Chapter Twenty: Hospital Of Horrors

(Despair)

***

The return back to the Sanatorium was tense with what had nearly happened back in the safe room.

Neither Mateo or Mike talked during the walk back to it down the tunnel, the memory of the gun pointed first at Emily, then at Jordan, still fresh in their minds. Mateo's jaw was clenched, every part of him trembling in how mindless panic had nearly taken his fiancé's life just because no one was listening to her that Emily's bite could just be a bite. That despite his initial uncertainty, Mateo knew, deep in his bones, she was right—the stranger had said cannibalism was the way to turn into one of those things, not a bite, and in any other situation, Mike would have known that too.

But panic had stolen his rational thinking away, and had nearly resulted in Jordan's and Emily's needlessndeaths.

"Aren't you going to talk to me, Mateo?"

Mateo turned to Mike, glaring. "Are you sane enough to realise the mistake you made that nearly got Jordan and Emily killed, Mike?"

Mike winced. "I deserve that."

"Damn right you do. Jordan was right—the stranger said cannibalism was the only way, not a fucking bite. This isn't a fucking zombie situation, Mike," Mateo snapped, still glaring at his best friend. "Why would you even think it would be? Or that shooting Emily would be the way to fucking go, even if Jordan hadn't wanted to take the bullet for her?"

"I don't know! I was just trying to keep everyone safe, Mateo," Mike retorted, before some of the fire left and he confessed, "And I... I don't know if I could shoot Em. I could hear your voice, telling me to get it right before I pulled the trigger. And I couldn't shoot Jordan. I just... I couldn't."

Mike sighed. "Shit just got tense in there, alright? That's not an excuse, I know but it just... it got tense. But for what it's worth, I'm sorry. I was just... I was trying to keep everyone safe. The ones I can still keep safe, anyway."

Something flickered in Mike's eyes and some of Mateo's anger faded—Jess.  And Mateo could somewhat understand—tensions had been running high, panic building in the room over the bite. Of course Mike would have done something drastic just to make sure it was safe. It didn't mean Mateo still didn't want to hit him over the head for it, but he could understand.

Sighing, he said, "Let's just head back into that fucking horror show and get that cable car key from Josh. Then we can all get the fuck out of here."

"And you can get started on planning your wedding, huh?" Mike asked, a tentative olive branch.

"Yeah. Wanna make it to that day where I can marry Jordan. And I'll need my best man for it, just like she'll need her maid of honour there," Mateo replied. The olive branch returned, but not without a pointed reminder—if Jordan was going to make it out of here, then she would make damn sure Emily would survive too, no matter what. And so would Mateo.

Instead of reacting to that, Mike just nodded as he and Mateo saw the metal door with patches of rust at the end—the same door they'd gotten out from the tunnel when they left the Sanatorium. And now, their way back into it.

When they got to the door, Mike opened it and he and Mateo walked through, Mike closing it behind them as he muttered under his breath, "Okay, okay, okay... what's the..."

He locked the door, making Mateo frown as he asked, "Why did you do that?"

Mike looked at him. "To keep whatever else could be down there from coming in here with us."

"Okay, that's... actually a smart call," Mateo admitted as he looked at the locked door, even as he had a bad feeling about it.

Shaking it away, he walked with Mike back down the tunnel, the flashlight Mike had lighting up the tunnel in all its ruinous glory. The drip of water echoed and Mateo kept a firm grip on his knife. He hoped Jordan was okay, that Emily was, too, that the bite really wasn't infectious. It couldn't be—Emily was going to be fine. She was going to make it.

Wasn't she?

Shaking it away, Mateo focused on walking, avoiding the debris and ignoring the wind's howl and the frigid bite it brought, tearing through even the parka Mateo still had wrapped around him. He shivered, both from it and a sense of dread as he and Mike walked up the stairs out of the basement and once back more into the Sanatorium and all its creepy glory.

"Welcome back to the horror show," he muttered. Mike let out a humourless chuckle, before both friends grew serious. Now wasn't the time to joke around. They needed to find a way to get into the mines Mateo had hoped to avoid, get the key and Josh if he was still alive, and return back to the others. All without getting killed by what was really on the mountain with them in the process.

Should be easy, right?

And yet somehow, Mateo doubted it would be that fucking easy.

Refocusing back on what was happening, Mateo and Mike walked through a side entrance into the chapel area of the Sanatorium where the stranger must have be living at, where Mateo noticed two things.

One, it looked more wrecked than it had the last time they'd been here.

And two, it was quiet. More quiet than it should be, the Sanatorium almost dead with its silence, the faint whistle of the wind and his own heartbeat the only sound in the entire space.

Why was it so damn quiet?

"Holy shit," Mike breathed as he saw the space. "Huh. What happened to the wolves?"

Mateo froze, as he realised he couldn't hear any of the wolves barking, growling or howling as he looked for any sign of the pair, only to find none. That was the cause behind the silence. The wolves were gone, had grown quiet.

"What happened here?" Mateo asked, but even as he said it, Mateo figured he didn't want to know that answer. To what happened to the wolves.

