Post Dawn

37: Sanctuary

The taxi car stopped outside Sam's apartment. She had been awake the whole car ride. Checking the mirrors every time she heard a noise or the car skidded.

Every noise jolted her up. It was only around one now and to think that so much had happened in only a few hours scared her.

But it also exhilarated her. It was just like the mountain. Just like when they had all been stuck in there and tried to get out.

She didn't like that she was happy in a way from the experience but she knew she couldn't help it. She knew Mike must've felt it too. At least a little bit.

He had said last night that he missed the mountain too. The excitement of it all. Sam knew that those Wendigos would be back. Of course they would.

They couldn't just go up in the mountains and never come back. That would be too easy.

She took a deep breath in and then opened her door and got out, Mike behind her and Matt trying to gently wake up Jessica.

How she's able to sleep after that, I have no idea. Sam thought to herself.

She could still feel her heart pumping from it all.

Jess blinked her eyes open and then allowed Matt to help her as she still felt drowsy from sleeping. Jess knew that Matt would never get over this. Her falling at a moment where the one thing she had to do was keep running and get out of there. She could've died.

She could've cost all of them their lives. And that wasn't anything on her to do list. She huffed in pain as she got up out of the car.

She fell on her wrists first, trying to avoid hitting the ground too hard with her body so she could keep her ribs protected. It hadn't helped.

Even with the little impact that they got, they were as sore as ever. She kept her hand to her rib cage as she and Matt walked to Sam's door.

Sam and Mike shared a look as they saw the two. They had both seen her fall but they didn't think that it had been that bad.

Not until they saw Matt holding her up with both of his arms. One on her back and the other having a grip on her arm.

Sam felt bad that she hadn't helped more. That all she had done was sit there and stare. She thought for sure Jessica was a goner. And Matt too if he tried to help her.

She had noticed that the Wendigo that had come out last had been bigger then the rest. Just like Hannah had been. She had read something in that guy's journal but she never really thought it would fit in with everything else.

She had a quiet gasp to herself that only Mike noticed since he was the only one close enough to hear it.

She didn't say a word though. Only silently thought to herself. Hannah. That Makkapitew- thing. That was her. And when we killed her, the spirit released.  That thing that escaped, is the most powerful Wendigo that can be created. The one that had killed Hannah and Beth. She tried to make sense of it all.

It didn't help that she wasn't in a good state of mind to be thinking about this with diligence. She forced herself to stop as it would only confuse her more.

Mike turned away from her and then opened the door for Jess and Matt. He then looked down at her again to see her silently saying something to herself and then shake her head as she walked inside.

Mike tilted his head as he tried to make out what she was saying but her lips had only been moving the tiniest bit. If he blinked he'd miss it.

He sighed as he closed the door and walked inside.