A/N: Greetings, my fantastic viewers! :D

I've decided to write this one-shot because I'm considering to use this as a sneak peek to an upcoming three-shot of mine. Although, I'm still trying to debate on when I'll have the time to work on it, courtesy of how I'm currently in my second year of college and I'm juggling plenty of responsibilities at the moment. Nonetheless, with myself being busy, I wanted to post this one-shot in order to show to all of you that I'm still in love with the Until Dawn fandom and that I'm not going to give up on writing. I'm just not as active as often because I'm handling a busy schedule and my stories genuinely take time.

By any chance, if anyone that's reading this is a fan of my other Until Dawn story "Return to Blackwood Mountain," allow me to assure you all that I'm still writing it. I understand that I haven't updated anything in quite a long time, but that's only because I've been caught up in handling college. I'm constantly working on assignments, so please bear with me. Nothing is going to stop me from writing. I'll update "Return to Blackwood Mountain" whenever I find the time to keep up with the next chapter.

Now, for this one-shot, please don't forget to share your thoughts and opinions in the reviews! I admire feedback and I look forward to it all the time! I appreciate everyone who takes the time to read and express their feelings in the reviews, so feel free to do that! :D

Summary: After surviving until dawn, Jessica wakes up in the hospital and finds Matt lying at the foot of her bed. Unfortunately, she doesn't know yet about how Mike had died back on the mountain.

Enjoy the sneak peek/one-shot everyone!

Jessica's POV

FEBRUARY 3, 2015

BLACKWOOD COUNTY HOSPITAL

23:00

I stirred and cracked my eyes open, wincing at the intense amount of pain that was electrocuting through a majority of my body. My ribs felt like they had been trampled by a stampede of horses and my face was stinging, as if it had been stung by a swarm of bees. Not only that, but I couldn't feel hardly anything below my waist, nor did I have the energy to even try moving my legs. My lips were dry, my throat was scratchy, my brain felt like it was being invaded by a pounding drum, and my vision wouldn't stop flickering back and forth from blurry to clear.

Eventually, my eyesight stopped messing around. The first thing that I saw was a large window that had the blinds half drawn with cheap, ugly, checkered curtains hanging at the sides. It was pitch black outside, but there must've been a nearby light somewhere out there because I could easily make out what was most definitely snow spitting down and spiraling out of control in a variety of crazy patterns. I could also hear the sound of the icy wind shrieking through the air and rattling hundreds of branches around, scratching the leaves together. Aside from that, there was another noise—a constant beeping that was coming from a heart monitor.

I dragged out a low, aching, raspy groan. "The hell...?" I then whispered to myself with slight confusion dripping from my voice.

My attention was lured over to a circular mirror that was to the far left of the window, surrounded by a few, small, tacky pictures of butterflies and ladybugs. It hovered above a line of counters, which were covered by at least ten, small, neatly organized cards, some teddy bears, a few boxes of chocolates, and three bouquets of balloons that had the messages "Get Well Soon!" and "Feel Better!" printed in neon letters on almost all of them.

Thanks to the single fluorescent light that was faintly turned on above my head, I could see my reflection. Until now, I hadn't noticed that I was lying in a hospital bed that had been perfectly aligned so I was almost entirely sitting up. Not only that, but I was wearing a loose, breezy, mint green patient's gown and everything above my eyebrows was concealed by white bandages. Furthermore, my once cute Dutch braids were disheveled and my arms were completely riddled with black, blue, and purple blotches. Then, there was my face. It was accompanied by nasty-ass welts and at least fifteen stitches, which were holding together five separate splits in my skin. Each of them had become an indescribable shade of red and were, needless to say, absolutely hideous.

