Alex, Samantha, and Mike carefully made their way through the snow-covered central courtyard of the Blackwood Sanatorium. The grounds were littered with countless rusty, empty barrels that had once held fuel. But what drew far more attention were the rough wooden crosses with carved names upon them. These were the graves of unfortunate people who had fallen victim to the Wendigos that haunted this cursed mountain.

There were many graves, and yet Alex knew that over the years since the first Wendigo appeared, far more people had died or gone missing than old Jack the hunter had managed to bury.

They followed a narrow path, stepping cautiously, trying not to disturb anything dangerous. Hanging near some graves were charms — they resembled dreamcatchers, but in truth, they were ancient protective talismans of native tribes, meant to ward off Wendigos. Alex figured Jack hadn't hung them for spiritual protection, but rather to keep the creatures from digging up the bodies and feasting on the remains.

Driven by curiosity, Samantha reached out, intending to touch one of the charms dangling from a branch. Alex gently but firmly caught her hand and shook his head. She gave an embarrassed nod and pulled her fingers back.

"There are so many of these… What are they for?" Mike looked around. "They look like dreamcatchers. Don't tell me Jack just wanted the dead to sleep peacefully."

"They're not dreamcatchers, but charms against Wendigos," Alex explained calmly, pointing to one of the talismans. "If you look closely, you can see they're different from ordinary ones."

"And how exactly? I don't see any difference. Jess gave me one after watching some show. Now it hangs over my bed. She said it would help me sleep better," Mike muttered, trying not to think about the fact that Jessica might already be dead.

Alex lit a cigarette, exhaled a cloud of smoke, and went on:"If you dig into history, the traces of the Wendigos go back very far. The native tribes of these lands had been dealing with them for centuries. Do you think Wendigos only appeared after the mine collapse and the story with the miners?"

"And how often did they show up?" Samantha asked, glancing at him nervously.

"Unfortunately, too often," Alex sighed. "The legends tell of a great hunter. He was the best in his tribe, brought back more game than anyone. But one day, disaster struck during a hunt…"

"Let me guess," Mike interrupted, "they fell into a cave?"

"Exactly," Alex nodded. "And the hunter was faced with a choice. He believed he was blessed by the god of the hunt, gifted with extraordinary skill. But according to legend, it wasn't a blessing but a curse. The god grew angry because the hunter killed not only for food but also for sport. In his desperation, he ate his companions. That's how the first Wendigo appeared — the Alpha, the origin of the curse. From that day on, his descendants were doomed to eternal hunger."

Mike shivered.

"That's creepy… Where did you hear this? You won't find it in books. Or did that old man who sent you here to deal with the mountain tell you?"

Alex smirked, blowing out smoke."Let's just say I spoke with someone whose ancestors were natives. For them, this legend is like a bedtime horror story. Something like a 'monster in the closet.'"

"Brr…" Samantha squeezed Alex's hand tighter. "It's scary to think how many old tales might actually be true."

Alex only gave a faint grin. Deep down, even he didn't know how true this story was in this universe. But experience told him one thing: if the world was full of monsters, then every legend about them was worth remembering — sooner or later, it could prove useful.

Hovering over his shoulder, the fairy-drone Navi streamed everything that was happening. Those watching his adventure were far more captivated by the Wendigo legend than by the creatures themselves. Even the goddesses showed interest as they passed the time watching the broadcast.

The trio slowly moved across the courtyard, cluttered with debris and barrels. Alex noticed a caged walkway connecting the two wings of the sanatorium — apparently, it had once been used to transfer violent patients. He shook his head: once upon a time, this place had been built as a resort for the wealthy, but later it had turned into an asylum, and after the miners' disaster, it became nothing more than a Wendigo lair.

The further they went, the more graves they encountered. At last, on the far side of the courtyard, they spotted a gaping hole in the wall that led into the neighboring wing. Alex went first, followed by Mike, with Samantha taking the rear, a wolverine named Peach comfortably perched on her shoulders.

Alex knew well that this was where Jack had once kept the captured Wendigos. He also remembered that some of them had managed to escape. So the plan was simple: if anything jumped out at them, kill it and keep moving without wasting time.

They passed through a dark corridor, lit only by the narrow beams of Mike and Samantha's flashlights, and emerged into a spacious hall. Once, it had looked like a recreation room where patients could spend their free time. Now it looked grim: here and there faint lights still glowed, powered by the generator old Jack had once installed.

They quickly scanned the place to figure out where to go next and split up, searching for an exit or anything useful.

Mike was the first to notice a massive iron door with a rusty padlock hanging from it. He tried to break it by force, then exhaled in irritation and raised his shotgun, ready to fire. But before he could pull the trigger, Alex grabbed his arm.

