.₊꒰ 🪓 ꒱:⩩┆( 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙬𝙣 )⊹.*

𝑆𝐸𝑉𝐸𝑁. ☠︎︎    𝙨𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙞𝙘𝙚

⸝⸝ ʚ 🪓 ! ⌗ °• ━━━━━━━━━ 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑪𝑶𝑹𝑹𝑰𝑫𝑶𝑹 𝑻𝑯𝑬𝒀 𝑭𝑶𝑳𝑳𝑶𝑾𝑬𝑫 𝑻𝑯𝑹𝑶𝑼𝑮𝑯 𝑾𝑨𝑺 𝑨 𝑭𝑨𝑰𝑹𝑳𝒀 𝑺𝑻𝑹𝑨𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻 𝑭𝑶𝑹𝑾𝑨𝑹𝑫 𝑷𝑨𝑻𝑯. Occasionally there would be a room or two that branched off, leading Marlowe King and Michael Munroe to learn more about the horrors of the building that closed them off from the harsh weather outside. The pair would pass looks off to each other, disgust and shock among other things, but their voices remained hidden, unsure of the words they could use.

      A slight squeak from a machine went back and forth, over and over again, its volume increasing the closer they came towards it. When it came into view, Mike was far more eager to get a closer look, while Marlowe took the approach to observe from afar. An arm with a tag attached waved in the air as it stuck out of what appeared to be a table.

      Mike reached for the tag, only stopping at the sound of Marlowe interrupting, "... this looks like a trap." She whispered, but he reassured her it was fine, nothing more than something for them to look at and learn more about the building.

      A scream followed the sound of clamping on flesh, and Marlowe hadn't even been able to process that the man had grabbed the tag from the waving hand. Two bloody fingers were caught in a bear trap. It was a trap...

      "ARGHHHH! FUCKK!" Mike cursed, whipping his head around as he grinded his teeth to divert the painful feeling. Marlowe's hands rushed to her face as she screamed at the bloodied sight.

      "I FUCKING TOLD YOU! I SAID IT LOOKED LIKE A TRAP!" The girl yelled at him, rushing over to observe the mess. "Oh, God. Just... breathe... and relax."

      "BREATHE AND RELAX? My fucking fingers are caught in a bear trap and you want me to relax!?"

      A growl echoed down the corridor, not far from their location. Marlowe covered his mouth with her dirt covered hand, "don't yell at me, Michael. Whose fucking fault is it that your fingers are fucked because they were messin' around somewhere they shouldn't have been?" Marlowe seethed before removing her hand.

      With his free hand, Mike rubbed his sweat covered face before reaching to the side of his jeans, regretfully handing the small girl the machete that had been clinging to his belt.

      "Hurry and just open the trap!" Mike whined deeply, still grinding his teeth and biting his tongue in rotation.

      Marlowe stared blankly at him, then the machete, and finally the trap. She could still hear the growling coming closer, so she knew she had no choice. Her small hands fiddled with the machete, sticking it in between the deadly spikes of the trap before attempting to pry it open, resulting in Mike to scream once more and stamp his foot on the ground, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

      She pulled the machete out of the trap and began observing if there was any other way she could deactivate the trap.

      "You gotta chop 'em off."

      Marlowe's head peered over the trap within milliseconds, "WHAT?"

      He looked at her as she stood back up from the contaminated floor, "you heard me, you have to cut them off."

      "I can't just fucking slice your fingers off, Michael!" Marlowe paced back and forth in front of the trap. "Are you wanting to leave your fingers as dinner for the wolves?!"

      "Lo, look at me," Mike told her, and she followed his words, "it's either you cut my fingers off, or we both become wolf dinner. And if you won't do it, I'll do it myself."

      He closed his eyes as he waited for the girls decision, patient as he expected the pain to follow shortly.

      "Ah shit. Shit, fuck, shit, fuck, shit. FUCK!" Marlowe closed her eyes and swung the large blade, hearing Mike's scream for what she hoped would be the last time. She prayed that she hadn't sliced off more fingers than necessary. When she peaked through squinted eyelids, Mike had already run off to a medical box he had spotted earlier when he was caught in the trap. "Oh my fucking God. I JUST CUT YOUR FINGERS OFF! Is it bad that it felt kind of badass?"

      Mike's head rested against a wall, "yes, it is bad. Now are you going to help me with this or let me bleed to death?"

      "Oh, right!" She ran over and placed the machete beside him.

      He only had so much he was able to do with 8 fingers, so Marlowe began to wrap the little amount of bandages they were provided with around the two stumps that once had fingers. They exchanged no words as she made sure to be cautious of the exposed flesh and its sensitivity.

      Marlowe was still in shock, so much had happened in such little time. Jess was dead, and now class president Michael Munroe was without two of his fingers. Once she had finished her bandaging job, she passed back the machete in his good hand.

      Deep breaths in and deep breaths out, Mike took the machete and bent over to take the lantern in his bloodied hand, but she stopped him by placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, "I'll take the lantern."

      He nodded in agreement before they set a fast pace down yet another creepy corridor.

