[Chapter Edited Jan. 7 because I forgot to consider the medical care that the gang would need as well]
For a moment, he believed that he was dead.
There was only red.
He was surrounded by crimson—warm fires engulfed them as above, the light of dawn finally penetrated through the cage of impermeable darkness, bringing the seemingly endless nightmare to a bittersweet end. Ear-shattering screeches were heard. The creatures' spirits had been released, their bodies to be buried beneath layers of rubble, along with all of Josh's secrets.
He straightened up then, squinting his eyes as he scanned the burning mass, the bright amber blinding against the azure morning sky. His bare hands, placed in front of him within a layer of snow, braced the unbearable weight of his bones. He began to feel the blistering cold snake its way into his kneecaps and fingertips. He ignored it.
Finally, a figure emerged from the spectacle. He watched her body rise up out of the snow, not ten yards from the now burning doorframe.
"Sam," he breathed.
The flames cast an illuminated glow upon her skin, licking dangerously close to her back. She seemed to notice their proximity then, her features contorting as she stumbled further away from the godforsaken structure.
Winces and gasps escaped the mouths of Emily, Chris, and Ashley. He turned his head abruptly to survey his surviving friends, the sharp movement sending a blood rush to his brain that left him momentarily disoriented. He watched them stand up slowly, in a blur.
Chris moved to help Ashley to her feet, "You okay Ash?" His voice was a mere echo amidst the violent crackle of the devouring flames.
Mike turned his attention back to the burning cinders. Sam was approaching them, growing larger in his field of vision. She moved like a gazelle, her strong strides never faltering despite the thick blanket of snow engulfing them. When she reached close enough, she collapsed to the ground a few feet in front of the group.
"Sam!" Mike exclaimed. In a millisecond he was at her side, taking her hands and supporting her weight as he helped her stand.
Once on her feet again, she gazed into his dark eyes for a fleeting moment before turning back to the fiery mass, mouth gaping open at the sight as she continued to take deep breaths.
He watched her with the same intensity as the flames devouring the lodge, scanning her perfect features for any new cuts or bruises, never letting go of her fingers. He felt her grip on his hands tighten, almost as if she had read his thoughts.
A new whirring noise could be heard in the distance.
"Oh thank God!" Emily cried out. The helicopter that appeared in the horizon was descending towards them.
Sam turned again to look at Mike, her facial expression lighting up at the realization that they had survived. He smiled back, softly, still deep in thought.
Suddenly she pulled him into an embrace, throwing her arms around his neck. He wrapped his hands around her back in reciprocation. They stood like that until the helicopter landed for them.
xxx
They sat next to each other inside of the helicopter while one of the rangers spoke to them, Sam leaning forward and bracing herself with a hand on the outside of Mike's left thigh. It had happened subconsciously, yet neither of them felt any inclination to move. They were comfortable. The others had taken note of their closeness, but had kept quiet.
"You kids are very lucky," the female ranger who had emerged from the cockpit spoke as she scanned her eyes over a transcript of the radio conversation from earlier in the night. She had light brown hair and sort of rugged features, yet her frame was rather thin and dainty. "Which one of you is Emily?"
Emily raised her hand. She was too exhausted to speak.
"That storm was brutal. The police are going to want to know how you managed to survive being hunted by a maniac in minus forty degree weather." When none of the kids offered a response, she spoke again, changing her approach, "Name's Sally by the way."
"The story's changed since you received that call. We—thought that the guy terrorizing us was just some psycho with a vendetta against the Washingtons, but it turned out to be one of our friends, the Washingtons' son, Josh, pranking us," Sam explained, "He used his father's resources to get back at us for—well, we're the reason that his sisters ran out into the cold last year."
"Ah yes, I remember," Sally replied, looking contemplative, "Rangers were busy for weeks before the case was considered cold."
"Of course we hadn't meant for them to run off and go missing," Chris interjected, "One of the reasons for coming back up here was to clear our consciences."
