Chapter XX: Out of the Woods

AN:

Hey there, Fan-fic-folks!

Welcome to the ending! I'm genuinely delighted to have finally made it to the end of a fic, and boy has it been fun! When I started this one, I never thought it'd become one of my favourite things to write, but it really did and it's been a delightful journey to make. Thanks for coming along with me for it. Seriously. I'm so incredibly grateful for every one of you peeps who've been reading. A story is nothing without people to tell it to, whether you review/comment or not, so I wanna say thanks to each one of you.

I didn't think this was where it was going to go, but unlike the game it felt like a natural end for this storyline. I imagine some of you are probably going to be disappointed in me, but there it is. Sometimes, things in our lives, as good or as bad as they may be, don't end how we want them to. It's a hard lesson to learn, but something we all learn at one point or another. So, that's what I'm trying to show here.

Thanks for reading and, as always, please review.

"Fucking hell, why do I ever open my damn mouth?" I groan.

"None of us know the answer to that either, Chloe." Victoria quips, and honestly you gotta admire a group that can joke under pressure, right? Then again, it's kinda sad that being chased by angry monsters really is just another day at the office for us at this fucking point.

I shoulder the shotgun with a shrug. "Come on then, kids. Pretty sure there's a way out up here."

I pick a direction at random and start walking. Not the way we came in, though. Obviously. Not the second time, anyway. Ahem.

We walk up a spiralling incline, going up maybe ten metres before it stops at the bottom of a fifteen metre high ledge. Fuck. Too high for us to boost Matt. "Taylor, you climb up and sink a pin. We're gonna have to pull Matt up, like we did before up top."

She nods, tosses up the grappling hook, and uses it to climb up to the top. Not as quick as... Sam, but she still scurries up the wall in pretty good time. After another few seconds of her being out-of-view, a couple of ropes drop down to us. I grab them and Victoria brings Matt over, and together we manage to get him comfortably tied in. "Cool. Now, get up there."

She frowns. "What?"

I sigh. "You gotta get up there, dude, and help Taylor lift."

She nods, and the frown clears. "Oh. Okay." I sit and watch as she climbs up the grappling hook and disappears over the edge. They natter for a second, then Taylor's head pops over and she grins down at me, mouthing "Ready!"

I nod, and together we manage to get Matt up and over without hurting the dude too badly. Kind of anti-climactic, honestly. I spent the entire time thinking a Wendigo was gonna jump us, but nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Fuck All. Bupkis. Uh, yeah. You get the idea. Matt gets up without a problem. Then, I get to go.

And, of-fucking-course, that's exactly when shit goes down.

I'm about halfway up the wall, when another Wendigo howl echoes through the caverns, and I nearly fall off the wall. I stay on, though. I do kinda let out a hella terrified scream of my own too, but still. I'm still on the wall. When I scream, Taylor's head appears back over the wall and gives me a concerned look. "What's wrong?"

I frown, and mouth back. "Don't you fucking hear that?"

Another Wendigo howl echoes around the cavern.

She tilts her head. "Hear what?"

So, that's a no, then. Guess I'm still going insane. Hopefully I'm not gonna wake up lying on rock with my ass aching again. Seriously, that shit hella fucking hurts. It occurs to me that I should be probably pretty worried when I give literally no fucks about going crazy, but frankly I don't have the fucking time for some sit down therapy. I mean, unless my hallucinations can provide me a therapist, I'm kinda stuck for options out here anyway. (AN: #Meta)

"Nothing. Thought I heard..."

Another Wendigo howl echoes, but this one gets a fucking reaction from Taylor as her eyes suddenly bulge and she focuses down at me. "Fucking climb faster!"

I nod, and start pulling myself up, and alongside the howls we get the skittering sounds of claws on rock. Fuck. There's definitely a lot of them. Y'know how you can hear vaguely how many horses or people there are by counting the stepping sounds? I lost track at a dozen.

So, yeah. I fucking climb faster.

The Wendigoes burst into the cavern, through the same way we got in, just as I pulled myself over the top. We heard a thundery sound of crumbling rock and the smashing of shit as what was a pretty small hole for us suddenly exploded outwards into dust and rock and angry murder-geckos.

Needless to say, my casual resignation a la hallucinatory-therapy disappeared hella fast. And so did we. Victoria and Matt had been standing together from the second we got up, and Taylor was shockingly quick at rewinding the grappling hook rope, so we were gone barely seconds after I stood up.

And I didn't even realise I'd pulled out the shotgun.

We head up a longish tunnel that sloped up slightly, and end up in... a cavern filled with cages.

Empty cages.

A couple of them start to rattle as whatever the fuck was inside them realises we'd arrived.

Mostly empty cages, I amend inside my head.

