Happy All Hallow's Eve to everyone! I really hope that everyone has a great Halloween if you celebrate the holiday, whether you'll spend it eating candy or watching scary movies all day and night. I would like to say that I am so sorry for taking so long to update this story, I've been trying to figure out where I want to continue college and I'll need to start working on an application once I decide on the college. On a lighter note: So probably like the rest of you, I watched season 6 of Lucifer as soon as I could after it came out. It's hard to believe that there won't be any more, but it was inevitable. I absolutely loved Rory with the time she had in the show. I hope that you all enjoyed it as well. I will be making references to the Dark Pictures Anthology. I know that canonically, it is not related to Until Dawn, but it is called fanfiction for a reason.

P.S.-I would like everyone to know, just as a little side note, that I'm not really one of those who really knows anything about fashion or any of that which clothes go with what, alright?

P.P.S.- There is some pretty important news that I need to relay to all of you. I'm finding it hard to post new chapters, as you all have no doubt noticed by now so I'm going to do some changes. I was hoping that I could ask someone to be a beta-reader for this story or A Light's Shadow. I am also most likely putting The Goddess Among Us up for adoption since it has been pretty hard for me to write for that story nowadays and the fans of that story deserve better than I am giving at the present time. For anyone interested in either of these, please PM me as soon as you can and I will try to respond immediately.

Disclaimer- I don't own Until Dawn, Lucifer, the characters within these two or any other franchise/characters that may appear in this story. They all belong to their respective owners.

The Demons That Haunt Me Ch. 3

Sam's fingers curled up as she felt her body urging her to wake up, even as she tried her hardest to stay asleep while the sun peeked through the curtain in front of her window, only to open her eyes after a minute. Glancing over to the bed stand beside where she slept, her eyes widened for a few moments when she saw that it was a few minutes past ten o'clock. Laying there for a few moments, she moved out of the bed slowly and moved over to the door, the smell of cooked bacon growing more prominent once it was open. Turning around the corner, she wasn't really surprised when she saw her aunt standing by the sink, setting a few dishes up to dry on the rack. Linda turned her head slightly when she heard the footsteps coming up from behind "Oh, you're up. I made some breakfast for you. I remembered that you were vegan so I grabbed some fruit at the store. Strawberries, grapes, apples, and quite a few others if you'd like."

Sam gave her aunt a surprised glance before she gave a small nod, her aunt opening the fridge and pulling out a bowl filled with a mix of fresh fruit "Thought you might appreciate it if it was cooler."

Taking the bowl, she sat down across from her aunt's place with a fork that she had grabbed from the counter, impaling a strawberry with it and taking a bite from it before she looked up to her aunt "So, how is this going to work? You ask me a baker's dozen of questions and then give me anti-anxiety meds or something like that?"

Linda took a bite from her eggs before she answered "I am going to be asking questions that might be somewhat difficult to answer and I will need you to answer them honestly. However, since I'm family, I cannot be your official therapist or prescribe any medications to you. I am just going to try and figure out if it might be best that you do start seeing a professional, but I am going to try and help you as much as I can while you're here. Alright?"

While she explained, Sam had taken a few more bites of berry combinations before she said "Great, so basically you'll be prodding me enough to see if I'm crazy. Good to know. Might as well get it over with."

Standing up from her seat, she pushed the leftovers of her fruit bowl into the fridge while she heard her aunt let out a breath behind her, but she ignored it as she moved around the couch and laid down on the cushions with her head hitting a pillow in the corner, staring up at the ceiling while she waited for Linda to finish her breakfast. As she waited, she fiddled her fingers for a few moments before she called out "So how have things been going for you here in L.A.? I mean, it's been a while since we really talked about it all. Last time we did, you were still married to Reese. Made any friends you would like to tell me about?"

A nervous laugh came from Linda before she said "You have no idea. There are some... very interesting people here in Los Angeles."

"Anyone in particular?"

Linda seemed to think about it for a few moments "Well, there is one man who's unlike anyone I've ever met in all honesty. Lucifer Morningstar. He works as a consultant for the LAPD and he actually owns a nightclub called Lux. He's a... good man when he's not trying too hard."

