Author's Note: Short one, folks. As a side note, go read my newest Until Dawn fic if you'd enjoyed this one so far! It's entitled The Heart of a Stranger and I promise it's gonna be a wild ride with a whole lot more of my own original writing in it. I'm not sure how the update schedule will be, but meh. So check that one out? Please?

Anyway, one more after this folks, until we get into the After part of Until Dawn. I'll take suggestions for the After part, because I'm not really sure what's gonna come up next, so keep me posted on what you wanna see! Thanks for sticking with me through this journey, and remember, it's not over yet! So read, review, follow, favorite, all that stuff! :D

Rating: This is going to be rated T, but the language is going to be very explicit because some of the dialogue comes right from the script. I'm not going to elevate it, because you all should know what to expect.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Until Dawn or the game or story. All rights go to Supermassive Games. I own Percy and April Anthony. Shit's goin' down.

Editing: All editing is done by me, all mistakes are mine.

Chapter Nineteen – Meanwhile, in the mines…

After pushing Sam up, Mike turned around, his eyes flickering between April and Josh. He didn't trust Josh as far as he could throw him, but he did trust April. On the other hand, he wasn't really sure if he trusted them together.

Mike exhaled. "Alright, let's go, you fucked up son of a bitch." He paused. "And you, April."

April smiled a bit at Mike.

The group started their way back the way they came. Mike led and April walked beside Josh, keeping one hand on his back and murmuring encouraging words to keep him going.

"You didn't…you didn't have to hit me so much, man," mumbled Josh. It was quiet, but Mike heard.

"Ah, yeah…I'm sorry about that before, man. I thought you killed Jess. I was wrong."

"Where…where is Jess?" asked Josh.

Mike ground his teeth together as he pushed through the wooden door he, Sam, Percy, and April had just went through moments ago. "The, uh…the Wendigo…it got her."

"Fuck, man…" breathed Josh. "I don't know what to—"

"You don't have to say anything, man. It's not on you," said Mike, cutting Josh off effectively. He was happy that Josh got the memo to be quiet, for at least a few seconds. What Josh had done…the 'prank', he called it…it was still raw in Mike's mind. It wasn't a fucking prank.

They went through the area where the bodies of their friends hung up on chains. Mike heard Josh's broken voice a moment later. "No…no!"

He heard April trying to console Josh and clenched his jaw. He wasn't a fan of April snuggling up to Josh like she was, especially not after what he pulled. He had a distinct feeling Percy wouldn't be either, and Mike had promised he'd keep April safe. He wasn't sure if her close proximity to Josh could quite be categorized as 'safe'.

"I know," murmured Josh, "I know, I know, I know…okay…"

Mike shook his head, hoping sincerely that Josh was talking to April and not some more figments of his imagination. Josh needed back on his medication, and fast, there was no denying that.

"April, can you hold the flashlight?" asked Mike.

They had reached the lake of water, and Mike held the heavy duty light to April to hold as he lowered himself down into the icy water once again. "Why couldn't this be a fucking hot tub?" Mike ground out as he took the flashlight back from April.

He heard April snort as she lowered down into the water. "Because that would be too easy, Michael."

"You're not wrong," he muttered in response.

Mike illuminated the ledge as April helped Josh down. Once he hit the water, his teeth started chattering. "It's…it's cold, man," Josh whimpered.

"I know, baby," soothed April. "Take my hand, come on. Little farther."

It was by no means a little farther – they still had to cross the entire thing, but Mike knew April was trying her damndest to keep Josh sane. Or about as sane as he was going to get in his current situation. So they all kept wading through the underground lake, until they hit the middle.

That's when everything went to shit.

Mike was leading and he yelped up ahead. "Oh, fu—" was all Michael Munroe was able to get out before he was yanked underneath into the icy depths. He thrashed around in the depths, until whatever had him let go.

Up above the surface, Josh was yelling at the Wendigo, while April stood off to the side, paralyzed with fear.

"You're NOT REAL!"

The Wendigo screeched in Josh's face and Josh gasped as he saw the faded butterfly tattoo inked into the milky white skin. "Hannah!"

"Hey, ugly!" Something hit the beast in the side of the head.

April had been shaken out of her paralysis and had thrown her shoe at the Wendigo's head. She was armed with her second shoe, a look of defiance, but also fear mixed in. "Let him go, you bitch!"

