“You took them,” Tim said. “You and Kane.”
The professor exhaled. “Yes.”
Michelle blurted: “What?”
“Let him explain,” Tim said.
The professor ran his hands back and forth over his knees. “Where to begin…”
“Begin with the part about why you took our fucking phones,” Andy said.
The professor gave a quick, shameful nod. “A villager spotted your headlights in the distance. He saw that you had discovered the child. He quickly told Kane and me, and it then became imperative that we stop you from calling for help…and then stop you from leaving.”
“So you cut down the tree too,” Tim said.
“Kane did, yes.”
Rachel handed the child off to Michelle and got in the professor’s face. “You knew about her?” She pointed back at the little girl in Michelle’s arms, her eyes staying put on the professor. “You knew?”
The professor gave a pathetic nod. “Yes.”
Rachel slapped him.
Andy laughed. “Looks like I’m not the one you need to worry about, professor.”
Tim hushed Rachel to one side before bringing his attention back to Professor Jon, who now sported a glowing red cheek and crooked glasses.
“I deserved that,” the professor said, fixing his glasses. “But I can assure you, I was never going to let the child come to harm.”
“How can you say that?” Michelle asked. She hoisted the child on her hip. “Look at her.”
“I only just met the child today. Kane and the villagers had made some kind of prior arrangement before I was even involved.”
“Involved in what?” Tim asked.
The professor eyed them one at a time. “Have you ever heard of the legend of the Windigo?”
CHAPTER 12
Their conversations were faint. Not only had they lowered their voices, but the particular crawlspace she now occupied did not afford her the acoustic luxuries the one behind the meeting of the elders had provided. It was also a tighter fit—the wall pressed hard on her pregnant belly as she struggled to listen.
So far she had gotten bits and pieces. Nothing coherent. She would have to take a risk.
CHAPTER 13
Andy said, “Are you honestly telling us that you’re out here with some psycho Indian, hunting a monster?”
“There is no monster,” the professor said.
“Yeah, well I think your buddy Kane disagrees with you on that one.”
“I’m well aware of Kane’s stance on the issue. His father, his wounds, his hair.”
Rachel frowned. “He doesn’t have any hair.”
“He shaves it—in honor of his father. Cutting one’s hair is how many Native Americans pay respects to the passing of a loved one. Kane has vowed to keep shaving his head until he kills the Windigo and avenges his father’s death.”
“Dude’s gonna be bald forever,” Andy said.
The professor gave Andy a weak smile. Andy did not smile back—no sale.
“So you’re going through all this to write a book about something you don’t even believe in?” Tim said.
The professor shrugged. “Does one need to be steeped in belief before they can report on the subject?”
“No,” Tim said. “No they don’t. But putting a child’s life at stake?”
“I told you—I didn’t even know about the child until after we’d arrived. For all I know, Kane has been keeping the poor thing locked away for God knows how long, waiting for this moment.”
“Listen to you,” Andy said. “‘The poor thing.’ You knew she was tied up out there.”
“But I also knew that a Windigo would never come to claim her. How could it?”
“And what about other animals?” Michelle said. “What if they decided to come along and take a bite? Did you ever think about that?”
“Or the weather?” Rachel added. “She could have frozen to death.”
“Again, you must understand; this knowledge—a child as bait—was never explained to me in advance. It was thrust upon me after my arrival.”
“And yet you still went along with it,” Tim said. “The villagers too. I thought you said they were good people.”
“They are good people. Simple people. They truly believe their woods are cursed with a Windigo. Kane promised to rid them of this curse.”
“By sacrificing a child.”
“The Windigo craves any and all human flesh, but it prefers children. The Cree are renowned Windigo hunters. The villagers know this. With my assistance as the so-called medicine man, we formulated sacred tinctures to coat Kane’s weaponry. This increased his chances innumerably. My guess is the villagers figured it likely that Kane would kill the creature before the child came to any harm.”
“‘Renowned Windigo hunters?’” Andy said. “‘Sacred tinctures?’ Are you fucking kidding me?”
“I’m speaking in terms of legend,” the professor said irritably. “I was planning to join Kane as he waited by that tree.” He turned and looked at Rachel, then Michelle. “I would have never let anything happen to the child. In fact I was relieved when you arrived—it was getting so cold…”
“Unbelievable,” Michelle scoffed.
“Why do you think I kept trying to get you back to the village? Why did I keep suggesting it?”
“Because Kane and the villagers wanted the kid back, and they were afraid we’d take her with us,” Andy said.
“Wrong,” The professor said. “I wanted her out of the cold. I wanted her someplace safe.”
“If you wanted her someplace safe then you should have let us take her, dickhead.”
“I couldn’t stop Kane. Once the villagers told him what was happening he became a man possessed—more so.”
Tim said, “Why leave our keys though? The phones I get, but why leave us the keys?”
“The villagers feared for your safety if you made your way to the village on foot. They feared the Windigo would claim all of you. It would then turn its attention on the village—payback for botching its sacrifice.”