"You serious right now?" Alex gave him a cold look. "Why don't we just blow something up while we're at it, so every monster in this place comes running?"

"Suit yourself," Mike grumbled, lowering the weapon. "I was just trying to save some time."

Alex shook his head and pointed at Peach, sitting on Samantha's shoulder. The wolverine was glancing around nervously, sniffing the air and growling — the stench of Wendigos was everywhere. Even Mike noticed it, frowning. Clearly, the animal sensed danger long before they did.

Alex examined the rusted lock, clicked his tongue, and realized that Jack had simply sealed off this part of the sanatorium to keep the Wendigos inside and ward off intruders. Wedging the handle of his axe into the loop, he made a lever and gave it a sharp tug. The lock gave way and broke with barely a sound.

Alex nodded to the others and pushed the door. But decades of damp had eaten away at the corroded metal — instead of opening, the door collapsed to the floor with a thunderous crash. The echo rang through the hall, bouncing off the walls.

Mike chuckled and shot Alex a mocking look."Yeah, real quiet. Wouldn't it have been better to just shoot it?" he said, patting Alex on the shoulder.

"Touche," Alex grimaced.

Samantha barely held back her laughter, watching how ridiculous it looked. She almost said something to comfort him, but Alex already knew well enough: things like this were nothing new for him. Whenever he tried to act stealthy, everything inevitably went sideways.

He glanced at the fairy-drone Navi, already picturing the viewers on the other side of the stream bursting out laughing at yet another one of his "quiet approaches."

With a sigh, Alex moved on. In the next room, they stumbled upon an unexpected sight: Mike crouched down, petting a large wolf. The animal showed no aggression — in fact, it purred contentedly.

"So this is the wolf you mentioned?" Alex asked as he came closer.

"Yeah. There were actually two of them," Mike replied, scratching the beast behind the ear.

"Well then, looks like we've got ourselves another guide," Alex smirked, kneeling to scratch the wolf under the chin.

The animal responded with a pleased rumble.

"We need to go through the psychiatric ward," Mike explained as he stood up. "That'll get us to the exit."

Alex nodded. He didn't mention that Wendigos were almost certainly waiting for them in there. Now they had a new companion — the wolf. For a moment, Alex wondered if he should take it with him later, but decided to leave that thought for another time.

The trio, along with Peach and their new ally, moved on. The reception area led to a long passage fenced with metal mesh, stretching across the entire courtyard of the sanatorium and ending at the psychiatric wing.

As soon as they crossed the threshold, Peach and the wolf growled at the same time, staring ahead.

"Doesn't look like anything good is waiting for us in there," Mike muttered, tightening his grip on the shotgun.

"No choice," Alex replied, lighting a cigarette. "In here or outside, the Wendigos will find us anyway."

"Can't argue with that," Mike nodded.

Alex turned to Samantha."Stay close to me. And be careful."

"I understand," the girl answered seriously, stepping closer to him.

Passing through the hall, Alex, Samantha, and Mike reached a pair of massive iron doors leading deeper inside. The first set swung open without much effort, but behind them was another pair — locked. Next to them stood a lever.

Alex pulled it, and the doors behind them slammed shut with a clang, making everyone flinch. Somewhere inside, an old mechanism groaned, rusted metal grinding as the doors ahead reluctantly slid apart. But after a moment the motion stalled: they had opened only a narrow gap, barely wide enough to squeeze through.

"Damn, it's stuck… Alex, give me a hand," Mike said, pressing his palms against the cold steel. "Just a little more and we'll get through."

Alex nodded, leaned his axe against the wall, and grabbed the door. He and Mike exchanged a glance, then both pushed at once. The metal screeched but didn't move. Alex threw in more strength, muscles straining, until finally the jammed mechanism gave way: the doors swung wide open with a loud clang that echoed down the empty corridors.

Inside was another room. Alex looked around — everything was in ruins, heaps of debris piled in the corners, paint peeling from the walls, and the way forward blocked by a barricade of stretchers and furniture. Someone had clearly tried to seal off the path, keeping something trapped behind the iron doors. The only open passage led to the left.

Following the free corridor, they reached a staircase leading down. The wolf whined the whole time, as if sensing danger, while Peach, perched on Samantha's shoulder, growled and snorted nervously, picking up the scents that hung in the air.

Descending the steps, they came across another barricaded set of doors and two hallways: one to the left, one to the right. They decided to check the left first.

The room resembled a storage space or a grim patient ward. A rusty hospital bed stood against the wall, and in the corner sat a small table, covered in a thick layer of dust. A piece of paper peeked out from beneath it.

Alex walked over, brushed the dust aside, and picked it up. It was a medical report.

