Narrowed brown eyes glared at the group of six huddled around each other near the fireplace. Her jaw ticked in irritation as all of them let out a rather ugly howl of laughter, the blonde girl of the group seemingly pleased with herself. In turn it only made the dark brunette girl scowl deeper.

Whatever the bunch of the were up to, it wasn't going to end well at all. Especially if Jessica was in charge of the operation and even more so if Emily was being quite enthusiastic about it. And she knew that when Emily was showing more than five minutes of positive emotion in front of the group was saying a lot about this whole scheme. Jayden only hoped that this plan didn't involve Hannah, the poor girl. The amount of times she'd have to scold Emily at home about treating Hannah harshly was unbelievable, Jayden was supposed to be her best friend, not her goddamn mother.

It wasn't Hannah's fault that she had a crush on Mike. Hell, nearly half of their old school did, Hannah wasn't any different. If she was being one hundred percent sure, Jessica was the very same, she was just better at hiding it. Instead of dwelling on it the group's internal drama, her eyes flickered towards the two idiots almost passed out on the kitchen counter.

Josh and Chris were leaning quite closely together, noses nearly brushing against each other and lips moving in hushed words. She only rolled her eyes at this. These two had been dancing around their feelings for each other for years now. It quite frustrating in all honesty. Beth, being the matchmaker of the group, had been pushing the pair about it but being 'the bros' they were, they'd ultimately protested. Yet the same could be said for...

"Jay!" Her heart raced as the petite blonde girl came into Jayden's line of vision, that adorable smile that she'd all but fallen for gracing her face.

"Hey, Sammy," She tried to remain as casual as possible, even though heat was rushing across her face but luckily it wasn't visible for Sam to see. A tiny smile worming its way onto her face. Sam stood a few feet away from Jayden, peering at her with some sort of glint in her green eyes. Jayden fidgeted in her spot, her heart beating like crazy, she was sure that it was going to burst out of her chest. Deciding that she didn't want to get a heart attack, Jayden turned to the side, reaching over to grab one of the only unopened cider bottles left.

"You want one?" She offered, the left side of her lip quirking up as Sam's nose scrunched up in a rather cute way.

"Ugh, it amazes me how you're able to drink that shit," Jayden shrugged her shoulders, cracking the bottle open as Sam came to situated herself at Jayden's side. Small butterflies fluttered in her stomach when Sam brushed up against her, the two almost pressed against each other.

"Shit? Girl, this is the best damn thing in the world! It's got a fruity taste to it, thought all you vegetarians like that shit," Sam pinched Jayden in the side, right when that latter had decided to take a swig of her drink. She choked on her drink instantly, some of the cider travelling towards her nose. A snort, followed by a chuckle came from beside her, causing Jayden to mock glower at the girl beside her, her lips pressing together.

"Samantha!" The use of her full name only seemed to make Sam chuckle even more.

The darker haired girl placed her unfinished beer on the counter, wiping the liquid that had dribbled out of her chin with the sleeve of her jumper. An idea popped into her head, her lopsided grin growing on her face. This caused Sam to cease her giggles, her face morphing into one of faux worry.

"Oh no, I know that look," Jayden took a step towards her, Sam instantly taking a step backwards.

She wiggled her fingers, arms extending so that they could reach her. There was a brief pause where the two of them halted in their tracks and Sam's eyes flickered from Jayden's hand to her face. Like that, Sam turned on her heel and Jayden knew that she was planning to run away. Hopefully, she did so slowly, not everyone was a fitness champ like her. Gym left a bad taste in Jayden's mouth, it was her worst subject at school.

Despite her dislike for gym, Jayden chased after her friend, a gleeful feeling spreading through her body. However, the was short lived as Sam crashed into somebody as she ran. Luckily, Jayden had been able to keep up with time, so she caught the tumbling blonde girl. Both of Jayden's hands had secured themselves on Sam's waist, keeping her in place so that she didn't nearly fall over again. Even though Sam was steady, her hands remained where they were, unable to help herself.