Suppressing a shudder at what could have gone down in the Sanatorium that could have silenced the wolves, Mateo and Mike walked up a flight of stairs leading off to the side, onto the second level and across the balcony, before Mateo noticed a hole in the ground that lead toward a room behind a wire fence. Maybe not the same room the wolf had been guarding, but something close to it.

Mike went first, jumping down with a grunt, Mateo close behind. Inside, Mateo could see it looked like just a regular room, albeit with some supplies that had Mateo consider if the stranger had used it as an armoury. The theory became clearer as Mike found a shotgun, a box full of shotgun shells and a torch waiting to be lit up on a desk, grabbing the torch as he remarked, "Now I just need a pitchfork and a mob."

"I mean, you and Ashley were pretty much a mob back in the safe room against Em. All you really need now is the pitchfork," Mateo reminded, giving Mike a pointed look.

Mike winced guiltily as he pulled out a lighter and set the torch ablaze, handing it to Mateo as he stored some shells into his pocket and grabbed the gun, asking, "You want it, Mateo?"

Mateo frowned, weighing up his options—let Mike keep the gun, or take it—before nodding. "Yeah. I doubt this knife would do me any good against these fuckers if we ever come across them, and I do not want to get up close and personal."

Mike handed him the shotgun and Mateo held it under his arm as he passed the torch to his right hand and held the shotgun in his left hand, as that was his more dominant hand. Armed and with another source of light, Mike opened the door and they got out of there, the wind whistling sharply as they headed to another area, to see what else could be behind it.

With a nod from Mike, his best friend opened the door since Mateo's hands were otherwise occupied and they went through, down a derelict hallway that entered into what seemed to have been either a mail room or office or some sort of storage space. Inside, Mateo's eyes was drawn to a now-familiar sight of a totem. Shifting the gun so it was under the crook of his arm, Mateo bent down and picked it up.

***

* LOSS TOTEM *

As Mateo and Jordan ran out of the lodge, joining Emily and whoever else had survived, as Sam ran out, Mike grabbed the switch and, with one last move, detonated the switch as the lodge exploded—and ensuring he'd never make it out of there and take as many of the bastards down with him as he did.

***

Setting it down, Mateo stood up and took hold of the gun again as he headed toward a crumbling hole in the wall, Mike right behind him. The two friends gave each other a look before they headed through it and onto the snowy grounds. Snow hazed the air, wind shrieking as it tore against Mateo's face and hair. The flame shuddered in the wind, but resolutely stayed burning as he and Mike kept walking... and stumbled upon a graveyard.

"Holy hell," Mike breathed as he and Mateo stared at the crosses, names inscribed on them that could have belonged to the employees or to the miners or both. And while they were long gone, Mateo muttered a quick prayer in Spanish for the souls of the deceased, adjusting the gun under his arm so he could make the sign of the cross as much as he could for good measure. Given what type of malicious force haunted Blackwood Mountain, it felt needed.

Turning away from the graveyard, both out of respect and the natural dread that came from seeing something like that, they headed back into the Sanatorium and through the way they'd come, heading to the only door they hadn't been through—the one the wolf had been guarding, the one that, if the stranger was still alive and still with them, probably wouldn't have wanted him and Mike to go through either.

Well, the wolves and the stranger were gone. Might as well go through it and see what the fuck they were guarding.

Mike reached forward to open it, but the door refused to budge, a lock keeping them from opening the door, guardian wolves or no guardian wolves.

"Right," Mike muttered before he looked at Mateo. "You wanna do the honours?"

Mateo glared at him as he handed Mike the torch and held the shotgun in both hands, left hand in front of the right, bracing himself for the recoil as he said, "This explodes, I'm blaming you."

Mike chuckled as Mateo pulled the trigger and fired. The shotgun went off with a boom, shattering the lock as Mateo stumbled back from the recoil the shotgun kicked him with. Mike kicked the door open as he turned to Mateo and asked, "You alright, man?"

"Peachy," Mateo muttered as he lowered the gun, taking the torch back. "Let's just keep going on."

Mike nodded and they walked through—but barely got a step in before the wolf from earlier appeared in front of them.

"Hey big guy," Mike greeted as Mateo grinned and walked up to the wolf, setting the gun down as he petted the wolf on the head. The wolf's tail wagged behind it as it pressed its snout against Mateo, liked it missed him as he chuckled and ruffled its ears.

"Happy to see me again, huh? Definitely happy to see Mateo," Mike observed as he joined Mateo and the wolf.

"It's mutual," Mateo replied as he now scratched the wolf's ears, its tail wagging even more as Mike crouched down beside Mateo.

"I was hopin' we'd run into you again," Mike said as he petted the wolf along its cheek while Mateo kept scratching its ears. "Alright. Good boy."

Mateo nodded, giving it one last scratch before he dropped his hand and picked the shotgun back up, relieved the wolf was okay. But even still, he wondered—where was the other one?

"Alright, pal, you're comin' with us," Mike said as he stood up, staring at the wolf. He looked at Mateo. "Unless..."

Mateo shook his head. "Nope. No argument from me. I was hoping you'd let him come with us."

Mike grinned, before he grew serious and turned to the wolf. "Alright. Here's the plan. We happened to see a map of this place, so we're not flying blind."

