“Shit…I knew it…” I stated out loud.
“Knew what?” Noah asked as he scanned the area before us with his combat shotgun pointed ahead.
“I dreamed about this…this shit is exactly what we found in the dream…” I answered as sweat poured down my face.
“Ugh…what is that smell?” Shae asked suddenly as she covered her lower face with her free hand.
“Smells like…like rotting flesh…” Jennifer stated as she too covered her nose and mouth.
“Holy fucking shit—what the hell is that thing?!” Billy suddenly bellowed as his attention was drawn to something off to our right.
I looked to where he was looking and my blood just about froze in my veins—there standing behind a tree about five hundred feet away was a creature that had the head of a deer and a humanoid body—the deer head was a skull however and it was adorned with a massive rack of antlers that came to points; long razor-sharp claws could be seen on its long, boney fingers and the smell was radiating from the creature.
“It’s a fucking Wendigo…it’s gotta be!” I stated as I aimed my AR-15 at the creature—which was still standing in the same spot it had been.
“What’s that?” Billy asked glancing at me.
“A spirit or creature associated with famine and cannibalism…” I answered with a troubled brow.
“Doesn’t look like much of a spirit to me—the damned thing looks tangible…” Richard stated as he and Morgana arrived behind us with their weapons pointed ahead at the creature.
That was when the thing roared an inhuman sound and it started bolting toward us at an unbelievable speed—I opened fire on the creature sending a hail of ammo into its torso and head area and each bullet that hit the thing seemed to phase through it as though it wasn’t really there; it wasn’t until the thing was almost on us that Noah fired several times with his combat shotgun sending the high velocity rounds directly into the things’ face. This seemed to hurt it as it staggered back and we opened fire at close range—each of us with our weapons until the thing roared again and disappeared into the thick wilderness ahead of us before we could pursue it any further.
“Everyone okay?” I asked as I glanced at my women and then at the others.
“Yeah…that thing almost had us though—what the hell could it have been?” Richard answered as he and Morgana turned and retrieved the meat that they had processed from the deer that we had killed.
“Like I said—it looked like a Wendigo…it’s a cryptid creature of Native American folklore.” I answered with a troubled look as I continued to scan the edge of the woods ahead as it still felt like something was there watching us.
“Let’s get the hell back to the others—there’s nothing that we can salvage from these carcasses; it would be too risky to try and process the meat from them since they were killed and torn to shreds by that thing.” Noah stated as he glanced around the area at the corpses of the deer.
“It’s a damned shame but you’re right about that—it wouldn’t be worth the risk.” I agreed as I turned and led the way we had come.
It took us around half an hour to make it back to the roadway where the others were waiting with the vehicles and Hugo and Beau immediately inquired on what had happened.
“We heard a lot of gunfire coming from the direction you guys went—more than what would seem would be needed to take down some game animals…” Beau stated raising his right eyebrow.
I told them about what had happened and about the creature that we had encountered and after I was finished many of the others seemed skeptical and it took Billy and Richard as well as my women, Noah and Christina as well as Morgana and Kayla offering up their account of what we had saw before it seemed like they believed me.
“It could be possible that this creature has been feeding on the infected flesh of the dead-heads and others and has mutated into what you guys saw…I believe you in what you say you saw but I find it hard to believe that this thing is a mythological Wendigo…that’s like Bigfoot and all those other things that people liked to tell tall tales of back in the day.” Hugo stated folding his arms across his chest.
“Believe what you want—all of you—but when that thing comes after us again, and I’ll bet you that it’ll be soon—you’ll see it and have no choice but to believe.” I answered with a dark look as it clearly seemed like we were being made out as liars when we had barely escaped the encounter.
I could tell that Hugo, Beau and several of the others could tell that they had scorned me and they glanced at each other after I held up my left hand in a silencing gesture—I turned and climbed back up the side of our Marauder and opened the door climbing inside; my women followed and Billy and Kayla along with Noah and Christina got into their vehicles as Richard and Morgana delivered the meat that we had managed to acquire to the coolers where the other food was being kept. I started the engine of our vehicle and waited until the others were ready and then I led the way on down the road away from the spot we had stopped—the trip through the thick wilderness was mostly quiet and there didn’t seem to be much conversation going on between the others behind us; if that thing had been what I was thinking it was then I was sure as I was the sun was going to set at dusk that we’d see it again. Around nightfall I stopped near a somewhat small meadow and a stream that was flowing nearby—there was a small bridge over the stream ahead and this looked like a good place to stop to rest for the night; it was then that my dad’s voice came on over the CB stating the words that I had hoped I wouldn’t hear—my mom was dying. The words hit me like bricks and tears welled up in my eyes as I opened my door climbing down to the ground as my women followed—I met my dad and sister near the back of the Zetros where my mom was lying on a cot; her breathing was ragged and shallow and it seemed like she was comatose because she was unresponsive to us as we tried to communicate with her.
