Star Crossed in the North

“Where is that thing?!” Jodie whispered frantically.

“I don’t know. I can’t see a damn thing out there,” came the whispered reply from her fiancé Doug.

“Why is it after us?” she whispered back to him. She was afraid to make any noise, her mind having a hard time processing the events of the last thirty minutes. She was trying to regain her grip on reality.

“I think it’s that thing the storekeeper told us about.” was his hushed reply. Doug was also having a hard time accepting the reality of what was happening.

“That’s just a legend, right? It can’t be real!” She said quietly.

“Sweetie, I have no earthly idea. I just know we’ve to get out of here as fast and quietly as we possibly can.”

Not wanting to make any more sound than necessary she nodded her head in a small fashion, afraid any excessive motion might attract the predator stalking them.

The couple huddled close together under the shrubs and bushes in the grove of trees they were in. The fact the sky was clear, and the full moon shone brightly was the only thing that had kept them alive so far. It allowed them to see, if even barely, where they were going. Both were bloodied from scratches acquired in their mad scramble through the forest of the Canadian Rockies where they’d been camping. They were also bruised from running into trees and rocks; Doug was nursing a twisted knee with Jodie hobbling on two twisted ankles. In short, they were a mess. Lying flat under the foliage, they replayed the events of their lives and particularly, the last twenty-four hours.

It started with their flight from San Francisco, where they lived, into Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The pair were prolific hikers and campers. They enjoyed time away together in the wilderness, escaping from the pace of the big city and getting back to basics. They were very much in love, regarded as the picture-perfect couple, soul mates for sure. They’d each grown up in small Midwestern towns, all-stars in high school, academically, athletically, popular, etc. Receiving multiple scholarships to college, they attended the University of Southern California in the hopes of escaping the harsh Midwestern winters. The two young adults discovered each other their freshman year in a Literature class being taken to fulfill a core requirement. One thing led to another with them living together by the time they graduated, then moving to San Francisco. Jodie landed a job as a computer programmer with a Bay area high-tech company while Doug received a lucrative position as an intern with an elite law firm, furthering his pursuit of a law degree. Relishing opportunities to escape the speedy pace of central California living, they frequently took trips to parks across the United States, hiking, camping, reaching out to nature’s call and getting level set in their minds. 

This trip was the first time they’d ventured out of the U.S. Opting for something a little more on the wild side they’d decided to go north of the border, spending their long weekend in Jasper National Park of Canada. Their flight to Edmonton overflew the Canadian Rockies, giving them a sneak peek at the wilderness they’d soon be trekking through, making them giddy with anticipation.

They stopped near the entrance of the park to fill up their rental SUV with gas. When they went inside the small outfitters post to stock up on their remining supplies, things took a turn for the weird. During check out, the clerk began questioning them.

“Where you headed today, eh?” he asked, his thick Canadian accent coming through strongly.

“Headed up into Jasper to do a little hiking and camping for the weekend.” Doug replied, beaming with excitement.

“You’re not by chance headed to the Kakwa area are ya?” he queried, giving them a very serious look.

“Well, we’d planned to. The pictures online paint an absolutely beautiful picture of the area.” Jodie said. She was aglow with the anticipated adventure amidst the natural scenery.

“Normally I’d say you’re right. That area up there is positively gorgeous. But I mean to warn you, scare you if I must, find someplace else. You don’t want to be in those woods any time soon. At least not until they’ve gotten rid of the wendigo.” The storekeeper said, his voice getting softer, as if he didn’t want anyone else inside the store to hear him.

“The what?” Doug asked. He was puzzled why this man seemed to be shooing them away when it looked like he could use all the business he could get.

The clerk leaned in toward the bewildered couple. “The wendigo. It’s been said that one’s surfaced around here, and I mean to believe that. All the signs point to it being true.” he said, very matter of fact.

“What’s a wendigo?” the couple asked. Considering themselves educated people, neither had ever heard of this thing the old man was talking about.

“It comes from an old native American legend. Primarily Algonquian tribes in the east, but the story and history has spread across Canada. It’s believed that if a man consumes the flesh of another, because of desperate measures, or some perversion, he’ll be possessed by the spirit of the wendigo. He’ll become a mythical creature, forever hungry, cannibalistic in nature, roaming the woods searching for its next meal. The legend continues that only a shaman, well versed in ancient dark arts, can even attempt to remove the curse and that slaying one is nearly impossible because of the nature of the curse.”

Doug and Jodie looked at each and stifled a laugh. They couldn’t believe that in this day and age, someone was telling them campfire ghost stories to try and scare them.

“So, what are the signs that this . . . wendigo creature is running around up here?” Doug asked. He tried not to be too snarky because the storekeeper looked very serious about the subject.

