A/N: Hello and welcome to Until Dawn: Back to the Nightmare. This story is a first for me for two reasons. This is my first time writing a non-Mass Effect story and my first time writing a horror story. Before we begin, I would like to go over a couple of things.

First, Until Dawn is one of my favorite video games of all time. To me, it is the perfect example of a horror game done right and the butterfly effect choice system really made me think hard before making a decision that could result in the death of one of the characters. So why am I writing this story if I though the game was perfect as it is? Well, just like with Mass Effect, there was something about the ending that bothered me. One of the things we were told about this game was that based on your choices, either all, some or none of the eight main characters would survive until dawn. For the most part, that is an accurate statement. But the truth is there is one character who doesn't "survive" in any of the endings: Josh. One of Josh's fates has his head crushed so we know he's dead in that ending. The only other fate for Josh is that he is found by search parties but he has turned into a wendigo. Josh may not have been a saint but I feel that he deserved at least one ending where he wasn't either dead or turned into a monster. So I'm writing this story to give Josh a true survival ending.

Next, while the game is about choices affecting the story, there are some things in the game that happen regardless of choice. In this story, I'm going to be altering one of those events so unfortunately this story will not be 100% canon. Just wanted to warn you so that you won't be surprised when something impossible happens.

Special thanks to Bembiann for allowing me to use her artwork for the cover image. The original artwork can be found on her deviantart account. Just search for the piece titled "Wolfie". While you're there, check out her other Until Dawn related artwork because they are all really good.

Disclaimer: The universe and many of the characters in this story are the property of Supermassive Games and Sony Computer Entertainment.

With all that said, I hope you all enjoy Until Dawn: Back to the Nightmare.


"Just wait in here Michael."

Michael "Mike" Munroe entered the room the officer brought him to. To his relief it wasn't another interrogation room like the one he had been in for the last few hours. This room looked more like it was somebody's office. He took a seat on a couch and let out a frustrated sigh. The room was nice but it was hard for him to like it since he didn't know why he was there in the first place.

"You haven't told me why I'm still here," he said stopping the officer from leaving, "the detective said that she didn't have any more questions for me so why can't I go home yet?"

"Couldn't tell you," the officer replied, "I was just told by one of the other detectives that there was someone here who wanted to see you and that I was supposed to bring you in here to wait for them. Before you ask, I don't know who the person that wants to see you is either. Just wait in here and someone will be with you shortly."

With the officer gone, there was nothing for Mike to do but wait and think about everything that had happened in the past thirteen hours…which was the last thing he wanted to do.

A few days ago, Mike and six of his friends were invited by their friend, Joshua "Josh" Washington, to spend a weekend at the mountain estate Josh's family owned. Most of the group had been nervous about going because exactly one year ago they were at the same location when something terrible happened. On that day, they had pulled a prank on Josh's sister Hannah who, embarrassed because she fell for it, ran out into the woods. She was followed by Beth, Josh's other sister and Hannah's twin, who went out to comfort her. Neither one of them were seen again. Coming back to the estate on the anniversary of the twins' disappearance seemed creepy to the group but they wanted to be there for Josh and the weekend retreat was planned. The weekend didn't last more than one night and that night had become the longest and most horrific night of Mike's life.

For the past few hours, Mike had been recapping to the police the events that followed the group's arrival at the estate the previous night. First he talked about how his girlfriend, Jessica had been abducted from the guest cabin they were staying in and how he found her badly wounded in the nearby abandoned mines before watching her fall down an elevator shaft. Then he recounted how the group found out that Josh had actually brought them up to the mountain to subject them to a psychological prank where he pretended to be a psychopath who was stalking and attempting to kill them. Josh claimed it was all just a prank and that he wasn't actually going to hurt anyone but the revelation made Mike believe that Josh had killed Jessica. He decided for the safety of the group that Josh was to be tied up in the neighboring shed and the group would wait in the lodge for the authorities they called to arrive in the morning.

It was after that part of the story that the interview began to get complicated. Mike was unsure about how much he should tell the police about what happened next because he didn't know if the police would even believe him. If Mike hadn't been there and saw what happened himself, even he would think his story was crazy. Ultimately he decided to tell the truth. If the police thought he was crazy, so be it. People needed to know what monstrosities were on that mountain. They needed to know about what took the lives of Jessica, Josh and his friends Matt, Chris, Emily and Ashley so that no one would ever go up to Blackwood Mountain again and possibly go through a similar, terrible experience.