"I see. And…where is Joshua Washington now?"
"If we told you what happened to him you wouldn't believe us," Ashley finally spoke, on the verge of tears.
"We honestly don't really know," Mike jumped in before Ashley gave away too much information, "He disappeared a few hours ago."
Sally paused to study Ashley's distraught features for a moment before continuing, "Okay, look, I'm not really entitled to be asking too many questions. We're supposed to leave that stuff to the police. But I can tell that the five of you are very traumatized by whatever happened down there, and I can tell you that it's likely that the Washingtons will press charges. Not only is their son unaccounted for, but also their estate is burning to the ground as we speak. Take this time to breathe and get some sleep. We're taking you to Blackwood County police so that each of you can explain your own side of the story."
"Wait, what about Matt?" Emily sat up, and looked out the window, surveying the expanse of trees and snow below them. She faced the ranger again; "You can't just leave him down there!"
"Emily, we have two other helicopters out there searching for survivors. Took us a while before we even found the five of you. If you had any other friends out there, there's no way they could have survived the storm, I'm sorry."
Mike hung his head low, thinking about Jessica. The last time that he had seen her, she had fallen down a grate into the mines, her body scarred and mangled. He tried to shake the image out of his mind.
Seeming to notice his sudden pang of sadness, Sam moved her hand from its place on his leg to the back of his neck, as a soothing gesture.
"No…" Emily shook her head, "I won't believe it. You—you can't just abandon him!" She yelled the last phrase in a fit of anger and despair. Instinctively, Sam pulled Emily into an embrace to allow her to grieve. Her tears dripped onto Sam's shoulder. Sam was trying and failing to keep a strong façade for her friends.
xxx
They arrived back in the heart of Blackwood County an hour and a half later. Chris had fallen asleep sitting up, and Ashley had laid against him, and fallen asleep on his chest. Emily sat in contemplation, trying to deduce what she would say to the cops. Occasionally, an internal thought or two would escape her mind and her lips in the form of a whisper. Sam and Mike had both drifted in and out of sleep periodically. Mike rested his head on his palm, his elbow pressed into his thigh. Sam leaned back against the headrest of the seat, her fingers folded together on her lap.
The helicopter finally landed, and everyone snapped awake and sat up. Their stomachs sank in fear.
Mike held up an arm behind him as he locked his gaze toward the door, "We just need to be calm," he whispered.
"They're gonna separate us Michael. You guys realize that right?" Emily spoke, panic in her voice.
Mike looked behind him to survey his friends, "Just tell them the truth—we're innocent."
Chris leaned forward, "We can't just tell them about the wendigos. There's no—"
The door was opened then and the blinding light of late morning overcast caused each of them to wince and squint. Sally stood next to two officers. They were on the snow-covered roof of the station.
"Rise and shine, kids," Sally smiled, "We've arrived."
They hopped out of the copter one by one and were led inside. After descending down several flights of stairs, they were taken into a small room where they were given snacks and water, and chairs to sit on while each friend was interrogated individually. The room was illuminated by fluorescence and white cork tiles lined the ceiling. Three drape-less windows offered natural lighting, and the walls were painted a soft ocean blue.
Mike shifted in his chair uncontrollably, feeling unable to keep down any of the muffins or sandwiches that had been laid out for them. The seats were lined with a thin navy corduroy cushion, yet he could not bring himself to get comfortable.
Chris offered to be questioned first, not wanting to make trouble or make any of them look guiltier than they already had.
Sally emerged from the room's small adjoining corridor, and walked up to Emily while they waited.
"You okay kid?" She asked. Emily couldn't respond. Her features held the same distraught, hollow expression.
"They just sent out more rangers to clean up the damage and conduct another search of the area. If there's any news regarding your friend or any more bodies, I'll have my people let you know."
Emily nodded slightly in acknowledgement, but continued to attempt to delve her attention to other thoughts.
