Chapter Text
Watching his steps as he dodged tree roots and rocks, Aidan Thornbury wondered how he’d gotten himself into this situation. Of course, the answer to that question wasn’t so difficult to find. It lay in the man walking several paces ahead of him. And that man’s motive for this impromptu adventure could be sufficiently summed up in one singular text message: I am going to find the Wendigo.
But that man, Aidan Mattis, hadn’t been the one to send the message. No, it was a different man entirely who alerted them both of this quest.
So now Thornbury was following Mattis down an unused, overgrown trail in the Appalachian wilderness.
“This is a bad idea,” Thornbury said, not for the first time that day.
“Yeah, well, I never said it was a good idea,” Mattis responded. “But what else were we supposed to do?”
“Uh…maybe not this? I mean, do you even know where we’re going?”
“I’m following the directions Isaiah gave us,” Mattis said. “If they’re correct, we should reach his campsite very soon.”
“Uh-huh. Does this place even show up on Google Maps?” Thornbury questioned.
“Oh, I have no idea. I lost cell service, like, a couple hours ago, dude. I’m just looking at a screenshot I took of his text.”
“Fucking hell…” Thornbury sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Why did I agree to do this?”
“Because it’s fun,” Mattis replied.
Aidan Thornbury highly disagreed with that statement, but he held his tongue. He could think of much better ways to be spending his weekend, but his friend could not be dis-swayed and Thornbury refused to be at least partially responsible for what would surely turn into a very stupid, very preventable death without his intervention.
“What if it’s not even real?” Thornbury pressed after a few minutes of silence had passed. “What if we’ve trudged all the way out here for nothing?”
“Then we’ll have a nice story to tell our followers.”
Thornbury scoffed. “And if it is real?”
Mattis glanced back to give him a smirk. “Then we’ll have an even better story to tell our followers.”
The other man rolled his eyes dismissively, but something like fear stirred deep down in his gut. Thornbury was the least superstitious out of the three of them, and yet he seemed to be the only one with reservations about going through with this.
He didn’t know if that said more about him or about his friends.
“If something actually happens—“ Thornbury started.
“We’ll get it on camera. Don’t worry,” Mattis interrupted. “Trust me, this is footage I’m not gonna miss out on getting.”
“I was going to suggest that we run in the opposite direction of the monster, but I suppose filming it works, too.”
“Don’t be snarky. I know what I’m doing,” Mattis assured him.
“Do you?” the other man asked dubiously.
In response to that question, Aidan Mattis patted his right hip and the holster resting there.
“I thought guns don’t work on those things,” Thornbury said, frowning.
“It’ll slow ‘em down,” Mattis said. “And what else was I supposed to bring with me? A flamethrower?”
“Probably, yeah.”
Mattis sighed, his shoulders slumping a bit as he continued walking down the trail. “I tried to find some white ash, but turns out it’s more difficult to come by than you might think.”
“Maybe Isaiah has some,” Thornbury said, thoughtful. “Seems like the kinda thing he’d bring along with him for something like this.”
“It does,” Mattis agreed. “He didn’t mention what weapons he was bringing with him, but I’m sure he’s well prepared.”
Thornbury certainly hoped so, for all of their sakes. He, obviously, had no prior experience dealing with Wendigos and other supernatural creatures, but he figured the more firearms involved, the better.
The trail eventually opened up into a small clearing, and Thornbury spotted a dark green tent and the remains of a fire in front of it. Mattis called out for Isaiah, but there was no response.
“It’s still light out,” Mattis said, sounding relatively unconcerned. “He’s probably scoping out the area for later tonight.”
Thornbury was a bit doubtful, but he hoped that was the case. The alternative was worrisome to consider.
“So should we just…wait around, then? Until he comes back?”
They were standing in the middle of the clearing now. It was summertime, so the air was humid in that slightly sticky way. There wasn’t much of a breeze, either. For these reasons, Thornbury was already sweating and thirsty. Good thing he’d brought water and other provisions along for this journey.
“I’m sure he’ll be back soon,” Mattis was saying. “He obviously didn’t know when we’d arrive.”
Thornbury gulped down some of his water and then sat on a log by the long-extinguished remains of a fire. Mattis sat down on a log on the other side of the ash pile and pulled something out of the backpack he’d brought with him.
“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” Thornbury said as his friend chugged a thermos of coffee. “You need actual water, dude. It’s, like, almost eighty degrees out here!”
“Hey, I can’t risk falling asleep out here, now can I?” Mattis challenged. “And this coffee is too delicious to not drink.”
“Dude, we aren’t filming anything yet. You really don’t need to promote the coffee. Drink some water,” Thornbury said, giving his friend a look.
“But I need the caffeine,” he insisted, taking another sip.
“Aidan,” Thornbury said. “Water, now.”
He grabbed a full bottle out of his own bag and tossed it across the small gap between them. Mattis caught it with his free hand before it could whack him in the face. He then made a show of setting his thermos on the ground before taking a few gulps of the water.
“Happy?” he asked, looking and sounding quite annoyed.
Thornbury made a face. “Well, seeing as I’m currently waiting to get footage of a cannibalistic monster…” he trailed off and let his friend draw his own conclusions.
