Until Dawn: The Light in the Darkness

Chapter 29 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 29

SAM POV

I shook my head as I walked alongside Mike, searching for Josh. I did my best to ignore the sticky feeling against my shins, how my yoga pants now stuck to my shins. I had reopened or gained fresh wounds to my legs as well as scratches on my right collarbone and up my neck a little. I also felt two large scrapes on my right cheekbone and above my left eyebrow.

Mike now sported a black eye, several scratches and scrapes, and was covered in grime. Neither of us said much at first, I guess we were both still reeling from our close encounter with the Wendigo.

"I was not prepared for how ugly that thing would be up close." I said at last.

"Yeah." Mike replied, hesitating briefly before continuing. "So, I noticed something kind of weird about it..."

I turned my head towards him, biting my lip, worried. "Uh...what?"

"The Wendigo, it had a scar."

"So?" I queried.

Mike sighed. "I've seen it before."

I stopped. "What are you talking about?"

"I saw these old pictures of some guy with that same scar – and he was transforming into a Wendigo." Mike explained.

I gasped. "You're kidding."

Mike nodded. "It was one of those miners who'd been trapped, back in the fifties, in the cave-in. Which means that thing is eighty years old, at least."

I shook my head and resumed walking. "Spunky for an old timer."

I just prayed that we'd find Josh soon, this was starting to fray even my nerves. I swore to myself, this was all crazy, it had been the scariest and most nerve-jarring night of my life. The things I'd seen, the things I'd felt and endured, and the feelings of violation I had felt were still lingering. I was drained, physically and mentally, but until I was able to help the others and get everybody out, I couldn't afford to rest. Mike was pushing on, despite being exhausted, so I had to do the same. I relied on my adrenaline to keep me going, at least for now.

"They cleaned the place out..." Mike said at last, continuing the earlier conversation. "Killed a lot of people."

"They?" I asked, suddenly realizing just what he said. "You mean, there are more of them?"

"Oh yeah."

"How many?" I asked worriedly.

Mike's answer didn't help, either. "Too many."

Suppressing a shudder, I thought for a moment. "I think we're close to the lair."

"How can you tell?" he asked, incredulous.

"I don't know, I just..." I replied, hesitantly. "Feel really terrible all of a sudden."

Mike sighed and replied honestly. "Ditto."

I shuddered and tried to focus on moving forward. Our path continued onward until we found ourselves at the edge of an underground lake, certainly going to be frigid cold.

"I really don't want to go in there." I muttered.

Mike shrugged. "There's no other way through."

I wasn't convinced. I decided to see if the path to the right could get us around. As we walked, however, my hopes soon died, but then I saw something else.

"Mike, is that what I think it is?" I asked warily.

"Shit..." he muttered. "looks like a grave."

Getting closer, we saw that it was indeed a grave, a grave that had been dug up. Something glinted in the center of it. I carefully stepped in and picked it up. Stepping back out of the grave, Mike and I examined the object. It was a wristwatch, engraved on the back of it were the initials BW.

I gasped, recognizing it. "Oh God...Mike, this is Beth's! This is her watch!"

"What? Let me see..." he replied, shocked.

I then noticed and pointed out, "Look, there was a cross here."

"So this is where she was buried."

"But..." I looked at the desecrated grave. "Who dug her up?"

Mike shuddered, disturbed. "Let's keep moving."

I quietly agreed and we returned to the ledge that we had approached earlier, by the waterside. As we stood by the water, I hesitated, but not due to my fear of going in. There was something on my mind.

"Mike, um...I need to talk to you." I said at last.

He turned. "Sam?"

"This isn't the best the time, but I don't see any other time that I might be able to say this." I knew that we could die down there, so I needed to say what I had to say, or I might not get another chance.

"Look, I'm just... After everything that's happened between you and...and Jess..."

"Sam, I... Look, I don't even know where to begin with that." he said quickly. "I...I messed up badly. I was selfish and stupid and, and look what's it's done. Look at what it cost me, or worse, look at what it cost Jess."

