Windigo Soul
Windigo Soul
By Robert Brumm
Second Edition ~ Version 1.0
Copyright 2012, 2014
Robert Brumm ~ DeadPixel Publications
This book is intended to be read by adults and may be unsuitable for readers under 17.
Contains indecent language and descriptions of graphic violence.
A Quick Note From the Author:
I published Windigo Soul in early 2012. It’s considered a novella (fancy name for a short book) at around 34,000 words. At the time, I was relieved to finally click that “publish” button and get on with my life. I don’t know about other writers, but by the time I’m finished writing a book, I’m so sick the manuscript, characters, and world I’ve created, I never want to think about it again.
As the months slipped by, Windigo Soul sold pretty well and most of the reviews were favorable. Other than the constant comparisons to Solyent Green*, something bugged me. I started to feel guilty. I admitted to myself that W.S. was a novella because I wimped out and cut the story short only so I could publish it and move onto something else. A few books under my belt later, I decided to do something about it.
In late 2013 I dusted off the old manuscript and started re-writing it from scratch. I took away some old stuff, added a bunch of new stuff, and earned the right to drop the “la” from my novella. Although it’s still relatively short, what you’re about to read now clocks in at over 61,000 words. My main goal was to provide a proper ending and spend more time developing the world and people I introduced in the original.
If you read the first edition, I hope you agree what you are about to read is a vast improvement when you’ve finished. If this is your first time, I hope you enjoy it.
~Robert
*I can honestly say I’d never even heard of Soylent Green when I originally wrote this book. After the third or fourth comparison, I finally borrowed the DVD from the library to see what all the hub-bub was about. IT’S PEOPLE!
Dedicated to my girl with the broken beans and a heart of gold. Again.
He is the human who is transformed into a cannibalistic monster by tasting human flesh in time of starvation. His fearsomeness comes from his very closeness to humans. The Windigo is the embodiment of the hidden, terrifying temptation within them to turn to eating other humans when no other food is to be had.
Algonquian Indian Legend
Chapter 1
The clock in the living room sounded two times and he sighed in frustration. It had been such a long day but it wasn’t nearly long enough. He’d run out of days. It was two hours past midnight on the fourteenth of May. Two hours into his sixtieth birthday. His final birthday.
He let out another long sigh and rolled over on his side, pulling the damp sheet away from his sticky skin. The dark outline of his wife’s body beside him remained motionless and her steady breathing continued. He almost reached out to squeeze her shoulder, to wake her up so he didn’t have to face his insomnia alone, but he let her sleep.
Hank quietly slipped out of bed and wandered into the living room, pulling a t-shirt over his head along the way. He pulled open the picture window curtains allowing the dim light from the street below into his home. He placed his palm on the pane of glass, clean on his side, filthy on the other, and looked down to the street. By his recollection, it had been well over six months since the landlord had the exterior windows cleaned. The build-up of grime and dirt relentlessly attacking the outside of the building left his living room window almost as cloudy as the frosted shower door down the hall.
He unlatched the window and pushed it open, the hinges groaning the whole way from years of neglect. Hank held his breath and glanced back at the dark bedroom, waiting to see if the noise woke Peg. Letting in the outside air, even for a minute, would send her into a panic. But Hank had to risk it. The apartment suddenly felt oppressive. His desire to breathe in the night air, overwhelming.
He leaned out the window and took a deep breath, covering his mouth and attempting to quiet a cough as the air burned his lungs. It had been unseasonably hot over the last few days and the air quality was the worst it had been in months. On most evenings it seemed a little cleaner and easier to breathe than during the daytime, but when it was this hot, there didn’t seem to be too much of a difference.
Hank watched as an affluent young couple crossed the street below, dressed in bright designer clothes, complete with matching face masks. They walked with light steps and light voices, laughing and holding hands as they rounded the corner and continued on to wherever it was young couples went after midnight.
He turned his gaze upwards to the sky, hoping by some miracle he’d get a glimpse of the stars or at least the moon. It would have been nice to at least see the moon on his final night, but the usual dirty haze hung over the city like a filthy blanket. Hank closed the window and shut the curtains.
He rubbed his eyes and coughed into his hands, paying for the few seconds of unfiltered air, as he made his way to the kitchen. The faucet gauge reported just enough water left from the daily ration for a small glass. He waited as the final drops tapered off into the cup before taking a sip and reached for his tablet on the counter.
Hank pinched the cracked bezel in just the right spot, allowing whatever dodgy connection of wires beneath the plastic to make contact and light up the display. As usual, the desire to buy a new one crossed his mind before the grim realization took hold and he remembered he wouldn’t need it.
He flipped to his in box and read the notice for what must have been the hundredth time since it arrived last week.
Congratulations REED, HENRY. After a fulfilling life as a patriotic citizen of the State, your retirement has arrived. You are required by law to report to the Federal Department of Retirement Processing Unit, SECTOR 3, MIDWEST DIVISION, on MAY 14. 10:00 A.M. The United Federation of Nations thanks you in advanced for being prompt.
The rest of the message went on in a slew of sugarcoated propaganda, trying to convince him of the great patriotic duty he was about to fulfill and the future generations he was saving. He drained the glass and turned to see Peg standing in the doorway.
“Jesus!” The tablet slipped from his fingers and hit the floor despite Hank’s attempt to grab it in midair. He crouched down and turned it over, cursing under his breath at the spider web of cracks covering the entire glass display.