On one side of me, there was an IV. It had brought to my attention that there was a needle in my hand, connected to a tube that ran up to a bladder bag. That automatically gave it away that I was being given fluids, medication, or both. As for the other side of me, there was the heart monitor. It had a series of wires and other devices bonded to it. Some of the wires were slipped underneath the cotton blanket that was covering me, along with my hospital gown, and stuck to specific areas around my left breast. I could also feel that there were more bandages wrapped around my waist and lower ribs, making it even more difficult for me to move. Then, at last, there was a long, translucent, medical tube that ran up my chest, split just below the bottom of my neck, draped around my ears, and rejoined at the nubbins that stuck up my nostrils. Courtesy of John Green's "The Fault In Our Stars," I knew that it was called a cannula, and it was delivering oxygen to me from a tank that was sitting beside the heart monitor.

"A hospital? ... What the shit?" I raised my needled hand up to my forehead and pressed it lightly against the gauze, screwing my eyes shut in discomfort as I let out another groan. "How in the hell did I end up here?"

I grinded my teeth for a moment, right before I popped my eyes back open and saw something that I definitely didn't expect. There was somebody lying at the foot of the bed, resting their head against their right arm with a quilt wrapped around their shoulders and their other arm positioned in a sling. At first, my heart skipped a beat at the thought of it being Mike; but after a couple of more seconds, my eyes finished adjusting to the dimness of the hospital room and it came to my realization that it was actually ... Matt.

I blinked in a mixture of confusion and surprise, watching him breathe deeply and peacefully.

"Matt?" I whispered to myself, pausing to digest what I was seeing before I raised my voice a couple of notches. "Hey, Matt! ... Matt, wake up!"

The jock's body jolted a little and his groggy eyes immediately opened halfway, just as he let out a noise that sounded like something between a stir and a snore. It almost instantly came to my attention that he was unable to fully open his left eye, considering how it was horribly swollen. He also had a medium-sized gash printed directly at the left end of his right eyebrow, along with a small split towards the right corner of his lower lip. Bruises, a single welt across his jaw, and what looked like a few smudges of dirt were also dotted along his face. Plus, there was some gauze plastered over his left cheek, where I could vaguely remember he had received a severe cut.

Lastly, as Matt hazily sat up in the chair that he was sitting in and rubbed his unharmed eye, I saw that he too was wearing a patient's gown—which would've matched mine perfectly if his hadn't been pastel blue—with his dirtied Letterman jacket hanging on by the arm that wasn't in a sling. At the sight of his battered appearance, all of the horrific events came crashing back to the front of my mind like a tsunami.

First, we were chased through a series of rundown caves by a damn monster that looked like something straight out of a bloodcurdling nightmare and forced to stand completely still on the side of a cliff in order to prevent it from noticing us. It was almost like I could still feel my bare skin growing more and more numb with every passing second, considering I only had my underwear and a tattered green jacket protecting me from the intense winter conditions at the time. Even now, with the comfy blanket and the pleasant temperature that was in the hospital room, I almost shivered.

I had to hold my breath the entire time. I wouldn't even blink, despite how much the nippy breeze made my eyes water and sting. From the corner of my eye, I watched the creature, hoping and praying that my heart wouldn't explode due to how fast it was pumping. Matt was the only thing keeping me and the lanky beast separated from each other. He was standing as still as a statue, teeth clenched in fear and back perfectly aligned against the rocky surface that was behind us. For some reason—which I now know was to help me remember that I wasn't alone—he made sure to keep the little finger of his left hand intertwined with the little finger of my right hand.

It was insanely hard for me to not to move. Not only was I terrified beyond belief, but I was in so much pain after getting yanked out a tiny window, dragged recklessly through the woods, and dropped down an elevator shaft. My bloody legs were using every last sprinkle of willpower that I had inside of me in order to prevent quivering like Jell-o.

My teeth desperately wanted to chatter, especially when the mutated creature started to slowly peer around the overhang. It bent its filthy body in an unnatural position and opened its mouth wider than any human possibly could. Then, with practically all of its razor-sharp teeth exposed to the naked eye, it let out a long, piercing, demonic shriek that made my eardrums feel like they were about to bleed. Matt and I cringed a little, but it thankfully went unnoticed.