Starting with after he tied Josh up in the shed, Mike explained that a stranger came to the lodge to warn him and his friends that they were still in danger. According to the stranger, the mountain was home to a curse that turned people who resorted to cannibalism into monsters called wendigos. Wendigos were nocturnal monsters with incredible speed, strength and a hunger for human flesh. Hearing the story made Mike realize that it was actually a wendigo and not Josh that took Jessica. The stranger instructed Mike and his friends to hide in the basement until dawn. Mike however felt that hiding just made them sitting ducks for the wendigos and left the lodge to find Josh, who Mike believed had to have the key that operated the mountain's cable car. Unfortunately Josh had been abducted from the shed and Mike was forced to go into the mines to look for him. He eventually found the wendigo's den where Josh and the key were located. He then began leading Josh out of the mines but they were attacked by a wendigo that was hiding in a lake they had to cross through. The wendigo went after Mike first but he managed to break free and find a safe spot to hide. His initial thought was to go out and help Josh but he was stopped when he heard Josh screaming. There was nothing Mike could do as he heard Josh's scream suddenly cease and the wendigo leave the area. Saddened by losing Josh, Mike went back to the lodge to meet up with his friends and await rescue. Unfortunately he found that some of the wendigos had managed to get inside the lodge. As fire was the only thing that could kill wendigos, Mike took advantage of a gas leak caused by the wendigos to set off an explosion that set the whole lodge on fire and killed the wendigos inside. The rescue helicopters arrived immediately afterward and Mike was evacuated from the mountain and brought to the police station he was in now.

The detective interviewing him didn't say anything as Mike told his story but Mike could tell by her expression that she didn't believe him. She probably thought he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and it was causing him to remember things that didn't really happen. That was probably why Mike was not sure he could even believe the detective when she said she would take his warnings about the mountain into consideration when deciding the next course of action for her investigation. Still Mike silently prayed that she would keep people away from the mountain as there were likely still some wendigos alive up there.

Now as Mike continued waiting in the office, a tear fell down his face. The toughest part about reliving the whole ordeal was it made him relive the deaths of his friends. Besides Jessica and Josh, four more of his friends were killed during the events of the previous night. Matt was the first to die after Jessica. He was with Emily in a fire tower where they managed to alert the authorities to the groups' plight. Suddenly the tower fell over and Matt and Emily were separated. It was unclear what had happened to Matt afterwards but Mike finding his body in the wendigo's den confirmed he didn't survive.

The next to die was Chris. While the rest of the group did what the stranger suggested and hid in the basement, Chris chose to go out with the stranger and rescue Josh who was still tied up in the shed. Unfortunately they were attacked by a wendigo shortly after arriving there. The wendigo killed the stranger but Chris was able to make a break for the lodge. Mike and Ashley, Chris' crush, were waiting in the lodge to let Chris back inside. For a moment it looked like Chris was going to make it. Then, the wendigo managed to pin Chris down and severed his head. As Chris' head rolled towards the lodge, Ashley fell down to her knees in tears while Mike struggled to keep his composure so that he could get Ashley down to the basement with the others.

Similar to Matt, Mike didn't know what exactly happened to Ashley. He had left her in the basement with their friend Sam. Shortly after Mike left to look for Josh, Ashley and Sam left the basement to warn Mike about the wendigos he was going to run into on the way. At some point, the two got separated. It wasn't until Mike and Sam made it to the wendigo's den that he found Ashley's severed head confirming that she was dead too.

Besides Jessica's death, Emily's death was the one that haunted Mike the most. Unlike the others who were killed by wendigos, it was Mike who was responsible for Emily's death. While hiding in the basement and before Mike left to get the cable car key, it was discovered that Emily had been bitten by a wendigo before she returned to the lodge after her trip to the fire tower. Both Mike and Ashley were concerned that the bite might have been infectious and Emily would soon turn into a wendigo. Despite Emily saying she was fine, Mike gave her a choice to either leave the basement or he was going to shoot her with a gun he found when exploring the sanatorium. Emily refused and before Mike knew what happened, he had pulled the trigger and shot Emily in the head. Though initially distraught over what he had just done, Mike rationalized that he did what he had to so that Sam and Ashley would be safe. To his horror however, he later learned from Sam that Ashley had found an entry in the stranger's journal that said a wendigo bite was not infectious. In short, he had killed Emily for nothing.