"Cops also wanted me to tell you kids that you're not being monitored in here. The only cameras on you will be in the interrogation room. You're still entitled to your privacy."
Sam could tell that Sally genuinely pitied them, and wasn't sure whether to be thankful or upset.
Since no one felt the need to comment, she continued, "Well, I have to go join my superiors so this is where we part ways," she surveyed the group as she internally made her peace, "For your sakes I hope that this case doesn't grow so big that we meet again. When your friend Chris comes back tell him that I wish you all good luck."
"Thank you…for rescuing us," Sam addressed her.
Sally nodded and left the room.
Once the four were alone again, Emily finally publicized the thought eating away at her mind. Had the room not been completely quiet, the soft phrase would have been lost to the abyss, "Matt's dead isn't he?"
"I'm trying not to think about it," Mike murmured, still warding off sleep.
"Whe—where was the last place you spoke to him?" Ashley stuttered, slightly disturbed.
"I…we had just fallen off the radio tower as it collapsed into the mines…he tried to pull me up but he—" she placed her palm to her forehead, "And I said some pretty awful things to him because I was just so scared…oh God, those were probably the last words he'll ever hear anyone say to him."
"What happened to Matt, Em?" Sam inquired, her voice shaky, too afraid of the answers to her question.
"The platform couldn't support his weight. He fell. I don't even know how far down it was, if he could have survived the fall…but the wendigo…"
"He wasn't prepared, it would have gotten him for sure," Mike concluded. He thought about his own final conversation with Matt, which had ended in hostility. He felt sick to his stomach.
Not wanting to think about Matt's fate, Emily changed the subject, "What happened to Jessica, Michael?"
"I found her body," Mike's eyes burned into the olive green carpeted floors, staring intently to focus his attention away from his emotions, "She was attacked by one of those fuckers and then I watched her fall down a grate deep into the mines. She was…covered in her own blood."
"Oh my God," Ashley whimpered, "Was—was Josh already dead when you—went to find him?" She struggled to keep tears from falling.
"I watched him get dragged off. He was…probably eaten alive."
"Jesus Christ," Sam breathed out. She placed her palms to her forehead, not wanting to relive the internal image.
Just then, Chris re-entered the room from the corridor, looking deeply distressed. He paused in his steps once he was within view of the others, taking a quick breath to compose himself. "Who's next?"
"I'll go," Ashley replied meekly as she rose from her seat, "I want this nightmare to be over." Once she brushed past him, Chris moved to take a seat next to Emily.
"How'd it go?" Mike asked.
"I'm not supposed to converse with you guys. They don't want me to influence what you say. But…I didn't mention the W word."
Sam spoke, "I think we should tell them."
"What?" Chris piped up.
"No," Emily shook her head.
"Do you realize how guilty we look when you remove the wendigos from the equation? As far as they know, we were the only ones up there last night. Maybe we could convince them that the fire was totally started by natural causes, but do you think that they're gonna believe that three of our friends were attacked by bears or…deer in the mines? The wendigos kill like humans. If the rangers end up finding the bodies…not to mention we were all present when Hannah and Beth went missing in the same fashion last year…"
"It's gonna look like we killed Josh to get back at him for pranking us." Mike finished Sam's sentence.
"Shit," Chris held his head in his hands, "Or it'll convince the cops that we're just criminally insane. And even if they believe the fire was an accident, the Washingtons could still sue us for destruction of property. They're gonna hold a grudge against us for the rest of their lives—all three of their kids went missing in our presence."
"They're gonna make sure we suffer for this," Emily whispered.
"But what if crying monster just makes us look crazy, or they presume that we're just delusional after being traumatized." Chris looked to Sam for reason.
"I still say the pros outweigh the cons. If we tell them to go into the mines, then they find out the truth for themselves. And everything will make sense. They'll believe that we're innocent. Not to mention an armed force could wipe out those things for good—end the nightmare once and for all."
