Chapter Text
Previously on Until Dawn
“I really don't wanna go in there.”
Mike sighed. “There's no other way through.”
Sam grimaced at the freezing pool, then crouched to drop in-
A monstrous, pale-white Wendigo exploded out of the water, screaming and snatching at them. Mike and Sam scrambled backwards, slashed across their cheeks, screaming just as loud – Sam threw her flashlight to crack off the Wendigo's face, making it miss Mike when it lunged to bite. With one last pained glance towards the other side of the room and the thought of Josh, they turned and sprinted back the way they came; the Wendigo gave chase, lunging after them wall-to-wall like a jumping spider.
JOSH
MINES
5:42
The hellish, frost-bitten face pushing through the wall of flesh and gore with its milky eyes and bloody fangs was too – was too – it was too much, it was- it was the thing that took him from the shed. He was so fucking scared as it dragged him through the snow, shrieking and chirping, that he screamed himself into blacking out. It was the thing. It was the thing, and it was coming for him, his punishment, his reaper for being a failure.
He screamed and screamed and staggered backwards, babbling panicked tangents of 'No's and 'Not again's and 'Please.' The face began falling out of the wall to follow the pig, so he fell-
Something sliced open the meat of his arm.
The pain was sharp and immediate and real. Everything in his vision dimmed and blackened, the squelches and screams snapping into a buzzing in his head and a ringing in his ears. He gulped down hyperventilated breaths and grabbed the wound. He finally managed to look at it.
A cut in his bicep, thin, but deep. Blood oozed from pale flesh. He glanced around and saw a rusty nail sticking out of a support beam, dripping scarlet. He struggled to breath, fighting for air. He squeezed his bicep and the pain flared. The room came back into focus, the actual room, the real room.
Gore and flesh were back to being slimy wet stone. Severed heads were back to being rotting piles of wood. He could barely see anything, the cave was so dark. He was scared. He was so fucking scared.
He gulped, then staggered over to the wall. Shakily, he followed its perimeter around, and around some more, and around, until he stumbled into a narrow passageway that lead to – lead further into the mines, there was wood and support beams and- and hooks...
There was a small red puddle. He slowly looked up and saw a headless body hanging from a hook. Not his sisters, but a stranger, but a human being, which meant it was real, and-
“No,” he moaned. “Oh, no. No, no, no.”
He never saw a real dead body before. Dead pigs. Dummies. Not real. Not people.
Look at us, Josh.
“No,” he growled, and pushed himself forward.
LOOK AT US, JOSH.
Josh squeezed his wounded bicep, making the white hot flash of pain stab through him again. His ears rang. He was standing at the edge of an underground pool, sprawling across the mine chamber. A water-wheel stood off to the side. He sniffled, then swallowed. There was a light on the other side. A modern light. A flashlight.
Josh hesitated for a long moment, then dropped down into the pool with a curse. The freezing water soaked through his overalls, his jeans, his socks and shoes, his shirts, chilling his skin and setting his nerves on fire before they burned out into numbness. The ringing in his ears faded, and, slowly, he began slogging through the mess.
There was an outcrop by the water-mill, so he clambered up onto it, hoping there was something convenient he could use, like a get-out-of-Hell-free card.
Dripping wet and shivering, he came across a musty brown journal. He knelt down, scooped it up, and shakily opened it.
Day 1: My little sister is dead. The fall killed her... I watched the color drain from her face. My leg is broken. I'm all alone, stuck here with Beth's body. Someone will come soon.
His blood ran cold.
Day 5: I've never been so HUNGRY. It feels like my stomach is twisting around inside. I took Beth's sweater. Much warmer now. She's still looking out for me.
Day 30: I'm sorry Beth. I have no choice. I'm DYING. It's the only way I can survive any more. If anyone finds this I'm SORRY. I had to. I had no choice. Forgive me Beth. I'm sorry.
“Hannah...?! Hann- Beth, no, no, nooo...” He fervently shook his head, as if that could get Hannah to stop. A sob escaped his throat as he turned the page.
Day 33: My hands feel unclean My nails fell out PUSHED OUT I am aching but no more COLD NO PAIN I am getting stronger!!
Hyperventilating again, he turned to the last page.