The monster turned back around and disappeared into the caves again, allowing me and the jock to deflate our chests in massive relief. We could see the lodge in the distance, but there was no way for us to get there. The cliff was too slippery and steep to climb down, and neither of us were willing—or fully able—to make a run for it with that creature still lurking around. That meant only one thing: me and Matt were trapped on the cliffside together.

I was beyond freezing and miserably failing at my attempts to ignore the sharp jabbing sensations that were coming and going around the area in my back that was directly above my tailbone. Shortly after I started leaning against the rocky wall for support, the jock ended up giving me his Letterman jacket to wrap around my naked legs. However, the pain and chills didn't go away.

I remembered thinking that Matt and I were going to die, whether it was from hypothermia or from coming in contact with the monster again; but then, after what felt like a lifetime of being stranded, we were greeted by the silhouette of a helicopter breaking through the bright colors of the sunrise.

Matt didn't think twice before waving his arms around and calling out to the chopper as loud as he could, regardless of how neither of us knew if the monster was still nearby. I had tried to do the same, but I didn't last long. My battered legs ended up giving out from the intense amount of pain that I was in and I collapsed on my knees in the slush. As this happened, I started sobbing in a mixture of agony, fear, and relief, and the jock didn't hesitate to drop down on one knee beside me. He quickly looped one of my arms around his shoulders and allowed me to use him as a support as we stood back up and continued waving like lunatics in the direction of the helicopter.

There are absolutely no words that could possibly describe how glad I was when the two of us heard the pilot report on their radio, "I got two more survivors in my sight. They're standing on a narrow cliffside, away from the lodge. I'm picking them up now."

Then, there was the interview. A police officer had given me a thicker coat to cover up with, right before he escorted me down to an isolated room that was already inhabited by a couple of detectives. I had to slump against the stone wall and stare directly at the video camera, despite how I was in pain and exhausted from going through an indescribable amount of hell. I could clearly remember all of the cocked eyebrows, furrowed foreheads, and critical stares that were shot in my direction whenever I answered a question. I might've sounded weak and emotional, but I didn't tell a single lie—not even when I brought up the creature.

However, I couldn't recall anything else that happened after the interview. The last thing I truly could remember was asking the detectives if Mike had gotten off the mountain and not getting a response, as they were busy taking notes and instructing one of the two officers that were supervising the interrogation to "bring in one of the others." Everything else after that—if there even was anything else—was all a blur.

As all of the memories replayed themselves in my head, my eyes widened to the point where they felt like they had become too large for my head.

"Matt! Matt!" I exclaimed in a more frantic tone, waving my un-needled hand in his direction in the hopes of getting him to snap out of his drowsiness faster.

The jock lowered his fist from his face and let out a small yawn; but after that, it was like he had never been tired. At the sound of my voice, he practically threw himself to the edge of his chair and his unharmed eye grew to be the size of mine. Even though he was covered in injuries, I could still see the mixture of shock and relief that had appeared across his features.

"Oh my God! Jess!" Matt blurted out almost breathlessly, evidently caught up in plenty of emotions. "You—you're awake!"

I grinded my teeth in a wince and placed my hand carefully against my head, still in the process of pulling through a headache.

"Ugh ... yeah..." I grumbled, at which I took a quick glance around the small room again. Then, with slight confusion starting to slip across my tongue, I made eye contact with Matt again. "What. The actual shit. Happened, Matt? ... H-how'd I end up here? The last thing I remember, I was being interviewed by some detectives ... but everything else after that is a blur."

Matt shifted himself a little further around, staring at me pitifully. "That's because you blacked out." He explained somewhat hastily. "Out of nowhere, when an officer was leading Sam to the back to question her about what happened, your eyes seemed to roll back and you just ... collapsed to the floor. An ambulance was called right away and we were all eventually brought here to be taken care of."

Regardless of how relieved I was to hear that Matt and I weren't the only survivors, I was baffled by what he just told me.