Sam scoffed lightly "That is not really the kind of person I would've pegged for you. I can only imagine who else you might have met since we last talked."

She heard the sink turn on for a few moments along with a clink of metal every once in a while before her aunt entered her line of sight, notebook in hand with a pen in the other, taking a seat opposite of the couch. Opening the book, she hit the button on the pen and held it against the paper. Watching her aunt adjust her glasses, Sam turned her gaze upward before her aunt started "Let's start with a little close to home. Your mother told me that you've been alienating your friends for the past year. Could you try to tell me why?"

"We just kind of... drifted apart. It happens in life."

Her expression neutral, Linda asked "And it doesn't have anything to do with the events that occurred in the month of during February of 2014 or 2015?"

"Perhaps. Certainly didn't help."

Writing into her notebook, Linda tried "Could you tell me about your friends? How you all met, maybe? What your relationships were with them?"

Sam closed her eyes for a few moments, opening them when she started to speak again "I guess we all met in the typical fashion, random coincidences that tied us all together. Mike is the resident ladykiller of the group, I think he was already with Emily by the time he started hanging out with us. He always came off as a bit of a... dick, but he really came through for all of us last year. Emily is the typical "world revolves around me" girl and Jess tagged along with her. I didn't really feel like there were any issues between us until what happened with the twins. Matt is one of those rare good jocks. He's sweet and... he's typically trying to keep everyone getting along when there's an argument. I think Emily kind of took advantage of that after she and Mike broke up. Ashley was a bit of a loner, but Chris and I met her in study hall. Practically love at first sight if you ask me. Josh was the movie buff along with Chris, more Josh than the latter though. He wanted to be a part of the movie industry like his dad. Come to think of it, he might've had a bit of potential when it came to that. The two of them had been friends for the longest time, all the way back to elementary school. Both of them introduced the rest of us to Hannah and Beth a few weeks after those two thought that we were alright to hang with. I guess they were just testing the waters with the rest of us. Hannah and I... we got close eventually. Best friends. For the most part, we kind of stayed within the social cliques that we typically belonged to, but we all seemed to get along as a group. Happy?"

Linda hummed as she tried to write in the important details, following up with "Do you think that you could describe the event that changed your relationships with them? I know that... it's probably going to be difficult to-"

Sam interrupted "The night the twins went missing is what changed it. I don't really remember a lot if I'm being honest. I've just... tried to bury it all after everything. All I can honestly recall is the prank and what happened after it. Josh and Chris were already passed out drunk at the time while I think Beth was cleaning up for the night. The others came up to me and tried to sell me on it, get me to bring Hannah to the room where they'd be waiting. She trusted me, but I didn't want any part of it."

Linda cocked her head "But your friends, including Ashley and Matt, participated?"

Sam gulped "Yeah. If I'm being honest, those two surprised me the most out of all of them. I saw Emily, Jessica, and Mike coming from a mile away. Those three always tended to be the more... aggressive of the group. Emily didn't like Hannah having a crush on her boyfriend then so... they left to get everything ready and I was trying to find Hannah. I looked through the entire house, but I couldn't find her anywhere in the cabin. Finally, I heard Hannah's voice behind a door and the others; I knew I was too late. They were all there and I guess she was taking her shirt off when they came out of hiding. I tried to... she just looked at me like she... like she actually thought that I would do something like that to her and she ran. I tried to follow, but she was fast. She got outside and disappeared in the storm before I could stop her. I remember calling out just before Beth came out, trying to get answers out of us. Jessica and Emily just..."

She trailed off, her fingers going rigid as she remembered everything they had said that night as she continued "Beth... after yelling at us, she ran after her sister. That was the last time I saw them both. I went inside... every instinct I had was telling me to after them, but I just thought that they'd be back. I was too angry to even look at the others, but I stayed up all night, waiting for them to come back. After an hour, they still hadn't come back and I was getting really worried. I knew something was wrong, but the storm was still battering the house so I couldn't go out to find them."

Linda hummed for a moment before she tried "Could you tell me how things changed after the twins disappeared? Were you angry at the others for what they did?"