The cavern was dark, and we were running frantically away from things that wanted to kill us or eat us or flay us alive or whatever it was (I forget, Matt mentioned it, like, once, a long few hours ago and my mind has kinda been on other shit since then. Like, y'know, not dying.) that they wanted to do, so we didn't get a good look at whatever was in those cages. Which was bad for me since, when I ran past one of them, the thing inside suddenly flung itself at the bars and long, hella emaciated clawed arms stretched out from the bars at me in a swipe that I barely fucking dodged.

Pretty sure that Wendigo just...

I spare a look back over my shoulder.

Yep.

Fucker stole my beanie.

Briefly, just hella briefly, I consider going back for it.

Then the chorus of Wendigo howls echoes at us down the tunnel behind us, and I reconsider that thought entirely. Sorry, Beanie. Your sacrifice will be remembered.

We keep running through the cavern, and find yet more Wendigo-filled cages. Huh. So, Ned keeps the Wendigoes right under my fucking lookout? Good to know. Actually, hella not good to know, ignorance is totally fucking bliss on this one, but whatever. I'm crazy now, I can deal.

The cavern bends ahead of us, and starts to incline up again to another entrance. We take it, and follow the tunnel along to the left. It inclines steeper than the cavern, twisting up further towards the surface and the awesome sunlight. Dog, I miss sunlight. Is that weird? That's definitely weird. Meh. Fuck it.

We head up and out into... oh great, into yet more caverns filled with cages filled with hungry monsters. Fuckin' Ned. We got through at least another three caverns, until the Wendigoes finally caught up with us, the GAW at the head of the pack. The huge fucking Wendigo was pretty determined to stay there, any other Wendigo that tried to get past got a hella powerful swipe to the head that fucking decapitated them.

I let myself drop back to the rear to keep them back, shooting at as any of them as I could with the shotgun. The GAW just ran straight through all the fire, basically unhurt in any fucking way, but between me and it we managed to start thinning the herd hella drastically as we ran through the caverns, until it was just us, and it.

Without realising, I'd dropped back a hella long distance from the others. Which was fine by me, I had my trusty shotgun, they didn't have shit, so it seemed fair. Unfortunately (well, unfortunately for me, really), that meant that when one of them called out that they'd made it to an exit, I was at least a couple minutes away, and with the GAW glaring and howling and charging around me, I couldn't run without getting very dead. Which, y'know, I wasn't exactly hella keen on, but it wasn't looking like I had a better option. At least this way, they'd get out, right?

So, I settle up, and get ready to go out, guns blazing, and that's when something hella fucking unexpected happens.

Okay, so not that unexpected, but Taylor coming in like a wrecking ball on a hanging cage wasn't what I thought my day was gonna contain when I got up that morning.

The cage, and Taylor, slam into the side of the Wendigo and knock it into one of the walls. The chain suspending the cage (on fucking what?) immediately and hella violently snaps and the cage slams down on top of the GAW as hard as it hit the wall, driving it further down as those ring-link things from the rest of the chain scatter all over the cavern.

I stare, just for a second, in pure fucking shock at Taylor who just gives me an irritated glance in return and yells "Don't just stand there, Chloe. Fucking run!"

See, now that was something hella fucking unexpected. Did Taylor really just shout angrily at me? I think, as she literally drags me into a run.

I'm so proud.

We make it outside and find Victoria and Matt waiting at the top of a hella-old, hella-wrecked wooden structure. Which really was weird. There was like, a dozen laws against permanent structures in places like this. But then again, maybe nobody but Ned even knew about it? We only wandered into it by accident, and this forest was huge.

Either way, it's not like it was gonna be here much longer. The place was wrecked. Bits of the floor outside the cave entrance were rotted through completely, hell, most of the floor was rotted through completely, but there was still enough for us to make a hella careful way across to a broken staircase that lead down to another floor, this one looking way better and dominated by a shitload of rusted machinery. I was pretty sure it was mining shit, but frankly it could be used for making fucking ice cream for all I know.

Matt points across the room, and we all look over to see another staircase. "What the fuck even is this place? I thought nobody could build here or whatever?"

I grin at Victoria for that question. "Aww, Vicky. You did listen in the orientation briefing!"

She glares back at me; she and Matt took the lead again, letting me and Taylor keep an eye on the rear. Or their rears, my fucked-up brain adds in. Goddamn pervy fucker. Thought I'd ditched that asshole back at the lake. "Fuck you, Price. Just answer the question."

I pause as a feeling of utter wrongness washes over me. I shake my head to clear my nerves. Come on, Price. We're out, we're in the sun, you're fine.

When I open my mouth to reply, instead of words, there's just a loud, hungry, hella pissed off scream, and the rotted-floor (now ceiling) shatters as the Wendigo tears through it like tissue paper and lands on top of the machinery.

I'm not sure how I react so fast, but the second it hits metal my finger hits the trigger. In hindsight, probably not the best idea to shoot fire in a rotting wooden building, but it's what I did. And the building promptly catches fire. Of-fucking-course. I scowl at it, still shooting. Fucking weak-ass wood.