"What..." I tried looking for a clock in the room, but when I failed to find one, I locked my attention back on the jock. "What time is it?"

Matt looked down at his watch and then back up at me. "It's five minutes past eleven ... you've been unconscious for a whole seventeen hours. Had all of us worried sick."

I paused, pretending to readjust the nubbins of the cannula as I listened to my heartbeat on the monitor and tried to figure out what Matt meant by "all of us." Did that mean all of our friends had escaped that terrible night on Blackwood Mountain with us? Were any of them in as terrible condition as I was? There were so many questions running through my mind to the point where I forgot to blink for a moment. I squeezed them shut and popped them back open, helping to cease the slight burning sensation that had started to occur in the corners.

"Oh, right!" Matt suddenly proclaimed, causing me to snap my gaze back over to him. "I just remembered, uh ... when a nurse finished fixing up my arm, I decided to swing by the hospital gift shop and get you these."

Matt might've been a genuinely kind and caring person, but after going through all of the crap that we had back on the mountain, I honestly couldn't believe that he had taken the time to buy me something. I dropped my eyes down to his lap, just now realizing that he had a bouquet of pink and white calla lilies lying there.

My jaw dropped a little at the sight of them and I let out a tiny, flattered breath. Calla lilies were my favorite flowers.

With a feeble grin on his bruised face, the jock held the beautiful bouquet out to me and I delicately took it from him. Feeling grateful, I returned his smile.

"Aww, Matt ... that was very sweet of you. Thanks a lot." I then took the best whiff that I could of the flowers, which wasn't so easy since I was still wearing the cannula. "Calla lilies are so pretty."

"I'm glad that you like them." Matt said, followed by another pause in the conversation.

I took a couple of more whiffs of the calla lilies, just barely managing to detect their sweet scent. However, after the heart monitor finished beeping about another three times, I noticed the jock's smile crumble away from his face like it was never there. Out of nowhere, he let out a heavy sigh and rolled his dark brown orbs. After that, while staring directly at my face, he leaned closer in my direction and started whispering, as if to avoid the possibly of somebody eavesdropping on us.

"I swear, you would not believe the questions that those lousy detectives asked me when it was my turn to be interviewed. As soon as I started trying to tell them about that ... thing that was chasing us through the mines, they started asking if any of us were under the influence of drugs or alcohol. I'm pretty sure that there's no substance on this entire planet that could ever make somebody hallucinate to that extreme." Some confusion started to appear in his eyes as he hesitated for a moment before going on. "I had the chance to gather some information from Chris before he was dragged in to be interrogated. Apparently, that creature was only one of the dozens that were lurking on the mountain. It was something called ... a Wendigo—some type of evil, Native American spirit that has an intense craving for flesh."

As soon as those words came out of his mouth, it was as if the moment with the flowers had never happened. A shiver ran through my bones at the thought of the new information on the monster—though I didn't shake—and the worry returned to my features as I, once again, gave the jock my undivided attention.

"What happened with everybody else?" I inquired in a tone that was almost desperate, refusing to break my gaze away from Matt as I quickly sat the bouquet aside on the bedside table. "Are they okay?"

Matt opened his mouth to reply, but no words came out right away. I could see the hesitance in his eyes as he stared at me and reeled his jaw back in. Nonetheless, after a couple of seconds, he opened his mouth again and started to explain the conditions of the rest of our friends.

"We all got some pretty hard bumps, bruises, and scratches." He said as he started rubbing his thumb against his index finger, indicating that he was trying his hardest to tell me everything that I deserved to know. "Sam is down the hall with a broken leg and wrist. I went to visit her around noon and she was sitting in a wheelchair by the window, going back and forth from looking outside to looking down at both of her casts. I hate to say it, but she looked almost completely lethargic. One of the doctors assured me that it was just from the medicine that they had given her to help with the pain, but..." He pursed his lips and lightly shook his head in a sympathetic manner. "I think you and I both know that that's not the case."