Sam scoffed as she felt hot tears in her eyes "Of course I was. For a few months, I couldn't even look some of them in the eye after what happened. Some of them tried... tried saying that they couldn't have known that Hannah would run off like she did, but I didn't want to hear that bullshit. It didn't matter. Still doesn't... not to me. I tried to move on, tried to focus on helping Josh. Eventually, I let the others back in and we got back on some stable ground with one another. I still... I still couldn't forget all of that, not after I lost them both."

"So what changed? How did you go from nearly being friends again to barely talking to them at all?"

Sam looked over and wiped away her tears as she answered "Last year happened. Josh happened."

Before Linda could dig deeper, Sam got up from her seat and walked into the guest room, grabbing her shoes and socks before returning to the couch. Her eyes slightly narrowed in concern, Linda asked "Where are you going?"

Slipping her shoes over her feet, Sam gave a sharp answer "Out. Therapy session's over."

Before Linda could form an argument, the girl was already on her way to her room, letting out a breath before admitting to herself "I really should've thought of a required period when we were talking about the rules."

Closing the door behind her, Sam looked through her drawers before she found her workout clothes, pulling them out before she grabbed the black jacket from the dresser. Grabbing the small bag she had brought in her suitcase, she grabbed and folded backup clothes into it before zipping it closed, pulling her jacket on as she walked past her aunt to the door.

Sam huffed as she kept moving, the treadmill humming gently with her footfalls as she focused her eyes on the TV above her. Flexing her fingers around the small weights she had grabbed, she huffed as music flowed through her earplugs while her muscles burned with exertion that had come with several hours spent in a mix of resting and exercise. After a couple more minutes, she hit the stop button on the machine and braced herself against the machine as heartbeat started slowing again. Stepping off of the treadmill, she sat down in a chair and grabbed her water before taking a swallow, pressing a towel against her sweaty skin. Just then, a woman sat next to her with a soft exhale, brushing a few strands of her dirty blonde hair away from her face before she looked to Sam "Are you new here?"

Sam looked over to her with a curious glance, noting a few scars along the woman's physique before she answered quietly "Yeah, just got here."

The woman nodded once and seemed to want to ask more, but restrained herself. Sam huffed and tried "So how long have you been coming here?"

She caught the woman smile as she started "For a while now. It's just that it's a little hard for me to find time between my job and taking care of my daughter."

Sam nodded and reached into her bag just before she felt a cool breeze go along the back of head. In her head, she knew it was nothing more than the A/C hitting her skin, but the shake had already started. Cursing under her breath, Sam clenched her fingers into a fist and unfurled them a few moments later, grabbing ahold of her pack of chewing gum. She had barely opened it when she heard the woman say "You doing alright?"

"Yeah, it's just-"

The woman shook her head "You don't have to explain. I've... I've been through something like that before. I guess you could call it a "perk" of the job. It was a few years ago, but I got some help and managed to get past it."

Sam scoffed "Trust me lady, whatever you saw... it wouldn't hold up to me."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. It was nice to meet you."

Wiping her brow one more time, Sam climbed up from her chair and walked out of the gym to the rental that her aunt had gotten her for her stay. Quickly opening the door, Sam threw her bag into the passenger seat and sat down with a huff, closing it while her fingers flexed around the wheel. Her skin felt like it was burning with how angry she was at seeing another "I understand" people at the gym of all places. Shaking her head, she was about to start the car and back it out of the space when she thought of something that her aunt had said about her friend Lucifer. Pulling her phone out, she typed a few buttons and looked over the screen before putting it down, turning the ignition before she backed out of the spot.

By the entrance of the gym, Chloe watched the car leave with a sigh, the small bubble of anger dissipating rather quickly as her phone rang in her pocket. She answered it with a swipe, holding to her ear "Detective Decker. Of course, I'll be right there."

February 2nd, 2016

Mike huffed as he shifted his truck into park as he finished pulling up to the house, opening the door and grabbing his backpack before he stepped out, pushing it shut behind himself. Keeping his keys out, he walked to the front door and slid the key into the lock, twisting the door knob with a harsh twist. He walked inside with the door closing behind him with a click, pulling off his jacket before he moved into the kitchen.

