《Insatiable》 Chapter 1 Chop¡­ The last leaf of autumn began to fall on the ground as Christopher McKibben collected firewood. He gathered as much as he could, for winter would soon be upon them, and the Appalachian wilds would be hard and unforgiving to those who were not prepared. Chop¡­ Much of Christopher¡¯s time was spent providing for his family: his wife Annie McKibben, his five year old son Elisha McKibben, and the as of yet to be born McKibben who had been in their mother¡¯s belly for several months now. Annie had a strong feeling that it was a girl, and preemptively named her Mary. Christopher bet against Annie, thinking that it would be another boy. He¡¯d name him Bobby. Chop¡­ Christopher stepped away to avoid being hit by the tree as it fell, watching as it let out a thunderous crash when it collided with the ground. Soon this year of our Lord, 1815 would end, and another chapter in the untamed American saga would continue. Christopher would take his axe and chop more wood to make the load more manageable. It wasn¡¯t like he was going to bring the entire tree over to the house. The lumber was so large that he would need the largest ox in the territory to get it, and all he had was a skinny nag that was at the last of her days. He decided to take a short break from wood cutting and sit down on a rock to drink from his water flask and take in the beautiful sounds of nature. Christopher loved it out here. He and his wife were originally from Ireland and would never regret coming to this gorgeous wilderness. The untamed majesty that was the new world. He rubbed the sweat off of his sun kissed skin and ran his fingers through his auburn hair, scratching his thick beard as he relaxed. His green eyes scanned the forest clearing above, taking a peek of the beautiful blue sky. Break time was over, and he stood to resume his work. As he lifted up his axe however, something caught his attention very suddenly. He looked around and felt strange. He soon realized what was the issue. The sound of the forest wildlife -or lack thereof- filled the air. A grave was not as silent as this place. He looked around, gripping his tool tightly. He lifted it up and waited. Suddenly his nag began to freak out, pulling at the reigns that were so carefully tied to the tree where the horse was hitched. Christopher would try to calm down the horse. ¡°Shhhh girl, shhh. It''s okay, it''s okay.¡± He gestured for the horse to listen, yet it seemed so frightened. He¡¯d never seen his horse so afraid. Eventually, the horse calmed down and sound returned to the woods once more. Christopher looked around and took a deep breath. He had the strange feeling that something had intruded into his home, as if someone unannounced just walked through his door. He sighed and resumed his work. He brought back a hefty load of firewood for his family. One thing was for sure; they wouldn¡¯t run out of firewood this year. Christopher returned home to his meager sized cabin in the woods. It was a picturesque location. The ground was covered in a multitude of leaves painted with dazzling yellows, bright reds and warm browns. The crows cawed loudly to each other high in the canopy above the little cabin. It wasn¡¯t much, but it was well made. Christopher built it with his own two hands, working for a forgotten count of weeks and the felling of an untold number of trees. It was hard and brutal work in those days, but Christopher managed. The house itself mainly consisted of a few rooms. The main room which was everything from the kitchen to living room to Christopher and Annie¡¯s bedroom all rolled up into one. Beyond that was an additional room where the children could have their privacy. Outside at a safe distance from the house so it wouldn¡¯t bombard the family with unholy noxious odors was the outhouse, all handcrafted. He brought his horse into the small stable that he had built to give the old nag some shelter away from the rain and cold. He began the tedious task of placing the large cut bits of wood in a pile next to the house for him to cut later. It was sheltered so rain and snow wouldn¡¯t seep into the wood and ruin the sole purpose for this long trek into the woods. He had to make sure that not a single piece of lumber would fall down. The way Christopher had set it up like a slightly sturdier house of cards that would fall over if too much force was used. Carefully, He placed the newer logs on the bottom in front of the old pile, trying not to cause the larger older pile to topple over. Yet as he placed a log on the row, He felt something behind him. The presence of something that slowly creeped up upon him like a mountain lion stalking its prey. He pretended to not hear the sound and continued with his work. A sly smirk came on his face as he sang an old Irish shanty. ¡°As I was going to Darby, sir, Twas on market day. I met the finest ram, sir that ever was fed upon-¡± He whirled around and grinned wickedly, grabbing the small figure and raising it up in the air, finishing the lyric of the song with a loud growling voice, like a father lion meeting its cub. ¡°-Hay!¡± The little boy he picked up giggled and laughed loudly as he was picked up and carried effortlessly. It was Elisha who had tried to sneak up on his father. ¡°Da! Put me Down, Da!¡± ¡°Not a chance ya little bugger!¡± Christopher laughed heartily as he held his son and carried him around. ¡°What''s the idea of sneaking up on me like that?¡± ¡°I wanted to surprise you, Da!¡± ¡°Aye, but you¡¯re gonna have to do much better than that.¡± He took his knuckles and rubbed Elisha¡¯s head, giving him a gentle noogie. He hoisted the small boy on his shoulder while Annie came out of the house from the middle of cleaning the dishes. Her flowing red locks of hair were like the fires of the sun, and her emerald green eyes shone brighter than any clover. Her skin was a beautiful alabaster white that had been kissed with freckles all over. Annie was the personification of Ireland in both its natural beauty and personality. The type of woman who could go toe to toe with a man. A wild and free spirited woman with an overflowing love for her family. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Oi, There you are. Dinner¡¯s just about ready, Chris. Are you done with the firewood yet?¡± Christopher shook his head. ¡°No. Just got back, love. Give me a little bit of time, alright?¡± He gave her a cheeky smile and a wink before setting Elisha down on the ground. Annie nodded and finished cleaning the bowl, having used her apron as a towel. ¡°Well, whenever you come in, Remember to wash your hands. I¡¯ll have no dirty hands at my table, you hear me?¡± She wagged her finger at him. Christopher chuckled lightly and felt a tinge of shame, for this was not the first time she had told him something and he didn¡¯t listen. That would set a bad example for Elisha. ¡°Aye, I know, I know Annie. I¡¯ll wash my hands as soon as I¡¯m done.¡± Satisfied, Annie went back into the house. Christopher patted Elisha on the back and brushed his fingers through Elisha¡¯s reddish brown hair. ¡°You best go in and see if you can¡¯t help your mother, alright?¡± Elisha ran inside and left Christopher alone. After a few more minutes of setting the wood up, he washed his hands and face, cleaning the sweat off of his brow and making him more clean. Yet as he dried himself off with a towel, he paused. He looked around and was at full alert. Once again the woods fell silent. No birds or animals. Just the sounds of himself and his family inside. He felt the hair rise at the back of his necks, not knowing what was going on. He tried to search for a sound that could lead to the source of this disturbance, yet he found nothing. He swallowed hard and waited, feeling like something was stalking him. Then, when the deafening silence would become too much, the door swung open creating a loud sound that startled Christopher. ¡°Did you wash your hands, Chris?¡± Annie asked, unaware of the difference in sound. Christopher was startled and looked at Annie. The moment she swung the door open, the sounds returned. He sighed deeply and shook his head. ¡°I did. I¡¯ll be in just one moment.¡± Annie went back inside to finish with dinner. Christopher looked around searching for whatever caused that unnatural disturbance. He finally came to the conclusion that he must have been extremely tired and imagined it. He went back inside to enjoy dinner with his family. Once the dinner table was set and everyone was seated, Christopher placed his hands together and would lead his family in prayer. ¡°Our Father who art in heaven, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory. Forever and ever. Amen.¡± ¡°Dear Lord: we thank you for this wonderful meal that has been lovingly laid before us. We thank you for your infinite mercy and wisdom. We ask only that you keep your hand upon us and that our time in winter be a merciful and brief one. Let we and the people of New Hope continue to serve you in whatever way we can. Give us the strength to overcome the coming hardship, and bless all who dine here in this room. In Jesus Christ¡¯s name: Amen.¡± They began to eat and enjoy the dinner. Christopher felt a nagging sensation in the back of his mind and looked at Annie. ¡°Annie, darling. Did you happen to see or hear anything¡­strange?¡± Annie blinked and looked puzzled at Christopher. ¡°Strange? What do you mean?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± Christopher rubbed the back of his neck nervously, feeling slightly silly over the situation. ¡°It''s just that today while I was chopping some wood, the whole forest got real quiet.