Cold. It's so freaking cold. Ethan and Wendy were used to being chilly, constantly moving from one safe house to the next meant they got used to the cold. Winters were the hardest but they'd always huddled together. As a family.

Trudging through the high stream, their body temperatures had dropped. Rain from above, the river around them, and the hint of a cool fall morning made their breaths visible in the air. Ethan and Wendy shivered with each gentle shift in the wind. We need to get warm.

The two had walked through the river all night, slowly to keep the noise down. They ventured deep enough so they could swim downstream if they attracted too much attention. Wendy often stumbled and he’d have to pull her back to her feet. The few times he'd fallen, he had to lift himself back up. Each time it was a little harder.

“I'm cold.” Wendy's teeth chattered, barely enough for him to hear among the steady rainfall. Ethan snapped his head to her and brought a pale dirty finger to his lips.

Too many times she'd spoken when she shouldn't. Too many times they'd had to hunch down in the water and wait for a moment to be sure they were safe.

They continued on for a short while longer until the river started to deepen along the banks. After a few feet, the steep slope brought the water up to Wendy's chin. Any deeper and she can’t stay up.

The current was strong, tugging on their clothing and against the back of Ethan's legs.

“Come on,” he whispered to Wendy, pushing her up onto the bank. The water level had risen and where the water went wide the banks were almost too steep to climb. But despite the struggle, they made it onto the muddy grass.

“I'm hungry,” Wendy whispered, but Ethan shushed her. “Do you know where we're going?”

“Shut up,” he hissed.

She frowned and her fingers tensed in his hand.

“I'm sorry, but you have to be keep-”

The grass rustled. His hand clasped over her mouth. They waited; one, two, he counted to three when the wet groan rumbled. It wasn't near them, at least, but goosebumps lined his arms and skipped across to his sister’s skin.

“Run,” he whispered.

They scrambled to firmer ground, using their free hands to push the tall grass aside. The sound came from behind them, and he knew the smart thing to do was quietly hide and move away from it. But panic nagged in the back of his mind and tugged his sister on. He couldn’t just stay still and wait again.

After a few minutes he was breathing hard and she was lagging behind with soft gasps. He pulled her along but she couldn't keep up, her smaller legs stumbling over the smallest obstacles in the grass.

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Wendy tripped and squealed a scream in shock.

He froze. It’s got her, he thought but Ethan quickly learned his error. She’d tipped on no more than a small clump of dirt and grass. He freed her from the mound and motioned for Wendy to stay still.

They waited under the line of the grass.

Nothing but rain whispered back.

Did they not hear it? He knew her cry had been so loud for him, right next to his head, he assumed it carried a distance. But nothing moved and the rain continued to shroud the world in the din.

When nothing moved around them, he looked over his sister’s face. Wendy’s eyes were red, her lips pressed tightly together. He thought it fear until he touched her ankle and she whimpered in pain.

Ethan cursed in his head. He wiped the rain from his eyes and poked his head up over the grass looking around them.

“Get on my back,” he said.

Wendy wrapped her arms around his neck. She wasn’t big, but she didn’t weigh nothing. Tired, hungry, and frigid, carrying her was like carrying half of himself. Each step he took was slippery at best and after running and hiding for ten minutes he felt ready to collapse.

It’d been quiet since her scream so Ethan stopped for a breather. The waist-high brush was made of small bushes, tall dying grass, and old reeds. It gave them something to kneel behind.

“I'm sorry,” she whispered between sniffles.

“It's not your fault.” He put his hands on her shoulders. “It’s okay. We’ll be okay.”

The wind shifted, and the grass stalks turned in towards them. The smell wafted and sucked in through his nose, the sickening stench of flesh left out to rot

Wendy froze. Her tired guilt morphed into terror, her eyes wide and unblinking. Ethan’s heart thundered and he pulled his sister down into a crouch, a hand clasped over her mouth.

The lumbering body swashed through the brush clumsily, its hands lashing out at the tall grass with a slow rage. It made its way to nowhere in particular, seemingly distracted by the tallest clumps of grass.

It hasn't seen us.

But that hadn't occurred to his sister. Her hand tightened around his as she tried to pull him to his feet, her mouth opening.

No! He wanted to scream but the word caught in his chest.

“Run, Ethan!”

The living voice turned the wendigo in their direction. Its face had decayed beyond recognition, the eyes gone but ears still perceptive. Without much choice, Ethan was on his feet and running, running as hard as he could while pulling his sister.

The creature hobbled after them.

The first time he looked back there was just the one stumbling forward. When he looked back again, three creatures had joined it and more seemed to creep from the grass as if sprouting from the mud. They stumbled, dragged, ran, and fell after them and the sound of their feet in the mushy underbrush.

The first dawn light was coming up and Ethan could see a bridge cut across the valley. If we can climb up it we should be okay…

Running for what he was sure would be salvation he was faced with the sight of at least ten wendigos feeding on one another in a pile. He stopped dead in his tracks and fingers shook in his sister's hand.

The wendigos turned to fresh meat.

Ethan launched for the river and they dropped into the quick current. As they crawled out the other side, the creatures overcame the primal fear of drowning Ethan had hoped would save them.

Ahead the bridge had collapsed on the north side, leaving a heap of rubble that piled high to the road above. In the rain, it was a slick mess of cement and metal that without hesitation Ethan and his sister ran for.

“Climb up. Hurry.” He didn’t care how loud he was.

Every few feet of the climb he heard more of them crashing through the water. Let the river kill them all, he hoped.

Twice Wendy looked back but he barked at her to keep climbing.