Shadow Mark (Beast)

Chapter 3

Cat: Morning, sleepy head! Get enough sleep? (She chuckles to herself.)

Isaiah: Dude, you have a serious problem with staying still with sleeping. Oh! (He thinks for a moment) do you have nightmares? (His straight face turns into a mocking grin as he sees the look of embarrassment of Joshua.) Josh it is alright, we all have nightmares. It is a normal thing... at least I think it is.

Joshua: Was I that bad last night? I normally don't toss and turn like that... maybe it is my body trying to adjust to our surroundings? (He grabs a cup of coffee and pours himself some grits from the pot that is hanging over the campfire.) We need to figure out what creature this is... even though I may know what it may be already.

Cat and Isaiah are talking to each other while Joshua processes what had happened in his nightmare last night. He still can't wrap the idea of this creature being some sort of wendigo, but he is convinced that it may be just that. He thinks about the lore of the creatures and connects the clues that this specimen left behind for Joshua.

Joshua: (writing down notes into a journal) I see many similarities between this hellish creature and the wendigo. The only thing that is stumping this deduction is the fact that if this was a wendigo, it wouldn't be the ordinary type of beast. This creature seems to be telepathic for how it could be the beast in my dreams.

Cat and Isaiah approach the spaced-out Joshua and snap him out of his trance. Joshua is startled for a moment but comes back into the real world and focus himself on his friends.

Cat: Joshua, you have been out on your own for a while now... are you okay?

Joshua: Yeah, I am fine. I am just trying to link the connections between the wendigo and whatever made this mess.

Isaiah: A wendigo? Those things are rare. Better yet, they may not even exist. (He laughs and punches Joshua in the arm.) Come on, you need real food. There is a diner down the street some ways that we can get a nice lunch at.

Joshua: (Sighs and hesitates to answer for a moment) Alright, fine we will go eat. But after lunch, we are coming right back here. I am not finished yet.

The group makes their way to the diner and get seated in a corner booth. Joshua shrouds himself in the bend of the booth while Cat and Isaiah take the end seats. The waiter takes their orders and after what felt like a long wait, they got their drinks and meals. Joshua, being gluttonous yet very skinny, ordered two meal-sized orders for lunch. Isaiah got a cheeseburger and Cat got some soup with a side of bread. Joshua is spaced out, thinking about the fire. He focuses on the ashes and embers that are within the flame of the pit. The screech of the beast echos in his mind. Cat kicks his leg to snap him out of the trance.

Cat: I am not going to pay for the food that you will waste! Please just Eat your food already.