The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Hunger in the Creek 
by Kathleen McCluskey

The thaw came late enough that the woods felt suspended between seasons, the air sharp as bone dust while the creek muttered beneath its lid of ice. Mara followed her brother’s tracks through the snow, noticing how they wavered and dragged. It was as if he was pulled along instead of walking on his own will. The trail stopped at the creek’s edge where slabs of ice jutted up like broken vertebrae. She stepped closer and saw the waterfall struggling to move. Its sheets of water folded over itself in sluggish layers that reminded her of peeled skin. Caught at the base was her brother’s parka, swaying on the current as though somebody beneath the surface pulled at it.

She crouched and reached for the sleeve and the ice cracked under her weight with a sharp, brittle snap. The world plunged into icy darkness before she could scream. Water flooded her ears, muffling everything except the violent thrashing of something enormous beneath her. Long, skeletal fingers scraped up her calves, hooking behind her knees and dragging her deeper with a strength that defied their thinness. She kicked wildly, her foot connecting with something that felt like a jaw unhinged too wide. Its teeth raked her boot, tearing at the rubber like it was soft bread. Another set of fingers dug into her thigh and pulled so hard she felt a wet pop in her hip.

By sheer instinct she clawed upward, smashing her knuckles against the underside of the ice until they split open. The blood clouded around her, warm and shockingly bright. She forced her way through the gap, dragging herself onto the rocks. Beneath the hole, the water heaved as something enormous surged upward. She scrambled back just as a mottled, cadaverous hand slammed onto the ice. Followed by another that dragged the creature the size of a moose out of the water and onto the rocks beside her.

Its skeleton was stretched beyond human proportions, long enough to scrape on the stones even while standing. Chunks of rotted flesh clung to its frame like wet bandages and its skull had been lengthened into a grotesque muzzle lined with jagged teeth. What made Mara recoil backward wasn’t its size or the stench but that the creature wore what was left of her brother’s upper body like a trophy. His arms dangled uselessly from its shoulders. His torso opened down the center as though the creature had peeled him apart and draped him over itself. His head lolled to one side. The muscles of his neck twitched, not from life but because something inside the Wendigo, kept pulling the nerves like puppet strings.

The creature’s jaw cracked open with a sound like splitting wood, revealing a second row of teeth from deeper inside. Each one was translucent and dripping. As it leaned toward her, her brother’s head jerked upward. His ruined mouth opened wide enough to split the corners. A choking, gurgling sound escaped, her name, distorted through blood, death and broken cartilage. Inside the Wendigo’s true throat pulsed with eager, predatory hunger.

Mara ran. She could hear the creature behind her. Its footsteps shattered the frozen ground. Its breath came in rattled bursts as her brother’s arms slapped against its chest. It was gaining on her. The creature was carried forward by a hunger older than winter itself.

Fiction © Copyright Kathleen McCluskey
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com 

More from Kathleen McCluskey:

The Long Fall: Book 1: The Inception of Horror

Lucifer always cunning and intelligent challenges father to a battle of wits. Being the angel of light he casts a judgemental eye upon mankind. He begins a war with his fellow archangels and God. Michael, along with his siblings defend their home and mankind from their deranged brother. Broad swords and hand to hand combat drench heaven in blood. The four apocalyptic steeds are released, each having their own destructive power. Betrayal and lust are at biblical levels. Understand the very creation of evil and the consequenses that transpire in the first of THE LONG FALL series.

Available on Amazon!