"Sam is alive?" Ashley's eyes widened as her heartbeat quickened, her soul was filled with hope, and as she glanced around the room, she saw the same flash of hope in everyone else's eyes.
Mike stared at the officer, his mind was full of questions, but the biggest one overall being: Where is Sam? He had felt terrible and guilty after the horrific event, the fact that he never got to apologise tormenting him for what felt like eternity, but now he might be faced with a chance to say sorry to her face.
The officer cleared his throat, and began speaking again by correcting Ashley. "We believe that it is highly likely she is alive." He nodded slowly, glancing over the faces to ensure he wasn't causing too much upset. After scanning over every person's emotions, he pulled out a chair from the table and took a seat, the other officer remaining stood up behind him. "I need to make sure that you understand this properly, okay?" He paused to give time for the friends to nod. "Your friend Samantha supposedly died in the fire, however when we entered the cabin, we discovered only three bodies. None of these were identifiable to your friend Samantha. After searching around the mountain, we further found a mobile phone, which we believe to be hers, seemingly dropped after the fire had occurred and not before. We are not sure as to who the three bodies are, and none of you are clearly in the right state of mind to aid us-"
Mike's face instantly turned into a scowl, unable to stop himself from snapping at the officer. "I know exactly what you're going to say. That we've been through a lot. We know, but we also know what we saw, and we meant what we said in those interviews. Those bodies belong to Wendigos."
The officer, not wanting to argue with Mike, merely nodded before changing his route of discussion.
"Ultimately, it is highly likely that your friend did not die in the fire." He announced his conclusion before adding. "We cannot be one hundred percent certain however as even if she did survive the fire, she may have been killed through other factors on the mountain as none of our team have found any further survivors around the mountain."
"No-" Emily groaned, shaking her head whilst placing her palm to her head. "Sam wouldn't be sitting on top of the mountain. If she survived the fire, she would have come straight to us. She didn't, which means she's either-" She paused, her voice becoming a little croaky. "Dead…. Or, she's in the mines."
Taking in the information that was being placed before him, the officer pulled out his small pocket notepad and began jotting down notes as the friends spoke. One they had finished, he looked up, listening to Emily talk about the possibility of Sam being in the mines.
"We will take that into consideration." He reassured her.
"Are you going to look for her?" Ashley's stare switched rapidly between the two officers, her legs shaking nervously, desperate to find out what was going to happen.
As the officer who had been sat down began to start standing up, the other officer who had remained stood up, finally taking his opportunity to speak. "We have sent out a search party early this morning of course." He nodded in response to her question. "They have been instructed to search every area of the mountain as possible."
"Including the mines?" Chris pushed him a little further, eager for answers.
Rubbing his forehead, the officer shook his head. "I don't know. If they find the mines, they may venture into them. That's for their team to decide. If they do not discover the mines, we will alert them."
Mike's head was bursting with questions, but he didn't know what questions to ask, instead he sat in silence feeling a lot happier now that were was some hope.
"Is the signal still strong?" One member of the search team spoke into his radio to the officer at the office.
The officer replied almost instantly, his voice a little crackly, but understandable. "Yes, relatively strong. Keep checking in with us, in those mines, the signal should be weak or none existent."
"Will do." He hung up the radio, refocusing his attention to the team and their search. There was five of them, armed with flashlights and guns as a precaution. After an investigation had been carried out on the cabin where the group of friends had been staying, they had discovered 3 bodies. None of them had contained the identity of Sam, one of their friends, who the others claimed was dead. The search team had been formed in hope of finding Sam, as there was a strong possibility she could be alive. As they searched around the mountain, they discovered the sanatorium destroyed due to an explosion, the fire still powerful. Unable to do anything they had to continue searching after they had informed the officers back at the office. The team had stumbled across a mine entrance which they were currently making their way through. Wanting to search in every possible area, the group had ventured inside, ending up deep inside the mine. Surprisingly, their signal had been holding up despite their depth.
"It's turning into some kind of cave down here!" One person called to the rest of the team, they were slightly ahead, but they stopped to allow the remainder of the team to catch up.
A loud, piercing screech erupted into the air and the team froze. The caves were cold, water dripping down onto rocks which were all unique shapes, twisted and abnormal.
"What was that?" One of them questioned, glancing around, moving their torch around to hunt for the peculiar sound.
"I don't know." Another replied, their voice quiet, they were clearly uneasy.
A scuttling sound was heard coming from behind them, triggering most of the team to spin round, confused, and afraid. One member of the team however began stepping forward towards the original screech, shining their light around, they disappeared round the corner of the cave. Their eyes widened as they saw something horrific.
"What IS that?" Their words were short and brief… And their last. Their scream rung out into the air, and remained for many seconds, the team rushing towards the sound instantly, hearts racing, heads banging.
One picked up their radio, clutching it tightly to themselves. "There's something down here." Steps were slow, further scuttling noises were accompanied with a very small crunching. "Scott has gone missing, we heard his scream… I don't what's going on, I-"
His words were cut short. Dropping the radio, he turned and ran not bothering to check if his fellow co-workers… friends… were following him. What he had seen had sent an arrow of fear, suffocating him, leaving him stunned. As he had followed the rest of the team, he had peered around a corner with them to see a tall creature, grey skin pulled over its bones like the skin of a drum, and its pale white eyes had no soul within them. It was skinny, and had long spindly legs, as it rose, its relatively large size became evident. It's mouth opening to screech, piercing daggers on show.
