The Heartless Prey

12. Finale: The Demon of Sorrow

Akira held the rifle, her left hand on the neck and the butt of the rifle firmly planted into her right shoulder. She exited the doorway quickly, following the sound of the carnage. She followed the trail of blood through the sand until the trail went around the trailer. She peeked her head around the corner and grimaced at the horror.

The dog had Tim's abdomen in its jaws and it bit down hard. Tim was bleeding profusely out of his mouth, and at this point and his punches no longer had any muster. The beast tore into his underbelly, aggressively throwing him into the sand over and over. The beast ascended on two legs and pounced its massive front paws onto Tim's chest. Tim's screams had now changed to hopeless groans as he lost his will.

Akira was an adequate shot, and she lined up the hound in her crosshairs. She thought for a moment as she watched the animal tear through Tim's innards. He was done for, anyone could see this. The blood was rushing out of his mouth and pieces of him lay around in the sand. The dog's snout and face were bathed in Tim's gore. Akira pulled herself back around the corner and winced.

She had the limp, but maybe she'd be able to time this right. She had to get to that trailer, and she only had five rounds in the rifle. She'd never be able to reload it in time before the dog got to her.

She looked back around the corner. The dog sunk its teeth into Tim's neck and tore to the right. His one good arm went limp. His eyes remained open as the dog tore through his jugular. Akira put her hand on her forehead as she listened to the beast lap the blood from its kill. The sound sickened her and she had to force herself not to throw up. She mentally prepared herself for the run to the other trailer. With a bit of luck she'd be able to make it.

The sounds of the beast's feeding ceased. She listened to the heavy paw thuds through the sand as they didn't grow closer to her, but further away. She popped her head around the corner one last time and saw the dog sitting in front of the entrance to Laura's trailer. It stared at Akira while licking its chops. If you want to get in here, you'll have to get by me.

Just when Akira was ready to line up her shot, the beast took off running towards her. She looked in horror as its eyes widened and she could see flames protruding from its eye sockets.

***

When Laura opened her eyes she was in a restroom. The room was grimy, not of human filth, but of dust that had been settled and untouched for decades. The decor was old, and it looked like the sink and the toilet had been handcrafted decades ago.

She could hear the struggle of two bodies crashing into the walls somewhere else in the house and the crack of wood snapping. She opened the wooden door. It was light and barely required a touch for it to flow open. She stood in a hallway, in which there were no pictures on the wall. She could see dust floating in the air of the dim light. The sound of rain pounding onto the roof would usually have made her feel cozy under different circumstances.

She tiptoed through the hallway, wincing at every creak in the wood. The sound of struggle through the house was no more and the only sound Laura could hear were her own footsteps. She was walking parallel to a staircase which began further down the hallway near the front entrance. The front door was wide open, and she watched as the wendigo leapt off of the front porch into the fields. It was large, but it moved silently through its joints like a feline in hunt mode. Laura looked behind her. There were just closed doors. Could Chris be in one of them?

Just before the front door there was an archway to the right which led to the dining/living room. As she moved closer to the doorway she could hear the breathing. They weren't shallow breaths, but more like unintentional hyperventilating. Every step she took closer to the archway she could hear the breathing grow louder and more clear.