Twenty Five
1
Abbey watched the shrine tremble and crumble around her, as if it were about to split in two, and something told her she needed to go within the shrine, though she had no idea what. She looked about her, taking in all of the shrine, its stone floor, the large rock pedestals and columns, the structures like mountains, the pits around the edges with stairs that led to who knows where, and the glowing orb in the center. The orb seemed to be calling out to her, beckoning her to come closer and take it in her hands.
She stepped inside, and immediately the dark powers of the place began to corrupt her being.
The wendigowak around her looked on with interest and laughed.
*one*
*us*
*flesh*
*not long*
She heard the beasts talking around her, hissing, and as she entered the shrine knowledge seemed to fill her immediately and she knew all about them, their brutal and ugly ways of life, and she didn't want to know it, she regretted entering the shrine and finding so much, like Eve after biting the apple.
She looked up into the rain and cursed at the beasts, wishing she could take them all and kill them instantly, to unleash her wrath upon them and destroy them all. That would stop them and their stupid hissing. She imagined their frosty hearts stopping, shattering, their lives ending, and she laughed. She fell to the stone ground, on her hands and knees, and the laughter issued out of her and into the trembling forest, and the rain fell harder.
Abbey looked down at herself and smiled with pride. No matter how filthy and muddy she was, no matter what they did to her, she was still better than them. They could never amount to anything close to her, they all knew it, and she relished the idea. She hugged her body happily, pushing her breasts together, and then the wet shirt and the rainfall and everything began to arouse her, burn the lust up within her, and she giggled and laughed, unable to contain it, and she lifted one hand to her mouth to contain the laughter, and then her tongue was wrapping around one finger, and she giggled.
But then she began to bite, and it hurt, it hurt even her, and she hissed and pulled her hand away, saw the small ring of blood, and felt sick. Had she just tried to eat herself?
She looked up at the sky, heard the monsters, the wendigowak, hungering all about her, but she didn't care enough, she refused to move away. She felt invincible. With a giggled she looked up, and spotted the orb in the center of the shrine.
She gasped. It was beautiful! It was as if it was comprised of pure energy, and it glowed an eery, natural green. She loved the sight of it, and suddenly wished it were hers. A mad look grew in her eyes and she rose to her feet then, stepped forward, came to the orb. It hovered in the air, and she was curious, didn't understand what it was, but she wanted it, it was hers, all hers, and so she grabbed it.
She'd already considered Arcadia the Doorway to Hell.
If that was true, she'd just grabbed the doorknob.
The shrine trembled and shook and a bright light fell upon it.
Power engulfed them all.
2
Rachel pushed Chris away and gasped as power rushed to her head. She fell to her knees, choking, and suddenly she understood.
3
Abbey laughed and cackled as the power took over her, and she lifted her arms to the air in praise. She, the most beautiful creature in the forest, was now the most powerful, as well. She thought. She giggled and hissed, loved the feeling. "Yes!" she cried. "Yes, yes! Mine!" Power rushed through her body, and she screamed again.
*mine!*
Abbey stopped, gasped, and looked down at herself. She could feel her hands rotting, her insides rotting, something was happening, her beauty was leaving her, and she felt the claws sprout out of her hands, blood poured from the wounds and onto the ground, her bones cracked, the fangs ripped through her jaw, her eyes burned, and her whole body became cold, chilled, and her heart's beat slowed, and then it was frozen over completely.
The wendigo had called for her, and she'd answered.
She was one of them now.
*noooo!*
In the middle of the shrine, what was left of Abbey Fenton fell to its cold, bony knees and wailed. The voice, low and raspy and full of hate, was not her own. It couldn't be.
Everything hurt, everything was filled with pain, a blinding white pain worse than the flash when she'd grabbed that orb, that orb, what had it been? She tried to think, tried to understand, but her mind began to fall away from her, disappear into the abyss of her inner shadows, and the hunger of the wendigo began to take control. She could feel her fingers sharpening, remolding, she could feel her spine twisting and her breasts shriveling, her arms shrinking into themselves.
Abbey fell onto her side, grabbed her legs and pulled them to her chest, and from the fetal position she began to cry, pain and hunger and pain and hunger it was all she could feel and she wanted it gone.
She heard the hissing before she saw the Master, rising from the pits, up and up, she heard the giant, demonic wings unfolding, she felt the heat of Its eyes upon her, heard the hideous hiss from the mouth filled with fangs, and she could smell the sick stink of Death upon It, swelling over its muscles and limbs and claws and horns and pus and fangs and thorns.
She couldn't look upon It, and so she shriveled deeper into her ball and hid.
The demon laughed at her cowardice and the rain began to come down harder.
And then It spoke. The voice was strange and uninviting, cold and cruel, and spoke a strange tongue that hurt Abbey's ears more each syllable, and though she'd never heard the dreaded language that was spoken to her now, somehow she understood all of it. The wendigo working within her knew it all.
"We've been expecting you," It hissed.
Abbey tried to speak, tried to scream, tried to ask what had happened to her body, but she couldn't. The words refused to come. It laughed.
"You know the Savior. Our other agents have failed us, and we need you to find the Savior and bring her to us. The Savior's comrades have taken one of our own, and in turn we have received you. More will come tonight, once we have the Savior. Once you bring them to us."
Abbey tried to ask what It was talking about; she couldn't. She coughed up blood.
