Quintessential | Joshua Washington

Artemis - XV

The howls were weak but they were giving Quinn the strength she needed; she felt her nausea subside as she concentrated on the pain-filled sounds Artemis was making. "Arty...hold on." Artemis was her father's other dog, the younger of the two and decidedly more pleasant than Pluto; he had always been her favourite. From somewhere nearby she heard a sudden crash, followed by another howl; she quickened her pace. "Artemis!" She called out, hoping the dog would hear her; the answering howl would assume he did. 

She was close; as she rounded the corner she was greeted by the sight of a horribly scrawny looking Artemis, cornered and growling at a wendigo that was rounding on him. "Oh hell no." Quinn growled and took aim.

Before the wendigo got time to attack it was knocked to the side by her bullet and it screeched in annoyance, its disgusting clouded gaze falling on her instead. As it turned to her it was pulled backwards by Artemis, who leapt and clamped his jaws around the beasts' neck rewarding them both with another ear-splitting shriek. Artemis let go, but was caught by a swipe of the wendigo's claw and sent back into a crumbling wall; Quinn's lips curled upwards angrily and she snarled in a manner so feral it rivalled the beast before her. Lifting her gun once more she fired a shot, and another and another; she kept advancing and firing as she went until the bullets ran out, after which she discarded it and pulled out another one, repeating the process. The wendigo screamed at her in frustration, "Scream all you like, I can do this all day." 

Or until you run out of guns and ammo Indiana, a familiar voice sounded in her head. 

"Oh shut up smartass." 

With one last departing scream it was gone; it leapt off to the side, crawling up the wall and disappearing into one of the structural cracks. "Damn right..." She smiled in grim satisfaction and quickly hurried to the dog's side; he made a soft whining sound as she approached. "Shh Arty, shhh boy it's gonna be fine, I'm here now." She lifted her hand to Artemis' face, allowing him to sniff her before she gently stroked his head and he licked her hand in approval.

Quinn's eyes quickly swept over the dogs body, checking for damages as she did so; she had found her dogs. One was very dead and had become part of the grim buildings décor, and one was alive though in clear need of a vet but...

She dug her teeth into her bottom lip angrily; if she left now those creatures would be left to wander about freely. Perhaps even go on a human-hunting spree if they ventured down far enough, without her father there to keep them in check there was little stopping chaos from erupting in the local area...but was she willing to spend the rest of her days up there guarding the fuckers so they didn't hurt anyone? No, she wasn't some sort of masochistic, self-sacrificing martyr. 

This stupid mountain had cost many people their lives and she'd be damned if she were another.

Slowly, Quinn stood, "There can't be many left now, there just can't." She quickly glanced back at her dog who was also getting to his feet, "Take it easy now, I'll get you out of here." Her fingers scratched behind her ears and he pressed his face against her hip.

Her mind was moving quickly, formulating a plan as they walked back through the sanatorium and into the main area that had been her father's base. He had been a practical, pragmatic man, she was certain he kept recording on all the wendigo that were currently knocking about on the mountain; in 'captivity' or otherwise. The desk was still there, in the centre of the room, a soft sigh escaped Quinn's lips as she walked up to it and examined the papers on top. As a child she had never been allowed to go through his things or even touch the desk, he had been bothered she'd 'ruin his system' or something like that; even now as an adult she half-expected him to creep up behind her and scold her for snooping.