Dawn of Nightmares
Chapter 20 of my crossover story, enjoy.
Reviews
Boris Yeltsin: Thanks, indeed it is not :)
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Now onto the story, little twist here BTW, regarding the identity of the Flamethrower Guy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Until Dawn, Life is Strange or its characters.
Chapter 20
Sheer terror pumping adrenaline through her veins, Victoria ran through the snow in a blind panic, heading for the lodge which she could see, getting closer with every step, she was sure that monster was still right behind her. She screamed, louder than she'd ever screamed in her life. Seated in the shed, watching over Jefferson, Chloe heard the scream and leapt to her feet.
"Oh crap, what now…?" He muttered.
She immediately hurried out of the shed, running towards the lodge too. Victoria meanwhile, having reached the front door began frantically knocking, screaming.
"Let me in! Let me IN!"
From inside, Warren, Kate and Max all leapt to their feet, hearing the noise.
"Is that-" Kate began.
Max immediately cried out."It's Victoria!"
Warren nodded. "Let her in, Quick!"
They rushed to the front door and opened it, Victoria practically fell inside, still screaming.
"Shut the door, oh my God, shut the door!"
Kate and Max dragged her further inside, while helping her to her feet. Meanwhile Warren closed the door.
The four made their way back to the great room, guiding Victoria to the sofa so she could sit down.
"Victoria are you alright?" Warren asked worriedly.
Victoria fought desperately for breath. "I didn't think I'd make it..."
Warren shook his head. "You were screaming bloody murder."
"Yeah..." Max replied. "Are you okay?"
"You look totally wiped..."
Victoria just groaned at Kate's comment and tried to speak, now she was no longer running, the pain in her leg and from her other injuries was all catching up with her.
"There was something..."
But Kate cut across her, asking. "Where's Drew."
"Come, sit down, sit down." Max said softly, helping her sit.
Victoria nodded, finally able to relax now she was seated and amongst familiar faces.
Something's out there." She said at last.
Kate was still on her question about Drew however. "Did you guys split up?"
"A monster..." Victoria blurted. "It's a monster!"
"Wait."
With that single word Warren managed to stop everyone talking over each other, he felt now they had a better chance getting answers.
Concern for Victoria's well-being was their first priority.
"Are you okay?" He asked, gesturing to her injuries.
She shook her head. "I'm fine, I don't feel anything, I just need to calm down."
She paused for a moment before whispering. "It was moving so damn fast..."
"What?"
"I just had to get away." She added."
"Away from what?" Max asked, perplexed.
Victoria shuddered and tried to explain. "Th-there was this thing, whatever it was..."
Misinterpreting her fears, Max tried to reassure her. "Victoria, you can relax... Jefferson was messing with us... but we-"
She shook her head vehemently. "You're not listening to me."
Warren bit his lip and then remembered what Kate had been saying, it was true, Victoria was alone.
"Wait Em..." He burst out. "Where's Drew, is he okay?"
"Drew-oh God..." Victoria cried out. "We couldn't use the cable car so we climbed the tower and then it fell and we were down in the mine, like way down, down in this terrifying freaking mine shaft..."
"Hold on, hold on-"
Victoria continued however. "And then it was Drew and me down there and...Oh God, I think Drew might be dead."
"Wait, what?" Warren burst out as the others all gasped.
Max choked out a single word. "How?"
Victoria suddenly remembered, with revulsion something important
Instead of answering Max, she brought it up.
""I…I was walking down there, in the mines, and it was dark and I found this pile and there was Brooke's head!"
They all gasped in horror and she repeated the fact she had found it, more firmly seeing the disbelief in their faces.
"Oh my God..." Kate choked out, shock and dismay overcoming her.
Warren shook his head. "What the fuck?"
"Are you serious!?" Max asked in dismay.
"YES I'm serious!" Victoria snapped before calming down. "I think they fell down there. But the worst part is, I don't think Stella died, like, from the fall, not right away…"
"What do you mean?" Kate burst out in horror.
Victoria swallowed nervously before replying. "I don't know... I feel like she was down there... like, starving to death... for weeks... when we were all up here looking for her... we had no idea!"
Warren shook his head. "Jesus, that's horrible..."
They felt into silence for a moment, before Victoria remembered.
"Listen. In...In the tower there was a radio and I – I got through to someone – but that was right when the tower collapsed!"
She trailed off, she was trying to tell them help was coming, but even she wasn't so sure it was.
It was then Chloe burst into the room, her eyes widening when she saw Victoria.
"Victoria, you made it!" She cried out.
She just nodded too freaked out by what she had seen, even seeing Chloe Price was a relief to her. "Oh god, Chloe..."
Warren sighed. "Yeah, yeah, barely!"