¡± ¡°Well, maybe a deer was killed by a wolf.¡± Annie said in a matter of fact tone. ¡°When a predator kills an animal in the woods, the forest usually goes very quiet.¡± Christopher shook his head. ¡°No, I mean, There was this¡­¡± He trailed off. Perhaps Annie was right and he was simply overthinking it. ¡°Nah, you¡¯re probably right. Just a little bit startled is all, I suppose.¡± Annie looked at Christopher and reached over to hold his hand. A woman¡¯s intuition was never wrong, and she could feel that Christopher was upset over something. ¡°Chris, what''s wrong?¡± He shook his head and gently patted her hand, giving her a forced smile. ¡°It''s nothin, darling. Forget I said anything at all.¡± That answer left a sour taste in Annie¡¯s mouth, but she wouldn¡¯t press the issue. Once dinner was done, It would be time for bed. The family had to go to church for Sunday morning and would need to get up early. That night, Christopher would kneel at his bedside and pray to the Lord the usual prayers, though he would pray a little harder when it came to asking for the protection of his family. He felt that there was something evil in the woods. His heart couldn¡¯t shake the feeling, but felt like this private sanctuary had an intruder. Out in the woods around midnight, a wolf was limping away as fast as it could. It tripped and wined. Something would step on the wolf, causing it to yelp out in pain. With long bony arms, it used its thin stick like fingers to grab at the wolf''s jaw and force it open. The wolf yelped out in pain before its neck was violently snapped, and its jaw was ripped from the body, taking skin with it. The wolf was dead quickly after that. The horror in the woods used its dagger-like claws to rend the wolf''s flesh, ripping meat off and shoving it inside its maw frantically with an all consuming hunger. It ate the flesh greedily with every bite, yet its body somehow remained so thin. Despite being lanky and skinny with an almost skeletal frame, it was able to use one hand to rip the wolf¡¯s head right off of its body. It hoisted the head up and squeezed, blood and gore pouring from the head and into the abomination¡¯s gaping maw. It guzzled the blood as if it were the sweetest of wines. It consumed everything it could from the wolf, going so far as to break bone to consume the marrow. Everything it couldn¡¯t eat yet shoved into its mouth, it threw up in a large pellet like an owl, yet even after consuming almost an entire wolf, it still remained hungry. No matter how many wolves this thing ate, it would never be full. That was its curse. That was the price it paid for its sins. It began to climb a tree in search of its next prey. Chapter 2 That Sunday morning, church service would begin. Everyone in the town would be together to listen to the priest speak. Like the McKibbens, Father William O¡¯Finn was from Ireland, and had the fire of only the best priests, full of faith but also kindness and seeking only to be within the service of God. ¡°Yes, at that moment, Job had lost everything: he lost his family; he lost his house; he lost his own health; he lost his dignity. But even in all of that hardship brought on by the devil, did Job abandon the Lord? No. No, Job stood strong. His faith burned brighter than ever, for he knew that no matter what evil the devil or his works did, Job was still strong in his faith. And at the very end, Job was restored. His family was restored to him. Oh it would be very easy to lose faith. After all, there is so much bad in the world. It would be easy to believe that the Lord has forsaken us.¡± Father William held his hands up and smiled warmly. ¡°Ah, but being faithful is never the easy way, but it is the right way. The Lord does not break his covenants, and we must not doubt him. The kingdom of heaven stands eternal against the forces of darkness. We must stand just as defiantly against the forces of sin and evil. Though the cold winters have always been a hardship upon us, Never forget that the Lord is with us, and through him, all things are possible. There is no mountain that we can not climb. No sea we can not cross and no enemy we can not defeat. Remember what I say here today durning not just winter, but all trying times. God is with you, and your rewards will be great. Amen.¡± After church service had ended, the townsfolk would soon step out of the little building and return to their quiet day of rest. Every so often, a villager would go up to Father O¡¯Finn and thank him. ¡°That was a very good sermon, father.¡± Another would go to O¡¯Finn. ¡°You always have such a way with words.¡± They praised him. But for O¡¯Finn it was business as usual. His faith in God was strong, and he would do everything in his power to teach. The Mickibbens would go over to William and thank him personally. Christopher smiled and would pat William on his shoulder. ¡°Thank you, father. You have no idea how much that has relieved me.¡± ¡°Relieved you?¡± O¡¯Finn said with a great deal of concern in his voice as he crossed his arms and looked at Christopher. ¡°What''s been troubling you, my son?¡± Christopher shrugged and tried to brush it off as if it were a minor convenience. ¡°Oh it''s nothing, father. Just had some restless dreams. No need to be concerned.¡± William knew that Christopher would close himself off if there was something bothering him. He wouldn¡¯t do anything that would pressure him too much, but he would still come from a place of concern for Christopher''s wellbeing. ¡°I see. Well, If you need anything don¡¯t hesitate to see me. I¡¯m sure I can accommodate you for whatever you need, my son.¡± Christopher nodded and smiled. ¡°Thank you very much, father.¡± After exchanging pleasantries, business would go on as usual. New hope was a small rural town nestled in a small clearing. It was surrounded by the tall, majestic mountain range. The mountains gave the denizens of the village a sense of security and comfort. Thick trees rested on the village¡¯s borders. There was a lake nearby that was only a few miles away from the village, and was easy to access. Though these settlers were not the only ones to call this place home. West of the lake, there was a tribe of natives that called that place home. New Hope often traded peacefully with these natives. The natives received horses and other livestock as well as a handful of guns and ammunition while the people of New Hope earned protection from the natives, locations on the best hunting areas, and other odds and ends that arose from this peaceful coexistence. The tribe was related to the Cherokee, and were highly respected among the villagers. Most of the time both the tribe and New Hope would leave each other alone save for the aforementioned trade agreements. It was not exactly uncommon to see one every now and then, but when one came to trade with New Hope, it would be the talk of the town for a couple of days, as it would be for the tribe whenever one of the settlers came to them to trade. For all of their differences, New Hope and the native people were very much alike. They shared the mountainous area; ate, drank, lived and died all together in one harmonious community. Such an alliance was rare to come by in those days. For a most uneventful Sunday afternoon after church, there would be talk around town over strange noises in the woods. The sounds of wolves and coyotes screaming in the woods became the new source of gossip in town. Sure, there were screaming animals during previous nights, but not like this. Usually it would be the sound of a fox calling out for a mate, or a Mountain Lion in heat. There was a feeling in everyone''s stomach that something was not quite right. As if they could tell that the animals were screaming not out of courtship but for absolute fear. As if a theater caught fire and the entire crowd of people inside were in a panic trying to run away. Christopher would be at home. Telling Elisha a story from the old country. The story of the Dobhar-Ch¨². The Dobhar-Ch¨² was known as the ¡°King Otter.¡± It was a creature in folklore that resembled a giant white Otter with a large black cross on its back. It was said to be the size of a dog, or even bigger, and they had a taste for human flesh. ¡°And so there he was. Ter was ready to set his trap for the great otter. He hid in the bush and waited very carefully. He heard the shrieks loudly as they slowly drew closer to the clearing. He waited patiently like a thief in the night. Then, there it was! The great otter leapt out and-¡± A knock on the door interrupted Christopher¡¯s story and spooked Elisha for a moment. Christopher sighed and ruffled the boy¡¯s hair. ¡°Give me a moment, son.¡± He stood up and went towards the door and opened it. It was old man Connor. Old man Connor had been in these woods since he was a boy and one of the founding members of New Hope. It was quite the unusual sight for him to be at Christopher¡¯s cabin. Old man Connor was as ancient as they came. It was often a running joke that Connor was so old that by the time Adam and Eve were created, Old man Connor had already been gray and weary. Christopher smiled and would greet the old man warmly. ¡°Mister Connor! Well this is an unexpected surprise. What can I do you for? You need to come in?¡± Old man Connor shook his head and spoke with a gruff voice as if he had been gargling rocks since childhood. ¡°Actually, I was wondering if you can help me. Myself and O''Driscoll found something we want your opinion on. Something I ain¡¯t never seen in all my years.