Chapter Text
The Blackwood Police Station smelled like burnt coffee and copy paper.
Matt sat hunched forward in the metal chair, elbows on his knees, staring at the scratches across his knuckles like he’d never seen his own hands before. There was dried blood under his fingernails. Some of it his. Some of it maybe not. He didn't know anymore.
The fluorescent light above him buzzed faintly, making the pounding in his head worse.
Across the table, the investigator closed the folder with a soft thwap. “Mr. Taylor,” the man said in a careful, measured tone, “we’re done for tonight.”
His jaw tightened hard enough to ache. Hours spent in this police station and nothing. No Sam, Ashley, Chris, Josh, Mike, or Emily. Just him and Jess survived. Or at least was found.
The investigator slid a business card across the table. “There’ll be follow-up interviews once we have a clearer timeline. We may need you to remain available for a few days.”
Matt swallowed thickly.
He could only think of Emily screaming, the tower tilting, and then her falling.
His stomach turned violently.
Then the silence stretched.
The investigator softened slightly. “Medical personnel looked over you already, but you should still get checked again. Wouldn't be surprised if you broke a rib—"
“I’m fine.”
His entire body hurt. His shoulder throbbed from where he’d slammed into the mine wall earlier. His ribs felt bruised. But none of that compared to how Jessica looked.
He looked back up immediately. "Where's Jess?"
The investigator glanced toward the folder again. “She was transported to St. Mary’s Regional.”
Matt stood too fast, chair legs screeching against the tile floor. His vision swam instantly, exhaustion crashing over him in a dizzy wave. One of the officers near the door shifted like he expected Matt to fall over. Matt steadied himself against the edge of the table until the dizziness passed.
The investigator watched him carefully. “Easy.”
Matt ignored that. “How bad is she?”
A brief hesitation.
“Concussion. Hypothermia. Deep lacerations.” The investigator glanced down again like he was checking details he already knew. “She was in pretty rough shape."
Yeah, he remembered Jessica stumbling through the mines in barely any clothes, shaking so hard she could barely hold the shovel she'd swung at his head. Blood all over her legs. Her voice hoarse and confused when she tried explaining what dragged her down there.
The investigator cleared his throat. “Doctors said she’s stable. Hospital’s about twenty minutes out."
One of the officers near the door spoke up. “I can drive him over.”
Matt glanced toward him. Middle-aged guy. Tired eyes. Probably had kids around their age.
“Appreciate it,” Matt muttered.
The investigator stepped aside, letting him pass. “We’ll contact you tomorrow, Mr. Taylor. Don’t leave the area yet.”
Matt nodded once without really listening. Then he followed the officer toward the entrance.
The officer grabbed his coat off a hook by the entrance. “You got somebody we should call for you? Parents or—”
“No.” The answer came too fast.
The officer didn’t push.
· · ─ ·ʚɞ· ─ · ·
Jessica woke up freezing. For one horrible second, she thought she was still in the dark and cold mines.
Her body jerked hard against the mattress before pain exploded through her ribs and legs so sharply she gasped out loud.
“Hey— easy, Jessica, you’re okay.” A woman’s voice called.
Jessica’s eyes snapped open to harsh fluorescent lights that immediately made her head pound. Everything blurred together for a second— white ceiling tiles, pale curtains, movement beside her bed.
The realization came slowly and painfully. She was in a hospital.
A heart monitor beeped steadily somewhere to her left. Warm air blew softly from vents overhead, but she still couldn’t stop shaking. Her teeth chattered violently despite the thick blankets piled over her.
“Oh my God,” she whispered hoarsely.
A nurse stepped closer into view. Middle-aged. Blue scrubs. Calm expression that looked practiced. “You’re at St. Mary’s Regional Hospital. Search and rescue brought you in a few hours ago, alright?”
A few hours ago? That didn’t make sense.
The last thing she really remembered clearly was Mike. They were at the guest cabin together. Then glass shattering. Something grabbing her.
