chapter fifteen – safety.

       Minutes after Sage and the others had retreated to the basement, Chris had finally returned with Ashley and Mike trailing behind him making Sage, Emily, and Sam all sigh in relief. Sage paused though when she noticed neither the Stranger or Josh with them.

" Oh my God! Guys! Thank god! " Emily says in relief as soon as she had spotted the trio entering the basement, Mike immediately going to lock the door behind him as Chris rested himself against a nearby desk.

" What took you guys so long? " Sam questions as she looks at the three in confusion.

" It's not so good out there right now– " Chris starts to explain but was quickly cut off by Mike.

" Understatement of the night. " Mike scoffs as he moves to stand next to Sage while looking her over to make sure she was as alright as she could be.

" Where's the guy with the flamethrower? " Sage asks as she glances around as if she was hoping for him to pop up out of nowhere.

" Ah yeah, he uh. . " Chris trails off as he tries to find the words to describe what had happend on his trip to find Josh with the Stranger.

" Didn't make it? " Sage summarizes with Chris quickly nodding making her shake her head with a sigh. The Stranger was a great help. Sage raises an eyebrow as she asks her next question, " What happend out there, Chris? "

" The thing, it. . it tore him apart! " Chris gets out as he continues to look over his leg, his voice quiet. " Right infront of me! "

" Oh God. . " Sam whispers in shock at the reveal of what had happend to their only chance of help until dawn.

Mike starts to walk around them with urgency as he started examining the doors that surrounded them as Sage watched in confusion, " Alright. These all the doors? " Sam quickly nods as Mike continues to look around the room.

" What are you looking for? " Sage asks as Mike finally stops to look over the multiple monitors stacked ontop of each other that Josh most likely set up. She stops next to him, deciding to help Mike with whatever he was doing.

" Another way out. " Mike says quickly as Sam stood on his other side.

" Mike. . " Sam trails off as she tries her hardest to get Mike to stop and stay inside the basement, " I really don't think that's a good idea. We should stay put, right here, until dawn. " The blonde gestures around the basement aimlessly as Mike looks at her blankly, " At least we're safe down here– "

" Oh? Yeah? " Mike scoffs while looking at Sam in disbelief, " All wrapped like a present with a bow on top for that thing to tear us apart on Christmas morning? "

Mike starts to move around the room once again, with Sage following him, as Sam continues to try and get him to stay, " People will come for us. In the morning. "

" Yeah. I mean. . right? " Emily nods in agreement to what Sam said, but her unsure tone made Sage even more nervous that they'd be stuck on this mountain with nobody coming to help.

" Well, you can wait, " Mike pauses as he glances at Sage with a raised eyebrow, the unsaid question was clear to her. She nods before grabbing his hand and squeezing it as a sign of comfort while Mike starts to speak again, " Sage and I are leaving. "

" Mike, Sage, there's no key for the cable car– " Emily tries to plead with the duo, but failed quickly.

" Josh probably has it. " Sage says while Mike only nods in agreement, " One of his little tricks. "

Sam only looks at the two in disbelief at the thought of them going to hunt down Josh, whom was ultimately missing since nobody knew where he was now.

" If that thing has Josh then. . " Mike trails off as his voice get quiet, " we're shit out of luck. "

" I don't know, Mike, " Emily says with a shrug, " It's possible. "

" What's possible? " Sam asks as she turns to look at Emily, who was looking at something on another nearby desk.

" It may have taken him to the mine. " Emily explains as she moves closer to whatever had caught her eye as she explains what she was talking about, " I saw some horrible stuff down there. I think it's where that thing was living and. . huh. "

Sage walks over to stand to next Emily out of sheer curiosity as she looks over the bag that Emily was now pulling stuff out of while Sam stood on the other side of Sage. Mike still stood in the same spot as he ranted about going to get the key, but soon joined them.

" What is all of this? " Sage mutters as she feels Mike place a hand on her shoulder to get a better view of what everyone was looking at.

" It's the old guy's bag. " Emily answers as she gestures to the journal that she was holding.

" This guy was prepared for anything. " Sam says in surprise as she continues to look over everything that was in the bag with Sage and Emily while Mike caught sight of a map.

" Not quite. " Mike mutters, obviously referring to the Stranger's demise by the things that he had fended off for years, Sage had to hold back a laugh at Mike's words.

" What is this place? " Emily questions in shock as Mike finally realizes why the map looked so familiar to him.

" Sage and I were down there, " Mike says as he gestures to where the mine was located on the map, " It was horrible. "

" It really was. " Sage adds quietly as she frowns while thinking of all the things that had happend.