¡± ¡°Well that''s a first.¡± Chuckled Christopher, yet his smile dropped when he saw the grim face Connor had. Christopher cleared his throat and nodded. ¡°I-Uh, I¡¯ll tag along.¡± He went to grab his coonskin cap and his rifle. ¡°Annie?! I¡¯m goin out. I¡¯ll be right back.¡± Annie poked her head out from the laundry area outside of the house. ¡°Out? Where are you going?¡± If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Christopher pointed his thumb at Connor as he looked at Annie. ¡°Old man Connor. He wants me to check something out. I won¡¯t be gone long.¡± ¡°Oh, okay. Well, be careful, love.¡± She gave Christopher a peck on his cheek and he returned one to her before Christopher and Connor ventured off into the woods. Christopher asked repeatedly for what exactly it was that Connor and his mate found. All that Christopher would get were a few short grunts and single words that dismissed him. The old codger was always like that. He didn¡¯t believe in talking unless it was absolutely important. When Christopher and Connor arrived at the Scene, O¡¯Driscoll waved them over and shook Christophers hand. ¡°Aye, I see the old goat managed to find you.¡± It was always hard to tell where O¡¯Driscoll was looking thanks to his lazy right eye. You wouldn¡¯t be able to tell if he was looking at you or something behind the trees next to you, which would put anybody on edge in these woods. There was always something dangerous in these woods. Something that could make short work out of any fool who believed they could contend with nature. ¡°He did.¡± Christopher said confidently. ¡°So O¡¯Driscoll, what did you find?¡± O¡¯Driscoll beckoned Christopher to follow him with his index finger and led him over and pointed at the grizzly scene. Christopher held his mouth and gagged at the sight. ¡°Jesus Christ on the cross! What in God''s name?!¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± O¡¯Driscoll said flatly as he put some tobacco in a pipe and began to light it up. ¡°That''s what we want to find out.¡± What laid in front of Christopher was nothing less than an unusual and horrifying sight. It appeared to be the remains of some type of wolf or dog. All of its leg bones and ribs were broken and the marrow was sucked right through them. The skeleton of the beast was bloodied and mangled. Misshapen to the point that recognizing exactly what this creature was appeared to be a fruitless endeavor. The head was several paces away from the body and had its jaw ripped from it. The skull was cracked and missing several bits of flesh from it, yet still had a few patches of fur that clung to the body loosely. The smell of the body was ungodly. Any man with a lesser stomach would either faint or wind up vomiting where they stood. To describe the exact smell would be to describe what the smell must be like in the lowest circle of hell where Lucifer devoured traitors, defecated them out only to eat them again for all eternity. It could not be understated that the smell was the most awful thing that anyone had ever smelt before. While much of the flesh had been torn and cut away, There was a strange pile of something that at first seemed to be a large and heavy stone, but examination proved it was anything but. It was a large solid clump of fur and bone. This was most likely the source of the awful smell. It consisted of leftover hair, Bone, Blood and feces that was roughly the same size as the animal that was so brutally killed and devoured. Christopher knelt down to examine what could only be described as an oversized owl pellet. ¡°What in the hell?¡± He whispered to himself as he held his breath. O¡¯Driscoll would explain. ¡°Old man Connor and I were hunting some deer when we stumbled on the smell. Thought you might know what killed this thing.¡± ¡°Gentlemen, I have no earthly idea on what freak of nature caused this much death. Whatever this thing was, it ate everything it could shove into its mouth. Even snapped the bones and ate the bone marrow. I¡¯ve never seen an animal do this kind of killing. It ate everything: skin, hair and bones and then puked up what it couldn¡¯t keep down.¡± Old man Connor crossed himself. ¡°Mother of God¡­¡± Christopher shook his head and stood up. Whatever this thing was, He didn¡¯t believe it had anything to do with God. He looked at Connor and O¡¯Driscoll and stepped away from the carcass to get some air. He didn¡¯t want to be anywhere near the smell of that ¡°pellet¡± that reeked. ¡°I¡¯m heading back to my family. If you see anything else like this, let me know. If this thing can kill a wolf like this, it can kill a man with no problem.¡± He ventured back into the direction of his cabin as Connor and O¡¯Driscoll waved him off. The elder and the lazy eyed man looked at each other and felt a shiver up their spines. They would continue their hunt. Christopher would be alone as he walked in the woods, holding his rifle close beside him. The gun he had was a long rifle that had one shot loaded inside. Such a weapon would take a long time to load. In case he missed, all he had on his person was nothing more than a hunting knife. A quick thrust in the jugular and it would be over for most animals, if he were not obstructed by anything that is. As he walked, he stepped on a twig and it made a very loud snap noise. Once he stepped on that he realized that once again there was no sound. The all consuming silence had once again stuck out like a sore thumb and became the only thing that Christopher could focus on. His breath heightened and became more intense. Christopher was not the type of man to fear any wild beast. He had nasty scars from other animals. He encountered wolves in his time spent hunting. Yet, he never felt this afraid, like some unnatural thing was waiting just behind a rock or a tree for the perfect moment to strike. With the careful steady hand of a surgeon, Christopher pulled his rifle off of his back and began to look around quietly. If something was out there, he would put it down. He felt uneasy as time went on, slowly scanning the area with his rifle drawn. He could feel the hair on his neck slowly stand up and sweat pouring down his brow. He steadied his breathing, knowing that the biggest mistake he could make would miss. If he missed, his life would be over, he just knew it. His hands trembled as he felt like he was about to lose his edge. He continued to scan the area. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something moving. He swore that it was tall and lanky. A massive figure shrouded by shadows that stood taller than him. He swung the rifle around and placed his finger on the trigger, yet when he pointed the gun at where he thought he saw the creature, it was gone. He swallowed hard and could hear the sounds of the forest once again. He moved his finger away from the trigger and let out a sigh of relief. He felt uneasy. He must have been stressed out. That unsightly carcass must have bothered him more than he originally thought. He returned his rifle on his back and carried himself along back home. By the time Christopher returned home, Annie had finished all of the laundry work and noticed Christopher. Even from that distance she could see that something was wrong with her husband, so she went up to him. Christopher appeared to be in some state of shellshock. His hands trembled as he arrived home. ¡°Chris, what''s wrong? You look like you¡¯ve seen a banshee! What the hell did Old man Connor show you?¡± Christopher shook his head, unable to figure out how to describe what happened. ¡°I don¡¯t know what I saw. It was like an animal killing i¡¯ve never seen before. I think it would be in our best interests if Elisha stayed within the house. I don¡¯t know what''s out there¡­ but it scares me.¡± Annie frowned and placed her hand on Christophers cheek. She gently rested her head on his chest and tried to comfort him in any way that she could. She had never seen him this worried over something. It was as if whatever he saw filled him with some sort of inescapable dread. As if you found one day that the grim reaper himself was standing right behind you, and if you dared to turn around for even a single moment, then you would suffer a fate worse than death. Christopher felt that he needed to be calm in front of Elisha, and took in a deep breath once Annie let him go. He couldn¡¯t let his son worry about him or anything that was going on. Whatever stalked the woods now was something that Christopher and the other men of the village needed to worry about. He wanted his child to remain innocent, and his wife and unborn child to remain safe. He made sure that his rifle was always loaded and would be kept far away from Elisha just to be safe. The two went inside, unaware that they were being watched. Something from the woods stalked them, its antlers blending in and appeared as nothing more than gnarled tree limbs. The worst part about the thing''s existence was that it had fleeting moments of lucidity. It knew what it was and how much it suffered. Even in this moment of clarity, the hunger was unending, but it resisted for as long as it could. The large creature ran deeper into the woods while it could still think and have a mind of its own. But this moment of wakefulness would eventually end. The beast returned to its old ways once it was hungry enough. The thing was cursed in one of the worst ways imaginable. Existence was a constant pain. Had it the ability to, it would have killed itself. On many occasions when