Wendigone

The teenage boy watched the tall, gaunt creature rummage through the remains of the Happy Crab Chinese buffet. When it reached for yet another dead body, its head disappearing into the buffet, he ran for the woods. The creature pulled its head out at the sound of feet crunching on snow. It pulled out of the buffet and stood at its full height to look over the surrounding area, making it just taller than the buffet. It smiled as it began to move in the boy’s direction, beginning with loping, but it was soon running.

* * * * *

Just as it disappeared into the woods, a leather-clad woman on a motorcycle came into view and skidded to a stop. She glared at the destroyed buffet. “Just missed it.” She cocked her head, then straightened up and even allowed herself a slight smile. She pulled out her phone and punched in some numbers. “Heh, Lieutenant Grable, I found your wendigo. Yeh, I can deal with it, but you’re going to need a team of coroners. Got it.” She sighed, put away her phone, dismounted her bike, and looked around at the devastation. “Okay, I have under an hour. First thing first: The fire.”

She left her bow alone and pulled out the ax. She walked over to the remains of the restaurant, trying to ignore the broken and bleeding bodies tossed throughout the former restaurant. The coroners are going to have some serious work ahead of them. She started the work of separating out some lumber for her fire.

* * * * *

The boy had managed to find some bushes surrounded by some trees. His breath came in ragged gulps.

“The Mounties are here; it’s safe to come out.” The sound was deep and full of authority. “We need to get all of the survivors together.”

The boy dared to look out from the bushes but saw no one. He retreated into the bushes.

“We have blankets, food, and water.” The voice seemed to be coming closer. “But you need to hurry; they need to get the survivors to aid.”

The boy warily crawled to the edge of his sanctuary. He saw no one, but he knew that the responders would be in a hurry to get out of there. He stood up, cautiously looking for any sign of the monster that had been chasing him. He saw nothing, he heard nothing, and so allowed himself a deep breath. He took a cautious step out of the bushes, then another. He looked around, then started running back to the buffet.

Before he had taken five steps, something snagged him. He tugged at it, but it refused to let go. He then looked at what had snagged him and followed the skeletal hand up the arm attached to it.

“Looks like we found the survivor.” From the thin lips came the deep voice that had just moments before offered hope. The boy fell to his knees even as the monster smiled cruelly. The boy fell forward, tears beginning to fall even as he pounded the ground before him.

The monster grabbed the boy with one hand and with his other hand stripped off his clothes like the peel of an orange. It then tore into the adolescent like it would a chicken. The monster didn’t even bother to chew its food; flesh and bone alike disappeared down its gullet. In moments there was naught left of the boy but the blood and gore on the wendigo’s belly. The monster howled at the moon as the meat from the boy became just more flesh, and it grew another six inches.

The monster sighed and rubbed its belly. It walked into the woods, in the direction of the restaurant. The walking soon became loping, the loping faded into a run, and the run became an all-out sprint, as the wendigo became propelled by little but pure hunger, and its body knew where to find even more meat.

* * * * *

Nicomi had chopped enough wood. She put her ax down and formed the wood into a pile near it, stuffing napkins into holes. She lit a match and tossed it into the pile. With a little puffing, she stoked the small flames into a raging bonfire. Smiling at her work, she walked over to her bike and grabbed her compound bow and the quiver of broadheads. She stationed herself next to the bonfire, waiting for the monster to return to the scene of the slaughter.

* * * * *

The wendigo charged into the remains of the buffet. It could smell the flesh on the bones before it; that brought it joy; the smell meant yet more chances to sate its ever-growing hunger. It tore down the walls between it and its food. The tall, gaunt humanoid took just a few heartbeats to look at the remains before it, then took a few steps forward and started shoving the bodies into its gullet.

Nicomi sighed. I hate being ignored. She drew back on her bowstring, letting a broadhead fly into the creature. It stepped to the left, causing her to miss. The creature saw an arrow appear in the wall before it and looked around for an archer. It found one soon enough as Nicomi let another broadhead fly at it. It dodged the missile but found it had entered too far into the shell of the buffet and had no room to maneuver. It jumped through the roof of the buffet and into the space just beyond the building shell.

It rolled to its feet, then looked again for Nicomi. It found her, then began walking toward her in a huge spiral. Nicomi frowned at the creature’s strategy; it was recovering too quickly. This one must be an old one; I need to shut this down fast. She drew for what both parties knew would be the last time and let the arrow fly.

The wendigo stopped in its tracks, clawing at the arrow stuck in its craw. While it did so, Nicomi dropped the bow and grabbed the ax; she charged the humanoid while pulling the ax behind her head. When she reached the wendigo, she chopped at its legs. The creature fell and she whacked desperately at its neck even as the sharp talons of the creature reached for her.

Its head flew from its body. Nicomi allowed herself a deep breath before she attacked the body in earnest; already, she could see the neck attempting to grow back. She grabbed the head and tossed it into the fire; this resulted in a satisfying shower of sparks. She went after the limbs, chopping them off and then tossing the stumps into the bonfire behind her. In moments, she was down to just the torso. She split the torso, then reached inside for her true target; even prepared as she was for the cold of its innards, the cold was still shocking. It took her way too long, but she finally found the lump of beating ice she was looking for. She grabbed the heart of the wendigo and threw it to the ground.

She reversed the ax and brought the hammer side down on the beating lump of red ice, shattering it into a thousand pieces. She tossed the torso into the flame and then sighed. She walked over to her motorcycle and leaned on it, watching the flames consume the head, limbs, and rent torso of the wendigo. She would make sure that there was nothing but ash.

Well before that point could be reached, however, she saw the lights of several cars; she knew it would be several ambulances and a pair of Mounties; there was no reason for sirens. The lay coroners got about their grisly business even as a pair of red-clad officers headed straight for her.

She smiled at one. “So, Officer Grable, ready to take charge of the scene?”

The larger one glared at her for a moment but returned her smile. “Of course, Ms. LaFlesche.” He looked at the grisly remains slowly becoming ash. “That was a big one.” He turned to her. “I presume you will be disposing of its ashes?”

She sighed. “Of course. I’ll also arrange for a midew to come through and deal with the corruption.” She smirked. “I know you hate Kanti, but he is good at what he does.”

He nodded. “Fine.” He looked again at the burning remains. “Weird. They don’t usually return to the scene of the crime; they’re always moving forward. Like sharks.” He looked at her. “How did you know it would return?”

She smirked. “It was a Chinese buffet. Don’t you ever get hungry an hour after eating Chinese? It just knew where to get more.”

Officer Grable was somehow able to muster a rather impolite glare at her.