      "If we make it out of this, don't tell your parents I cut your fingers off, please," Marlowe guided the way with the lantern, "I'd never be able to come over for a dinner again."

      Mike briefly laughed, but the sudden movement caused a shock of pain, "I won't, I promise."

      They came to a stop, there were two rooms they could go through, left or right. "Which way?"

      "Eeeny.. meeny.. miney.. mo.. catch a tiger by the toe.. if he.. let him go.. I don't know where the fuck to go..." Mike cursed, gripping the machete tighter as his bloodied hand began to feel slightly numb.

      "Let's just go this way and get the hell out of here, try to find the others and not lose any more limbs? Is that a good plan?"

      Mike nodded and followed after her, walking through what appeared to be a laboratory. Medical documents scattered over the abandoned work desks. Jars of liquid and unknown objects sat on shelves, and one stood out particularly well to the pair. A skull, which most definitely wasn't human, sat in the goo filled jar.

      "Holy fuck..."

      Marlowe could feel the last meal she had rise up halfway to her throat before going back down to settle.

      "This place just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?" Mike's face scrunched in both disgust from the heads in the jars, and also the pain shooting through the stumps on his hand. He pulled the security pass off of the hook on the wall by the exit of the laboratory and motioned for Marlowe to follow close with the lantern to help light the way as he used the security pass to open the next door for them to go through.

      The place reeked of an odor that Marlowe was unable to describe. Haunting was what it was, something she hadn't smelt before. A hint of dust mixed with decay would be the way that she would remember it when they left.

       It may have been the girls imagination, but she could have sworn that the lantern was getting dimmer the further into the dark they travelled. The light flickered as they carefully made their way up the dark passage of stairs that looked fairly promising to their escape.

      Grrrrrr.

      They stopped in their tracks, and Marlowe turned slowly, the light just briefly landing against gray fur and golden eyes that hid in the corner of the staircase. "Fucking run!"

      Mike took off first, but it wasn't long before he was overtaken by the athlete who felt like her body was on fire. Her legs carried her as though this was a race for first place. And with how slow Mike was, it would have appeared as though his toes had been cut off instead of his fingers.

      "Hurry up, Mike!" Marlowe was waving him down to what she believed was a safe room.

      He picked up his pace, "I'm going as fast as I can!"

      Mike passed through the doorway and slammed the door behind them, separating them and the wolf. The pair leaned against the door panting in sync.

      Looking over at the girl with his hands on his knees, "were you seriously overtaking me to feed me the damn wolf?"

      "No... but now that you mention it, you are meatier than I am... I think I saw it drooling over you more than me." Marlowe raised her free hand in the air as though she made some sort of point. Mike disapproved.

      "You know... you make jokes at the worst times."

      Marlowe chuckled, "says the one who was singing 'eeeny meeny miney mo' after he had his fingers cut off." She hit his chest playfully before holding up the lantern the light the rest of the room. The growling behind them had faded, perhaps the wolf had given up completely.

      Peering through a shattered window that revealed the chapel that they were locked out of before, Mike sighed, "well... isn't this a quaint little psycho-crib." He looked out of the window alongside Marlowe before carrying on, taking a hold of her free hand with his bloodied one. She pulled a face before using her fingers to hold the area where he had none.

      They were lead to some sort of balcony, facing a drop back down into the original room which felt far higher than what it probably was. She felt far more confident than she originally had when they first stepped foot in the building, so she decided to take charge. After dropping the lantern to the level below, she followed in suit, a small ache passing through her bones before she ushered Mike to follow. He wasted no time to get to her, unsure of what could be waiting for them, and the possibility of her being unsafe on her own.

"Right... so it looks like we are back here again." Mike observed, pulling the security pass from his pocket to open the locked door to the chapel.

Upon opening the door, they were greeted with the familiar growl that had been following after them not long ago. The grey wolf jumped out from the lurking shadows around the corner, and Mike's immediate response was to fight. His leg kicked out and an animalistic whine followed.

Marlowe smacked his upper arm, watching as the wolf cowered away from her slowly approaching. Crouching down, she extended a hand towards its snout, allowing the animal to grow used to her smell. "Mike... see it's fine." Her hand moved to its ears before giving a comforting and friendly scratch which was enough to get the wolfs tail to wag like a dog.

"You might get rabies, y'know." Mike warned and Marlowe rolled her eyes before grabbing his arm and yanking him down to her and the animals level.

She carefully placed his hand on top of the wolfs head before letting go, allowing him to have his turn to freely pat it.

"That's a good boy," Mike chuckled, bonding with the wild animal.

Tired of all the hands on it, the gray wolf moved away from the pair and proceeded to guard the security locked entrance to the chapel, something that the man they were after must have taught it.

"See, wasn't he a cutie," Marlowe smiled to herself.

"Oh, are you telling the wolf about me?" Mike questioned, pointing at his face with a cocky smile.

Her eyes rolled before wandering away from him, "you wish."

Splitting separate ways, the pair decided to split the area evenly to be able to cover more ground. They took their time to observe their surroundings. There wasn't much, mostly broken things from how old and deteriorated the building was.