“So you took our phones and left us our keys so we would ultimately return the child to the village in the safety of our car. Had we walked, the big bad Windigo would have gotten us,” Tim said.
“Theoretically—yes.”
“Wait,” Andy said, “where are our phones?”
The professor sighed. “Kane has them.”
“You’re such a fucking douche. You were putting on such an act out there, weren’t you? ‘Strange they would risk rummaging around for phones instead of just grabbing whatever they could,’” Andy mocked.
“Again, I was just thinking about the child’s—”
Tim said, “What if we just kept driving?”
“Sorry?”
“Well the tree blocked our way back, but what if we kept going past the village? We were headed that way initially.”
“The road ends about five miles beyond the village. You would have been stuck.”
“So we were fucking lost,” Andy muttered.
“Okay—well then I guess a ‘bravo’ is in order for you and Kane,” Tim said. “You saw to it that we had nowhere to go but the village. That means they were definitely getting the child back.”
“Yes.”
“And you were okay with that?”
“Yes and no. Yes, because there is no such thing as a Windigo, and no, because I was worried about the child’s health.”
“What were they planning to do with us?”
“What do you mean?”
Tim chuckled. “Well we weren’t about to leave tomorrow morning without the kid you know.”
The professor opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it and said nothing.
“Didn’t think about that, did you?” Tim said.
“They wouldn’t harm you,” the professor said. “They’re wholesome people. God-fearing people.”
“Well that’s good to know. What about your buddy Kane?”
Again
the professor opened his mouth, only to close it without a word.
“That’s why the kid is overweight, isn’t it?” Tim said. “It’s why the only words she knows are ‘eat’ and ‘eat now.’ Kane was force-feeding her to be nice and plump for his Windigo—keeping her locked away like some kind of Christmas goose.”
The professor shrugged. “It’s possible I suppose.”
“I’d say more than possible.”
The professor sighed and nodded.
“So what now?” Andy asked the professor. “What do you propose we do?"
“My plan was to call for help in the morning.”
“Oh yeah?” Andy said. “You gonna open a window and shout?”
The professor sighed again.
“Kane will never let us leave with that child,” Tim said. “Will he?”
“You have to understand; Kane is not a bad man. But he is obsessed. Avenging his father consumes him. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t question his stability.”
“You think he’s the one who took your phone, don’t you?” Tim asked.
“I’d considered it.”
“Could also be one of the villagers,” Michelle said.
Tim thought of the fleeting expression of fear on the women’s faces when the professor said he would retrieve his phone. Could they have ducked in and made a quick grab for the cell on their way to preparing the room down the hall? They would have had to be damn quick about it. Not to mention know where to look. Still, it was possible.
“Could be,” Tim said to Michelle.
The professor went to object, but Tim spoke first. “We get it, professor: they’re good people. Wholesome people. But they also believe in monsters.”
“Meaning what exactly?”
Tim smiled. “Doctors used to drill holes in a sick man’s head to let the evil spirits out, yes?”
The professor nodded.
“Well, whether they believed it would work or not was ultimately irrelevant wasn’t it? At the end of the day you still had a fucking hole in your head.”
* * *
All five plus the child had moved to the room prepared down the hall.
“I want to leave now,” Rachel said. “I’m not waiting until morning.”
“I’ll second that,” Andy said.
Tim said, “We do still have our keys…”
“And the tree?” Professor Jon asked.
“We’ll move it. Somehow, we’ll move it.”
“What would we tell the villagers?” the professor asked.
“We don’t have to tell them anything,” Michelle said. She’d since lowered the child to her side and now held her hand. “We just get in our car and go.”
“What if they try and stop us?” Rachel asked.
Andy made a face. “It’s two women, Rach. I think we’ll be alright.”
“There are more of course,” the professor said. “Men.”
“How many?” Tim asked.
“I don’t know—twenty, maybe thirty. There are families in the adjacent cottages. Here too—in this one.”
“Jesus, they’re quiet enough,” Andy said.
“You think they’ll cause any resistance if we try to leave?” Tim asked the professor.
“No—I don’t think so.”
“What about Kane?” Andy said.
The professor hesitated. “I don’t believe he would hurt us intentionally.”
“What kind of weapons does he have?” Andy asked.
“Does it matter?” Michelle said. “He kicked your ass with one finger.”
“A: fuck you, and B: that’s not what I was getting at.”
“You thinking maybe we could use his weapons against him if he tried to stop us?” Tim asked his friend.
“Exactly.” Andy looked at the professor. “Only I didn’t see any in your room.”
“And I didn’t see any when we met him outside earlier,” Tim added.
“He had them,” the professor said. “He tucked them away before we made contact with you. How do you suppose he cut that tree down?”
“Does he have a gun?” Tim asked.
The professor shook his head. “He has his father’s knives; his father’s bow and arrows; and of course, a sizeable hatchet.”
