shuddered and wondered if it was true. After almost an hour, the group had arrived at the cablecar station. There were many police officers stationed along the way and a lot more lamps to light the way. They arrived at an old gate, which was closed with many locks wrapped around the handles. There was a small stand set up, where five busty looking soldiers were standing. One of them, a brilliant redhead banged his fist on the door of the bus. The 'bus driver', a young police man, swung open the door and handed the soldier many documents, which had the identifications of all the passengers. The redhead called over a taller soldier who handed him a chop which said: OFFICIAL in capital letters. The redhead stamped all the documents then signalled for the tall soldier to open the gates, in which he did, then the bus chugged along. After another five minutes passed by, the group arrived finally. There were many well-lit tents that were situated in the area. Soldiers and policemen milled around, some standing outside large white coloured tents and others patrolling the area or being sent out to scout the surrounding forest.

"Hey look there. Another batch coming to this hell hole." Emily sneered, pointed at a cable-car sliding down a metal wire, towards the station.

"The researchers will meet you in the main tent." The policeman said in a thick american accent. He lead the group to the 'main tent' and they entered, after more document stamping. Dr Mabel greeted them with a brilliant smile. As usual, dark crimson red lipstick was smeared across her lips and her clear skin glowed in the brightly lit room.

"It is so great to see you all again. I am so glad you came." she beamed, and took off her bloody rubber gloves to shake their hands. Her palm was cold and clammy and Sam quickly withdrew her hand but continued smiling.

"We are glad to be here too Mabel." Matt told the researcher, speaking for all of them or at least himself. Emily turned around to roll her eyes and then demanded, "We are here for one week and I don't see any hotel."

Dr Mabel's smile broadened and she said, "Don't worry about that. We built dorms for the soldiers and our researchers who were staying here for work. You guys actually passed it on the way here. It is pretty hidden. But don't worry. It's nice and safe there. You all will have you own view of the mountain and I guarantee that you will be just fine. As for food, that is in the dorms too."

Sam nodded and then took a look around the tent. There were many clusters of researchers huddling around computers and some bending over microscopes while on large sized man scribbled on a clipboard behind Dr Mabel.

"Ah, let me introduce you to my executive head researcher, Dr Brown. He will be bringing all of you around this place." Dr Mabel said and introduced them to the large sized man.

"What about the wendigo?" Mike asked.

"For now, it is under research, so you will not be allowed in. Tomorrow though, you have an appointment here. Don't worry, Dr Brown will hand all of you your schedules. We encourage you to go on to the other side in your free time. The Washingtons are planning on rebuilding the lodge so that we can accommodate the soldiers on the other side. I am sure you should take a look over there." Dr Mabel said cheerfully.

Sam felt slightly uncertain by this yet she didn't speak. She checked her watch. It was 9.50 and her eyes were slightly droopy. She rubbed them in the attempt to stay alert but only became more tired.

"Can we perhaps take a look around right now?" Ashley asked tentatively.

"Of course. By 10.40 could I ask for all of you to gather back here so you can be assigned to you dorm rooms." Dr Mabel said and added, "I need to go, but I will see all of you tomorrow morning. Have a good rest!"

Dr Brown passed out large woolly coats to all of them, each with personalised name tags so that they could have entry to any tents without being stopped. Sam first wandered around the main tent. She stopped by a short brunette who was wearing a lab coat and surveying a computer which was showing a video. After a closer look, Sam realised it was being recorded currently by a security camera in the centre chamber. Sam watched in horror as she saw the grainy form of a wendigo clinging to iron bars, and researchers taking videos and trying to wait for it to be still while they aimes their sleeping darts at it's stomach.

"May I ask what they are planning to do?" Sam asked.

"Oh hi there Ms Samantha!" the brunette yelped in surprise and immediately straightened her back, "They are err... trying to get it to go to sleep so they can take more blood samples from it. When you are visiting tomorrow, it will be asleep then too."

"Aren't you worried about it? It is a living thing and I don't know... looks like it is being put to sleep a lot."

The brunette looked at her in surprise, "You are worried about the wendigo. But you shouldn't. It's being well taken care of. We are giving it deer flesh everyday to eat and there is a basin of water too in the cage. She pointed her finger to a basin of water with a hinged plastic cover, "They are surprisingly smart. This one will respond to certain words. But I don't think I have the right to tell you everything about them first..."

Sam smiled warmly at the brunette and asked politely, "What's your name?"