Peg caught her breath and squatted to Hank’s level, her knees popping like firecrackers on the way down. “I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t mean to startle you.” She reached for the device and pinched the familiar magic spot but the screen remained dark. “Is it broken for good this time?”
“Looks like it.” Hank stood up with a groan. “We were past due for another one anyway. I pass a guy on the corner almost every day selling cheap knockoffs. They’re probably hot, but it would be stupid to buy a new one now.”
Hank regretted what he said the second it slipped out, and studied Peg’s face for a reaction as she stood up. She was having a hard enough time facing his mortality as it was, and the last thing he intended to do was remind her of her own. She ran her hand absently over the cracked glass and nodded.
Peg placed the tablet on the counter and dusted off her hands. “You’re thinking about tomorrow, aren’t you? Is that why you left me alone in bed?”
“Nah,” Hank lied. “Just couldn’t sleep. It’s too damn hot.”
“Maybe we should just stay up. Put on a pot of coffee and play some cards or something?”
Hank pointed to the dim CFL bulb humming in the light fixture above. “What, and sit on the floor squinting at the cards?” The kitchen and bathroom were the only lighting circuits active after nine o’clock. The latest mandate to hit in an attempt to save energy. “No, you need your sleep. Let’s go back to bed.”
He took her hand and led her back to bed. They laid in silence for a moment before Hank turned to his wife. “Promise me you’ll move in with the kids, Peg. They said they’d be more than happy to have you. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about you buying stolen electronics on the street corner and sweating to death in this dump. You’ll be comfortable there.”
Peg inhaled deeply through her nose and let out a long sigh. “Honey, please. We’ve been over this a dozen times. I’ll be just fine here by myself, and John and Sara are just a few blocks away. Besides, it’s just a couple of months before my time, too.”
“It’s
four
months and I’d feel a lot better if I knew you weren’t alone at night.”
“I don’t want to hear another word!” Peg flipped on her side and faced him. “I’m a big girl and I can take care of myself.”
Hank knew when to give up. Peg was a stubborn woman and he knew they could argue all night and it wouldn’t do any good. He nodded and gently placed his hand on her check, kissed her on the lips. His intended quick peck lingered into a deep kiss and he pulled her close. They made love and Hank fell into a dreamless sleep, still holding on to his wife. He opened his eyes as the living room clock finished chiming six times.
Chapter 2
It took them almost two hours to get to the federal building despite being at the bus stop early enough to take the round trip almost three times. The first two buses were full and the third was over twenty minutes late. There were exactly three empty seats left. Hank and Peg were lucky enough to sit together, their daughter Sara grabbed the last spot in the back.
As Hank squeezed into the tight space between his wife and a woman unacquainted with clean laundry, he couldn’t help thinking of his family car as a young boy. It was one of the last hybrid electrics to roll off the assembly line – his father’s pride and joy. That was a few years before the economic crash and the war to follow. Soon, private car ownership was unheard of except for the quickly diminishing upper class, far removed from little Hank’s own family.
The bus rolled over an exceptionally large pot hole, jarring the bus violently and causing more than one passenger to shout out in surprise. Hank could only imagine what it would be like to ride in a quiet car, just the three of them, making the trip from their flat to downtown in less than thirty minutes. Not that he was in a hurry to get there.
Hank tried to turn around in his seat and get a glimpse of Sara in the back. He’d almost wished she hadn’t joined them, but she insisted. He tried to talk her out of it but Peg’s stubbornness not only passed down to his daughter but multiplied exponentially. His son-in-law John would have joined them as well, but he was out of town on a business trip. John was a big shot consultant at a computer firm and spent a lot of time on the road. He was never quite sure exactly what John did, but he provided a comfortable living for his daughter so Hank never asked too many questions.
Like a lot of younger people, John carried about him an air of superiority mixed with equal part disdain for Hank’s generation. Seemed like most kids these days thought their shit smelled sweeter than the likes of him. He wondered what thoughts would be going through John’s head when it was his turn to get on the bus for downtown. Arrogant punk probably didn’t even think twice about it, as if it somehow it wouldn’t happen to him when the time came.
Hank gave up trying to locate Sara and glanced around at the other passengers surrounding him. Even with their respirator masks covering most of their faces, he could still see the misery and hopelessness in their eyes. Even the younger kids who had almost convinced themselves their lives were worth living but were not doing a very good job of it. They looked tired. Tired of living in a filthy world no longer able to support its resource hungry inhabitants. Tired of a corrupt government that manipulated and lied, killing the spirit of the people it supposedly served.
He would never voice such opinions out loud, of course. At least half of the passengers on the bus would turn him in for sedition if they even suspected such thoughts occupied his mind. The State worked very hard at breeding an atmosphere of mistrust and betrayal amongst the people and it was worse than ever over the last few years.
But no, Hank was just like everybody else. Hiding behind a false smile and convincing himself and those around him that things were on the mend. Good times were right around the corner, thanks to the State working hard to right the wrongs of previous generations.
Now that the end was so close, what difference would it make? He could stick his head out the window of the bus and shout anti-establishment slogans all the way downtown. The worst they could do to him was just minutes away no matter what he did.
The reason he didn’t was the same as it was for everybody else who kept their mouth shut. He had Peg and Sara to think about. Punishment for his crimes would simply transfer to them once his retirement went though.