The Wendigo wasn't too pleased with this turn of events, as the weak floor, now the weak and on-fire floor, almost immediately gives and the Wendigo drops down into the floor beneath us along with a shitload of rusty metal.

I wonder faintly if Wendigoes can get tetanus.

I don't wonder long though, as the Wendigo immediately jumps back up with a howl and lands on the ceiling. It screams, and we all freeze. It doesn't attack, but we are kinda now all frozen in a burning building.

Heh. Frozen in a burning building. Temperature jokes.

The head swings around as it screams around the room, trying to spot any of us moving. But we were dab hands at this statue shit by now. We would've gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for that pesky burning building. As the floor of the room above us caved in, one of the long beam-things that ran across the entire length of the building just sorta... snapped and a hella massive log just slammed into the floor next to Taylor, knocking her to the ground. Like the normal person she is, she reacted to the pain of fire and splinters and shit by yelling hella loudly.

The Wendigo's head immediately spun around to glare at where Taylor had fallen and, before she could move, it dived towards her and my heart fucking stopped. Oh god. Not her too.

I whirl with the shotgun, blasting away and yelling as loud as I can (which, honestly, wasn't that loud. I was real tired, dude.) to distract the thing from her.

And it worked. The GAW immediately tried to leap at me, but a lucky shot knocked it back and out a window. Oh. That... that was a wall. I shrug. Guess it's a window now. #InteriorRedecorating, Bitches.

Almost as immediately as we'd frozen, we get fucking moving again, heading straight for the stairs just in time to hear the Wendigo slam back into the hole in the wall it'd made, and howl into the now-empty room.

Bought us a few extra seconds to cross the mess of a floor below it. Seriously, between the Wendigo and the Machinery falling through the floor, this place was wrecked. Oh, yeah. And the fire. Can't forget the fire. I mean, God. I'm already sweating like a bitch. How do Firemen work in these conditions, holy shit.

Wouldn't it be great if the Wendigo got trapped in the building and burned to death? Eh. We aren't that fucking lucky.

We carefully and quietly, but with as much urgency as we could manage while still keeping quiet (again, the building was on fire), made our way across the wrecked room. I could see the middle of some trees out the window, so we were maybe a couple floors away from the bottom? Shit, this place was huge. How the hell did they hide a whole building like this out here?

When we made it ouside without another encounter, I actually let myself get hopeful that we might've lost the thing back there. It, uh... it didn't last long.

The wall behind exploded outwards yet again in another burst of fire and splinters and Wendigo as the GAW came after us again.

Shit, this fucker is hella persistent. I immediately reward it's persistence with a round of shotgun fire. Every round misses.

Hey, at least I solved the problem of the illegal building. It'll be ash pretty soon. Then I remember that the highly flammable building is surrounded by highly flammable trees and highly flammable wildlife.

Oops.

Ah well. Not much I can do about it now.

I keep shooting, covering the others as they sprint away from the building. The forest was probably also full of Wendigoes, knowing our luck, but it was still better than being in the caves.

Oh crap, Thunder Canyon.

"Guys! Go the other way!"

Hella surprisingly, our luck actually holds out, and we manage to stay out of the worst named canyon in the area and ahead of the Giant-Ass Wendigo on our... um... ass.

We finally get back to my lookout and...

Okay. Luck well and truly fucking gone.

"Shit. The place looks even worse than when you two trashed it." The entire Lookout had been knocked over. It was basically just a pile of wood and my crap on the hillside. I felt a hella faint twitch of sadness, seeing it like that. It might've sucked, but it was still my home.

I...

Oh.

Arcadia Bay makes so much more fucking sense now.

Victoria frowns, and Taylor shakes her head in confusion. "We never trashed your lookout, Chloe."

Victoria nods in agreement. "Yeah. What are you talking about?"

I don't say anything, still just... reassessing my entire life-view. Or home-life-view, I guess.

Victoria raises an eyebrow. "Uh, Chloe? Hello? Are you going to collapse on us again?"

I frown, then, and run over what she said in my head before replying irritably. "After I yelled at you, you came up here, tossed my shit around, and broke the radio lines."

They both shake their heads. "We honestly didn't. It was probably Ned." Victoria nods in agreement again. Huh. Interesting change in their whole dynamic. Remember Taylor would've been the one nodding in agreement before all this shit happened.

Matt nods. "That sounds like something Ned would do. He's, uh, he's not good with new people."

That's a fucking understatement. I snort, honestly still kind of disbelieving them. I mean, I really pissed those two off. Well, three off, then. I remembered the bodies in the caves, and Powwaw's body twisting into the Wendigo, and carefully don't think about what probably happened to Courtney. Still. Not worth it. I kinda like Taylor now, and Victoria is... I kinda like Taylor now. "Yeah. No fucking kidding, dude. But fine. Whatever. See if you can find anything useful, and I'll keep a lookout."

