The bullet hit the wall and ricocheted across the room, causing everyone to duck, trying not to get hit by the bullet until it landed on the floor under a desk in a corner.
Mike turned to glare at me but he was taken aback by the menacing glare I was giving him, "you idiot," I said slowly, "if you would have just listened to me, I would not have had to do that," I was not fucking around, I was fucking serious.
"Vee," Mike said the nickname he had given me but I held my ground.
"Give. Me. The. Gun." I demanded, he hesitated, "now, Mike, give it to me."
Reluctantly, he obeyed and I shifted to put it in my bag with all the other weapons I had been storing in there.
"God, you're so evil when you do that," Mike commented almost playfully but something happened that I did not ever think possible, it cut off my slightly playful reply to him, it might have been the best since I didn't think either one of us wanted anyone to know how close we had gotten.
"SHE SAVED MY FUCKING LIFE! SHE'S A GODDESS!" Emily cried, seeming grateful for me saving her life from the bullet that Mike had intended to go through her skull; I just hoped she would remember this moment when she decided to treat me like crap in the future.
We all looked to her, she was crying in relief, still very much upset. I was the most surprised by her sudden outburst. I merely shrugged and turned back to Mike, "for your information, I've been the only one protecting your asses," I snarled at him, pushing him away from me, "I am the only one who can take on a Wendigo and live out of all of us," I screamed, "so you need to shut up and start listening to me or you are gonna get your stupid ass killed!"
There was silence after that. No one could speak after my angry outburst directed at Mike, and he could barely even look at me. I looked away from him, shaking my head and huffing at the situation.
"Alright, fine," Mike finally spoke, "but watch Em, just in case, if anything weird happens, you know what to do."
Ashley chimed in after him.
"No one leaves, it's not safe out there," Mike told us, daring to give me one final look, "I'll be back soon," and he was gone.
Typical horror movie troupe. He wouldn't be coming back if he was alone, and I knew it but I was too angry with him, at that moment, to truly care but it would be short-lived soon.
Ashley took the diary of the stranger and moved to sit on the opposite side of the room. I shifted toward the open entrance and leaned my back against the frame, watching for his return, or something's arrival. Ashley flipped through the book and found out I was right, which instigated a heated verbal conversation that ended with Emily slapping Ashley across the face.
Rolling my eyes and huffing in frustration, I moved into the room, shoving Emily away from Ashley and pulling the latter up to her feet before shoving her over to Chris, she started to cry from the pain in her cheek and apologizing profusely as I turned to face Emily.
"Alright, Ashley stays here near Chris," I began, "and Emily, you stay the fuck over there!"
The two obeyed with Chris pulling Ashley into his side, allowing her to cry upon his shoulder. I sighed, turning to Sam, and noticed she was looking distraught while flipping through the pages of the diary, "what is it?" I demanded but I already realized what was wrong and ran out of the room, screaming Mike's name.
I was the fastest, if they wanted to follow, it was their funeral but I was going to catch up to Mike if it was the last thing I did. I ran as fast as I could to get to the tunnel that led to the sanatorium, still screaming his name. I was scared, knowing something was wrong, that something bad would happen to him. "Mike! MIKE!" Thankfully at this moment in time, he was only halfway down the tunnel and I was already catching up to him, he'd slowed so he could meet me.
"What the fuck? Vee, what are you doing down here?" He demanded as I plowed right into his chest, crying. "Woah, what the hell happened up there?"
"You're in danger! I'm the only one who can protect you," I cried into his jacket, "the Wendigos, it's not safe, at all, not for anything," I shifted to look up at him, "and I was scared without you," I admitted, "and I made a promise to help you find Jess, I'm not gonna break that," I meant it.
Mike just smiled at me, pulled me close for only a moment before pulling away, "let's go then!"
And we were off, racing down the tunnel and reaching the side with the door to the sanatorium, opening it up and walking inside. Mike locked the door back, while I moved forward, making sure the area was safe before allowing him to follow me further inside. We walked until we reached the familiar foyer area with the staircase, the horrid staircase. I winced at the thought of being back in the sanatorium but like we had to do what we had to do. We entered the familiar area where the wolves had been but there was nothing here.
No wolves.
No strange humans.
No Wendigos.
It was strange, and Mike agreed with me.
We moved through the only open gate door, traveled through the next room to the open area leading outside in the snow once more. I shivered once, holding my biceps as we moved further outside.
Mike was looking around for any small opening that wolves could've gotten out of to safety, or to their doom. I moved closer to what looked like a makeshift cemetery. I couldn't help but watch his worried form look for any traces of the wolves or where they had gone. I loved the way he was so worried about the wolves but it was short-lived when I saw the cemetery.
"Mike," I said his name, gravely.
"Yeah?" He replied, turning to face me.
I moved my head in a motion that called him over, I had a very grim look on my face. He furrowed his brow and came over to my side, placing a hand on my arm, asking me what I called him over for which I merely gestured toward the cemetery at my feet. He looked down at where I indicated and his hand slowly slid off my arm due to the motion of his body crouching to look at the crosses stuck in the snow with names engraved upon them.
"Who are these people?" Mike asked, looking up at me.
I shook my head, "I'm not sure, maybe the families of the miners, maybe some miners themselves," I suggested, shrugging my shoulders.
He shifted back up on his feet, "well, let's go," he said as we turned back toward the way we came, "looks like this was all that was left for us to find out here," he informed as we traveled back through the room and through the gate we had before finding the makeshift cemetery.