“Well, about six months back, some big city hunter came up here wanting to bag a big buck for a nice trophy over his fireplace. A local guide took him out, against his better judgement because of a blizzard moving in, but the city slicker paid an exorbitant amount of money to him. Well, they went out, and, no surprise, no one heard from them after that. A couple weeks back though, they found the guide’s truck in a ravine. Looks like it’d skidded off the road, falling about three hundred feet into a small grove of trees. Even if they’d had a cell phone or a small radio, it wouldn’t have done them any good. Between the height of the mountains and the depth of the ravine, there was no signals coming out of there. No sign of the city guy or his body. Any tracks would’ve melted away with the snow. But now here’s the strange part; the guide was missing . . . some pieces of flesh. Like he’d been carved on. Just a couple nights ago some campers came through here. They looked mighty scared and they couldn’t get out of here fast enough. I asked them what was wrong, and they said they had been kept up all night by the most heinous and frightful sound they’d ever heard. Sounds to me like the wendigo is on the prowl.”

Doug and Jodie looked at each other again and smiled. With a silent eye to eye look, they both agreed that this was just a joke. This old man was having some fun with the city people. They were accomplished hikers and campers though and they didn’t scare easy. Doug did carry a .357 Magnum revolver, just in case. They’d had some creatures try and “get friendly” with them before. They were confident that the revolver would be more than enough, if they even needed to use it.

“Well we appreciate the warning, sir, but we didn’t come all this way just to turn around now. I think we’ll take our chances out there.” Doug said. Again, he tried not to be snarky, but genuine in his appreciation of the storekeeper’s tale.

“Can’t say I didn’t warn ya. At least I’ll sleep better at night knowing I tried,” the storekeeper said. He shook his head in defeat feeling that this would be the last time he saw this couple.

“Duly noted, sir. Thank you again.” Jodie said as she and her fiancé scooped up the bags holding their provisions.

As they started their drive to their campsite the pair got quite a chuckle from the story.

“Can you believe that dude?!” Doug laughed as he pulled onto the road. “Seriously? Some old boogeyman story from the natives?!”

“I could barely hold a straight face,” Jodie replied, “but he seemed so serious about it. I didn’t want to insult the man.”

The pair laughed about the whole incident and started making plans for their first day in camp.

It was only about a half hour to where they had reserved a campsite. The drive was through some rough terrain and their rental used every bit of four-wheel drive it had in getting there. They had a ‘choreographed’ routine to setting up their campsite and within twenty minutes their tent was up, sleeping bags rolled out, and provisions stored properly to keep critters from trying to get into their supplies.

After camp set up, they took off, managing to get in a challenging four-hour hike through the park, enjoying the scenery and natural beauty the Canadian wilderness had to offer. They decided during the hike that this was just the first time they went up north of the border for a vacation. They’d be back.

Getting back to camp they freshened up with the towelettes they’d brought then had a simple dinner using their campfire. After dinner they sat around the fire talking, cuddling, and enjoying the fading of the sunlight, the setting sun being obscured by the forest around them.

As the couple prepared to go to bed, the sky above them clear, starlight and a full moon illuminating the landscape, they heard the howling of wolves in the hills around them.

“Looks like we’ll have a moonlight serenade, Honey.” Doug said as unzipped their tent door.

“Ah, children of the night, what a sweet symphony.” Jodie made a ‘bluh, bluh, bluh” sound like a vampire from a corny B rated horror movie. They both laughed, the howling intensifying in the background.

“Well, I’ll keep this close just in case the children decide to get rowdy,” he said, brandishing the revolver, then tucking it down beside his sleeping bag.

“Good idea” Jodie said as she entered the tent with him. They zipped the doorway back up, the fading campfire illuminating the interior as they prepared to go to sleep.

All at once the howling stopped. The only thing they heard for a minute was the snap and crackling of the wood in their fire-pit. 

“What happened to the wolves?” Jodie asked. “I was looking forward to going to sleep to them.”

“I don’t know,” Doug replied. “That seems weird they stopped like that, all of a sudden.”

The next sound they heard shook them both to their core. In all their years of camping and all the different places they had been, neither had ever heard a sound as bone chilling as this. The sound pierced the night, cutting the silence like a razor. It had the undertone of a howl like the wolves, but it sounded more like the shriek of a hawk, only more intense and drawn out.

Doug and Jodie froze in their tent. The shriek sounded again but it was louder like the source was closer to them. Slowly Doug reached down and grabbed the revolver next to him. Jodie slowly drew nearer to her companion, trembling in fear.

“What is that?!” she quietly asked.

“I have no idea. I’ve never heard anything like that before.” was Doug’s answer.