it was lucid, it tried to do just that. Death was a far better alternative to the abhorrent abomination the creature now was. It eventually realized that it couldn¡¯t take its own life. It was as if something had forbidden it to commit suicide. It committed one of the worst sins its former brothers and sisters could imagine, and was now paying the price, as if it were a literal hell on earth. Once the hunger returned the beast to its baser instincts, it sought to feed once more. It found a cave that would be a wonderful lair for it. The cave was home to a mother bear and her cubs. The black bears ¡ªif not slightly larger¡ª were roughly the same size of humans. Yet the beast towered over the bear tremendously. A fully grown black bear was around 400 to 500 pounds of muscle. The beast stood two inches over eight feet when fully erect. Not that it needed to stand so tall. Much like the wolf, the creature slaughtered the mother bear with the greatest of ease. It ravenously consumed her flesh. The creature was eternally starving, and ate the bear as viciously and as mercilessly as it always consumed. It was eating the bear while she was still alive, and even consumed her cubs. One of her cubs was swallowed whole, screaming all the way as it was shoved down its gullet. Like before, it went so far as to break the bones of the mother bear just to get at the marrow. It snapped the bones as if it were a twig with the force that would normally take ten times the strength needed to break a human¡¯s bones. After a short while, it vomited up the pellets of hair and bones. Once again, the beast was still not satisfied. It had another brief moment of sobriety and realized what it had done. It curled up in the corner and began to sob, beating the hard bony skull that was the creature¡¯s face. Once again, it lamented its existence and begged to die. A prayer that would once again go unanswered. Chapter 3 A few short days after the incidents began, the first snowflakes began to fall in the night, just before the early Wednesday morning. The ground was already coated in a thin layer of white, but over time it was destined to become thicker. The people of New Hope began to feel uneasy as the days persisted. Hunting during winter was difficult, but for every animal they killed, they would find several that had been ripped asunder and coughed up into the large pellets. The people were beginning to worry as they desperately tried to hunt. Thankfully, if hunting failed then the village could turn to old man Connor¡¯s farm. He had a few heads of cattle that could be used in emergencies. They were mostly used for dairy, but everyone knew that when winter became all the more cruel and oppressive, then you had to do everything in your power to survive. Christopher was eating his breakfast that day. Bacon and eggs with rye with a warm cup of coffee that went down his throat and soothed his body and spirit. Elisha was drawing by the fireplace. He had multiple drawings placed in his room. He used everything he could get his hands on (mostly pieces of charcoal saved from the fireplace) to draw his masterpieces. Annie sat at the opposite side of the table as she ate her meal. She suddenly perked up and looked down at her belly, making a loud gasp. Christopher looked at her with concern. ¡°Annie? Are you alright? What''s wrong?¡± ¡°Nothing darling.¡± She smiled brightly and looked up at Christopher. ¡°The baby¡¯s just kicking.¡± Christopher smiled and went over to her, rubbing his hand on her belly and feeling the baby moving around inside her. He smiled and placed his ear to her belly. She responded by gently combing her fingers through his hair. After a moment or two, Christopher stood up and checked on Elisha and his drawings. ¡°Alright boyo, what do you have today?¡± He knelt down and saw the different pieces of art on the floor. Most of it was the usual kid drawings: drawings of stick figures depicting the family; pictures of the house; pictures of animals, yet one picture stood out that alarmed Christopher. It was a mixture of the charcoal from the fireplace and some chalk of varying colors from the general store. It depicted the house from an outdoor point of view. Elisha¡¯s little face poked out from the single window. The house was at the far left of the drawing while the majority was depicting the forest. Between the tree lines was an odd shapely figure. It was taller than the house, had long gangly arms, large deer antlers and pitch black eyes. This drawing unsettled Christopher and he held it to the light to get a better look at it. ¡°Elisha, what''s this?¡± ¡°That''s the pale man, Da.¡± Elisha spoke in an innocent, unworried tone, unbothered by the sinister looking figure. ¡°The Pale Man?¡± Christopher repeated, any trace of a smile having left him as he examined the picture more closely. ¡°Uh huh. I saw him out of the window last night. He stood there looking at me.¡± Christopher wanted to calm himself down. A child¡¯s overactive imagination was as beautiful as it was unpredictable. ¡°Well-ahh¡­ if you see the ¡®pale man¡¯ again, then let your da know about it, alright?¡± Elisha answered with a short ¡°mhm¡± before returning to his carefree drawing. Christopher stood up to hand the drawing over to Annie. She covered her mouth, clearly disturbed by the image. Christopher held her hand and looked firmly in her eyes. ¡°If¡­you see something out in the woods, I want both of you to hide in the cellar for me.¡± ¡°But Christopher, it''s just a drawing.¡± She shook her head trying to reassure her husband. He held her hands tightly. ¡°Promise me, Annie. Promise me.¡± Reluctantly, Annie nodded and caressed his cheek. Striding into town were three hunters. Each carried one or two Beavers with them to sell. These men were of the Cherokee village that lived near New Hope, and had come to trade their kill for valuables. They spoke to each other as they walked into the village. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen the village so quiet before.¡± Kanuna spoke in his native language of Cherokee as the others did when they wanted to share their thoughts to each other and none of the villagers. ¡°Just because our tribe is peaceful with them does not mean they don¡¯t hold prejudices.¡± Said Degotoa: the elder of the three brothers. He always was the most calm and level headed of the three, and bailed his brothers out of trouble more than he would care to admit. Diwali, the youngest of the brothers spoke up next. He believed himself to be just as clever as the coyote, but never truly matched that level of wit. ¡°I agree with Kanuna. Something has them scared.¡± Degotoa turned to the side to look at Diwali with a disapproving glare. ¡°That''s enough. Just follow me and do what you¡¯re told. I don¡¯t want to be here any longer than I need to be.¡± The three men arrived at the butcher area who flagged them over to him. Max O¡¯Lynn smiled brightly as he saw them. ¡°Well, If it ain¡¯t my favorite hunters in the land. Got some nice beavers on ya.¡± Degotoa took charge of the situation and laid his beavers on the table in front of the butcher. His English was more forced and broken than his native tongue. ¡°Took all day to hunt. Trapped them in den. What offer?¡± Max chuckled and shrugged. ¡°Aye, not even a ¡®hello¡¯ or ¡®how do ye do.¡¯ You¡¯re straight ta business. That''s why I like ye.¡± The well trained butcher looked over all of the beavers and examined them one by one. ¡°Good catch as always. This will feed quite a few hungry mouths, I¡¯ll tell ya that. What do ye want fer them?¡± Degotoa answered quickly without missing a beat. ¡°Ammo. Medicine. Things to protect tribe.¡± ¡°Aye. Just go to the general store. Tell em Max sent ye. I¡¯ll cover any damages.¡± Degotoa immediately pushed himself away from the counter. Diwali nervously hesitated before he followed, but Kanuna stayed behind. He spoke much clearer than Degota and with a greater vocabulary. ¡°Thank you very much, good sir. Have a good day.¡± Max smiled and thanked Kanuna for the effort with a silent nod and a wink. As Kanuna returned to his brothers, Degotoa rolled his eyes and shook his head. Kanuna took offense and would speak to his brother in the native tongue. ¡°Oh I¡¯m sorry? Was that not good enough?¡± ¡°I have no idea why you would choose to degrade yourself like that.¡± Degotoa didn¡¯t look at Kanuna, instead choosing to walk to the store. ¡°And what you did didn¡¯t degrade you? You sound so angry when you speak to them. ¡®Ahh, give ammo and medicine. Protect tribe we must. Future of tribe depend on Degotoa.¡¯ That''s what you sound like.¡± Kanuna made exaggerated gestures and made an emotionless stone-like face as he mocked Degotoa. The elder brother quickly turned and gave his younger brother an angry glare that felt like daggers ready to knife him. ¡°You insult me, little brother? You are a child. You need to grow up.¡± ¡°Oh, look at you,¡¯old man.¡¯ you¡¯re three years older than me and five years older than Diwali. That does not give you the right to order us around like your servants.¡± ¡°And you have a fascination with the white men that I don¡¯t like, little cub.¡± Diwali placed his hands on his brothers shoulders and tried to get them to calm down. ¡°Easy, brothers. Easy. No need to rip at each other like starving wolves. Besides, Kanuna has a point. You need to be a little nicer to the people we are trading with.¡± Degotoa snapped his vision to Diwali for a moment and then returned to keeping an eye on where he was going. ¡°I am nice enough as it is.