"Pauline Parkinson." the brunette said with a weak smile and then turned back to her computer, as if she was too embarrassed to say any more. Sam wondered if they thought that the wendigo wouldn't figure a way out soon. She already knew that they were extremely intelligent, and after Ashley claimed to hear Jessica calling for help in the mines, it was really confirmed that they could imitate human voices. The truth was, Jessica never called out for help and Ashley was hearing a wendigo imitating Jessica's voice. It just had to take one foolish guard and everyone would be dead. Sam decided that there was no point worrying, and she better be on her way. She caught up with Ashley, who was about to leave the main tent with Chris, and she tailed behind the couple, looking up at the mountains through her blonde lashes. She felt willing to go up there and see the progress on the lodge, and perhaps meet the Washingtons again. She wondered how they were coping with the loss of their three children. The Washingtons most likely weren't going to be having any more children because Mrs Washington was already in her early fifties and Mr Washington was probably in no mood for any more children.

Sam caught up with Ashley and Chris and asked, "Where are you guys heading?"

"I don't know!" Ashley frowned, "I never thought this was a good idea... like oh my god there was a freaking wendigo back there!"

Chris didn't comment but said, "Hey, why don't we jump on a cable car?"

"Oh my gosh. NO Chris! There are wendigos." Ashley whined and stamped her feet.

"Hey hold your horse cowgirl!" Chris laughed and gave her a gentle bump on the ribs, "You don't have to come if you don't want to!"

"Well... fine then. GOSH I hate you." Ashley cried. Sam patted her distressed friend and said, "Hey, this is going to be fine. We are only gonna take a little peek at the lodge... and perhaps climb into the mines?"

"No Sam NO!" Ashley screamed and clenched her fists. Sam smiled and said, "Just kidding!"

Chris fist-bumped Sam and then continued to tease Ashley until they arrived in the cable car station. The whole place was newly painted, refurbished and the timber was polished and swept. Chris took a detour to the shooting range at the back of the cablecar station and was disappointed to find out that they had turned the space for a large stand where some guards would survey the cargo coming up and down the cable car station. When Sam walked in, she was surprised to find the Washingtons standing there and arranging a ride back to the city. Ashley was the first to run forward and greet the couple.

"There you are!" Mrs Washington beamed, though her eyes were dull and looked grey in the lighting, "We were expecting you, weren't we honey?"

"Of course. We were here for about a month, and arranging things for all the research happening up here. We will be taking a bus away in three days!"

Sam casually and strolled over, before shaking their hands.

"It is great to see you all, really. We are almost done here, and after this we should take you on a tour around the site. They are really doing a lovely job rebuilding the lodge. It isn't perfect, but I say it's better than nothing."

"What about the wendigos?" Ashley worried.

Mr Washington made a face and Sam guessed that after he saw the captured wendigo he had no choice but to believe that some monsters were real. He was a tough and straightforward man who probably didn't stand for monster tales and all that 'nonsense'. Mrs Washington ignored Mr Washington and answered for Ashley, "Don't worry. We have body guards- armed with flamethrowers of course. And there are walls around the new lodge and it will be monster-free."

Chris said, "Alright, we will leave you to your business and get everyone else then so we can all get up there."

Once everyone was assembled in the station, and once meet and greets were all finished, the cable car arrived with ten soldiers packed like sardines inside the cable car, all armed with flamethrowers and traumatised looks on their faces. Mr and Mrs Washington jumped onto the cable car and the rest followed, nervously hopping onto the cable car one by one.

"This is really weird." Jessica complained and set her worried eyes on the horizon, every ounce of 'cute girl' drained from her soul. The group reached the top and were greeted with almost twenty armed soldiers, in which ten of them followed the group and flanked them. Sam felt more like a president than a nineteen year old teenager.

"There it is, the cursed house..." Mr Washington said glumly and pointed a stubby finger towards an incomplete wooden structure. Sam could recognise certain unique parts about the lodge, but it just didn't look the same. She walked forward and just as she did, one of the armed soldiers slipped out of line and joined her at her side, following her wherever she went. Sam felt uncomfortable by this and later decided it was for her own safety. She felt ignorant. I have killed a wendigo myself Mr! And not with a flamethrower. I did it with a pipe!

Sam whipped around and asked the soldier, "Are you ok with waiting here? I want to do some looking around by myself..."

The soldier replied in a Welsh accent, "It is under my orders to make sure no one is to be wandering in the upper region alone."

"Upper region? Another funny name for the brand new Blackwood Mountains?" Sam said almost mockingly. The soldier nodded his head firmly and didn't even blink an eye.

"Besides, if you weren't Samantha, you wouldn't even be allowed to be up here." the soldier added. Sam shrugged, and then increased her pace, trying to lose the very loyal soldier. The lodge was in the midst of completion. The roof was not properly installed and the interior, Sam guessed, was probably not complete. There was a large tin board hung from a low hanging branch of a oak tree with large letters written on it spelling out:

KEEP OUT DANGER

"That means we better go." the soldier called. Sam sighed and flicked her finger on the signboard then walked half-heartedly back to the pestering soldier.

