Death’s eyes bore into my soul, cutting me to my core, and chilling my heart to absolute zero. And yet, I felt the flame of defiance burn in my chest, thawing my fear. The wendigo’s hammering footsteps seemed to move in slow motion, pounding rhythmically like a war drum. I flexed my fingers around the barrel of my gun, feeling a guttural cry growing in my throat. The sound echoed off the hallways, reverberating through my bones, and superheating the defiance in my heart. My arms twisted backward, like a baseball batter, and I stared the wendigo directly in the eyes.

Death will not take me today.

CRACK!

My gun collided with the wendigo’s snout, throwing off the momentum of its charge. I backstepped immediately as the wendigo tumbled past me, slamming into the wall with a massive crash. Adrenaline pumped through my veins and I felt giddy. How the fuck did I survive that? My thoughts were interrupted by the wendigo growling, and attempting to disentangle its horns from the wall it had rammed into. Without a second thought, I threw my gun aside and ran in the opposite direction. The stairs were clear for the most part, but I stumbled over a piece of rubble, catching myself at the last moment and continuing my ascent on all fours.

Fear overrode my brain as I reached the top of the stairwell, and my head swiveled indecisively, trying to choose a direction. The anger-filled roar of the wendigo rocked me to my core, spurring me to choose, finally opting to go right. My headlamp bobbed as I ran, and my footsteps echoed around me, barely audible over the pounding of my heart. The path I took through the school was erratic and nonsensical, fueled by fear and adrenaline. I skidded to a stop at a dead end, catching my breath. With growing dread, I realized I didn’t even know where I was. My fingers trembled so hard I could barely pull the map out of my pocket. Of course, it didn’t help, but I couldn’t think of anything else I could do.

My arm is broken. I don’t have a weapon. I’m lost. And I have a fucking wendigo on my tail, I thought, despair threatening to overtake me. I glanced up and looked around, seeing a classroom on either side of me. The doors were closed, and I didn’t want to risk making noise, especially since I didn’t know where the wendigo—

My blood froze and my mind went blank as the roar of the wendigo tore through the school once more, echoing off the dust-ridden walls. It sounded close. Too close. Without thinking, I threw myself into the classroom to my left and slammed the door shut. I stumbled and fell to the floor, scrambling away from the door frantically, ignoring the pain in my broken arm. The sound of the wendigo’s pounding footsteps came closer and closer, and the sound of my heart racing grew louder and louder. I clamped my hand over my snout, trying to silence myself.

I stared at the door as the wendigo paused. The sound of its growling and snuffling was audible through the walls. Oh, Umbra, I thought, a horrible thought occurring to me, what if it can smell me? I prayed it couldn’t. I prayed with all my might that it would leave me be, and that I would escape unscathed with Ava.

“Kay-ron?”

My soul died in my chest.

“It is safe. Come out,” the wendigo said in an eerily close mimicry of Ava’s voice. “Let’s go home. And en-joy some, quiet. Yes?”

I clamped my ears to the side of my head as the wendigo continued trying to lure me out. Don’t listen to it. Don’t. Don’t, don’t, don’t. I tried to fill my mind with my favorite things, trying to drown out the wendigo’s bastardization of Ava’s voice. Winter. Music. Exploring. Cats.

I was so distracted by myself that I didn’t even notice that the wendigo had gone silent. My ears perked up, swiveling to try and pick up any hint of the monster’s presence. The only sound was the racing of my heart and the heaving of my breath. It seemed to be clear. Slowly, shakily, I stood up, my ears still on high alert. I crept across the room, my fingers hovering over the doorknob. As I turned it, I heard two noises:

The components of the door grinding against each other and the hinges creaking.

And an inhale and a quiet whistling noise, like knives cutting through the air.

Instinctively, I ducked. The wall in front of me was disintegrated by the sweeping claw of the wendigo. I bolted immediately, practically rubbing shoulders with the monster. Out of the corner of my mind, I could’ve sworn I saw “O. L. Wendy” tattooed into its shoulder. So that’s what Wendy means? I thought to myself as I sprinted down the hallway, the rage-filled roar of the wendigo slamming into my eardrums. Why don’t you say, “Hey, there’s a FUCKING WENDIGO!” instead?! I ducked into a classroom, cutting off my train of thought, and locked onto a weak-looking section of wall. I didn’t even bother pulling the crowbar off my belt and attacked the wall with my shoulder, ignoring the heightened pain I felt, the wall giving away slightly with each charge. The ground shook underneath my feet, giving me a burst of adrenaline, allowing me to smash through the wall finally.

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I stumbled out into a hallway; the left was open, and the right was caved in. It wasn’t even a choice. My lungs burned as I sprinted full speed, managing to avoid tripping over the various pieces of debris that littered the corridor. Behind me, I heard the cacophony of the wendigo smashing through walls to continue its pursuit of me. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimmer of light coming from the end of a hallway and I skidded to a stop, almost falling over. A spark of hope lit up in my heart, and I followed the light. The wind grew colder and it bit into my scales more as I went, and banks of snow began to appear.