“C’mon, how else would you have been spending your Saturday night?”
“With my girlfriend, probably,” Thornbury answered. Then, “She’s gonna be so pissed if you get me killed out here, by the way. And so will my parents. They’ll probably murder you if you let me die out here.”
“Bold of you to assume that I’ll be the survivor in the event we get attacked.”
“At least you have a gun!” Thornbury exclaimed.
“You should’ve brought one, too,” Mattis scolded. “Why the hell didn’t you, actually?”
Thornbury winced. “Well, I may have not taken your initial explanation for this trip seriously…”
“If you die out here, that’s your fault,” Mattis said with a head shake. “Not coming prepared? That’s a rookie mistake, man. You’re better than that.”
Thornbury huffed. “Guess I should’ve brought the blue snow shovel, after all. It’s in my trunk, you know. Bought it for one of those sketches we were supposed to film and then forgot about it. What a waste of thirty dollars.”
The two sat for a while longer, waiting for Isaiah to wander back to his campsite. The sun began to set, and Thornbury felt a chill up his spine suddenly. Mattis must’ve felt something similar, because his gaze flickered to the surrounding forest.
“Do you…feel that?” Thornbury asked hesitantly.
Mattis didn’t respond for a moment, then he slowly nodded. “Yeah. Something’s…off.”
Well, Thornbury could’ve told him that much as soon as they’d gotten to the clearing.
He sighed. “No shit. I meant, do you feel like something might be…” he looked around at the tall trees bordering the clearing. “Y’know, watching us?”
Before the other man could respond, twigs snapped in the near distance and brush rustled with sudden movement. Mattis had his hand on his gun holster now, Thornbury noticed. And his friend was looking behind him at something, which probably wasn’t a very good sign.
“Do I even want to know?” Thornbury said in a hushed voice.
“I don’t see anything yet,” Mattis said, his hand still hovering over the gun.
Thornbury, being the naturally curious person he was, gingerly turned around to face the vast forest. He didn’t see anything unusual, either, though the sound of…something moving in the distance could still be heard.
“It’s probably just an animal,” Thornbury said, forcing his tone to stay casual.
“Maybe,” Mattis said. “But maybe not.”
Thornbury heard his friend stand up and watched as he cautiously crossed the clearing, heading toward the adjoining tree line.
“We should’ve brought rifles,” he muttered to himself, mainly to ignore the growing pit of nervousness in his stomach.
Mattis stopped just shy of the trees, and Thornbury internally debated the pros and cons of meeting a Wendigo face-to-face. Pros: proof of the supernatural existing. Cons: assured immediate death, or worse.
“Do you see anything out there?” Thornbury called out from his seat on the log.
“Nope,” Mattis called back. “But that doesn’t mean much. The trees are really thick back here. There’s not enough sunlight left for me to really tell if anything’s back there somewhere.”
“Well, isn’t that comforting,” Thornbury said sarcastically.
Mattis continued standing at the edge of the clearing for a few minutes longer. The strange noises had stopped, but that didn’t make Thornbury feel any safer. Especially since he was the one without a weapon.
“We should look for Isaiah,” Mattis said, walking back toward the campsite. “It’s getting dark.”
Thornbury gave his friend a look. “Um, shouldn’t we stay here, then? Make a fire or something to ward those things off?”
Mattis shook his head. “Isaiah could be in trouble out there. I was hoping he’d come back, but…” he trailed off and scowled at the forest. “Looks like we’re gonna have to do this the more dangerous way.”
Thornbury raised his eyebrows. “More dangerous? What’s more dangerous than this? We’re already alone out here, without cell service, miles from help.”
“Look, this is gonna be a bit tricky,” the other man said, ignoring his questions. “I think I know where we can start looking, but first, we’re gonna need a few things.”
Mattis grabbed his bag that still sat by the abandoned fire and proceeded to pull two sizable flashlights out. He took something else out, too. Another gun?
“Unlike you, I came double-prepared,” he explained. “You can never go wrong with a back-up gun.”
“Uh-huh,” Thornbury said.
Mattis handed him the extra weapon and gave him a meaningful look. “Only use it if you have to. I don’t have extra bullets.”
Thornbury nodded. Then, “Thought you said it was my responsibility to not get killed.”
“It is,” the other man agreed. “This’ll just help with that.”
Mattis handed him one of the flashlights, which Thornbury clicked on and off a few times to ensure that it worked.
“If these things are real,” he began. “And we do find one, what’s the protocol here? Get a photo and book it? Film a clip for the channel? How’re we actually gonna do this?”
“Well, first we have to find Isaiah,” Mattis reminded him. “But if we come across a Wendigo before that…” he paused for a moment, as if thinking something over. “I mean, he’s probably way more strapped than we are. I’m sure he can last the night on his own.”
Thornbury blew out a breath. “Right. How about us? Do you think we can?”
“As long as we don’t get split up, sure.”
That did not make Thornbury feel any better.
“Do not wander off,” Mattis warned, catching his expression. “We’ll be fine if we stick together. So just don’t be stupid and chase after any mysterious noises.”
“I wasn’t planning on it,” Thornbury said.
“Yeah, no one ever is.”