"Alright," Mike finally glanced up from the floor, folding his hands, his elbows resting upon his knees. He turned to Sam, staring her straight in the eye reassuringly and nodding slightly, "It's settled then."
xxx
After a draining eight hours in police custody, each of them had been interrogated and processed. Once the cops had gotten their answers, paramedics transported them to Blackwood County hospital to tend to their wounds. Cuts were disinfected, Chris's leg was examined, and Ashley was given medication for her black eye. Mike's fingers had been cleaned and bandaged where the bear trap almost clawed them off. He would have scars after the flesh healed. As Emily's bite was being properly cleaned out, the nurse tending to her had inquired, "Man, this thing did quite the number on you. What did you say it was that bit you? A wolf?" Emily didn't answer.
They had managed to obtain a few hours of sleep throughout the whole ordeal. The Washingtons, as well as the parents of Matt and Jessica were notified around noon of their respective child's unknown whereabouts. The five remaining friends were finally allowed to return home that evening.
Respecting that the children were innocent until proven guilty and feeling partly responsible, Bob and Melinda Washington sent for a small private plane to pick them up in Blackwood County, although, they were ordered not to address or make contact with the Washingtons until further notice.
The five barely spoke throughout the entire flight home. Sam had lost track of time while airborne. She rested her head against the brown leather seat with her eyes closed, attempting to fall asleep. She wished for a moment that she had her iPod and earphones with her, but they had burned in the fire along with the rest of their belongings.
"Sam?" She heard Mike whisper, "You asleep?" He had heard him get up to use the lavatory moments prior.
"No," her response came out slightly louder than a whisper, a slight hint of annoyance in her voice at her own inability to get some rest. She blinked a few times before focusing her attention to Mike, who had sat down in the seat next to her, "Can't sleep either?"
"I tried," he admitted, "But as soon as I close my eyes all of the horrors come back…replayed on a loop right before my eyes like they just happened." He let his eyes drift over her features, hoping that talking to the one person who had been strong enough to save him would inspire kinder thoughts.
Sam leaned up for a moment and peeped over the top of the seats. The others were all fast asleep, Chris and Ashley next to one another, and Emily across the aisle, resting her head against the wall as she curled up across two seats. Sam let herself fall back into her spot with a thud, thinking about Mike's comment.
The physical remnants of the horrors that plagued them had been destroyed, at least somewhat. With the lodge gone no one would come crawling back up Blackwood Mountain anytime soon. But the internal scars of that night would probably never heal.
She brushed her bangs out of her face. "I think right now, I'm just focused on getting home," she glanced out the window for a fleeting second, "It doesn't end for me until I get there. But once I'm back in my own room…in my own world…I don't know what happens then."
Mike continued to gaze at her intently.
"How can we go on with our lives—expect ourselves to move on when we alone know the truth? There are…things out there lurking in the shadows…always threatening to be let loose."
"You're worried that this isn't the last we've seen of…them." He couldn't bring himself to utter the word.
She laughed sadistically, "We're still not sure if we're going to prison and the only thing I'm worried about is a supernatural apocalypse. How fucking messed up is that?"
"All five of us are thinking the same thing Sammy," he whispered.
"Yeah, all five of us among a sea of non-believers, outcasted indefinitely henceforth." She sighed, letting her eyes slip closed and then cranking them open again.
"I gotta know, he leaned toward her and she turned to look at him again intently, "Why did you come back for me—in the sanatorium? You knew it was suicide…why would you risk it?"
"I…you took it upon yourself to singlehandedly hunt down Josh and that key. I wasn't gonna leave you after the sacrifice you made. And," she smiled slightly, "I'm not one for sitting idly by and doing nothing in the face of such adversity."
Mike mirrored her smile, finding the slightest fleeting moment of happiness in her eyes compelling.
She leaned toward him, gazing into his deep brown irises, seriousness wavering in her breathless words, "I should have gone with you to begin with—should have stayed down there with you and Josh…if I had he might still be alive," her eyes drifted to his blood-stained collar. He still wore the evergreen jacket that he had uncovered in the sanatorium. They had been unable to change out of their clothes, the universe still torturing them with violent reminders of their personalized hell.