They nod and skitter over to the wreckage. Matt and Victoria stick together and work kind of methodically, Taylor just dives right in to the middle of the pile. After a few quiet, untalkative minutes where I don't see shit in the treelines, Victoria pops up, holding something hella small in her hands. She taps Matt on the shoulder, and shows him whatever it is. He stares down at it for a second before nodding, and he closes her hand around it.

After another beat, she stands up, and walks slowly over to me, still staring down at the thing in her hand. "What did you get? Please tell me it's another ra-."

Oh.

Rachel's smiling, happy face grins up at me from the torn up remnants of the picture I had by the bed. I feel my cheeks get wet as tears start to run down my face. Hella badass, hella cool tears, obviously.

Victoria looks sympathetically at me. It's a weird look on her. "Who is she?"

How the fuck do I explain Rach?

"That's Rachel. She is my... she was my... I, uh..."

Hella badly, apparently.

Victoria shakes her head. "You don't have to say anything else. Here." She stretched out her hand and I took the picture from her. After another beat of silence, she just says "I... I'm sorry." and disappears back over to Matt.

I stare down at the picture for another few seconds, then carefully put it in the inside pocket of my jacket. I look up just in time to see Taylor's curious (and concerned) glance before she quickly looks back down at the pile of junk, the pile of my life for the last few months, in front of her.

I go back to keeping watch.

Goddamn it, Rach.

We find fuck-all useful shit in the wreckage. Most of the stuff that would come in handy was in my pack already, and what was left had mostly been fucked up by whatever had done the damage in the first place. (Any of you bet Wendigo? 'cause I bet Wendigo).

It's not until start to leave when I finally hear a faint, almost inaudible, almost... a chirping sound? I stop, and the others don't notice, keeping walking another few feet until they finally pick up that I'm not with them. "Chloe?" Taylor's voice sounds concerned, but it's faint, almost... far-away.

I follow the sound, getting more and more certain of what I was gonna find as I let my ears lead me. I find an upturned box a little way from the wreckage, and the chirping sounds more like soft crying. I drop to one knee, and lift up the box.

My face cracks into a broad grin as I see the little turtle just sat there, happily chomping away at the frankly ridiculous amount of green shit I'd left for him before I'd run out to get the kids to Ned's place, and suddenly the world just sorta... made sense again.

Turt Reynolds rides again, baby!

"I can't believe you kept the fucking turtle."

I grin down at the little guy poking his head out of my pocket, chirping delightedly. "Hell yeah, I kept this little guy. Turt Reynolds is gonna get us out of this, you'll see."

The others all look sceptical.

I reach up and stroke Turt's head with one finger. Don't worry buddy, they'll see how awesome you are. "Besides, I wasn't gonna leave him alone out there. Pretty sure that fire from the weird, building-thing," I still have no idea what the hell that place was. "is gonna spread, and I couldn't live with myself if this little guy got hurt." I grin, gently booping his snoot. "Could I? No, no I couldn't."

Their sceptical looks don't change. Ah well. We'll show them. Things had been quiet for long enough that I felt okay trying to call Max. Not likely the GAW was gonna jump me mid-call, so... yeah. I pull out my radio as we walk, and say "Max?" as I stroke Turt's head again.

I wait a few seconds, and nothing.

I try again. "Max?"

A few more seconds, and still nothing.

Come on, Max. For fucks sake. This really isn't the time to not answer your fucking phone. Radio. Whatever.

"Max?!"

Another few seconds passes, and I'm about to drop the radio when a familiar voice crackles through. "-oe? Chloe!"

I grin, and a couple of the others look back at me and smile at the sound of a friendly voice. "Hey Max. We, uh, we're not dead."

Cue the swearing.

When she finally finishes insulting me, or complimenting me, I really have no idea, she just laughs in delight. "I'm so glad you're all okay." A pause. "You are all okay, right?"

I let out a slow breath. "We, uh... we lost Sam."

"Sam?"

"One of the, uh, people who crashed. She... she saved our lives."

"Oh." She pauses, definitely hearing something in my voice. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah."

"For her dying, I mean. Not her saving your lives. I'm kinda glad she did that."

I roll my eyes in patient irritation at Max's familiar awkwardness. I know she can't help it, but really the wrong fucking subject to fumble about on with me right now. "Yeah. So, we're gonna head to Ned's next and fort up. Someone's gotta come by to check on us soon, right? Don't you, like, give reports and shit while we're out here?"

A minute of silence. Then another. "Max?"

"Chloe." Her voice sounds horrified. "What did you do?!"

I frown. "What? What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? What's WRONG!?" She takes a deep breath to try calm her shit. It really doesn't work. "Oh, I don't know, how about the huge fucking fire over by Thunder Canyon?"

Oh yeah.

That.

Shit.

"Uh..."

Max groans. "Please tell me you had nothing to do with this."