A frown tugged at the corners of my lips. Sam was such a sweetheart—the type of friend who wouldn't hesitate to give you her shoulder to cry on at any point and time. Now, judging by Matt's description, she sounded like a damaged doll.

Then, my mind wandered over to Emily. Before the winter getaway, I thought that I despised her and wanted nothing more than to see a voodoo doll of her fall into the wrong hands; but now, after having my life flash before my eyes God knows how many times, I realized just how ridiculous this feud between me and her was. The two of us had been best friends ever since the second grade. We practically grew up on sleepovers, mani-pedis, and wild parties that involved hot guys, vulgar dancing, and so much alcohol to the point where one of us always ended up holding back the other's hair while she hovered over the toilet by the end of the night. In shorter terms, I didn't want to throw our friendship away after so many great years together ... and I definitely didn't want to hear that Emily had been seriously hurt—or worse.

"What about Emily?" I eventually found the courage to ask.

Matt let out a somewhat disappointed huff.

"She's fine, but she absolutely refuses to let me near her." He said, and he must've noticed the flicker of confusion in my eyes, because he went into further explanation. "It's kind of a long story, so I won't bore you will all of the details right now. Let's just say, something happened on the mountain between me and her and she's pretty pissed about it. Aside from that, I heard from Sam that she got bit pretty roughly on the shoulder by one of those ... Wendigo things ... and she received a couple of stitches. The doctors are still trying to fully understand the bite mark, so they're having her sleep in a room that's around the corner."

I nervously brushed some strands of my hair out of my face and exhaled slowly. So far, I was hearing that my friends were alive ... but there were still a few to go.

"And Chris and Ash?" I asked next.

"Their parents came to get them as soon as the police called to alert them about everything that had happened." Matt answered, obviously trying to ignore how his swollen eye was starting to throb a little. "Ashley was noticeably shaken up, but her worst injury was a black eye and all Chris really had was a sprained ankle, along with a massive bruise on his forehead. They're okay ... but Josh ... uh..."

My body tensed up for a brief second at the mention of the eldest Washington.

"What happened to Josh?" I questioned.

Hesitance appeared in the jock's eyes again. He closed them and waited a few seconds before opening them again, now looking discouraged.

"He was never found." He replied with his voice dripping in regret. "According to Sam, he was last seen with Mike. The two of them were wading through an underground lake when a Wendigo popped out from underneath the water, grabbed him, and carried him off. The police believe that he's still somewhere on the mountain, so they already have a search party looking for him. Unfortunately, they haven't found anything yet."

At the mention of Mike's name, my eyes grew to be the size of two globes and I paled a little. A small sting shot through my chest after hearing about how Josh hadn't made it until dawn, but I had honestly zoned out for a majority of the time after hearing my boyfriend's name.

"Mike..." I breathed his name to myself, at which my heart monitor started to pick up the pace. Then, I spoke out loud in a much more frantic tone, saying, "What happened to Mike? ... Matt, where's Mike?"

Not even a full second after those questions left my mouth, a frown that could break anybody's heart split across Matt's face and I could've sworn that I saw tears beginning to form in the corners of his dark brown orbs.

I immediately felt the urge to start drawing in deeper breaths to keep up with my enhanced heartbeat, so I did. While doing so, I hoped to God that my eyes were just playing tricks on me and that there really were no teardrops in the jock's eyes.

"Jess..." Matt said in a tone that was practically a whisper.

"I need to know if he's alright!" I exclaimed, at which I couldn't help but clutch a handful of the blanket that was covering me with my un-needled hand. "I need to see him, Matt! Please!"

The regret in Matt's voice had increased so much to the point where I could've sworn that there had to be a new word to describe it.

"Jess, there was a fire in the lodge ... the whole place practically exploded in flames. It was completely destroyed."

With every word he spoke, the more his eyes glistened with tears and the more afraid I became.

