Only a few chapters left! Even if it's a fast read, I'd still love for you to enjoy this chapter!

Sam was several feet ahead of the rest of the group, Ashley in a close second as they walked the halls of the basement in search for Mike and Bo.

"Come on, guys, hurry up! We gotta find Bo and Mike." She encouraged the staggering group.

"Hey," Chris leaned up against a wall, his leg throbbing with pain, "I'm kind of gimping out here guys," He admitted, gasping for breath. "I think maybe you should go one without me."

"No, Chris, we're staying together. Mike and Bo can wait a little longer." Ashley reassured him as Sam and Emily walked ahead of them, leaving Chris and Ashley alone. They hobbled together slowly, eventually making their way with the rest of the group.

When they made it to the end of the hallway, they found Sam cursing and sputtering.

"There's gotta be another way in." Sam pondered.

"Wait, hey." Ashley looked down a drain, not completely sure if it was a good idea or not. "I mean, should we try it?" Sam ran to look down it with her and Emily.

"Well, it's not like we have a lot of choices here." She mumbled. Ashley picked up a metal bar, turning it over in her hands before jabbing it in a hole from the top of the drain and leveraging it up. Her and Sam took a side of the top before throwing it to the side.

"Okay, this is maybe the last place I'd wanna be right now." Ashley admitted.

"So who's going first?" Sam put her hands on her knees. Ashley laughed in response. When nobody answered, Sam put one foot on the sketchy ladder provided, sinking herself into the darkness of the tunnel. "Not so bad." She tried. "You think this is the tunnel to the Sanatorium?"

"Of course it is, where else would it go?" Ashley said, with a hint of sass. Sam began to go down further down, Emily following next. "I know your hurt, so just take it easy." Ashley warned Chris, who was ready to go next.

"I know, I'm trying, Ash." Chris struggled to make it into the small tunnel, Ashley next. "Hey, Sam." She called out as she was on the ladder. "I'm going to close this tunnel over us, you know, in case something is following us."

"Yeah, okay, just make sure to hurry and get back with the group." Sam yelled back from the front. The top was surprisingly light for a cement-covered slab of metal, and it was quite easy for her to close it behind her. When she reached the bottom, no body was there anymore and the isolation she felt suddenly, did not make her situation brighter.

Taking a deep breath, she continued in the direction she saw Sam, Chris and Emily walk in, hearing the water fall around her in tiny spots. She turned the corner, again seeing no sign of her friends, and flashed her flashlight down the hall to double check.

Once she neared the end of the hallway, she began to hear crying.

"Hello?" She called out, receiving no tangible answer, she cried out again, "Who's there?" Her breathing quickened as more strange noises emitted from the hatch, "Jessica?"

She quickly rejoined with the group, blaming the noise on how tired she was and thought she was just reaching for something that wasn't there. Rejoining the group, she gave out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank God I found you guys." She whined as she hugged Sam.

"Glad you're safe." She replied as they let go, leading them once again through the gallows. When they walked into another room, a more opened up one with streams of spare light penetrating through, they noticed the ladder up was completely gone.

"Oh, God. How are we gonna get up now?" Emily huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I can climb up there, like a...rock wall, kind of." Sam suggested, looking up at the wooden platforms hanging off the sides of the wall. "I'm going to keep going, you guys should head back to the lodge, stay safe. I've gotta get Mike."

Ashley took steps back and aided Chris back on his bad leg.

"Good luck!" Emily snorted, following after the two.

In only a matter of seconds, Sam was able to muster enough strength to jump to the first wooden plank, pulling herself up by her hands. As it broke, Sam quickly got her grip readjusted and let out a gasp.

"Alright," She breathed out, regaining her confidence and leaped up to the top of the wall, pulling herself up once again. Sighing, she placed her hands on her knees once she was a safe distance from the edge and chuckled. "Ha."

