To Reverse a Curse

Chapter 3

    Josh...or the wendigo...or...Joshigo? Whatever he is, he glares at me, and growls, a deep, guttural, animalistic sound Josh shouldn't be able to make. He looks kind of like himself, like he's not fully a wendigo yet. His eyes have started to turn pale, though, and his teeth seemed to have been sharpened or elongated into points, most breaking through the flesh of his left cheek. He's covered in bruises, cuts, and blood, either his or someone else's. He's still wearing the overalls that he was a week or so ago when the shit hit the fan. He tries to take another step toward me, but he winces, and growls in pain. He crouches down, balancing on his left foot and his hands.
"Josh," I say, slowly putting my hands up and crouching in front of him, "It's me. It's Chris. I know you're still there, Josh. Please, speak to me,"
He glares at me, still growling, and he crouches further, like he's going to pounce on me. But then, he winces again, and blinks rapidly. His growling becomes louder as he puts his hands up to the sides of his head, like he's trying to block out a sound. He loses his balance and falls onto his butt, still clutching the sides of his head, eyes shut tight, growling in pain or in effort. Slowly, the growling becomes more like grunts of pain and gasps. Josh's eyes shoot open as he half-gasps-half-screams. He looks at me, eyes clear, and a slight smile flashes on the side of his face not dominated by wendigo teeth. "Hey, Cochise," he croaks, voice hoarse, "you made it..."
I sigh, and I start to move closer to him, but his eyes open wide in panic.
"Don't," he says, "I...I don't know how long I can st-stay in...in control,"
I just nod, and I stay where I am.
"Chris," he says, "You...you have to do me a favor, okay?"
"Anything," I say.
"Get me the hell off of this mountain," he says, a pleading tone creeping into his voice, "Either that or kill me. I...I don't want to stay like this forever. Wendigos pretty much live forever, and...I...I'm aware of everything I do. I can still...I can still taste blood...I...I,". It seems like he's about to cry.
"We'll get you off of the mountain," I say, "Killing you is not an option,"
"Whoa, whoa, wait," Sam says, "Chris, can I talk to you for a second?"
"Um...sure," I say standing up.
She grabs me by my shoulder and takes me to a corner of the room. "Don't make promises to him," she scolds me, "we don't even know if we can trust him!"
"Why can't we?" I ask, "He called me by my nickname. That's proof enough to me that that's really Josh,"
"Yeah, well," Sam says, "Flamethrower Guy has it written down in his journal that wendigos can imitate human speech. He could just be acting,"
"No," I say, "That's really Josh. His eyes changed when he talked to me. When he was growling, his eyes were cloudy, but when he started talking to me, they were clear,"
Sam just shakes her head. "I'm just saying that he could be tricking you," she says, "Just...be careful,"
"I will be," I say, and I turn away from her. I walk back over to Josh.
    He is still sitting on the floor, looking around, terrified. He seems a bit jittery, but I would be too, if I were in his position. He notices my approach, and fakes a smile. "Hey," he says to me, "d-...do you...do you have anything to eat?"
This takes me by surprise slightly. I turn to Sam, who is flipping through the Journal.
"Here," she says, pointing to a page, "'Wendigos are driven only by their intense hunger for human flesh," she reads, "All actions made by a wendigo is instinctual, like a hunter closing in on prey, with that prey being humans (ie. doctors and nurses at the Sanitorium, other miners in the Mines, unsuspecting teens at the lodge)'. Oh, that was a sly reference to us,". The last bit she said sarcastically.
"So...how did he become a wendigo?" I ask. "I was desperate," Josh says, "I...I had nothing else to eat. I had already been down here for days, and his body was just hanging there. I was...I was just so...hungry," He gasps in pain, and clutches the sides of his head again, squeezing his eyes tight. He keeps muttering the word "hungry", the words becoming more and more growl-like.
"Guys," Mike says, "I think we should get out of here before wendigo-Josh returns,"
Sam grabs my arm, and we all rush out of the room, back into the flooded room. We find another smaller room branching off to the side, and we sit down against the cave walls.
"The way for a person to turn into a wendigo," Sam says, "is to resort to cannibalism on cursed native grounds. We may already be too late. The journal doesn't seem to be any mention of how to reverse the effects of the curse,"
"We need to get him off of the mountain," I say, "Then we can try to feed him regular food, and see where it goes from there,"
"I don't think that he would want regular food," Mike says, "don't they only eat human flesh?"
"We could get him to eat when he's Josh," Sam says, "Not the wendigo. Like, when the human side of him has control,"
"That seems like a good idea," I say, "But...how are we going to get him off of the mountain?"
"We could catch him," Mike says, "like...lure him into a cage, and then close it behind him. Then, we can drag the cage to my truck at the base of the mountain,"
I nod. "That could work," I say.
"But...what are we going to lure him with?" Sam asks.
"We could grab some of Flamethrower Guy's remains," I suggest.
Mike's face looks grim, but he nods. "That seems like the best option," he says.
"Alright," I say, "Let's go save Josh,"