Jessica sucked in a sharp breath.
Long fingers dug into her ankle. Skin stretched too tight over something inhuman. It dragged her through the snow so fast she couldn’t breathe.
Her pulse monitor immediately sped up into frantic beeping.
“No, no—” Jessica tried to sit up too quickly. Pain ripped through her side hard enough to make her cry out.
“Jessica.” The nurse put a careful hand near her shoulder without pinning her down. “You need to stay still.”
Jessica’s breathing turned uneven.
She remembered trying to stand and almost collapsing because her legs barely worked. She remembered how numb her hands were when she grabbed that miners coat.
Then Matt.
Matt grabbing the shovel before she could hit him with it.
Tears burned unexpectedly behind her eyes.
“Hey.” The nurse’s voice softened. “Stay with me, okay?”
Jessica blinked hard.
The room tilted unpleasantly. Everything felt slow and wrong. Her thoughts wouldn’t stay connected properly. Every memory came in violent little flashes instead of full pieces.
The nurse checked the IV in Jessica’s arm while speaking gently. “You’ve got a concussion, severe exposure, and multiple lacerations. Some stitches too.”
Jessica looked down automatically.
Bad idea.
Bandages wrapped around her ankle and lower leg beneath the hospital sheets. More gauze covered her shoulder and forearm. Angry scratches disappeared underneath white bandages across her skin.
Her stomach rolled immediately.
“Oh my God…”
“You’re alright.”
Jessica swallowed hard and looked away quickly before she could start crying. Her dreams of becoming a model have probably been flushed down the toilet.
“Jess?” A male voice called. Not the nurse this time.
A male doctor stood near the doorway now holding a clipboard in one hand. Jessica hadn’t even heard him enter. The doctor exchanged a quick glance with the nurse before stepping closer. “Do you know your full name?”
Jessica’s head throbbed harder. “Jessica Riley.”
“Date of birth?”
She answered automatically.
“Do you know where you are?”
“Hospital…”
“Good.” He nodded slightly. “Do you remember what happened last night?”
Jessica opened her mouth, then stopped. Because what was she supposed to say? A monster dragged me through a cabin window?
Nobody would believe that.
The police hadn’t believed it either. Not really.
Her fingers tightened weakly in the blanket. “There was… something.”
The doctor’s expression stayed neutral in that careful professional way that meant he wouldn't believe her if she told him about the monster.
“You experienced severe trauma, Jessica.”
Jessica looked toward the window automatically. It was dark outside. Snow still fell under the parking lot lights.
The doctor continued, "Confusion is a normal symptom in cases of both hypothermia and concussion."
Jess didn't respond. Instead her brain kept replaying flashes of what really happened last night.
"It seems the most logical explanation would be that you've encountered a bear." The doctor told her.
Jessica shook her head lightly, to avoid feeling another sharp pain. "No… Not a bear…"
The doctor nodded but she knew he didn't believe her. "Could you describe what attacked you?"
"It was tall… and skinny…" She began, just the memory making her pain feel worse. "human but not quite."
"I see… Well, you wont have to worry about it anymore. We'll give you 2-3 days here in the hospital before we can discharge you and you can go home."
There's a moment of silence. The doctor glanced down at the clipboard.
Then, "Where Matt?" She asked next because she doesn't know if he's still getting interrogated or maybe even on his way home already.
The doctor looked up from the clipboard. “Matt?”
Jessica nodded weakly against the pillow. Even that tiny movement made the room sway unpleasantly for a second.
“The young man you were found with?”
“Yeah…”
Her voice barely sounded like hers anymore. Too quiet. Too rough.
The doctor glanced briefly toward the nurse before looking back at her. “Last I heard, he was still down at the police station speaking with investigators.”
Jessica just nodded once. That made sense.
They'd separated them almost immediately after rescue. Questions, dark rooms, officers talking too carefully while pretending not to stare at the blood all over them. But she didn't remember much after that. Or how she ended up here.
