Hello all! Thank you for reviewing, following, and favoriting!

I'm really amazed and grateful at the response this has gotten. It ain't my first rodeo, but thank you so much for all the kind comments! I really appreciate them. So in turn, I cranked out this chapter hella fast. Enjoy!

All characters belong to Supermassive Games

Matt's dreams were exactly like the mines: dark, confusing, and never ending.

Maybe it was just his mind's weird way of coping with everything. He vaguely remembered from his AP Psych class that dreams were a way of processing someone's most recent events. If so, he fucking hated his brain. Long, dark corridors of rock and stone, with paths that went nowhere and tunnels that led up but revealed no light at the end of them. He thought he heard a girl's voice. Jess's, maybe, yet for a brief moment of relief he swore it was Emily. But when he turned around to follow the sound, he was met face to face with a monster. The last thing he remembered were glassy eyes, and he saw himself in them. That meant he also saw it when a large skeletal claw took his head clean off.

Matt awoke in a panic but his body miraculously stayed still. Light was struggling to pour in through the cracks of the blinds they had drawn the previous night. He tried to crane his neck to see a clock or perhaps grab his phone but in the end decided it just wasn't worth it. So he lay there, too nervous to fall back asleep, too apathetic to check the time, too aware of everyone's snores as they filled the room and drowned out the sounds of the refrigerator and the passing cars outside. At last, giving in to the exhaustion that he knew was still there, Matt finally squeezed his eyes shut and tried to will himself back to sleep.

It must've been a half an hour before someone else had gotten up. Matt heard them place their feet on the ground, then shuffle around, trying to be quiet but barely succeeding. Then, the low hum of the TV joined the other white noise of their small hotel room. Slightly interested and accepting the fact that more dreams were not going to come, Matt raised his head, blinking sleep out of his eyes.

Lounging on the couch was Sam, her head still half buried under piles of blankets. One pale arm stuck out, clicking through the channels with the remote. The stations were flicking through faster than Matt's bleary mind could process them, but his friend seemed to have no trouble. She finally settled on a local news channel, and Sam withdrew her arm and silently watched. Careful not to make any noise to disturb her, Matt took in his surroundings.

Chris and Ashely were passed out. It was weird, because Ashley's arm was draped onto Chris's shoulder who in turn was resting his head against her wrist as he leaned against her cot. It's about time those two got over themselves and started getting somewhere. Jess and Mike were curled up together on the other bed. They were so entangled that it would probably take a crowbar to pry those two apart. Jess had her arms tightly wrapped around her boyfriend while he had laid his good hand across her shoulders. A wave of jealousy slammed through Matt when he turned to look at his own girlfriend. Emily was on the same bed as him but she wasn't even acting like it. She was curled up tightly like a cat, her breathing slow and even. She wasn't even facing him. Was she mad? Granted, he did jump off that tower just before it fell, but Matt didn't know that jumping would send her and the fire tower down into the mines. Besides, she hadn't snapped at him yet since this whole thing ended. Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe not.

"Matt? You up?"

Matt nearly jumped, unprepared for the acknowledgement. Sam had seen him and was starting to get up, shedding her blankets one by one. Her gaze unnerved Matt—her gray eyes were so clear and emotionless that it was almost like looking at one of the monsters again.

Once his brief flash of shock had subsided, Matt nodded. "Yeah," he said, then sheepishly added, "I couldn't sleep."

Understanding sent some emotion back into Sam's eyes. "Me neither," she sighed.

With some effort, Matt forced himself out of bed. Emily stirred slightly but didn't get up. As Sam threw off her red runner's jacket, Matt pulled his filthy turtleneck off and threw it into the corner. It left him in just his undershirt, but at least it was clean. "I'm starving," he confessed. "I feel like I haven't eaten anything in years."

"Well, it is almost ten," Sam told him as she unlocked her phone.

"Already?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Hey, I think that free breakfast is still going on downstairs. Do you want to get something to eat? We should probably let the others sleep."

Matt cast one more forlorn glance at Emily before nodding. "Yeah, no, breakfast sounds good. And some coffee too."

Ten minutes later, the two of them were heading down the hall together. Sam's t-shirt was covered in mud and dirt and Matt's sweatpants were torn up at the knees, so it was no surprise when others gave them peculiar stares as they made for the lobby. Sam walked on, head held up high, not meeting anyone's eyes.