Mike and Samantha came closer, peering over his shoulder. The document described the condition of one of the miners rescued after the cave-in back in the fifties. The first five days after his admission: vitamin D deficiency, post-traumatic syndrome, aggression toward the staff.

"This… isn't that from the medical records of those miners they pulled out of the mine?" Samantha asked.

"Exactly," Alex nodded, putting the report back. "After the disaster, they were brought here for treatment."

"Well, what happened next isn't hard to guess," Mike said grimly, glancing at the shabby room.

Alex stayed silent, but he knew Mike was right. From old Jack's journals, he already knew that this was where it all began. The miners, who had survived in the dark by feeding on their comrades, began to turn into Wendigos one by one, while the doctors struggled to understand what 'disease' they were dealing with. When the changes became irreversible, the slaughter began: they butchered the staff, the patients, and then escaped. The government buried the incident, never even declaring the mountain a disaster zone.

Without lingering any longer, the trio returned to the corridor and took the other path. In the dim moonlight ahead, an iron grate came into view. The wolf whimpered pitifully, staring at something hanging from the bars.

As they came closer, they saw the body of another wolf — twisted inside out, as if someone had tried to force it through the narrow gaps of the cage.

"Oh my God… I'm gonna be sick," Samantha cried, covering her mouth with her hand and turning away.

"So that's where he ended up," Alex said quietly. "He was just unlucky."

"'Unlucky' is putting it mildly," Mike muttered with disgust, averting his eyes. "It looks like someone deliberately tried to rip him apart."

Alex only sighed heavily — he genuinely pitied the poor animal that had suffered such a monstrous fate.

Nearby stood a ward with an armored door, its surface covered in deep claw marks. Alex peeked inside and saw walls scarred with frantic messages scratched into the plaster. A miner had been locked here, left to slowly transform into a Wendigo. Over and over again, the same words were carved into the walls: "I'm hungry… let me out… I want to eat…"

After a moment of silence, Alex averted his gaze and suggested they move on. Samantha and Mike nodded wordlessly — they had to get through this wing if they wanted to escape.

They pressed forward, each new corridor reminding them of the old tragedy. Destroyed wards, overturned furniture, dark stains on the walls and floors — all spoke of the massacre that had once erupted here.

Suddenly, a hideous scraping echoed above them — claws raking furiously against the floor overhead. Alex looked up and spotted a Wendigo, which had caught the scent of fresh prey and was tearing at the floor, trying to break through. The creature froze, as if sensing it was being watched, then bolted, scuttling up the wall with inhuman speed.

Alex narrowed his eyes, following its movement, but said nothing. He knew it was only a matter of time before the monster reappeared.

"This place is so creepy…" Samantha whispered, clinging closer to him. "All these noises are driving me insane."

"Keep your eyes open and we'll be fine," Alex grumbled. "Though I really don't get why anyone would build a sanatorium to feel like a damned maze."

"If this map is right…" Mike said, shining his flashlight on a grimy floor plan on the wall, "we're somewhere near the doctors' offices. Or maybe the labs… The labels are almost gone."

Alex and Samantha came closer. The map looked as though it had been deliberately mauled by claws. With bitter irony, Alex thought the Wendigos seemed to enjoy destroying anything that might help people find their way.

"Looks like it," Samantha noted, tracing her finger over the diagram. "Offices here, labs there. We'll have to pass through them if we want to get out."

Nodding, they pressed on. Soon, they reached a breach in the wall that led into a doctor's office. Everything inside was overturned, the furniture smashed to pieces. Exiting into the corridor, they realized there was only one way forward — the other passage had been blocked by a collapsed ceiling.

Mike was the first to peek into a small side room — it looked like a projector room.

"Hey, get over here!" he called.

Inside stood an old projector. Mike tried turning it on — and, to his surprise, the machine sputtered to life, buzzing as the light flickered on. The film showed a man tied to a chair, a nurse standing beside him. The quality was terrible, but a moment later it became clear: the nurse was doing something to the subject before leaving the room.

And then the man began thrashing violently. With inhuman strength, he broke free, crawled up the wall, and then clung to the ceiling. The recording ended with the nurse returning, spotting him, and fleeing in panic. The final frozen frame showed his mutilated, blood-soaked face, frozen in a dead stare.

"They… experimented on these things?" Mike asked hoarsely.

"Looks like it," Alex smirked. "People are always the same. When they don't understand something, they cut it open, study it. And it always ends the same way. Pick any horror movie—you'll see the exact same plot."

"Maybe… maybe they just wanted to help? To cure them?" Samantha whispered uncertainly, clutching his hand.