Pulling open the fridge, he reached in to grab a soda but stopped himself, glancing over to the other side. Reaching further in, he grabbed hold of a beer bottle and pulled it out, shutting to refrigerator door before snapping the cap off of the bottle as he walked into the living room. Mike huffed as he sat down before taking a deep swallow from the bottle, his lips twisting as the taste ran along his tongue while he turned on the television. The people on the channel babbled on and on about politics for a while, but he wasn't really paying attention to the constant back-and-forth game that old people play. Instead, his gaze was fixed completely on the date spelled out on the screen. It had been almost two weeks since the anniversary, but he still couldn't get it out of his head, not when he couldn't even look at Jessica without remembering what had happened that night... and the following day.

Mike rolled his shoulders as he got up from the table, the doctor stepping out of the way and pulling the door open after she completed her examination of the teenager. The cuts along his body had been treated and bandaged, his black eye still managing to make him feel a slight ache through the pain meds he had been given. He was still a little shaky after the lodge and the interrogation by the police, all of them being taken in for questioning over what had happened. He still remembered the disbelieving looks that he had gotten from them when he tried to tell them about the Wendigos, though he knew that he should've seen it coming. Even he could admit that it sounded insane, no matter how much he knew that it had actually happened. As he walked down the clean and sterile hallway, it was all still playing in his head from the moment Jess had been pulled through the window as she screamed into the night to the moment he watched Sam be blown away to the ground by the explosion at the lodge. As he was just about to pass a room, he heard "Are you sure you're okay, Jess?"

His heart froze as he practically spun his whole body around in shock, looking in to see Matt sitting by a bed, Jessica giving him a small smile as she nodded "I'm fine, Matt."

"Jess?"

The two of them turned their heads when they heard him say her name, the girl's eyes lighting up with joy when she saw her boyfriend standing there "Mike, you're okay!"

He rushed to her bedside while Matt backed away to give the couple space, Mike immediately embracing the girl tightly only to loosen his grip when she groaned in pain. Mike couldn't hide his relief as he released her after a few more seconds, looking her over for a moment as he tried to keep himself calm "I- I saw you fall. I... I thought you were dead."

She merely smiled, tears in her eyes "You came for me, Mike. Thank you. Thank you."

Unable to hold herself back any further, she gently cupped his face and leaned in, her heart leaping as she felt his lips connect to hers. They stayed like that for a few more seconds until they broke apart again, Mike gently resting his forehead against hers as he asked "How did you get out?"

She looked into his eyes as she answered "I... I was wandering down there for... so long. I- I heard them. Then I found Matt... after I nearly hit him with a shovel."

The girl looked down shamefully at that, but Matt spoke up "Jess, you had no idea it was me. It's alright."

She gave a grateful smile to him at that before she continued "He kept me safe. One of those things... it was chasing us. He got me away. We saw the explosion, but some people stopped us before we could get there. They brought us back here. W-what about everyone else? Are they okay?"

Mike hesitated for a few moments before he admitted "Most of us are. We had no idea what happened to Matt after Emily came back."

Matt perked up "Emily's alright? She made it out?"

Mike nodded before he spoke again "Yeah, she's fine. A little shaken, but try to find somebody who isn't. Just... not everybody is. Josh... he... he was the Psycho. He made the whole thing happen. All of it was him."

Matt, in shock of what Mike had said, tried "No, that- that's not possible. Chris and Ashley said-"

Mike closed his eyes for a moment, remembering his former friend's screams in the mine, hearing the creature drag him away while he hid behind a rock. He finally continued "That whole thing was a part of his prank. He used a goddamned fake body for that, but Josh- he... he's gone. For real. The Wendigo, it killed him. I was there, I heard it happen. There was nothing I could do to save him."

Both of them fell silent at his words, trying to find what they were supposed to say. Jessica looked almost sick, picturing what Mike was saying while Matt looked like he was trying to find a balance between sorrow and anger.

Before he could continue, Mike heard footsteps by the door and was relieved when he saw Sam standing there for a moment, looking at the three of them until she turned away. Walking her walk out of sight, Michael turned his gaze back to his girlfriend and gently took her hand with his own, leaning in to kiss her on the cheek "I'll be right back. Why don't you get some rest, Jess? It's been a long night... for all of us."