Continuing on, she dropped down a ledge into a whole new area that was strangely worse than anything she had ever walked through. The unfamiliar screeches making goosebumps on her arms as she quickly ran through, afraid of being caught in front of a Wendigo. Fortunately for her, she had never had to face one, but was still terrified of doing so.

Safely making it threw, Sam stopped her fast pace when she saw a door, immediately pulling it open. But grabbed a shovel, just in case she made her first appearance to a creature. As she neared the other door, Mike suddenly appeared through, being pushed over by a monster, completely engulfed with flames. Bo flew through the door as well, butting the back of it's head with a stick, shouting with fury and making the head fly off the, what she could only assume was, the Wendigo. Mike got up in front of her, shutting the door behind them.

"Oh! Hiya, Sam." Bo gave her a wide smile, blowing a chunk of her hair from her face.

"Are you alright?" Sam spat out, after watching the scene unfold before you.

"I should be asking you. You look like that was your first time seeing a Wendy." She chuckled, brandishing her stick.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Mike asked, panting from his recent cardio.

"I came to warn you about the Wendigos." She defended herself. Bo snorted out a breath of air.

"I think I got it." Mike nodded his head.

"Yeah," Sam awkwardly stood in front of him. "Well, would you let me help you find where Josh is?"

Mike and Bo exchanged glances of doubt, the two of them looking equally burnt out.

"Sure." They answered at the same time, freaking Sam out more than the fiery Wendigo.

Josh hid his face in his hands, as he rocked back in forth where he was, his breathing uncontrolled. Dr. Hill sat in front of him, his legs resting on top of his desk and the small table lamp flicked on. He sighed, before standing up and moving in front of Josh, bending down to his level.

"I wonder how much these 'sessions' are of any help to you now." Dr. Hill's voice was just as menacing in Josh's head as it was in real life. "You just won't listen to me and things seem pretty," He looked around and the sound of the wind howling and the screeches of Wendigos echoed darkly, "fucked up." Dr. Hill finished with a sly grin.

Josh was completely unresponsive, as he knew it was only in his head but still had difficulty preceiving imaginary from reality.

"So, I'm going to leave you now, Josh." He stood up, walking away from him and towards his nonexistent desk. "It's time you learned." Dr. Hills said, his voice, slightly mocking. "It's time you learned there's more to be afraid of," He reiterated, "than can be dreamt up by the unhinged imagination of a self-indulgent, spoiled little brat!"

Dr. Hill turned around and sat on the edge of his desk.

"You had so many people who cared for you, a girl who loved you and was willing to help, but at every turn you pushed her away, told her you were just fine when you weren't...and now...you're all alone." He sneered at Josh, who just wanted him out of his head. "Though by the sounds of things, you won't be alone for long." He hinted towards the Wendigo on his tail, "No, you won't be alone for long. Deep breaths, Joshua."

Dr. Hill walked away with his last comment, disappearing from Josh's state of mind forever, and for the first time in forever, he was completely alone with his thoughts.

Josh got up when he was sure he was finally alone, the desk with the lamp gone, no sign of Dr. Hill. The unmistakable sound of Hannah singing Frere Jacques very distantly in his mind echoed.

"No..." He panted, shaking his head firmly. "No, no, no." Beth chimed in at the sound of his voice, the two of them in sync. "No, no, no, no, not again." He whispered, leaning up against the wall. "Not again, get away! Get away from me!" He began to shout. "No! You're dead!"

The sound of Dr. Hill once again, reminding him that it was his fault, that he couldn't change what had happened the year before.

Josh... Hannah whispered.

"Shut up!" He yelled again, frantically looking around for any sign of his harassers.

We miss you, Josh...

"No, you're dead!"