¡± The brothers would be here for a while in order to get their equipment. Degotoa was not a fan of New Hope -its people mainly¨C and desired only to get his business done and return to the tribe. Kanuna on the other hand had business here, and he promised himself that he wouldn¡¯t be late. Christopher went out hunting again and found a scene much like the one he saw on Sunday. The remains of a deer ¡ªor rather what was left¡ª had the familiar gag inducing smell that invaded his nose before. This had been here for a while. A swarm of flies buzzed and ate what little remained of the deer. It was the same owl pellet-like remnant that he had seen before. He looked around to see if there was any trace of the event. He examined a nearby tree that had blood stains on it. Much of the bark from the tree had been removed as if struck by something hard. He traced his hand on the tree and found it sticky. He sniffed his hand, but it didn¡¯t have the same smell as tree sap, nor did it have the same consistency. It felt like drying saliva. Something licked the blood from the tree. He crouched down to try to find some tracks and found something strange. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The creature seemed to switch between four and two legs. Even stranger was that it appeared to have two sets of feet. One set of tracks resembled that of an elk¡¯s hooves yet somehow larger. The other set appeared to be more wolf-like in nature, though something was odd about these tracks. He hovered his hand over the track to see how large it was. The paw was extremely large compared to his hand. He estimated that the paw was larger than his torso. He squinted his eyes at the track, and could see something very faint. It stopped looking like a paw print and looked more like a handprint. He stood up and ventured deeper into the woods, trying his best to take his mind off of the situation. He rubbed his arm on his brow to dry sweat coming down into his eyes. He then froze and saw something. A White tailed deer stood a fair distance away from him, and it hadn¡¯t noticed Christopher. He carefully moved closer to a tree to shield himself from the deer¡¯s view. Slowly and methodically, he pulled his rifle out and would gently aim down the sights. He had a very clear shot of the deer. It was very simple. He breathed in to calm himself and held his breath to be steady. He aimed right for the deer¡¯s heart and waited for the perfect moment to strike. Just before he could fire, the deer heard something and ran away. Christopher sighed and rolled his eyes. He was about to walk away when he heard movement behind him. He turned and saw what would be his worst fear. The beast stared at him with focus and hunger in its yellow eyes and growled at him loudly. It flexed its razor sharp claws and flashed its sharp sword like teeth. It was a mountain lion and it saw Christopher as its meal. Christopher responded the best way he knew how. He pointed the gun at the animal and pointed the trigger. Click¡­ He blinked, frozen in place and a cold sweat running over his body. The rifle misfired. He saw the cougar¡¯s unimpressed glare staring back into his soul, and Christopher could swear he heard himself screaming violently as he would be torn limb from limb. He slowly backed up and prepared to make his exit, but the large cat kept getting closer to him. It hisses loudly and let out an ear piercing shriek as the hair on its back stood. It positioned itself and would be mere moments away from pouncing upon Christopher. The mountain lion was just about to leap when an arrow came flying out of nowhere and hit the cat in its chest. The cat fell to the ground and writhed, kicking and screaming before falling limp, dead from the heart shot. Christopher realized he had held his breath and finally took in some much needed air before looking to his savior. ¡°Now that''s the second time you owe me your life, brother wolf.¡± Kanuna lowered his bow and walked over to Christopher. Christopher smiled in shock and surprise. ¡°Kanuna! You son of a bitch!¡± The two men shook hands and hugged it out. Christopher pulled away and shook his head in disbelief. ¡°What the hell are you doing here?¡± ¡°Saving you, among other things. What''s wrong, you¡¯re not getting old on me, are you?¡± ¡°Alright, smart ass.¡± Christopher gently punched Kanuna¡¯s shoulder before looking over the mountain lion kill. ¡°Good shot as always. Right through the heart. Guess that means it''s yours.¡± ¡°Oh please, my only reward for this is that your debt to me has just been raised, old friend. Next time, bring a bow and arrow with you. They don¡¯t jam.¡± Christopher shook his head and nodded, hoisting the cougar up on his back and carrying it with him with medium effort. He strained for a moment or two before walking towards his home. ¡°I don¡¯t owe you for that other time, remember? I had that bear completely under control.¡± Kanuna chuckled and crossed his arms, giving Christopher a sly and cocky smirk. ¡°Oh sure, you clearly had the bear under control. Tell me, how is that bite scar treating you? How about the large claws on your legs?¡± ¡°You made your point. I was wanting some deer, but I guess we¡¯ll be having mountain lion stew for the next few days.¡± ¡°And you will make sure to use every part of the animal, will you not?¡± Kanuna said as he tilted his head downwards and looked at Christopher¡¯s face. ¡°Yes yes. I¡¯ll use every part of it and give the damn cat an honorable burial for nearly ripping my throat out.¡± ¡°Good. So how is your wife doing?¡± ¡°Near the final days of being pregnant with weird food cravings and mood swings. How do you think she¡¯s doing?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know, that''s why I asked.¡± ¡°You still haven¡¯t spoken to Ayita? She¡¯s not going to wait around for you forever, you know?¡± ¡°No, she¡¯s¡­well. I¡¯m not good enough for her.¡± Christopher stopped in his tracks and turned to Kanuna. ¡°Not good enough? Kanuna, you just shot a mountain lion and killed it in one go and didn¡¯t show any hint of fear. You¡¯re more than qualified.¡± ¡°It''s not that. Her father¡­ he disapproves of me.¡± ¡°Disapproves? Why on God''s green earth would he disapprove of you?¡± Kanuna looked Christopher directly in the eyes and stared blankly into his gaze. In that moment Christopher understood that Kanuna¡¯s relationship with him was what caused the animosity. ¡°...Oh. Well, ah¡­ I think you should forget what that old blighter thinks and just do what makes you happy.¡± ¡°I-I can¡¯t just sweep her in my arms and carry her off. We would get disowned!¡± ¡°Look, you like this girl, don''t you?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°She likes you, yes?¡± ¡°I think so¡­¡± ¡°Then what''s the issue?¡± ¡°What¡¯s the issue? She¡¯s the chief¡¯s daughter! I would bring shame to her and her entire family!¡± ¡°You¡¯d stand unashamed under the eyes of God.¡± Kanuna rolled his eyes and grumbled. ¡°Oh here we go again.¡± Christopher began to walk towards his destination again and moved the heavy mountain lion on his other shoulder to give the first one a break. ¡°Yes, here we go again. Look, forget what your chief says, take the girl, come to the church and get baptized, and then both of you get married here.¡± ¡°And then I truly emulate your God when her father comes and nails me to a cross.¡± ¡°Just a suggestion~.¡± Kanuna grumbled and followed him all the way to Christopher''s house. Chris made the entire thing sound oh so simple. There were hundreds of years of tradition and practice to think about. How could he hope to even consider brushing all of that aside? He grumbled and would go inside to the house, being welcomed by Annie. Old man Connor was working on his carpentry in his barn. He wanted a brand new table and would craft it himself. Even in his decrepit old age, he was still very skilled with his tools. He stepped away from the table and sat down, becoming tired more quickly as he went on throughout the years. He took a rag out of his pocket and dried his balding head. He opened up his waterskin and took a big drink of water before exhaling and leaning his head back. He heard a strange noise coming from outside. It sounded like the cry of an elk, but distorted. Like something trying to pretend to be an elk but fails. Its screams were warbled and fluctuated in their pitch. One might even hear other animals screaming in that horrible roar. He went outside of the barn and tried to get a look at what was making that noise. He scanned through the entire woods as far as the eye could see, yet he found nothing. It couldn¡¯t have been far, but he had no visual on where the noise was coming from. He marched over to his house to grab his rifle, running as fast as the old man could physically be capable of. In the house, he grabbed his rifle and began to load it in the painstakingly slow method. He started by pouring a small portion of black powder into a small pan on the rifle. The hammer of the rifle had a bit of flint attached to it, and that would strike and go into the pan, the little sparks igniting the powder and firing the weapon. He gently loaded the right amount of black powder into the muzzle. Too much and the rifle would be nothing more than a hand grenade. Too little and the led muzzleloader ball wouldn¡¯t travel far. Once the powder was placed inside, a small piece of cloth was placed into the barrel. He pulled the ramrod off of the gun and rammed the ball and piece of cloth into the very bottom of the barrel as hard as he could. With all of that done, all