A new thought then entered Mike's head. When it was initially believed that the group was being stalked by a psychopath, he had told Sam that before he went after the psycho, he wanted to make sure everyone was safe and accounted for. Even after it was revealed that the wendigos were the real threat, Mike's primary concern was getting his friends off the mountain. With all but one of his friends now dead, Mike felt as if he had failed. Worse still, he felt that he was partially responsible for their deaths. He failed to save Jess, Chris went out to get Josh who was only tied up in the shed because Mike suggested it, Ashley was killed helping Sam locate Mike, he failed to save Josh in the mines and, of course, he unnecessarily killed Emily. Even though he couldn't blame himself for Matt's death, everything else still made Mike wonder whether he deserved to be alive when he couldn't save his friends.

Mike shook his head to snap himself out of his train of thought and focus on the question that was currently bothering him. Who could possibly be wanting to see him? It couldn't be his parents. They were out of town on business. Before Mike could consider any other possibilities, the door to the office opened and Mike gasped when he saw who was on the other side.

"Jessica?"

It was his girlfriend Jessica. She was alive. Mike could just make out the scratches he saw on Jessica before she fell down the shaft but other than that and some new minor injuries she was alive.

"Mike!" Jessica said as she ran to Mike and hugged him.

Mike didn't do anything right away as he was still surprised to see Jessica alive. After watching her fall down the elevator shaft, he thought for sure that she was dead. He was then snapped out of his thought when he heard Jessica crying. Tears started forming in his eyes too as he wrapped his arms around her. For the first time in hours, Mike was happy. His girlfriend was alive and in his arms again.

"Oh Jess," he said, "I thought I'd lost you."

"I thought I'd lost you too Mike. When the detective that was questioning me said that you were here, I told him I wasn't answering any more questions until I saw you. Oh Mike, thank God you're all right."

Mike and Jessica broke their hug and it was only then that Jessica saw Mike's own injuries.

"Mike," she gasped, "what happened to you?"

"I should be asking you the same question," Mike replied, "Jess, you fell down an elevator shift. How did you survive?"

Jessica bowed her head, "I…I don't remember much. After I was dragged into the mines and fell down that shaft, I lost consciousness. When I awoke, I tried to find my way out when I was suddenly being chased by….some kind of….you're going to think I'm crazy."

"Some kind of monster." Mike said finishing Jessica's sentence.

Jessica looked at Mike with surprise, "yes, how did you know?"

"It's called a wendigo. I promise I'll explain how I know that but it's a long story and this isn't the place for me to tell it. What happened next?"

Jessica wanted to ask Mike more questions but decided to trust he would answer them later and continued her story, "well the…wendigo…chased me but I was able to lose it when I found a way out of the mines. I don't remember ever being as happy to see the sun as I was when I got out of there. A helicopter found me shortly afterward and brought me here."

A thought entered Mike's head. Jessica fell down the elevator shaft sometime around midnight. The events that happened after she regained conscious probably happened over the course of an hour and not much more. If she was seeing the sunrise at that time, that meant she was unconscious in the mines for more than four hours. Which meant that…

"You were alive in the mines the whole time?"

"Yeah, why?"

Now it was Mike who was bowing his head, "Jessica I was in those mines several times last night. I could have found you but I didn't even look for you. As far as I knew you were dead. I'm glad you're alright but…I left you in those mines all by yourself. I failed you Jess. If you had died down there it would have been my fault. I don't deserve to be with you Jess. You need someone who will be there for you."

Mike sat back down on the couch and buried his face in his hands. Jessica sat down next to him and put an arm around him.

"But you were there for me Mike," she said, "when I was dragged from the cabin, you came for me. Most guys would have just stood there too afraid to do anything. But you tried to rescue me even though it meant risking your own life. When I was down in the mines, the thing that kept me going was wanting to see you again."

Jessica then pulled Mike's hands away from his face and guided his head so it was facing her.