"Jay, I'm okay," Sam's pink tinged face glanced up at the taller girl, whom just mistook her sheepish expression as embarrassment over smacking into someone. Jayden went to question her words but another voice beat her too it.

"We haven't got all day lovebirds," Emily's vexed but amused tone made Jayden jumped away from Sam, coming to stand quite the distance away.

Her eyes travelled to Mike's quite smug face, to which her joyfulness turn sour. Her feelings must have been clearly etched onto her face as Mike rolled his eyes before falling on his girlfriend, whom was the only reason she tolerated the dickhead. He knew about her 'thing' for Sam and constantly took the piss out of her because of it. Calling Jayden by her Cree name didn't help either.

"Anyways," Emily's increasingly exciting voice drew Jayden's attention away from Mike, yet the disillusioned mood remained.

"Jess' come up with a prank and I want you two to be apart of it," Jayden crossed her arms over her chest, peering at the girl before her with an unimpressed expression.

"This, uh, prank wouldn't happen to involve Hannah, would it?" Sam wondered, clearly sharing the same emotions that Jayden had.

"Duh," Emily uttered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Letting out a deep and exasperated sigh, Jayden dropped her arms, beginning to leave this whole conversation.

"Em, I want nothing to do with this. You should know that by now," She informed Emily, not even sparing her a glance, instead she was focusing on finding her lighter. Why did she always have to buy clothes with a million and one pockets.

"C'mon Kachina, lighten up a bit, it's just a bit of a laugh, jeez," Mike piped up for the first time, and her jaw ticked instantly.

"Being a fucking prick to your friend doesn't sound like 'a bit of a laugh' to me, sorry Michael," She began to walk backwards as she spoke, shrugging her shoulders.

In her sight, she witnessed Emily frown in disappointment and Sam nodded her head, obviously agreeing with her. The other three that were apart of the prank were starting to join them. Matt had a camera attached to a selfie stick in one hand, Ashley was trying her hardest to suppress her giggles and Jessica flung her arm around Emily's shoulders.

"Ashley? Matt? Et tu?" Jayden clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth as she peered at them.

Normally, Ashley and Matt were one of the 'good' guys on the group, never participating in any Hannah related pranks. Jessica must have been quite persuasive about it all. Well, she had always been very excellent at worming her way out of detention. The pair had the decency to appear a tad guilty but it was soon washed away when Jessica began leading them away, towards the stairs.

"You gonna help me with this?" Sam glanced over to the leaving bunch in distress before falling back on Jayden.

"They won't listen either way but you can always try," She explained tossing her silver lighter back and forth between her hands. If Emily never listened to a word before, there was still no way she was going to listen now. Besides, they would have to deal with the repercussions of their actions, not her.

"Fine," Sam began to jog towards the staircase, "Be careful out there!" She instructed, the concern she had made Jayden grin goofily.

"I promise not to get eaten by anything!" Sam's snort of mirth was the only reply she received.

Honestly, Jayden thought that perhaps telling everyone the old tales of this mountain was not the smartest choice she'd made. Whenever they came on the Winter Getaway, they were constantly paranoid about the things she told them. It was silly to her really. They were only stories from her Grandpa that's sole purpose was to terrorise outsiders from the Cree tribe so that they wouldn't invade their homes.

He told her about monsters like the Misikinebik, the Stiff Jointed Bear and the Wendigo. Yet, whenever he talked about the latter, he always got a little too serious about it, though she only knew that it was for dramatic effect. On her way over the door, she kept an eye out for either of the Washington twins.

Although she told the others that she wasn't going to get involved, she was at least going to give either one some warning beforehand. What kind of friend would she be if she didn't?

"Beth? Hannah?" She called, unable to see them anywhere. Slipping on her black waist length coat as well as her matching gloves, she awaited a response. The seconds ticked on by and neither of twin's voices was heard. This lodge was a pretty big place, it was probably hard to hear her anyhow.