he needed to do was pull the hammer back from half cock to full cock and the gun was ready to fire. Connor could not only do all of this quickly, even in his old age, but in his youth he would be able to fire four times in one single minute and could even do so on horseback. He stepped out of his house with his fully loaded rifle and peered out. All he could see was the white of the snow and the darkened color of the trees. He took a deep breath as he tried to follow where the noise was coming from. The screaming had not ceased during all of the time he went into the house to load his rifle. The noise stopped abruptly, and everything became quiet. No animal noises could be heard whatsoever. All Connor could hear was the sound of his own breathing. He saw something moving amid the snow. It was just as white and blended in with the surrounding. He couldn¡¯t get a good look at the creature and lost sight of it as quickly as it first appeared. He kept his finger off the trigger until he was sure that he had the beast in his sights. He gripped his rifle tightly, falling back into the memories of his past as a soldier. It was then that he saw it. His eyes widened and he could feel the all consuming, inescapable dread washing over him. The only reason he could see the creature now was that its hands and mouth were stained with the blood of a deer. It ravenously consumed the deer and licked its bloody fingers. The beast was pure white save for its horns. Its antlers were gnarled and had the same color and appearance of tree branches. It was inhumanly tall, and the very sight of it repulsed him. Connor felt the tinge of fear in his heart but steadied himself. He had faced the horrors of war, and this thing was something not of this world. To Connor, this thing was a demon. A spawn of Satan that needed to be slain. He took aim directly for the creature''s heart and fired. The shot rang out into the woods like thunder and punched a golf ball sized hole into the chest of the beast. It dropped its meat and let out a loud screech, yet still lived. It roared loudly and looked around. Connor blinked and saw that the creature was not only still alive, but angered, and it saw him. Connor ran deeply into the house and locked the door. After making it only a few feet from the door, a large arm burst through the wall and started searching for Connor. The old man screamed and ran quickly, going down to the basement of his home and locking the door. He nearly tripped down the stairs as he struggled to get down. He heard the beast ripping his home apart. He looked around in his basement and tried to find a hiding spot. His aged eyes spotted an old wooden barrel and knew it was his salvation. Connor dove into the barrel and shoved the lid over it, and then punched a cork out from the side of the barrel, giving him limited access. As the creature rampaged throughout the house, The lights from the cellar grew dim and the lantern went out. After a while, the door to the cellar was thrown open and cast aside, tumbling down the steps of the basement. Connor held his breath, keeping his hand over his mouth as he waited to see the creature. He saw it slowly crawling down the stairs, but could only see its darkened silhouette. It crawled around and tipped over tables looking for Connor. He went on the ground on all fours and sniffed. It growled as it licked the ground. It was so hungry that it was torture. So terribly hungry. It dragged its tongue all around the room, hoping for just a little taste of the old man. The creature stared at the barrel, and the old man whimpered lightly. Its large hand went over, getting ready to try to pry the lid off. The old man could see his life flashing before his eyes. The hand drew closer to the barrel. It would be all over in just a moment. Then, the most unlikely sound came. The cows mooed. The beast stopped and lifted its head up as the cattle made their distressed noises. The monstrous beast roared loudly and charged up the stairs and went outside. Connor could hear the cattle being slaughtered, screaming loudly as the beast tore into them viciously and mercilessly. Connor covered his ears, trying not to hear his cattle being butchered so cruelly yet he dare not make a sound or sudden movement. He whimpered lightly as the cattle slaughtering lasted for a small eternity. After the last cow was killed, a great and heavy silence filled the air. Connor waited patiently, thanking God that the senseless violence had ceased. His ears were nearly pierced by the loud, guttural cry of the beast and heard it gallop away from his home. Yet he dare not get out of the barrel. Not yet. What if the creature came back? What if it was only trying to trick him? So many questions arose. So he simply stayed within the barrel, cowering in the dark like a frightened child. He placed his hands together and mumbled a prayer. ¡°The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me into the paths of righteousness for his name¡¯s sake. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil¡­ I will fear no evil¡­ I will fear¡­no¡­¡± Chapter 4 The town was worried after old man Connor hadn¡¯t been seen in a couple of days. Christopher and several other men were tasked with checking up on the old man. Each man prayed that the old man had not met an untimely death down a flight of stairs or if a cow got angry and attacked him. They were not expecting the utter ruin that was his house. To them, it appeared that the house was torn up by a terrible storm. It wasn¡¯t until they saw all of Connor¡¯s cattle having been torn apart that they began to fear the worst. The cattle were killed just as the other animals had before. They were ripped to shreds as if a butcher had gone mad and hacked the animals to pieces. Rather than pellets scattered around the farm, a single large pellet was left on the ground, just as foul smelling and just as disturbing as the others had been. At that point the men believed that Connor was dead, yet Christopher wouldn¡¯t give up hope without some evidence. Though he was worried that he would find Connor in the same state as the cattle. They ventured further into the ruined house. Nothing remained of his home. Everything he had was trashed or broken. He had memorabilia from before the American revolution and now most of it was torn to shreds. Christopher managed to find the cellar door and pry it open, calling his fellows to his side and then descended down the darkened flight of stairs. Luckily, one of the men had a lantern on his person and used it to guide Christopher and the rest down the flight of stairs. They found themselves in the ruined basement that smelt of death. They noticed a rotting stink in the basement and feared the worst. Christopher checked every hiding spot he could find until he came upon the barrel. As the others called out for Connor, Christopher moved his hand closer to the lid of the barrel. He placed his hand and moved it. Opening the barrel, his heart sank when he saw Old man Connor. He was dead. The stress of the ordeal he went through had frightened him to the point of death. They fished his body out of the barrel and laid it on the ground. Rigamortis had set in and his body was as stiff as a board. His face was frozen in a state of pure primal panic. One of the men crossed himself over the sight of Connor. When pulling the old man out of the barrel, Christopher noticed something. Now that the body was out of the barrel, he peered inside. In his frightened delirium, Connor wrote a message. Christopher¡¯s heart skipped a beat when he read it. ¡°The Devil is pale.¡± It had been drawn in blood. Connor had ripped off his own fingernail to write his message. There was nothing more to do here besides take Connor back to the town. The entire town came to mourn Connor. Despite his abrasive personality, he had a heart of gold, and was the last remaining founder of the village. They placed him in a pine box and thought that it would be for the best that Connor not be seen by the children, so the box had been nailed shut. Father O¡¯Finn read from the bible as he presided over the funeral. ¡°And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying ¡®Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.¡¯ And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.¡± About that time, Kanuna and his brothers had entered the town to deliver a stag to Max, only to see the funeral take place. Kanuna went over to see who had passed away and found Christopher with his family. He whispered to Christopher, not wanting to disturb the funeral. ¡°Christopher? What happened?¡± Christopher kept his head low. He looked at Kanuna with sorrow in his eyes and a long frown on his face. ¡°Kanuna¡­It''s old man Christopher¡­He¡¯s gone." Kanuna turned pale at the mention of Connor¡¯s death. He looked down and felt his heart sink. ¡°Connor? Oh¡­oh I am so sorry, my friend.¡± Christopher placed his hand on Kanuna¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I¡¯ll explain what happened after the service is over. You¡¯re welcome to stay at my place.¡± Kanuna lowered his head and nodded, stepping away to inform his brothers over what happened as Father O¡¯Finn finished speaking the verse.¡± ¡°¡®-and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.¡¯Most of you knew him as ¡®Old man Connor,¡¯ but Connor Matthews was a pillar of this community. His faith in our lord was true, and it led him to help found this village we have. Without Connor, none of this would be here, and we owe Connor a great debt that we can not possibly repay. We knew that this day would come, yet even then we could not be fully prepared for the utter loss our community has been dealt with.