Jessica shifted slightly in the bed before immediately regretting it. Pain flared through her ribs and shoulder sharp enough to make her tense.
The nurse noticed instantly. “Try not to move too much.”
Jessica stared blankly down at the hospital bracelet around her wrist.
Her hands looked strange. They were pale. Her acrylics were gone.
The room stayed quiet for a moment except for the steady beeping of the monitor beside her bed and the muffled sounds of the hospital outside the room. A cart rattled somewhere down the hallway. Someone laughed softly at a nurses station before the sound disappeared again.
Normal hospital sounds, but Jessica hated them. Everything felt too normal compared to what happened.
The nurse adjusted the heated blanket around her again. “Do you remember how long you were down there before rescue found you?”
Jessica frowned faintly. Hours. She had to be unconscious half the night. Freezing too.
She remembered waking up on the elevator grate alone and barely able to move. Remembered thinking she was going to die there because her body wouldn’t work right anymore.
“I don’t know…” she admitted quietly. Time didn't feel real down there.
The doctor gave a small nod like that answer matched what he expected. “That’s alright. Memory disruption after trauma isn’t unusual.”
Jessica’s eyes drifted back toward the snowy hospital window.
· · ─ ·ʚɞ· ─ · ·
St. Mary’s Regional looked too bright against the dark mountain roads. Ambulance bay lights reflected off wet pavement while snow drifted steadily.
Matt shoved his hands into his jacket pockets and headed inside. Warm air and the sharp smell of disinfectant hit him the second the sliding doors opened. The lobby was quieter than he expected, but not empty.
A television mounted in one corner played muted news coverage while an exhausted looking couple sat near the vending machines drinking coffee from paper cups.
Matt slowed automatically near the front desk where a tired receptionist typing at a computer beneath fluorescent lights sat.
Matt approached slowly, shoulders stiff with exhaustion.
The woman behind the desk glanced up first at his face, then at the state of his clothes. Her expression shifted immediately in concern.
“Can I help you?”
Matt cleared his throat. It came out rougher than he intended. “Uh… yeah. I’m looking for somebody.”
“Name?”
“Jessica Riley.”
The receptionist typed for a moment.
Matt stood there awkwardly while the keyboard clicked beneath her fingers. His legs ached from standing. His ribs hurt every time he breathed too deeply.
Finally the receptionist looked back up. “Are you family?”
The question caught him off guard for some reason. “No.” He shook his head once. “She’s—” His voice snagged briefly. “She’s my friend.”
The receptionist studied him again, probably taking in the bruises across his face and the exhaustion written all over him.
“You were involved in the Blackwood Mountain incident?”
Matt’s jaw tightened immediately at the word 'incident'.
“Yeah.”
Her expression softened slightly. “Miss Riley’s currently admitted for observation.” She hesitated. “She’s awake intermittently, but I should warn you she’s heavily medicated and recovering from a concussion.”
Matt nodded once. He expected that. She looked rough when he found her. So fearful, disoriented, tramatized.
The receptionist reached for the phone beside her desk. “Let me contact the floor nurse first.”
Matt waited while she spoke quietly into the receiver. His eyes drifted around the lobby instead. Everything looked so clean. It didn’t feel real after the mines.
The receptionist hung up a moment later. “Fourth floor. Room 417.” She grabbed a visitor badge and slid it across the desk toward him. “Take the elevators down the hall to your left.”
Matt picked up the badge awkwardly. “Thanks.”
“One more thing.”
He paused.
“She’s had a pretty severe night,” the receptionist said gently. “Try not to overwhelm her.”
He nodded quietly. “Yeah.”
Then he turned and headed toward the elevators.
The hallway lights reflected harshly off the polished floor while his footsteps echoed softly in the otherwise quiet corridor.
By the time the elevator doors slid open, Matt realized his palms were sweating.
He didn't know what would happen next. And for some reason he didn't believe that he and Jess were the only survivors.