MINES, 3:59 AM, 3 Hours Until Dawn
The mysterious person already spotted Jubilee hiding behind the wood planks. She screamed as he tried to grab her arm.
"Hey! Get off of me!" She yelled as she tried to break free from his grip.
The guy still did not budge and tried to silence her. "Shhh! Quiet!"
Before anyone else could react, both of them heard screeching noises, and then a monster started to approach the stranger.
"Here! Use this and get out of here!" He released Jubilee and threw a bag at her. Not looking back, she tumbled upon a ledge and fell down. The last thing she saw up there was a burst of flame. Jubilee landed hard on her back and the bag fell on her too.
"Owww... damn!" She moaned as she got up. She looked through the bag to see what was in there. It turns out the stranger gave her a bag of flares, and she grabbed one to use.
"Yes! Finally, some light!" She exclaimed as she went around the mines again.
After a few minutes, she came across a small gap between two rocks. Thinking that was the way out, Jubilee shimmied through it. However, a hand suddenly burst through the wooden boards, barely missing her.
"AGGH! WHOA SHIT!" Jubilee started sprinting fast, running from the creature. She avoided more of those hands coming her way, but accidentally missed one and caused a small scratch on her arm. She ran through more obstacles like a broken wooden bridge and a fork in the path. Right behind her was the creature the hand came from and it was very slim, but very tall and agile.
"Finally! An elevator!" Jubilee rushed to the elevator where she quickly pulled the lever to go to higher ground again. She threw off fireworks as she was going up to try distracting that creature.
"You made it, Jubes. Good girl. Just stay calm." Jubilee panted as the elevator was going up, trying to catch her breath after all that running.
She examined the scratch on her arm. "Damn! I better hope this isn't infectious!"
The elevator suddenly stopped, as it had reached the top already. Jubilee was back on snowy ground again and she ran out and the creature went after her again.
Thinking quickly, she pulled a nearby chain that made a bunch of rocks fall on it, and then used her powers on some barrels to try burning the monster down. She then came across a conveyor belt that she crawled over, and then lept off to ride another one. Afterwards she ran to a wooden building and then she looked back. The creature was still alive and was approaching her.
She had one other option...
"TAKE THIS!" Using her remaining energy, she pulled off a firework equal to a flare gun and fired it at the creature. Blinded by the flare, the creature fled, and Jubilee made it to the door.
"Ha...! Son of a bitch..." She wheezed as she collapsed. She stayed on the ground for a few seconds when she heard screeches the creature went to her again and she started running again, this time to the lodge.
MAXIMOFF LODGE, 4:18 AM
Jubilee was still running as her scream was heard from outside.
"What was that now!?" Scott asked while he was still in the shed. He rushed outside to investigate, leaving the still unconscious Pietro behind.
"LET ME IN! PLEASE! LET ME IN!" Jubilee banged on the front door as she arrived.
"Is that Jubilee?!" Kitty asked.
"Let her in, quick!" Lance instructed.
"Come on! Let's get her!" Rogue said.
"Quick quick quick!" Todd said.
The four let Jubilee in and right away, she shut the door.
"I thought I wouldn't make it!" Jubilee panted as Rogue, Kitty, and Todd escorted her to the living room.
"What happened out there?" Rogue questioned.
"There was something-"
"Where's Bobby?" Kitty asked.
"Did you guys split up or something, yo?"
"It was a monster-!" Jubilee answered.
"Wait. What?" Lance was confused. "Jubes. What do you mean there's a monster?"
"I'm trying to tell you! There was something out there, right in the woods!"
"What was it?" Kitty and Rogue said in unison.
"Relax. This was all Pietro's fault-" Todd assured Jubilee.
"No! You don't understand! This was all so real! Not the work of that madman or anything!"
"Huh?" The four were confused.
"And the worst part is? These creatures were real and they weren't human!" Jubilee followed.
"What? Tell us what happened!" Kitty was confused.
Jubilee cleared her throat. "Bobby and I... after we told you that we were getting help... the cable car was ransacked and then we went to this radio tower to contact the Institute-"
"Hey, I didn't know that was possible." Rogue commented.
"...And then we tried calling McCoy but the tower just fell! Right into these mines!"
"Mines? What mines?" Lance asked.
"There were these mine shafts all over the mountain. When that tower fell..., Bobby and I ended up down there."
"Wait, so where's Bobby?" Kitty asked.