“We’ll get a camp set up…” Noah stated as he patted my right shoulder.
The others worked on getting the vehicles pulled into a circle formation as well as a fire built in the center and I waited with my women and kids close by my mom’s side and sometime around 5:30 am that next morning she passed away; I could tell that it hit my dad really hard as he was refusing to even leave the spot where he had been sitting next to her, I understood after all—they had spent many long years together and she had been his other half. I knew that this was as good of a place to bury her as any—she loved the wilderness and the mountains; she had loved nature and she would be at peace here.
“Let’s get a grave dug…” I stated getting the attention of Noah, Richard, Billy and several of the others.
We grabbed the shovels and started digging a hole a little ways behind where the vehicles had been parked and it took around twenty minutes to get the hole dug deep enough—my sister and my women helped me get my mom’s body wrapped in the blanket that she had really liked and we carried her body over to the hole gently setting it down at the bottom.
“God…if you’re there…sometimes it seems like even you have long left this world to its cruel fate…you know how much we loved my mom—take care of her and give her the peace that she so much deserves…we commit her body unto the earth and her spirit to you…ashes to ashes and dust to dust…” I stated as I stared up into the overcast sky.
Soon afterward the dirt was placed in the hole over her and we gathered river rocks from the stream nearby covering her grave with them—Melody helped me carve a stone with her name, date of birth and of death and it was placed at the head of the grave; the whole time my dad had been absent and I couldn’t help but wonder and worry where it was that he had gone. I soon after returned to our Marauder with my women and we rested a few hours until around noon when we woke again and stepped outside to get some food that had been cooked—I glanced around the area and still didn’t see anything of my dad and I stepped over to Melody and asked if she had seen any
thing of him.
“He’s over near her grave…he hasn’t said a word to anyone—I tried to get him to eat something a little while ago but it was like I was talking to the wall…he wouldn’t even look at me.” She answered with a worried look.
“I guess I’ll try to talk to him in a bit—we better be pulling out of here soon not knowing when a horde of dead-heads and other mutations could show up…” I answered as I turned and headed over to the fireside grabbing a paper plate of venison that had been roasted over the fire.
I grabbed a cup of coffee from the tin pot as well and set down with my women to eat—once we were done, I told Hugo and the others to get ready to move out before I breathed a deep breath and headed over to my mom’s grave where my dad still stood.
“Dad…I know that this is hard on you, it’s hard on me too—but she would want us to keep going, to live…we need to be going.” I stated in as calm and understanding tone as I could.
He still did not move or so much as look at me and I reached over and put my hand on his shoulder but he violently shook it off and glared at me.
“Go—leave me alone, leave me here—I don’t care about this shit anymore…just go…you have your family, I don’t have anything anymore—just go on, forget about me…my place is here with your mom.” He stated in a cracked tone as tears ran down his face.
“She wouldn’t want you to give up…” I stated as I tried to get closer to where he stood.
“Get going—leave me alone!” He shouted giving me a shove backward causing me to almost lose my footing.
I had to stop for a moment as this action was starting to cause me to go into defensive mode and I found that my fists were clenched—a cool, calming breeze suddenly blew through the area and it touched my face where the tears had pooled and it was as though a hand had touched my shoulder.
“Mom…” I said in a low voice as I hung my head.
“If that’s the way you want it then I won’t force you to come along…” I answered after several minutes had passed.
I turned and returned to where the others were waiting and I wiped my eyes and face with my sleeve.
“He’s not coming…” I stated as I met my women’s embrace.
“What do you mean—we can’t just leave him here!” Melody stated with something of an angry tone.
“It’s what he wants—I tried to reason with him, to get him to come but he refuses…it’s his right…” I answered as I glanced back to where he still stood with his back to us.
“It wouldn’t be right to force him to come when he wants to stay here…there’s nothing else that we can do.” Noah stated as he turned and headed toward their rig.
Everyone followed getting their weapons and gear as well as the things that had been brought out put back into the vehicles and finally my sister submitted to the way things had to be and she returned to the Zetros where she had been riding; minutes later we left the area heading northwest and I looked on the lonely field where my dad stood before he slowly disappeared behind us.
“I can’t believe that things turned out this way…” I stated in a broken tone as I tried to concentrate on driving.
“Baby—lie down in the back, get some rest; I’ll drive.” Sheila stated as her hand caressed my right shoulder.
I stopped in the road and opened my door climbing down before opening the door behind me climbing into the back with Chloe, Rachel, Roxanne and Shae as Sheila climbed into the driver’s seat and continued driving—I closed my eyes and visions of the past seemed to float through my mind; images of my childhood, the things that I had done and the times I had spent with my mom—minutes later, sleep overtook me.
