.₊꒰ 🪓 ꒱:⩩┆( 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙬𝙣 )⊹.*

𝑇𝐸𝑁. ☠︎︎    𝙖 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙗𝙮𝙚

⸝⸝ ʚ 🪓 ! ⌗ °• ━━━━━━━━━ "𝑴𝑨𝑹𝑳𝑶𝑾𝑬!𝑺𝑳𝑶𝑾 𝑫𝑶𝑾𝑵!" Mike Munroe was hot on her trail.

      She did not falter in her step, however, continuing on with her fast pace until she was forced for face him. Her eyes could not meet his, ashamed of herself. She did it, yes. That was not something she was able to deny. But hearing it come from someone else's lips, made her realise how truly awful she was.

      "I'm horrible, Michael..." Marlowe brought the sleeves of her jackets to her face. There were no tears, yet, so as an attempt to slow down the process, she rubbed around her eyes to force the tears to fall back into their sockets.

      "Hey, look at me... look at me..." He forced her to face him, placing a finger under her jaw, "we can be horrible together. It was a two person thing, Lo."

      She shook her head, "you don't get it."

      A brief cough from behind them silenced their intense conversation. Chris, standing awkwardly, pointed toward the lodge without looking the pair in the eyes, "uh, imma go back up to the lodge, make sure nobody is, uh, too shaken up, you catch what I'm saying? Uh, won't tell anyone by the way! Secret is safe with me."

      He turned, raising a single hand to wave before treading down the snow covered path, disappearing through the thin layer of fog.

      "God, and he knows too, Michael..." Despite her best efforts, a tear slipped.

      His rough thumb brushed the stray drop before it could slide further down her face, and she allowed him to wrap his arms around her, embracing her head into his body. Despite the cold around them, they were warm together. She felt his rough lips graze the top of her head.

      Their shared moment ended as Mike begun spitting out the hair that got tangled in his mouth, pulling the small and dark curly strands from his saliva covered tongue. "That was supposed to be a romantic gesture... not very good at that apparently..."

      She smiled, her airy laugh emitting from her nose. Almost some sort of sigh of relief.

      "But, hey. You said I didn't get it... tell me why."

      Shrugging, Marlowe pressed her lips against each other, unsure of what to say. "It's always, Marlowe's loyal this, Marlowe's honest that. Now look at me... I'm neither."

      "None of us are perfect. I mean I'm missing my fingers, and your hair is a tad bit messed up-"

      The girl snorted, "those are not the same, you idiot!"

      "What do you mean?" Mike acted oblivious, "they totally are! I mean, gosh, your hair, really, is in a worse state than my fingers."

      "Shut up," Marlowe smiled, shoving her fist into his chest, but he caught it, not allowing her to move away from him.

      "We'll be fine, alright?" He reassured her.

      A piercing scream through the thick snow caught them off guard. Marlowe's heart dropped.

      "That's Em's scream. MIKE THAT'S EM'S SCREAM! WE GOTTA MAKE SURE SHES OKAY!" Marlowe became breathy, already beginning to sprint through the snow in the direction it came from, back toward the lodge.

      Mike stood in place, unsure of which direction to go. He didn't want Marlowe on her own if there was someone still screaming about something, but he didn't exactly want to leave Josh alone either. Knowing that maniac, he probably had another trick up his sleeve.

      "What about him?" Mike shouted.

      Marlowe turned around and shrugged, "he'll be fine! Em could be in danger!" And she set off along the path once more.

      Leaving him with an ultimatum, Mike cursed and ran after Marlowe, leaving Josh on his own, locked up in the shed. He eventually caught up by the time they made it to the lodge, which had begun to blend in with their surroundings due to the increase in a storm.

      Practically busting through the already unlocked door of the wooden lodge, Emily Davis stood, panicked as she attempted to explain to everyone about what she had seen in the time that she had been parted from them.

      "Em!" Marlowe rushed forward, running into the taller girls arms. She was still in her arms as the momentum forced the pair to fall into the sofa. "Oh, my God. I thought something happened to you..."

      Emily hugged the girl tighter. She was not one for much physical touch, but it felt nice and warm after hours of the harsh weather. "Lo, it's so fucking good to see you, holy shit!"

      "Where's Matt?" Mike questioned, closing the door behind him and locking it, assuming there was nobody left to come through.

      Ashley shuffled in her seated position, "we're trying to figure that out..."

      "And there was this "monster" that was chasing her...?" Chris said, but it sounded more like a question.