"Given what we're doing, I hope we're not, Mike," Mateo muttered, even as he got what he meant. He'd seen the same map too, seen the same entrance—and which part of the Sanatorium they needed to go through to get to it, which happened to be the creepiest part of this whole creepy-as-fuck place.

"There should be a way through the psychiatric wing that'll take us right outside the mine," Mike went on, before he looked at the wolf and asked, "Think we can handle that?"

The wolf snapped its jaws and let out a snarl.

Mateo grinned. "Seems like he's on board, Mike. Good—he'd probably be able to sense those puta madres before we can."

"Yeah. Couldn't have said it better myself," Mike agreed as the wolf turned and padded down the hall.

"Atta boy," Mike said as he and Mateo followed, Mateo giving the Mike the torch as they caught up to the wolf, walking down a set of stairs and into a caged corridor on the grounds leading from that part of the Sanatorium to the part they needed to get to. The wolf barked as it ran off down the corridor, Mateo and Mike right behind it as the wind whistled, howled and signed until they came to the end and rejoined the wolf, growling and barking.

"Jesus Chr—" Mike breathed as Mateo froze, seeing the wire fence all around the place as some sort of cage, at feeling that something wasn't right, trusting the wolf knew that too as it still kept growling.

"Okie dokie boy, calm down," Mike said.

"Mike, maybe trust the wolf here. Something isn't right," Mateo muttered, holding the gun tighter as he eyed the area warily.

"Yeah, no shit. When has anything been fucking right all night?" Mike muttered. 

"Point," Mateo murmured.

The wolf stopped growling, but still seemed tense and Mateo decided to trust in it, that something was not right here, even more than he already did. It didn't stop them from following after the wolf down a corridor lined with mesh-wire fences that ended in a room with a closed door on the other end, Mike remarking, "Wish I could move like you, Wolfie. Think we're stuck on this side."

"Yeah, no kidding. Unless you want me to shoot the door again and alert whatever the fuck else is in here with us?" Mateo offered.

Mike looked like he was considering it, before he saw a lever. Heading to it, he muttered, "Alright. Here goes nothin'."

He yanked it down, as with a rusty creak, the door behind them swung closed and the door in front of them slid open a crack.

"Awesome," Mike muttered.

Mateo hoisted the gun up further. "Guess that means we can't go back if we need to escape."

Mike nodded, before he walked through the gap provided and pushed the door open further, Mateo right behind him and getting through the gap Mike had widened, feeling unease they couldn't walk back out and head back toward the main area of the Sanatorium. That it meant their only way out was to keep going forward.

But what, exactly, waited for them up ahead?

Once they were through, Wolfie rejoined them as Mike bragged, "You see that? I do got moves. Don't I, Wolfie?"

Mateo glared at him. "Mike. Dude. Focus."

"Alright. I'm focused. I'm focused," Mike assured, voice growing serious.

Mateo gave him a skeptical look as they followed Wolfie through an arched side-entrance down a flight of stairs, darkness and whatever else could be hiding in it waiting for them down below. The torch lit the darkness in hazy orange as Mateo kept a firm grip on the gun, not liking the silence aside from the wind and the noise he, Mike and Wolfie were making. Something was wrong, something that made Mateo feel more on edge than he already was. He just didn't know what.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Mateo and Mike turned left, heading into a room that would haunt Mateo's nightmares for years to come.

It looked the room of a former patient, with blood splattered on the walls and on the bed, a railing twisted over it. A stool had been thrown down and pieces of debris lined the room and a chain was on the wall near the blood, and a sense of malice and dread hung over it, a tangible force that had Mateo shiver and want to get the fuck out of that room right now.

What had happened in here, to the patient? And did Mateo even want to know?

"Huh," he heard Mike say, drawing Mateo's attention as he joined his best friend at a desk and saw a medical report. In the light of the torch, Mateo could read it and the symptoms listed, symptoms that sent another shiver of dread down his spine.

"What the fuck was wrong with that guy?" he whispered before he walked out of the room, needing to get out of there as Mike was right behind him, heading straight down the corridor.

What he saw up ahead had Mateo wish he'd just stay in the room, as he got his first sign of that something was, indeed, very wrong here.

There, pinned to the bars blocking off an entrance into a corridor, Wolfie growling, was the black wolf. Its head had been nearly torn off, exposing flesh and muscles and bone, but that wasn't the worst part. No, it was its eviscerated torso, spilling entrails down onto the floor as it exposed more its bones and guts, its heart still beating inside its chest, blood dripping into a crimson puddle on the floor. A snarl was frozen on its face, like it'd gone down fighting or was about to before whatever killed it had basically torn it apart.

"Ah. Son of a bitch," Mike muttered as Mateo petted Wolfie, comforting it as he stared at the dead wolf before letting go to stand back with Mike as Wolfie lunged forward, barking.

"Jesus Christ. What the fuck have we gotten ourselves into?" Mike breathed, horror and dread on his face.

Mateo kept staring at the wolf, wondering how the hell it happened. Of what, exactly, had torn it apart.

