Ashley

Her scream rips through the air, chilling me to the bone. The sound is ear piercing and vibrates around my head, bouncing around my skull. I close my eyes and grip my ears through my beanie hat, trying to block out the horrific sound. And suddenly… it stops. I open my eyes to find Joel with a hand over Piper's mouth, effectively blocking out the sound with his thick gloves... As well as effectively stopping her breathing. She goes limp in his arms and he takes his hand away. I thinks she's dead, no wait… little cloudy puffs appear next to her mouth, hovering in the frosty air. She breathing, I almost sigh in relief, before realising the damage she's done.

I turn to look at where the Wendigo was moments before, only to see that it is but a few feet away from us, eyes scanning straight over the group. My breath catches in my throat, that thing is closest to Chris and Toby. The boys are silent, no evidence of breathing in the frosty air. I can't see their faces, but Toby's head is down, looking at his feet. He can't stand to look at the creature that may rip out his throat. I can't say I blame him, I know I'll see the wendigo every night for the rest of my life. That is, if I get off this stupid mountain.

I slowly move my hand, not wanting to bring attention to myself, until it finds Sam's. I grab it, ignoring the cuts and bruises and squeeze it tight. She squeezes back and we continue to stare as the thing moves its head back and forth, scanning over the hills, the trees, our sacred slightly shaking figures, as it attempts to locate the sound of the screamer from earlier. In doing so, it walks closer and closer to Chris' head, so close, that if it were to lean its head forward the slightest, it would smack Chris on the nose.

Whack…

Whump...

Thump.

The sound comes from the trees, down the hill the beast just climbed up. It turns its head, screeches, and runs on all fours down the hill, disappearing into the trees. I let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding and run over to Chris and Toby, hands shaking, eyes watering. Chris practically falls off Toby's back, landing on his own back in the snow, eyes staring up to the sky. I drop down next to him and put a hand on his forehead. Even in this freezing weather he's pale and sweaty, as though he just ran a mile.

I pick his head up a bit so that a can position his jacket underneath his head, so that he doesn't get his head damp from the snow and catch a cold. I shake my head… all of this crazy happening and I care whether or not he gets a cold. I feel Toby fall to his knees next to us, then leaning on his hands, his hair brushing the snow. He grips the side of his head and whimpers, tugging at his hair. Stacy walks over to him, letting him lean against her. Like close friends. Like how Chris and I act. Sam walks over and plops down beside me, putting a hand on my beanie covered head.

"What was that sound?" I ask, referring to the thump sound from earlier. Sam shakes her head.

'I have no idea, but whatever it was, it saved our lives."

I look down the hill into the snowy forest. The sunlight is beginning to peek out from behind the trees.

"Guys, let's hand here for a while. The wendigos hunt at night, so if we wait awhile any still alive will be asleep."

Joel nods, and the others just stand or sit or lie in the snow. I lay down, putting my head on Chris' chest and close my eyes. I pretend I don't hear Toby's crying and allow the crushing blackness of sleep to overtake me.

Matt

I'm fucked. Jess is fucked. We're so dead.

I slow my breathing down to a reasonable speed, my heart racing. I need to find somewhere to hide… There! Some rocks forming a little cave. I fix Jess on my back so that she's more comfy, and run over to the rocks. The sound of rustling in the bushes scares me, making me run faster, faster! Oh god no… The rocks are too far away! No no no no no… I'm not gonna make it. I'M NOT GONNA MAKE IT! Something leaps out of the bushes behind me, hissing quietly. Strange… it didn't screech like a wendigo. It doesn't matter, I continue running, running, running.

I make it to the rocks and move Jess so that I'm carrying her bridal style in my arms. I crouch, my body over hers. She whimpers in pain, but I don't dare move. The sound of the thing gets louder and louder. I squeeze my eyes shut. Until suddenly…

"Matt? Jess?"