“All doused in your magical anti-Windigo goop, right?” Andy said.
The professor ignored him.
“Where do you suppose he is now?” Tim asked.
The professor shrugged. “No idea.”
“Well then fuck it,” Andy said. “Let’s just go. The longer we wait…”
“If we all pile out of here now it’ll make too much noise,” the professor said. “The villagers may not harm us, but I’m sure they’d have no qualms about alerting Kane.”
“We sneak out then,” Andy said. “One at a time if we have to. There’s gotta be a back staircase or a window or—”
“There is.”
Everyone’s head spun toward the closet. The door was open a crack. A slice of a pretty young girl’s face was visible. “There is another way out. I can show you.”
Rachel stepped forward. “Have you been in there the whole time?”
The young girl said, “I can show you. But if I do…” She stepped out of the closet and exposed her pregnant belly. “Will you promise to take me with you?”
CHAPTER 14
“Can this shit get any weirder?”
“Shut up, Andy,” Rachel said. Then to the young girl: “Who are you?”
“Elizabeth,” she said. “Will you take me with you?”
“Take you where?” Tim said. “Where is it you think we’re going?”
“Away from here,” Elizabeth said. “Somewhere my baby can be safe.” She rubbed her stomach.
“Safe from who?” Michelle asked.
Elizabeth looked at the floor as she spoke. “I know you don’t believe. I don’t care. I’ve never seen it either. But others have. The elders have.”
“Are you talking about the Windigo, child?” the professor asked.
“Yes.”
“How old are you?” Rachel asked, her eyes traveling between the girl’s porcelain face and plump belly.
“Sixteen.”
Michelle’s face dropped. “You’re so young—to be having a child, I mean.”
“It is our duty. On our sixteenth birthday.”
“It’s your duty to get pregnant?” Andy said.
Rachel elbowed him.
“Our duty to offer our first born,” she said.
“Who’s the father?” Rachel asked.
“One of the elders. The father doesn’t matter. The child doesn’t matter.” Tears started down her cheeks, her hands clutching her belly. “First born is an offering.”
“Jesus Christ.” Tim looked at the professor. “Am I hearing this right?”
The professor, his expression no less horrified, nodded. “I think so.”
“Please help me,” Elizabeth said. “Help me save my baby.” She gestured to the little girl next to Michelle. “Help me save them all.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Michelle said, petting the little girl’s head, “she’s coming with us.”
Elizabeth shook her head. “You’re not seeing the whole picture just yet. Please follow me. Stay close and be as quiet as you can.”
CHAPTER 15
A man with a long black beard approached the main door and knocked. He was granted permission to enter. The room was filled. Six elders—three men and three women. The man with the long black beard held a look of panic on his face.
CHAPTER 16
They had made their way down the back staircase. A route easy enough to travel, yet tricky to find. Elizabeth had used it countless times.
Before long they were outside, their car in sight. Tim squeezed his keys tight in his palm, the metal biting into his skin a queer reassurance. All six headed for the Toyota. Elizabeth did not. She stayed put by one of the cottages flanking the main one they’d occupied.
Michelle, bal
ancing the child on her hip, frantically waved Elizabeth toward them with her free hand. Elizabeth shook her head, waved them to her.
A trap, Tim thought. We’re being led to a trap.
But before he could voice his suspicions, Michelle, Rachel, and the child were heading toward Elizabeth.
Shit.
Tim followed, Andy and Professor Jon close behind. All three men crouched and scurried forward in the moonlight like thieves.
When they were all together by one of the smaller cottages, Elizabeth brought them to the building’s rear where two cellar doors protruded from the ground on an angle. The doors were padlocked.
Elizabeth pulled a key from her pocket and dropped to one knee with a grunt, her full belly making the simple task laborious. She stuck the key in the padlock, unlocked the double doors, and stepped back.
Andy took the initiative, stepped forward and pulled one of the double doors open. They descended into the cool earth. Tim found a light switch on the stone wall and hit it. There eyes were rewarded with light and then punished with atrocity.
CHAPTER 17
Mesh cages lined the cellar walls. Each cage housed a plump infant, some already too big for their housing—their plentiful bodies pressing against the wire casing, flesh pushing its way through the patterned mesh like cubes of pink dough. The smallest lay slack on their sides, eyes far away, like neglected animals.
But to Tim, this wasn’t the worst of it.
The worst was that some of the infants weren’t crying or cooing like infants should. They were mewling—like calves, like sheep.
The five of them stood in shock-horror, taking it all in. There were six cages in all. The oldest occupant appeared maybe three, the youngest barely one. The smell was a jolt of human feces, the task of feeding seemingly more a priority than discarding their leavings.
Elizabeth, perhaps fearful that her intent on shock had not been forewarned, and was thus too effective, pulled a stunned Tim by the arm towards the nearest cage.
“Help me,” she said. “We have to free them all.”
Elizabeth’s words, like a starting pistol, shot everyone into action, each heading for a cage.
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