You're a coward, you manipulated us, you're a murderer... the voices of his friends, faintly in his mind, decided to join the party. Bo's scream as Josh was 'cut apart' in the shed rang out the loudest, as Josh closed his eyes, tears rolling down his cheeks.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so, so, sorry." He whispered before his anger rising up again, "I don't take orders from you, you can't tell me what to do!" Josh circled around, hitting his ears, his head, anything to get the voices out. Then came the sound of what used to be the soothing melody of Bo singing at the campfire this night, the very same song she sang at Hannah and Beth's funeral that was occasionally interrupted by her cries during the shed. "You can't tell me what to do, anymore." His voice came out forced as he sobbed, the psycho in his head laughing.

Time has run out for Josh

"Okay, okay, I trust you," Josh's voice suddenly calm as Hannah asked him to come with them along with Dr. Hill telling him he was out of time. "I trust you." He began to walk forward, before seeing Beth's rotted corpse from out of nowhere.

"Josh..." It's inhumanly low voice moaned.

"No..." Josh shook his head, blinking hard to get rid of the image. Her eyes were so bright yet dull, the white transparent with it's iris. "You're not real. Bo taught me you're not real." He shook his head again, leaning against the wall.

"We were all alone down there." The sound of Beth's actual voice along with the mono-tone low behind it tricked him.

"No, no..." He tried to walk away, but as he turned Hannah as well as Beth appeared before him.

All alone." Hannah reiterated. "But you're with us, now." Both of his imaginary sister's were ghostly pale and their skin were cracked with glazed over eyes as if they were looking at him, but yet still beyond.

"No, get away! I chose Bo!" Josh covered his ears, but their voices were there too.

"Family." Hannah repeated, their smiles with a cruel hint cracked their faces more.

"Why didn't you save us, Josh?" Beth suddenly spoke, her voice penetrating.

"I did- I tried-"

"Why did you want us to die?"

"I didn't want you to die-" He ran away from them, running into a pulsing wall before a knife broke through the barrier, allowing what looked like a ginormous pig head to engulf the wall. "N-No! It's not there, it's not there!" He tried to tell himself, but his brain wasn't working. It squealed while Josh stood there helplessly before punching it and allowing the entire head to fall, stringy guts falling afterwards, making him gag. From the pile, Hannah and Beth appeared again, calling for him as he walked to the other edge of the wall, trying so hard to get the image away from his mind. "Stop!" He pleaded, "Please, stop! I don't take orders from you!"

He watched as his sisters ripped their rotting flesh from their head, revealing a bloody skeleton.

"Is this what you want?" They chanted.

"No!" He shouted again, looking away. "Why are you doing this!?" Josh began to shout to the walls. "Leave me alone! Why are you doing this!?"

"Why didn't you save us, Josh? Why did you want us to die?" They said together, making Josh squirm.

"You're dead!"

From the hole where the pig head was, a Wendigo suddenly appeared, screeching loudly. Josh did not cower at the sight, but watched as more and more, the head pushed out.

"Hard to believe that...thing used to be a person." Sam uttered, as the tree of them continued on their journey to find Josh. Bo shrugged her shoulders.

"They were lost souls, blinded by their own hunger." She spoke, dreamily looking off in front.

"Could be a miner." Mike piped in from beside the two.

"Or someone from the Sanatorium. I could see them becoming cannibals." Sam admitted, looking up at Mike.

"There was so much weird shit happening up there that wouldn't even begin to surprise me." He joked, chuckling slightly and moving his flashlight through the mine's tunnel. The erroded rock stuck up in places, creating an eerie atmosphere. Bo moved around the jagged terrain in front of Mike and Sam who were slightly trailing behind. She couldn't help that she was eager to help Josh.

"What kind of weird shit?" Sam asked, stopping the two of them, while Bo surveyed the area, away from the group. Mike slightly turned around, and stared off as if thinking about it hurt him.

''Someone was...capturing the Wendigos." He searched for the right words, recalling them all in the cages, "Had 'em all tied up in these restraints. Bo and I saw some pretty fucked up shit."

"Language!" Bo yelled from the front, not turning back to look at them. Mike rolled her eyes.