Once she secured her scarf snugly around her neck, she clasped the door knob before giving it a strong tug. The icy breeze smacked her in the face as she swung the door open. Sometimes she forgot how freezing it got on this mountain. It was a good thing Chris was here with his many layers that she'd always end up stealing. Jayden stepped out swiftly, wanting to find a release in the form of nicotine and tobacco.

Emily and Jess' ongoing bitchiness towards Hannah stressed her out more than she realised. The snow crunched underneath her sneakers, leaving impressions in its wake. Though it wouldn't last long for the heavily falling snow would soon cover it up, like she was never there in the first place. The raging wind made the odd strands of hair that had escaped her ponytail, whip all over the place.

She shook a cigarette out of its pack and positioned it between her teeth then wrapping her lips around them to keep it place. In one rapid movement, she ran her thumb down the lighter's spark wheel to ignite the fire needed. When there was nothing but a click and no fire, she growled at the base of her throat before trying again.

Man, I need a new lighter. It was a shame though, the lighter was Sam's christmas present, she really didn't want to have to throw it away. After about three more times of endless clicking, a fire sparked to life, causing a contrasting glow to the gloom around her. Carefully, she lifted the lighter towards the cigarette. Once the paper of her cigarette has caught the flame, she simply stuffed the lighter back into its original place.

Jayden inhaled the smoke from the cigarette in her mouth. The wisps of white swirled around inside her mouth, some of it traveling to her lungs speedily. She pulled the death stick out of her mouth; placing it in between her index and middle finger with smoke billowing out of her mouth. It floated up in the air before disappearing completely. After the tendrils of smoke had gone, she stuck the cigarette back into her mouth and simply left it hanging there.

Puffs of smoke escaped her mouth, her cigarette wiggling around. As the paper turned to ash, Jayden's eyes viewed the scene before her that always seemed to leave her flabbergasted. Snow covered trees swayed around dangerously. Above the full moon was shining brightly, the stars twinkling somewhat beautifully. Despite how gorgeous she found it all, one thing was bothering her.

And that was the feeling of being watched.

Jayden knew that she was probably being ridiculous. Since when did she start to share her friend's paranoia of this place? Her mind was just messing with her and she knew it. Before she could divulge into her thoughts anymore, the lodge door all but slammed open, causing Jayden to raise an eyebrow. A figure zoomed past her, what sounded like... sobs erupting from them.

"Hannah!" Came farway muffled voices from deeper inside the lodge. Then it clicked.

"Fuck!" Without thinking twice, Jayden ran after her friend.

Whenever Hannah was upset, she tended to do things without thinking and ended up regretting them. Running out into the forest, in the middle of the night, when there was snowstorm was probably on that list. This was all to do with that immature prank, she knew it. She really was going to give those idiots a lecture about it.

"Hannah!" Jayden bellowed, able to see the girl's form a few metres away from her. Unfortunately, not being exactly Usain Bolt, keeping up with Hannah was quite difficult. Jayden pushed herself by pumping her arms and legs up and down a lot more rapidly, taking breaths through her mouth instead of her nose. Her technique seemed to work for Hannah was becoming more clear in the bleakness.

However, as she was shrugging her coat off so that she could give it to her friend, Jayden caught her foot under a tree root. Ungracefully, she hurtled towards the ground, dropping her coat along the way. Jayden landed on her front, her face slamming into the snow rather painfully. A white hot pain blossomed at the bridge of her nose, a sticky liquid leaking afterwards.

With a groan, she lifted herself from the snow and onto her hands and knees. Blood poured freely out of her nose now, some of it dripping into her mouth, making her spit in it out in disgust. Fantastic, she mused.

"Jay!" A distressed call of her name, followed by a pair of hands helping her up brought her back into the current events.