H͔̦̱̺̦͖̤ͧ̂̅̑̕U̼͊́N̘̟̝̰̹G̪͔̳̮̀͛E̼͐̓̋̂̕R̳̼̹̞͓̥͓͊ͦ̔̇ ͓͔̺̻͕͖̩ͨ
̛͓̺̪̖ͅH̳̿͐̆̌́U̸̟͇ͦͨ͂͋̅Ṇ̰̭͍̀ͦ̒̑G̮̦̙͓̹̦̳̾̀͑͆͋E̴͖͔̹̗̍̋Ȓ̖͒͊ͩ̾͘ ̰̱͚͙̔̀
̴̠̰̼ͧͩ̉ͧ̊̉̚H͕U̥͆N̘̦̤͓̣̠̞ͩ̏ͤ͑̇ͩG͇͙̰̥͚̣ͥ͗̑̅ͬ̈̑͝E͙͍̫͋̋̃R̻̺̠ͩ͋ͭ͆̆̌̊ͅ
He threw the diary away as if it were burning with a soft scream. He was choking. His emotions mashed and coiled together, climbing up into his throat and coursing through his limbs, every nerve set on fire. He flapped his hands, trying to channel some of it, trying not to drown.
When the surge of emotion finally passed, he felt drained, carved out. Silently, he wept. His body felt heavy and numb, so, with nowhere to go but onwards, he turned around and stumbled back to the water, tears steaming down his cheeks.
Dropping back down into the pool wasn't nearly as bad as the first time. He was so cold – so cold that he was convinced that he'd never warm back up, not in a million years, not if he was wrapped in a thousand blankets, not if he set himself on fire.
He made it to the far ledge, where the flashlight was. He clambered up onto the rocky outcrop, shivering slightly. He looked at the light by his feet, then knelt down. He picked it up and inspected it; the bulb still worked, but the lens was broken. He squinted at it. He knew this flashlight because he owned it. Which meant- which meant his friends must have-
They came for him! But what happened to them?
He continued on around the bend, walking towards a shallow ditch. He stopped when he saw bones. Human bones.
Warily, he stooped down beside the grave and stared at it. How old was it? The bones were still white. Something long and dull caught his eye, so he picked it up and inspected it. Beth W.
He screamed and crawled backwards, dropping Beth's watch, crying anew. He managed to scramble to his feet, and looked up-
-directly into a pale, monstrous face.
“SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-”
The monster seized him by the torso and hoisted him up into the air, sharp claws cutting through all of his layers to prick into his flesh. The thing's eyes were milky white and foamed over; its skin was corpse-gray and pulled tight across its colossal skeleton; the thing must have stood eight feet tall at least, with horrifically long arms like spider-legs; and worst of all was its mouth, widened as if it had been slit, and full entirely of rotting, blood-stained fangs.
His eyes rapidly skittered all across the thing and then snagged on a butterfly tattoo on its right shoulder.
“Hannah?!” he screamed. “Hannah!”
Her face – her eyelids, lips, and most of her nose had frozen or rotted off. His sister. His baby sister.
Hannah's eyes widened and her muscles contorted around her mouth, fully displaying her fangs. She hissed, then walked forward into the pool, dragging him behind her. Josh scratched at the skin of her wrist, hard as stone and cold as ice, shrieking, “No, no, no, no!”
Hannah dunked him beneath the surface and thrashed him around, then pulled his head above the water. She was still walking. Josh coughed and gagged and gasped for air, then started screaming. Hannah submerged him under water again.
The next thing he knew, he was back in the room with the dead body. Hannah deposited him roughly onto the ground, then crawled over to something. Josh scrambled backwards until he was pressed against the rotting wood of the mine wall, chest heaving. Hannah turned and came back, holding something in her hand.
She pressed her face an inch away from his nose and let out a long breath, which reeked of rot and decay – Josh covered his mouth to gag. Then, she presented a human head to him.
The old man's face was entirely slack and his eyes were rolled back into his head. Real, real, real, it was real.
“No!” he screamed through his hand. He fervently shook his head. Hannah hissed, then swiped his arm away from his mouth. When Josh still shook his head, she sank her fangs into the old man's cheek and pulled off a chunk of flesh, then offered the head once more.
Josh writhed and thrashed and scrambled to get away, shrieking, “Nonono no you can't make me stop it STOP IT-!”