"You had nothing to do with this." I repeat, dutifully.

"Chloe!"

Yeah, she's right. Not the time. "I'm sorry! We were being chased by a huge fucking Wendigo!" Mahingan, the voice in my head helpfully adds. I roll my eyes. Oh, yeah, real fucking useful to know his damn name. At least we can introduce ourselves all politely and shit before he eats us. "He would've killed us if I hadn't shot at him with these fire-round thingies. There was just a building there that caught on fire, too."

"Fire-round thingies? In a fucking forest? What kind of- Wait. A building? Like, a permanent structure? An Illegal Permanent Structure?" Max takes another deep breath. Still not all that effective. "Ignore it, Max, there's more important things to deal with right now." She mutters to herself, taking yet another deep breath. She's definitely still pissed, but she's not shouting anymore. Guess that's something. "Chloe, we're stuck out in the forest, with no way of communicating to ask for the help we'd need to put a fire that big out. That fire will spread, and it will burn down your entire section. Including all the people inside."

I blink. "Oh."

"Yeah, fuckin' Oh. You have got to get whoever you're with and get them out of here. Come over to my lookout as soon as you can, I'm going to see if one of the other firewatchers maybe made a radio in their spare time, or smuggled a phone repair kit in or something because otherwise we're going to lose a fuckload of this forest, Chloe, and I'm desperate enough to take even a completely impossible longshot right now."

I slump my shoulders. She's right. This is all my fault. But I stand by what I did. It needed to be done. "You're right, and you can totally yell at me about it later. How do we get over to your place?"

She rattles off directions I recognise part of as slightly further than where I go to pick up my 'food'. Apparently there was a cable car just past the drop point, that'd take us over to Max's area directly. Unfortunately though, thanks to the fire that was spreading up towards Beartooth Point (another weird-as-fuck name), we couldn't take the direct route to the direct route. So, we were going round.

"Thanks, Max." I hesitate for a second before adding. "It'll be good to finally meet you, even if it is under shitty circumstances."

Her voice softens as she agrees. "It will, Chloe. Now," Her voice hardens again. "Get your fucking shit together and get over here before you burn to death. It is not a pleasant way to go."

She makes a good point. "Cool. See ya soon." I drop the radio back to my belt and look up at the others, who are all staring at me with varying expressions of shock, fear, and... nah, that covers it. Still. At least I had my Turtle.

"Come on. Which way to Ned's again?"

Apparently the Wendigoes had been hella busy up top while we pissed about in the caverns below the forest. Ned's place was only slightly less trashed than my lookout, and that's only because it's pretty hard to topple a cave. Guess those underground lookouts might've been a good idea after all.

Remember that big metal door that kept out a whole horde of Wendigoes before? Well, that was gone, half of it off to the left, the other half was embedded through the middle of a tree to our right. Literally. In. A. Tree.

I stop to stare in amazement. "I gotta admit, that's impressive. Wendigoes really are hella strong, aren't they?"

Matt nods. "Yep. And unless you want one to do that to us, we should probably get on with this."

He makes a hella good point. I scurry past them and poke my head inside, along with the shotgun barrel. "Looks clear. I'm gonna go check the back."

Leaving the others standing about by the door, I go back and check out the other rooms. The log-room was wrecked. The benches were flung all over the place, most of them snapped in half. Even the lockers and crates and shit around the sides of the room had been knocked about. The few empty ones I saw, I had no idea if they'd been empty before or not, but I hoped they were a sign that the cranky old bastard got himself and Mike out.

I took the next few rooms one by one, and found just more of the same. More wrecked shit, more empty storage boxes. Until I got to the armoury. That was different. The door was still on, for one. I nudged it open with the shotgun and poked inside. The room was in good condition, had no wrecked shit at all, and was entirely empty.

Fuck.

I head back out. "Ned's gone. And he took all the damn guns." I grumble.

"What about Mike? Is he here? Is he okay?"

I nod, trying to be reassuring and shit for the now hella worried looking Matt. "He's fine. I think. He's not here, anyway. Looks like Ned took him when he left."

Matt sighs, relieved. "Good. That's... that's good. Okay. So, do we know where they've gone?"

I shrug. "No idea, dude. I literally just looked for Wendigoes. You wanna find messages or signs or whatever, go ahead and look."

He nods, and his jaw grits in determination. "Alright. We'll start from the armoury and work our way out."

Taylor steps over next to me. "We'll stay, and keep watch."

Victoria tilts her head and raises one eyebrow. Taylor just shrugs. "They're only small rooms. Too many people will make things harder, not easier, right?"

Matt grins amiably. "Good point. We got this, Victoria. Come on."

Taylor and I take point (that's what the military people call it, right?) by the door, keeping an eye on the outside. There's a few beats of silence before she hesitantly asks "Are you okay?"

I stare over at her and raise an eyebrow. "Am I okay?"

