Jessica was waiting for Mike and Sam when they arrived at the apartment. She had the backpacks in hand ready to load them into the car. Mike figured the weapons were still in the house. He and Jessica didn't have a lot of neighbors but it was better to be safe than sorry and keep the weapons exposure to a minimum. He also noticed that Jessica had one extra bag that he didn't recall packing. It then dawned on him what was in the bag and he smiled. Jessica had packed him an overnight bag with a change of clothes, soap, shampoo, toothpaste and toothbrush. All day he had been focused on packing his supplies for Blackwood Mountain that he didn't even think about packing the basic items. Fortunately, Jessica did.

"What did I do to deserve such an amazing girl?" Mike thought to himself.

It was at that point that he noticed that Sam was looking at him funny. Looking at his reflection in the rearview mirror, he realized why. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts about Jessica that he was practically grinning like an idiot. He quickly returned his focus to backing the car into the driveway. When Mike and Sam got out of the car, Jessica was about to give Sam a hug when she noticed Mike shaking his head. Given Sam's mental state, an unexpected hug might set her off. So Jessica instead offered her hand which Sam reluctantly shook. It was then that Jessica noticed Sam's outfit.

"Is that all you're wearing to the mountain Sam?" she asked. "It's still pretty cold up there."

"Really?" Sam said pretending to sound surprised. "Why didn't I think of…oh that's right. All my stuff is in boxes getting ready to go to the nuthouse."

"What?"

"Oh, do I need to repeat myself Miss Supermodel? I was on my way to the nuthouse when Mike came and got me. Apparently I'm…"

"Sam," Mike interrupted, "would you load the bags into the trunk please? Jess and I will get the rest of the stuff and we'll see if we have a spare coat that we can loan you."

Sam looked at Mike like he had asked a dumb question, "when did I become the bag lady Mike? How about you take care of the bags and I will get my own damn coat."

Normally Mike would have done what Sam suggested to avoid an argument. In this case however, he couldn't. Letting Sam near a firearm didn't seem like the best idea at that point. He knew he would have to trust her with a weapon once they got to the mountain but first they needed to get there. Until then, he would be the only one allowed to handle them.

"Please Sam," he said, "if you want to go inside for a bit when we're done, that's fine but let's just get the car loaded first."

Sam rolled her eyes but she did what Mike asked. Mike and Jessica meanwhile went into the house to get the weapons and a coat for Sam. The weapons were laid out on the table in the kitchen. While Mike went to get them, Jessica went to the closet where they kept their coats. She managed to find a jacket similar to the one she wore on the mountain only this one was colored red. Mike joined her after grabbing the weapons and reached into the closet to grab his coat. It was the same tattered olive-green army jacket that he acquired from the sanatorium. As he put the coat on, he noticed Jessica had a concerned look on her face.

"You alright?" he asked.

"I was about to ask the same thing about Sam," Jessica replied, "I realize I'm not one of Sam's favorite people. After all, I was the one who came up with the idea for the prank we pulled on Hannah last year. The thing is Sam has never said anything like that to me before. Plus she snapped at you for making a simple request. She's hardly snapped at anyone the entire time I've known her. What's going on with her? "

Mike sighed, "something's happened to Sam since that night. You should have seen her place Jess. It was a mess. She also told me that her parents made her go see a psychiatrist and he recommended that she should be checked into a hospital for observation. Long story short, he thinks that Sam was so traumatized that she can't feel any emotions anymore. From what I saw when I picked her up, I think he was right to be concerned."

"And yet you're still planning to take her with you?" Jessica said with shock in her voice.

"Don't you start Jess. I already went through this with Sam. The important thing is that she is willing to help. It may not be for the right reasons and her mental state may be in question but she's the only one who can help me with this so I'm not going to be picky."

Mike made a move to head for the door but Jessica grabbed his arm to stop him, "Mike, what you're doing is going to be dangerous enough without having a mentally unstable girl with you. You obviously kept her outside because you didn't want her handling the weapons. Why are you bringing her along if you don't even trust her?"

"I do trust her. Regardless of what may be happening with her now, she saved my life on the mountain and for a brief moment at her house I saw a bit of the old Sam try to emerge. I'm not saying this might somehow make her better. The truth is I'm well aware that this could make her worse. I'm hoping though that if we find Josh alive up there, her love for him might snap her out of this."

The tears appearing in Jessica's eyes told Mike that she still wasn't convinced. Mike used his free hand to lift her chin up and locked eyes with her.