"When that happens, the wendigowak will finally be at peace. The Savior is almost here, and the hunger will leave once they come. Bring her to me."
Then the croak came out of Abbey. *How?*
"The beacon is bright. Follow it. The Savior will not come alone, and so you must kill those who protect her first. The Savior, the Witch, she is near. She will end out misery. She must be isolated."
And then Abbey disappeared. She was Abbey no longer, merely another beast in the army, but one that could conjure up her past body in the hopes to trick a neighbor. Still, the wendigo carried no recollection of its past life, it was just another pawn in the Master's game, another means of finding the Savior.
She was told to go with the rest and bring back their Witch.
4
Ethan felt Shaina's breath, hot on his lips, and wanted to kiss her once more, but knew that it wouldn't be allowed. After one hears a scream and sobs, panic generally tends to replace arousal. Well, it did in Shaina's case, anyway.
Ethan put his head on her shoulder and sighed, pulled down her shirt to make sure it was secure on her body, and hugged her and pulled her close. "It's okay," he whispered. "Everything's all right now." He kissed her neck, and it seemed to comfort her somewhat, he could feel at least a few muscles relax, but she still stayed tense.
"Rachel's crying," she whispered. "What if she's manic again?"
"She's not, she's not, this is just hard, but we're okay. Let's go and be with her and help her." He thought of Chris running from Damon and leaving Ethan behind, Amy and Rachel, too, and wondered if he was even helping Rachel. He felt somewhat angry at her and contemplated not going to help, and for a moment he was even happy Amy was dead.
A raindrop leaked through the roof and landed on Shaina's shirt, splattered onto Ethan, and he sighed. He kissed her again and then she rose, and slowly the two of them walked around the shelves and boxes and went back to Chris and Rachel, purposefully avoiding the corner where they knew Sierra lie in a puddle of her blood, and then they saw them.
Rachel looked up at the two, gasped, and moved away. Ethan saw worry and pain flush into Shaina's eyes and wanted to be with her, make sure she knew everything would be all right, but he didn't know if it would be and found the lie stuck in his throat.
And then Rachel calmed as she recognized them, and gasped.
"What's wrong?" Shaina asked.
Rachel leaned forward and screamed. "It's all my fault!"
Shaina jumped back, paused, and looked from Ethan to Chris. Neither knew what to do. The three of them looked at Rachel for an awkward moment, nervous, and then Shaina spoke again. "What's your fault, hon?"
"The killings, the monsters, they're here because I am!" she screamed.
Shaina paused, hesitant, and then held up her hands. "No, no, honey, no, that's not it. None of this is your fault..." Shaina started. She stepped forward, her arms spread out before her, but Rachel hissed and backed away, crawled over the attic floor until she was alone in a corner, and then hissed again.
"Don't you see?" she spat. "They were always here, but they came to Arcadia looking for me. And when I ran away, they didn't know where to go."
"What?"
"The wendigo! They want me to end their hunger! They came for me, and didn't find me, and so the rains kept coming and they wandered the streets, desperate, delving into the houses for meals but never truly understanding where I might be. The rains came and worked their magic, brought out all the monsters and we lied and we cheated and we fought and my god I even had sex, don't you see? They made us sin, they're feeding off our sin!"
"Rachel, you're acting-"
"Don't tell me how I'm acting! This isn't an act!" Rachel scurried over the floor again, to a new corner. "It's my fault, my fault, my fault! Edward killed his mother and came after you because I ran from home. The spirits screwed with the hospital because I might have been there. They killed Luke, and it's my fault!"
"No, Rachel..." Shaina shook her head, a tear rolling her cheek. "This isn't about you, those things are just hungry, and we were in the wrong place at the wrong time..."
"I know! You were with me! And it's because I'm a witch and they think I can help them and maybe they're right, but maybe not, because even I don't have full control of my powers. When Chris and I did it, I lost control and ...something... happened, oh, something bad, I sent out a beacon to the spirits, and the stronger ones came here. They mimicked the dead, somehow they knew everything, and they killed us all! They're still coming, they're coming, the won't stop until I'm dead, no, never, this is all up to me! I'm like their Carpenter's Cup, they're little receptacle for all things evil, and if you don't stop me then they'll kill you all and there's nothing we can do except for it and I don't want to do it God no I don't deserve this but we have to and oh guys you have to kill me."
Everyone was silent.
"What?"
"I can't do it! You need to kill me!"
"No!" Chris cried, and Shaina and Ethan agreed with him. He coughed, wiped his eyes, and continued. "What if you're wrong, what if none of this is right, what if you leave us and then we're all alone and the wendigo still come and they eat us and we die, what then, Rachel, what then?"
"It won't be like that," she said. Her voice was soft and mellow now. "I'm right."
"How do you know?" Shaina asked.
"There's a shrine in the woods. Someone activated its powers. I just know."
"We can't kill you!" Chris screamed, on the verge of tears, his voice cracking, his mouth trembling. "Rachel, we're with you until the end, we won't kill you!"
"You're with me until now! Now is the end! You have to do this, you have to save us all!" She looked at them all and shook, trembled, and hid in her lap. And then she took a deep breath, rose to her feet, and brushed herself off. She looked at the three of them calmly, then turned to her boyfriend. She nodded in a very business-like manner, extended one hand, and smiled. "Chris, I love you. I want you to do it."
