Chaos Theory ° Until Dawn ✓

06. One Dead

Willow clammed up. Shit.

She noticed the way Mike had pointed to indicate the direction the man was taking. She tilted her head. That was toward the sanatorium.

Should I tell Mike about the thing in the mines? Willow asked herself, wondering if she should elaborate as to why she didn't want to be alone at the moment, but thought about it for a moment. He just told her Jessica was dead. Yeah, I don't think he needs to know about that right now. He just lost his girlfriend.

"If he's going that way, it's to the sanatorium." Willow said, avoiding the question. "Do you want me to come with you? I don't really want to be alone right now."

Mike sighed, dropping the question for now. He nodded.

The two of them started walking together. Willow thought about offering him the other jacket in her bag, but it would be too small for him to even fit his arms into the sleeves and didn't even bother asking. No coat was better than one that would cut off his circulation.

Willow felt content walking in silence, despite the news Mike had just dropped on her about her friend being dead and apparently now without a fucking jaw.

How could a human just.. rip off a jaw? Jesus fuck.

No human should be capable of that, even if they were drugged the fuck up.

After a few moments, Willow sighed heavily. Mike had kept stealing glances toward her. It felt like he wanted to say something and just wasn't. "What?" She sounded defeated. Willow didn't even recognize her own voice as she spoke.

Mike licked his lips, holding the lantern out in front of them. "Will, just.. You had to have come out of the mines to find me. What were you doing down there?"

"I took a walk to cool down after.. what happened in the Lodge. I wandered around and came across the entrance, but I didn't feel like going back to the Lodge yet so I went in."

Was that technically a lie? Willow wasn't sure.

She really wasn't holding up to her standard of honesty, honesty, honesty tonight.

"You're wearing a headlamp. No one just carries one of those around. Seems like you planned on going somewhere dark rather than just 'wandering' in." Mike deadpanned.

"Sam does. And I always bring one with me coming here or whenever I go exploring. I had one last year." Willow said to him. "And besides, what does it matter? I'm pretty sure the matter of Jessica's murderer running around this damn mountain is a much more pressing matter than me being in the mines tonight."

If Mike heard the crack in Willow's voice at the mention of Jessica, he didn't think to mention it. He nodded briskly, shutting up.

They walked in silence after that.

The only sounds other than the nature around them was their breathing. As they approached the sanatorium at a distance, a wall appeared to line the land. Willow wasn't barely tall enough to see over it anyway, but both of them ducked down as they spotted the same thing.

"Jesus." Mike muttered.

Willow shook her head, "What is with you and Jesus?"

Mike ignored her. Willow rolled her eyes as he peeked back over the wall.

"That's not good. That's really not good."

Willow popped up to see over the wall and at whatever he was seeing. At the sight of the man walking with two northwestern wolves, Willow nodded numbly.

"Yeah, that's really not good." She agreed.

They ducked down again, Mike cursing.

Mike peeked over again. He glanced down at her, gesturing over the wall. "Alright, let's get a closer look."