"We'll be fine Jess. The only people we need to worry about are Josh and the rescue workers. With Sam's help, reluctant as it may be, I will have a better chance of getting us all out of those mines alive."

That time Mike's words helped Jessica muster a small smile. She brought Mike's face closer and the two shared a kiss. The kiss would have lasted longer but the mood was interrupted when a car horn was heard outside followed by Sam calling out for Mike asking if he was coming out soon. The kiss was broken and Mike gave Jessica one final hug before heading for the door.

"Be safe," Jessica called out, "I'll be here waiting for you to come home."

Mike turned to face Jessica and smiled. With his army jacket on, he felt like a soldier saying good-bye to their loved one before leaving for war. Except he knew this wasn't a war. He was going to be trying to rescue people from what he considered to be hell itself. Still he had to keep his brave face on for Jessica.

"I'll be home soon," he said, "I love you, Jess."

"I love you too, Mike"

With that final goodbye said, Mike closed the door and joined Sam at the car. Silently Mike was wishing that he hadn't told Jessica he would be home soon. It was like he was promising her he would come back even though he knew that the odds were stacked highly against that happening. He shook his head. He was thinking negatively again. If he wanted to have any chance of saving Josh and the rescue workers, he needed to believe that he would.

"I will do it," he thought to himself, "I will save them, I will come back to Jess and we will finally be able to put Blackwood Mountain behind us once and for all."

Mike's thoughts were interrupted when Sam spoke, "you seriously hung onto that ugly coat?"

"What?" Mike replied as he loaded the weapons into the trunk. "I like it. It makes me look like an action hero. Besides, it's my good luck charm."

"Whatever you say Rambo," Sam chuckled as she took the red coat from Mike and put it on, "good thing Jess and I are about the same size. So what now fearless leader?"

"Now we head to Blackwood Mountain. I'll tell you the plan on the way."

"Oh you have a plan?" Sam said while she and Mike got in his car, "I'm sure it will work great…until we get there and realize that we're screwed."

Mike sighed. This was going to be a long trip. He started up the car and pulled out of the driveway. Their destination: Blackwood Mountain.

Silence, awkward silence. That was the only sound that came from inside the car for the majority of Mike and Sam's trip. Mike couldn't remember any car trip he had been on that even came close to the level of quiet their trip was at. In previous car trips, he at least had the radio to keep him entertained. The one time he tried to turn it on this trip was stopped when Sam slapped him on the hand. That moment also ruled out the possibility for small talk. If Mike got that kind of a reaction from Sam just for trying to turn on the radio, he didn't want to know what kind he would get if he tried to talk to her. Just like when he talked to Sam at the police station, he felt like he was navigating a minefield only this time the mines were everywhere and a step in any direction might cause an explosion. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he nearly missed the exit he was looking for. Apparently confused by Mike's choice to exit where he did, Sam finally broke the silence.

"This isn't the way to the mountain," she said, "why are you exiting here?"

Relieved to now have a reason to talk to Sam, Mike explained that they were exiting to spend the night at a cheap motel close to the mountain and then they would make the rest of the trip in the morning. Sam was surprised that Mike wasn't having them go straight to the mountain but Mike said it was the right thing to do. Between his lack of sleep the previous night and the fact he had been up all day preparing for the trip, he needed to get a good night's sleep before their mission could begin. The last thing he wanted was to get himself killed because he slipped up due to fatigue. Waiting until morning to head to the mountain gave them one other advantage. According to the stranger's journal, wendigos only hunted at night. They may still run into one during the day but at least the wendigos wouldn't be actively looking for them.

Since the silence was already broken, Mike decided to use the opportunity to explain the plan for when they got to the mountain in the morning. Upon arrival, they would head for the sanatorium. With the rescue parties trying to get in through the main mine entrance and continuing to search for Josh around the Washington estate, the sanatorium entrance to the mines was their best bet for getting in unnoticed. Even though Mike had to set it on fire to flee some wendigos, he felt they should still be able to enter it and find the entrance to the mines Mike used. They would then make their way to the wendigos' lair. They would still search for survivors on the way but the lair was where the wendigos would take anyone they managed to catch. When Mike had finished going over the plan, they pulled into the motel parking lot.

"Wow," Sam said when she got out of the car and got a good look at the motel, "you weren't kidding about looking for someplace cheap. This looks like the kind of place only a criminal would stay at."