He stuttered, at a loss for words, and then Rachel walked over to him and bent down, grabbed something off the floor, and when she came back up she kissed him. When she pulled away, both were crying, and she'd placed Sierra's revolver in his hand. She knelt down before him.
"Shoot me," she said. She opened her mouth wide.
"Rachel, I'm not going to shoot you!" he sobbed.
"Don't make me force you to."
Shaina trembled and pushed forward, but couldn't come to Rachel. She tried to scream, but her vocal chords failed her, and all that came out was a small croak. She wailed and clawed at the air, but her legs wouldn't move. She couldn't go forward.
Something in the lower levels shattered, and she heard the moans of the wendigowak as they crawled through the house, up the steps, out of the doorways, through the vents, searching for the flesh that protected their Savior.
"Rachel, you can't."
The moans and howls slithered up through the house and crawled into the attic.
"They're after me because I'm the witch. Trust me, I can."
Chris turned to throw the gun away.
Something scratched the walls and ceiling.
Chris couldn't. The gun stuck in his hand. Something made him turn, his arm was pulled downward, and he felt the barrel of the gun clicking against Rachel's teeth, felt her tongue guiding it further in, and he choked. "Rachel, no..."
"I haft oo."
Shaina paled and tried to turn away, tried to hide her eyes, but couldn't move.
Chris tried to drop the gun, tears welled in his eyes, his head shook back and forth, he clutched his arm and tried to stop himself, but Rachel was making him, casting the spell in her head.
Something below began to crawl along the walls, onto the ceiling, toward the attic.
Shaina and Ethan tried to move, but Rachel's power held them back.
"Fibe..."
One hand lashed out into the darkness of the attic and clutched the floor at the entrance.
"Four..."
Chris cried.
"Free..."
Another hand reached up, and began to pull the wendigo in.
"Two..."
The wendigo saw the gun and desperately reached out with sharp claws.
"Huv oo."
And then Chris's finger found itself pulling the trigger, and he screamed as Rachel's brains fell from the back of her head, a grey matter splattered onto the floor, blood splashed up into him, his lover was dead at his hands and he couldn't take it what had he done oh god oh god not Rachel not Rachel he loved her he killed her oh God oh God she fell to his feet and blood poured from her cheeks and swallowed his shoes and he cried and he fell to his knees with the gun in his hand smoking and steaming he cried and he wailed.
The wendigo stopped in its tracks, hunched and bent, panting, furious, eyes glowing madly, claws piercing its palms.
*You killed the savior...*
Chris put his head down, onto Rachel, blood covered his hair, and he cried.
Shaina clutched Ethan and didn't let go, and he felt her tears wetting his shirt.
He couldn't move.
*You killed the Savior!*
And then the wraith leapt at Chris, but it was gone before it could attack, disappeared into thin air. Chris sniffled and looked up, and then a solemn, distracted look appeared on his face, and his eyes glowed red. His body was pushed to its feet, and the gun was in his hand, and his face held no emotion.
"What are you doing?" he wailed.
*You killed the Savior!* he hissed.
"No! Not me!" he cried.
And then the gun was being lifted, up into the air, against his head, right on his temple, his lips trembled and he shook his head frantically. "No, no, no, no, don't do this don't do this!" He began to sob.
Chris hissed the hiss of a wendigo and then he pulled the trigger again, the gun clicked, and his blood mingled with Rachel's.
Shaina screamed.
Ethan looked over her shoulder, shocked into silence, and in Chris's place, holding the gun, was the icy wraith with the frosty heart and the familiar face of his neighbor, grinning madly. It dropped the gun and looked away from the meals at its feet, up to the couple before him.
Its eyes flashed mad. Hers? Abbey's?
It stepped forward, closer to Shaina, and Ethan tried to move her away but Rachel's power hadn't left yet and he was stuck, Shaina was squeezing too hard, he coughed, and the wendigo reached out to grab them. It licked its lips, its wide forked tongue snaking out between its fangs, and Ethan knew that the hunger lingered even after their witch's death. He tried to move Shaina away, but his neighbors image held him, he couldn't move at all, even as the claws wrapped around their necks.
And then it stopped.
*The Savior?*
Shaina turned her neck and looked at it, and screamed.
And the wendigo stopped, paused, as if it had heard something, and then it grinned widely. *Master say that you Savior live... You are the savior...*
Shaina heard that thing all too clearly. "I'm not a witch!" she hissed, frantic.
*Master, he say you will grow in time. And when you have become the true Savior... We return...*
And then the wendigo ran from the basement and entered the hall. Shaina gasped and clutched Ethan, shook her head. "He's lying, Ethan, he's lying he's lying it's all over now he won't be back oh God!" And she bit his shirt and he pulled her close, kissed her forehead, and wished that all their problems would just go away.
Rachel and Chris lay didn't move.
5
The rain poured itself into Scott Kilmore's motorboat, and he fumbled with the box of bullets dumbly. They spilt out into the boat and he shouted a war cry, grabbed for them, his fingers let them slip out of his hands again, and he cursed.
He looked up. The screams were coming from the attic, he could see the dim light glowing from the window up there, and he growled, knew that the screams were the girl's screams of pleasure, that the sinners were at their worst now, and that he would have to make sure they were actually dead this time. No more misfires. God would help him. God loved him.
As he grabbed the bullets and stuffed them into his pocket, he heard the voice.