"...I-I don't know, Kitty. After that... I haven't seen him since. Oh man, I hope he isn't dead...!" Jubilee teared up.
"That's terrible, man." Todd grew sympathy.
Jubilee held back her tears to continue her story. "Okay, a-and then... I was stuck there in those mines and I found- oh my god, you won't believe what I just saw..." She gulped.
"...I saw Tabitha's head..."
"WHAT!?" Everyone gasped.
"Are you serious, Jubilee?" Rogue asked.
"YES! I am serious!" Jubilee snapped.
"This is just so fucked up!" Lance complained.
"I think Wanda and Tabitha fell down there... and then Tabitha died right away but... but not Wanda." Jubilee continued. "I- I mean, what if she was just down there, probably starving to death for weeks? And we- we were all right here looking for them? We had no idea!"
Scott burst in the living room to meet up with the group. "Jubilee! Oh thank goodness!"
"Scott! I'm so glad to see you!"
"Wait. Where's Bobby?"
"We're trying to figure that out." Kitty replied.
"Yeah. Apparently, there was this monster that was after her, and then-" Todd was interrupted by a banging door. "What was that?"
"Who could that be?" Scott asked.
"Bobby?" Jubilee thought.
"Pietro?"
"Jean?"
"That's not Jean." Scott told Kitty.
"...Wanna check it out?" Lance asked, and Scott nodded.
Scott and Lance approached the back door of the lodge where the banging came from.
"You sure about this?" Lance pondered.
"Just open the door, I got my weapon right here." Scott showed the pistol to Lance.
"Can't you just use those beams of yours?"
"No. I need something more lethal."
Lance scoffed. "Whoa! Never knew you were into firearms right there!"
"Just open the door, would ya!?" Scott exclaimed, where Lance insisted.
Right as Lance just opened the door, he was immediately knocked over. "Agh! Shit!"
"Hey! S-Stay back- Wait! Pyro?!" Scott recognized the stranger as Pyro, also known as John, one of Magneto's Acolytes. Scott froze at his sight, long enough for him to take Scott's gun anyway.
"Damnit!"
"Told ya, Summers!" Lance snickered behind his back.
"Alright. Just calm down, mates. All of you! Let me say what I have to say!" Pyro walked to the living room, where the girls, and Todd, were also surprised to see the fire-spewing mutant.
Everyone was confused seeing him of all mutants on the mountain.
Pyro wore his standard red and orange uniform, but the colors were slightly muted to blend in with the environment and his uniform were thicker to withstand the cold. Pyro still also had his mask around him to protect himself his his own flames.
"I get the long faces." Pyro stated. "I may be part of Mag's crew. You might recognize me as that crazy flamethrower guy, but let me tell you something. I don't think it's safe of you to be coming back to this mountain. At all. Especially after what happened last year." Pyro said as he dropped his bag at the fireplace.
"Wait. You were here last year? So you know about Wanda and Tabitha?" Todd spoke up.
"Yes." Pyro nodded. "My point is that you have no idea what you're dealing with. 'Cause this mountain don't belong to Magneto or his gang."
"It belongs to the Wendigo."
"The what?" Rogue was baffled.
"See. He is still crazy!" Lance dismissed what he said.
"Enough! Unless you would want to see these ugly asshats for yourselves and die trying!" Pyro shut him up. "I'm telling you. These Wendigos are bloody vicious. They've already killed one of my teammates before!"
"Who?" Rogue asked.
Sorrow crept into Pyro's face.
"Gambit."
Everyone stood in shock. Rogue was the most affected as she had feelings for him.
"Two years ago..." Pyro started explaining. "After Apocalypse happened, I was in Magneto's base in the mountains when we heard screeching. We went out to investigate and lo and behold, we were greeted by those things, and its leader- I think it was called the Makkapitew or something. And these fuckers can fight. They took out everyone in my team..." Pyro swallowed up the next words.
"...and they killed Gambit..." A tear fell from his eye as he struggled to say the words.
"I was their last hope... after Gambit was killed, the rest of us went our own ways. Colossus healed then he went to your side, Magneto spent time with his kids here, and Sabretooth just ran off somewhere. While I'm here, fighting off every Wendigo I could find in every mountain. Starting with this."
"So you know about what happened last year?" Scott repeated that question.
"Listen. I heard about last year, when I saw your friend Wanda and that Tabitha chick run off into the woods because of that prank, I believe. That Makkapitew was after their tails, too, and they had no idea what they were dealing with when they used their powers against it."