"What did you expect?" Mike said as he grabbed his and Sam's overnight bags from the trunk, "after all the money I spent on the supplies, I didn't have a lot left over for sleeping accommodations. I couldn't even afford to get us separate rooms."

The last comment caused Sam to raise an eyebrow at Mike, "so you and I will be sharing a room? Okay but I should probably let you know that I like to cuddle."

"SAM!" Mike scolded as he slammed the trunk shut.

Again Mike found himself surprised by his sudden outburst. To his relief, no one inside the motel appeared to have heard him. He took some quick breaths to calm down. Why was Sam insisting on testing his patience?

"I asked for the motel to have a roll away bed put in the room," he said sternly, "you can sleep on the double bed while I take the roll away. No one is sharing a bed with anyone, am I clear?"

Sam let out a surprised whistle before giving Mike a mock salute, "yes sir. Wow you can't take a joke can you, Mike?"

"Sorry Sam but I find it kind of hard to be in a joking mood when I'm busy thinking about what we're doing tomorrow."

After checking in, Mike and Sam entered their room. It wasn't any better looking than the motel itself but as long as it had beds and a working bathroom, that was all they were going to need. They then took turns using the bathroom to change into their pajamas and brush their teeth. Sam even took the time to shower, much to Mike's relief as Sam's days without showering made her stink up the car their entire trip. With nothing more to do until morning, Mike and Sam climbed into their respected beds. Mike was about to turn off the light when he noticed Sam giving him the creepy smile again and patting the empty half of her bed.

"Feel free to come over here if you have any trouble sleeping on that bed," she said teasingly, "this bed is really comfortable."

Mike could not turn off the light and hide under his covers quick enough. He could hear Sam giggling as she laid down to sleep. A shiver went up Mike's spine as he heard Sam's teasing words in his head again. What happened to you Sam, he thought to himself as a tear appeared in his eye. Four of his friends were dead and one of them could be near death at that very moment but the thing that was now scaring Mike the most was the thought that he could lose Sam even if she did survive their mission. He began thinking back to the considerate, gentle girl Sam was before the tragedy and wondered if he would ever see that girl again.

Before going to sleep, Mike pulled out his phone. He searched through the photos on it until he found the one he was looking for. It was the photo he took with Jessica on the mountain. If it hadn't been for the fact that Jessica saved the photo onto a cloud that Mike had access to, they would have lost the photo when Jessica lost her phone that night. The photo was Mike's favorite of the two of them. Even though things went to hell shortly after it was taken, he loved it because it showed them happy and in love.

"Good night Jess," he said quietly, "I'll be home soon."

Mike woke up after having a much better night's sleep than he had the previous night. Silently he hoped it wouldn't be the last time he did. It took a little effort waking up Sam but the two were soon checked out of the motel and traveling the final leg of their trip to Blackwood Mountain. They had to forgo taking the shuttle that Sam took the previous trip due to the difficulties they would have had bringing the shotgun on board. So they took the car all the way to the shuttle drop off area. Fortunately they weren't the only ones that took their car to that point as several of the rescue workers' cars were parked around the area. At least no one would notice an additional car had joined the group for awhile. The first thing they did when they got out of the car was unpack their supplies. Sam constantly tried to grab one of the weapons but Mike was able to snatch them before she could.

"Really Mike?" Sam asked. "We're going to fight monsters and you want me to go in unable to defend myself?"

"We're likely not going to run into anything until we get to the sanatorium," Mike replied, "until we get there, I will hang onto the weapons. I will also take the backpack with the food and water. You can take the backpack that has the lanterns and first-aid kit."

Sam wasn't buying the reason for why Mike wouldn't let her have a weapon but held up her hands in surrender and took the backpack Mike asked her to take. Mike meanwhile put on the two ammo belts so that they formed an "X" on his body, put on the backpack with the food and water, tucked the flare gun into his pants and held onto the shotgun. If the army jacket didn't already make him look like an action hero, he did now with all the supplies.

Needing nothing else from the car, Mike and Sam proceeded to the cable car station and rode the car up to the mountain. When they got off the cable car, Mike stopped for a minute as he mentally relieved the snowball fight he had with Jessica in that very spot their last time on the mountain. Of course it was more of a one sided snowball fight as it saw him getting hit by Jessica several times while he failed to hit her once. Still it had a great ending as he managed to pin her to the ground and they shared a kiss.

"How could a night that started off so wonderful go so horribly wrong?" Mike thought.

"Uh…Earth to Mike," Sam said snapping Mike back to the present, "we're wasting the daylight you wanted us to have. Let's go."