*Scott...*
He paused, looked about him, and shivered. He couldn't see much in the rain, but whatever had let him into the house to kill the kids was back, somewhere. He searched frantically, but saw it no where.
*You tried to kill the Savior. You failed us...*
And then he felt the claw on his shoulder and jumped.
*For your punishment, you must join us. Prepare for the hunger and the cravings, Kilmore.*
The claw pushed his head down, threatened to break his neck, and he looked in front of him, and Edward Perry was staring at him with bright red eyes, growling and chewing his bloody lip, his whole body painted in blood, and he moaned.
Scott looked behind him again, shivered, and saw them. The dead. His dead. They'd all congregated in the water before him like lambs in the fields of their shepherd, a whole street of souls, and he laughed, knew they'd come to help him cleanse, to earn their forgiveness.
He felt the hands pulling at the boat, rocking it, reaching out for him, and he heard the hiss.
*God doesnt love you. Chop... Chop... chop!*
And then he felt the claws ripping at his neck, and the smile fell from his face, he dropped the gun, and fell to his knees, onto his stomach, gasping for breath and coughing up blood.
He saw the puddle before him and began to write out a message in his blood, a warning to any who may fail God, and then his skin began to peel away and reveal the long, blue claw. He tried to scream, but it was nothing more than a howl oozing with blood.
6
The Master looked at his work, and knew that the wendigowak had failed for now. He'd have to call them back and wait for a new Savior to arise, call them back to let one grow. He wrapped his wings about him and a deep rumbling began in his throat.
He began to rasp the words he would need to clear the skies and bring back the sun, the light.
He looked out through the forest and growled. The Master could feel his wendigo behind him, expecting the demon to say something, and so he did. He turned to them, spread his wings wide, and growled. "Hunger still, but hunger for outside flesh. Arcadia stays safe. We watch until the Savior arises. And then we come back." And It folded Its wings.
7
The waters tossed and churned, and a wave began to form, began to carry through the town, pushing away the bodies in the water, pushing away Scott's boat, and as the wave swept through the waters disappeared behind it, and the streets began to dry, and soon the wendigo had pushed the wave all through town, and had carried all the water away. The waters began to disappear with the wraiths.
The clouds began to pull apart and the rains slowed to an almost immediate stop.
For the first time in days, the sun began to shine on Arcadia once more.
8
Shaina looked up and through the window, and though the clocks still said it was night, bright rays of light began to filter in through the attic, and dark images of Ethan's printed words were projected out onto the walls. He looked at them curiously, his brow furrowed, and then he felt Shaina struggling in his arms.
"Shaina, it's over!" He let go of her, and a smile began to form on his face again.
The storm was over.
And then she screamed and ran. He stumbled back, hit the wall, and pain filled his head. He grabbed the sore spot instinctively, and watched as Shaina leapt over Chris and Rachel to reach the hatch, leaving bloody footprints, and then she pushed down the ladder and disappeared.
"Shaina!"
Ethan got no answer, and so he ran past his dead friends and down the ladder, into the hall. He ran by the rooms, saw her in none, but noticed that the candles had all burnt away in the blood-streaked bathroom where her clothes still lay.
He ran through the house, calling her name, and then he reached the damp first floor and saw the sunlight pushing its way in through the open door. He could see Shaina's footprints, disappearing away and out into the street.
He ran after her, slipping on the floor and struggling for balance.
When Ethan got outside and onto the street, he noticed that everything was silent. No birds chirped and no neighbors explored the new light. Everything was dead. The drowned worm smell of rain still hung in the air.
He looked up and down the empty, silent street, and saw Shaina turning around a bend and disappearing behind a house. He contemplated getting his bike, but that would take too long, and he knew all the shortcuts, and so he turned and ran through the muddy yard.
From the rooftops, he began to hear echoes of a song he had heard played on an acoustic guitar long ago. It was rough and uncut, as if it were an amateur, though a really good amateur, strumming away on their guitar.
Ethan knew that he was hearing Luke's rendition of "Stairway to Heaven."
He ran after Shaina.
9
Shaina had to stop running from the things that could save her life just so that she could catch her breath. She leaned over and panted in the empty street, free and outside in the sun, and she could feel the tears rising in her throat, but she didn't want to cry, she knew that if she started crying now she wouldn't stop.
She looked up and out, into the street, and then she saw a man waiting for her.
He was pale and dressed in black, and she thought she saw wings on him, and even thorns protruding from his skin. Beside him a little girl in pigtails was jumping hopscotch and singing.
His eyes, completely black, caught hers, and they stared at each other for several silent minutes with only the little girl's skipping song to disturb them, the only sound in the world, and then he leaned over and picked her up, hoisted her over his shoulder, flattened out her pink skirt, and began walking away. The girl didn't stop singing as the man rounded the corner to leave the town, and return some other day.
Shaina heard the footsteps behind her and turned, and there is Ethan, watching her from the end of the street. He smiles as he sees her, and she smiles back, somehow she can find a way to smile even now, and she runs down the street with her arms open to embrace him.
She grabs him, holds him close, and hopes to God that they'll be okay, that the horror is over, but she knows that no matter what happens, they'll always have each other.
But still, the girl's song rattles her and unnerves her.
"Rain, rain, rain!
Come again, come again!
Rain, rain, rain!
And drive the town insane!"