"But you didn't save them-!?" Lance slowly got angry.
"Oh I tried, alright! Until Wanda chose to let go off that cliff." Jubilee gasped when Pyro mentioned the cliff, as she and Bobby were just there hours ago.
"That blasted Makkapitew was responsible for their deaths, so I spent my entire year up in this mountain avenging them. Because I didn't want to make Magneto feel bad."
"That's horrible..." Kitty felt sorry for Pyro.
"Hold on. Does Magneto ever know that you've been here?" Todd asked.
"Magneto has no clue I've been following him. Ever since he's had his mind cleared and moved to this mountain, I've wanted to make sure that he doesn't go through this shit again, since that Makkapitew is making its home here."
Pyro decided to change the subject. "Anyways, you want to know lies in these mountains? A curse. When anyone resorts to cannibalism in these woods, they will be infected by the spirited of the Wendigos. Whether they eat anyone else or their own."
Scott just remembered his encounters from before: the moment Jean was taken, the deer being dragged by something, shooting at a figure in the mines, and the face that appeared in those binoculars.
"Wait. Those things you described... I think I've seen them before!" Scott was shaken. "When Jean and I were going to that guest cabin."
"You're gonna have to find someplace safe, mates. Try the basement if this place has any."
"Y-yeah. Sounds like a good idea." Lance shrugged. "But for how long, though?"
"Until dawn." Jubilee replied. "McCoy told me at the tower."
"That's long, though!" Todd complained.
"Not like we have any more options. Let's just stay there for now." Kitty told the group.
"Oh, and by the way, where is your other friend Quicksilver?" Pyro asked.
"Oh... we- Alvers, Tolansky, and I left him in the shed." Scott recalled.
"He will already be dead by then."
"No... that can't be right." Lance was in disbelief. "I was just with him minutes ago!"
"I'm warning ya, mate. Anything can happen in this mountain."
"I-I don't trust you, man. I'm getting Pietro back!"
"Lance, stop! You're not going out there alone!" Kitty protested.
"So you'll go with me, then?"
"That wasn't what I meant, Lance! I'm staying. What you're doing is basically suicide!"
"She's right, you know?" Pyro stated. "But I guess I'll be the one going with you."
"Yeah right." Lance scoffed.
"Everyone else. Get to the basement, and don't come back out until we do."
"Understood, Pyro!" Scott said.
Lance and Pyro walked to the side exit of the lodge.
"You're gonna need this, Avalanche." Pyro handed Lance a shotgun.
"Yes! I can't wait to show you my marksmanship skills!" Lance joked.
"I don't think you know how to use those things." Pyro didn't believe him.
"How do you know?"
"Trust me. I know."
The two boys were about to exit when Kitty dropped by.
"Lance...? Just- just come back safe, alright?" Kitty said to Lance. The couple embraced for a few seconds and shared a passionate kiss before Lance went out the door.
"I'll see you soon." He felt the pain of having to leave Kitty to save Pietro. Kitty was the one to close the door.
PATH TO SHED, 4:30 AM
"So you know about things now after not knowing anything about it prior?" He asked Pyro as they walked down the stairs.
"It just peaked my interest, that's all."
"Thanks to Magneto, huh?"
"Yeah. You can say that again."
"So, if I fire this gun at them, will it kill 'em?"
"No. But it will slow them down."
"That sucks." Lance was bummed.
"But, they don't like fire."
"Heh. Guess you're perfect for the job."
"Exactly. That's the only reason why Magneto's team barely survived our encounter. All because of me."
"Why? Is their skin like armor or something"
"Yep."
"What else do they do?"
"Wendigos are nocturnal. They're active at night, which explains why that Makkapitew was after Wanda and Tabitha."
"Any tips? Like are they zombies or something? I mean, can they still smell, or see properly?"
"Good question. They still smell, yes, but they can't, or won't, see you if you stand still. Their sight is based on movement in their field of vision."
"So if I just stand here, I'll basically be invisible?" Lance briefly stopped in his tracks to demonstrate.
"...Yeah, but I wouldn't recommend it."
"Last question, do these things- or... Wendigos- still have some sort of humanity left in them?"
"From what I can tell, I think they do. It's just that they surrender these human rights the moment they want to eat each other. From there, they won't stop."
The two boys made it to the shed to find it empty.
