Jenny's Summer Ch. 01

I tried to smile at him. I thought if I saw that enormous tarantula standing over me again I would go mad. As long as I was sane, I might have some hope of escape. I shivered in fright and he sighed in ecstasy. Then he froze as if listening to some distant sound. I stepped away, out of his reach, but did not take my eyes from him.

He smiled and stretched his arms to the sky. "Well, my love, it seems we have intruders. I think-two of them." He turned to me and grinned; his teeth were back to normal, assuming that this Adonis-like form was normal for him. "Two more for the larder. You'll get to see how I play with prey like you and I think I can ensure that your time with these two will be an ordeal to be remembered and savoured. It will mean more time lapses before I kill you, of course. I'll be back soon, my love."

His body puffed into a grey smoke and the strange cloud flew into the sky almost too fast to follow with the eye. It looked as if he was headed southwest. And I began to hear a purr, which might have been a distant airplane, coming from that same direction.

Now that Windigo had left I knew I had to try and escape. He might never leave me again and it was sheer luck that a plane had flown by when it did. I shuddered at the thought of having sex and bearing the children of...of...of that thing that he was. I had never encountered pure evil before and I now fervently wish that I never had. How could anyone be expected to turn the other cheek when confronted with him?

I searched the stone plateau that I was standing on, but my clothes and belongings were gone. The poor mouse was feebly squirming and its noises were growing quieter. Still, I picked up a heavy rock and slammed it down on the helpless thing. There was no way I was leaving it alive here for Windigo to continue torturing.

I headed down to the water line, searching for my raft. But Windigo must have destroyed it and I could find no trace of it. I looked out across the cold waters of this northern lake. Standing there naked I felt cool, but not uncomfortably so. I knew the water would be freezing without testing it. And there was still that large fish to worry about. Well, I decided that I would rather be slowly devoured and/or drowned by a carnivorous fish than spend one more second in Windigo's power.

I leapt in to the waters. The coldness was a shock so extreme that I thought my heart stopped. My mouth opened as I yelled in surprise and I swallowed some water. Pushing my way to the surface, I coughed and shivered uncontrollably. I desperately wanted to climb out of the water, but that would mean leaving myself at his mercy and I knew that he had none. I began to swim across the lake.

My hands and feet went numb very quickly. I felt something large and slimy brush against my thigh, but I was resigned to dying in that nameless lake as long as it meant freedom from Windigo. I concentrated on kicking my legs and wind milling my arms. Halfway across the lake I knew that I would not survive the swim. I was struggling and my arms and legs were numb. My strokes were clumsy and sometimes I couldn't tell if I was even kicking my legs. I thought about allowing myself to sink into the dark waters; it would be far better than being discovered by him halfway across the lake.

I don't remember the rest of the swim, but there was the sensation that I was washed up onto the shore by a wave. I lay there, too tired to shiver. I managed to roll over and thanked God that I had come to shore under one of the larger trees surrounding this lake. The boughs extended a couple of yards over the surface of the water and would completely conceal me from Windigo should he fly over me.

I could hear the waves gently washing the rocks on the shore and it sounded somewhat like sobbing. Then I realized that this lake should have no waves, as there was no strong wind. I looked around me and saw a small, transparent, blue woman crying into her hands. She was seated with her feet in the water, not three yards from me.

"Did you help me cross the lake?" I asked. I assumed that she was a faerie of some type, although I had never seen one like her before.

She pulled her hands away from her face and looked at me. "I thought you dead." Her voice sounded a great deal like a burbling brook. I had never heard a brook actually burble, but that is what her voice sounded like.

I pushed myself to a sitting position and wrapped my arms around me, shivering. "I'm alive and I think it is thanks to you." She nodded. "I'm running away from Windigo. Come with me. Maybe together we can escape."

She shook her head and little drops of water flew from her. "No. If I go he will follow me. He cannot reach me deep under the lake and so I stay there. I heard his call and came, despite every instinct pushing me in a different direction. And once I found him on his island I knew that I had to flee, but I could not. It is too late for me. Save yourself, human."

"I won't get far like this. Do you know where he hid any of my clothes or camping gear?"

She nodded. "I buried your clothes at the base of this tree. Some of your gear is scattered near a stream that flows from the southwest into his lake. You must flee while you can. He will be back soon."

I found some disturbed soil and began digging with my bare hands. I found the clothes I had been wearing on his island and began dressing. "Thank you. I'll tell the other faeries that you are here. Perhaps we can rescue you somehow."

The water faerie sadly shook her head and then slid into the lake and disappeared.

XV

I found my tent and some food along the stream that the faerie had told me about. This increased my chances of survival considerably, but as long as I was inside Windigo's domain I was in terrible danger. If I had found my rifle or a hunting knife I might be able to kill him or myself if he found me, but I had little luck with that.

Now I faced a tough choice. Which way should I go? My instincts told me to just run as fast as I could in any direction away from Windigo's island. On the other hand, there might be two people still alive to the southwest. If Windigo had slain them, then I might be able to loot their airplane for survival equipment. If they were still alive then I would at least have the comfort of spending my last few hours with human beings, instead of being alone in his clutches. And I felt that my presence would be of some comfort to anyone that had encountered Windigo.

I set off to the southwest.

Part 2 coming soon.