"I love you, Mike."

When those words hit Mike's ears, he smiled. He then leaned towards Jessica and the two kissed. The kiss lasted for several seconds before Mike broke it to say, "I love you too, Jess."

For a minute, the two sat on the couch just staring at each other. The two of them were together again and for a brief moment they had forgotten about the horrors they had experienced on the mountain. They could have stayed on the couch forever just looking at each other. Unfortunately the mood was interrupted when the officer who had brought Mike to the office peeked inside and cleared his throat.

"Sorry to interrupt," he said, "Jessica, the detective said that he doesn't have any more questions for you at this time. There's a doctor waiting out here to take one last look at your injuries. If he says your injuries don't require hospitalization, then you'll be free to go. Michael, you're free to go now if you want."

Mike looked at Jessica for a second and then back to the officer, "if it's okay, I'd like to stay with Jessica."

The officer smiled, "I understand. If you both will follow me, I'll take you to the doctor."

Mike and Jessica got up from the couch and followed the officer out of the office. They walked past the detective bullpen and some interview rooms. The doctor they were going to see was waiting for them in the last interview room they past. Before they went inside, Mike noticed out of the corner of his eye someone sitting on a bench further down the hall. He turned to get a better look and saw that it was his friend Sam.

Besides being the only other survivor who got off the mountain, Sam was also the best friend of Josh's sister Hannah. When Hannah and Beth disappeared, Sam was the one Josh would talk to. The two of them became close over the past year and Mike even felt that there might have been something more going on between them. As Mike looked at Sam sitting on the bench, he knew that he needed to talk to her. It was bad enough that she lost her best friend only last year. Now that Josh and the rest of their friends were gone too, she must have been a wreck. Talking to her was the least Mike could do for her. After all, she was the one who saved his life.

In order to blow up the lodge to kill the wendigos, Mike had to break open a lightbulb. The plan was to then turn on the light and its exposed wires would spark and ignite the gas that was filling up the room. When he broke the lightbulb, it caught the attention of one of the wendigos. Sam could have taken the opportunity to flee but instead she called the wendigo over to her where she played a game of cat and mouse that bought Mike the time he needed to get to the exit. Once Mike was clear, Sam made a break for the door herself. Thanks to the fact that her actions had inadvertently caused the wendigos to fight each other, she was able to reach the door safely. She turned on the light as she exited thus igniting the gas. If it hadn't been for Sam's quick thinking, Mike probably wouldn't have survived that night.

"Is something wrong, Mike?"

Mike turned back to Jessica who was sitting on a table being looked over by the doctor and looking at Mike with a concerned expression.

"I don't know," Mike replied, "I just saw Sam down the hall. She doesn't look too good. Do you mind if I go over and talk to her for a minute. I'll be right back."

Jessica nodded, "go ahead. Tell her I'm glad she's okay."

"Will do."

Leaving Jessica with the doctor, Mike slowly made his way over to Sam. As he got closer, he could see that Sam appeared to be in worse shape than he thought. She was just staring into space and would likely jump at the slightest unexpected sight or noise. Mike quietly said Sam's name when he was close enough for her to hear him. Sam didn't react. Mike's next move would have been to tap her shoulder but he really didn't want to make her jump. So he said her name again a little louder than before. This time, Sam snapped out of whatever thought she was having and turned to face Mike.

"Hey Mike," Sam said before returning her gaze to the space in front of her.

The tone in Sam's greeting made Mike more concerned. This was their first time seeing each other since they arrived at the police station several hours ago but she didn't seem to show any happiness about seeing him again. There also didn't appear to be any indication of sadness in her voice over what happened to Josh. Mike was beginning to feel that trying to talk to Sam was going to be like walking through a minefield but he had to keep going.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" he asked pointing to the empty spot on the bench.

Sam didn't give any verbal response. Instead she shrugged her shoulders and nodded towards the empty seat. Mike took it to mean that he could sit down and sat next to Sam. Before he could think of what to say next, Sam spoke first.

"Was that Jessica I saw you with?" she asked.

Mike nodded, "yes, it was. A doctor's with…."

"I thought you said she was dead," Sam interrupted as she suddenly turned to face Mike again causing him to jump.