Matt wished he had her confidence. He had never really thought of Sam as a leader, but the way she acted when they were being interrogated for hours upon hours yesterday gave him an entirely different idea of who she was. Everyone treated Mike like the de facto leader, which didn't really surprise him in the slightest, but Matt knew that Mike had a tendency to lose control of himself. Sam, on the other hand, was so calm it almost terrified him. She came out of her interview angry, yes, but besides those few minutes she was cool and collected. She had comforted Ashely and even managed to talk Emily down after she came out of her interviews angrier than Matt had ever seen her. It took him the longest time to decide of it was confidence or her becoming unhinged. In the end, Matt gave her the benefit of the doubt. Some of the old Sam was starting to break through, he noticed as they got into the elevator. She squeezed between two women who were clearly disgusted at her appearance, a small half smile on her face. "Gonna be even more awkward downstairs, hm?" she joked. Matt nodded vaguely in response.

Downstairs, Matt and Sam found the smallest table they could, as far out of the way as possible. Matt loaded up on bacon and eggs while Sam got herself a pile of fruit that could have fed a family of ten instead of a single girl. They ate mostly in silence. To be fair, Matt had almost forgotten how good eating felt, and it kept him occupied. Fortunately, Sam didn't seem too keen on having a conversation at the moment. Both teens went up for seconds, and piles of plates and empty glasses soon littered their eating space.

When Sam had finished her third bowl of fruit and shoved it aside, she set her attention back to him. Matt, too caught up in his scrambled eggs and sausage links, almost didn't notice her until he glanced up and saw her disgusted face. "Want some?" he jokingly asked through a mouthful of egg.

Sam's lip curled. "You know I can't eat literally everything you have on your plate right now."

It took three swigs of milk to get the mouthful down. "Nothing like almost dying to start eating like a normal person again," he said sarcastically while shoving more eggs into his mouth.

This time, Sam cracked a smile. "You know I could punch you in the face no problem, right?"

"Too well," Matt replied solemnly, shoving his plate onto the dish pile at the corner of the table. "Man, I don't think I could eat another bite."

Sam nodded her agreement. "Given everything that's happened, I think I need to upgrade my vegan status. I think I'm going ultra-vegan now; I won't even look at a piece of meat, never mind eating it."

"Can't really say I fault your logic. You'd be a shining example to vegans everywhere."

They both laughed at that. It was the first truly happy sound Matt had heard in two days amidst the monsters and the ICU and the endless, endless interrogations. It felt both wrong and right at the same time…why did it feel so conflicting?

Matt barely noticed that the laugh had died in midair and his smile was fading, but Sam hadn't. "What's wrong?" she asked, concern heavy in her voice.

"This…it all feels wrong," Matt confessed. "We shouldn't be laughing about this shit. People are dead because of us, Sam. Emily told me how she found Beth and what happened to Hannah. And who knows what happened to Josh…oh God, this is all so fucked up."

Sam's gaze fell. "I know," she replied after a moment. "To be honest…can you keep a secret?"

Matt nodded.

"That's all I thought about last night. Josh. When Mike and I found him, I left them to find the others, but then Hannah attacked and Josh…" She paused for a moment. "I should have stayed. I should have done something."

"You did do something" Matt found himself arguing for her. It pained him to see Sam so defeated. "You blew up the lodge; Jess and I watched you do it. Well, we didn't know it was you, but hell, you did it. You pretty much saved all of us."

"But I didn't save Josh. And that's the thing, Matt—I could have. I should have."

Matt fell silent, draining the last of his milk to prevent himself from saying something awkward or unnecessary.

After a moment, Sam perked up. "Look, I don't want you to worry about me, okay? You know, you never did tell us what happened to you in the mines. Jess hasn't really been in the state to talk. I was hoping to ask you when I got the chance"

"Didn't I?" The events of the interrogations and being with his friends were starting to blur together. He couldn't remember what he did and didn't do anymore.

He straightened himself up. "Well, Emily told you about the fire tower, right? Well, after that…"

-X-

Oh God, it was so cold. Matt had never been more cold in his entire life but now wasn't the time to dwell on it. He had seen the lodge burst into flames from their little outcrop. Jess sat at his feet, tears streaming down her face but she wasn't making any sound. At first, Matt thought she was just too scared or she was trying to make sure the monsters wouldn't come back for them, but when he finally tore his eyes away from the bonfire that had become the Washington's estate, he saw the truth. She was turning a pale blue, and she had resorted to pressing herself against the mountainside to escape from the worst of the winds.