¡± Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°If ever anyone needed a helping hand, mister Connor was there. If someone had a question that only the wisest amongst us could answer, Connor was the first man to point towards. His loss is a heavy blow to our village, yet his memory will live on in each and every one of the lives Connor touched. We must not shed tears, for Connor is not dead. No! He is beside the father, where he has been renewed, and everlasting joy has been awarded to him. I¡¯d like to close this with a short prayer.¡± Father O¡¯Finn bowed his head, and everyone else copied him. ¡°Dear lord, give us the strength to continue our journey through life without mister Connor by our side. We pray that he is with you and that he can guide and protect us from beyond. His absence will be felt as the winter has only begun. Please Lord, protect us in our hour of need. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.¡± After the service, everyone began to leave one by one. Christopher took Kanuna to his home where everyone would sit at the table and discuss the nature of Connor¡¯s death. ¡°And we found the cows all¡­tore up like the others.¡± Kanuna shook his head and drank a small tin cup of coffee. ¡°All five cows?¡± Christopher nodded solemnly. ¡°All. Five. Cows.¡± Kanuna swallowed hard, feeling rather sick. He looked away from Christopher for a moment or two in order to process the situation. He rubbed his hand over his mouth nervously and breathed in deeply before exhaling. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me about this¡­thing?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t want to discuss it in front of Annie or Elisha. Right now that doesn¡¯t seem to be the main issue. This thing is responsible for Connor¡¯s death, and I want to know what.¡± Kanuna took another sip of coffee as Annie was busy taking care of Elisha to spare him from the grizzly talk. ¡°I see¡­ What are your plans now?¡± Christopher shrugged and bit his lower lip. ¡°Honestly I have no idea. I¡¯d say hunt this thing and kill it, but I have no idea where to look or even what it is I¡¯m hunting.¡± Kanuna thought for a moment and scratched his head. ¡°Have you ever seen it?¡± ¡°No¡­¡± The situation seemed hopeless. It was like fighting a ghost in every aspect of the phrase. Then, Christopher had a sudden epiphany as if lightning had just struck his brain. ¡°But I think I know who did.¡± He stood up and looked over to the side where Annie was. ¡°Annie darling, can you please get Elisha¡¯s drawing real quick?¡± She nodded and went into Elisha¡¯s little area and brought the paper over to Kanuna for him to look at. Christopher leaned back and sipped some coffee. ¡°My son said he saw him out in the woods. Called him ¡®the pale man.¡¯ Has anyone of your people seen something like this before?¡± Kanuna studied the drawing very closely. His blood ran cold at the sight of it, and his heart pounded in his chest, almost threatening to explode out of his body. ¡°...Kanuna?¡± Christopher looked at his friend with great concern. His voice snapped Kanuna out of his daze and he shook his head. ¡°I have a small idea as to what this thing is¡­ We must confirm this with my father. He will know what it is and what to do.¡± Christopher nodded and cleared his throat. The journey would take much of the day tomorrow, so they would rest at the cabin that night. Later that day, several Cherokee children were doing as all children are wont to do. They ventured far away from home to play their games, pretending to be great heroes and terrible monsters. One little girl ventured too far from the rest of her friends in a bid to play a hiding game and got lost. She wandered through the woods. ¡°Hello? I don¡¯t want to play anymore. I want to go home¡­¡± Speaking in her native language, she called out for help until she reached the mouth of a cave. She tried to peer into the inky black darkness of the large hole, made even larger by her smaller size. It was as if the earth had a large gaping maw ready to swallow her whole. She stepped back for only a few inches when she heard something. A strange, lonely sound from deep within the cave. A sound that didn¡¯t frighten her at first. Rather, it inspired pity. It was the aching sobs of something inside. The girl¡¯s kind heart gave way and she stepped forward and listened to the crying. Every instinct in her body told her to run away and find her place home. To forget about this place and never return. She should have done exactly that, but children are among the most curious of creatures right alongside cats. She couldn¡¯t help but say one word. A simple word, but one that sealed her fate the moment it''s utterance escaped her lips. ¡°H-Hello?¡± The thing inside heard her. It turned and sniffed the air. It smelt something familiar: something that even in its ancient age had not forgotten about. It smelt her blood. It smelt the blood of her ancestors. Human nature ¡ªand the evils thereof¡ª is universal: it doesn''t matter where people are from; who they worship; and what exactly the type of circumstances arise, people are capable of committing the worst evils imaginable across all nations, faiths and races. The girl was ignorant of the kind of things her ancestors did long ago when her people first found themselves in what would be known as America. The creature however knew. It knew firsthand the kind of cruelty her forefathers were capable of. It was a victim of that type of cruelty. And it was enraged. The girl quickly heard the sounds of thundering footsteps as the beast charged at her, and the final thing she heard was the beast''s painful, mournful cries of vengeance and hunger. A hunger that it blamed her people for causing. Chapter 6 Hunger. That''s all that it felt. Endless, mind numbing hunger. While it did have its brief moments of lucidity, they were only just that: brief. Any form of hatred it felt for the little girl was gone now that it could eat. Much like the others, it broke the small bones to get at the marrow. Yet this was a small portion and left it dissatisfied. Then again, it was always dissatisfied. Nothing could ever fully sate its hunger. Even if it were to eat a hundred little girls: a thousand; a million little girls, it would still not sate it. It was hunger made flesh. It was the personification of famine. The hunger that should not be. It took its long sharp claws and licked the blood off of them, trying to get every single morsel off. When the beast ate, it was content. If it could continue to shovel hoards of food down its mouth, it would have the vain hope that it could get full. Yet there was not enough food in the world to satiate the hunger of the beast. Its punishment would never allow it to have that peace. Divine punishment is often attributed to a situation like the one it suffered. When we think of such a punishment, we think of Sisyphus who tried to cheat death and as a result must spend all of eternity pushing a boulder up a hill only to see it fall down again and watch all of his hard work roll away. There are plenty of Divine punishments that can be found in the bible. Lot''s wife disobeyed the order to not look at Sodom and Gomorrah as the cities faced God¡¯s wrath, and was turned to stone as a consequence. Cain was cursed to walk the earth watching his own children murder each other to understand how God felt when Cain murdered his brother Able. Even in the beginning when Adam and Eve ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they were forever punished and doomed all of mankind to die. But perhaps the divine punishment the abomination would feel a close kinship to would be that of Tantalus of Greek mythology. Tantalus and the creature shared the same cause for their punishment as well as a similar outcome. Tantalus murdered his son Pelops and served it to the Gods. As punishment, Tantalus was placed in a pit where there was a tree of fruit and the pit filled with water. He was given a ravenous hunger and thirst. Every time he tried to eat the tree, it would always be snatched away from him as the tree stretched higher. Every time he tried to lower his head and drink, the water that filled his pit would drain. He would always be so close and always too far, never again quenching his hunger or thirst. The beast felt like this every single day since it committed its terrible sin. Sometimes people do something so awful, so unspeakably evil that Hell can not simply wait to claim the sinner. Sometimes Hell comes to them. And whether you chose to believe in it or not, Hell is a real place, and it''s insatiable. The creature still hungered, and it moved on to find another meal. It was starving; the pain it felt in these moments was agonizing. It was in a state of constant misery and pain, only held back as it shoved food into its mouth, and yet when food was given to it the satisfaction the meat gave it lasted for a fraction of a second. It was like the most vicious kind of addiction. One would be hard pressed to imagine that the loathsome creature was once human. In a time when the first men came to what would later be called America, this thing was once a man himself. It was an age that most people can not even remember: when the people were only recently one people before they went their separate ways; when the land was young and barely had any men on the dirt; a time when myth and