Part Two

The next morning, the twins were stocking up the shelves to the gift-shop. After what they had been through the day before, they supposed that being at the Shack would beat facing a vicious creature out in the forest. The twins were just putting more snow-globes of the Mystery Shack on the nearby shelves when they heard the bell to the shop door ring. The duo turned toward the door and were taken aback by the sight of Wendy entering the shop. As Wendy made her way toward the counter, the twins noticed something was very wrong. Wendy's fiery red hair was messy and tangled and her brilliant emerald eyes looked dulled and bloodshot from what seemed to have been from lack of sleep. Wendy slumped a bit in her seat as she sat behind the counter.

"Wendy..? Are you okay?" asked Dipper, a bit concern.

"Y-yeah.. I-I'm fine.." Wendy muttered, giving him a weak smile. "I'm.. J-just kinda tired.."

Dipper and Mabel looked at her with deeper concern. Though it was a rather warm day, the twins noticed Wendy shivering as if it were the middle of winter. Dipper hesitated before gently placing a hand against Wendy's forehead. Wendy flushed slightly at the feeling of Dipper's hand touching her face. She let out a pained cough and moaned softly.

"You feel really warm.. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm f-fine.." Wendy responded, lightly batting Dipper's hand away. "I just need some sleep.."

The twins looked at Wendy, becoming more concerned by the minute.

"Wendy.." Dipper said, his concern completely evident on his face.

"C'mon guys I'm.."

Wendy suddenly stopped, clutching her gut. She let out a pained groan.

"Wendy, are you feeling okay?" asked Mabel.

Wendy only groaned in response as she stumbled a bit while heading out from behind the counter. She however, didn't get too far as she fell to the floor.

"Wendy!?" cried Dipper.

Wendy didn't respond as she stayed on her hands and knees, clenching her eyes shut. She felt a rush of pressure in her abdomen as her stomach ached.

"Wendy, what's WRONG!?" Dipper asked, deeply concerned.

Before Wendy could react or respond, she vomited onto the floor, her body shuddering from the strain. Dipper and Mabel took a startled step back. Wendy groaned and coughed painfully, wincing at the burning in her throat.

"Ugh.." Stan cringed in disgust. "Couldn't you have at least made it to the BATHROOM first!?"

Dipper turned to Stan and glowered at him.

"Kids, go get Wendy cleaned up."

Dipper's expression softened as he turned back to Wendy who was breathing quite heavily.

"C'mon, Wendy.." Dipper soothed gently. "Let's get you to the bathroom.."

They carefully helped her up. Wendy's legs wobbled as she stood up. She painfully clutched at her head.

As the twins helped Wendy along, Stan turned back to the mess on the floor.

"Can somebody clean this up?"

When the trio reached the bathroom, Wendy wasted no time collapsing to the floor in front of the toilet before emptying the contents of her stomach. Wendy's body convulsed as she continued to retch into the bowl. Dipper gently rubbed Wendy's back and Mabel carefully gathered Wendy's fiery red hair and held it back from her face.

Dipper continued to rub Wendy's back but stopped as he noticed a bit of bandaging wrapped around her left arm. Wendy whimpered in pain as she fought not to be sick again. Dipper wordlessly and carefully removed the bandaging and stared in growing horror.

"Oh. Oh my God! Wendy, what happened to your ARM!?"

Four long slashes ran down along her arm from her shoulder. The skin around the gashes looked swollen and painful. Wendy coughed in response, thankful that she wasn't throwing up anymore. She soon slumped back against the nearby wall. Wendy's eyes were unfocused as they began to drift shut.

"Wendy? Wendy!?" Dipper whimpered, giving her gentle shake.

Wendy only let out a weak groan. Acting quickly, Dipper grabbed a dampened rag and brought it to Wendy's face, where he gently wiped the remnants of vomit from her mouth. Dipper noticed she was in a cold sweat and became much more concerned. Many thoughts went through his mind about what could've happened. How did she get those gashes? Wouldn't they have begun to heal by now? Wendy did say she was sore the day before. Maybe she fell and cut up her arm. No, that can't be right.. There's no way in h*ll she'd just randomly fall and cut her arm. Besides that, the marks were obviously too parallel to each other to be made by any branch or rock.

'But what could possibly have made those marks?' Dipper wondered. He was at a loss of how Wendy had gotten this injury. Dipper began to think of what had happened the day before but couldn't think of how this could have happened. The only thing they had encountered in the forest had been.. Dipper's eyes grew wide at the implication.

"Wendy... W-why didn't you SAY anything!?"

Wendy let out a painful cough as she soon doubled over in agony on the floor. Dipper turned to Mabel with a look of pure terror on his face.

"Mabel, go get Grunkle Ford! He'll know what to do!"

Mabel nodded and soon rose to her feet and ran out of the bathroom. Dipper turned back to Wendy and held her hand.

"Wendy, stay with me! We're going to get you some HELP!"

Wendy groaned weakly in response.

"D...Dipper...?"

"Yes, I'm here.." Dipper whimpered. "Don't worry, help will be here soon.."

That was when Ford, Soos, and Stan soon hurried into the room with Mabel leading the way. Dipper turned toward them, tears forming in his eyes.

"Grunkle Ford! Y-you have to HELP her!"

Ford knelt down next to the red-haired girl and instantly recognized the slashes along her arm. He then very carefully picked Wendy up, being careful not to jostle her too much.

"We need to get her to the lab.. Now.." he stated, darkly.

With that being said, Ford hurried out of the room with everyone else following close behind him.

Author's Note: More will come soon.