Matt longed to take her down into the woods where the wind would never penetrate. Maybe stay there until it was all over and they could meet up with the rest of their friends, wherever they were. But the trees were a drop down the cliff sides that were easily the length of a football field. Jess was in no state to move anymore and Matt was not going to leave her side.

"Here, Jess", against his better judgment, Matt began to strip off his letter jacket. It was torn, sure, but it was something. "Take this, I promise I'll get us off this mountain, okay? You've gotta hang in there."

Jess nodded and began to wrap his jacket around her, and that was when he heard the sound of something whirling. When he looked up, a helicopter flew over his head, quickly followed by another.

Of course! In the wake of nearly dying from falling off a cliff and nearly dying from wall climbing monsters, the fact that he and Emily called for help had evaded him. It seemed like so long ago.

Matt raised his hands and started to jump as the helicopters flew over their heads, ignoring the cold biting at him and the possibility of the monsters coming back. "Hey! Hey! Down here!" he cried, desperately trying to get their attention.

But as the two helicopters whirled away, descending onto the blazing lodge, Matt felt his heart sink.

"No…" that was Jess, huddling in the letter jacket.

Matt bit his lip, trying to think. There had to be something he could do. If the helicopters didn't get him off of this mountain, then their only other option would be to traverse the mines again and try to find a way out. But Jess was in no state to move, never mind walk through what could be miles of tunnels.

God, he wished Emily were here. Even if she was a total snob about it, at least she could think of something.

And then-

Matt, without saying a word, suddenly lunged for the letter jacket. Jess flinched in surprise and tried to pull away but not before Matt found what he was looking for in the inside pocket.

The flare gun. Oh my God, Emily was there. Indirectly, of course, but she was there nonetheless. Matt almost wept with happiness as he held it. Wasting no time, he checked the barrel; it still had one flare left.

And just in time, because the helicopters were halfway back in the sky when Matt snapped the gun shut and fired it into the air.

For a moment, nothing changed. Even as the pale pink streak flew over their heads, the helicopters refused to change course. Matt felt his gut clench. Their last hope, gone, right before their eyes.

But then one of the helicopters began to turn around. And Matt nearly started weeping again. As it drew closer and closer, Matt jumped up and waved his arms like a madman. Slowly, the helicopter came over to the two teens until it was right above them.

Matt squinted when he saw something shiny being tossed out of the helicopter. It was quickly lowered to a point about five feet to the left of them and he saw it was a basket: probably about four feet long and made of metal with high sides.

Not even wasting a minute, Matt pulled Jess to her feet. "Come on Jess," he encouraged as he helped her into the basket. He rattled one of the chains holding it, hoping that would signal the rangers to bring her up. "Hold on tight. Tell the rangers to get you some blankets and water, okay?"

If Jess heard him, she gave no sign of it. "Don't go…" she begged almost silently, but that was all he heard before the basket began its long climb back into the sky.

Not five minutes later, the basket returned for him and Matt clambered inside. After rattling the chain again, he was shooting into the air so fast it felt like the dropper ride he used to ride with Josh and Chris when the carnival came to town. Dawn looked so beautiful from up here, with sunlight glinting off the mountains and the pale pink and purple streaks staining the sky. The smoke from the lodge climbed into the air with him, like it wanted to follow him. Before Matt could even realize how high he had gotten, someone was grabbing at his arms. It was a ranger trying to pull him into the helicopter.

With their help, Matt managed to make it safely inside. Once glance told him all he needed to know. Two rangers were leaning over Jessica, covering her with blankets and trying to dab some disinfectant on her shallowest wounds. But he still saw the steady rise and fall of her chest. Relief washed through him—she was safe. They both were

"M-Matt?"

He turned his head.

Emily was sitting right there, waiting for him.

-X-

Sam blinked a few times. "Holy shit," was all she had to say. "Some story, man."

Matt shook his head. "It wasn't that much."

"You know, I really wish you would take a compliment," Sam dismissed his modesty. "The only other person to go deep into those mines was Emily, and at least she had some flares and found an elevator. You survived down there for four times as long as she did, with no light and no way out. How the hell did you do it?"