history were the same thing. It remembered that it once had a family and a thriving people. But there was a terrible winter, and desperation brought people to dark places. The reason why God forbade Adam and Eve from eating from the tree of knowledge was that the tree granted them the knowledge to know what good and evil were. Since then, man has had the ability to know the difference between good and evil and twist the meanings. We¡¯ve all been there, have we not? We justified our actions despite knowing that they are wrong. Perhaps you had to lie to someone because you believed that telling them the truth would be more painful to them. Maybe you are a businessman who goes down a dark and terrible path of ruining other people¡¯s lives because when you started, you were trying to provide for your family. Perhaps you fought in a war and told yourself that the enemy were nothing more than monsters ¡ªthe type you tell your children to be afraid of at night¡ª and seek to slay them while your enemy says the same thing about you. It''s easy to point at your actions and say that they¡¯re not as bad as someone else''s. Afterall, you¡¯re the protagonist of your own life story, are you not? Such was the case for the unnamed tribe that envied the creature''s former people. They had suffered greatly in the winter. When the unnamed tribe saw its people, they were envious. Its people had plenty of food while the unnamed tribe had contended with the winter and lost. They were starving and desperate. Like many scenarios, they began to rationalize what they had to do. Who could blame them? It was either the unnamed tribe or this wealthy tribe that had plentiful food. They rationalized that the people were greedy and selfish. They claimed that there was more than enough food for both tribes while in truth there was only enough for one. Desperate people do desperate things, but the unnamed tribe took things too far. They didn¡¯t just raid the village, they slaughtered everyone. It was a surprise attack early in the morning, and all of the people were slain while still in their beds. Their tents lit on fire and their screams echoed in the night. Only one of the people survived. He survived by pretending to be dead, laying among the corpses of his friends and family. The unnamed tribe left and never spoke about the evils again. The tribe they killed would never exist, and never had existed. Eventually some of them split off into multiple branches and evolved into something new. One of those tribes became the Cherokee. The Cherokee had no knowledge of any of this. In fact the unnamed tribe and the Cherokee are so different that it would be like trying to compare apples to a lizard rather than an orange. At least an orange was still a fruit. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. When they were gone, the man who would become an abomination tried to survive for his people. He promised his family that he would live so that the memory of his people would live on. Unfortunately for him things grew from bad to worse. The winter would get harsher with each passing day. At first he tried to hunt, yet many of the animals had fled and hid away for the winter. The ones that he managed to find, he tried to kill but failed. He wasn¡¯t the best hunter, and it showed. Every failed hunt was met with either a near miss or interrupted by something more intimidating than himself. He had no idea how to properly fish with a spear, and the raiding tribe took away the nets for their own uses. He tried digging under the thick layer of snow just to eat the grass like a common deer, yet just as quickly vomited it up. He held out hope for someone, anyone to help him. He wandered out of the village ¡ªnever straying too far¡ª to find some food, yet all of his attempts were in vain. The hunger simply kept growing and it became more unbearable with each passing moment. He held on for as long as he could, but his mind soon began to slip. He could hear the voices of his loved ones calling to him and telling him to eat. They told him it''s what they wanted. On the final day, it was so terribly cold and he was so hungry his stomach had rebelled against him. He began to waste away and became frail and skeletal as if he were dead already. He couldn¡¯t take it anymore. With what wood he had left, he took an arm from one of the victims. Ironically the winter cold had preserved the food long enough. He cooked it as one would have cooked a freshly caught fish. Once the task was done, he held the severed arm in his hands. The smell was so tempting to him. Freshly cooked meat right in the palms of his hands, yet he hesitated. He could feel his mind reeling back at the horror he was about to do. The shame he would feel over the evil he would commit in this act of desperation. He had this one chance to rid himself of the foul thing once and for all. To throw the arm away and resolve himself to this fate. Yet in the end, the hunger won out and he took of the fruit thereof and did eat. It filled him and warmed his belly. He could live. But what he didn¡¯t know is that he was dead already the moment that cut of meat slithered down his throat. It was a gradual change. At first he only ate when he was hungry, eating enough until his body got better. Yet he would get hungrier sooner and it took more to fill him up. At night when he slept he felt as if his brain were about to shatter his skull like an egg and crawl out of his head. The pain he endured was monstrous. He would slam his head on rocks just to rid himself of the pain or pass out, but be unable to kill himself. He was already banished from death at that point. The hunger continued to grow until it was all that he could feel. He decided that it was a waste of time to cook the food and ate it raw, ripping the flesh from bone with his teeth. It saved time in what would be spent in eating. His skin turned pale, yet the cold affected him much less now. The gnawing hunger became his only concern. His body twisted and contorted. The snapping of bone and the ripping of flesh brought on debilitating pain, yet the hunger was even worse than anything. Some of his flesh began to necrotize and came off like peeling a banana, yet even this was like a warm summer¡¯s kiss compared to the ravenous hunger. His fingernails fell off one by one and were replaced by talon-like claws. His bones stretched unnaturally long like pulling the threads of a tapestry until the entire thing became undone. All of this took the course of months on his own, never realizing what he was turning into. Around the final months it looked as if something were wearing his skin like a cheap mask. His face was taut like a drum as something was prepared burst through his face. When he tried to eat a leg, his lips got in the way, so he simply ripped them off of his face and ate them along with the leg. Eventually his jaw split from his chin and up to just under where his ears were. It was a new mouth that had come to replace the old mouth. The old human mouth was small with obsolete teeth that were unable to rip flesh from bone as effectively. This old mouth would morph into the creature''s nose and resembled that of a skeleton¡¯s nose hole. The new mouth was wider and rows of teeth that would fill a wolf with envy. It could open wider and put more food into its maw without trouble. His legs broke and fixed themselves to be digitigrade like that of a wolf. When he stood fully erect they were straight like a man, and he could stand tall, but he found that it was easier to switch between two feet and four limbs. At long last the antlers breached through the skin of the forehead and adorned on its brow like an eldritch crown. Its old eyes simply fell out of the sockets and were replaced by new eyes that were sunken into the eye holes. They could see things more clearly, especially at night. The skin on its face hardened and became bone, the only trace of its human face became a warped reflection. It picked up what was left of its old eyes and consumed them too. What was left of the lone survivor was buried deep within the back of the creature''s mind. It would be forced to witness the horrors of its wretched existence every once in a while. It was a constant losing battle between what remained of the man¡¯s soul and the all consuming hunger that ravaged his body. Physically any trace of humanity was gone save for the vaguely humanoid shape. It was like a demon was wearing human skin in order to mock humanity; to point at its simpering apes that God created and laugh at them for their own hubris and stupidity. Once the last bits of food were gone, it tried to break the bones to eat the marrow, yet it found nothing. It wandered off into the woods and caused misery to the rest of the land. It consumed everything that wandered across its path. It devoured beasts whole and coughed up what it couldn¡¯t eat. It wandered in the forest and ate everything it could just to rid itself of the endless hunger. It never aged and eventually found itself in the woods near New Hope. The village was only the latest victim in this long line of savage hunger that feasted upon the fear of its victims. Over the years that it lived, it gained a new name. It was not the first of its kind, but it was an ancient creature that had many tales told about it. A name that stuck into the minds of the natives forever more. Given the unique languages throughout the tribes there were numerous spellings of it, yet many of them had the same name. One word was the name of the beast. One word. Wendigo.