chapter twenty-one —
goodbye, josh.

" No. . no no. . I don't take orders from you! " Josh shouts loudly as he spins around wildly, it being obvious to Sage that he was either on something or had literally gone insane.

    " Oh no. . " Sage mutters as she looks between the wooden boards at her former best friend, her heart hammering in her chest as she stared at Josh.

    The three quickly find a door leading into the area that Josh was standing in, it obvious that he was hallucinating. They all start to surround Josh, the three looking at him nervously.

   " I don't take orders from you, you can't tell me what to do. . " Josh continues to babble, his voice cracking as he sobbed.

   " Josh? " Mike calls out as him, Sage, and Sam all looked at Josh apprehensively while getting closer to him until they were only a few feet away. " Hey. . Hey Josh! "

   " You can't tell me what to do anymore! " Josh sobs as Sage stares at him, pity clear in her eyes. Mike continues to call out Josh's name as Josh and the unknown person that Josh was hallucinating continued talking, " Okay. . Okay. . I trust you. . I trust you. "

   Josh turns around suddenly as he finishes speaking, but he was either not noticing the trio infront of him or chose to ignore them as he started to whimper because of something that the three couldn't see. Sage, Sam, and Mike all quickly stand closer to Josh and stare at him in confusion.

  " What's the matter with him, Mike? " Sam asks in confusion as she looks at Josh.

  " He's tripping or something. " Mike shrugs and quickly slaps Josh making Sage gasp in surprise as Josh is quickly snapped out of his hallucination. Mike quickly sighs in relief as he grabs Josh's arms, " Josh! "

  " M. . Mike? " Josh stutters out in shock.

   " Josh. . Hey man! " Mike exclaims in relief as he steps back.

" Don't hit me please– " Josh practically begs making Sage frown as she steps forward and places a hand on Josh's arm.

" He's not going to hit you, Josh, " Sage says quietly to Josh, hoping to calm him down slightly at seeing a familiar face that wasn't angry with him at the moment. She was still angry at her former best friend, but now was not the time to be yelling at him. " I'll make sure of that, okay? Nobody's going to hit you now. We're just all glad that you're okay. "

Mike pulls Sage back slightly to stand inbetween him and Sam as he starts to speak to Josh, " You were deep in it, man. Full mental jacket. "

  " We didn't think we'd get you back. . " Sam speaks up frowning, but relief clear in her tone. The blonde then starts to tell Josh about their theory of what happend to Hannah and Beth at a very wrong time, " Josh, Hannah was down here for weeks, maybe a month. She dug Beth up– "

" Sam, " Sage hisses as she looks at Josh to see him look at Sam in confusion, " Now is not the time for that shit. You know it. "

" Sage. . " Sam trails off as Sage glares at her, " Fine. "

" Let's just get the fuck out of here. " Mike pipes up, quickly stopping the fight that would most likely happen between Sam and Sage.

" Okay. . " Sam nods as she turns her attention back to Josh, " Josh, do you have the key for the cable car? "

" Yeah. . " Josh nods as he reaches inside a pocket of his overalls and pulls the key out before handing it to Sam, " Here. "

" Good. . " Sam nods as she then looks over to her left and starts walking that way. She then gestures towards where the moonlight was pouring in as Sage, Josh, and Mike followed her, " You see that over there? That means there's a direct way out. C'mon. "

" Josh isn't going to be able to make it up there. " Sage shakes her head at the thought, his mental and physical state were not good enough for that. " I won't make it up there with a dislocated shoulder. "

" Okay. " Sam nods in agreement at Sage's words before looking over at Mike, " Mike, if you help me up then I can go back and tell the others that we're okay. "

" Yeah. . Yeah, good. " Mike agrees quickly.

" You guys bring Josh back the way we came and we'll all meet at the lodge. " Sam tells Sage and Mike who both nod.

" Be careful. " Mike tells Sam as he gets into position to give her a boost.

" You guys too. " Sam says in return as Mike gives her a boost and she quickly grabs onto a ledge.

Mike turns his attention to Sage and Josh and starts walking the way that they had came with Sage quickly following after him, " Alright, let's go you fucked up son of a bitch. "

Sage rolls her eyes as she keeps up with Josh's pace as he starts talking, " I didn't mean for you to get hurt, Sage. I was. . " Josh trails off as he tries to find the right words for what his plans were for Sage, when everything was not a mess for them and it was Josh playing a 'prank' on his friends. " I wanted to get you out of the way. "

" What the fuck does that mean? " Sage furrows her eyebrows in confusion at Josh's words. Her mind going all over the place as she processes what Josh had said.

" I knocked you out so I could put you in my room and out of the way, but Chris and Ashley heard you scream and when I took care of them, you were awake and running away. " Josh explains quietly as Sage only shakes her head in disbelief and chooses not to say anything about that.

" I'm just glad that you're okay, Josh, " Sage sighs as she quickly hugs Josh much to his surprise and pulls away just as fast, " We all thought you were gone when we didn't find you in the shed that you were tied up in. "

Josh chooses to walk faster at that moment as Sage kneels onto the ground and picks up another totem, the brunette ignoring Mike and Josh's conversation.

DANGER TOTEM.
Found by Sage.

Sage's breath hitches as she stands as still as a statue against the wall, the wendigo just inches away from her face.

They were so close to making it out of the Washington Lodge, they had to make it.

Sage stands up and quickly catches up to Mike, who was a few feet away ahead of a now quiet Josh. The three walking through the room that there's friends bodies were in, Sage and Mike both speeding through since neither wanted to look at their fallen friends. Josh was in for the shock of his life though when he finally spots Ashley's head first.

" Oh! Oh! " Josh cries out in shock before spotting Chris and Matt's bodies, " I didn't. . I didn't mean for you to die. "

    He quickly exits the room and sees Sage and Mike both dropping into the water surrounding the mines, Josh quickly following after the two. The three start to wade through the water silently with Sage and Mike at the front.

Sage suddenly feels a tugging at her ankle making her look down in confusion, " What the– Oh Fuck! "

Her and Mike are suddenly tugged into the water by what was most likely the Wendigo if Sage was correct, the brunette coming up for air as soon as she could and turning to see Josh and the Wendigo face to face.

" You're not real. . You're not real! " Josh shouts at the Wendigo making Sage move to help him, but fails too as a hand suddenly covers her mouth and pulls her behind a nearby rock. Sage turns her head immediately to see Mike looking at her with wide eyes.

  Mike wordlessly shakes his head at Sage's pleading look, they couldn't help Josh and Sage absolutely hated it.

Her chest heaves as Mike finally pulls his hand away from over Sage's mouth as a scream for help echoes throughout the mines, the two hiding knowing who the scream came from.

Sage holds back a gasp as she decides to peek from behind the rock, which was a obviously horrible decision. She sees Josh's head being crushed by the Wendigo and sob almost escapes her, but she stops herself just in time.

She couldn't cry now, it wasn't the time.

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authors note.

this highkey sucks, but oh well!! this chapter highkey gave me so much writers block lmao.