      Mike shook his head, "she's all messed up, guys. Hey, Em-"

      A knock silenced the group, forcing them all to look toward the door, where they could see a silhouette. Was it Matt? Had he finally caught up and reunited with the group?

      "Who the fuck could that be?" Marlowe whispered, keeping a protective grip on Emily while the urgency of the knocks increased.

      "Josh?"

      "Jess?"

      Mike shook his head, looking back to where the knocking was coming from, "it's not Jess."

      Looking down at floor, Chris regretted his choice of words, "sorry man... but who is it?"

      "I don't know... we should check it out or something." Mike whispered, harshly, staying in his position at the head of the group.

      Chris and Mike bickered the entire way there, and while Marlowe's eyes trailed on the both of them and the door, Emily yanked on the girls jacket. "You have to believe me... there's something down there. In the mines. Something you would see in your nightmares."

      The girl sobbed into Marlowe's jacket before moving to rest her head on the her lap. Allowing this, Marlowe brushed Emily's hair from her face, running her fingers through to comfort her best friend. It felt odd after what had been discussed outside in the shed just a few moments ago, but at the end of the day, Marlowe loved Emily regardless of her own actions.

      Hearing the two boys, who were sent on a mission to investigate, whine, they returned to where the rest of the group was waiting patiently. The rest of them were horrified to see what, or who, followed close behind them. An old man, a rough scar across a single eye, holding what appeared to be some sort of flame thrower. A proper one, too, not one of the makeshift ones that Marlowe and Chris had dug around to make with deodorant and a lighter. It was clear to the girl that this man was aware of something they were not.

      Mike stood beside where Emily and Marlowe sat on the sofa, still overly cautious of the unknown man that had practically helped himself into the lodge as soon as the door was unlocked.

      "Let me say what I came here to say," the stranger silenced the groups harsh whispers about him, pacing near the fireplace, "I'm here to tell you what you're up against beng back on this mountain. You shoulda never returned. I don't know why you did after what happened a year ago..."

      "You mean with Hannah and Beth?" Ashley questioned.

      Marlowe continued to brush Emily's hair, who seemed unfazed from the man, like she knew him from before.

      "Yeah... how could you know without being involved--"

      "Or responsible-?!"

      "You hold onto your horses, now. I don't take kindly to you kids coming up here to my mountain-" The stranger started again.

      "Your mountain?" Mike scoffed, "I'm sure the Washingtons would be very surprised to hear that." Marlowe lifted her hand from Emily's hair and whacked his jean covered knee. Once he had his attention on her, she raised her finger to her mouth. He pressed his lips together.

      The stranger laughed, "well this mountain don't belong to me, it's true. But it don't belong to the Washingtons. This mountain belongs to the Wendigo..."

      With many questions flooding the dark room, Sam discarded them all and silenced what she could, "let's just hear him out."

      Nodding his head, the stranger continued, "Now, I'm only going to tell you this once. It doesn't matter to me if you believe it or not. I got reasons I want to... get it off my chest..."

      "See? I told you!" Mike erupted, "He's guilty as shit. Guilty of something!"

      "Shut up, Michael," Marlowe whispered, hitting the lower part of his leg once again.

      "There is a curse. That dwells in these mountains... Should any man or woman resort to cannibalism in these woods, the spirit of the Wendigo shall be unleashed," the stranger explained, his tone of voice changing to sound far more serious, "you're going to need to find somewhere safe."

      "The basement might be okay..." Sam suggested, and the stranger nodded.

      "Get down there, now. All of you. And wait." He instructed.

      "What? Why? For how long?"

      "Until Dawn..." Emily whispered, lifting her head and the rest of her body from Marlowe's lap, now sitting up straight.

      Mike slapped a hand to his forehead and paced, "guys... Lo and I ran off and left Josh when we heard screaming."

      "Where did you leave you leave him?" The stranger asked.

      Marlowe whispered, "in the shed..."

      "Ah. Your friend will already be dead."

      "What? No, he can't be!" Chris stood straight, stepping toward the stranger, "We were just with him a few moments ago!"

      The stranger looked at the boy with glasses, "a lot can happen quickly on this mountain."

      "No. I'm gonna go get him." Chris said, as a matter-of-factly.

      Marlowe rose from her seated position on the sofa, "I'll come with you..."

      "No the fuck you are not." Mike stood in front of her, holding her shoulders roughly. "What the fuck, Marlowe? You are staying in that goddamn basement whether you like it or not."

