Until Dawn: A New Path
Chapter 19 of my Until Dawn story, enjoy.
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Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Until Dawn or its characters.
Chapter 19
Sheer terror pumping adrenaline through her veins, Jess ran through the snow in a blind panic. Mike was by her side, clearly also in a panicked state. They were heading for the lodge, which they could see, getting closer with every step. They were sure that monster was still right behind them. She screamed louder than she'd ever screamed in her life.
Seated in the shed, watching over Josh, Matt heard the scream and leapt to his feet. "Oh crap, what now?" he muttered. He immediately hurried out of the shed, running towards the lodge, too.
Jess and Mike, meanwhile, having reached the front door, began frantically knocking.
Jess screamed, "Let me in! Let me IN!"
From inside, Chris, Ashley, and Sam all leapt to their feet, hearing the noise.
"Is that-" Ashley began.
Sam immediately cried out, "It's Jess!"
Chris nodded. "Let her in, quick!"
They rushed to the front door and opened it. Jess and Mike, much to the surprise of the trio inside, practically fell inside, still screaming.
"Shut the door! Oh my god, shut the door!"
Ashley and Sam dragged her further inside, while helping her to her feet. Meanwhile, Mike had scrambled to his feet and Chris closed the door.
The four made their way back to the main room, Mike guiding Jess to the sofa so that she could sit down.
"Jess, are you alright?" Chris asked worriedly.
Jess fought desperately for breath. "I didn't think we'd make it."
Chris shook his head. "You were screaming bloody murder."
"Yeah..." Sam replied. "Shit, how did you get...?"
"You look totally wiped."
Jess just groaned at Ashley's comment and tried to speak. Now that she was no longer running, the pain in her leg and her other injuries were all catching up with her.
"Guys, give her room. Jess, I'll be right back with the first aid kit." Mike said quickly.
He left to do so while the others watched Jess worriedly.
She shuddered. "There was something..."
"Come, sit down, sit down." Sam said softly, helping her sit. Sam seemed to be the most understanding.
Jess nodded, finally able to relax. She was seated and finally amongst familiar faces.
"Something's out there." she said at last.
At that moment, Mike returned with the first aid kit and immediately began trying to work on cleaning and bandaging Jess' wounds. Aside from the gash on her temple from the falling radio, she had several gashes along her face from that thing's claws and notable gashes on her arms and lower back.
"A monster..." Jess blurted. "It's a monster!"
"Wait..."
With that single word, Chris managed to stop everyone talking over each other. He now felt like they had a better chance getting answers. Concern for Jess' well-being was his first priority.
"Are you okay?" he asked, gesturing to her injuries.
She shook her head. "I'll be fine. Mike?"
He nodded. "It's okay. Here, let me get a closer look."
She nodded and pulled off her purple top, leaving her in her torn jeans, scuffed boots, and white T-shirt, the lower back of it was stained with small bloodstains.
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?" Sam asked, perplexed.
Jess shuddered and tried to explain. "Th-there was this thing, whatever it was..."
Misinterpreting her fears, Sam tried to reassure her. "Jess, Jess, you can relax. Josh was messing with us, but we-"
She shook her head vehemently. "You're not listening to me!"
Mike nodded. "She's right. I saw it myself. There's something out there."
They froze, worried, especially since they could only wonder what was going on.
"Wait, Jess, Mike..." Chris burst out, "Did something happen to you guys?"
"I... We..." Jess 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-"
Jess continued, however. "And then it was Mike and me down there and... Oh God, Mike, I don't know what happened to you, but...I was lost..."
"Me too. God, Jess, you were all alone there." he whispered. "I can't imagine how terrible it must have been for you." He knew about her fear of isolation.
Hearing that, taking advantage of a moment where Mike moved back to check the first aid kit, Sam and Ashley hugged Jess, trying to comfort her.
However, Jess suddenly remembered, with revulsion, something important. Instead of responding to the hugs, 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 Beth's head!"
They all gasped in horror and she repeated the fact that she had found it, more firmly this time, seeing the disbelief in their faces.