I rounded the corner and shielded my eyes from the sudden brightness. Never before had I been so happy to see a blizzard as I was then. The roof was wide open, allowing snow to pour in. And then it clicked. Right below me was the basketball court, and in turn, the jet. The ground was about nine feet below me, which was about a meter taller than myself, but there was a large snowbank pressed up against the wall. Maybe the snow is soft enough to act as a pillow, slowing my fall? But what if the snow underneath is hardened, and I just break my legs either way? I fretted, the ground below me seeming to sway slightly.

The sound of the wendigo’s monstrous footsteps coming closer made my decision for me. I plummeted through the air for a split second before I sunk to my waist in the snow, my breath getting knocked out of me. Miraculously, I didn’t break anything. I crawled out of the powder, and made a beeline for the jet, climbing on top of it. Ideas swirled in my mind, each one crazier than the last.

Well—desperate times call for desperate measures, I thought, kicking the canopy of the jet until the glass shattered. I continued kicking until most of the glass had fallen away, and jumped into the cockpit, grimacing as I landed on a skeleton pilot’s lap. I began messing around with the controls, not even entirely sure of what I intended to accomplish.

“There you are.”

Dread settled over me and my fingers moved double time, flicking switches, and pressing buttons.

“You thought you could escape, no?”

I gasped in disbelief as the screen of the jet’s computer lit up. Frantically, I continued to flick switches, glancing up to see the wendigo leap down from the second floor.

“All that chase? And for what?”

The jet rumbled underneath me as I pressed a pair of buttons and switches. I squinted at the screen, which told me the thrusters had just come on. Somehow, the damn thing’s engines had survived the crash and the weather and were capable of functioning.

“To die? I knew you were foolish, but I did not think you would give up,” the wendigo growled in Ava’s voice.

I grabbed the joystick with both hands and pushed it forward all the way. The rumbling of the jet underneath me was accompanied by a whine that grew louder by the second.

“You really are weak, aren’t you? Hiding in a machine that cannot save you. You are nothing. You will not survive. It is a wonder how you are even breathing.”

“Shut the fuck up,” I growled, looking up to stare the wendigo in the eyes. The whining of the engines was approaching a roar. The wendigo paused in its tracks as if it was taken aback. “You heard me,” I yelled. “SHUT THE FUCK UP!”

“You should have died at birth,” the wendigo spat, Ava’s voice laced with so much venom I could almost feel it poisoning my bloodstream.

“And you should suck it, you shitass deer!” I roared, rage overtaking me. “If you want me dead, come and get me!” I stepped on top of the jet, the rumbling growing so intense that snow sloughed off its wings. My voice almost wasn’t audible to even myself and the heat grew behind me.

The wendigo’s claws curled, digging into the ground. It unleashed a roar that was audible even over the screaming of the jet engines and charged at me, leaping straight for the cockpit in one massive jump. At the last second, I ducked underneath the wendigo’s claws, watching its massive underbelly sail over my head. In one fluid motion, I unsheathed my knife, spun around, and stabbed it through the center of the wendigo’s front paw, nailing it to the top of the jet. The monster howled in pain as I frantically leaped off the jet.

Blistering pain ripped through my back as the wendigo’s claws tore through my coat, and I almost fumbled the landing due to blacking out. Miraculously, I caught myself and hit the ground running. I body slammed the double doors and sprinted through the school, my entire backside feeling like it was on fire. The scream of the jet could be heard even as I delved deeper and deeper into the school. I ran blindly until I found myself at the teacher’s lounge door. Pushing through, I worked my way through the winding hallways and into the student center, where I burst out in the entryway. I ran to the caved-in doorway, frantically searching for a way out—and I spotted it. Dropping to all fours, I crawled on my belly, ignoring the glass and rocks scraping at my scales.

I pulled myself to my feet, breathing heavily and stumbling away from the school, almost tripping as I descended the stairs. The blizzard howled in my ears as I waded through the snow, my gaze fixed on the storefront where we had hidden our ATV. I was about halfway across the street when something touched my shoulder.

Panicked, I turned around and almost punched Ava in the face.

“Holy fuck!” She exclaimed, flinching backward. “Kéron, what the hell happened in there? What happened to you? What was all that roaring? Where the hell is that screaming sound com-“

As if on cue, a massive explosion rocked the world, knocking Ava and I off our feet, and propelling shrapnel hundreds, if not thousands, of feet into the sky. My ears rang and I felt like my brain had gotten punched. We watched as blue fire and black smoke battled with the blizzard, getting whipped around by the powerful winds. I glanced over at Ava, and her entire body was rigid as she stared at the inferno.

“Kéron, that—that had better not be what the hell I think it is. Kéron? Hey, idiota, I’m talking… oh, fuck, what happened to you?”

Her voice sounded more and more distant, and my vision began to go all dark and blurry. Ava’s masked face hovered over me, glancing around, seemingly in a state of panic. It made me feel like I should be panicking too, but I was too tired.

Sleep sounded good. I couldn’t hear Ava, anyway.

I closed my eyes and succumbed to exhaustion.