Hannah reared back and screeched, fangs bared. Her free hand wrapped around Josh's head and then smashed it against the man's skull. There was a soft crack from his nose and Josh yelped, falling to the ground and clutching at his face, curling into the fetal position. Hannah dropped the head beside him, backed up, and let out a furious scream that made the air tremble. She leaped away to the far wall, leaped again, then crawled through a mine tunnel Josh hadn't noticed before, mostly because it was partially collapsed. Her eerie screeches followed behind her.
Josh peeked out through his fingers and saw the head staring at him. He cried out and crawled away across the dirt floor, only stopping once he was behind a beam. Only then did he realize that his nose was bleeding and that he wasn't shivering anymore, skin completely numb. He looked down at his overalls and saw ice crystals forming over his shoes, up his pant-legs and on his shirt.
Frantically, he pulled off his soaked clothing: shoes, socks, utility belt, overalls, shirts, until he was left only in his jeans and undershirt. He furiously rubbed at his arms, wrung his hands, and rubbed his feet until he could feel them again.
He heard crying somewhere. After a minute, he realized it was Beth. Hannah's voice wasn't anywhere, only the inhuman screech echoing through the tunnels.
“Beth...” he rasped. “I'm so s-sorry, Beth...”
The crying continued. He felt a cold hand rest on the nape of his neck; he shuddered and tried to shrug it off, but it wouldn't come off. He shook his head and rubbed hard at his eyes. When he pulled his hands away, he scanned the chamber more thoroughly.
A pair of super old cowboy boots were laying in the dirt beside a pile of rusted old metal. Josh crawled over on his hands and knees, grabbed them, then wrangled them onto his feet. He scanned the room again, shivering; the old man's body had a very big, very heavy, very warm-looking army coat.
The problem was, of course, that it was suspended on a hook twenty feet in the air.
Josh clambered to his feet and began wandering around, the cowboy boots making a comforting ka-thud, ka-thud noise. The buzzing, ringing, and scratching in his head hadn't gone away. Pressure built behind his eyes; his brain felt like it was swollen and pressing up against his skull, splitting it in half. Did he have a fever? His skin only felt cold and clammy. His joints felt like rusted machinery, stiff and sore and not wanting to bend. He walked in a kind of limping, shuffling, staggered gate.
He managed to find an assortment of chains fastened around hooks set into the cave wall. He followed them up towards the ceiling, where they – melted and morphed into snakes. Josh blinked, hard, then clutched at his shoulder where his wound was. The white flash of pain made the snakes turn back into chains for a few seconds, long enough for him to track the one to the hook he needed.
He grabbed the chain and gave it a few tugs, but he was too weak. He wandered off again, furiously rubbing his arms or breathing into his cupped hands. Eventually he found an ancient pair of bolt cutters in a pile of junk. He carried the cutters back to the chain, slipped the chain between the jaws, steadied himself, then squeezed.
After a few grunts and wheezes of effort, there was a double snap! – the chain and the bolt cutters broke in the same moment. The chain shot upwards, rattling loudly across the bar it was strung across as the body of the stranger plummeted to the ground, landing harshly with a dull thud.
Josh scrambled over to the body and tugged off the freaky – thing – was that a fucking flamethrower? – before he wrestled the headless corpse out of the coat as quickly as possible.
“Sorry sorry sorry sorry...” he murmured, backing away. “Thank y-you, sorry....” He shrugged the coat on, and was immediately comforted. It was heavy. And warm. But more importantly, it was heavy, with thick padding and a large fur collar that he could use to ground himself. He pulled it tight around his throat and the cold hand on the nape of his neck finally went away. He looked at the discarded flamethrower. He considered taking it.
I know my big brother would never hurt me! Isn't that right, Josh?
Hannah's bright voice from when she was thirteen.
Never
hurt me!
Never
hurt me!
Never
hurt me!
Isn't that right, Josh? My big brother would never-
Hannah's monstrous skull and milky eyes and rotting fangs appeared in front of his face.
-hurt me.
“Get away!” Josh screamed, running towards the far wall. He stumbled and tripped, crawled for a stretch, then pulled himself up before pressing his back against the stone. “Stop! Please! Leave me alone!”