He continued running from the monster. What- What… What is that? What is happening?
All too familiar screams began ringing in his ears, one by one, until no voices were left. He closed his eyes readying himself for the claws. As sharp fingernails dug into his shoulder, he forced himself to spin around and meet the creature face to face. Dead lifeless eyes were the last thing he saw as the creature ripped apart his head from his now limp body.
Emily raised an eyebrow, she began readying herself to stand up, wanting to achieve as many answers as possible. "When are they going to return? Are they going to stay out as long as possible?"
One officer smiled politely. "They will return at night and a different team will be sent out if Samantha is not found. If-" A regulated beeping sound interrupted him, coming from his pocket. He glanced at the friends before hurrying away to take the call on his radio followed by his fellow officer, curious to know the news.
"Do you think something is going on?" Jessica managed a small question, her voice still raspy, but she was a little stronger now.
Chris nodded. "Look at them, they're really concerned."
Watching the officers, they saw how their faces turned pale, emotion dropping from their face as they almost froze with the radio in hand. The conversation only lasted a couple of minutes, but it felt like an eternity.
"What if they've found Sam?" Matt suggested hopefully.
"Oh god, what if she's dead? Oh god." Ashley brought her legs up onto her chair and wrapped herself around them. "Oh god."
Chris placed an arm round her shoulders. "I'm sure it won't be that, Ash."
Time ticked by slower as the two officers solemnly made their way back to the table. It was clear their minds were scanning through words to put together into sentences. Eventually, one of them spoke. It was the quieter of the two, the one who had stood the whole time in the back.
"We've been called away on an urgent matter." He stated simply. "We've lost contact with the search team. The last thing recorded was screaming before it cut out." Neither of them waited for a reply, despite noting how many of the friends had begun opening their mouths to speak. "We need to return urgently, we're sorry." Both of them turned their backs, walking away. "Goodbye."
Within seconds of them leaving, voices erupted into the air deafening each other as they frantically hunted for answers from one another even though everyone had the same amount of knowledge. Heartbeats were beating unnaturally fast, hands shaking whilst their voices rose higher and higher, everyone competing to be the loudest.
"Everyone just be quiet!" Emily scolded. "We're not going to get anywhere by talking over each other."
Mike nodded. "Em is right. One at a time…"
"What do you think happened to them?" Chris took his chance to hear the other's opinions.
"It's gotta be the Wendigo." Emily took no time in replying.
"I thought you said you'd killed them all?" Matt questioned, a frown on his face. "In the fire."
"I thought we did…" Ashley bit her lip, allowing her legs to drop, but still remaining close to Chris.
Mike shook his head. "We have no idea how many Wendigos were in those mines. There could still have been some down there." Racking his brain for ideas he thought about the officers. He knew that they wouldn't venture back into the mines for a little longer for safety precautions. "Besides, the officers said they recovered 3 bodies. There were 4 Wendigos in the cabin at least." He added. "That means at least one survived. And, as we all know; one Wendigo is enough."
Glancing around at each other, someone waited for the other to speak up. Eventually, it was Mike who spoke again.
"I'm going to go find Sam." He announced with confidence in his voice, looking around at the friends and their reactions.
"You can't go back there Mike, it's a death trap!" Ashley's eyes widened in a mix of shock and horror.
"We know about the Wendigos!" Despite knowing Ashley was right, and it was extremely risky, he already had his mind set on finding Sam. "We know some information on how to fight back! I could do this better than the search team. They're not going to send another one out for a while, and by then it could be too late."
"It might already be too late." Matt didn't want to say it, but he knew someone had to. "Do you really want to risk your life on a chance?"
Mike nodded. "I do. It was my fault, now this is my chance to put it right and save her."
"I'll come." Chris spoke up, Ashley began whimpering in fear of losing him.
"You can't go Chris…" She looked up at him, her lip trembling. "I-" She paused, taking a deep breath. "I'm coming too."
Chris shook his head. "You're not coming Ash. I want you safe. Mike needs help."
"And I want YOU safe Chris!" Her words were becoming pleas and cries as she spoke. "Please… We'll be safer in numbers!"
Chris knew it was impossible to persuade her otherwise, and her speech had only encouraged the others.
"Ash is right." Matt spoke up. "I'll come. We all owe it to Sam, and the more people, the better."
Emily was reluctant, desperate not to return, but she knew her friends were right. "Me too."
"What about Jess?" Matt gestured towards the blonde girl who was staring into her cereal, spinning the spoon around in circles. At hearing her name, she looked up.
"What about me?" She quizzed.
"You're really weak Jess, you can't come." Mike picked up from where Matt left off. "You need to stay back here, and get well."
"Whilst you all go and get yourselves killed?" She snapped back in return, but her voice was still weak, and she knew she couldn't win an argument. Before Mike could even reply, she automatically gave in. "Okay… But, please… Stay safe…" Even addressing Emily, she formed a weak smile. "All of you."
"So, it's settled?" Mike pushed his chair back and stood up. "We're going back to the mountain?"
Chris perked up. "We should go in the day time. The flamethrower guy claimed that Wendigos only hunt at night. I don't know how much of that is true, but we have nothing to lose."
"Okay…"Mike paused, thinking out a possible plan. "If we prepare ourselves, we could be out within hours, if we had a ride there that is..." He racked his brains for ideas.
"I think I can help with that." A voice arose from a table directly next to the group.