Jessica nodded and watched as he left, laying her head down on the pillow again while trying not to move around too much in the bed, finally letting her exhaustion win out. Mike picked up the pace to try and catch up with Sam, looking through every door he passed just in case she went inside one of them. Eventually, he found her leaning against a wall in what seemed to be a large waiting room, her arms crossed with one hand clutching the shirt that the hospital staff had given her. She seemed to sense his approach as she turned her head to look at him when he stepped into the room, Mike hesitantly asking "How are you doing?"

Sam gave a dry chuckle "Is that supposed to be a joke?"

Mike took a breath "Sorry. Stupid question. Just... anything we need to worry about? Broken bones or anything like that?"

Sam rolled her eyes "Seems like we should've gotten at least some of those last night, huh? But no, just... just some cuts and bruises. Got off pretty easy."

Mike could feel the tension between the two of them grow thicker within those next few moments, the blonde fixing him with a gaze that could rival Emily at her worst. Taking a breath, he tried "Sam, I- I really can't imagine what you're going through right now, but-"

Sam interrupted, venom dripping from her voice "No, Mike. You can't imagine. You know, I thought... I really thought that I could move on. That I could forgive and let you guys in again. That I could forget." She took a deep breath, glancing down before turning her eyes to look into his "But if last night taught me anything, it's that not only I shouldn't have, it's that I never should again. Because now I know. I know exactly what you did last year, what happened because of you and the others."

"Sam, I- how could I have known? About any of it? Look, I was stupid and an asshole and a really terrible friend, but you know that-"

Sam cut him off again, yelling this time "I don't know anything, Mike! Beth and Josh were almost like family to me! Hannah was my best friend and... they're all gone. That godforsaken mountain took them from me. From Chris. You can say that it wasn't your fault and that "it was just a prank" all you want to me, but it doesn't change the fact that they... they're dead. All three of them are gone and can I actually say that you would be there when I have to tell his parents that their third child is dead too? Because you weren't there last time. You and those assholes just went back to your lives as if nothing happened, as if Beth and Hannah meant nothing to any of you! Are you going to forget about Josh too?"

The question set Mike's fury ablaze as he thought back to what the oldest Washington sibling had done only a few hours before dawn. Stepping closer to Sam, he shouted "He brought us there, Sam! He chose to do that to us, his friends!"

"Of course he did! He... they trusted us and all of you just threw it in his face. They were our friends and all of you treated his sister like she was trash.

Mike started "Sam, I swear that I tried to get Josh out."

Sam looked up to him with tears in her eyes "I know you did... but that doesn't change what happened. What we found. She was my best friend and she... those things took her. Hannah wasn't perfect, but no one deserved what you guys did to her. Beth didn't deserve to die! None of them did! I know what happened, Mike, and there is nothing that you can say that would convince me that you didn't deserve to suffer because of it."

Mike couldn't bring himself to say that she was wrong, hot tears starting to sting his eyes as the words stabbed into him. Sam leaned close "You know, I could've left you to die up there. It would've been so easy to just... watch. But I saved you. I can't even pretend to know why. What I do know is that whatever friendship we had, it's over. After we go back home, I don't want to see you anywhere near me, do you understand?"

Mike nodded once just as the blonde started to walk away, only stopping when the boy spoke again "Sam, we don't have to tell them about what we found in the mines, right? About the journal? I just... Jess- everyone has been through enough. We don't need to..."

He trailed off and Sam finally spoke after a small period of silence between the two teenagers "No, we won't. It... It'll be between us, but I'm not doing it for them. Do you understand?"

She didn't wait for a reply, walking away from Mike as he sat down in a chair, his hands grasping at his own black locks.

Sam, of course, had made good on her word. It had taken all of them nearly a week and a half before the cops let them go back home and Sam had made a point of keeping away from both him and the rest of the group, save for Chris. Everyone, of course, had noticed almost immediately, but chalked it up to processing everything that had happened... up until three months had passed. That was the point where they had started becoming worried, some of them coming to him to ask what was going on. He tried to answer them as much as he could, but there was only so much that he could say before they drew their own conclusions.