--
--
END
1
Abbey watched the shrine tremble and crumble around her, as if it were about to split in two, and something told her she needed to go within the shrine, though she had no idea what. She looked about her, taking in all of the shrine, its stone floor, the large rock pedestals and columns, the structures like mountains, the pits around the edges with stairs that led to who knows where, and the glowing orb in the center. The orb seemed to be calling out to her, beckoning her to come closer and take it in her hands.
She stepped inside, and immediately the dark powers of the place began to corrupt her being.
The wendigowak around her looked on with interest and laughed.
*one*
*us*
*flesh*
*not long*
She heard the beasts talking around her, hissing, and as she entered the shrine knowledge seemed to fill her immediately and she knew all about them, their brutal and ugly ways of life, and she didn't want to know it, she regretted entering the shrine and finding so much, like Eve after biting the apple.
She looked up into the rain and cursed at the beasts, wishing she could take them all and kill them instantly, to unleash her wrath upon them and destroy them all. That would stop them and their stupid hissing. She imagined their frosty hearts stopping, shattering, their lives ending, and she laughed. She fell to the stone ground, on her hands and knees, and the laughter issued out of her and into the trembling forest, and the rain fell harder.
Abbey looked down at herself and smiled with pride. No matter how filthy and muddy she was, no matter what they did to her, she was still better than them. They could never amount to anything close to her, they all knew it, and she relished the idea. She hugged her body happily, pushing her breasts together, and then the wet shirt and the rainfall and everything began to arouse her, burn the lust up within her, and she giggled and laughed, unable to contain it, and she lifted one hand to her mouth to contain the laughter, and then her tongue was wrapping around one finger, and she giggled.
But then she began to bite, and it hurt, it hurt even her, and she hissed and pulled her hand away, saw the small ring of blood, and felt sick. Had she just tried to eat herself?
She looked up at the sky, heard the monsters, the wendigowak, hungering all about her, but she didn't care enough, she refused to move away. She felt invincible. With a giggled she looked up, and spotted the orb in the center of the shrine.
She gasped. It was beautiful! It was as if it was comprised of pure energy, and it glowed an eery, natural green. She loved the sight of it, and suddenly wished it were hers. A mad look grew in her eyes and she rose to her feet then, stepped forward, came to the orb. It hovered in the air, and she was curious, didn't understand what it was, but she wanted it, it was hers, all hers, and so she grabbed it.
She'd already considered Arcadia the Doorway to Hell.
If that was true, she'd just grabbed the doorknob.
The shrine trembled and shook and a bright light fell upon it.
Power engulfed them all.
2
Rachel pushed Chris away and gasped as power rushed to her head. She fell to her knees, choking, and suddenly she understood.
3
Abbey laughed and cackled as the power took over her, and she lifted her arms to the air in praise. She, the most beautiful creature in the forest, was now the most powerful, as well. She thought. She giggled and hissed, loved the feeling. "Yes!" she cried. "Yes, yes! Mine!" Power rushed through her body, and she screamed again.
*mine!*
Abbey stopped, gasped, and looked down at herself. She could feel her hands rotting, her insides rotting, something was happening, her beauty was leaving her, and she felt the claws sprout out of her hands, blood poured from the wounds and onto the ground, her bones cracked, the fangs ripped through her jaw, her eyes burned, and her whole body became cold, chilled, and her heart's beat slowed, and then it was frozen over completely.
The wendigo had called for her, and she'd answered.
She was one of them now.
*noooo!*
In the middle of the shrine, what was left of Abbey Fenton fell to its cold, bony knees and wailed. The voice, low and raspy and full of hate, was not her own. It couldn't be.
Everything hurt, everything was filled with pain, a blinding white pain worse than the flash when she'd grabbed that orb, that orb, what had it been? She tried to think, tried to understand, but her mind began to fall away from her, disappear into the abyss of her inner shadows, and the hunger of the wendigo began to take control. She could feel her fingers sharpening, remolding, she could feel her spine twisting and her breasts shriveling, her arms shrinking into themselves.
Abbey fell onto her side, grabbed her legs and pulled them to her chest, and from the fetal position she began to cry, pain and hunger and pain and hunger it was all she could feel and she wanted it gone.
She heard the hissing before she saw the Master, rising from the pits, up and up, she heard the giant, demonic wings unfolding, she felt the heat of Its eyes upon her, heard the hideous hiss from the mouth filled with fangs, and she could smell the sick stink of Death upon It, swelling over its muscles and limbs and claws and horns and pus and fangs and thorns.
She couldn't look upon It, and so she shriveled deeper into her ball and hid.
The demon laughed at her cowardice and the rain began to come down harder.
And then It spoke. The voice was strange and uninviting, cold and cruel, and spoke a strange tongue that hurt Abbey's ears more each syllable, and though she'd never heard the dreaded language that was spoken to her now, somehow she understood all of it. The wendigo working within her knew it all.
"We've been expecting you," It hissed.
Abbey tried to speak, tried to scream, tried to ask what had happened to her body, but she couldn't. The words refused to come. It laughed.
"You know the Savior. Our other agents have failed us, and we need you to find the Savior and bring her to us. The Savior's comrades have taken one of our own, and in turn we have received you. More will come tonight, once we have the Savior. Once you bring them to us."
Abbey tried to ask what It was talking about; she couldn't. She coughed up blood.
