The Wendigos

Chapter 2

Gregory Weatherbury looked sternly at the others; all dressed in their best formals. A wave of tension hung in the air, every man drowning in it no less than the other.

Some were not as stone-cold as the others and therefore had to let their fears pop out of them in the form of tears (most of this lot were women).
Others used rage as an instrument.

Questions were being asked and blames were being put on the man sitting behind a neatly organised desk, which seemed quite old, in the middle of what seemed like a stage. The man being Gregory himself.
While the others were sitting at a comparatively lower ground on equally obsolete chairs.

About twenty people might have been present in the room, each of those prominent in their own way.

Gregory Weatherbury was the Mayor of Alkira.
The way his eyebrows were turned into a frown and his forehead shrinked to reveal wrinkled lines gleaming with the sweat droplets over them, showed his fragile condition.

Nobody, not even those who were saying it out loud, believed that Gregory was not a worthy Mayor, for it wasn't hidden from anyone how he had had sleepless nights ever since the first attack and how he had deployed all his strength, time and forces to protect his town. But they would still blame him, as it is human nature to do so - to blame , you know.

"Gentleman and women'', Gregory finally spoke up, " me and my men are trying our best to protect all of you.
After yesterday's attack we have learnt that public places were also no more safe. So, i have enthralled security at all places, public, i could think of. Schools, offices, banks, hospitals and so on."

Not finding any traces of satisfaction on anyone's face, he continued.

"I am as much in this as all of you are, my family as much in danger as yours. Don't for a second think that my power and pelf are of any value here. So, I am no stranger to your worries, Am I? This is not the time either for politics or for any blame games. United, we must stand to fight this catastrophe and put a halt to this carnage. Thank you for your time, everyone".

And with the end of his rather monochromatic monologue, the Mayor departed, leaving some stunned and some devastated.

Just then, a round bald headed man rose up from his seat and walked to the front. Everyone recognised him as the powerful businessman in Alkira, Jake Walker.

"Good evening." he said with an almost cunning smile on his face that could have been interpreted as somewhat assuring in the current situation.  " I see that the Mayor is as terrified as all of you are. Then how do you say he'd protect us?"

His words made people think in the same direction and some nodded in agreement.

To this, another man, this one tall and broad, rose up.
"Mr. Jake Walker, as the mayor said that there is no time for politics here.
We should trust him and face this problem together." These were the words of Logan Ethelberta.

More people nodded in agreement.

The meeting ended in a few minutes and news broke out to local media how the Mayor had left.

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The clock struck 3 am at the Weatherbury house. Katie strode up and down the hall impatiently as she waited for her father.

She would have not been that worried if his father had left a message and she hadn't known that he had left early from office, as it was all over the news.

She dialled her father's number the hundredth time now, her hands trembling in fear. It went straight to voicemail, again.

Katie rested on the couch and stayed awake as long as she could and then fell into a deep slumber.
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Katie awoke, panting and sweating. She had had a nightmare and some of it she still remembered. And as the words she had just heard in her dreams, dawned on her mind, tears started to roll down her cheeks.

"Goodbye, My little princess."

These were the words her father had said, leaning over her in that very room as she lay on the couch, in her dream (which almost seemed real).

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