I open my eyes and look over the rock to see… Josh? He looks like shit. He's wearing weird overalls and is covered in dust, snow, and what looks like some blood. But his eyes… they're there. After his sisters disappeared and even before, Josh always had a glazed look in his eyes.

Out of focus with the rest of the world.

Not anymore. His eyes are clear and are filled with relief and joy and love. He runs up to us and gives us a hug. It hits me.

I've never hugged Josh.

I mean, I'm straight, okay? But I've hugged every single other one of my friends before.

Never Josh.

Jess gets out of my arms and Josh and I squeeze her between us, enjoying the company of another human.

Josh

I climbed out of my hell-hole to find myself in the woods. I giant plume of smoke can be seen in the distance. Calling to me. I take off running, trying to get to it. As I run, I hear panting and see movement through the trees. At first, I think it's a Wendigo. But… wendigos don't scream out "shit" when they trip over tree roots, do they?

No dumbass, of course they don't. I run after the figure only to find it hiding behind a rock. That purple jacket is uncanny.

"Matt?" I call out. "Jess?"

They reveal themselves from behind the rock and I have trouble not crying. I run over to them, throwing my arms around their shaking figures.

They're alive… Holy shit they're alive!

Mike is going to be so happy.

But as we pull away from our hug, darker thoughts cross my mind. They don't know… I gulp and look up at Matt's smiling face.

They don't know I did this to them…

I shove my worry down to the bottom of my priorities list. Priority #1, get these two off the mountain. I want to so some encouraging words to inspire them to get through this.

"Holy-mother-of-god-the-two-of-you-look-like-shit," is what comes out.

Go figure.

Matt chuckles awkwardly and Jess just stares at the ground.

"I'm gonna get you off this mountain and give you guys the number to my mom's plastic surgeon."

I don't wait for a response, I just grab their hands and lead them in the direction of the smoke plume. We eventually scale a small mountain (or large hill, whichever floats your boat). I don't know why, but I kick this rock at the top off, and it falls down

down

down

down.

Then we continue.

Rocky

First off, nothing is more insulting than getting kicked. I am not a pebble. I am a small boulder. So when this guy walks up, practically carrying these two vegetables own his back and kicks me down the hill, I get pretty pissed.

I scream insults at him all the way down the hill, then remember I don't have a mouth. Thanks natural selection.

As I roll down the hill, I pass a group of people at the top of a hill below the gigantic hill I was just on. The look like shit and OH MY GOD ONE OF THOSE CREEPY ASS THINGS IS STARING AT THEM! Well, they're screwed. No one survives those things. I roll past them, none of them noticing. I wonder why… I guess it just rains rocks wherever they normally live. I roll past them, crashing through a bush and slamming into a tree.

Whack!

Whump!

Thump!

Owww gad dammit!

Oh no, the creepy ass thing is coming my way. Oh shit oh shit oh shit. Gotta blend in. My father's words ring in my ears. "Just act like a rock you idiot." Got it. I can be a rock. Hell, I'll be the best rock you ever did see! Or won't see, I'm blending in.

Be the rock…
Be the rock…

Be the rock…

The thing looks around, then runs after a caribou that just pranced into view. I would sigh in relief, but I don't have a mouth. As I check out my new surroundings, a blue butterfly lands on top of me.

Pretty.

Hey, guys! Sorry for not uploading, I had a softball tournament all day yesterday and some of today. I actually managed to sprain two of my fingers on my right (dominant) hand. My middle and Index. This may or may not slow down story postings as it is now incredibly hard to type.

But hey, when life gives you lemons,

be like Chris.

Any-ho, just a heads up to those who are following me, I dabble. I will not just be writing Until Dawn stuff. I have an overactive imagination and I love a variety of movies, books, games, comics, anime, etc. So if you get an email with my name attached and it doesn't say "Out of the Frying Pan" just be warned: it may, in fact, be something completely unrelated to until Dawn. Rated T for truth.

I love you all (yes, even those of you who were just searching through your friend's emails and wonder why the heck they're getting emails from ) and I will see you guys on the flipside.