"When that happens, the wendigowak will finally be at peace. The Savior is almost here, and the hunger will leave once they come. Bring her to me."
Then the croak came out of Abbey. *How?*
"The beacon is bright. Follow it. The Savior will not come alone, and so you must kill those who protect her first. The Savior, the Witch, she is near. She will end out misery. She must be isolated."
And then Abbey disappeared. She was Abbey no longer, merely another beast in the army, but one that could conjure up her past body in the hopes to trick a neighbor. Still, the wendigo carried no recollection of its past life, it was just another pawn in the Master's game, another means of finding the Savior.
She was told to go with the rest and bring back their Witch.
4
Ethan felt Shaina's breath, hot on his lips, and wanted to kiss her once more, but knew that it wouldn't be allowed. After one hears a scream and sobs, panic generally tends to replace arousal. Well, it did in Shaina's case, anyway.
Ethan put his head on her shoulder and sighed, pulled down her shirt to make sure it was secure on her body, and hugged her and pulled her close. "It's okay," he whispered. "Everything's all right now." He kissed her neck, and it seemed to comfort her somewhat, he could feel at least a few muscles relax, but she still stayed tense.
"Rachel's crying," she whispered. "What if she's manic again?"
"She's not, she's not, this is just hard, but we're okay. Let's go and be with her and help her." He thought of Chris running from Damon and leaving Ethan behind, Amy and Rachel, too, and wondered if he was even helping Rachel. He felt somewhat angry at her and contemplated not going to help, and for a moment he was even happy Amy was dead.
A raindrop leaked through the roof and landed on Shaina's shirt, splattered onto Ethan, and he sighed. He kissed her again and then she rose, and slowly the two of them walked around the shelves and boxes and went back to Chris and Rachel, purposefully avoiding the corner where they knew Sierra lie in a puddle of her blood, and then they saw them.
Rachel looked up at the two, gasped, and moved away. Ethan saw worry and pain flush into Shaina's eyes and wanted to be with her, make sure she knew everything would be all right, but he didn't know if it would be and found the lie stuck in his throat.
And then Rachel calmed as she recognized them, and gasped.
"What's wrong?" Shaina asked.
Rachel leaned forward and screamed. "It's all my fault!"
Shaina jumped back, paused, and looked from Ethan to Chris. Neither knew what to do. The three of them looked at Rachel for an awkward moment, nervous, and then Shaina spoke again. "What's your fault, hon?"
"The killings, the monsters, they're here because I am!" she screamed.
Shaina paused, hesitant, and then held up her hands. "No, no, honey, no, that's not it. None of this is your fault..." Shaina started. She stepped forward, her arms spread out before her, but Rachel hissed and backed away, crawled over the attic floor until she was alone in a corner, and then hissed again.
"Don't you see?" she spat. "They were always here, but they came to Arcadia looking for me. And when I ran away, they didn't know where to go."
"What?"
"The wendigo! They want me to end their hunger! They came for me, and didn't find me, and so the rains kept coming and they wandered the streets, desperate, delving into the houses for meals but never truly understanding where I might be. The rains came and worked their magic, brought out all the monsters and we lied and we cheated and we fought and my god I even had sex, don't you see? They made us sin, they're feeding off our sin!"
"Rachel, you're acting-"
"Don't tell me how I'm acting! This isn't an act!" Rachel scurried over the floor again, to a new corner. "It's my fault, my fault, my fault! Edward killed his mother and came after you because I ran from home. The spirits screwed with the hospital because I might have been there. They killed Luke, and it's my fault!"
"No, Rachel..." Shaina shook her head, a tear rolling her cheek. "This isn't about you, those things are just hungry, and we were in the wrong place at the wrong time..."
"I know! You were with me! And it's because I'm a witch and they think I can help them and maybe they're right, but maybe not, because even I don't have full control of my powers. When Chris and I did it, I lost control and ...something... happened, oh, something bad, I sent out a beacon to the spirits, and the stronger ones came here. They mimicked the dead, somehow they knew everything, and they killed us all! They're still coming, they're coming, the won't stop until I'm dead, no, never, this is all up to me! I'm like their Carpenter's Cup, they're little receptacle for all things evil, and if you don't stop me then they'll kill you all and there's nothing we can do except for it and I don't want to do it God no I don't deserve this but we have to and oh guys you have to kill me."
Everyone was silent.
"What?"
"I can't do it! You need to kill me!"
"No!" Chris cried, and Shaina and Ethan agreed with him. He coughed, wiped his eyes, and continued. "What if you're wrong, what if none of this is right, what if you leave us and then we're all alone and the wendigo still come and they eat us and we die, what then, Rachel, what then?"
"It won't be like that," she said. Her voice was soft and mellow now. "I'm right."
"How do you know?" Shaina asked.
"There's a shrine in the woods. Someone activated its powers. I just know."
"We can't kill you!" Chris screamed, on the verge of tears, his voice cracking, his mouth trembling. "Rachel, we're with you until the end, we won't kill you!"
"You're with me until now! Now is the end! You have to do this, you have to save us all!" She looked at them all and shook, trembled, and hid in her lap. And then she took a deep breath, rose to her feet, and brushed herself off. She looked at the three of them calmly, then turned to her boyfriend. She nodded in a very business-like manner, extended one hand, and smiled. "Chris, I love you. I want you to do it."