The words came spilling out from Matt, and he made no effort to stop them. "I don't really know. I mean, at first I thought I could go deeper into the mines, but I couldn't find any way down. I thought…I hoped that Emily had survived. But I couldn't find any way down that wouldn't break my neck in the process. Lots of broken elevator shafts and caved in tunnels. For the most part, I just kinda wandered with my hands on the walls but I still couldn't find any way out. After a while, I found a lantern and an old lighter with it. And when I turned around, Jess nearly took my head off with a shovel."

"In her state, I'm surprised she could even lift a shovel."

"That's what I thought."

Matt leaned back in his chair. "I couldn't believe it when I saw her. The girl could barely stand on her own two feet and she fell at least fifty, maybe sixty feet down a mineshaft yet she still nearly killed me."

Sam laughed, sort of hollowly. "Well, that's Jessica for ya."

"Yeah, right? Amazing how the monsters didn't get to her before I did."

Sam's eyes flashed. "Did you, you know," her voice dropped, glancing around as if she was afraid someone was listening. "Did you see any of them?"

Matt bit his lip. "Not until after I found Jess," he admitted. "I heard them, though. At first, I thought they were bats or something, but then I figured that bats didn't make those kinds of noises. They kept howling, and it kept echoing off the walls so I never knew which way they were coming from. One time, I thought I heard one. It sounded like it was scuttling, like a crab. When Jess and I were outrunning them, I turned around and saw on hanging pretty much upside down. Nearly shit myself."

Sam laughed again. This time, it was a much fuller laugh. "I found Mike a little bit before dawn after he blew up the sanatorium. If you thought a wendigo was scary, you haven't seen one of them on fire while they're trying to eat your friend's skull. First time I'd seen one that night. At first, I was so scared, I didn't know what to do."

Matt blinked. "Did you run?"

"Hell no," Sam gave him a crooked smile of sorts. "I had a shovel, so I took it and I chopped that fucker's head off."

They both laughed again. And this time, it didn't feel so wrong.

"Are you down for a coffee?" Matt asked. "I still feel asleep on my feet. I could use some caffeine in me right about now."

"Screw the coffee; you might as well inject it straight into my bloodstream," Sam joked, but she slowly got up and began to gather the dirty dishes. Together, with Matt's help, they loaded the plates and glasses into the bin on top of the trash can and began to walk for the front door. Light was streaming through the open windows, and blue skies were ahead. It was a beautiful day, thank God for that. Sam trailed half a step behind him, so Matt turned to look at her.

"We should get some for everyone," Sam noted, sticking her hands in her pockets. "Do you know what Em likes?"

"Triple venti half-sweet non-fat caramel and cinnamon macchiato with an extra shot of milk," Matt recited automatically. Sam stared at him.

"How many times does she ask you order for her?"

Matt smiled and shook his head. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. I stopped counting after the fiftieth time. Mike once told me that it only gets worse when she's really irritated."

To his happiness, Sam chuckled. "When isn't she really irritated?"

Matt nearly laughed too as he reached for the front door to open it. He heard someone else talking to him, but it didn't register. As the door opened to the freezing weather of northern Alberta, he watched as Sam's smile vanished. "Matt, watch-!"

The rest of it, Matt didn't hear, because something large and hard slammed into his front. He snapped his head forward again as he was brought to the ground. His heart pounded wildly, his mind immediately jumped to a monster. It had come to finish them off, he knew it. But as he forced his hands up, he caught nothing but fur. For a heartbeat, he could see nothing but black and smell nothing but pines and dust. A loud sniffing sounded right in his ear, and the breathing of the beast was hot and heavy.

Suddenly, the weight on his chest was lifted and before he knew it Sam was helping him to his feet with a rattled look on her face. The bellhop was shutting the door and locking it in front of terrified onlookers. When Matt looked back to see his attacker, he did not expect to see a very dirty looking dog the size of a small horse staring back at him. It paced outside, watching all of them with unnerving yellow eyes. The bellhop began shouting things to the patrons who had come to investigate, leaving the door locked with a very menacing looking dog ready to pounce on them should anyone choose to leave. Matt rubbed his neck as the beast stared with a look that said that it was going to finish what it started.

"Holy shit," Sam breathed.

She didn't have to say that twice.

Man, I love Matt. Definitely the most underrated character in the entire game. I loved writing his character. And yeah, I know it was kinda another Sam chapter, but my goal with this story was to focus on the relationships that didn't get a lot of attention in the game, but I feel like should have (ie: Mike and Ashley, Sam and Emily, Chris and Jess), because god damn, I just want them to all be happy.

Thanks for reading and please follow, fav, or review if you enjoyed.