Hannah was gone, but her voice remained, right beside his ear. You did this to me, Josh. Why do you hate me, Josh? Why do you want to hurt me?
Beth wasn't crying anymore. There was the sound of chewing.
Josh rapidly looked around. The mine tunnel that Hannah crawled through – the real Hannah – the real monster – was mostly blocked with rusty metal and large rubble, but he thought, maybe, he could squeeze through without disturbing any of it.
Or he could just quickly scramble over it.
He chose the safe route. Carefully, he began weaving his way through the gaps in the debris. The loud, gnashing sound of chewing was right behind him. There were several times where he almost lost his balance, only to catch himself before he made the pile collapse on top of him. At the very end there was a tight, narrow wedge. Slowly, carefully, he slithered his way through it. A few pebbles trickled down from the top of the pile. He just needed to get his hips and his legs through. Carefully, he slid them out and around, then hurried to his feet again, dry-heaving. He blinked hard – the tunnel was pitch black – and shook his head.
He stood there, shivering for a moment, then warily lifted his hand to trail against the wall. He staggered forward.
–
MATT
MINES
6:14
“Hold up,” Matt whispered, helping Jess prop herself up against the mine wall. They heard heavy footsteps coming from the dark mine-tunnel they were just about to pass. Footsteps, and the faint sound of crying. Matt tried his best to hide the light of the lantern, but there was only so much he could do. Both of them went still.
The shadowy figure stopped before it turned the corner. It was right fucking there. Matt heard it suck in a ragged breath and frantically considered punching it, but waited too long.
“S-Stop it...”
“Josh?!” Matt jumped around the corner and held up the lamp.
Josh looked like shit.
Matt's eyes immediately caught on the bloody gash on his forehead and the blood trail from his nose. Tears had left clean trails through the dirt and grime across his cheeks. His eyes were bloodshot and puffy. The only pieces left of his original clothes were his undershirt and jeans; he was wearing a scavenged fur-trim coat and boots that he definitely did not own.
Josh's eyes were wide as saucers. He breathed heavily through his mouth, then warily prompted, “M- Matt?”
“Oh my God.” Matt lurched forward and crushed him into a hug, beaming. Josh's body went rigid. “Dude, I thought you were dead!”
“D-D-Don't.”
Josh's voice sounded brittle and strained, so Matt immediately let go and backed off. “Oh shit, oh sorry, are you hur-”
Jessica's faint, hoarse voice chimed, “...Josh?”
Josh stumbled to the side to look behind Matt. Once he got a look at Jess in her bloody, ragged clothes, he shook his head slightly, then whispered, “Are you real?”
Jess struggled to nod, wincing in pain. Matt volunteered, “Jess fell down a mine shaft, but she's a trooper.”
Josh started crying again, smiling this time, and hurried towards her. “You're- Jess, y-you're alive! I-I didn't kill you!” He reached out as if to touch her but stopped short, anxiously hovering instead. “You're alive!”
Jess squinted at him and furrowed her brows, then managed a half-smile and rasped, “Yeah...”
Holy crap. Did Josh know about the-? “Josh, dude, you gotta know- there's something down here with us. Something bad. It's the thing that hurt Jess.” The smile slid right off Josh's face. He ducked his head and hugged himself, shoulders shaking, muttering to himself in a strangled voice. “...Dude, what?”
“It's Hannah,” Josh sobbed.
“What? Hannah? What about Hannah?!”
“It's her. She- Wendigo, t-the tribe here- she ate- Beth died and Hannah ate her and she hurt me and she- s-she- she turned into-” his words dissolved into weeping.
Matt felt bile rise in his throat. “M-Maybe you're wrong, man, you're a little shaken-”
Josh's warbly voice interrupted him. “I found her journal and she grabbed me and I saw her butterfly, her butterfly on its arm, and she t-tried to- she tried to- Hannah, Hannah...”
Jess started crying, too. “Oh, God...” She looked at Matt. “He's... right... I saw... arm...”
Matt took a couple steps back and screwed his eyes shut, clutching at his head with his free hand. “Okay you know what? No. I can't- I can't- deal with this right now, and we're still in danger from that- thing, and I want us all to get out of here alive, so just. We'll deal with it later.” He opened his eyes again to see Jess, looking exhausted, nodding slowly; and Josh, looking out of it, shaking his head slightly. “Come on,” Matt murmured, in as gentle a tone as he could muster. He lifted the lantern again and started walking forward. “Come on, Jess, c'mon, Josh.”