"She's the religious kind." He told Sam, who nodded.

"I know."

"Oh. Well, we must have let them all out when we blew the place up."

"Smooth move." Sam teased, walking up in front of Mike, leaving him behind. All of them finally caught up as Bo was seen at the edge of a wooden dock, her head hung low. "Bo?" Sam gently put a hand on her shoulder, muffled sniffles heard from behind her covered hand that was over her mouth. Pulling her in for a hug, Bo rested her head on Sam's shoulder.

"I don't understand!" She sobbed as Sam shushed her softly, "Everything was going so well and-and I thought I was helping, and I thought I was enough but I wasn't and-and I should have asked him if he was alright and I should have watched over his meds but I didn't and all of this feels like my fault, like if I had done something things would have been different!" She cried out, crying into her friend.

"Shh, Bo. You're doing more than you should after everything you've gone through, if you need to leave-" Sam tried to comfort her.

"No!" She wailed. "I'm so tired of people asking me if I need to leave, like I'm a burden, like I'm weak, I can do this! I can make it up to Josh and-and save him like he saved me."

"Bo," Mike piped in from the side, "You have shown that you are capable of anything, you're literally unstoppable. Just a couple minutes ago, you beheaded a Wedigo on fucking fire! You don't have to make anything up to Josh." He gently grabbed hold of her shoulders, shaking her a little as he spoke. She sniffled loudly before nodding her head.

"Yeah, I did. I am totally bad ass!" Bo's mood changed quickly. Mike and Sam laughed lightly as the young woman grew fired up. "Okay, okay." She breathed out, looking over the water. "Okay." Bo jumped into the water, making a splash and spraying Sam and Mike. Them following after.

"Woah, it's freezing. I can't feel my fingers." Sam huffed, keeping her arms over the water as the three of them trudged through. Bo made no comment but shivered, greatly. They reached the other side without problems except for the temperature of the water and Bo's very exposed legs. She propped herself up by her hands, shaking herself off like a dog.

"Woof..." She mumbled, humorously. Making Sam smile, and shake her head.

"You much jokes at the most inappropriate times, Bo, and I love you for it." She admitted, making Bo grin herself. Mike pulled at a lever making a door open and water rushed through it, pushing them with it. Shaking off the sight of the head washed up, they walked through the door, unaware of the Wendigo following them. Walking in, they say several headless bodies hung up by chains.

"Woah, Oh, Lord." Bo looked away quickly before slowly redirecting her attention back.

"Yeah..." Mike seemed to agree. Walking through the maze of bodies as they reached the end of the corridor, Mike gasped, looking through the boarded up walls. "I think I see something." He whispered. Bo was so engrossed by the bodies she didn't hear Sam gasp as well.

"Oh my God." Sam whispered, looking over at Mike who gave her a reassuring nod. "Bo?" She asked gently, her friend turning back suddenly from her study of bodies.

"Hm?" She hummed quietly, her blue eyes were extremely tired-looking.

"You might want to see this." Sam backed away from her spot, letting Bo slowly make her way towards where she was. Her fingers idly playing with the wood as she perfectly aligned her eyes to see through the plywood.

She wanted to scream out his name, she wanted to cry out, but her reaction was more different than she expected herself. Bo rested her head on the wood and closed her eyes, only a single tear rather than a sob, escaping, as she thanked God she had found him. "Thank you..." She whispered. Watching again, she realized what was happening and her stare hardened.

"I don't-I don't take orders from you anymore!" She faintly heard Josh yell.

"What's going on with him?" Mike spat from the other side, Sam looking in between them.

"He's going through an episode. I haven't seen one since a year ago when we first started dating." Bo explained, shaking her head. "Oh, Lord, Josh. What have you done?" She whispered to herself, before turning back to the group, unable to look at the scene unfold through a piece of plywood. "We have to help him." She ran past Mike, accidentally bumping into his shoulder and body-slammed into the door. "Josh!" She shouted from the doorway as her two friends stood beside her.