When she nods enthusiastically (hella cute, by the way), I find myself rolling my eyes. "Dude, we're being chased by monsters that want to kill us and eat us, and very hopefully in that order, half of our friends are dead, and we're currently running away from a fire that's hella probably gonna burn us alive, and you're asking if I'm okay?"

She nods again, and I just... sorta... smirk incredulously at her. "Yeah, I'm fuckin' shiny. How are you?"

"Oh, I'm good. Been better, obviously, but things aren't so bad."

I frown at her. "They have?"

"Yeah. I mean," She reaches out towards my chest and I frown harder, until she finally reaches her destination and starts stroking Turt's head. He lets out a happy little turtle-chirp and we both grin. "You got this little guy, right?"

We grin quietly at each other for a few seconds before Taylor suddenly breaks the hella nice peace and quiet with her fucking concern. "Seriously though, how are you doing?"

I shrug. "Shittily. Shittarily? Shit-esque? Uh..." I flounder a bit under her amused gaze. "I'm good."

"Chloe..."

"I'm fine!"

"Chloe."

"Dude, what do you want me to say?"

"Chloe."

"Chloe."

"Chloe?"

"Okay, this is getting confusing. What was the question?"

"How are you?"

"I think I might be insane."

"That's probably true."

"Hey!"

"What? You literally stood up in front of a horde of screaming monster things and shot at them with a frigging shotgun. Pretty sure every Jury in the country would buy that insanity plea."

I pause for a second. Yeah. I did do that, didn't I? "You win this round."

She giggles. "What makes you think you're 'insane'?" And yes, she did do the air-quotes.

I shrug, and genuinely think over telling her what happened down in the caves. The hallucination-vision things, I mean. I realise a lot of crazy shit happened down there, so specific is probably good.

Eh. Why the fuck not.

I tell her the whole shebang and somehow, before I know it, I'm talking about Rachel, too. Taylor just looks at me sympathetically the whole time, nodding in the right places, and making occasional 'mmm' or 'oh' noises. She's a good listener. Guess having Victoria for a best friend means you kinda gotta be. Boy does Vicky talk shit a lot.

When I finish, I sorta trail off into silence. I'm pretty sure I just talked more than I've talked this entire fucking trip, so I've got no idea where to go now.

Taylor didn't seem to mind the quiet though. She sits across from me for just a few seconds before standing, and quietly making her way over to me and wrapping her arms around me.

Damn, this girl gives great hugs.

"Aww. Thanks, Chloe."

Shit. I said that out loud?

"You did. It was sweet."

"Shit."

She giggles in my arms, and all feels a little more right with the world. Just the two of us (and Turt, obviously) and no Wendigoes, no Rachel, no nothing.

Obviously, the universe couldn't let me have that for very long. Because that's right when Matt and Victoria walked back in.

Matt, the smug prick he is, immediately comments. "Are we interrupting something? Because I'm sure we can get the Wendigoes to wait outside until you're done."

I growl and Taylor's giggles get worse. "Matt. I like you. But I can not like you very quickly. Tread carefully, or I'll put my shotgun where the sun doesn't fucking shine and I'll damn well make it shine."

He frowns. "What?"

"I'll stick my shotgun up your ass and explode your insides until there's more holes in you than the plot of Twilight."

They all stare at me in silence for a second, smirking.

I frown. "That's not the usual reaction to me threatening people. What gives?"

Taylor pulls back and grins up at me. "You've read Twilight?"

Oh, fuck.

"Yep."

I said that out loud?

"Yep."

Shit.

"Yep."

"Did you find anything?"

"Other than the fact you read Twilight?"

I raise the shotgun threateningly.

Victoria rolls her eyes. "We found a letter." She holds it up. "Can I read, or would you like to shoot us first?"

"Don't tempt me."

She rolls her eyes again. "Basically, he eavesdropped on your radio call with Max and got worried about the fire, so he left with Matt for some 'safer location'."

"Did he say where?"

Victoria scoffs. "If he had, wouldn't I have said so?"

Okay, that's a fair point. "What else?"

"He took Mike. And the supplies. And basically anything in here that could be useful."

"Generous fucker, isn't he?"

Matt shrugs. "He's who the world made him, that's all. Either way, we should probably go. The fire is probably going to spread down here."

"Good point." I lean the shotgun up on my shoulder. "Alright y'all, let's move out."

Taylor grins and fistpumps. "Ooh-rah."

I roll my eyes. Marines! I pull out my radio. "Hey, Max? You found anything from your buddies or whoever? We're on our way, and frankly that fuckin' longshot is looking like we might need it."

Nothing.

"Max?"

Still. Nothing.

Shit. Why isn't she answering? I know she said she was asking her friends about getting some stuff, but she'd have used her radio to do that, right? Even if she actually went out to visit them, although I have no idea why she'd ever do that but, she'd still have to bring the Radio with her.

Oh god.

What if..?

"Max?"