"No no no no... we're too late! Pietro's gone!" Lance panicked.
Pyro shushed him. "Quiet! I forgot to tell you, they can't see well, but they have sharp hearing."
"But we just came here! I can't just leave Pietro behind!" Lance quietly protested.
"We have to go to the lodge. They got him already. What else can we do about it?" Pyro questioned.
Lance was speechlessat first, then sighed in defeat. "Fine."
"Let's get going! They might be here soon!"
Before that, Lance took the time to examine the shed again, this time noticing the dummy that Pietro used for his prank and the buzzsaw that was still covered infake blood.
"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you from the start." Lance grumbled.
He walked out of the shed only to be gestured by Pyro.
"Stop! Don't move." The two stayed motionless for what felt like minutes. When nothing happened, the two resumed walking.
Pyro heard screeching again. "Oh crap..."
The two were stopped by the Wendigo.
"HAHA!" Pyro cackled as he unleashed his flamethrower at the Wendigo, who quickly fled.
"HOLY SHIT!" Lance shouted.
"GO! GO!" Pyro ordered Lance to stay away from the flames and stay close to him.
"WE'RE RIGHT OUT IN THE OPEN, MATE! WE GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" Another Wendigo appeared, and surrounded the two.
Pyro surrounded the entire area in flames. Believing them to be gone already. He extinguished the flames to find the place empty, scaring the two.
"Uhhh... Pyro? Where did it go?" Lance whimpered.
"...I've no clue-" The Wendigo suddenly lunged at Pyro, its long nails scratching right through his neck.
"PYRO!" Lance shouted as he saw his body fall to the ground, along with his head.
"Oh shit oh shit oh shit..." Lance stood there shaking as the Wendigo approached him.
With quick thinking, he shot directly at it and made a run for it. He ducked under tree trunks as he heard the Wendigo again. He shot at it again before using his powers to topple over the trees and rocks to trap it. He made it to a ledge and jumped over it, but hurt his foot hard as it landed.
"Agh! Damn it!" He groaned in pain as he heard the Wendigo once again. "Shit...!"
He shot at the Wendigo the third time as he limped his way to the lodge.
Lance made it to the back door of the lodge to find Kitty waiting outside.
"Lance!" Kitty greeted him.
"Kitty!"
"Come here!" She grabbed Lance's hand and phased him back inside.
"Oh my god Lance! What happened out there!" Kitty worriedly asked.
"No time to explain! Just go to the basement!" Lance activated the blinds on the door to prevent the Wendigo from spotting them before he and Kitty phased to the basement.
Meanwhile, the Wendigo started dragging Pietro's unconscious body through the snow.
BASEMENT, 4:41 AM
"Thank goodness, you guys!" Rogue was relieved as Scott escorted Lance and Kitty inside.
"Oh my god, Lance! What happened to you?" Jubilee grew concerned.
"You don't wanna know..." Lance said in an emotionless tone, hiding the trauma.
"What about Pyro, yo? Is he...?" Todd asked.
"No. H-he didn't make it..."
"Oh no..." Kitty was saddened.
"Jeez... Lance. What happened outside? I saw tons of flames and trees collapsing." Kitty asked.
"That t-thing... the... Wendigo... it tore Pyro apart... right in front of me..." Lance answered. "I tried using my powers, but... it- it didn't to any good..."
"That's just horrible!" Kitty grumbled.
"Alright. Let me just go around the basement real quick." Scott was about to survey the entire floor.
"Wait. Scott. What are you doing!?" Rogue asked him.
"Looking for another way out."
"You sure about this, Scott? Why don't we just stay here like what Pyro said? We're guaranteed to survive if we just stay right here, until dawn. That's what Jubilee said, right?"
"Um, yeah." Jubilee shrugged.
"Then what?" Scott defended. "What it's already dawn and we get torn apart by those things as soon as we get back up!? Forget it!"
"At least it's the rest of the X-Gang who will be picking us up and not other rescue forces!" Todd added.
"Yeah. I'm sure Logan, Ororo, and maybe Kurt can help us drive away those Wendigos!" Jubilee spoke up.
Kitty agreed with Jubilee.
"You can wait here. I'll leave for a moment." Scott ignored everyone's decisions and went towards the door. "You have each other, anyways."
"Summers... you're not thinking straight right now!" Lance spoke up. "I'm not letting you go through what I did right there!"