"Hannah?" She wondered as her helper positioned her back onto two feet.

"No, it's Beth," the beanie wearing twin came into her line of vision, every pore in her face showing clear anxiety over the situation.

"Have you seen her? Jay, please, tell me-," The older of the two girls pressed a reassuring hand to Beth's shoulder.

"Beth, listen to me. I saw her go left a few seconds ago. She's fine, she'll get tired soon. You'll catch up with her in no time, okay?" Beth nodded her head with every word, her face morphing into one of relief.

"Thanks Jay," She gave her friend a tilt of the head and a pat on the arm. No more words were uttered for Beth hurriedly twisted on her heel, jogging off into the direction that Hannah had gone. Jayden grimaced as the blood continuously pumped out of her nostrils.

"Fuck me! Son of a bitch!" She exclaimed rather loudly as she touched the epicentre of her pain. Must of hit a rock or something. With extreme gentleness, she pinch her nose in hope that she could suppress the bleeding. After doing so, she made her way right, where the twins had disappeared to, wanting to make sure the that the pair of them were alright.

Unexpectedly, a screech that was unlike anything she'd ever heard in her life emitted from the trees to her left. It chilled her to the bone, dread beginning to cling onto her exposed skin. Whatever made that noise definitely wasn't human nor something she would want to cross paths with.

"What the..." The noise came again, this time closer to her than it had been before.

There was a rustle in the trees from behind her, which made her come to a standstill. She knew it came out of the woods for there were footsteps padding in the snow. Every part of her was trembling viciously as she glanced behind her. What she was staring at made the dread come back at full force. It screeched at her, obviously being able to see her now. Not being able to be told twice, she simply sprinted to the left side if the trail, making sure whatever that best was didn't get to Beth and Hannah.

It was unlike anything she'd ever seen before and quite frankly something she never wanted to have to see it again. The monster was hot on her heels, so she pushed herself as best as she could but her breathing was becoming more laboured and unsteady. Her muscles protest at the speed she was moving at, unused to this kind of strain. The adrenaline had mostly been drained after using it to chase after Hannah earlier one. This was all ultimately her downfall for she felt something tear her back.

Jayden let out a cry of agony when - what she assumed to be - the creature's claws slice the length of her back. Tears leaked out of her vision, a mixture of pain and terror within them. She honestly felt like she was in a surreal nightmare that she was unable to wake up from. Blood coated her back, some of it flowing into the snow in small but rapid droplets. A wave of dizziness overcame her, bile rising to up her throat, unable to move. In her dazed mind, she knew that in this moment, she was going to die and there was nothing she could do about it.

There wasn't even time to think about her life flashing before her eyes for its hand curled around her shoulder, nails piercing all the way through her skin and coming out of her shoulder blade. With inhuman strength it lifted her off the ground, causing masses amount of affliction is bloom across the top half of her body. "Please! Please!" She begged between a sob, the monster making them come face to face. The milky white eyes only stared at her with murderous intention. Through half lidded eyes, Jayden saw it raise its free hand, building up strength to come back down for the killing blow. Knowing that there was no way out of this situation, she simply let her eyes flutter closed, praying to someone out there that it would be quick.

The next thing she knew, the monster released its grip on her and threw her away. Instantly, her eyes flew open to see fire attacking the monster at full force before the monster scrambled away from the flames. Before Jayden had the time to comprehend what the hell just happened, she slammed into the ground, her whole world going black.

-VL-

A/N; Yooooo, I hoped you liked the start of this! I'm super nervous about posting this because it's my first time doing anything like this lmao. If I've made any mistakes about things please let me know. But yeah, i've gotten into Until Dawn the moment it came out and I thought I'd give Sam some love tbh, so here it is. Thank you guys!

Also I hope you like Jayden and she doesn't appear to be a mary-sue in anyway! (Her face claim is Devery Jacobs)

I might make character stats for Jayden in present chapters but idk? let me know