A green jacket, which must have belonged to the mysterious man, caught Marlowe's attention. "Hey, Michael! Over here! You want this?"

He came up behind her as fast as he could, "you must be cold. You can wear it."

Her eyes scanned his shoulders, looking at the goosebumps that covered his biceps and down to his forearms. "Not as cold as you. Besides I have a jacket on one of the sofas at the lodge. Take it."

After huffing and puffing for a while, Mike agreed to take it. He wanted to be a gentleman and give it to the lovely lady, but he wasn't keen to start a disagreement. Handing Marlowe the machete, he slipped on the coat and posed embarrassingly.

"How do I look now? Sexy?"

"You look quite awful, actually," Marlowe lied, handing him back the machete and looking away.

Mike rolled his eyes, glancing through the gap in between the wire that separated them from a room they could not unlock the door to. A gun sat on a homemade wooden shelf that had not even been put together with glue. He attempted to reach for it through the wire, however, his attempt fell short.

"Hey, you reckon you could fit your arm in there and reach it?"

Marlowe had a look and shrugged, "or we could just do this." She pulled one of the pieces of wood that was just barely keeping the shelf up. The panel fell and the gun slid down it, landing right in the grasp of Michael Munroe.

"And it actually has ammo. This guy is- hey, what are you doing?"

Holding the machete that was in Mike's belt loop, Marlowe smiled, "well you can't have both of the weapons. I need something to defend myself. Besides," she looked down at the stumps on his hand, "I clearly know how to swing it."

They continued on searching separately, occasionally letting each other know about something they had found. Marlowe explored the area surrounding the alter, opening a small chest filled with many different belongings, but mostly bones. Clearly for that psychos pet wolves. She picked one up and dangled it in the air, "maybe this will keep the wolves fat and happy."

She pranced over, putting the machete through her belt loop like Mike had when he was holding onto it. Marlowe cooed at the wolf to come over before throwing it the meaty bone, watching as it munched on the red remains.

Marlowe and Mike bid their farewell to the wolf, giving it once last scratch to show their love before leaving to the final area they had left to check. The lock preventing them was no obstacle for the man wielding the gun, as he simply waved for the girl to get behind him while he shot at it.

Wandering through the remaining empty rooms, Mike crouched down to look at a strange wooden object, similar to the ones that Marlowe had been seeing on the mountain earlier.

𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝗺𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘂𝗺

𝗅𝗒𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗈𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖿𝗅𝗈𝗈𝗋 - 𝗁𝗈𝗅𝖽𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗌𝗂𝖽𝖾 -
𝗆𝗂𝗄𝖾 𝗋𝗎𝗆𝗆𝖺𝗀𝖾𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝗋𝗈𝗎𝗀𝗁 𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗉𝗈𝖼𝗄𝖾𝗍𝗌
𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖿𝖾𝗍𝖼𝗁𝖾𝖽 𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗅𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍𝖾𝗋, 𝗂𝗀𝗇𝗂𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗂𝗍
𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖼𝖺𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖺𝗇 𝖾𝗑𝗉𝗅𝗈𝗌𝗂𝗈𝗇 𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗅𝗈𝖽𝗀𝖾.
𝗅𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗒𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗈𝗇 𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾, 𝖺𝗇𝖽
𝗉𝗈𝗌𝗌𝗂𝖻𝗅𝗒 𝖺𝗇𝗒𝗈𝗇𝖾 𝗐𝗁𝗈 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝗂𝗇𝗌𝗂𝖽𝖾.

"You're right, these things are strange," Mike placed it down on the ground before continuing on.

"Told you," Marlowe said, "that makes that the third one I've seen. What if they're important?"

"I don't think they're important, Lo," Mike attempted to soothe her weary thoughts, "someone probably just scatters them around when nobody is on the mountain."

Barrels were shoved toward the end of the corridor, a lock on the only door they were able to exit unless they wanted to go back to the chapel.

"Of course it's locked." Mike grumbled, aiming the gun at the lock before firing recklessly, the small sparks igniting the loose liquid that had spilled on the floor.It only took a few seconds for the pair to register the flammable symbol that coated the barrels.

"NICE GOING, MICHAEL!" Marlowe shouted at the man, frustrated as she yanked the man after her to avoid the explosion. They were barely caught up in it, falling to the ground a few feet away from the deadly air.

Side by side, they were sprawled out on their backs, staring up at the blank and decaying ceiling. Marlowe stayed staring as a blurred Mike came into view, his lips moving when all she could hear was ringing.

A few moments passed before she shook her head and tapped the sides of her head with her palms, trying to shake the ringing sound from her brain.

"You're a real thinker, Michael..."

⸝⸝ ʚ 🪓 ! ⌗ °• ━━━ '' - «🕸»‧₊˚𓍯 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙚
╰┈➤ guys i made a new cover for this story so i hope u like it 😭 if u want to see it in better quality, it is in the graphic gallery <3

hopefully you enjoyed this chapter, it's definitely one of my favourites because they're finally warming up to each other again. shit only gets more chaotic from here. next chapter will probably be in a day or two, no promises tho :)