Jess moved like every step was agony. She limped slowly and silently, eyes forward in a blank thousand-yard stare, wincing with every step. Occasionally, her winces came out in the form of a quiet, pained gasp or sob. She always clutched her hurt arm, head bent down, making her look even smaller than she already was. She looked like it was all she could possibly do to keep moving forward. Whenever they stopped, she stood like a wilting flower.
Josh, in contrast, walked like he was always one step away from losing his balance. He was constantly looking around – at the walls, at the ceiling, at the floor – with his mouth hanging open and a seemingly permanent look of muted horror on his face. His arms only stopped hugging his torso to frantically swat or brush off things that weren't there. He couldn't seem to stop shivering, and frequently his body would shudder or spasm or twitch. Whenever they stopped, he tried to rock himself back and forth, muttering words too quiet for anyone else to hear.
Matt noticed that they were further than ten feet away from him, so he slowed and waited for the two of them to catch up. Neither of them seemed particularly aware. Matt bit his lip and continued at a much slower pace, always making sure they were within the lamp-light beside him.
After another long stretch of tunnel, while walking around a corner, all three of them heard the inhuman screeching sounding like it was coming from only a few dozen feet behind. The three of them looked at each other – Matt lurched forward, panicking, Josh and Jess pressing themselves close to his side.
“Which way....?” he breathed.
There was a wooden alcove for tools or something to the side. Matt's brain was screaming run!, but one look at Jess and Josh and the look on their faces – fear, despair, and a little defeat – had him ducking inside, gently pulling them with him. Josh's entire body was shaking like a leaf, but he had to stay still, they had to-
Matt heard claws clack onto rock and without thinking pushed Josh up against the wall and puffed himself out. He felt Jess press herself up against his back and together they managed to remain perfectly still – Jess supporting her weight on his back, Matt shielding Josh from view.
They could hear the wendigo behind them. It skittered along the wall, breathing harshly and growling. Time seemed to pass at a crawl. The wendigo let out a chirp, then a screech, then finally leaped away further down the tunnel.
Jess staggered away from him and Matt gave Josh his personal space back. “We have to go, now,” he urged, hurrying out of the alcove. Jess and Josh struggled to keep up.
The screech bounced around the mine walls again; the thing was circling back towards them. Jess and Josh, if anything, were moving even slower now. Their faces twisted into pained grimaces. Jess stumbled, and Josh started hyperventilating.
You can leave them, his brain helpfully suggested.
Not today, he replied.
Matt charged forward and rammed his body into a thin wall of weak wooden planks. The planks broke and fell down a sheer cliff-face. The cold wind of the outside sliced across his face and fresh air filled his lungs – he could see the tops of the trees waving and snow blowing past. Matt immediately turned and helped Jess out onto the narrow ledge, then Josh. Matt barely got onto the ledge himself before the wendigo poked its head through the gap. Blessedly, Matt had already angled himself just so and Josh was already curling in on himself and making himself as small as possible so that Matt could hide him again
Don't. Fucking. Move.
The wendigo sniffed and snarled, looking first left, then right. It screamed out into the night, then hurried off.
In unison, all three let out their held breaths. Matt bent down and rested his hands on his knees, moaning. Looking out across the pines, they could see the large shadowy figure of the lodge in the distance.
–
JOSH
BLACKWOOD PINES
6:59
“We got you, Jess.”
Matt held out his arms to help Jessica down from the short ledge in the trail. Josh helped steady her as she reached out; he had been supporting her weight on his shoulder for the past half-mile or so, feeling well enough to be touched but still not coordinated enough to traverse unstable terrain without help.
Jess grabbed onto Matt's shoulders and Matt quickly lifted her up and set her down beside him onto soft snow. She let out a strangled cry of pain that made Matt's eyes go full puppy-dog.
With Jess safe, Matt reached out an arm for Josh to steady himself on, when suddenly-
BOOM.
Josh slipped and fell flat on his face in the snow as Matt and Jess screamed. A large fireball bloomed up the hill, spitting out a towering plume of smoke that rose over the trees.
