How to Catch a Fish (ManxMan)

Chapter Two: A Sense of Duty

~Chapter Two: A Sense of Duty~

"What did you do to Heather?" I demand, but even as I am asking it, I know something is off. The wendigo sounded tired, as if it had been sleeping, not kidnapping the cat from her bed. And, contrary to what I expected, the wendigo is not taunting me either. Surely, if it had Heather, it would have at least teased the fact that I let my guard down.

Silence follows my question, the only noise being that of whatever is happening in other parts of the prison. Bones knock together somewhere in the cell, and I try not to jump when there is a crunch that suggests the wendigo might have stepped on and broken something. I am not sure I want to know how many unfortunate creatures it has eaten in its time here.

"You lost the girl?" It asks, suddenly a lot closer than it was a moment ago. In fact, if I could see into the room, I am sure I would find it is standing only a couple feet away. More bones rattle, and a warm puff of air brushes over my face, smelling of death and rot. I reel back in disgust, but it seems to ignore my reaction and says, "Then I will just have to find her for you."

A blurry shape leaps out of the dark room just as I reach out to grab the wendigo. My fingers brush against fur and bare skin, but I am too slow to stop it before it takes off running at a weird lope that switches between two legs to all fours down the hallway. I take off sprinting after it, but it has already reached the end of the corridor and is sniffing the air. There is no time to curse my luck before it vanishes around a corner, its nose somehow working, despite the horrible stench that fills the prison.

I manage to reach the end of the hall just as it disappears around another corner, and I quickly chase after it in hopes of seeing it again before it disappears completely. And, fortunately, my luck holds, as I just barely manage to catch site of a foot or blurry shape disappear around a corner just as I enter each hallway. However, on the fifth turn, the wendigo is nowhere to be found.

Cursing, I push myself to run faster to the other end of the hall, but both paths are just as empty. Before I can randomly pick a direction to run, though, a loud snarl behind me catches my attention. I turn towards the sound and am just in time to witness the wendigo being thrown from one of the well-lit middle cells. I had been in such a rush that I had apparently run right by the wendigo without even realizing it.

The wendigo crashes into the opposite wall on the opposite side of the hallway and lands in a leap at the base of it. The skull mask on its face has cracked down the middle with about half of it missing, revealing a pale, surprisingly human-like face covered in bright red blood. Since I am pretty sure that a wendigo is a turned human, though, I guess I should have figured that it would not look different under the mask.

Grinning maliciously, it spits out a chunk of bloody flesh before pushing to its feet, snarling something unintelligible from where I am standing, though it receives an angry response from the occupant of the cell. "Get out of here, you disgusting monster," the occupant growls, though no one comes out, which means I cannot see who they are.

Wary of the injured wendigo, I move closer until I can see into the cell, wondering why it attacked the occupant and who the occupant is. If this is the person that took Heather...

Behind a group of what appears to be Weres - apparently, it was not just one occupant - Heather has herself pressed against the far wall, her eyes locked on the wendigo. "Found her," it says smugly, and when I glance at it, it is showing off its teeth in a bloody grin.

When it becomes apparent that the wendigo is not just talking to itself but me, the Were zero in on me in unison, assessing the new threat. The only other female Were besides Heather steps forward suddenly, her teeth exposed in a snarl. "She doesn't belong to you, demon," the Were barks, much like the wolf she probably is. "And she's safer with us."