"Fuck this shit....," Mike growled.
"We have to deal with this if we want to survive the night," I reminded him.
"I know," he said as another hand shot out to grab a hold of his ankle.
"No!" I screamed as I stomped on the wrist belonging to the hand.
The creature screeched at me and pulled its hand back into the cage. Mike quickly pulled me to his back since I had moved away to stomp the creature's wrist. The creatures all disappeared into the shadows of their cages as we continued on down the hall of the dungeons. Another caged Wendigo tried to grab a hold of us but we moved away from its cage.
Suddenly another one came into view from the opened cage before us, launching itself toward us. We jumped back, the Wendigo's face merely inches from Mike's but it had a collar around its neck which was attached to a chain that jerked it back away from us as we turned left and scurried past to be grabbed at again but we were quick enough to jerk away from the grabby hands. We continued forward, Wolfie was waiting for us.
'Took you long enough,' he said to me, sarcastically though I didn't find it amusing.
"Don't you dare mouth off to me, we were going as fast as we could," I snapped at the wolf.
"What? I didn't mouth off at you," Mike was confused.
I turned to him, "I-I wasn't talking to you," I realized this was quite an awkward exchange.
"But you said-" he cut himself off.
The same Wendigo from earlier appeared, screeching at us. There was no time to argue or question, we had to get moving. Mike grabbed a hold of my waist and we started running. We ran until we reached a closed door, I tried the knob but it wouldn't budge.
"Hurry up and open that thing," Mike ordered.
"I'm trying to open it, it won't budge and it's not locked," I said, "and there's no time to get my kit!"
I kept trying as the Wendigo came closer but there was no use, I needed his help, "help me," I was pushing against it, and it was moving in the slightest bit.
Mike was preoccupied with the Wendigo; he shot at it and struggled to move the barrel of flammable oil over on its side before kicking it to get it to roll down to where the Wendigos were climbing on the gate walls. He waited until it was at the right point, then took aim, "get down, Vanessa!" he pulled the trigger.
Boom!
The barrel exploded, forcing Mike backward toward me, I grabbed a hold of his jacket and jerked me toward me, wrapping my arms around him as the Wendigos' spirits screeched at us before disappearing. We both groaned as I initiated the ascension upward to our feet.
"Come on," I grunted, trying to pull us both up by myself, "help me get this door open."
Finally, we were able to push against the door to get it open so we could get through, then we pushed it closed once more. I locked it, seeing as there was a lock at the top. We took a moment to catch our breath before continuing onward. I wondered where Wolfie had gone but he was good at disappearing and reappearing so I didn't worry too much. He was a smart wolf, he knew how to survive.
"You okay, Mike?" I asked him this time.
He nodded his head, "yeah, I'm fine," he told me, assured me.
We moved left to the open doors ahead into the psychiatric ward, finally. We continued on, up the stairs, and then to our right. There were shadows everywhere that kept startling us but we didn't stop, we couldn't stop.
It got colder, and I shivered.
Mike frowned, "you need my jacket?" He was so chivalrous, I liked that but I shook my head at him.
"No, I'll be okay," I told him.
"You sure?" He wanted to make sure. It was so sweet.
"Of course I am, and besides, you need your jacket more than I do," I smiled at him, "I do happen to be wearing like four layers, so," I laughed lightly, "you keep your jacket," I nodded firmly.
He smirked at me, "okay."
We continued walking but another Wendigo appeared, screaming at us.
"Fuck!��� That was Mike.
"Damn you!" That was me. Then I noticed the door with a padlock, there was no time to get my kit, "shoot the damn door, hurry," I told him, so he didn't have to stop and ask me if it was okay.
Mike did so and we barreled into the door, opening it, pushing past it, and then quickly closing it. I held it closed as Mike pushed the cabinet over to barricade it shut so we could both move on, I shifted to pull it over as he pushed.
Upon finding a hole in the ground, Mike jumped in, holstering the shotgun, "okay, Vee, your turn," he called up to me, "I'll catch you, just jump."
I was too afraid, shaking my head at him. So I had to do what I did before, sitting down and turning my body so that my belly faced the edge, after I threw my bag down to him, which he caught this time because I just threw it, I wasn't aiming for his head this time. He put the bag on the ground and quickly moved to grab my legs, he was positioned where we would be facing each other when I let go. He put my feet on the ground, bending to do so, which meant that when he brought his torso back up, his face would be in mine.
I held my breath when his lips were so close to my own, which proceeded to tremble at him, practically begging him to kiss me but we heard a soft whine which jerked us away from each other, I could breathe again. I quickly moved to retrieve my bag as I heard Wolfie's voice call to me, 'Vanessa,' he said softly.
"I'm here, Wolfie, it's okay," I assured him, looking up toward him since he was still in the sanatorium.
"Hey, buddy," Mike greeted him, "come on down," he said, "it's okay."
The Wolf frowned at us, 'sorry, I can not," he said moving away into the shadows.
"Okie dokie bud," that was Mike.
"We will miss you," I said softly, "be careful, stay safe," I called after him.
Then there were two. Two who immediately started running. There was another jump and this time I was able to jump into his arms when he gestured for me too, his arms sliding around the small of my back under my bag before he sat me down onto my feet and we continued running, then upstairs to closed doors. We both moved in at the same time to open them with our shoulders but there were Wendigos closing in on us and Mike had to shoot another barrel before we could use our adrenaline to push the doors open before the explosion erupted behind us. We were flung forward by the blast, passed the steps that led down and into the snow, our bodies landing so close, he was practically on top of me.
We stood up together, groaning in pain as the Wendigo spirit screamed at us before disappearing. I furrowed my brow, remembering that there were two of them before the blast but there was only one spirit. I didn't have time to stop and question, we needed to get out of here, and Mike was already pulling me away from the scene.
One lonely gnarled hand shot up from the rubble we left behind to signal that it would be back for revenge....