"Something's wrong." Victoria observes succinctly.

I scowl at her. "No fucking shit something's wrong. I just don't know what."

"Well, then. Let's go find out." Taylor nods.

The trip round the back was disturbingly un-filled with Wendigoes. Needless to say, we were all freaked out. And maybe a teensy bit paranoid.

"Oh god, is that a Wendigo?"

"No."

"Oh god, is that a Wendigo?"

"No."

"What about-"

"No."

You get the idea.

It was a long trip, even if we were trying to hurry. We headed down to the Thunder Canyon crossing up to Mule Point, past the old ruined Lookout, the spot where I found Turt (I point it out to him and stroke his head a couple times as we go past), and up to Cache 241, then past it and up to the supply drop. And all the way we could hear the crackling of the fire I caused.

When we look back from there, the fire had blocked off the route back. We were stuck going this way regardless. I shrug. "No way back."

Turns out, talking was a bad idea.

There's a long, drawn out howl. It's hungrier and angrier than all the ones we'd heard before. Really drew the attention, y'know? Which turned out to be a good thing, as we looked over just in time to see the Mahingan prowl out of the fire.

Literally, straight out of it. Kinda destroyed the whole 'fire-kills-Wendigoes' idea. It's milky-white eyes immediately snap to us, and it howls again.

"Run!"

No shit, Sherlock.

We charge past the supply drop, and I wince as the Wendigo's leap slams it into it, sending the drop, but unfortunately not the Wendigo, over the edge. It spins and slides into the landing, launching itself off onto a cliff-face without pausing. Poor Turt was terrified. Little guy was screaming in my pocket.

I let the others take the lead, hanging a few steps back to keep shooting at the Wendigo. I might not be able to kill the fucker, but at least I could keep it's attention, maybe slow it down for the others a little. One of my shots gets lucky, knocks the Wendigo off the cliff and sends it spinning out of view.

That little voice in my head that I still haven't decided if it's me going crazy or some kind of woman-of-the-wild instinct kicking in suddenly warns me to spin, so I do, pulling the trigger before I even registered that the Wendigo was flying towards me from there.

I manage to keep it back for long enough that the others reach the cable car. If I remember right from the briefing, they just gotta unlock the chain and start it up. Should take a couple minutes.

I can keep the Wendigo back for that long.

Especially with the little voice in my head flying shotgun. Every time the Wendigo came at me, the little guy (or girl) somehow knew where it was. I felt one little regret about the whole thing; after all the shooting I was doing, Turt was probably deaf by now. I mean, I nearly was.

But at least we were alive.

Alive was good.

The cable-car kids finally get the thing running, and make the oh so stupid mistake of yelling about it to let me know. Helpful and all, sure. But the one fucking rule is Wendigoes have hella fucking good hearing. "Chloe, the cable car is-!"

That's as far as Taylor gets before the Wendigo screams and leaps over at her. My fucking heart almost stops in my chest as she disappears under it and I completely expect there to be a body when the Wendigo stands up.

But there isn't.

Instead, there's an angry looking Wendigo and three people staring in shock at it from the safety of the little metal cable-car box now hanging about ten feet from the edge of the cliff. Maybe slightly less, but definitely in that ballpark.

I blast away at it a couple of times, but the Wendigo twists and both shots go past it with no hits. Then, it jumps at me, and I get knocked back down the path towards the supply drop. I flop out of my roll and land in a pile on the ground, screaming as a jolt of pain flashes through my shoulder. I spare enough time for a quick glance down to see my side soaked with blood and hear Turt screaming in terror.

Sorry little guy, but I gotta keep shooting or we both die.

The recoil from the shotgun pounds into my ribs with every damn shot and it took everything I had not to bend over and scream in pain, but I manage to keep a handle on my gun and my ribs and keep on shooting. I don't bother aiming, just sort of pointing vaguely in the Wendigo's direction and putting as much fire in its way as I can. The forest around us is already burning, so it's not like I can make it more on fire.

It works, thank fuck, and the Wendigo and I end up cat and mouse spinning around each other. It looks for any opening it can get, I make sure to fill any opening I leave with yet more fucking fire and metal.

Pretty sure I was starting to really piss it off, because it suddenly began pushing harder and faster and if it wasn't for the little future-seeing voice in my head I would've been dead in milli-fucking-seconds. Never thought I'd be grateful to be crazy, but I absolutely totally was.

You aren't crazy.

That's pretty rich, coming from a voice in my fucking head. Who the fuck are you supposed to be, anyway? You sure as shit don't talk like me.

You know who I am.

Uh, no. No I don't.

You will, the voice says, then just... disappears right as the Wendigo flies over my head. Well. That was fucking ominous. Even the voices in my head are hella melodramatic, I think in the two seconds I have before it bounces back and launches itself at me. A lucky last-minute dodge, no help from the voice, saves me from getting decapitated, and I immediately stop.