Wolfie stopped barking, letting out a keening noise for its pack member before padding away down into another corridor. Mike got closer, the torchlight shining on the wolf's corpse, its blood and entrails, as he muttered, "Fuck, man. This is truly disgusting."

"And fresh," Mateo remarked, frowning as his forensics mind took over. "It couldn't have happened more than a couple hours ago, at most. Definitely right after we left the Sanatorium. And it was quick—the wolf has no blood or flesh on its teeth or in its mouth, or blood on its fur that isn't its own. Whatever happened... it was quick. Brutal, but quick. And that whatever killed it, it's probably still in here. With us."

"Didn't need to hear that," Mike muttered as Mateo turned away, and saw the busted open door, scratches and blood adorning it.

He walked over to it, scanning it critically, the dents and cracks that suggested it had opened from the inside from sheer force and strength from whoever had wanted to desperately get out, Mike noticing it too as he remarked, "Huh. These doors were built like tanks."

"They were. You'd need a sheer amount of power and force to get these open. It wouldn't have been easy," Mateo said, frowning as he stared at the doors, the dread increasing as it skittered down his spine and lingered in his bones, coiling around the joints and holding fast.

"How crazy were those inmates?" Mike muttered.

"I don't think they were crazy," Mateo murmured, a sinking dread seeping inside him of what really could have busted these nigh-indestructible doors down. That could be the same force that had brutally ripped apart the wolf.

Turning his head, Mateo froze as he saw something inside the room that looked as torn apart as the other one. "Mike."

Mike turned, and saw what Mateo saw as they entered the room, reading the message scratched on the walls with increasing dread and horror.

LET US OUT! WE ARE STARVING FREEZING!! I WILL MAKE YOU PAY STOP TESTNG US NOW!!

"What went on here?" Mike questioned aloud.

"Nothing good," Mateo muttered.

"This is nuts," Mike breathed, Mateo nodding in agreement as he eyed the message warily, both it and the door not easing his dread of what had happened here.

Without hesitation, he turned and left the room, Mike right behind him as they went down the corridor, following after Wolfie—and descending further into whatever horrors were waiting for them.

Just like the other part of the Sanatorium, the psychiatric wing was spacious, every noise made amplified by the cavernous, crumbling ceiling. It didn't ease the dread Mateo felt as they kept walking, before he noticed something—another totem.

Bending down, he picked it up and saw what was inside.

***

* DANGER TOTEM *

As he and Mike lead Josh through the lake, Mateo tensed as he felt something cold brush against his leg. Something was in the water with them, just before a cold, clawed hand dragged Mateo down.

***

Mateo set the totem down as he and Mike kept walking down the corridor, the corridors soon blending together in Mateo's head. It didn't ease the shuddering dread inside Mateo, that had increased at seeing those patients' rooms, the dead wolf. Something was here, something in here in the Sanatorium with him, Mike and Wolfie, but Mateo didn't know what it was exactly even though he had a good feeling of what it could be.

The not knowing made it worse, somehow, than knowing exactly what could be in here with them.

It didn't help that the Sanatorium was creepy as shit, the eerie silence save for the wind and the noises he, Mike and Wolfie made hanging in the air almost oppressively. Shadows lingered dark and heavy amid the ruined Sanatorium, the torch and the weak light filtering in through the cracks in the ceiling the only source of light, illuminating the crumbling and ruined brick walls, the debris and broken or rotting furniture and metal filing cabinets lining the corridors, the bars against the walls sectioning off parts of the Sanatorium—keeping the inmates inside.

They'd kept walking until he and Mike entered a room with a light flickering in through a wooden door. Pressing their shoulders against the door, Mateo and Mike forced it open with a grunt, the door swinging open easily under their combined weight. Inside, there was a barred door that Mike took the shotgun from Mateo so he could shoot the lock off, handing it back to him as he kicked it down and they entered inside.

What he saw had Mateo pause and breathe, "Dios mío."

"Holy shit," Mike breathed as they stared at the dead body sitting in the chair right in front of them

"Who is this guy?" Mike questioned as he walked up to the corpse.

"I have no idea, only that is creepy as shit," Mateo murmured as he moved closer, eyeing the dead body sitting there, wearing an old-fashioned suit, hollow sockets starting at him. Wisps of white hair clung to his skull, a skull Mateo wasn't entirely certain was just bone or had a thin, mummified layer of skin still clinging to it, like it was clinging to his bony hands, one clutching a bottle as the other held a note. Just like with the graves, he murmured a prayer and made the sign of the cross with his right hand, hoping that it would find this soul some peace even as he shuddered looking at it, at this new horror the Sanatorium had delivered.

Just what other horrors did this place have in store? What else awaited him and Mike in their horror show?

Mike leaned forward, apologising, "Sorry, old dude," before snatching the note away. He held it up to Mateo to read as he leaned in, as they saw on it scrawled, To whom it may concern, before Mike turned it over and they saw the rest of the note.

The words on it had Mateo shiver as he and Mike read it.

They are dying outside. I hear them screaming and crying. This hell is my only legacy. God's punishment for my mistakes. No escaping my fate. Death awaits me now. Jefferson Bragg.

