The earth shook under its voice but it was interrupted when an arrow struck its eye. Rolaf that magnificent son of a scoundrel showed his worth. I quickly backed away and told Ferdinand to retrieve his shield. We currently had three men down Fredrick and Apelica were dead and Alex probably isn’t going anywhere with that wound. I didn’t like our chances but before I could order a retreat the monster that was holding its head suddenly ripped the arrow out with the eye still attached. It brought it up to its mouth and ate it.

The sight of the self-mutilation made my blood freeze, something so brutal to itself obviously won't show any mercy to us. I took this opportunity to observe the creature, mike was half a head shorter than me but now he stood a good three heads over. His well-built frame had become rail-thin and emaciated with almost every bone showing. His arms were now unproportionately long with the tip of his claws reaching below the knees. Its emaciated frame made him look weak but what he did to Apelica said otherwise.

Ferdinand quickly came back with his tall kite shield and a spear, I hated to say it but they probably won’t help. The creature quickly regained its bearings but instead of launching itself at us it turned and pounced at Alex who was behind it. Alex was futilely trying to crawl away when Mike landed on him, it raised its claw and savagely raked it across his back causing him to release a heart-stopping scream. I now needed to make a difficult choice, leave Alex to die and use the distraction to retreat or try to save him and risk the lives of the others. Finally, after hardening my heart I chose the latter. He was a good comrade but other lives are at stake and his wounds definitely won't help.

I looked back to see if Dave had the hostage and he did so I gave the order to retreat. We started toward the south side of camp with Ferdinand keeping the rear. As soon as we left camp we started sprinting, it was almost dawn now so we could see fine. As we ran Alex’s horrid screams accompanied us, no matter how far we went. Actually, it was... and it’s getting closer. My back was drenched in a cold sweat at that realization. I believe David said that Mark went out into the woods because of a mysterious wailing, I had forgotten it before because of the attack.

I cursed my forgetfulness, whatever’s out there is much more powerful than a mere level three creature. I could only hope that it loses interest. Almost like my prayers had been answered, the screams started to sound more distant. I let out a sigh of relief but I couldn’t let my guard down yet, Mike was still out there and by now he probably finished his meals. A small tear came to my eye thinking about my fallen comrades, we had been through a-lot together only for them to die suddenly on a low-risk expedition and by a former member at that.

A sudden crashing to the left woke me from my thoughts, something big was charging right at us. In a moment of panic, I commanded dave to drop the hostage. He complied instantly and threw it at the noise, we picked up our pace into a full sprint. The sound instantly turned to the girl and rushed right at it, thanking my lucky stars I looked back. Mike busted out of the bushes and made a b-line for the girl. I kicked myself a little bit for using the valuable hostage like this but I’m sure the council would forgive me.

After ten paces Mike leapt at the girl only for something horrifying to happen. An arm reached out from a nearby tree and grabbed Mikes's head causing him to stop in midair. It easily held him well off his feet but the next part was truly terrifying. Mike kicked and screamed but the arm didn’t move a bit and with a sickening squelch it popped his head like a grape. A mad cackling suddenly emerged from the arms source and in Mikes's voice it said,

“...Run...”

POV shift——————————————

My plan worked almost perfectly but I had to dispatch the fledgling wendigo, but doing things myself is also fun. A small chuckle escaped my mouth, I just got the perfect idea but I need them in a panic. Readying my vocal cords I copied the fledgling when he first entered the camp,

“...Run...”

I added some distortion for flavor and it worked magnificently. They quickly broke formation and ran faster than what they could ever do, their adrenaline pushing them harder than what is normally possible. The smell of fear almost doubled causing me to salivate but that will need to wait. I started to walk beside them willing my body to shrink and twist, my fun is not over yet.