Flesheater of the Forests

Chapter V

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It bent down on the water and peered into the deep rocky bottom, intently listening for any 'bubbles' escaping the surface. It knew that she couldn't hold her breath underwater forever.

It could only make out resonating sounds of the toppling waterfall and the gentle buzz of dragonflies. The wendigo clawed at the water in a fit of anger for ever trusting that deceiver. Out of the blue, it felt small hands grab around its left shin, and was instantly immersed into the pool with a loud sploosh!

The icy, wet pressure of the water pierced the wendigo's leathery skin as the millions of little bubbles brushed up against it. The tightening feeling in its lungs rebeled at the lack of air. It swam up to the surface in hope that she followed -- she is one step closer to being tomorrow's breakfast. The wendigo popped out its skull from the pool and inhaled the livegiving breeze.

"Doesn't the water feel nice on your skin?" She said, rubbing her eyes. It answered in a screech and thrashed through the water heading back to land. She reluctantly backstroked after. On land, she wrung out her clothing and hair while the wendigo shook off the water from its matted fur.

The emptiness gnawed at her stomach. "Yeah, yeah, I can't go back to camp. I'll have to traditionally cook up a rabbit like my 'ma taught me when I was little," she smiled. It would be nice to experience surviving out in the forests like her ancestors did. "How would you feel about smoked rabbit?" She questioned.

Knowing the wendigo, it wouldn't wait for the long cooking time and instead eat it plain raw.

"Umm, do you mind if you could go search for a rabbit while I prepare the fire?" The creature quickly turned its head to the right and disappeared into shrubs. We were finally building some trust between us, she thought.

Yurie went up to a nearby tree and picked up two similar branches from the ground with a sharp rock to carve into them. Grabbing a handful of dry grass along the way. She carved a groove into one of the branches and then carved a pointed end in the other. She sat on the branch with the groove in it and began rubbing the pointed branch into the groove. After a while, the groove in the branch started to smoke and produced black embers which is what Yurie had expected. She transferred the embers to the pile of dry grass and held the grass close to her. A small flame licked up the dry grass and forthwith, a decent fire came to life in mere minutes. She kept it alive by gently blowing on it, and feeding the flame more grass and leaves.

The wendigo returned, galloping with a bloody dead rabbit between its long talons. "Thank you," she cheerfully said. Using the sharp rock, she skinned partial of the rabbit and cut out a piece of its meat, thanking the rabbit for sacrificing itself to feed them. That earned her a puzzled look from the wendigo, "I never forget to give thanks to the animal because it died for us to live," she explained. "You can have the rest, I know you prefer yours fresh," she said, handing the carcass back to it. It swallowed the entire thing without chewing.

She stuck her piece of rabbit meat on the pointed stick and held it over the flame. It didn't have to be fully cooked, just cooked enough to kill any lurking parasites.

The fire died out after about fifteen minutes but, she was satisfied with the meat and ate it all up.

After eating, she relaxed on the dirt with her arms supporting her head, gazing up at the starry night. She turned her head towards the wendigo, watching it doing the same as her. She fell into a deep slumber.

In the morning...

The serene moment was interupted by unforeseen sharp cracks of a pistol. The deafening shots sounded as if someone were loudly knocking on a door, resounding through the forest. They both arose from their spots.

The wendigo screeched as the shots went off again, she could make out the words of men shouting, "Over here! Its over there!" Speculating that the foolish men came to these woods to hunt down the presumably invulnerable wendigo, it couldn't be actually killed, could it?

This time, a single shot whistled, a few inches off from the girl, striking the wendigo in its chest. It stumbled back a few steps barely reacting to the nonexistent sensation of pain any mortal creature couldn't bare. "We have to get outta here!" The creature darted to Yurie and hoisted her in its arms. She knew it was be the best way to elude the pursuers rather than running on her own so, she didn't put up a struggle.

After what felt like it was running forever, the wendigo slowed down to a halt and jumped into a hole hidden by moss in the ground. The hole lead to a secluded cavern brimming with bones belonging to every animal, including humans. It set her down and she finally spoke, "Is this where you've been wanting to bring me? But why?"

The wendigo guided the way to a large, smooth rock. She scrutinized it closer and noticed small red illustrations covering every inch of the stone. She asked, "Did you make these"? It pointed at three smiling stick figures, two being visibly bigger than the small one in the middle. "Who are they?" The wendigo then pointed its talon at the small stick figure and then shockingly pointed at Yurie.

"T-the small one is me?!" She said baffled. It then picked up a small stone, scraping out one of the bigger stick figures. Yurie only watched. The wendigo pointed at a creatue depicted as a creepier version of a wendigo. The next illustrations showed the monster attacking the bigger stick figures, therefore scraping one of the figures out of the picture again. The last few paintings showed the bigger stick figure changing more like the monster as time went on. The wendigo concluded its story by pointing at the figure and then itself.

"Okay.. it all makes so much sense now so, my mom died the day you both went missing?" Her words trembled. The wendigo faced its head down with downcast sadness in its eyes. Her heart sanked to the bottom of her stomach as tears welled up in her eyes. She wrapped her arms around the wendigo in a warm embrace, "Father, it's been so long," she whispered.

The wendigo hugged her back, striving to form words from his subtle sounds. "Protect.. you.. from.. monster," he said in a deep, raspy voice. "The thing that turned you is still out there?" She concerningly questioned. "Yes," he answered. "Well, what if it kills my friends at the camp?! I have to go back and warn them! He paused and answered, "already.. dead..". She let go of the wendigo and stood frozen in place, her mind revolving the two words, already dead.

"How.. do you know that?" The wendigo replied, "When.. I.. went.. to.. look.. for.. a ..rabbit."

She deeply sighed, wondering what they'd do next.
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