Mateo shuddered again, especially at how the letters of the corpse's name had trailed off as Mike put the note back in place, looking unnerved by the note as well.

"Let's get out of here," Mateo muttered, not wanting to be in the same room as the corpse for any longer.

Mike nodded and they left, returning the way they'd come through. As they did, Mateo noticed a desk underneath old anatomical drawings and he nudged Mike and lead him to it, who opened the drawer and took out a file. He opened it, letting him and Mateo see what was inside.

The first was a cover declaring it was a medical examination, the word CONFIDENTIAL branded in black beneath it. Considering no one had been to the Sanatorium for decades, Mateo doubted that still stood as Mike turned the page, revealing a picture of a man—a miner, probably—with a scar and notes observing his condition. Mike turned it over and Mateo felt a shiver crawl up his spine as the same man was revealed, except now he didn't look human, more like a zombie. He looked at the date, seeing it was only a few days since the last photo, the shiver increasing at seeing the notes underneath the man's photo, that he was undergoing a horrific transformation. He and Mike shared an uneasy look as Mike turned the final page, the man now looking vaguely human and more monstrous, teeth now fangs, face skull-like, hair falling out as he seemed to lunge for the camera.

Mateo took note of the date. Three days. Three days after the second photo, and five days after the first. Five days for such a horrific transformation to occur.

"Jesus hot sauce Christmas cake. This is fucking unbelievable," Mike muttered as he stared at the photo.

"What the fuck happened to these guys?" Mateo whispered as he stared at the final photo, even though he had a feeling he already knew that answer.

Leaving behind the file, they left the room and headed back the way they'd come, before Mateo noticed an old film projector in another room. Pointing it out to Mike, they headed into it as Mike turned  it on, the film buffering before it revealed a nurse walking up to a man strapped in a chair, handing him something to eat before walking away. Mateo watched with growing horror as the man thrashed around in the chair before he escaped and started crawling up the walls like a spider, disappearing out of sight as the nurse came back and the man appeared, chasing after the nurse out of frame before the camera titled, ending the footage before it restarted again.

"What the fuck is going on around here?" Mike breathed as they stared at the restarted footage.

A horrified bolt of realisation struck Mateo as he stared at the doomed nurse handing the soon-to-be transformed man something—something to eat. Something that could be... "Holy fuck. Do you think they were making more of those Wendigo monsters?"

"What? Why the fuck would they do that?" Mike asked.

"I don't know. I don't know why they would be making more of those things. Especially if they heard the legends..." Mateo said, before he eyed their surroundings warily, in fear of what he might have lured speaking the name.

"You know the legends around these fuckers?" Mike asked.

"Like I said, I was doing a project on folklore for History, a few years back. Before the project me and Jordan did together. I did it on Native American folklore, and the legends surrounding this creature... let's just say, it's basically more or less what the guy told us, and that I had nightmares for weeks after I researched it," Mateo explained, shuddering. Back then, he'd thought it was just a myth—a terrifying, but fictional myth. Now...

Now, he knew it was no myth at all.

He eyed the film again, adding gravely, "But the most important thing I learned from those legends was that it served as a warning, against cannibalism, against greed. A warning these people should have listened to, instead of trying to make fucking more of them."

Mike had a grim, terrified look on his face as he looked at the film again before he asked, "Want to get the fuck out of here?"

"You read my mind," Mateo replied, as they left the room and the film behind, going back down the tunnel and meeting back up with Wolfie. Mateo petted the wolf, scratching his ear before Wolfie walked around the corner, Mike and Mateo right behind him—just as a bone-chilling screech rang out.

"What the fuck..." Mike breathed as Mateo froze. He recognised that screech—it was the same screech he heard right after he proposed to Jordan, before the nightmare started.

Mateo tried to ignore it as he and Mike walked out into the same corridor they'd walked down before, heading down it as Mateo looked around uneasily, the screech setting his nerves on high wire more than they already were, his mind screaming that something was about to happen.

He just didn't know what.

Walking through an entrance into the cavernous space beyond the bars, a can rattled.

Mateo's heart jolted and he raised the gun, heartbeat racing in his ears as he tried to get his hands steady and...

A rat darted out of the debris, scurrying into the darkness.

"Fuckin' rat," Mike breathed as Mateo lowered the gun, letting out a breath. It was just a rat.

He turned to the right—

—And came face-to-face with a horrific monster sitting on a metal rail.

Its skin was grey, its limbs elongated, hands ending in gut-rending claws and wearing tattered remains of clothes. Milky eyes bugged out of its grotesque skull, remnants of hair clinging to the scalp. Fangs jutted out of its maw as it screeched in Mateo's face as he screamed, "¡AY, CHINGADOS!"

Raising the gun on instinct as the Wendigo lunged at him and Mike, screeching, Mateo pulled the trigger and fired.

The recoil threw him back as much as the shell and the spray of it sent the monster flying through the air and across the room.

"Ha! Ha! How's that feel, you fuck?!" Mike yelled.

"Mike, you idiota, don't taunt it! Just fucking run!" Mateo roared, grabbing the sleeve of Mike's jacket and pulling him across the room and toward the stairs, running up them, Wolfie right behind them as the monster made a disturbing chitter-like noise. Mateo looked back to see it coming after them, screeching.

