I had made a mental promise to myself when I was down here with Emily to never go back down to the mines. But a lot of promises were broken and dreams shattered tonight, so to them we went.
"Are you sure you want to come with me?" Mike asked, his voice sad a tired.
"Do I look like I'm about to turn tail and ditch you?" I rolled my eyes playfully.
"It's just that… it's like you said before, I don't want to lose anyone else tonight." He looked meaningfully at the path ahead. It was so quiet the sound of the branch breaking beneath a claw was deafening. I turned just in time to see the flaming wendigo barreling towards us.
We ran to the big metal entrance to the mine, Mike trying to close the door behind us. Its blazing hands latched onto the entrance and knocked open the door. The inflamed monster tackled me to the ground, claws slicing at my face. I barely got a glimpse at the shocked blond.
"Hey fatty! Over here!" Sam shouted. She smacked the beast with a metal bar. It stood to attack, but she moved faster, hitting it again, the beast's scalding head was sent flying into the snow. Mike quickly shut the door and used the empty gun to make sure nothing else would be getting in.
"You okay?" he stuck out his hand to help me up, but I didn't need it.
"Uhh… define okay?" Sam snapped.
"Alive for a start," Mike glanced at me, then back at her, "the hell are you doing here anyway?"
"I was gonna warn you about the wendigos."
"We found that out soon enough," I laughed, brushing the ash off my torn jeans. I pulled the small blond into a hug. "I am so glad to see you right now."
"I wasn't sure if I'd ever see you two again." She smiled, taking my hand and started to lead me into the caves. The damp walls reverberated every small step we took, turning a small pitter-patter into thundering stomps. As the three of us made our decent, the voices in my head didn't seem to be in my head anymore.
"I don't take orders from you," the voice was almost too quiet to notice.
"Did you hear that?" I turned to the others.
"You can't tell me what to do," it continued.
"Hear what?" Mike wondered, clearly getting a little worried.
"I trust you," the speaker became recognizable.
"That," I started walking faster toward the sound. My pace quickened when the whispers turned to screams.
"I didn't want you to die," hearing Josh's voice was both relieving and heartbreaking. "I swear." More shouts followed.
"Lex wait!" Sam called.
"Leave me alone! Why are you doing this?" Josh yelled. Small but strong hands wrapped around my arms.
"Alexis, there is nothing there," Sam said sternly.
"Yes there is, y-you're just not listening." I cried. Sam gripped my wrists as we reached an underground lake. She cringed and hopefully looked for another way around. "Mike…" fear spread across her face as she stared at a pile of long white rocks. "Is that what I think it is?" No, no rocks… bones.
"It looks like a grave," he sighed. Sam picked up a strap of leather and gaped at the back. Beth W.
"Oh god," she panicked. "This is Beth's. This is her watch."
"What?" Mike exclaimed, "Let me see." They both observed the watch.
"There was a cross here," Sam perceived.
"I've seen it," I commented blankly. "This is where the rest of her body was buried.
"The rest, what do you mean the rest?" Sam asked.
"Em and I found Beth's," I took a deep breath, "we found her head."
"Oh my god!" the other girl cried. "Well- if she was buried, then who dug her up?"
"I don't think I want to know." I muttered putting an end to the conversation.
"Let's keep moving," Mike sighed.
The water was like dropping into a pool of ice. The entire bottom half of my body went numb in a matter of seconds. Sam was hesitant.
"Come on, it's okay." Mike reassured her.
"Are you sure?" she didn't move.
"I'm not dead yet." He shrugged.
"Famous last words," she mumbled, sliding in. "I can't feel my fingers," she whined. The bottom of the lake started to drop and I had to kick my numb legs to keep afloat. "Wait a minute," Sam noticed the depth change. "I thought you'd reached the deepest part."
"I didn't say that," Mike corrected, "I said it was okay, meaning like there weren't any sharks or anything in here."
"I'm pretty sure sharks are the least of our worries." I snorted, my teeth chattering. I made my way over to a ledge that led nowhere. "Hold on guys, I just need out for a minute before my toes freeze off."