"Besides. There's no key for the cable car." Jubilee reminded Scott about the cable car.
"Maybe Pietro has it."
"You sure about that?" Todd asked.
"You know him. It's one of those dirty little tricks of his."
"Then what if that... thing got Pietro already?" Lance questioned Scott.
"...then we're outta luck." Scott concluded.
"Now what?" Rogue asked.
"Scott... I'm just saying. What if that Wendigo already took him down into the mines?"
"What are you saying?" Scott asked.
"I was just there. I saw some horrible stuff down there, and I think that's where it lives." Jubilee grabbed Pyro's bag and took out the stuff that was there.
"Hey. Is that a map?" Todd asked as he also pulled out a journal.
"Yeah. And some flares, too." Jubilee took out the other flares that were in Pyro's bag.
Jubilee also unfolded the map. "Jeez, what is this place?"
"I've been there." Scott approached Rogue, Jubilee, and Todd.
Scott explained. "When I was there, I saw news about this cave-in that happened in the 1950's and then I saw this news about these miners who were trapped in that cave-in and few barely survived, and-"
"There was a reporter who knew that the place had a sort of cover up and was banned from there. And there was a chair that had blood all over the place, like somebody was tortured or something. And those miners knew that the place was a trap but kept working there anyways." Rogue continued.
"How did you know about that, Rogue?" Jubilee curiously asked Rogue.
"It was Scott's memories, after he grabbed me accidentally." Rogue glanced at Scott, who was blushing a bit.
"Oh wait. I found something." Jubilee pointed out a tunnel from the lodge to the Sanatorium. "I think that's where that Wendigo lives."
"That's where I came from going back here." Scott replied.
"Crap! I forgot something!" Scott remembered his plan from earlier. "I should be looking for Pietro now. Just stay here, okay? Nobody leaves this room." He instructed the group.
"Wait. Scott-" Rogue reached out to him but it was too late, he left already. "Damn it!"
"So... it's just us, am I right." Todd asked, to everyone's agreement.
BASEMENT, 4:49 AM
Kitty glanced around the room to check on everyone and went to look at Pyro's things. She picked up something that hadn't been checked on by Scott and Jubilee earlier.
"...Did anyone read this yet?" She found Pyro's journal.
"Oh... I didn't notice that." Rogue and Jubilee said in unison.
Kitty moved to a nearby desk to read the contents of journal.
"Okayyy... guess Pyro still has his crazy... then again..." Kitty commented when he read about Wendigos growing out of cannibalism.
"This makes me feel bad for Pyro now..." She commented again when she read about Pyro's entire encounter with the Wendigos two years ago, along with the Acolytes.
She flipped to the next page that showed the combat methods of the Wendigos. It wrote the same things Pyro told Lance earlier going to the shed. "Guess he's the best hope to fight against these Wendigos."
"And it says here that... when Wendigos hunt humans, then they know how to perfectly mimic their prey." Kitty paraphrased from the book about the Wendigos' unique ability.
"Looks like Mystique has some competition." Todd semi-joked.
"Oh no... so their spirits are immortal then..." She read the entry that talked about Wendigo spirits being released if they eventually die.
She turned to the next page which explained the Wendigo bites.
"So they're not infectious... at all..." Kitty commented again. She went to Rogue.
"Rogue? I want you to see this." She showed the journal Rogue.
After skimming through the pages, Rogue gasped. "Scott... We need to tell Scott about this! Now! Let's go!"
"Wait! Didn't Summers tell us to stay here!?" Lance stopped Rogue.
"I know, but Scott's endangering himself out there. He left before we even found this in Pyro's bag. He should have known sooner!"
"Your point is?" Jubilee asked.
"There's no time! We really have to find Scott now! He has no idea what he's dealing with out there! Come on!"
Rogue left the room first, followed by Jubilee, and Kitty and Todd supported Lance as he still limped around.
A/N: I must say. This chapter's actually fun to write, especially with how I wanted the X-Men: Evo characters to say the Until Dawn characters' lines in this chapter.
And yes, Pyro takes the role of the Stranger in this story. I mean, they're both flamethrower users so it's inevitable that I use Pyro just for this role :D. Speaking of Pyro, I really wanted to give him a little backstory to add more character to him, and I was supposed to add the entire flashback of the events Pyro described here, but it felt too long so I decided to post it on an extra chapter.
Find out what happens next! Please Review, Follow, and Favorite! :)