Inside, they were in a tunnel as Mike hissed, "Jesus! Fuck, fuck!"

Seeing the monster come closer, Mateo yelled, "Make a fucking decision, Mike!"

Raising the gun, he fired at the monster again, nailing it in the head. It was thrown across the room, buying him, Mike and Wolfie more time as Mike made a decision and went left, Mateo and Wolfie right behind him as he cursed, "Shit! Shit, shit."

They slammed the door closed, before Mateo went to the metal lockers and, back against it, shoved the lockers across the door, grunting and heaving with the effort as it scraped across the floor, slowly budging an inch across even as Mateo put all his weight against it.

Mateo panted heavily as he looked at Mike, about to ask him for his help—and saw as the fire fizzled out from the torch, the oil spent at last, and taking their only source of light with it.

"Shit," he cursed as Mike hissed, "Jesus fuck! Fuck!"

He tossed it down as the monster screeched, sounding closer, and Mateo yelled, "Mike! A little help here!"

"Goddamnit!" Mike yelled as he moved to Mateo, helping him move the cabinet across to the door before Mike threw it down, blocking the door. Mateo stumbled away as Mike leaned closer—and the monster grabbed the door, appearing as if out of thin air, shrieking.

"No! Argh! Get out!" Mike yelled, slamming the machete he somehow still had against it when it stuck its head in through the window. He stumbled back to stand with Mateo before they turned and ran, Mike shouting, "GET OUT!"

They and Wolfie sprinted through an open door, Mike slamming it close and locking it with the dead bolt. Mateo grabbed a nearby table and shoved it in front of the door as Mike petted Wolfie, soothing, "Good dog. Shh, shh... it's okay, it's fine."

Mateo panted, wiping the sweat off his brow as they creeped forward before he froze, hearing a noise.

Mike heard it too, muttering, "The hell was that?"

They crouched down behind a table just as the monster appeared on a table, snarling and hissing as it searched for them, hungry and ready to tear them apart. As they peered over the edge, Mateo noticed its milky eyes, as a crazy thought came.

"Mike. Stay still," he hissed.

"What?"

"Just... trust me," Mateo hissed as he let himself go rigid, Mike doing the same. Wolfie was still, too, and that seemed to prove Mateo's point—that these things' vision was movement-based, that if they didn't move, it wouldn't see them.

At least, Mateo hoped it wouldn't.

The snarls filled Mateo's ears, accelerating his heartbeat as he fought against every instinct to move and just stay still, not even daring to breathe as the monster snarled before Mateo risked looking over and saw it turned away. His tense muscles relaxed—maybe he, Mike and Wolfie had a chance to get away now.

But as he pulled back, he noticed a bottle rolling across the table before falling off the edge—a bottle Mike noticed too as he caught it in time.

The monster snarled as it leapt across the room, landing on another table as Mike whispered, "Don't fucking..."

With the monster turned away, Mike and Wolfie crept over to the table first, Mateo right behind him as his mind screamed out a string of expletives, Mike hissing, "Fuck!"

But the monster hadn't noticed them, fixated on the other side of the room as it leapt down.

"Holy shit," Mike hissed as he, Mateo and Wolfie made a break for the entrance on their side of the room, heading into a tunnel—and with their lives still intact.

"Dammit. Alright. Come on, you son of a bitch," Mike whispered.

Mateo glared at him. "Dude, stop tempting fate."

"I'm not..." Mike started, but gave up at the look Mateo was still giving him as they continued onward, right behind Wolfie. Mike had his machete while Mateo had the shotgun, ready for anything that might lunge out as they continued creeping forward.

"Where are you?" Mike demanded and Mateo gave him another look—until they heard a faint screech.

The gun was raised immediately along with the machete, before both lowered as they creeped forward—and saw a cage with broken bars.

"Huh? Dammit—what the? What?" Mike breathed.

Mateo just stared in silence as they walked forward, coming up to more rooms with barred doors, obviously where the patients had been. Mateo's heart was racing before he noticed Wolfie was tense, as if sensing something as he and Mike came close to a barred room. And if there was one thing Mateo learned from watching horror films, always trust the fucking animals when something was wrong.

"Mike—" Mateo started to warn, but it came too late as a clawed, pale arm lunged out of the bars, Mike narrowly avoiding it as he jumped out of the way, the both of them seeing the monster clinging to the bars, snarling and snapping its fanged maw, hungry for their blood.

Mike snatched the gun from Mateo and shot it point-blank, hitting the monster as it flew back into the room.

"When is this shit gonna stop?!" Mike yelled in a strained voice.

"When we're finally off this fucking mountain!" Mateo shouted as he snatched the gun back, staring at the monster chained inside the cell. "Mierda."

"Jesus Chr—" Mike breathed as they turned the corner, Wolfie growling as he ran ahead—a tunnel with more barred cells that must contain more of the monsters inside them.

"It's like a fucking bad dream. Okay..." Mike muttered to himself as he and Mateo walked down the tunnel, weapons raised and heartbeats racing.