He stuttered, at a loss for words, and then Rachel walked over to him and bent down, grabbed something off the floor, and when she came back up she kissed him. When she pulled away, both were crying, and she'd placed Sierra's revolver in his hand. She knelt down before him.
"Shoot me," she said. She opened her mouth wide.
"Rachel, I'm not going to shoot you!" he sobbed.
"Don't make me force you to."
Shaina trembled and pushed forward, but couldn't come to Rachel. She tried to scream, but her vocal chords failed her, and all that came out was a small croak. She wailed and clawed at the air, but her legs wouldn't move. She couldn't go forward.
Something in the lower levels shattered, and she heard the moans of the wendigowak as they crawled through the house, up the steps, out of the doorways, through the vents, searching for the flesh that protected their Savior.
"Rachel, you can't."
The moans and howls slithered up through the house and crawled into the attic.
"They're after me because I'm the witch. Trust me, I can."
Chris turned to throw the gun away.
Something scratched the walls and ceiling.
Chris couldn't. The gun stuck in his hand. Something made him turn, his arm was pulled downward, and he felt the barrel of the gun clicking against Rachel's teeth, felt her tongue guiding it further in, and he choked. "Rachel, no..."
"I haft oo."
Shaina paled and tried to turn away, tried to hide her eyes, but couldn't move.
Chris tried to drop the gun, tears welled in his eyes, his head shook back and forth, he clutched his arm and tried to stop himself, but Rachel was making him, casting the spell in her head.
Something below began to crawl along the walls, onto the ceiling, toward the attic.
Shaina and Ethan tried to move, but Rachel's power held them back.
"Fibe..."
One hand lashed out into the darkness of the attic and clutched the floor at the entrance.
"Four..."
Chris cried.
"Free..."
Another hand reached up, and began to pull the wendigo in.
"Two..."
The wendigo saw the gun and desperately reached out with sharp claws.
"Huv oo."
And then Chris's finger found itself pulling the trigger, and he screamed as Rachel's brains fell from the back of her head, a grey matter splattered onto the floor, blood splashed up into him, his lover was dead at his hands and he couldn't take it what had he done oh god oh god not Rachel not Rachel he loved her he killed her oh God oh God she fell to his feet and blood poured from her cheeks and swallowed his shoes and he cried and he fell to his knees with the gun in his hand smoking and steaming he cried and he wailed.
The wendigo stopped in its tracks, hunched and bent, panting, furious, eyes glowing madly, claws piercing its palms.
*You killed the savior...*
Chris put his head down, onto Rachel, blood covered his hair, and he cried.
Shaina clutched Ethan and didn't let go, and he felt her tears wetting his shirt.
He couldn't move.
*You killed the Savior!*
And then the wraith leapt at Chris, but it was gone before it could attack, disappeared into thin air. Chris sniffled and looked up, and then a solemn, distracted look appeared on his face, and his eyes glowed red. His body was pushed to its feet, and the gun was in his hand, and his face held no emotion.
"What are you doing?" he wailed.
*You killed the Savior!* he hissed.
"No! Not me!" he cried.
And then the gun was being lifted, up into the air, against his head, right on his temple, his lips trembled and he shook his head frantically. "No, no, no, no, don't do this don't do this!" He began to sob.
Chris hissed the hiss of a wendigo and then he pulled the trigger again, the gun clicked, and his blood mingled with Rachel's.
Shaina screamed.
Ethan looked over her shoulder, shocked into silence, and in Chris's place, holding the gun, was the icy wraith with the frosty heart and the familiar face of his neighbor, grinning madly. It dropped the gun and looked away from the meals at its feet, up to the couple before him.
Its eyes flashed mad. Hers? Abbey's?
It stepped forward, closer to Shaina, and Ethan tried to move her away but Rachel's power hadn't left yet and he was stuck, Shaina was squeezing too hard, he coughed, and the wendigo reached out to grab them. It licked its lips, its wide forked tongue snaking out between its fangs, and Ethan knew that the hunger lingered even after their witch's death. He tried to move Shaina away, but his neighbors image held him, he couldn't move at all, even as the claws wrapped around their necks.
And then it stopped.
*The Savior?*
Shaina turned her neck and looked at it, and screamed.
And the wendigo stopped, paused, as if it had heard something, and then it grinned widely. *Master say that you Savior live... You are the savior...*
Shaina heard that thing all too clearly. "I'm not a witch!" she hissed, frantic.
*Master, he say you will grow in time. And when you have become the true Savior... We return...*
And then the wendigo ran from the basement and entered the hall. Shaina gasped and clutched Ethan, shook her head. "He's lying, Ethan, he's lying he's lying it's all over now he won't be back oh God!" And she bit his shirt and he pulled her close, kissed her forehead, and wished that all their problems would just go away.
Rachel and Chris lay didn't move.
5
The rain poured itself into Scott Kilmore's motorboat, and he fumbled with the box of bullets dumbly. They spilt out into the boat and he shouted a war cry, grabbed for them, his fingers let them slip out of his hands again, and he cursed.
He looked up. The screams were coming from the attic, he could see the dim light glowing from the window up there, and he growled, knew that the screams were the girl's screams of pleasure, that the sinners were at their worst now, and that he would have to make sure they were actually dead this time. No more misfires. God would help him. God loved him.
As he grabbed the bullets and stuffed them into his pocket, he heard the voice.