As the Wendigo head grew nearer and nearer to him, he heard a voice, clear as day shout out his name.

Josh

A blinding white light, penetrating the darkness he was in, making the Wendigo screech in pain and disappear. He turned around to see Bo, only different. She was floating in the air, her eyes the vibrant blue they always were, as a fox danced around her. Josh covered his eyes with his arms, to keep from being blinded. She was wearing a red dress that matched the color of the fox that was with her, and her curly, blonde hair was down to her knees.

Hannah and Beth hissed at the light that protruded from the woman who looked like Bo's body.

NO MORE

The voice of the woman boomed with several layers of harmony attached to it, making everything that was haunting Josh disappear with one last blinding light.

"Who are you!?" He shouted into it.

I am Waagoshii Mindimooye, foxwoman, protector of this mountain and the human race, go and no longer contain these demons

He was so mesmorized by the beautiful Bo-Goddess he almost didn't feel the slap on his cheek.

"Josh!" A voice brought him back, as all reality changed and Bo-nonGoddess stared up at him, with her big blue doe eyes, searching his face for any life.

"Bo..." He whispered, looking down at her. "You're okay..." He grabbed hold of her face, turning it side to side for any bad injuries. She swatted him away.

"I'm fine, are you okay?" Bo dismissed his earlier concern.

"Don't hit me, p-please." He whispered to her, with a pained smile.

"I would have kissed you but we have an audience," She admitted, as he suddenly grabbed a hold of her waist and pulled her in for an embrace.

"I thought you had left me, all of you. Left me alone to die." He whispered into her.

"We've been through too much together, I wouldn't be able to leave you if I tried, Josh." She assured him.

"You forgive me?" He blubbered like a child.

"It never happened." She promised, smiling to herself as Josh seemed to hold her tighter.

"You were deep in it, man. Full mental jacket." Mike interrupted, obviously uncomfortable with the intimacy.

"We didn't think we would get you back." Sam agreed, as Josh let go of Bo, finally after she had already done so seconds before.

"Let's just get the fuck out of here." Mike snapped, looking back around him.

"Okay, Josh, do you have the key to the cable car?" She asked him. Josh looked still dazed at her, blinking a few times before he understood her.

"Uh..." He patted himself down, "Y-yeah, here." He pulled out the keys and gave them to Sam who took them quickly and looked around for any sign of Wendigos.

"See that over there?" She pointed up to the sky. "That means there's a direct way out." Mike and Sam quickly made their way over, Bo taking a second to look at Josh with a smile, happy that he was alive and partially well. Taking his hand, she lead him to be with the others.

"Josh is in no condition to make it up that wall." Mike retorted, upscaling the wall with his hand.

"Well, then you bring Josh back the way we came. Bo and I will climb up and meet up with everyone letting them know we're okay." Sam began to hook onto the wall.

"No, I-I can't leave without Bo." Josh stammered out, his speech slurring as if he were drunk. She turned to look back at the big baby who was still clutched to her hand, and rolled her eyes at Sam.

"Alright, I'll climb the wall myself then, warn the others and you three get back the way we came from. There should be a small ladder, you'd see if Bo still has the map."

She pulled it out from her pocket, finally letting go of Josh's clammy hand.

"Got it, Sam." She waved it, with a small smile. Mike helped her get up by using his hands to hoist her up. Bo walked in front of the boys to return back the way they came.

"Alright, let's go you fucked up son of a bitch." Mike swore at him, shoving him forward.

"Language!" Bo yelled back.

"How did you hear that?" He gave her a look, sticking his tongue out at her behind her back as they moved forward, seeing the last of Sam through the hole in the wall.

•••

If you liked this chapter, please let me know by voting, commenting and adding this to your reading list! See you in the last couple chapters! Much much love
-Barbara

Graphics credit @ girlpotterheadxx