They had reached the first cell when Mateo turned and saw an arm lunge out of the cell.

Grabbing Mike, he pulled him away just as it was about to grab him, the monster shrieking as it still tried to get Mike as the two turned around, Mateo's gun raised.

"Fuck this," Mike muttered as they walked down the corridor backwards, calling out, "One at a time, boys. There's enough of us for all a'ya."

"Mike, dude! We're trying to stay alive, not volunteering ourselves to be their fucking next meal!" Mateo yelled before he felt something grab his leg. "Oh shit!"

He shook his leg, getting himself free of the grip as now Mike was next, Mateo handing his friend the gun as he yelled, "Argh! Argh! Get off!"

He shot the monster in the head, sending it toppling back with a boom.

"Huh?! Damnit," Mike exclaimed as they kept going, Mike keeping the gun as Mateo grabbed his knife, ready for anything that wanted to come and take a bite out of them next, as Mike breathed, "Okay."

He raised the gun as they crept down, almost through the corridor of caged monsters as they passed down one—

And something grabbed Mateo and dug its teeth into his shoulder, cutting through fabric and flesh as easily as paper. Mateo screamed as he thrashed, making the monster's teeth tear his skin further apart, blood pouring down as he yelled, "MIKE! SHOOT IT!"

But Mike was preoccupied with his own monster that lunged out of an open cell, the chain the only thing keeping it from tearing Mike apart as he shot it, making it fly back into the room as Mateo grunted, the monster still biting him trying to tear his throat out as his hands slid into his pocket, found the knife—and he stabbed it in the eye, or at least where he thought the eye was.

He must have struck true as the teeth ripped out of his skin, the monster screeching as Mateo pulled the knife free, holding his right hand to his shoulder as the monster screeched, left eye screwed up and trickling a dark, thick liquid that was coated on the blade.

Mateo shoved the urge to vomit down as he and Mike darted behind the corner, Mike muttering, "Oh Jesus."

Looking at Mateo, at the bite still pouring blood, he swore. "Shit, Mateo."

"I'm fine. it just hurts like a bitch," Mateo assured, keeping pressure on it as he winced. Blood oozed between his fingers, staining his gloves, his parka, the flannel and shirt he had underneath it. "Shit. If we get out of this alive, you think it's gonna leave a scar?"

Mike was still staring at him, standing a couple steps back from him, and Mateo remembered how Mike reacted when Emily was bitten. 

"Mike, I'm fine. This isn't a fucking zombie bite and I haven't eaten anyone," Mateo insisted as he forced himself to shrug off the parka, hissing—it was just too much fabric clinging to the bite, a layer he could risk not having.

Mike eyed him. "Mateo, if you turn..."

"If I turn, then shoot my brains out. Which I won't," Mateo said as he let his shoulder go, the bleeding having slowed as he held a hand out. "Mike. The gun."

Mike hesitated, before he gave the gun back to Mateo, wielding the machete once more as they went down the corridor, Mateo trying to ignore the pain of the bite as much as he could.

"Oh Jesus. Fuck, fuck, fuck," Mike breathed as they crept down it. Wolfie was nowhere in sight—apparently he'd been smart enough to run. As they walked past a corridor, Mateo saw something pale and spindly with too much teeth leap at the bars. Not keen to be bitten again, he lunged away as the monster clung to the bars, resisting the pain screaming down his left arm as he raised the shotgun and shot the monster, saying, "Not gonna be a chew toy again, puta madre."

"Fuck yeah, you got it," Mike said before they bolted down toward where Mateo could see Wolfie. "Fuck yeah! Yeah!"

A screech came and Mateo and Mike whirled around, his best friend hissing, "Oh shit."

There, leaping across the corridor, was their old friend from earlier.

Without hesitation, panic numbing the pain, Mateo shot it before he sprinted down the corridor along with Mike, Wolfie already hightailing it out of there. The monster followed them, screeching as Mateo and Mike ran down a corridor lined with barred cages—cages that Mateo realised must be because of the stranger, that he must have imprisoned all the monsters inside the Sanatorium. Impressive, and fucking badass.

But why didn't he just outright kill them? Mateo thought as he and Mike came to a locked door at the end, Wolfie barking and growling at the monster chasing them. They didn't hesitate, shoving against the door as it opened a crack. Looking back, Mateo and Mike saw the monster on the ground, snarling savagely before it leapt across the barred walls and onto the ceiling, quick as a flash.

"Not good," Mike said before he took the gun, pointing it at the monster. "Mateo, get the door open. I'll buy you time."

Mateo nodded, turning backwards as he slammed his right shoulder against the door, shoving it open as Mike fired the gun before tossing a barrel onto the ground—just as Mateo noticed that not only was there one monster in the room, but now two were leaping all over the place, screeching and coming for them.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Mateo exclaimed as he shoved the door open. "As if one wasn't fucking bad enough, we need two more of these cabróns..."

Looking at Mike, he yelled, "Mike, whatever the fuck you're planning, you better do it now or we're all screwed!"

But whatever Mike was planning, he seemed to be doing it now as he rolled the barrel toward the monsters and shot it with the gun.