Chloe looked around, worried again. "What about Drew?"
"We're trying to figure that out." Kate explained.
"And there was this 'monster' that was chasing her..." Warren began.
Chloe shook her head, noting Victoria's condition. "She's all messed up guys, Victoria? Hey, look at me..."
Before she could respond, to insist on what she saw, a loud bang was heard, the sound of someone knocking on the door, heavily.
"Whoa?"
"Who the fuck can that be?" Chloe muttered.
"Jefferson?" Kate suggested.
Warren looked over at Chloe uneasily. "Rachel?"
She shook her head. "It's not Rachel."
"Sorry..." Warren replied, but then queried. "But who is it?"
"I don't know...We should check it out." Chloe answered.
So with Warren agreeing the duo made their way to the door and Chloe pointed her gun at the door, cautious.
Warren took a deep breath.
"Okay, I'm gonna open the door, you ready?" He bit his lip and repeated. "You ready?"
Chloe rolled her eyes. "Uh huh, just do it already, whoever it is has probably gone by now."
Warren still stalled. "Unless you want me to take the gun."
"No, no, no. I think that's less good. You do the door, I got the gun." Chloe replied.
Warren nodded and approached the door, he had barely turned the handle when it was suddenly kicked open, Warren and Chloe both cried out and tried to urge the sudden visitor to stop. As he swiftly disarmed Chloe, both she and Warren froze when they realized they recognize the man, just as Victoria did in the mines.
He was young, around their age, with blonde hair, tucked under his hat, brown eyes and looked paler than usual. He also looked somewhat angry, in a different way than was usual for him. Yet he had been missing for two years, with nobody knowing where he had disappeared too, yet here he was.
Chloe even recognized him as the man she had seen at the Sanatorium.
It was Chloe who found her voice first. "Nathan Prescott, what the fuck…!?"
Nathan just glared. "Get through there, with the others, I'll explain everything in there, don't feel like repeating myself."
Still in shock, they did as he said, with Warren realizing from the sound of his voice that it had been Nathan who had sent that message to Sean on the answerphone, the warning.
To say the others were surprised by Nathan's sudden arrival was an understatement, Victoria especially reacted, leaping to her feet.
"Nathan you-"
"Quiet, there's no time." He snapped. "You all need to listen and listen good. You should never have come here, I kept warning my father but he just wouldn't listen. Now look what happened last year."
Max tensed. "You mean, Brooke and Stella, how do you know about that?"
Nathan sighed. "I saw it, saw them...I tried to save them...But now you're the ones in danger."
"We already-" Chloe began.
"You don't know what you're up against. It wasn't until two years ago that I was actually aware of it myself. Even if you don't believe me, there's all the proof you need, in here." Nathan explained.
As he said that last part he dumped the large backpack he had been wearing on the ground in front of them.
Kate bit her lip. "Guys, maybe we should hear him out."
Max nodded. "Yeah, what's going on, Nathan?"
"There...is a curse on this mountain." Nathan explained as he paced in front of the fireplace, still not letting that flame-thrower go. "My father bought the mountain, but he's never owned it, it belongs...to the Wendigo."
"Wendigo, what the fuck are you on?" Chloe replied.
Nathan glared. "I'm serious, if any man or woman resorts to cannibalism in these woods, the spirit of the Wendigo will be unleashed."
"Holy shit..." Chloe whispered; suddenly realizing, the thing she had seen, the speed it moved at, it had to be one of them. "How do you know all this?"
Nathan paused for a moment; actually looking despondent.
Finally he answered.
"There, was an old man, living on this mountain, he tried to warn my father away from his construction of the lodge many times...I met him once, he tried to warn me."
Pausing Nathan sighed. "I didn't believe him, until he saved me from a Wendigo as I tried to leave. When he died, two years ago, I decided to take his place. Learn everything he had compiled about the Wendigo's, their weaknesses, anything...My father wouldn't listen to my warnings, so I decided instead, I would keep people safe, by hunting the Wendigo, like that old man did."
"Wait a minute, they're out there now..." Chloe whispered. "And I...just left Jefferson when I heard Victoria screaming."
Victoria rounded on Chloe at once. "You did what?!"
But before any sort of argument could erupt, Nathan stepped forwards.
"Where did you leave him?"
"In the shed."
Nathan sighed. "Then he's already dead."
"What, hold on that's..." Warren gasped.
"A lot happens quickly on this mountain." Nathan explained calmly.
Warren sighed. "No, that can't...I'm gonna go get him."
"What, Warren are you crazy!" Max burst out.
Chloe nodded. "Yeah, why are you risking your life for that creep. Don't forget what he said to you, he deserves..."
"No, that's not for us to decide." Warren shot back. "No matter what he's done, he should face justice, proper justice...Leaving him to die at the hands of some, monster isn't justice. It's murder."