"Yeah, okay." Sam agreed. We all pulled ourselves up onto the rock. White paper stuck out from the dark ground. It was a journal.
"This looks like Hannah's writing," Mike observed.
"My little sister is dead," I read the first line. "The fall killed her. I watched the color drain from her face." My eyes grew hot with tears. "Oh my god, Hannah s-she didn't die." Sam turned a few pages.
"I'm sorry Beth… I have no choice," she read in a quiet voice, "It's the only way I can survive anymore. If someone finds this, I'm sorry." Her voice cracked. "I had to… I had no choice."
"What does it mean?" Mike asked, clearly not wanting an answer, "Jesus." We read the next two pages, listening to Hannah describe the transformation. Hungry. Hungry. Hungry.
"She turned into one," I whispered. "Hannah dug up Beth and the s-she ate- she ate her own sister. Her twin."
"No," Mike shook his head, "that's ridiculous."
"Michael, it has to be," Sam agreed. "It's the only thing that makes sense. Beth died in the fall."
"So what- what does that mean?" Mike still wouldn't listen.
"So Hannah buried her," Sam continued. "Hannah was down here… for…"
"I don't believe any of this!" He shouted.
"Why Michael?" I snapped, thoughts of blame forming in my head. "Do you feel it? The guilt? After all, you were the reason Hannah was out there in the first place." He expression morphed into realization and hurt.
"Alexis I-"
"You know what Mike? All this time I've been blaming Emily and Jess for what they did, but I forgot about the star player."
"Alexis, that's enough!" Sam brought her hand down on my shoulder, causing a stinging pain form the gash. I couldn't stop the tears from pouring down my face like rainfall.
"Well guess what Michael!" I screamed. "You may have been the reason she ran, but I'm the one who never saved her. I'm the reason she was stuck down here!"
"What do you mean?" Mike questioned.
"They weren't just dreams Mike." I told him and Sam about the nightmares and what Em and I discovered in the mines. "If I had realized everything was real sooner, I could have saved Hannah." They both stared at me for a moment and then looked at each other.
"We need to go find Josh," Sam commanded gently, "Right now." We entered back into the bone chilling water and waded past the unmoving mill.
"We're gonna make it," Mike assured, more to himself then to us.
"God, don't jinx it!" Sam groaned. We hopped out of the freezing lake and Sam opened a big metal door, letting more liquid splash through. She let out a scream when the freshly severed head landed at my feet. It was the flame-thrower guy, but half of his face was already decaying, showing the skull underneath.
"Do you see that?"Sam shone her headlight to the ceiling, where the old man's body swayed on a hook.
"I'm gonna be sick." Mike gagged, turning away. I started to hyperventilate as more bodies appeared. Matt, with the hook through his chin. Emily, with a bullet hole in her eye. Even I was up there, the lower half of my body torn to shreds by the spikes of the warehouse. "Hold one," Mike peered through the boards separating us from the next part of the mine. "I think I saw something." Sam and I looked as well.
"No… no no… I don't… I don't take orders from you," Josh cried. We all went through a wood door and ran towards him.
"Hey Josh," Mike exclaimed, but it was like he couldn't see us." Josh?"
"You can't tell me what to do anymore."
"Buddy?"
"What's the matter with him?" Sam asked.
"His tripping or something." I flinched as Mike slapped Josh, just hard enough to snap him out of it.
"M-Mike?" He stuttered. "Don't hit me p-please."
"Josh!" I collapsed into his arms. "I knew you'd be okay." I sobbed into his chest. "I knew you wouldn't leave me."
"Alexis?" He pushed me back to make sure it was really me. "You-you're really here?"
"It's me Josh, and I'm never leaving you again." I cupped his face in my hands and pulled him into a kiss, forgetting about the other two.
Sam and Josh are back. Yeah! Anyway, I just wanted to let you guys know that a lot is going to happen in the next chapter and I wanted to thank you all for sticking with me this far.