I bowed my head. "I know, Mike, I know. I just... Look, things are different now. I don't know if you noticed, but...you're different now, too. In the beginning, you were joking and charming, but now you're taking charge and getting us off this mountain."

Mike sighed. "Sam...you're brave to have followed me to the sanatorium and you even saved my life by killing that burning Wendigo that had me pinned to the ground. Emily and Jess would have never been brave enough to do all of that."

I started getting a strange feeling inside. "Well, you saved my life, too. When Josh had me tied to that chair in my towel, I didn't know what he was going to do to me, since I was almost naked and he wasn't in his right mind. When he revealed himself to us, I felt disgusted at the fact that Josh was watching me like that. So...thank you."

"No problem. It's clear that Josh was dangerous in more ways than one."

After a moment of silence, I said, "I thought we were close..."

"Huh?"

"Josh. I thought that he and I were close. I thought that we had a connection. After his sisters disappeared, he'd come and talk to me. He said that I was the only one who understood him and I thought that I was helping him get through that tough time...and he betrayed me. After everything that I did to help him, he spied on me and attacked me. I've never felt so hurt and angry in my life."

"Sam...I'm sorry. I feel for you, I really do. But I'm not like Josh. You don't have to worry, I would never betray your trust like that."

"I know, Mike. I believe you, since you've shown your bravery throughout the night and taken risks to save everybody that I've never seen any man do for me, and I just want you to know that we wouldn't have gotten this far without you. Everything you've done for the group, it's..."

I trailed off, getting that strange feeling again. Mike turned to me and I swore he looked, well, the same way that I probably did. I felt my face heating up and looked away.

"Sam, thank you. I...I just want you to know that I..." he hesitated.

I briefly wondered if he was going to say what I thought he would. But all the same, I quickly cut him off.

"Probably not the best time, Mike... We will get through this together." I said with confidence. "Let's...let's worry about it after this is all over."

He smiled, seemingly impressed with my confidence. "Alright, then. I'm glad to have you with me, Sam. Everything that you did, brave though they are, I don't think that any of the others could have managed that."

I just smiled, relieved. However, it was time to resume our search.

I cringed as I looked over the murky water before sitting down, Mike sitting next to me.

"Fine...I'm going in." I said at last.

But I hesitated. Mike just shook his head and slid into the water first. He waded forwards a few steps.

"Come on, it's okay." he said as reassuringly as he could.

I shook my head. "You sure?"

"I'm not dead yet."

"Famous last words." I replied casually. Still, I slid into the water and gasped audibly.

"It's freezing, I can't feel my fingers." I exclaimed.

Mike just nodded and we continued to wade through the water.

Suddenly, I felt myself panic as the floor sloped down sharply, causing the water to get higher. I was soon in water nearly up to my neck.

"Holy shit." Mike muttered. He wasn't quite as submerged.

Looking around worriedly, I spotted a ledge to my left and began making my way towards it in desperation.

"Wait a minute, I thought you'd reached the deepest part."

Mike shook his head. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw him turning to follow me.

"I didn't say that, I said it was okay, meaning like, there weren't any sharks or anything in here."

"Sharks." I groaned. "Great. Thank you!"

Rolling my eyes, I was relieved to find that the path to the ledge was sloping upwards. Reaching the ledge, I pulled myself out. Mike followed me and we looked around. Sadly, there was no way to go forward from there. I shuddered and groaned, but then I spotted something on the ground; it was a journal. I picked it up and began to read through it.

'This is Hannah's handwriting. Huh, what's this…?' I thought to myself, before reading the entry aloud.

"I'm sorry, Beth... I have no choice. It's the only way I can survive anymore. If someone finds this, I'm sorry. I had to... I had no choice."

"What does it mean? Jesus." Mike whispered.

Flipping through the journal, I reached the last page. It was a mess of scrawls and suddenly, a disturbing thought reached me.

"Oh God...It makes sense..." I turned to Mike. "I think...Hannah dug up Beth, it was Hannah!"

Mike froze, catching the double meaning of my words. "No, that's...that's ridiculous."

"Michael...Michael, it has to be. It's the only thing that makes sense. Beth died in the fall."