Turns out that's a rule that applies to all Wendigo, even the freaking mother of them all. Or father. Don't wanna assume. It's head swings around as it prowls around the supply box clearing, sniffing and howling as it tries to scare me or smell me or something.

...

Can it smell me? I wasn't exactly fresh, minty or otherwise. It came close a few times, and it took some hella serious restraint for me not to turn and run. And, surprisingly, hella serious common sense. You do not try run from shit that can take down a helicopter or that could totally kick a honey badger's ass.

Every time I see it look somewhere where I am most hella fucking certainly not in view, I take a step back towards the path. It's slow as hell, and the fire has worked its way right up to us. I can literally feel the heat on my ass. Not that there isn't always heat back there, boom!

Heh.

Definitely insane.

As I get closer, step by step, to the path, and my friends (even Vicky), I start to feel like I might actually make it out of this. Probably optimistic, but-

The crack echoes through the clearing as my foot comes down on a twig, or a deer bone, or a badger tooth or something. The Wendigo's head immediately snaps around and it screams as it charges towards me.

I turn and I run as fast I possibly can. Fuckfuckfuckfuck.

The Wendigo screams down the path after me, but I somehow manage to stay ahead of it. As I come around the corner, I spot the other three, bickering in the boxcar. Taylor looks like she's giving the others hell. Go her.

Matt's eyes bulge when he sees me, and he opens his mouth to grin. It stays open as his eyes slide behind me and he sees it coming for me. He raises his arm and points wordlessly at me. The other two spin and their mouths drop open as far as Matt's when they spot the Wendigo chasing me.

I let myself run, feeling the motion of my legs drift into that weird, slightly numb place where they just go without me having to make them. I wouldn't be able to dodge, but this place was cramped enough that I wouldn't have a chance anyway, so speed was way more useful.

I let my foot break the edge, and waited until it hit the angle of the corner. That would hopefully give me the best leverage to use my running momentum for a jump. And jump I fucking did, launching myself at the Boxcar. No time to pull it back, so this was my only chance.

I windmill my arms and legs to keep my momentum going, and I fly through the air like a majestic goddamn eagle. Everything drifts in slow motion around me as I close on the car. I feel my face splitting into a grin as I reach out in front of me to grab it. It looks like I'm going to make it, until suddenly it doesn't and everything is dropping too fast and the car looks like I'm gonna miss it until-

My hands close on metal and I pull myself up and flip into the cart, landing on my ass. Hard. Fucking hell, I'm totally gonna need an Ass Doctor to check on mine when I get outta here. Pretty sure I bruised something or other. I spare a quick look down to check Burt's still in his pocket, and grin when I see his little head poking about and the pocket wriggling.

He's good.

And so am I!

I do not know if I expected-

Something slams into the side of the cable car, and two long, sharp looking claws grab onto the same metal where I just had. The little voice in my head just says simply "Now."

Without thinking, I suddenly jump to my feet, feeling everything around me in slow motion again, including Matt, Victoria, and Taylor, who've been looking at me with expressions of concern and amazement since I dropped in. Almost lazily, I drop the barrel of the shotgun down to rest against the Wendigo's neck. I smile. "Be free, Protector."

I pull the trigger. That part must've been a weak point or something, because the flame spreads through the Wendigo like I just injected lava into its veins, or whatever version of veins it has. I watch as most of its body starts to burn through like melting wax, and the claws... relax.

As it drops down into the dark canyon below us, I swear I saw it smile.

Thank... you...

I blink.

Wait. What?

But I heard it... the voice was... real? It couldn't have been. Could it? Of course it couldn't. But... could it? I run a hand down the back of my neck as my brain runs through the possibilities.

Does this mean I'm not crazy? Or maybe that I'm even crazier than I thought?

I take a breath. Damned if I know.

Later. I'll deal with it later.

Right now, I gotta find Max.

I push my way out of the cable car before the others can stop me, and set off up the hill at a run, leaving them yelling in confusion behind me. They'll be fine. They know the way. But Max is... maybe she's...

She can't be. She just can't. Not now.

Not when we were finally gonna meet.

I run up the cliff, past her outhouse (good to see even the high-ups got the same shitty shitter as the rest of us). I run up the steps of her lookout, and into the room at the top.

Oh.

Oh no.

Nononononononono.

The place was trashed.

Her papers and books were scattered all over the room, and there scraps of something I didn't recognise all over one wall. But it looked... fleshy. And her chair was upside down, and her desk was covered in a pool of thick, red blood.

It's... She... I take it all in, and I come to the hella obvious conclusion I know all the occupants of my head, invited ancient spirit-things or whoever else is in here, came to.

Max was gone.

Just like Rachel.

Just like Sam.

Almost in a trance, I walk over, and I set her chair back upright.

They got her. They actually got her.

I thought she'd be... but she was...

I sit down in the chair, let my head fall into my hands, and I start to cry.