They talk quietly for a moment as they try to figure out another way out that meant not facing the Wendigo out there until Ashley spoke up, her tone showing how frightened she was.

" Em. . " Ashley stares at Emily in shock as she places a hand on the girl's shoulder, " What bit you? "

" The ah– " Emily cuts herself off as she looks at everyone at shock at the fact that everyone was slowly backing away from her as the tension was thick in the room. She looks over at Sage, who still stood next to her as she didn't understand why everyone was suddenly terrified of Emily. " The Wendigo. "

" Are you okay? " Sage asks in concern as she ignores Ashley's loud protests, the aspect of Emily turning into a Wendigo because of a bite seemed silly to the brunette. They had to eat another person to become one, Emily had ate nobody.

" I'm fine. " Emily nods as she looks at Sage gratefully. Atleast someone had her back through this.

" Are you? " Mike asks as he raises an eyebrow, it was obvious that he didn't trust his ex-girlfriend at all at the moment.

" Yes! " Emily cries out as she looks at the three backing away from her in shock.

" Emily, if the Wendigo bit you. . You could turn into one of those things– " Mike starts to say but Ashley was quick to cut him off and insert her thoughts.

" He said it was from eating each other, remember he said that! " Ashley exclaims as she becomes more and more hysterical as time passes. " It happens if it bit you, you're gonna turn into one and then you're gonna turn on us! Oh my god! Oh my god! " The redhead continues to get even more hysterical.

" We don't know that! " Sage snaps as she places a hand on Emily's shoulder to try and help comfort the girl. " He said it was from eating someone and– "

" You can't be down here. " Mike says quietly as Sage looks at him in shock. What was he thinking? It was Emily that he was talking about.

" Are you kidding? " Emily scoffs as she stares at Mike in disbelief from her spot against the desk where the Stranger's stuff laid.

" Mike. . please. " Sage pleads as she moves away from Emily to move next to him. She places a hand on his arm as she spoke, " You can't. We have no idea if it actually works like that. It's probably just a bite. "

" What is this? " Emily asks in shock, " Guys? What are you doing? "

Mike wordlessly shakes Sage's arm off him as he stares at Emily coldly, " The door's right there. I'm letting you do this voluntarily. " He gestures to the door as Ashley stares at Emily just as coldly as Mike is.

" Oh no, " Emily shakes her head as she storms up to Mike, " You're just making yourself feel better about sending me to my death when there's a Wendigo out there ready to rip me to shreds just like– "

" Oh my god! " Ashley cries out in frustration while glaring at Emily, " Will you just go? Go, get out of here! "

After Emily refuses to move an inch, Mike then pulls out the gun that he had found in the Sanitorium making Sage gasp in shock at the thought of what he was thinking of doing. Would he actually go through with it?

Emily then backs up until her back was against the desk that she was looking over just moments ago as Mike aimed the gun at her, it being obvious how terrified she now was.

" You're going to shoot me, Mike? Me? " Emily asked, her voice cracking to show how much this truly affected her. Her ex-boyfriend was really about to shoot her.

" Mike. . " Sage pleads as tears fill her eyes at the thought of what might be happening. She places her hand on his arm once again, " Please. We have no idea if Emily's even going to turn into one of these things. " She pauses as she feels Mike's arm slowly relax at her word's, " You trust me, right? "

" Of course. " Mike says quietly, but continued to stare straight at Emily. The thought of her potentially turning into a Wendigo terrified him.

" Put the gun down. " Sage says quietly as she squeezes his arm lightly to comfort Mike, who was obviously almost as scared as Emily at the moment. " Wait. We have no idea if she'll turn or not. "

Mike finally puts the gun down after a moment of silence and Sage, Sam, and Emily all sigh in relief at the fact that Emily was not dying tonight. Sage immediately grabs Mike's hand and squeezes it tightly as she smiles slightly at him.

" You did the right thing, Mikey. " Sage says quietly with a small smile.

" I hope so. " Ashley scoffs while rolling her eyes, Sage wordlessly glares at the redhead. She couldn't believe Ashley at the moment. How could she? Emily was their friend.

" Keep an eye on her, " Mike tells the three that would remain after him and Sage left, " If you see anything weird. . . you guys know what to do. "

" Yeah. " Ashley nods with a sigh.

" No one leave, okay? It's not safe out there. " Mike tells everyone as he grips Sage's hand tightly, the shock of what he almost did was getting to him. " Okay? We'll be back soon. "

Him and Sage exit the basement hand in hand as Sam stands next to Chris and lets out a sigh.

" Fuck. "

━━━━
authors note.

f in the chat for dumbasses that are chris + ashley next chapter of the game ): . also mike + sage ?? my faves.