Before he could think any further on the matter and take another drink from his beer, Mike heard a knock on his front door, startling him out of his stupor. With a sigh, he climbed up from his seat and walked back to the door, pulling it open to see Jess standing there with a large Five Guys bag in one of her hands. A sad smile on her face, Jessica held it up to him and asked "Want to drown out the day in unhealthy habits and junk food?"

He chuckled lightly before he nodded, letting her in and closing the door behind her, both of them embracing for a few moments. A few minutes later, they were binge-watching Netflix with fries in their hands, Jessica laying her head on her boyfriend's chest. They were quiet as they watched the movie, the silence only being broken when Jess spoke up "Do you ever think about it?"

He didn't need to think real hard about what she was talking about; it was beyond obvious. Taking a breath, he answered honestly "I try not to, but... that shit left a mark. A big fucking one that's hard to look away from, y'know?"

Jessica nodded once before she admitted "I still have nightmares about it. Being dragged out through the window, that thing screaming. It's always the same. Everything about it just..."

Mike spoke up "The sanatorium. It's different sometimes, but I always wake up sweating. It only happened once in a while after the lodge, but it's been happening a little more the last couple of weeks now. Just... yeah. I don't get how people can move on from something like that. Live their lives like everything is normal after seeing something so... messed up."

Jessica pulled herself up and looked him in the eyes before she answered "I think that... that they just try. Do their best, one day at a time."

He met her gaze and felt his heart pounding in his chest, his mind wanting to speak but his mouth refused to open. He knew that the truth, the whole truth about what happened on the mountain, would break her once he told her. Maybe not as badly as it had him and perhaps she could help, but he knew that she didn't deserve to be lied to. Ever since they had gotten together, she had been nothing but good to him and he had tried to be just as good to her in return. Taking a deep breath, he finally spoke again "I'm always gonna try, Jess. I'm just glad that you're here, trying to do it with me."

Instead of answering, Jessica softly leaned in and kissed him with a hum of content, Mike shoving the guilt down until it was buried deep inside of him.

Lucifer let out a breath of relief as he walked up to the entrance of Lux, rolling his shoulders once with a wave towards the line of people waiting outside before moving over to the door, only to get stopped by the bouncer. His eyes quirking in confusion, he started "Um, Rick, is there a problem?"

Rick, realizing his blunder, spoke quickly "Oh, no! I just thought that I should tell you that a girl came by earlier. Said that she had a delivery for you from a Dr. Linda Martin and you did put the doc on the VIP List."

His eyebrows quirked, Lucifer asked "So, did she give you the package?"

Rick shook his head "Sorry, boss. She said something about doctor-patient confidentiality and I know that stuff can be pretty serious. So I just sent her up to the penthouse. It... It's actually been a while since I let her in."

The angel let out an amused hum, shaking his head with a scoff before he turned back to Rick "Don't worry, I'll take care of it. Just... next time, call the person whose name they're using to get in before you let them in, alright."

Giving a relieved nod to his boss, he stepped out of the way and opened the door as Lucifer stepped through. The nightclub owner shook his head as his hand reached up to smooth over his hair, the music blaring as the balcony came into view, the crowd dancing the night away below him. He did feel the need to unwind after such a boring day with his brother, but he couldn't just leave the woman in his penthouse with all of his top shelf. With a sigh, he moved away from the balcony and hit the call button with the ring sounding a few moments later, the door opening with the club owner slipping inside. Softly pressing the button, he was starting to hope that whoever it was could at least be attractive when he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket and pulled it out to see a familiar number on the screen, pressing the connect button before holding it to his ear "Doctor! I swear that I was just about to call you. Do you-"

Linda started before he could continue "Lucifer, I need your help. M- my niece is in town and I haven't seen her since this morning. She's supposed to have been home by now and she's not picking up her phone. I'm on my way to my car right now. Could you please help?"

During her explanation, the elevator doors had opened with music flowing through them while Lucifer tried to listen to the doctor. Stepping out tentatively, his eyes caught movement and focused on it before he asked "I don't suppose she's blonde, around twenty years old, and maybe she was wearing a black jacket today?"

A stunned silence followed for a moment before the doctor asked "How did you know?"