"Take it easy Sam," Mike replied trying to keep Sam calm, "I thought she was dead. The last time I saw her, she was in a mine elevator when it dropped down the shaft really fast. I didn't know she was alive until just a few minutes ago when she walked into an office I was waiting in. She's lucky to be alive. Not just because she fell down an elevator shaft but she told me she narrowly escaped a monster that chased her in the mines. She wasn't with us when that flamethrower guy told us about the wendigos so she didn't know the stuff that we did about them. It's a miracle she managed to escape it."

Sam stared at Mike for a second and then turned back to face in front of her, "it certainly sounds like it. It also sounds like you jumped the gun in assuming she was dead. Are you sure you didn't do the same with Josh?"

There it was. Confirmation that Mike was right. Sam was upset about what happened to Josh. Even worse, she was blaming Mike for it. Not that he could blame her. He was the one who left Josh tied up in the shed making him a sitting duck for the wendigo. With Sam's help, Mike did find Josh later in the mines but Sam took another path back to the lodge leaving Mike and Josh alone to go back to the lodge through the way Mike entered the mines. Since Sam wasn't there when the wendigo attacked Mike and Josh, it made sense she would doubt whether Josh really was killed down there.

"Sam," Mike said, "I told you what happened down there. There was nothing I could do. If I had tried to help I probably would have been killed too. I'm sorry Sam but I don't think there's any way Josh could have survived."

Sam sighed, "if you say so."

Mike waited for the tears to come but none did. Sam just continued staring in front of her. How was she not showing any kind of emotional reaction? She had been through so much last night and lost someone that she cared about. Yet it looked like she wasn't affected by either of those things in the least. Mike wanted to keep talking to try and find out more about what was going on in Sam's head but decided against it. Sam was not acting like she was in a talking mood. With no other choice, Mike got up from the bench.

"I'm going to go check on Jess," he said, "she asked me to tell you she's glad you're okay. Look Sam, if you need someone to talk to, Jess and I will…"

"I'm fine," Sam interrupted.

"Sam it's okay. We've all been through a lot. I'm just saying it might help if we…"

"I SAID I'M FINE!" Sam shouted attracting the attention of some officers that were in the hallway with them.

"Okay," Mike said calmly trying to show everyone watching there was no problem, "I'm done. See you later Sam."

Mike started making his way back to the room Jessica was in when Sam spoke again, "the police are going to search the mines for Josh."

The comment made Mike freeze in his tracks. He turned back to protest but stopped when he noticed that Sam had an almost creepy looking smile on her face.

"I told them they needed to go down there and they said they would concentrate their search efforts there," Sam continued.

Mike couldn't believe what he had just heard. Sam actually encouraged the police to go to the mines even though she knew what lived down there. He had spent the majority of his interview telling the police to make sure no one even went up the mountain let alone into the mines. It didn't matter if the police went up there with assault rifles and wearing body armor. Unless they had flamethrowers and knew wendigos' sight were keyed on movements, they wouldn't stand a chance.

"Are you crazy Sam?" he asked. "They need to stay off that mountain. They don't know what's up there."

"They will soon enough."

There was nothing left for Mike to say. He wasn't sure if he even recognized the girl that was sitting in front of him anymore. True an experience like what they had been through would change anyone but could it really change a person that much. Sam was always a caring person who always looked out for the well-being of others. She even tried to warn Hannah about the prank that Mike and the others pulled on her last year. Now she was casually sending people into the hellhole that killed five of their friends and didn't care at all what might happen to them up there. After saying another reluctant farewell to Sam, Mike walked away.

On his way back to Jessica, Mike agonized over what to do. The police had to be stopped from going into the mines. But what could he do? He already tried to tell them about the wendigos but the police didn't seem to take his warnings seriously. If he continued to protest, they would probably just declare him insane and put him in a mental institution. It might not be as bad as the sanatorium he explored on the mountain but there was no way he was letting himself end up in a place like that. As much as it pained Mike to think it, there just wasn't anything he could do. Whatever the police decided to do the next few days was out of his hands. There was only one thing for him to do now. One thing that he needed to do. He needed to try and put the events of the previous night behind him and get on with his life. It sounded like an impossible task considering what he went through but as long as he had Jessica by his side, Mike was convinced that it could be done.