Over the next day or so we finally started seeing signs of civilization even though it was just as dead as the rest of the world as we pulled into the outskirts of Regina, which had been the capital of Saskatchewan—the past day had been really difficult for me knowing that my mom was gone and that my dad had pretty much given up on everything and everyone and stayed behind to meet whatever gruesome fate that awaited him; I was doing my best to put it out of my mind and to focus on keeping those around me that I loved safe. I didn’t so much as slow down through the city of Regina because we could hear the sounds of the dead-heads and other mutations on the wind as we had our windows cracked and I knew that it would be too dangerous to stop in what had been a largely populated area—after we finally left Regina, we spent the rest of the day heading northwest through the countryside of Saskatchewan along highway 11 and it was something after midnight when we passed through the town of Dundurn; I could tell that we were getting close to the next big city of Saskatoon due to the road signs.
“This is beautiful countryside—even if it is in ruins like everywhere else that we’ve been.” Jennifer stated as she sat beside of me holding the road map in one and a flashlight in the other.
“Yeah—we’ll start to see less and less signs of what had once been civilized areas the further north we go; I’m surprised that people even lived this far north.” I answered as I continued driving using the powerful high beams on our Marauder to see the roadway ahead.
“It looks like after we pass through Saskatoon, we switch over and take the 16 towards Battleford and then continue west past Paynton, Maidstone and Lashburn—the first place we’ll hit after crossing over into Alberta is Lloydminster.” Jennifer continued as she moved her left index finger along the map.
“These places have some funny names…” Chloe stated from behind us.
“No kidding…” I answered with a chuckle.
“We should find somewhere to stop soon—my ass is getting tired.” Richard stated over the CB—which kind of startled me.
“There’s a camping area up ahead…I wonder if it’s safe…” I stated picking up and speaking into the CB microphone.
“Guess we’ll find out…” Noah stated on his end as the sound of their Mack truck could be heard in the background.
I shortly after pulled off the roadway into the dense wooded area that marked itself as being a campground—one of the first things that we noticed was the scattered tents and abandoned RVs that were splattered and smudged with old, dried blood; trash was scattered all around the area as well as old, decayed corpses.
“Dude…this place is going to stink something fierce—we’re going to have to do something about these bodies if we stay here.” Hugo stated on the other end of the CB as I pulled our marauder to a stop turning the engine off before leading the way out with my AR-15 pointed ahead.
My women followed as the others of the group clustered out of their vehicles behind us—the woods around us were dark and foreboding and I had this feeling that we were being watched by something, although when I glanced around shining my flashlight at the woods I didn’t see anything; the dead-heads and other mutations were also strangely absent.
“What do you make of this place…?” Richard asked as he and Morgana came to stand close to me and my women.
“It’s too early to tell but I feel eyes on us—where our watcher is and what they could be I don’t know…” I answered as I grabbed one of the old tents and ripped it down finding the remains of what had no doubt been a couple of small kids inside of it.
They had been long eaten and there wasn’t much left to identify them as having once been living, breathing human beings—I grabbed several large sticks and started piling them onto the remains of them and their tent and my women helped me by gathering other things around us as the others were doing the same with several other tents; soon after I grabbed a can of kerosene from the back of our vehicle and then drenched the pile with it before striking a match to it, we all backed away as the pile of trash and bodies went up in flames—the light from the flames illuminated the area around us and it cast haunting shadows around the edge of the woods.
We continued doing that for the next several minutes until the area had be
en relatively cleaned up and then we built a separate campfire close to where the vehicles were and the others started cooking travel rations and setting up camping chairs—I sat on a stump near the fire still holding my assault rifle with a nervous look on my face as my eyes scanned the edge of the nearby woods every few seconds.
“I hope that we’ll be safe here…” Shae stated with a hint of worry in her voice.
“I plan on actually sleeping in the marauder—I’d suggest that we all stay in our vehicles tonight…not knowing what could be out in these woods.” I stated glancing around at the entire group.
“Good idea—we’ll pull on out of here at first light, we’ve all learned well over the years that it’s never a good idea to stay in one spot for longer than we have to.” Hugo agreed.
I continued to watch the woods around us as we ate and my women all snuggled up next to me—it was somewhere around midnight when I finally started to nod off, I had been listening to the others talk around us and I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore; I stood up and led my women to our marauder helping them up inside before I followed, once we were inside, we locked the doors and settled down into the spacious back. It didn’t take us long to fall asleep and sometime early the next morning I was woken by an inhuman sounding scream that came from somewhere not far off—it was enough to rattle my nerves and I sat up peering outside through the windows and that was when I saw something massive pass by the side of our vehicle; as whatever it was moved into the light from the dying firelight I caught sight of the massive antlers and the deer skull and right then and there I knew what it was that was out there—it was the same damned thing that we had barely escaped from miles back when we had stopped to go hunting. I watched the thing trying to stay still so it didn’t see me and I noticed that its eyes were glowing red and as it stalked around the area I could see it clacking its jaws together—rows of sharp, pointed fangs glistened in the dying light and those teeth looked like they were coated with fresh blood.
[HGB] Humanity Gone Bad: The Dead Chronicles Page 80