Lucifer quickly explained "I'm not sure how much help you'll be needing in finding her, since I'm going to assume that this young lady dancing in the middle of my penthouse with my second favorite whiskey in hand might be the one you're looking for? You never told me that good looks ran in the family."

The sun shined down on Mount Washington as snow fell to settle on the ground below towering trees, time seeming to be frozen by the frigid weather along with everything else that the air touched. The rays of light seemed to hardly touch the natural beauty or the snow that had covered it during the small storm that had come the night before. Some animals could be seen wandering through the snow, a small herd of elk wandering into a prairie to feed. On a large area of flat land, the ruins of the Washington estate still stood in the snow, the building still burned by the inferno from last year. The living room was layered in burns and snow, some of the pillars completely demolished while some were still holding the structure up from the ground. The chandelier had fallen and crashed into the floor, breaking in several places with pieces strewn throughout the room. The windows in the back of the room had been blown out with what was left of the shutters hanging by their strings.

Down in the home theater, the chairs were tipped over and blown to pieces while the projector screen was shredded by debris. One chair still stood in the center of the room, lonely as water dripped down from the splits and cracks in the ceiling above into the fabric. The silence was interrupted by a deep rumbling for a few moments, footsteps crunching against the fresh snow while snow fell from where it rested, stopping in front of the door where a muffled voice said "Stay on alert. The entities shouldn't be active, but we shouldn't take chances. Two of you, with me."

A few seconds later, three figures stepped into the room with gas masks strapped to their faces, two of them holding assault rifles up while the other one pulled out a voice recorder. She was covered in a blue hazmat suit and was looking around curiously before she started "The date is February 21st, 2016. I am still struggling to make significant strides in my research here on Mount Washington. The Washington Lodge, along with the mines throughout the mountain, are where most of last year's events took place. It is also where it ended with an explosion with about seven survivors found within the vicinity. By all of their accounts, they were attacked by several entities that were similar in nature, labeled by the group as 'Wendigos'. Unfortunately, in addition to being extremely dangerous, it has been noted previously that they are extremely difficult to capture."

Walking away from the entrance, she moved to the staircase and looked over it for maybe the third time, her eyes picking out the small details she had seen in the room. Every single piece of the story that those kids had told could be seen almost perfectly in the eyes of the scientist, from the fractured fuel line by the chimney to the basement. Taking a breath, Brooks admitted "If I'm being completely honest, this all seems just too familiar with the incident in Iraq of 2003. I would like to note that this applies to the two different beings in particular. The Wendigos seem almost completely immune to gunfire and knives unlike the specimens found at the site discovered by the ISG fireteam survivors, but there are far fewer specimens available for study compared to those found within the city. As I noted in an earlier entry, I have contemplated approaching one or multiple survivors from the ISG team, but authorization has been denied. In either case, the biology of the two creatures are different from what I've been able to put together from two autopsies along with eyewitness accounts. Beyond the obvious differences, Wendigos seem to exhibit a much more impatient nature, preferring to rush and tear their victims as fast as they can. I would like to note that they ambush potential victims when they can, using different methods for doing so."

She turned her head to a creaking sound to see one of the soldiers wandering upstairs, his rifle held up with the sight lined up with his eye, looking away when she saw him start to relax. The other kept their flashlight up, moving it through the dark corners of what was left of the ruined house. With a huff, Brooks pulled up her phone to take a picture of the room. Filing the image away with the others, she climbed up to her feet and started moving to the door as she continued "These creatures, while extremely dangerous, are also extraordinary in terms of their abilities. Enhanced speed, strength, even their vocal capabilities make them perfect hunters. This, in and of itself, makes my job much harder. For any significant analysis of these creatures, I need a live specimen. If the capture teams are unable to trap one of the specimens, we will likely have to resort to other methods, however unsavory they may be."

Just as she ended the recording, Brookes caught movement out the corner of her eye and glanced over, but whatever it had been was gone. Releasing a careful breath, she motioned to the two guards and they moved out of the house together, the scientist preparing herself for decontamination. Above them, a pair of eyes watched the group before they vanished into shadow.

Just below 7k. I really hope that you all enjoyed this chapter. Again, I apologize for being away for so long and I hope to get back to you all with another one soon. Any and all feedback is appreciated. Happy Halloween everyone!