Quintessential | Joshua Washington

Monsters - V

Almost without thinking, Quinn took her shot; she got her mark, the Wendigo was hit square in the chest and knocked back a good few feet. Sam breathed out a sigh of relief, but it wasn't over, it turned back on them and charged again, this time at Quinn; the hunter barely had time to duck and roll to move out of its path. She quickly reloaded her shotgun and took aim again, this time aiming for its head, or more specifically its left eye.

It charged – she fired.

BANG.

The gunshot was drowned out by the screaming howl the Wendigo let out; out of frustration perhaps? She knew it couldn't be in pain, these creatures didn't feel pain. When it turned to charge again Sam was ready, she used her deodorant and lighter to catch it as it leapt at Quinn and it staggered to the side, its body partially on fire. Quinn took her chance, she grabbed the end of her own home made flame thrower and moved close enough to attack; she knew her father wouldn't approve, he'd always stressed how they should be contained if possible, and not killed.

"Sorry pops." She doused the creature in fire. The spirit eventually broke forth from the shell of the Wendigo and flew past them screaming as it went, "Creepy fucker." Quinn shivered, she wiped a little sweat from her brow.

"Thanks." Sam let out a sigh of relief.

"No problem, that's what I'm here for...just try not to move next time. That deodorant came in handy though huh?" She grinned.

"I know, I know sorry; it was just the shock of being confronted by it again...and yeah I suppose it did..." Sam let out a shaky laugh. The fiery remains of the corpse lit up the room fairly well and the women saw there were several diverging paths again. "Oh man, which do we pick?" Sam bit her lip and looked at Quinn. Quinn sighed, she moved towards each tunnel, examining them as carefully as she could, trying to pick up any clues, any sign of where they should go...

"Hell...s-so hungry..." She paused, well that was mightily convenient. One look at Sam's face told her that was Josh's voice. Or was it?

"I guess we'll go down this one." She sighed.

"Mimicking?" Sam asked, she shrugged.

"Could be, but what else can we do?" They took the tunnel to their right. Quinn stayed ahead and made sure she was protecting Sam from the front, if anything came at them she'd bear the brunt of it. Out of the corner of her eyes Quinn could see shapes, still humanoid shapes and upon turning towards them she suddenly understood the lack of police. The mutilated dead corpses of three officers were strewn around tunnel, she held her hand over her nose and mouth and glanced at Sam from the corner of her eye; she looked pale. "C'mon Sammy..." Quinn tugged gently at the blondes sleeve and pulled her away from the grizzly scene and back towards the distant voice of Joshua Washington. The voice gradually got louder the further down the tunnel they ventured...it also seemed to get a little brighter as well.

"Just...one bite. One little bite..." Quinn quickened her pace, if that was Josh she clearly needed to get to him fast. The tunnel ended and they were in a fairly well-lit cavern; looking up at the end of the area there was a vast hole in the ceiling, letting in natural light...and under that natural light there stood a figure with its back to them – a human figure.

"J-Josh!" Sam called out to him instinctively and made her way over, he didn't turn around though. Quinn chewed her lip nervously and followed Sam, keeping a close eye on their surroundings since the blonde seemed to have temporarily given leave to her senses. "Joshua!" Once Sam was close enough she put a hand on Josh's shoulder. Josh's entire frame seized up and he turned with surprising speed and grabbed Sam's wrist.

"Flesh...!" Sam cried out in horror and tried to rip her wrist from his grip but he held it like a vice, luckily Quinn was faster. From inside her body-warmer she pulled out a handgun and pressed the barrel directly between Josh's eyes.