UNTIL DAWN: Sam's story

XII.

I got to the surface and was on my way through the cold dark woods when I came upon another pond. I waded through it, shivering even more than before, because of the freezing water.

I finally reached the shed, after jumping down another set of stones, when I heard inhuman shrieking, coming from behind me. "Shit!" I cursed as I began running through the snow, not knowing if the creature was following me. I reached the lodge's door, but it was locked. "HEY! HEY!!!" I banged on the door. "COME ON OPEN UP!!! GUYS COME ON ARE YOU IN THERE?? LET ME IN!!!"

"Sam-" I heard from behind me.

"Ah!" I gasped turning around, frightened.

"Shit. Mike!" I sighed when I recognized my friend. "Oh gosh you look terrible-" I took in his state, realizing Josh wasn't with him.

"Gonna look worse if we stay out here... come on!" I picked up a stone from the ground, threw it through the glass part of the door and opened it from the inside.

"Okay...," I whispered as we got in.

"Mike what happened to Josh?" I decided to ask when he closed the door behind us.

"It got him," he looked down.

"Ohhh god, what an awful way to go...." I walked to the switch and turned the lights on. But when Mike looked at me with the 'are you serious' face and said, "Not good," I nodded and he turned it off.

"What do you think we should to?" I turned to him.

"We should check the basement... might be someone left down there." And with that we began walking.

"How do you rate our chances of survival?" I asked when we were going through the cinema.

"I'm trying not to think about it," Mike answered skeptically. Suddenly the door across the room burst open with Ashley and Chris stumbling in, Emily following closely. A temporary relief flooded through me, that was until they began screaming at us.

"GO!!! RUN!!!"

"GET OUTTA HERE GO GOGO!" I saw two creatures pursuing them up the hall.

"GO GO WE GOTTA GO!!" I felt Mike tugging at me, after I quickly locked the door behind us and ran after the others.

"RUN!!!" my ears were filled with the shrieks of the monsters and the pounding of several pairs of feet on the stairs.

I stopped in my tracks after running to the ground floor, when I felt my throat constrict and my heart almost burst out of my chest. Everyone stood in place, hardly daring to breath. "Don't... move... don't fucking move a muscle...," I heard Mike's soft voice from behind me. But my eyes were locked on the swinging ball, hanging from the ceiling. More specifically on the Wendigo, crawling on it. It seemed to be looking for something, since it was turning around desperately. However, when it turned its back on me, it had a small black picture carved into its skin on its shoulder. I recognized the tattoo as Hannah's and realized the Wendigo in front of me was just a year ago my best friend. Suddenly I heard shrieking coming from the stairs behind us, as the two monsters that were following us caught up. But they didn't pay us any attention and rather focused on the other creature in front of us. They lunged at her and began fighting, throwing each other across the room, while we stood there in shock, unable to move. When one of the two Wendigos got slammed into a wall it busted a gas pipe open, spewing the gas into the air.

I felt Mike next to me turning around, while those monsters kept fighting. He was looking at the busted pipe. Then moved his gaze onto a light bulb and last to the switch. He looked at me and I nodded in understanding. He was going to crack the glass around the wiring and when we'll turn the switch on, the heat, combined with the gas, will cause a fire to burst out. Mike slowly took the first step, while the Wendigos didn't pay us any attention whatsoever. Although when I moved slightly, the wooden tile cracked under my foot and one of the Wendigos turned around and began crawling towards me. I felt a huge urge to run the hell away from it, but I forced it down and stayed put. Chris, being the closest to the door, bolted out of it, while Mike's hand popped the glass with a soft sound, grabbing the attention of the ugly figure in front of me. He stood still as it neared him, but when it was about to lunge at him, I screamed.

"Hey!" it turned and screeched at me. While I had its attention, I could make out from the corner of my eye, that Ashley slowly sneaked out of the house. The monster I recognized as Hannah, was creeping on two legs, towering over me by several feet, while I stood frozen to my place, not daring to exhale the air from my lungs. I could smell its rotten breath when it made a piercing screech right next to my ear. She turned away from me, taking a step towards the stairs on my right. I slowly exhaled and quickly changed my position, hiding behind a pillar. Once again, she howled at me, while this gave time to Emily to run out the front door.

She was examining the place I stood in, looking for a slight hint of movement. Just as I was about to take a breath, another creature stole my stalker's attention. I changed position again, leaning on a stone wall, their gazes turning towards the sounds, my steps made. This action made an opening for Mike to slowly sneak out the door. One of them approached me, screeching right into the same ear as before and I felt few drops of blood spill out of it. When it moved away, I took the chance, knowing none of my friends are inside and lunging from the wall, sprinting towards the switch, that was located right next to the exit door. I could feel its booming jumps behind me. It was about to grab me, I felt its claws on my hair, when Hannah, yanked it away from me, giving me the split second to pull the switch and burst out of the open door.

The effect was almost immediate. The house burst into flames and the hot air sent me flying down the stairs. I screamed as I landed heavily on my already bruised body. I heard only ringing in my ears, my eyes flickered under my closed lids. When I opened them, three burning Wendigo souls flew out of the cabin. I followed them with my gaze and realized there was a helicopter flying over us.

We're saved...