The Journey Around The World, In Order To Save Spring

Their Worst Nightmares

Taggak was hanging the laundry on a line in between masts. The Sun was shining and the wind was good, so it was the perfect day to dry them off. "So what did you talk about with Atsuguk yesterday?" He asked even as his paws continued hanging more clothes. "Hmm? Oh. We were talking about a chest," Amaruq answered. He was cleaning out the bowls and pans of grime. He scrubbed the grease out of the cookware with his specially-made detergent and sponge. He made them to help his dad who always cooked for him back home. They were very useful. "A chest?" The elder inquired. Since when did they find a chest? "Yeah. We found it sometime yesterday. It was locked, but we wanted to find out what was inside."

"So we were discussing about what could be inside and how to unlock it. Actually, we were going to open it today, right after I finish this," he said. Atsuguk was at the helm, making sure they were heading the right way. Once his friend was done cleaning, he would join him at the chest. A few minutes later and the pots were spick and span. "Well, I'm done," Amaruq said, placing all the items under the sun to dry. After that, he walked away with the black wolf following him, also having finished his task. They reached the wooden chest, situated on the poop deck near the edge of the ship. "So what is it anyway?" The black wolf asked. They had studied it yesterday, right?

"Well... we didn't actually find out," the alien half-laughed, "it could be Pandora's Box for all we know." No book they had had any information on this chest. It must've been a normal one that the pirates stole. But then, why would they lock it? Did it have treasure? That's what pirates usually kept in them. "Hey, Atsuguk! I'm gonna open it now, okay?" He shouted to the other side of the ship. "Okay! I'll be there in a jiffy. Just gotta adjust our headway," he heard him answer just as loudly. Just like they discussed, Solar used the lock-picks he made, on the iron lock of the chest.

He expertly picked it, going through any combination of tumblers that might be used. He did this until he heard a satisfying click, and he turned the lock. Suddenly, the whole chest rattled. "Woah, okay." "What even is in there?" He heard Atsuguk ask right after his sentence. He guessed that he had arrived while Solar was picking the lock. "I don't know... but we're about to find out!" He said as he quickly lifted the cover. Out of the box, came a whirling mass of grey something that flew out and landed on the decks. The mass slowly grew until it seemed to take on a shape. It was about 15 feet tall but much longer than that. Its long, fat worm-like body had many legs, maybe a hundred!

It had no eyes and a flattish head, with two pincer-like appendages on the sides of its head. Venomous forcipules, he realised. It's mouth was round and it had three blades of razor-edged teeth. Probably to pierce the skin of its victims. The whole gruesome appearance was further punctuated by its disgusting skin. It was rotting and green, some parts actually missing skin. Amaruq felt like he was going to vomit, if his body wasn't paralysed by sheer terror that is. There, standing right in front of him was none other than a zombie leech-centipede, its gaping maw groaning for flesh.

"What are you doing, Amaruq?! Use your powers!" He heard someone say behind him. But the voice sounded subdued, vague. As if it was coming from far, far away from him. He barely even registered what it meant. He was far too busy concentrating on the chimaera advancing upon him. It was less than 20 feet away from him, and getting even closer. Its segmented legs click-clacked upon the wooden boards making up the deck, like a giant spider or a Megarachne. But those were extinct. This thing was very much alive and very much not extinct. Its pincers were snapping, preparing to chew its venom into his soft, mushy body.

He watched its teeth, vibrating in a circle, ready to penetrate his skin and drain him of his warm, delicious blood. He would look like a gecko which was crushed between the hinge jamb of a door and the door soon; All dried up and wrinkled. He shuddered. Why did it have to be this way? Killed by the very creature he feared the most. He closed his eyes and feared the worst when suddenly he found himself lying on the deck, his arm hurt from the fall. He looked up to see Taggak in his previous place. He must have pushed him away. Out of the blue, the monster's form shifted, becoming a swirling ashy cloud again.

What was it doing? All of a sudden, it disappeared. Instead of it, there was Inuksuk, Tukkuttok, Blackfur... Atsuguk and Amaruq? Huh? How'd they get there? Wait, no. They were still where they were, just that there was two more of them. Clones, of some sort. He saw Taggak on his fours in front of them, his head low. "You have failed us," Inuksuk said in that commanding voice he used when talking to his underlings. "I- I'm sorry," Taggak said, his voice broken as if he had been crying for hours before. He felt like he did. His arms had a hard time keeping him up with all the shaking they were doing. He had failed them? How could he?

His family and friends... they trusted him to do his job right. And here he did the opposite. "How disappointing. How useless," he heard his alpha say. "You couldn't even do one job right. What's the point in having you? You're worthless. You can't do anything right!" He sobbed under his guardian's beratement. If only he was better. "You might as well be a slab of meat, with how much use you are. Oh, wait. Even meat has more uses than you," the other Amaruq sneered. His arms were crossed, as were the other Atsuguk's. Their faces one of degradation. Ugh! He hated this feeling. This was what he had feared all his life: To be unworthy of them. He was an outsider. Someone they let into their ranks out of pity.

His alpha took him in for he must have had his uses. But now that it was proven he had lost his use... they didn't need him. Not anymore. He would be better off as shark bait. If only he wasn't so hopeless! A mangy mutt, who could do nothing but whimper, even as he was being told off. He didn't know when it happened, but he found himself sitting up on the wooden deck, his armpits lifted by Amaruq, who looked at him in concern. He had never seen his senior cry before. It was dispiriting. "Are you okay?" He asked, searching for the answer in the black wolf's equally black eyes. Taggak wiped them and his nose, before nodding. He couldn't muster up his voice right now. The alien understood that.

He looked back to see Inuksuk advancing on Atsuguk, who stood there not knowing what to do. Did he have to show submission? This was his uncle. But yet, it wasn't. In the blink of an eye, they changed again. Now, Taggak, Inuksuk, Tukkuttok and Puiguk were lying on the decks, blood splattered on their bodies and under. Their cold, lifeless eyes eternally staring at the blue sky above, bright and sunny, ignoring the problems of the insignificant lives underneath it. Directly in front of him, though, was Amaruq. He was kneeling, just like Atsuguk. His eyes were full of fear, even as the wound in his abdomen was bleeding heavily.

The wound was caused by a dagger, still stuck in it. On its handle was none other than Atsuguk's own two paws. He quickly let go of it, looking at his friend's face. His friend could only cough up blood onto his muzzle before falling backwards and joining the others. Oh, gods. His uncle, his uncle's ward, his friend, his friend's dad and his mama. All of them, dead, by his own doing. 'It's not my fault!' He tried to think. But it was. It was him who drove the daggers into their hearts. It was him who murdered them without so much as a thought. He had their blood on his hands. The people who trusted him. Loved him. And after this, he was going to eat them. That's what they did. Kill and then eat any living thing they met.

The curse of the Wendigo. Forced to do nothing but kill and eat, kill and eat and kill and eat over and over again for all of eternity. It was as he feared. He had contracted it and was now a remorseless killing machine. Who's next? Kamak? Some innocent stranger whose family were waiting for them to come home? It didn't matter. He was going to eat them. Eat and eat, without even gaining any pleasure, enjoyment or nutrition. Simply eating for the sake of eating. Despicable. Vile. Cruel. But that was his life now. He's already done the ones closest to him. What did it matter if he did some more people? He felt his features contort into a smile, even as his heart hammered in his chest from fear and hatred. Fear and hatred for who he had become.