"Oh my god..." Ashley choked out, shock and dismay overcoming her.
Chris shook his head. "What the fuck?"
"Are you serious?!" Sam asked in dismay.
"YES, I'm serious!" Jess snapped, before calming down. "I think that they fell down there. But the worst part is...I don't think Hannah died from the fall. Not right away…"
"What do you mean?" Ashley burst out in horror.
Jess 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!"
Chris shook his head. "Jesus, that's horrible..."
They fell into silence for a moment, before Jess remembered something. "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 that help was coming, but even she wasn't sure if it was.
It was then that Matt burst into the room, his eyes widening when he saw them.
"Jess, Mike! You guys made it!" he cried out.
Mike nodded as he resumed treating Jess' injuries. None of them spoke of the little issue when they had entered the lodge. They were just glad to see each other alive.
Chris sighed. "Yeah, yeah, barely!"
Mike looked around, worried again. "So, we're all here now?"
"We're still trying to figure out what happened to them." Ashley explained.
"And there was this 'monster' that was chasing them..." Chris began.
Matt bit his lip, noting Jess' condition. "Shit, Jess, what happened to you?"
Before she could respond, a loud bang was heard. It was the sound of someone knocking on the door.
"Whoa?"
"Who the fuck can that be?" Mike muttered.
"Josh?" Ashley suggested.
Chris looked over at Matt uneasily. "Emily?"
He shook his head. "It's not Emily. I saw her die with my own eyes."
"Sorry, man..." Chris replied, but then queried, "But who is it?"
"I don't know. We should check it out." Matt answered.
Mike nodded. "Guys, you..."
Matt began to leave, looking back. "It's cool. You take care of Jess, we've got this."
With Chris agreeing, the duo made their way to the door and Matt pointed his gun at the door, cautious.
Chris took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm gonna open the door, you ready?" He bit his lip and repeated, "You ready?"
Matt rolled his eyes. "Uh huh. Just do it already, whoever it is has probably gone by now."
Chris 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." Matt replied.
Chris nodded and approached the door. He had barely turned the handle when it was suddenly kicked open. Chris and Matt both cried out and tried to urge the sudden visitor to stop. It was an elderly man, grizzled with many scars, gray eyes and hair, and carrying a flamethrower.
"Freeze! Ah!" Matt cried out as the stranger effortlessly disarmed him. "What the? Alright. Alright, just it easy, Grandpa..."
"Okay." the stranger spat in a thick accent, "Everybody just calm down. Now just move over there. Go on, move! Let me say what I came to say."
By this point, the boys had backed up and were all back in the main room, with Mike and the girls all staring in shock at the sudden new arrival, especially Jess. She recognized him as the man she had met down the mines.
Mike stood up. He had just finished treating Jess' wounds as best as he could. The bleeding had at least stopped, but it was clear that there would be some significant scarring from all of the wounds, especially the ones to her face.
Glaring at all of them, the man shook his head. "I'm here to tell you what you're up against being back on this mountain. You should never have returned." he told them darkly, dropping his bag near the fireplace. "I don't know why you did after what happened last year."
They all shared a look and Ashley nervously asked, "You mean Hannah and Beth?"
"Yeah, how could you know that without being involved?" Chris queried.
Sam, however, jumped in, glaring. "Or responsible?!"
"You hold on to your horses." the stranger spat. "I don't take kindly to you kids coming up here to my mountain."
Mike scoffed at that. "Your mountain? I'm sure the Washingtons would be very surprised to hear that."
The stranger laughed at Mike's comment. "Well, the mountain don't belong to me, it's true." he admitted, but then added in a growl, "But it don't belong to the Washingtons. This mountain belongs to...the Wendigo."
The was a stunned silence after that. They all shared a look, all voicing their confusion, pretty much asking what a Wendigo was. In the end, they had no choice, so they decided to hear the old man out.
The stranger glared at them all, giving them enough time to notice that the flamethrower wasn't his only weapon. He was carrying a machete and a shotgun, too.
"Now, I'm only going to tell you this once. It doesn't matter to me if you believe it or not. I got reasons why I want to...get it off my chest..." he explained.