"Sam," Mike said heavily, his voice weighed down with exhaustion. "I found files when I was searching for Jess. Those doctors weren't trying to cure anyone. They decided to feed the reporter to those monsters just to cover up the incident… They didn't give a damn. They didn't care how many people died inside these walls."

"And maybe the other patients locked up here were simply fed to those miners," Alex added with a weary sigh. "Nothing new in human behavior."

"You mean… they actually fed the other patients to the miners?" Samantha asked in horror, her face paling.

"What did you expect?" Alex replied coldly. "This wing only housed the mentally ill—the ones abandoned by their families. For the government and the doctors, it was easier to turn them into fodder than waste budget money on caring for 'useless' people."

Mike grimly nodded, confirming Alex's words. He himself had stumbled across similar files during his first search through the sanatorium—and each one had weighed heavier on his mind. Samantha, on the other hand, was shaken to her core by the truth she had just heard.

Having seen everything there was to see, and uncovered truths that were better left buried, the trio decided to move on. They still needed to get out of the asylum and make it to the mines. But the deeper they went, the darker the secrets this cursed place revealed.

Alex wasn't surprised—if anything, it was just further proof that humans were capable of the cruellest deeds. They hid the rot of their souls behind pretty words and "noble goals," justifying any atrocity in the name of science, progress, or power.

Leaving the projector room, they continued down the dark corridor. The wolf and the wolverine, Peach, walked close, ears twitching at every sound and sniffing the air cautiously. Step by step, passing one shadowy hallway after another, they reached a room that looked like a ruined doctors' lounge.

On the wall hung old autopsy photographs of Wendigos, and on one of the dust-covered tables lay a medical file. The first page bore a stamped word: "Confidential."

"What's in it?" Alex asked quietly, peering over Samantha's shoulder.

The girl flipped the page, revealing a photo of a rescued miner. His name and surname had been thoroughly blacked out. Beneath the photo were the doctor's notes: the patient suffered from epidermal depigmentation, impaired vision, and corneal damage — the result of prolonged time underground.

On the next page was a photo of the same miner, taken nine days later. The features of a Wendigo were already emerging: his nose was gone, leaving only a hole, his eyes had turned white, and his teeth had sharpened into fangs.

Three days later, judging by the records, the changes had become so irreversible that nothing of the miner's former self remained: his limbs had lengthened, his skin had toughened, and his behavior had become bestial and aggressive.

"God…," Mike exhaled. "They didn't even try to help! They just waited for him to fully turn into a monster."

"Even if they had tried," Alex shook his head, closing the file. "There wouldn't have been a chance."

"But could they have been saved at all? Or were they doomed from the start?" Samantha asked, turning to him.

Alex stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"It's hard to say. A Wendigo isn't just a creature—it's a curse. It takes hold of a person once they taste human flesh. After that… there's no turning back."

"But if it's a curse, can it be lifted? In horror movies, it usually is…" Samantha murmured thoughtfully.

"Theoretically—yes," Alex replied slowly. "But the legends don't say how. Even if you remove the curse… what's left of the person? Their body is already distorted."

Alex didn't mention that he had lifted the curse twice before. Both times, the Wendigos turned to ash, and their souls left this world. Deep down, he wondered if it would be possible to save Hannah—not just release her soul, but restore her body and life. The only option was the Yamato sword, capable of separating good and evil, soul and curse. But that was a problem for later—when they found her… which meant when they found Josh.

No one spoke after that. To leave the doctors' lounge, they had to force open the barricaded doors. Beyond them were more doors—iron ones leading to the chief doctor's office.

Alex hit them with his shoulder—a dull creak. Another push—and the heavy panels gave way. He just sighed at having to pretend it was difficult, as if forcing doors open required great effort.

"Well, here's the main bastard's office," Mike remarked grimly.

Empty bottles littered the floor, and behind the desk sat a desiccated corpse. On the desktop lay a note.

"They die outside… I hear their screams. All that will remain is the hell I've created with my own hands. It's God's punishment for my mistakes. And everything happening now is the price for going against God's will. May the Lord forgive me… Jefferson Bragg," Samantha read aloud.

"Funny," Alex smirked, lighting a cigarette. "People suddenly remember God when they're on death's doorstep. Like the old joke—there are no atheists on a falling plane."

"That bastard is probably roasting in hell right now," Mike muttered. "And he deserves it."

Alex didn't argue. He knew one thing—every choice comes with a price. Humans always meddle where they shouldn't, and it always ends in disaster.

A thought flashed through his mind: if all this had happened not in the 1950s but today, the military would have surely tried to use Wendigos as weapons. But such creatures are impossible to control. The outcome would be the same—another massacre and mountains of corpses.

To be continued…

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