      She removed his hands off of her, "there might still be a chance Josh is still out there. I know he did some fucked up things, but Mike... clearly he didn't hurt Jessica. He didn't kill anybody. He's messed up, but we weren't all there for him when he needed it... so I want to at least do this." Marlowe moved away from Mike and stood beside Chris, watching as Mike rubbed his faced, clearly irritated by the situation she was putting herself in.

      "Then I'll go with you."

      "We- We don't need your help, man," Chris said to the stranger.

      Shaking her head, Marlowe disagreed, "of course we need him. This is like... I don't know... a search and fucking rescue."

      "The girl is right. Going alone would be suicide. The rest of you, go to the basement. Be safe. Don't go outside again until we're back," the stranger ordered, stepping closely in the face of Chris, "and you. You don't seem to understand the magnitude of the situation."

      Chris shrugged, "well, I'm going to get Josh, aren't I?"

      "No. I'm going to get Josh," the stranger corrected, "and you two are going to help me. Do you understand?"

      "Crystal," Marlowe responded.

      The unkown man allowed the two to follow behind him until they reached the front door of the lodge, passing a shot gun to Chris and leaving Marlowe unarmed, "little one, you will be in charge of getting your friend, understand?" To which she nodded at, wrapping her jacket around her body tightly, her nerves making her cold. He then pointed at Chris, and back at the barrel of the shot gun, "and this is the end that you wanna shoot with."

      "I know how to use a shot gun, man," Chris adjusted his grip on the weapon.

      "No, you don't," the man shook his head, opening the door to allow the chilled blast of the up and coming storm.

      "Wait!" Mike ran around the corner, grabbing onto Marlowe's wrist, pulling her close to him, "I need to borrow her for just a second."

      "Make it quick." The stranger groaned, they were losing valuable time.

      He pulled the girl around a dark corner, far from anyone else's sight.

      "Mike-"

      "This is so wrong, and I know we just spoke about how horrible it is, but if this is the last time I fucking see you, I'll bring you back and kill you my damn self," Mike grabbed onto the sides of the girls face, bringing her forward so their lips could connect.

      Her eyes widened, but she committed and returned the intimacy. At this moment, in a dark corner of the lodge, she didn't care if any one else saw. It felt wrong, but every scared bone in her body told her it may never happen again.

      They pulled away mutually before Marlowe yanked him into a hug, resting her hand on the back of his head when he leaned into the crook of her neck. "I'll be okay, I promise. I'll be back in no time."

      To Mike, it felt like goodbye.

⸝⸝ ʚ 🪓 ! ⌗ °• ━━━━━━━━━ 𝑼𝑷𝑶𝑵 𝑴𝑨𝑲𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑰𝑻 𝑻𝑯𝑹𝑶𝑼𝑮𝑯 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑺𝑯 𝑪𝑶𝑵𝑫𝑰𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵𝑺, 𝑵𝑶𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑪𝑶𝑼𝑳𝑫 𝑯𝑨𝑽𝑬 𝑷𝑹𝑬𝑷𝑨𝑹𝑬𝑫 𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑴 𝑭𝑶𝑹 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑺𝑯 𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑳𝑰𝑻𝒀 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑺𝑻𝑹𝑨𝑵𝑮𝑬𝑹 𝑯𝑨𝑫 𝑾𝑨𝑹𝑵𝑬𝑫 𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑴 𝑶𝑭. Empty. The shed was completely empty. The stool that they had propped Josh on and tied to the post was broken apart on the ground with a blood trail following the path that whatever thing was out there had taken him.

      "He's gone...! We're too late!" Chris cursed, looking around in hopes to find Josh in a dark corner that wasn't lit up by the struggling light globe.

      "Shh. Quiet." The stranger demanded. Marlowe heard the familiar screech that she had been hearing throughout her time in the woods before all this shit went down. "We gotta go. Right now."

      Chris shook his head, "we gotta find Josh. He could still be out there!"

      "Chris, it's too late! We are going back right fucking now before we all die out here! You understand? We will wait in that basement until dawn."

      The stranger laughed, "your friend is right again. First, the Wendigo, he'll render you immobile. And then he strips the skin off of your entire body, piece by piece. And then he keeps you alive and aware and feasts on your organs, one piece at a time."

      Marlowe shivered, but not from the cold.

Waving for them to follow close behind, Chris and Marlowe followed his lead out of the shed before he raised his arm in front of them, keeping them in their tracks. "Don't move."

      Chris slightly faltered in his step, the small snap of a twig following shortly after.

      "RUN!"