With nothing but the fire making any noise, they started hearing a rustling, and crashing through the brush. It started faintly, but then got louder, the source closing in on their position. Doug raised his gun, pulling the hammer back in preparation to fire.

Louder and louder the noise got closer to the huddled pair. Then it stopped. Listening carefully though, the two frightened campers heard something that made them even more uneasy. A slobbering, heavy breathing of what they could only imagine be a wild animal of great size. The shock of the sound caused them to instinctively hold their breath for fear that any utterance would give them away. In their forced silence they heard the beast sniff. This caused them to tense even more. The sniffing started getting more frequent and closer as the beast was using its nose to find them.

As the animal came between the tent and the campfire Doug raised the gun, sighting in on the silhouette as it came into view. Both of their jaws dropped when the silhouette grew to block out the tent wall.

The beast stopped at what the couple guessed to be three feet in front of the tent door. Jodie slowly hunkered down even further against Doug who was conversely raising to one knee, holding the weapon pointed at the center of the shadow.

One long sniff, an ear shattering shriek, and the next thing that happened was a clawed arm ripping through the side of the tent shredding it instantly. Doug could feel the breeze of the arm as it swept by him, missing the revolver by inches.

Wendigo. It was the only thing that came even close to making sense to the terrorized pair. It was unlike anything they had ever seen in real life or in movies. At least ten feet tall, furred, glowing eyes, fangs dripping with saliva, gaunt, pale, and evil looking.

Doug pointed his firearm at the creature and shot it right between the eyes, the beast falling to the ground near the campfire with a heavy thud.

“Jeezus!!” he yelled. “What is that thing?!”

“I don’t know, but I don’t like the looks of it. I say we get the Hell out of here! Now!” Jodie cried.

“I’m with you, Baby!” he replied as they began moving toward their SUV.

They tread carefully past the fallen beast, closing in on the vehicle when they heard something stirring. Reluctantly looking over their shoulders, they saw the creature rise from the ground. It shook its head, scowled at them, and howled menacingly. It crouched, then, unbelievably, jumped up over their heads, landing on their car, where it began to pummel it with its fists. The vehicle stood no chance against the unworldly strength of this unnatural animal.

“RUN!” screamed Doug as he unloaded the remaining bullets in his gun at the creature. Jodie needed no further prompting as she raced to the nearest tree line, hoping to gain some concealment by the trees and the accompanying undergrowth. 

The next half hour became a dark and painful blur to the pair. Clamoring through brush, briars, shrubs, and trees, they ran when they could, crawled when they had to, and tried to put as much distance as they could between themselves and their antagonistic creature. The noise the creature made drove them as it would ebb slightly, then sound very close to them a minute later. They had no doubt they were running for their lives.

Surveying their current position, Doug saw a path leading into a big thicket of trees. Pointing to it he whispered to Jodie, “We’re gonna go through there, hopefully lose it in that bunch of trees.” 

Jodie nodded, the adrenaline blocking out the pain in her ankles she got from twisting them on tree roots and rocks. Doug assisted her to her feet and the couple starting to make their way down the path. They were hopeful of the prospect that they may in fact get away.

Approaching the edge of the tree line, their hearts sank as the terrifying noise the creature made resounded fiercely from the tree branches directly above them.

Two weeks after Doug and Jodie had stopped at the small outfitter store, a Mountie, accompanied by an FBI agent walked in. The old man at the counter greeted them, wondering what he might do for the law enforcement agents.

“Well, sir,” the FBI agent said, holding out a picture for the clerk to see, “We were wondering if you’d seen this couple. They’ve been reported missing and the last thing they were seen doing was leaving for a trip they’d planned up to this area.”

The old man recognized the missing young lovers instantly.

“Yup. Sure do. They came through a couple weeks back, headed up to the Kakwa area. Warned them not to go, but they disregarded me. Didn’t expect to see them again and it’s no surprise seeing you here asking about them.”

“Warned them?” The agent asked. “About what?”

Looking around to make sure no one was listening, he leaned in toward the officers and said, very softly, just one word.

“Wendigo.”

The Mountie instantly looked like he’d seen a ghost. He’d been around for years and knew exactly what the old man was talking about. The FBI agent simply looked puzzled.

“Thank you for your time, sir.” The Mountie said, indicating to the FBI agent that they should leave now. They did, the FBI agent reluctantly leaving, with a quizzical look on his face all the way out the door.

Doug and Jodie were said to be a picture-perfect couple. Destined to be together forever, obviously soul mates. Fate was not entirely kind to the pair. Yes, they would be together forever, but not as they had intended. Their remains would fade away, intertwined as they lay strewn about from animalistic fury, together, for eternity, lost in the Canadian wilderness.