“Is that the lodge?!” Matt yelped.
Josh lifted his head and felt his insides coil into a knot of dread. A strangled noise tore from his throat as he scrambled forwards on all fours – Matt grabbed his arm and hauled him upright, supporting Jess on his left and Josh on his right as they all three staggered up the slope towards the inferno.
The sun's rays turned the horizon into a warm haze of pinks and oranges as they crested the hill. The lodge was, indeed, burning, and in front of it- all five of their friends, safe.
When the group at the lodge saw them, everyone started yelling.
“Oh my God Matt!” Emily shouted, bounding through the snow towards them. Matt let go of them both, and Josh and Jess gave him space as Emily launched herself and latched onto him, wrapping her legs around his chest and hugging his neck. Matt stumbled back a few steps and chuckled a little, then warily wrapped his arms around her, muttering, “I missed you too, Em.”
“JESSICA!” Mike bellowed, and sprinted straight towards her. Josh heard Jess breathe out, “Mike,” like a prayer – tears filled her eyes and she looked the happiest he'd ever seen her. Mike skidded to a stop in front of her and reached out as if to pull her into his chest, then froze. Instead, his hands hovered around her face, before he gently curled them around her shoulders and pressed his forehead to hers. They stayed like that, staring at each other and crying, occasionally breathing the other's name.
Josh didn't know what he expected. To be ignored, maybe, at best, or to have rocks thrown at him. What he absolutely did not expect was for Chris to look at him, take a few halting steps towards him, then bark, “JOSH!” and start run-limping towards him as fast he could, smiling and crying. “JOSH!”
Josh's legs carried him a few steps forward to meet him faster. Chris crashed into him, grabbing at his shirt and his coat and clawing him into a hug, sobbing into his neck, “I'm so sorry bro I never should have left you it's all my fault oh my god oh my god oh my god-”
Josh absorbed Chris's energy like a sponge and promptly started crying with him. “Stop,” he choked, wrapping himself around him, pressing himself into Chris's warmth and tucking his hands into his ridiculously poofy purple coat.
Chris's arms tightened around him. “I went back for you... I wanted to go after you, but- I should have known, I wasn't there for you, I let you down, I'm such a shit friend-”
Josh worked his jaw and finally managed to slur, “You did nothing wrong, I did everything wrong, I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry...”
The two of them clung on to each other for dear life as Sam and Ashley waved down a helicopter flying overhead.
10:57:36
BMCP00142
Police Interview Audio Transcript
Room 3
[Subject hand-cuffed to table after evidence from previous victims. Subject did not resist. Dilation of pupils, slurred speech, and tremors suggest unknown drug withdrawal.]
OFFICER GONZALEZ: Your friends from earlier said you hurt them.
[Subject becomes restless.]
GONZALEZ: Would you like to tell us what happened?
JOSHUA WASHINGTON: Not at first.
GONZALEZ: What?
WASHINGTON: Wasn't- wasn't like that at- first.
WASHINGTON: I. I didn't want to hurt them, at first. But then I. They. I thought they did it on pur- purpose. They- they killed them, and they were dead, and they went on like nothing h- h- hap- happened. Nobody pun- punished them, so I... did.
GONZALEZ: Did you want what happened last night?
WASHINGTON: No! No! I never wanted them to die!
11:00:01
BMCP00142
Police Interview Audio Transcript
Room 3
GONZALEZ: What happened to you at the shed?
[Subject begins rocking back and forth.]
WASHINGTON: It was Hannah.
GONZALEZ: Our officers there found your blood across the floor. Joshua, did your friends hurt you?
WASHINGTON: It was Hannah.
GONZALEZ: Sometimes when people close to us hurt us, we misremember things, and in your state-
WASHINGTON: She was a Wendigo.
[Gonzalez sighs.]
WASHINGTON: In the mines. They f-fell, Beth died, H-Hannah ate her, the Cree said, my Mom tal- talk- talked to them, they have a l-l-, the Wendigo spirit-
GONZALEZ: Joshua.
[Subject becomes emotional.]
WASHINGTON: Beth's still down there! They're all still- down there! Please, you h-have to go down to the mines! T-Take me in, do whatever, but d-don't let this happen again, please!