Work Text:
“Hello, you’ve reached Chris. I am unavailable right now so leave your message after the tone. Peace out!”
Beep.
“Hey, Chris, it’s Sam. Hey, uh, do you think you could meet up with me tomorrow? The little café on my block, at noon, maybe? Sorry for being so sudden but I really need to talk to you so…yeah, answer me if you can make it. Thanks.”
Sam fingered the earbud, nervously twirling it around her fingers. The song had ended a while ago but she barely noticed. Music didn’t seem to calm her anymore.
It was warm in the café. She had picked the window seat, either for the view or the feeling of safety – she enjoyed the crowds now. Ever since…
She peeked outside. She had arrived early but Chris was a nut on punctuality so she was expecting him to arrive within minutes of the given time anyway.
She unlocked her phone. 11:53am. Unconsciously she opened her text messages, read over the reply from Chris. I’ll be there.
“And they call me a phone addict.”
With a smile, Sam looked up as Chris slid into the seat in front of her. He was in a tank top, glasses ever present on his face. He gave her a grin.
“What are you having?”
“Just juice.”
Chris pulled a face and pulled her glass towards him. “Of course,” he said, taking a gulp, “I forgot you were a coffee virgin.”
“Coffees just not my thing,” Sam defended.
“My friend, coffee is everybody’s thing.”
Sam rolled her eyes and smiled. It felt nice to smile again.
They sat in comfortable silence, Sam looking out the window at the passing traffic and Chris drinking the rest of her juice. It was spring outside. A tree was in bloom with light pink flowers.
Everything felt alive and warm.
“So, Sam-“
Not like-
“What did you want to talk about?”
With a sigh, Sam turned away from the window. Placing her hands on the table, she lightly drummed her fingers.
“I know it’s been three months,” she began, slowly, tentative with her words, “but I can’t stop thinking about what went on in that cabin.”
Chris let out a breath of air. “Yeah,’ he muttered. “I don’t think any of us can.”
Sam looked down. Her fingernails were orange today.
“I was thinking about what Mike said. About what happened to-,“ for a second she faltered “to Josh in the mines.”
Chris leaned forward. “What do you mean?”
She licked her lips. “Well, Mike said the Wendigo, Hannah, recognised Josh and he her. She didn’t just attack him, or anything, she took him away with her.”
“Hang on, you’re saying-“
“I’m saying I want to go back to the mountain. To the mines.”
“No, Sam, jesus.” Chris rubbed the bridge of his nose. “That’s completely crazy, man. I mean, we all almost died in there and you want to go back?”
"She took him away with her," she repeated. "We don't know what even happened to him."
"That doesn't mean we just go back there."
“Josh was my friend, Chris.” Sam clenched her fists, leaning on the table. “I know what he did to us was cruel and unfair but he was my friend and I at least want to know what happened to him.” She lowered her voice which began to slightly waver. “There are only two things I can find down in the mines, Chris. Either a body or a new Wendigo.”
She watched as Chris rocked back in his chair, shaking his head. Something inside of her seemed to shift. She needed to know the truth.
“Chris, I just wanted to tell you-“
He held up a hand. “When are you going?”
“There’s a night train going tonight.” She raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
“Because if my friend is going to go into the very pits of hell,” he paused and took a deep breath, “then I’m going with her.”
Sam gave him a smile and released the tension she was holding. “Thank you, Chris. You don’t have to.”
He snorted. “Trust me, I’ll be complaining all the way.”
She joking pushed at his elbow but smiled. It made her feel safer.
“I guess I owe you that coffee now,” she said.
“Uh, would it be manly to say I kinda hate cable cars?”
Sam glanced at Chris and raised an eyebrow. “You? Be manly? Sorry, I never noticed.”
“Oh, ha ha, very funny,” he muttered, pushing up his glasses with a finger. “You try to think about how far below the ground is right now.”
“Chris, I do rock climbing.”
“Show-off.”
Sam chuckled and looked outside. It was an hour before noon and the empty sky painted the horizon of trees in clear light. With spring, the woods seemed to be bursting with activity, with birds and no doubt rabbits and squirrels. If not for the still hanging police tape, the place almost passed for tranquil.
Chris groaned again next to her.
“Chris, do you want me to, like, sing you a lullaby or something?”
“Yeah, yeah, make fun of the little guy.”
An idea popped into her head. “How about a story?” she offered. “Nothing to waste time like with some old fashioned reminiscing.”
“Sure thing, sports queen.” He gestured her way. “Tell away.”
The inside of her stomach was fluttering in nervousness at what was about to come. Quickly she closed her eyes and thought, hoping to catch onto a happy memory.