Chloe quickly shot back. "Do you honestly believe for one second he would..."
"We're better than him, we don't have to stoop to his level." Warren countered.
Victoria was looking more and more enraged by what she was hearing, but Kate held her back, telling her she'd explain everything soon.
In the end, Nathan stopped the argument.
"I'll go with you." He said.
Warren bit his lip, Nathan still made him nervous just by standing near him. "I don't need your help."
Nathan shook his head. "Going alone is suicide. You don't understand the magnitude of this situation."
"Well, I'm going after Jefferson..."
"No, I'm going after him, you are coming to help me, understand." Nathan shot back. "The rest of you, find somewhere safe and hole up."
"Basement might be okay." Max replied.
"Get down there."
"Wait, for...for how long?" Kate queried.
Victoria answered. "Dawn, that's, that's when the rescue choppers will arrive."
So, everybody else quickly began making their way down to the basement, except for Warren and Nathan. They began to make their way to the back door, while everybody else heading down to the basement, except Max who followed them. After giving Warren his shotgun and a few warnings Nathan stepped out into the snow. Warren was about to follow when he heard Max's voice.
"Hey..." He turned and she smiled softly. "Come back safe."
With that she suddenly kissed him and, before he could say anything she nodded and he followed Nathan while Max closed the door and watched them go.
On the walk to the shed, Nathan, at Warren' insistence, began to fill him in on Wendigo's and their weaknesses, he was shocked to realize the shotgun wouldn't kill them, only slow them down, apparently fire was their only weakness, they also had some patterns that they adhered to, like only hunting at night. Much of what Warren heard made him even more uneasy and not too happy about his chances.
"Any uh, pro Wendigo tips?" He asked. "Like if I rub garlic all over me they won't be able to smell me or something."
"They'll still smell you." Nathan replied disdainfully.
"Anything like that?"
Nathan grunted but conceded that apparently, their vision was based on movement and, although he didn't recommend testing it out, standing perfectly still might make a person invisible to them. It was then they arrived at the shed, only to find the stool Jefferson had been tied to empty and broken.
Warren rushed to it and realized they were too late. Warren was desperate to find Jefferson but Nathan insisted they leave, revealing to Warren that the Wendigo was fond of rendering its victim immobile and then stripping the skin from the body piece by piece and keeping them alive and aware while it feasted on their organs.
Warren was freaked out enough to finally agree to give up and they began to leave.
They had barely gone ten paces from the shed when Nathan yelled.
"Wait, don't move."
Warren froze, a second too late, as his foot came down on a twig that snapped.
Nathan reacted at once. "RUN, GO, NOW, NOW!"
Warren darted forwards, just as a monstrous creature leapt in front of him.
He leapt back in shock, crying out. "HOLY SHIT, WHAT THE FUCK!?"
Nathan blasted the Wendigo with his flame-thrower yelling out. "BACK, BACK!"
After warning Warren to get out of there, get back to the lodge, Nathan stepped back, raising his flame-thrower again when suddenly he let out a choked gurgle. Warren watched in horror as his body hit the ground, his head hitting it separately a second or so later.
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god." Warren gasped, shock almost setting in.
It was then however he was forced to act, for the Wendigo then turned and lunged, right at him.
He did the only thing he could, he raised the shotgun and fired, point-blank, right in its deformed face. It felt back with a shriek and Warren immediately took off running, desperate to reach the lodge, before it was too late. He hadn't gone far when the Wendigo returned, or maybe it was another one, he wasn't sure but it leapt out in front of him.
He fired and hit it, as it fell back he ran until he reached a ledge and leapt off. He landed and cried out as pain flared up in his ankle. Looking up he saw the Wendigo coming back for more, he shot again and ran as fast as he could, limping on his injured leg.
'Sprained ankle, it's gotta be a sprained ankle.' His thoughts raced but then he saw ahead. 'Oh shit!'
The Wendigo was back for more again. Warren fired and struck it again, Warren was now within reach of the lodge, he run up to it, yelling.
"Oh thank God, Please, let me in, quick!"
Max opened the door at that moment, Warren burst in and slammed the door shut behind him, locking it, for all the good he felt it would do.
Max turned to him, eyes wide, noting his state.
"Warren, oh my god, what happened?"
He shook his head. "We gotta go, that thing was like, right behind me-"
They heard it shriek as it leapt at the door and slammed into it. Max let out a short scream and Warren urged her to go. They hurried as quick as they could down to the basement, Chloe was half-way up the basement stairs, apparently on her way up to get Max. She quickly turned and headed back down with them.
Meanwhile, out in the forest, a Wendigo made it's way through the snow, dragging the unconscious body of Mark Jefferson behind it.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.