A fiery explosion resounded, causing Mateo to have his body be slammed against the door as Mike fell to the floor, cages being torn apart as flames burned everywhere. Opening his eyes, Mateo's eyes widened as a flaming, fanged skull screeched through the air before it disappeared.

"Oh shit! Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!" Mike exclaimed as Mateo resumed pushing open the door. It creaked open in a gap big enough for him, Wolfie and Mike to get through as it slammed back closed, Mateo dead bolting it behind them.

Now with the tunnel of caged monsters left behind them and hopefully have chargrilled their pursuers, Mike handed Mateo back the gun as they walked toward the only open entrance, avoiding the rectangular grate in the middle. Climbing up a set of stairs, Mateo blinked the stars out of his eyes as his arm continued to bleed sluggishly, pain spearing through his body. Mateo tried to ignore it, tried to hope he and Jordan were right and cannibalism was the only way to turn into one of those fuckers, that the bites weren't infectious like Mike and Ashley feared. Mike eyed him, but it seemed to be of concern as well as wariness of his best friend potentially going to turn into a Wendigo and chew his face off. Which Mateo hoped wouldn't be so—he didn't feel ravenously hungry or craved human flesh, didn't feel anything about his body transforming into a monster like what happened to those patients. Unless it didn't happen immediately...

No. Stop worrying about it. It's eating someone, not a bite. You're fine. You're fine.

And yet, Mateo didn't feel like he was, paranoia making him doubt he truly was fine.

As he and Mike reached the top of the stairs, they entered a corridor cluttered with debris, a perfect place for a monster to lunge out and grab them as they turned to the right and entered a much-less cluttered corridor, checkered tiles covering the floor as they walked down it, snow drifting in from a hole in the ceiling. Screeches rang as they walked down, Mateo noticing another hole with splintered beams exposed like bones, turning another corner as they just kept going, the screeches unnerving Mateo as he kept a firm grip on the gun.

They kept walking down the debris-littered corridor until a guttural screech came and Mateo and Mike turned to see a monster on the wall.

"Fuck!" Mike and Mateo cursed as the monster lunged for them, running down the rest of the corridor as Mateo saw a locked down. He didn't hesitate to shoot the lock off, Mike slamming it open with his body and slamming it closed before he and Mateo shoved a metal locker across the door, barricading it before they bolted, Mike jumping through a hole on the floor onto a metal railing.

Mateo was about to join him when he noticed Wolfie with him. Without hesitation he hugged the wolf, relieved he had made it out okay.

"Good to see you, boy," he murmured, ruffling his ears. 

"Hey buddy," Mike called up, glad to see him as well. "Come on down. It's alright."

Wolfie seemed to consider it before he noticed Mateo's bite. He whined and tried to lick it clean, Mateo shoving him away as he winced, both from the pain and the wolf's reaction. Animals always knew, after all.

"Is that a sign I'm gonna turn and eat everyone?" he asked. Wolfie just whined louder as he sighed, making his decision as he sent a silent apology to Jordan.

"Get out of here, okay? Not gonna be pretty for both of us," Mateo muttered. The wolf whined, refusing to leave Mateo's side even at the risk of him turning into a monster, before it growled, ears pinned back and teeth bared as Mateo whirled and saw the monster, screeching as it clung to a wall. Mateo stared at it, ready to let it tear him apart—better to die human than live as a monster—before he remembered Wolfie and Mike. He couldn't let this thing kill them.

It might be dooming himself, but Mateo refused to let them go down with him.

So he raised the gun and shot the monster in the head just as it lunged for Mateo.

It flew back as he and Wolfie jumped down, running down the metal railing as Mike had jumped down onto the ground, man and wolf joining him. Mike noticed, asking, "You guys sticking together?"

"Yeah. We're pretty inseparable by now," Mateo affirmed, scratching Wolfie behind the ears as he rested the gun against his uninjured shoulder.

A screech had the two humans and the wolf whirl before sprinting to the stairs on the other side of what appeared to be the boiler room, running up them as Mike shoved the door open, only for Wolfie's warning bark having Mateo and Mike turn to see the monster, screeching, it's flesh boiling with burns.

"Shit!" Mike cursed as it leapt onto the wall, screeching. Wolfie was still growling and looked like he was about to charge the monster but Mateo held him back—he wasn't willing to let Wolfie die, even if it was to protect him and Mike—handing him the gun as he shoved the door open, yelling, "SHOOT, MIKE!"

Mike listened, shooting the monster. It rolled across the floor, as a second monster screeched—how many of the things were in here?!—Wolfie barking up a storm as Mike raised the gun and shot the monster off the table.

Mateo tried to open the door again as Mike moved to open it as well—just as the monster lunged for Mike.

"MIKE!" 

***

CLIFFHANGER!!

Yeah, the guys went through the hospital of horror! That was fun, especially when the monsters decided to play and Mike and Mateo got some badass moments, especially Mateo with the gun >:)

AND WOLFIE!! Saying it now, he does survive!! (no way will Mateo let him die!!) And for Mateo getting bitten... lucky for him, it's not infectious >:)

But yeah, cliffhanger—and we won't be back with the boys for a few more chapters >:)

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!