“Oh, I’ve got one.” She grinned. “Did you know I’ve kissed Josh?”
Chris gave an exaggerate groan. “Oh, no, forbidden teenage romance!”
“Do you want to listen or not,” she said, shoving at him with an elbow. “Alright, so, I was 16, he was 17 and I had a crush on him. Like, massive sized. Almost as big as you and Ash.”
He snorted and she shoved him again.
“So,” Sam continued, noting the little embarrassed look on Chris’ face, “I obviously tell Hannah and she, obviously, tells Beth. And that is how Beth turned into the most unsupporting wingwoman I’ve ever had.”
“You poor soul.”
“Tell me about it. She laughed for about half an hour about it. Anyway, so Hannah invites me over for a sleepover, just a girl-to-girl thing, and Beth decides to third wheel me into oblivion.” Sam took a deep breath for suspense and wiggled her eyebrows.
“Oh no, what did she do?”
“Truth or dare.”
Chris barked a laugh. “Oh, I’d feel sorry for you if this wasn’t so hilarious.”
“So, there we were, me, Hannah, Beth and poor Josh who was dragged into the game by Beth.” Sam smiled fondly as she remembered the memory. “It was so embarrassing. Beth was being the biggest 16 year old she could have been. And when she spun the bottle and it pointed at Josh and, boom, he obviously chose dare-“
“That girl could make you confess anything whenever you chose truth,” Chris added.
“Yeah, so, he chooses dare and she, without missing a beat, dares him to kiss me.”
“Honestly, I’m more surprised he went through with it.”
Sam turned to gaze outside and allowed a sad smile. “We had ice cream earlier. He tasted like peppermint and chocolate.” I can still taste it. “Beth kept teasing him for it for weeks.”
The mood has turned nostalgic, she can feel it, and her heart aches when Chris comfortingly places a hand on her arm.
She tried to laugh. “I couldn’t go to their house for over a month after that.”
The cable car shuddered and swayed to a stop. She felt Chris stand up next to her and pick up his bags. “Yeah, I can imagine why.”
If he noticed her watery eyes, she was grateful he didn’t mention it.
"Yeah." She wiped her eyes with the palms of her hands and stepped out. "Yeah."
In spring, the mountain looked completely different. The green, unlike the white that was imprinted on Sam's mind, was welcoming and soft. No longer were there trees and branches littering the paths after storms and birds and critters kept the place alive with sound.
"This is like a whole new world," Chris said, whistling as he looked up at the arch of trees. "Like, damn."
Sam, behind him, could also feel the difference. "The Washington's didn't buy here for nothing."
"Sure, give me a few million and I'd also buy myself a resort only accessible by a damn cable car."
They didn't have a lot of luggage, only a backpack on each back. With the warmth of spring they didn't need much more and even their hike through the forest made them sweat.
While three months ago the ground was covered in snow, now, clear, it was easier to walk on and the two quickly found themselves in front of the burnt carcass of the once-cabin. Strips of police tape barred across whatever was still standing but the message was clear - stay away.
Sam and Chris paused, and looked up upon the remains.
"Creepy," Chris murmured.
"Yeah." Sam ran her fingers through her hair. "I heard the Washington's are planning on completely demolishing this and selling."
"I don't blame them." He grimaced at his memories of the place. "Why haven't they already? Because of the police?"
"Because of the funerals."
He looked at Sam and she shook her head.
"Let's go," she said, making her way to the path once again. "Without all the snow, we should make it to the mines quickly."
And they do. Soon, they were standing near an entrance to the mines. Both paused.
Sam took a deep breath. "Chris?"
"You're going to say something I don't like, aren't you?"
She turned to him. "I need to do this alone."
"I know you won't listen but I told you I was going to complain so, uh, no. No, that is completely ridiculous, to go down a mine infested with God knows what-"
"The police has been down here already," Sam reminded him. "Remember? They said they-"
"They said," Chris interrupted, "that they saw some unidentified creature and that one of the men got lost and that they then pumped the tunnels with gas. But I've seen what those things can take, Sam. I shot a Wendigo at point blank range numerous times and what did it do?"
"Chris-"
"It jumped right back up, that's what it did. I doubt a little gas will do anything but annoy them."
Sam sighed and shrugged. "Chris, I have to go alone. Please."
With an exasperated sound, Chris shook his head. "Fine, fine. But if I hear one scream or yell then I'm going in. All Rambo style."
Sam snorted. "Save the macho heroics for Ashley, would you, please?"
"Yeah, whatever." He sniffed and raised a hand. "But, for real, be careful down there."
"I will." Sam edged towards the hole. "I will."