"You were just thinking about the group," he placed a hand on her shoulder, "Don't blame yourself for Josh. It was my fault. Hannah—the wendigo showed up and my first instinct was just to hide. Josh was still deep in his fit. He couldn't run. And I left him like a coward," he choked on the last word, throwing his head down in a swift motion to avoid letting Sam see the tears that had spilled from his eye.
She placed her palm on his cheek, drawing him back up. He was no longer the beaming, ever confident class president she was familiar with. That Mike would have never reached this depth, never allowed his steel façade to drop and reveal how he was truly feeling. He had become emotionally rattled by the mountain, and for the first time, Sam could see right through him. "Mike…we're gonna have to forgive ourselves at some point. There has to be a light at the end of the tunnel," she allowed some tears to water in her eyes as well.
Mike was quiet for a moment. He focused only on her touch upon his skin. "He recognized her you know…Hannah—right before she—it dragged him off. I hope he at least found peace in knowing the truth about what happened a year ago." After a few seconds of silence he mustered the will to continue with what he had wanted to say, "Look I just…wanted to say thank you, for saving my life…twice," he managed to force a grin once more despite his expression being riddled with sadness.
"I'm just glad that at least the majority of us made it out alive. Not that this is ever going to be okay, but with time maybe we can—"
She was cut off mid-sentence as Mike brought his lips to hers. He leaned across the armrest, pulling her forward with one arm around her lower back and his other hand cupping the side of her face. When she finally overcame the shock, she found herself compelled to kiss him back for a moment, sliding her mouth over his like a gear locking in place. She reached up and curled a hand over his shoulder, pulling him back from her.
"Mike," she whispered, opening her eyes and looking at him in confusion.
"I'm sorry," he shifted his eyes downward, "I had to do that just once."
Sam sighed. Not knowing what to say, she leaned back against the headrest, staring straight ahead, her features somewhat scrunching as the events of the past forty-eight hours all culminated within her head.
Realizing that she no longer wanted to talk, Mike allowed his head to back in his seat as well, watching Sam for a few minutes before shifting to his other side and finally closing his eyes.
xxx
"While police have yet to release official, detailed statements regarding the mishap that took place on Blackwood Mountain, what is already known of the events that occurred last night is rather shocking."
Sam jolted awake, startled by the voice. She noticed her arm sprawled across the armrest. She had hit the radio button in her sleep.
"Mike," she whispered. He didn't stir. She wondered how long they had been asleep.
"Eight teens—friends of Hannah and Beth Washington who had gone missing on Blackwood Mountain a year prior were all invited back up to the Washington lodge by their son, Joshua Washington. What was supposed to be a relaxing ski trip ended in a terrible tragedy as Joshua, along with two other members of the group-identified as nineteen year olds Matthew James and Jessica Donovan, disappeared on the evening of February second and are still missing. They are presumed dead. The surviving five teens—Michael Munroe, Samantha Everest, Christopher Allan, Emily Lee, and Ashley Fields, all claim that they were not responsible for the deaths of their friends, nor the mysterious fire that set the Washington lodge ablaze at seven a.m. the morning of February third. They have made congruent statements insinuating that something else was with them on the mountain that night. The teens were released from police custody earlier this evening and flown back to their hometown of Redwood, California courtesy of Bob Washington's private airline. Police are still investigating."
"What?" Sam murmured to herself. The report hadn't mentioned anything about Josh's prank, or even the idea that a maniac was with them on the mountain. It was clear that the Washingtons had made sure that nothing was released to the press that would taint their name. They never cared about getting us home…this is all part of their plan."
Sam felt fear sink into her brain once again. Suddenly, home didn't feel like the solace that she had promised herself it would be. She glanced out of the window, a blanket of thick clouds shielding the lights down below from view. A storm was on the horizon.