Until Dawn: Seeking Hope

Chapter 24 of my Until Dawn story, enjoy.

Reviews

Marina Ka-Fai: Thanks.
Wolfgirl2013: Thanks :)
thedarkpokemaster: Indeed, it seems that way, hmm?
TheSparklyKitten: Thought it would be an interesting twist.
A13x: Yeah, well, she's alive and oh, sorry to hear that. Yeah, that's all true.
Wallflower: Yeah, sure thing :)

Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Until Dawn or it's characters.

Chapter 24

Continuing onwards, Hannah and Ashley soon found themselves facing a giant underground cliff with no obvious path forwards. Ashley looked at the wall ahead. It was rough and uneven. Then she saw it: the broken remains of a ladder, too high for them to reach.

"Look! Look there!" she cried, pointing it out.

They turned and Hannah groaned. "Wow, great."

Ashley bit her lip. "The ladder's toast. We're never going to make it up there!"

Hannah, however, shook her head, a steely glint in her eye. "No, no, no, I think I can... I think I can do it, it's like a rock wall."

"Are you sure? I mean..." Ashley began, before realizing, "Oh shit... Where's Emily?"

Hannah looked around wildly. "Shit, no... Em…?"

At that moment, a sound came from far away down the tunnel behind them. They heard a Wendigo's screech, followed by a series of terrified screams from Emily...and then silence.

"This... It got her! That thing is down here and it got her!" Ashley whimpered. "Oh shit, even she didn't make it..."

Hannah bowed her head. She hated to admit it; but Ashley was probably right. "Shit... No..."

Ashley turned to her, frantic. "What are we gonna do?"

Hannah thought for a moment. "Ash, you know what to do if you run into one of those things, right?"

Ashley nodded.

"Good. Put it to good use and stay wary... I'm gonna keep going. You should head back to the lodge. I've gotta get Mike."

"But..."

"I have no idea what could be waiting for us and I won't put another friend in danger. We've lost too many people tonight already. I'm not losing anyone else, Ashley!" Hannah said severely. "I wouldn't ask you to do this if I didn't think that you could, if I didn't believe that you could make it. You'll be safer in the basement of the lodge than I'll be while going after Mike. Do you understand?"

Ashley bit her lip, but nodded and, after some hesitation, did just that, moving away quietly, praying that Hannah would make it back safely.

'I'll be back soon, Ashley. With Mike. I promise.' Hannah thought.

Looking at the wall before her, Hannah carefully chose her starting point and began to climb up the wall. She paused and then, preparing herself, she set her feet on some rocks and pushed upwards, leaping to a higher ledge. She grabbed the wooden board, but it broke. She gave a short cry, but quickly recovered and kept holding on.

"Ugh, come on." she muttered.

She forced herself upwards again, bracing her feet and making another leap, grabbing a broken structure before making another leap to a higher ledge.

"Come on, come on." she muttered, encouraging herself. "You can do it."

She climbed up the rocks until she finally reached the top of the wall. She grinned as she pulled herself to her feet.

"Hah, I beat you!" she said breathlessly to the rock wall. "I fuckin' beat you!"

Composing herself, she began to look around, using the light from her head-torch to guide her, keeping her hands free. She soon reached a gap in the path and opted to take the stairs to the right. She had only just got off the stairs when suddenly, there was a loud rumbling and then a smashing noise.

"Ah!" she cried out, then saw that the stairs she had just used were destroyed. "Jesus!"

Shaking her head, she continued onwards, desperate to find Mike, already afraid that it was too late. She stopped, however, when she heard a loud, strange noise.

"What was that?" she mumbled warily.

Her search to the top of the stairs didn't glean anything but a strange symbol on the wall, and a skull. Shaking her head, a little creeped out, she turned to follow a different route, along some raised walkways. Suddenly, the cavern started to shake and she had to grab the railing to steady herself.

"Oh fuck!" she cried out in surprise. "Fuck!"

Rocks fell, both behind her and in front of her, forcing her to jump the gap before hurrying off the walkway.

'This is getting really fucked up. Not good, not good at all…' she noted with concern.

Just then, she heard that noise again and shook her head, grabbing a nearby pipe for protection. Reaching another ledge, she carefully dropped down. At that moment, the metal door opposite her burst open and Mike came charging in, trying to slam the door behind him.

"Goddammit!" he cried.

"Mike!"

"Stay back there!" he shouted, as a Wendigo leapt out onto him, pinning him down.

The Wendigo appeared to be burning and now looked set, despite being wreathed in fire, to make Mike its next meal.

"Holy shit!" Hannah yelled before charging forwards. "Hey! FATTY, OVER HERE!"

The creature shrieked and lifted its head towards her. For a brief second, Hannah could have sworn that it actually looked offended by her words before she struck it with the pipe, then again for good measure. The flames faded and it finally went still. But that wasn't the end, for at that moment, a strange form burst out and flew away.

Mike quickly recovered, closing the door and panting. Hannah gasped for breath, too. Unfortunately, her pipe was now damaged and could no longer be used.

"Whoa... You alright?" Mike gasped.

Fighting for air, Hannah laughed shortly. "Uh, define 'alright'."

Mike nodded understandingly. "Alive, for a start?"

"Yeah, yeah..." Hannah replied. "Alive's good."

Mike shook his head. "The hell are you doing here, anyway?"

Hannah bit her lip sheepishly, considering the encounter. "I was gonna warn you about the Wendigos."

"I think I got it." Mike replied with a short laugh.

Hannah agreed and Mike continued. "Let's go. Let's find a way down to where this fucker lives."

Hannah and Mike both left the area, deciding to search for Josh together, since they felt a lot safer together than alone. And also because they could watch each others' backs, like they had just done.

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.