Mike jumped on that, however. "See? I told you! He's guilty as shit! Guilty of something!"
Sam quickly cut in. "Shh! Shut up, Mike!"
Matt shook his head. "Just listen, guys."
The stranger had a faraway look in his eye as he began to tell his story. "There is a curse that dwells in these mountains. Should any man or woman resort to cannibalism in these woods, the spirit of the Wendigo shall be unleashed."
There was a moment of horrible clarity for Matt as he realized, at last, that Josh had been telling the truth. The strength of what had dragged Emily off, what he had seen, it was a Wendigo all along.
Jess was now sure that was exactly what had chased her in the mines, too.
Looking at them all, the stranger warned them, "You're going to need to find somewhere safe."
"The basement might be okay." Sam suggested.
The stranger instructed them to go down and wait there. Jess reasoned that they would have to wait until dawn. That was when rescue was coming, after all.
It was while they were discussing this that Matt realized, to his horror, what he had just done.
"Guys..." he gasped, "I ran off and left Josh when I heard screaming."
The stranger turned to him at once. "Where did you leave him?"
Matt shuffled his feet and admitted, "In the shed."
The stranger gave a short snort. "Your friend will already be dead."
"No, no, he can't be." Chris burst out. "We were just with him!"
"A lot can happen quickly on this mountain."
Chris wouldn't accept that, however. "No, I'm gonna go and get him."
The others protested, Ashley most vehemently.
"I'm supposed to be his best friend and I let him down." Chris replied.
Ashley shook her head. "No, he let you down, Chris. He let all of us down."
Chris didn't care, he still intended to go, and despite his initial unwillingness, he agreed to accompany the stranger with everybody else being sent to the basement for safety. They began to make their way to the back door while everybody else headed down to the basement, except Ashley, who followed them.
After giving Chris his shotgun and a few warnings, the stranger stepped out into the snow. Chris was about to follow when he heard Ashley'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 the stranger while Ashley closed the door and watched them go.
On the walk to the shed, the stranger, at Chris's insistence, began to fill him in on Wendigos and their weaknesses. He was shocked to realize that 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 Chris 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?"
"No, they'll still smell you." the stranger replied disdainfully.
"Anything like that?"
The stranger 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 that they arrived at the shed, only to find the stool that Josh had been tied to was empty and broken. Chris rushed to it and realized that they were too late. Chris was desperate to find Josh, but the stranger insisted that they leave, revealing to Chris 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. Chris 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 the stranger whispered, "Wait, don't move."
Chris froze a second too late, as his foot came down on a twig that snapped.
The stranger reacted at once. "RUN! GO NOW! NOW!"
Chris darted forwards, just as a monstrous creature leapt in front of him.
He leapt back in shock, crying out, "HOLY SHIT, WHAT THE FUCK?!"
The stranger blasted the Wendigo with his flamethrower, yelling out, "BACK! BACK!"
After warning Chris to get out of there, the stranger stepped back, raising his flamethrower again, when he suddenly let out a choked gurgle. Chris 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." Chris gasped, shock almost setting in.
It was then, however, that he was forced to act, for the Wendigo then turned and lunged right at him. He did the only thing that he could. He raised the shotgun and fired point blank, right in its deformed face. It felt back with a shriek and Chris 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 it ahead. 'Oh, shit!'
The Wendigo was back for more. He fired and struck it again.
Chris was now within reach of the lodge. He ran up to it, yelling, "Oh thank god. Please, let me in, quick!"
Ashley opened the door at that moment. Chris burst in and slammed the door shut behind him, locking it for all the good he felt it would do.
Ashley turned to him, eyes wide, noting his state. "Chris? 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. Ashley let out a short scream and Chris urged her to go. They hurried as quickly as they could down to the basement. Mike was halfway up the basement stairs, apparently on his way up to get Ashley. He quickly turned and headed back down with them.
Meanwhile, out in the forest, a Wendigo made its way through the snow, dragging the unconscious body of Josh Washington behind it.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.