Nightmare on Smosh Mountain (Smosh x Until Dawn)

Chapter 31 (Keith's POV)

5:43am

                  
I click my phone on briefly to check the time.  Almost an hour has passed since we saw that flare through the back window.  After we returned to the bathroom, I was too awake to lie back down, but after a bit of persuasion, I was able to convince Wes to get some sleep.  It's becoming increasingly difficult to sit still, though, and I desperately need to go for a quick walk around the house.  So I silently get up and quietly open the bathroom door, leaving it open a crack behind me.

         I wander down the upper hall, casually poking my head into some of the rooms.  There's not much exciting going on up here, which is good.  I do, however, ignore the bedroom everyone had been in earlier, when Amra had...lost control.  Instead I make my way all the way down to the end of the hallway.  At the end, I spot something on the floor, and wonder how on Earth we had missed it earlier.  Another totem.  Then again, we hadn't exactly had time to look around before Washington started picking us off.

         I pick up the chunk of rough wood, with some type of animal roughly carved into it.  I flip it over and see the yellow butterfly before I'm whisked into a vison.

         This time, I'm in the woods again.  It's only me, Wes, and Courtney as far as I can tell, and they are running behind me.  And just like that, the vision is over.  Confused, I inspect the totem.  What was it telling me to do?  Lead Wes and Courtney into the woods?  Leave the lodge?  I have no idea.  So I place the totem back down and meander back down the hallway.

         I've just reached the top of the stairs when I hear the front door open.  I pull the pistol out of my waistband, which Wes gave to me when he went to sleep.  Holding it up in front of myself protectively, I walk down the stairs and position myself around the corner to the entrance.

         "Wes?  Keith?  Ian?" I hear Courtney call softly, and I relax.  She and Amra are safe.  I round the corner to a weird and disappointing sight.  It's just Courtney, and for the second time tonight, she's standing in just her bra.  And she's shivering like mad.  I tuck the pistol back into my waistband and run to shut the door behind her.

         "What happened to you?" I ask worriedly.  But I don't wait for her to reply before pulling her up the stairs, grabbing a sweater and shirt out of the first bag I find, and wrapping her in blankets.  While I do so, she begins to explain.

         "It was Washington." she babbles.  "He kidnapped me and Amra and Olivia – and Noah, too.  He was alive."  Her voice dulls as she says this.

         "Where are they?" I ask.  Even I can hear the dread in my own voice.

         "They're all dead." she says hoarsely.  "Olivia tried to save Amra and I, then we found Noah and escaped into the tunnels but got chased by Wendigos and we all made it to this old building basement which I blew up with a flare gun but the Wendigos caught Amra and then Noah and I were trapped outside and he froze because we were lost even though I tried shooting a flare."  She says it all in one long, run-on sentence.  She's so obviously in shock, and I just need to calm her down.

         "Come on." I steer her towards the bathroom and lock us inside with Wes, who's woken by our entering.

         "What happened?" he asks groggily.  Courtney opens her mouth to reply but I cut her off.

         "It's a long story, and I'll tell you what she told me." I say.  "But, you should try to sleep, Courtney."  She doesn't protest, and lies down.  She's passed out within a minute.  I turn back to Wes and repeat as much as I can remember.

         "She said she shot a flare." I finish.  "It must've been the one we saw from the backdoor."  I feel so guilty for not listening to Wes before, but he surprisingly doesn't seem mad.