"So what, what does that mean?" he demanded.

"So Hannah must have buried her." I replied.

Mike shook his head, muttering in disbelief.

"Hannah was down here...for..."

I couldn't take it. The words I'd read raced through my head. Hannah, she had become...one of those monsters. Just the thought of it was too much. I felt myself breaking and before I knew it, I couldn't see because of my tears. The next thing I knew, Mike was holding me and I clung to him, desperate.

"Sam...Sam, I..." he whispered, clearly unsure.

I choked out the words, "Why, dammit? Why... Hannah, Beth... What kind of world does this…?"

Mike tightened his hold on me slightly. "Sam, I'm so sorry. I wish, I wish I could say something, anything to help, but..."

I nodded and felt myself being moved. When I pulled back, we were back near the water's edge.

"We should get away from here. What happened to them...we can't let it happen to us. None of us." he said at last.

I agreed quietly, knowing that there was only one way to do that. We needed to find Josh.

I wiped away my tears and we hurried back and slid back into the water, making our way across to the other side. It was then that something happened which worried us both.

"It's getting deeper."

I cringed. "Yeah, um..."

I was now up to my chin, but pushed on. A little further ahead, Mike spoke again, his words were a relief to me in the frigid water.

"Okay, okay, hey, it's sloping up again, we're gonna make it."

Relief flooded me but I replied in desperation, "Oh my god, don't jinx it!"

Finally, however, we made it to the other side and climbed out, much to our relief. Quickly gathering ourselves, we approached the metal door at the other end of the ledge. We attempted to open the door when it suddenly burst open! We reacted in surprise as water gushed from the door. Amongst the water, however, shocking us both and making me scream, was a decomposing head.

"Jesus, she...Jee..." Mike stammered.

We slid through the door, suddenly dreading what we were going to find. Inside, in varying states of decay, hanging from the ceiling on meat hooks, were bodies. One of them we recognized right away as the Stranger, even without his head. But then, two others.

"Shit...Matt, Emily…!" I cried.

They were both there, dead. Matt was suspended from the hook by his jaw. Emily was... Well, only half of her was hanging there. Everything below the waist was just gone. This was beyond horrible.

Still reeling from our discovery of the bodies, Mike suddenly spoke, looking through a gap in the boards. "Wait, hold on. I think I saw something."

I joined him and we looked carefully. At the other end, jabbering to himself, was Josh. I cried out his name as we found a door in the wooden wall and hurried through toward him.

"I don't take orders from you. You can't tell me what to do..." Josh was mumbling.

"Hey, hey, Josh!" Mike called out.

We both shared a worried glance as Josh continued jabbering. We watched as Josh seemed to not even see us.

"What's the matter with him, Mike?" I asked, concerned.

Mike shook his head, recalling the incident in the shed. "He's tripping or something. Josh!"

As he shouted, he smacked Josh in the face. Josh staggered and blinked.

"M...Mike?"

"Josh... Hey, man-" Mike replied, a little relived. He seemed himself again.

Josh shook his head, nearly whimpering. "Don't h-hit me, p-please-"

Mike shook his head. "You were deep in it, man. Full mental jacket."

"We didn't think we'd get you back..." I said softly. Then I bit my lip. It was hard, but I had to tell him the truth. "Josh... Hannah was down here for... weeks... a month?! She dug Beth up!"

Josh shook his head, perhaps unable to comprehend what I was saying.

Mike dissuaded me from continuing my explanation and instead suggested that we plan to find a way out. Josh handed over the key for the cable car when I asked and then I saw something. A light coming from above, from a cliff wall.

"See that over there?" I said quickly. "That means there's a direct way out. C'mon."

Mike shook his head. "There's no way that Josh is gonna make it up there."

Josh just nodded, still looking a little out of it.

I thought for a moment. "Okay, if you can help me up, I can go back to tell the others we're okay. You bring Josh back the way we came and we'll all meet at the lodge.

"Yeah. Yeah, good." Mike replied with a smile. "Be careful, Sam."

I nodded. "You, too."

With that, he gave me a boost and I began climbing the wall.

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