"What are you—what are you talking about?" I inquired anxiously. "What's that have to do with Mike? ... That has nothing to do with him."

Matt hung his head and clenched his eyes shut, causing a single tear to escape from his unharmed eye and plop down to the floor. Then, after drawing in a quick, stuffy breath through his nose, he lifted his disappointed gaze back up to me.

"He was in the fire, Jess ... I heard a few officers talking and they brought up how they recovered his body." He shuddered and sniffled at the exact same time. "He—he was completely incinerated ... I-I'm sorry, but it's true ... Mike's dead."

In the blink of an eye, my blood became as cold as ice and it felt like I'd been shot directly through the heart. My jaw became heavier than cement, but I fought to keep it from dropping. As a result of this, it instantly started to grow sore and my teeth began to chatter a little. At the same time, boiling hot tears started to fill my eyes and race each other down my cheeks like individual streams.

"No, no..." I denied hastily, shaking my head with my voice becoming more and more choked-up with every word I said. "T-that's—that's not possible! They must've made a mistake ... it—it had to be somebody else that they found! It just had to be!"

Teardrops began to leak down Matt's face as he stared at me like I was a dead puppy on the street. "Jessica..." He whimpered sympathetically.

My grasp on the blanket grew tighter, causing my knuckles to become whiter than flour.

I squeezed my eyes shut and started to sniffle, still shaking my head as the tears continued to pour down my battered face. No words could possibly describe how much I was straining myself to believe that this was just one hell of a nightmare ... but deep down inside, I knew that wasn't true. This was all real... and my boyfriend—the guy who had risked his life in order to chase after me all the way to the abandoned mining facility—was actually gone.

"N-no..." I choked out between sobs. "He—he was just with me yesterday! He came to rescue me! ... H-he can't be dead! I—I heard him calling out to me in the woods a-and..."

My whole body was starting to tremble by this point and I was honestly surprised by how the bones in my hand hadn't already shattered from how hard I was gripping the blanket.

"Oh god ... oh my God..." I wept to myself ... and shortly after that, I was no longer able to hold back the scratchy, distraught wails that had been racking painfully against the inside of my chest. "Shit, I can't believe this is happening! ... Oh, Mike! ... Michael, no!"

After that, all I could do was turn my damaged body as much as I could in the direction away from the jock and bury the side of my face against the large pillow as I bawled at the top of my lungs. I screwed my eyes shut tighter than ever before and released my grip on the blanket, only to clench a handful of the pillow next. I could already feel it dampening beneath my cheek from all of the tears, but I didn't care—just like I didn't care about how the tears were pouring over some of the stitches and making the injured skin burn.

Almost immediately after I turned away, over the rapid beeping of the heart monitor and my sobs, I just barely heard the sound of the chair's legs hastily scraping across the floor from Matt jumping up. Despite also crying, he didn't think twice before approaching the head of the bed and wrapping his uninjured arm around me from behind. It looped around my neck and rested across my chest in a tight, yet gentle, manner. Shortly after that, I felt him press his cheek against the bandages that were wrapped around my head in a friendly attempt to console me. I could also feel his other arm—the one in the cast—pressed up carefully against the center of my back. There was some discomfort caused by that, but I didn't give a damn. I was heartbroken.

"Jess, I'm so ... so sorry." Matt choked out, followed by a quick sniffle. "I know that this is awful and it's nowhere near easy to accept ... but I promise that we're going to make it through this. That's what Mike would want from you, me, and the others ... and I swear, no matter what happens from here on out ... I will always be here for you. Always."

A/N: There you have it, ladies and gentlemen! I hope that you all enjoyed this little sneak peek/one-shot!

Remember, never hesitate to share your thoughts in the reviews or you can PM them to me at anytime! I always look forward to receiving your opinions and they make my day! :D

Now, until the next update, whether it's in this fandom or not, I hope you all have a wonderful day! I wish you all happy reading and writing! :)

Crystalteen, out!