      All three of them were quick on their feet, despite not having seen anything yet. But Marlowe knew that the man was sure of his facts and what he was doing.

      She barely saw it, but saw it enough to know what it looked like in a blur. Thin, pale, fast and flexible. Almost human, but not human enough. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" The stranger shoved her behind him, causing her to fall rear first into the cold snow as he ignited the flames and attempted to burn the creatures flesh off.

      "BACK! BACK!"

      "HOLY SHIT! God DAMN!" Chris helped the poor girl from the ground, holding the shot gun close to his body.

      "We gotta GET OUTTA HERE NOW!" The man instructed, panicked. It passed by in a blur, the thin and pale creature. Hardly able to process the gurgling sound, Marlowe was brought back to reality when the stranger fell to his knees, blood spreading into the snow rapidly. A thump followed the blood, the headless man falling beside his detached limb without another word.

      "OH MY GOD! CHRIS WE NEED TO GO!" Marlowe yanked on his jacket, running for her life in the snow with him following close behind. The path was familiar, still the same from when they initially passed through. "Fucking shoot it!!" A loud blast rang out through the woods as the lodge came into sight.

      Jumping over a ledge, Chris fell to the ground. Marlowe looked between the lodge and Chris, running back to help him from the snow. The ugly creature lunged at them, but Chris steadied the shot gun, hitting the fucker square in the chest, but leaving it undamaged.

      Marlowe fell to the ground from the impact as Chris ran to the door of the lodge. He began banging on it and Marlowe's vision started to clear up, and her ears stopped ringing. She could see the events unfold, even from a distance. Ashley stood at the lodge door, unwilling. "Ash! ASHLEY! Come on, you gotta let us in! This thing is right behind us!"

      The creature was gone from the side of the tree line, lashing through the snow toward the lodge door. Due to who he thought was his lover, Chris felt the creature's hands wrap around his skull. His thoughts, his wishes, his aspirations. Diminished within seconds. The blood soaked the steps and the snow. A cruel fate for someone so kind.

      Frozen, Marlowe watched his body fall down the staircase, the shotgun sliding down the slight hill in the icy conditions toward her. She could see the creature in full, with Ashley still standing in sight, now frightened as she faced away from the door. She truly wasn't sure who the real monster was.

      She broke free from her fear, grabbing on the shotgun without a clue how to use it, firing at will as the creature went for her next. Although already sat, still trying to clear her mind from the last blast Chris and shot out, her body hit the snow once more. But she refused to have the same fate.

      The creature hit a tree in the tree line, struggling to get up after the powerful blast. But only for a second.

      Marlowe's heart paced in her ribcage, and it almost hurt to be beating. With the gun in her dominant hand, Marlowe used her left to reach for the knob of the door, watching through the glass as Michael Munroe pushed Ashley to the side and came to her aid.

      She hardly felt it due to the adrenaline, and she wasn't sure as to what the creature had been aiming for. Her blood splattered across the glass of the door, coating and mixing with the blood from Chris' deceased body. Among that laid a small sliver cut off from her jacket, the ring of fabric wrapped around her detached hand. Her breathing increased before screaming while looking at her hand. Gone. Nothing remained from around the middle of her forearm and down. Just the fresh flesh and the exposed bone from the clean cut.

      It kicked inside of her, and she began desperately pulling on the door as Mike finally made it, unlocking the door. "MICHAEL!" Her screaming increased, feeling her body get yanked away from the staircase, causing her to drop the gun at the base. The thin and long, bony fingers wrapped around her, and she began thrashing around to prevent it as best as she could.

      Mike burst into the cold, watching, afraid as the creature he had not seen before curled its fingers around Marlowe's jaw, ready to pull. "MARLOWE! OH MY GOD!"

      "MICHAEL! GET THE FUCKING GUN!"

⸝⸝ ʚ 🪓 ! ⌗ °• ━━━ '' - «🕸»‧₊˚𓍯 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙚
╰┈➤ 'kay so this version of events is so different that the original i wrote. like originally it was so cringe bc i was 13 when i wrote it, it's still kinda cringe now tho. also mike and marlowe are now twins guys!! people who lose limbs together stay together :)

RIP CHRIS!! 🕊️🕊️ also fyi, matt is dead. he got meat hooked, so i thought i'd let you know. emily is not bitten, because she had the flare gun. but guys, i kept their relationship strong, he did try to save her 🙏🏻

this is also now officially the longest chapter of this story!! next chapter will probably be written and published by next week, can't guarantee.