*Scott...*
He paused, looked about him, and shivered. He couldn't see much in the rain, but whatever had let him into the house to kill the kids was back, somewhere. He searched frantically, but saw it no where.
*You tried to kill the Savior. You failed us...*
And then he felt the claw on his shoulder and jumped.
*For your punishment, you must join us. Prepare for the hunger and the cravings, Kilmore.*
The claw pushed his head down, threatened to break his neck, and he looked in front of him, and Edward Perry was staring at him with bright red eyes, growling and chewing his bloody lip, his whole body painted in blood, and he moaned.
Scott looked behind him again, shivered, and saw them. The dead. His dead. They'd all congregated in the water before him like lambs in the fields of their shepherd, a whole street of souls, and he laughed, knew they'd come to help him cleanse, to earn their forgiveness.
He felt the hands pulling at the boat, rocking it, reaching out for him, and he heard the hiss.
*God doesnt love you. Chop... Chop... chop!*
And then he felt the claws ripping at his neck, and the smile fell from his face, he dropped the gun, and fell to his knees, onto his stomach, gasping for breath and coughing up blood.
He saw the puddle before him and began to write out a message in his blood, a warning to any who may fail God, and then his skin began to peel away and reveal the long, blue claw. He tried to scream, but it was nothing more than a howl oozing with blood.
6
The Master looked at his work, and knew that the wendigowak had failed for now. He'd have to call them back and wait for a new Savior to arise, call them back to let one grow. He wrapped his wings about him and a deep rumbling began in his throat.
He began to rasp the words he would need to clear the skies and bring back the sun, the light.
He looked out through the forest and growled. The Master could feel his wendigo behind him, expecting the demon to say something, and so he did. He turned to them, spread his wings wide, and growled. "Hunger still, but hunger for outside flesh. Arcadia stays safe. We watch until the Savior arises. And then we come back." And It folded Its wings.
7
The waters tossed and churned, and a wave began to form, began to carry through the town, pushing away the bodies in the water, pushing away Scott's boat, and as the wave swept through the waters disappeared behind it, and the streets began to dry, and soon the wendigo had pushed the wave all through town, and had carried all the water away. The waters began to disappear with the wraiths.
The clouds began to pull apart and the rains slowed to an almost immediate stop.
For the first time in days, the sun began to shine on Arcadia once more.
8
Shaina looked up and through the window, and though the clocks still said it was night, bright rays of light began to filter in through the attic, and dark images of Ethan's printed words were projected out onto the walls. He looked at them curiously, his brow furrowed, and then he felt Shaina struggling in his arms.
"Shaina, it's over!" He let go of her, and a smile began to form on his face again.
The storm was over.
And then she screamed and ran. He stumbled back, hit the wall, and pain filled his head. He grabbed the sore spot instinctively, and watched as Shaina leapt over Chris and Rachel to reach the hatch, leaving bloody footprints, and then she pushed down the ladder and disappeared.
"Shaina!"
Ethan got no answer, and so he ran past his dead friends and down the ladder, into the hall. He ran by the rooms, saw her in none, but noticed that the candles had all burnt away in the blood-streaked bathroom where her clothes still lay.
He ran through the house, calling her name, and then he reached the damp first floor and saw the sunlight pushing its way in through the open door. He could see Shaina's footprints, disappearing away and out into the street.
He ran after her, slipping on the floor and struggling for balance.
When Ethan got outside and onto the street, he noticed that everything was silent. No birds chirped and no neighbors explored the new light. Everything was dead. The drowned worm smell of rain still hung in the air.
He looked up and down the empty, silent street, and saw Shaina turning around a bend and disappearing behind a house. He contemplated getting his bike, but that would take too long, and he knew all the shortcuts, and so he turned and ran through the muddy yard.
From the rooftops, he began to hear echoes of a song he had heard played on an acoustic guitar long ago. It was rough and uncut, as if it were an amateur, though a really good amateur, strumming away on their guitar.
Ethan knew that he was hearing Luke's rendition of "Stairway to Heaven."
He ran after Shaina.
9
Shaina had to stop running from the things that could save her life just so that she could catch her breath. She leaned over and panted in the empty street, free and outside in the sun, and she could feel the tears rising in her throat, but she didn't want to cry, she knew that if she started crying now she wouldn't stop.
She looked up and out, into the street, and then she saw a man waiting for her.
He was pale and dressed in black, and she thought she saw wings on him, and even thorns protruding from his skin. Beside him a little girl in pigtails was jumping hopscotch and singing.
His eyes, completely black, caught hers, and they stared at each other for several silent minutes with only the little girl's skipping song to disturb them, the only sound in the world, and then he leaned over and picked her up, hoisted her over his shoulder, flattened out her pink skirt, and began walking away. The girl didn't stop singing as the man rounded the corner to leave the town, and return some other day.
Shaina heard the footsteps behind her and turned, and there is Ethan, watching her from the end of the street. He smiles as he sees her, and she smiles back, somehow she can find a way to smile even now, and she runs down the street with her arms open to embrace him.
She grabs him, holds him close, and hopes to God that they'll be okay, that the horror is over, but she knows that no matter what happens, they'll always have each other.
But still, the girl's song rattles her and unnerves her.
"Rain, rain, rain!
Come again, come again!
Rain, rain, rain!
And drive the town insane!"
--
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END