The Wendigo threw Josh aside into the water and lunged at April, claws out. It didn't hurt her, though. No, it did much worse. It lifted her by her shirt and screeched at her once before plunging her underwater and dragging her through the icy depths off towards wherever the sick, twisted thing resided.

April kicked and screamed and thrashed about, but the Wendigo didn't let go. Josh had hit his head on a rock upon being thrown by the Wendigo and was out cold, his head just barely floating above water.

And Mike cowered behind a large boulder, letting the Wendigo carry off his friend's sister, the sister he'd vowed to protect. He gulped as he watched the Wendigo make its way off with April. She was persistent for sure, screaming until her lungs gave out, but Mike knew it was no use. He could only hope that the Wendigo would be merciful for once in its life and spare April a quick death.

Mike ran over to the place where Josh was knocked out and slapped him a few times.

Josh spluttered to consciousness, looking around and spitting out water. "What? Who? Mike? Where the fuck is April?"

"We don't have time, man. Josh, we gotta go," Mike said, avoiding Josh's question. He grabbed Josh's arm, pulling him along, or trying to.

"Michael, where's April?"

Mike let go of Josh and ran his hands uselessly through his hair and then bit his fist. He felt hot tears pooling behind his eyelids as he squeezed his eyes shut. He kept biting down, aware of the sharp pain that he was causing to himself, but Mike didn't care.

He fucked up. April was gone. She was gone. As good as dead. And it was Mike's fault because he didn't step up. But was it really his fault? He didn't want to die. He was practically defenseless. All he had was his heavy duty flashlight. The Wendigo would have ripped him to shreds if he'd try to stop it.

But now it didn't matter. Mike didn't step up to the plate when it had counted, and he knew that. And now he was going to have to face Percy. Percy Anthony, who had just lost his twin sister. Mike knew Percy would be a wreck. He'd be livid. He'd be thoroughly broken.

But now there was nothing he could do about it. The Wendigo was long gone. April was probably already decapitated, just like Matt and Jess and the Stranger. And it was all his fault.

"Michael! MICHAEL!"

Mike finally opened his eyes when Josh's hands gripped his shoulders. Josh's eyes were red, his wet hair was matted to his bloody forehead where it had cracked against the rock, and his voice was ragged. "Michael, where's April?"

"It got her, man," whimpered Mike. "It fucking took her."

Josh looked like his world was going to implode, which of course, to him, it was probably going to. He had lost his sisters up on this mountain a year ago. And now his girlfriend of a couple years was gone, too. Taken by Hannah, taken by the spirit of the Wendigo that haunted Blackwood Mountain.

Josh's hands linked behind his head and he took two steps back from Mike. "No….no, no, no, no, no! Michael! Where is she? Where did it take her? ANSWER ME, MICHAEL!"

Mike's arms flung in the air, his voice matching Josh's in volume. "IF I KNEW, DON'T YOU THINK WE'D BE GOING AFTER HER RIGHT NOW?" He cursed lowly and lowered his voice. "If I thought there was a chance we could rescue her, we'd be fighting that son of a bitch that used to be Hannah right fucking now! But I don't, okay? I don't think there's a chance! I've seen what those things can do, first hand! Hell, the one I saw ripped Jess's jaw off of her fucking face!

"Those monsters? They only need mere seconds to kill you, and that thing has had minutes now. April's gone, and it's my fault, okay? Yeah—" Mike's voice choked up and he swallowed back a sob. "She's gone, and it's all my fucking fault, but we need to get out of here before that thing comes back for us. Okay? Josh? Josh, are you listening to me?"

Josh's eyes were glazed over as he murmured 'no' over and over again under his breath.

Mike felt like shit. One hundred percent shit, but he knew they didn't have time for this. They could mourn and break it to Percy back at the Lodge, but that was provided they even made it back to the Lodge. He grabbed Josh's arm and started hauling him along. Josh was compliant even though he was broken, and Mike was thankful that it wasn't too hard to pull him.

So they went like that the rest of the way out of the mines and back to the Lodge. And the entire way, Mike readied himself to face not only the Wendigos, but the wrath of Percy Anthony himself.

Author's Note: I REGRET NOTHING! ...okay, maybe I do a lil' bit, but it was the plan from the beginning.