The remaining distance to the sanatorium had to be covered on foot. It was going to be a long trip already but trying to avoid the search parties was going to make it longer. Mike and Sam had several close calls along the way but were always able to hide behind the available cover and avoid being seen. During one of those close calls, Mike was even able to overhear a conversation between two volunteers discussing the trapped rescue workers in the mine…and Josh.

"Why are we still looking for the Washington kid?" the first volunteer said. "If he was alive up here three weeks ago, there's no way he'd be alive now. We should be back at the mine entrance helping the others with the digging."

"You do realize they're probably dead as well," the other volunteer replied. "they've been down there long enough that they probably died of dehydration. Besides, we've had people digging all week and we're still not making any progress. The best thing for us to do is divide and conquer. The Washington's were never able to give their daughters a proper burial so we need to try and give them the chance to do it for their son."

"Pfft yeah right. You heard the same stories I did. The Washington kid brought nothing but stress to his family because of his mental problems. Then he went and invited his friends up here on the anniversary of his sisters' death of all days to subject them to a psychological prank. He probably snapped and decided to try and kill them instead. The way I see it, he killed those kids and now no one, not even his parents will give a rat's ass about what happened to him up here."

It might have been Mike's imagination but he could have sworn that he saw anger on Sam's face when she heard the last comment by the volunteers. He almost dreaded thinking about what she would have done if he had let her have a weapon. There was something else about the volunteers' comments that bothered him. They said they had been digging all week but had not been making progress. All that digging should have cleared the entrance by now so why hadn't it? Either the cave-in was worse than Mike thought…or something was hindering their progress. Was it possible the wendigos were smart enough to find ways to do that. He wasn't able to think about the matter further as the two volunteers had gone. With the path now clear, he and Sam continued on their way. There were a few more close calls but eventually they reached the sanatorium and Mike was surprised by what they found.

"It's….it's still standing," Mike said.

The sanatorium looked almost exactly like it did during Mike's last trip through it, even with the additional fire damage. Mike guessed that it was because the building was already in rough shape and couldn't get much worse short of it crumbling down. With his knowledge of the building's layout, they would be able to find the entrance to the mine in no time. They even had the added advantage of daylight to help light up the interior of the sanatorium. This meant they could save their lanterns until they entered the mine itself.

"You know Mike," said Sam, "there's an expression that says appearances can be deceiving. Just because this place looks sturdy on the outside doesn't mean it's sturdy on the inside."

Mike nodded as he reached into his coat pocket, "I know Sam. Just stay close to me and I'll get us through. Especially because I still have this."

Mike removed his hand from his pocket which now held a card with several holes punched into it.

"What's that?" Sam asked.

"It's an ID card that will allow us to take a quicker path through some locked doors. I didn't even realize I still had it until I found it in my laundry one day. Just…don't ask me where I originally found this card."

Sam was about to disregard Mike's request but he picked up on it and gave her a mean look to reinforce his point. She once again held up her hands in surrender and turned to walk into the sanatorium. Before she could, Mike told her to wait. When she turned to see what was wrong, she was surprised to see Mike was taking off the ammo belt with the flares and pulling out the flare gun. He then held them out for Sam to take.

"I told you that I would give you a weapon once we got to the sanatorium," he said, "we're here."

Sam stared at Mike for a moment trying to see if he was tricking her. When he still had the weapons held out, she carefully took them. She then put on the ammo belt and loaded the flare gun with one of the flares and tucked it in her pants.

"Remember that you only get one shot before you have to reload," Mike continued, "the smart thing to do when we run into a wendigo is to let me stun it with the shotgun and then you finish it off with the flare gun."

"Great plan Mike except for one thing," said Sam, "the flamethrower guy's journal said that you should try NOT to kill wendigos. Something about how killing them causes the wendigo spirit to be released into the air."

"Trust me Sam, I understand the reasoning behind that warning but we're trying to rescue sixteen people and it will be a lot easier the fewer wendigos there are. As for the wendigo spirits, they're only a problem if there is someone on this mountain for it to possess. Once we get everyone off the mountain, we will ensure no one ever comes back here and then there will be no one for the wendigo spirit to possess. No matter what happens today, no one will ever fall prey to the curse of the wendigo again."

Sam chuckled and began slow clapping, "wonderful speech Mike. You really know how to motivate the troops before a suicide mission."

Mike rolled his eyes and brought up his shotgun as he proceeded to enter the sanatorium with Sam following right behind him.