Taking a breath, she slid her feet then torso through the gap and landed on the rocky ground with a grunt.
"You alright?" Chris called out from above her.
"Just peachy."
Her flashlight was already out and she began making her way through the tunnel.
It felt creepy and wrong to be back in them again. Even worse, willingly back. As she made her way, her heartbeat seemed to be so loud it ricocheted off the walls. At every step she expected a long limbed white figure to jump out at her, to rip her skin with its claws, to suffer the same fate as so many before her.
"Calm down, Sam," she mumbled under her breath. "You're still in one piece."
As she turned a corner, she began smelling something in the air. Something pungent and vile.
Perhaps the gas Chris mentioned, she thought to herself as she quickly wound a thin scarf around her nose and mouth. Whatever it was, it brought back clear memories of finding Beth's empty grave.
Another corner and Sam saw she was in the room where the flamethrower man's body was once hung, except-
"What the hell?"
There was no body on the hook.
"Shit." She looked around with her torch, the heavy smell curling up in the pits of her stomach. Too long and she'd throw up. "Shit, shit, shit."
There were rags not far away from her and, upon closer inspection, they turned out to be the flamethrower man's jacket and pants.
"Oh no."
Gingerly, she turned them with a finger only to see they were stained in blood.
"Oh, fuck," she hissed, flicking her hand away and standing up. "Fuck me, oh, fuck me."
She looked around again, this time more desperate. Desperate for any more clues, desperate for-
"Oh my god."
Blue overalls on a body lying face down near a wall. Her breath seems to catch in her chest. Josh.
She ran up to the figure on the floor and, with a whimper, turned it over on its back.
"Oh my god, no!" With a cry she jerked back, one hand on the ground and the other pressing the scarf closer around her nose.
The body was Josh’s. Half of his face had been transformed into a Wendigo, with a milky eye and disfigured fangs. But on the side of his temple was a bullet hole.
"No, no, no, Josh." She was crying now, barely able to look down at the remains. Whatever she expected it wasn't this and, with a choke, she began to scream.
"Chris! Chris, get down here, please!" She didn’t care who else might hear. All that was in her head was Josh's unmoving face. The blood down his chin and cheeks. The fangs pushing through his skin. The taste of ice cream on soft lips.
As she wept she heard running.
"Sam? Sam, where- jesus christ, is that-?"
Chris droped down next to her and swore.
"Holy fuck, shit, Sam, he-"
"He shot himself," she breathed, barely eligible between her pants. "He must have- that one police officer that got left behind, Josh must have taken his gun and, and-"
"Jesus, fuck." Chris stood up. "Sam, that means-"
She interrupted him before he could continue. "That means he still had some humanity in him." She wiped away her tears and shakily stoods up, looking sadly down at the body. "He was already turning into a Wendigo but he must have realized it and-"
"-and shot himself with the policeman's gun," Chris finished. He pointed with his own flashlight down to Josh's hands where a small pistol lied, still semi clenched between torn fingers. "Jesus."
Wiping her eyes, Sam shone her flashlight at the hands herself. She could see the flesh was worn off the tips of the fingers, with most of the fingernails shattered and blood stains down to the knuckles.
"How could-?"
"Holy shit, Sam."
She looked up to where Chris was angling his light towards a wall. He was holding onto his nose with a hand and looking away and she could see why.
The wall was covered in a messy collage of letters, scrawled haphazardly. Only two words could be plainly seen. 'Hungry' and 'sorry'. Under the light, it was obvious the message was written in blood.
Sam shuddered. He must have written it with his own fingers she thought.
Chris seemed to waver where he stood. He looked like he was about to throw up.
Gently, Sam placed her hand on his arm and wiped her eyes a final time. "Let's go."
They were silent on their way back, silent when they passed the cabin, silent as they sat inside the cable car. Neither wished to discuss what was in the mine.
The sun was right above them now and Sam watched idly as birds flew over top trees. She could swear the smell of rot was still about her.
In a way, she felt at peace now, knowing that Josh was with his sisters, that all the evil they had suffered was at an end. She was taking the longest to move on, the last one to whom life still hadn't shifted.
Mike and Jessica had travelled down to California, to get over the ordeal and spend some alone time together. Matt and Emily broke up yet turned into very close and trusting friends. Ashley and Chris were official and Ash had already begun numerous novel drafts.
And me? Sam let out a breath and shifted closer to Chris on the seat.
Perhaps, it was time to move on and to turn the memory of Josh not into who he was that night three months ago, but instead into the blushing boy that tasted of chocolate and peppermint.
As Chris put his arm around her, she allowed her muscles to relax.
It was going to be okay.