"Besides, what's your name? Since you know mine." Sam said with a frown.

"David."

"Nice. Let's go David."

Suddenly, Emily was at her side.

"Hey there Sammy." she said and narrowed her eyes at the lodge, "Y-You wanna get back to the-"

"There you are!"

They turned around and saw Mrs Washington jogging towards them with another soldier.

"There you are!" she repeated and caught her breath, "I really want to take you two on a look around the lodge."

She flicked her hand at David in a peculiar motion and David immediately walked away glumly.

"Let's go!" she said without Sam and Emily's approval.

After the tour around the lodge, they headed back to the cable-car station on what they now called the 'lower region cable station'. Sam jumped off the cable car and with her friends, she headed back to the main tent, where Dr Brown met them. He suddenly barked, "Let's go!"

Sam yelped in surprise and had to massage her ears as he barked on. He marched them to the same bus they arrived in and they boarded the bus while Dr Brown barked on. They started driving down a hidden paved road with lamps installed along the sides. The unnatural lighting shone through the bus' windows and blinded Sam's eyes. She looked away and realised there was a tall cement building at the end of the paved road. Suddenly, the paved road stopped and what continued on was a bumpy gravel path. She alighted with Ashley at her side, and looked ahead.

Sam walked down a stone cobble path towards a large cement building with barbed fences places around it. The sky was dark and dark pine trees stood like dark soldiers, lining a gravel path with was covered with pebbles and was uncomfortable to walk on. Soldiers paced back and forth, and some were even sleeping on canvases spread out over a bed of soft snow. Sam secretly wondered if they had no place to sleep or their shift was over and they were fast asleep. Dr Brown suddenly barked, "You will all receive card that are like keys to your rooms. We only had two rooms left so we separated all of you according to gender. Here..."

He handed all of them these hard plastic cards which looked similar to shopping cards. Almost at once, the girls Jessica, Emily, Ashley and Sam herself, flocked together just like migratory birds. Emily declared, "I am having my own bed and no one is going to say no."

"Don't worry about beds!" Dr Brown shouted as if he were trying to talk over a hurricane, "You all have your own!"

Emily rubbed her ears and Sam caught a glimpse of her rolling her eyes behind Dr Brown's back. Sam read her card: ROOM 04-41

Jessica strutted on ahead with Mike and Emily followed grudgingly. Once Matt saw Emily start trudging again, he started tailing after her as if he were her pet dog or something. Once Ashley and Chris held hands and walked into the building, only then did Sam feel alone. She didn't want to be pressured by her friends, but she felt like it was time for herself to be in a relationship. She sighed and remembered admitting to the Blackwood sheriffs that she thought that she had a connection with long lost Josh. She felt ashamed to ask Chris if Josh felt the same with her. She remembered Josh sitting next to her on a bench the day after Hannah and Beth were lost in the forest, and he asked her how she was coping with Hannah's disappearance. It was a cold afternoon and they were outside the lodge, sipping hot cocoa together. Sam had answered, "I have no words." Then, Josh had out his arm around her and agreed silently. Sam also remembered, that she was not part of the evil prank that the rest of her friends had planned to play on Hannah. It was cruel to make Hannah embarrass herself in front of all her friends (thankfully not her best friend Sam) and even her crush.

The only people who weren't part of the prank were Beth, Sam and Chris and Josh who passed out from drinking too much. The prank had caused Hannah to run out of the lodge in the middle of a terrible snowstorm, and Beth following her into the woods. Apparently, Josh was highly affected too, and he made it clear on the first anniversary of Hannah and Beth's disappearance. After they went down to the mines, they found out that in fact, Hannah had survived falling down a rock cliff and starved for days, in hope that she would be found and rescued. After waiting in vain, she decided to dig up her already-dead sister, Beth, and resorted to cannibalism in order to survive. Because she resorted to cannibalism, she transformed into a wendigo, and for all they know she could be the tagged wendigo, or maybe even the captured wendigo.

Once the group were all settled down in their separate rooms, the girls chose their sleeping headquarters and all was well. Sam huddled up in her bed, feeling insecure because of the wendigo nearby, all caged up and waiting for someone to just unlock the padlock...

Jessica suddenly leapt out of her covers, and pounced into the middle of the room and said, "What are we doing? Being good little girls because we have to go to bed at eleven? No! We are staying up!"

Emily was in the midst of pulling her phone out of her bag and said in a sour voice, "What do you want us to do. Perform a few backflips or something?"

There was an evil grin plastered on Jessica's face, "Let's go see that wendigo."