The wendigo snarled and launched at the glass door.

Lucas stared wide-eyed as he broke through it–poised on all fours like a wild beast ready to devour.

A lump formed in his throat. Why does a wendigo want to capture me? He thought after backing up against a shelf of canned food.

The wendigo sprang forward with lashed-out claws. Lucas ducked down in the nick of time and the creature smashed right into a stacked shelf.

Clattering of canned food drowned the screams of shoppers for a moment–a moment Lucas used to create some distance. He maneuvered through the aisles, racing to reach the back door.

Overshadowing the squeaking of his sneakers were the noises of shelves being toppled down.

"I'm not going to make it." He wheezed and took another turn. To his relief, the exit door was in sight.

An elderly woman was stationed at the checkout point not too far from the door, earphones plugged in both ears. And two men in matching red uniforms engrossed themselves in a conversation, standing before the exit. It seemed they were all oblivious to the current crisis. But things didn't stay that way.

The lights were eclipsed for a moment before the wendigo landed in front of the guards.

Lucas saw the old lady faint and guards shriek. The wendigo grabbed one of those guards who in turn shrieked even harder.

Subtracting the stirring guilt in his stomach, that moment was what Lucas defined as perfect. Just slip away now that 'big ugly' is distracted.

But why was he finding it hard to do? His eyes moved from the wendigo to the trail of destruction behind which led to the front door, then back– to see a guard being lowered into the wendigo's wide-open mouth.

"It's gross to eat people!" Lucas swiped the medallion from his pocket and stoned his opponent's back.

Why did I do that? He panicked when the creature turned his hollow eyes to face him.

The wendigo dropped his victim and turned the rest of his body to face Lucas. When his empty eyes spotted the object that was thrown at him, his pale form suddenly recoiled. "You…" he hissed. "A Protector!"

"What?" Lucas frowned in confusion.

"But you do not know…" the wendigo took a bold step forward. "You shall be seized!"

At the center of the gap between Lucas and the wendigo was a 'wet floor' caution sign. He had to get the wendigo to charge.

"Yeah well, you need to stop stalking people. It's creepy."

The wendigo charged like a bull, making Lucas' heart rate spike. He watched as the beast's legs and hands hit the slippery floor and burst into a frantic attempt to regain balance.

Lucas did a big sidestep, avoiding a nasty collision. With crash after crash, the wendigo went further down the aisles. Then everywhere went hush, like an ideal cinema before a movie started.

He looked around, people were clustered at the edges of the supermarket, gazing in awe at the scene.

Again, He thought while raising his jacket's collar as high as he possibly could. Not my kind of attention.

After stealing one last glance at the toppled heap of shelves, he made a break for the exit, bursting into the chilly winds of a winter night.

He patted his pocket. The medallion!

For a split second, he contemplated going back in there. But a harrowing roar from beyond those doors gave him all the conviction he needed.
I wish I had Sonic's legs.

A blue bike was resting on the bark of a pine tree close by. Lucas hurriedly scanned the area, nobody was in sight.

He tossed a twenty dollar bill–all the cash he had on him–next to the bike and propped the ride up.

Noises of glass shattering pierced the air, startling him. There was no point looking back, only one creature would rather smash through a door than use the handles.

He jumped on the bike and paddled for dear life. In moments, he had picked up speed. The fact he was going downhill meant gravity was on his side. Perhaps there was hope of avoiding that raging monster.

The wendigo's stomping was getting louder, closer. Hope began to fade inside Lucas until he zipped right into a forest of pine trees.

For the first few seconds, his instincts kicked in and he somehow managed to maneuver around the snow-tipped trees. Until he eventually swerved too much and the bike's front tire slammed into one tree, causing him to fly off and land on the leaf-covered dirt.

"Peh!" He spat away leaves. At first, luck seemed to partially be on his side. His muscles barely ached.

"Why has luck forsook me so?" He wailed at the sight of the busted bike. Pointless as it seemed, he resorted to running on foot. The wendigo was getting closer. Twigs announced his presence with their relentless snapping.

Lucas was running on adrenaline, weaving through the forest, trying to go anywhere but back. His eyes were alert, his mind laser-focused. He ducked branches and leaped over stomps in a manner so elegant, it surprised him.

When did I gain these reflexes?

His brief moment of pride caused him to lose focus, and his tilting vision made him realize he had just stumbled.

The pain kicked in a second later.

"Ow!" He screamed, crumbling to the ground. If only the terrain wasn't sloping, he wouldn't have started rolling down afterward.

Lucas tumbled again and again until he passed out.

*****

For a while, all he saw was darkness. Then all of a sudden, he was floating in a dim lair, and the monster with eyes of fire was there with him. In comparison, this one was by far scarier than the wendigo. He was larger than Lucas remembered, and his every stomp made the ground shake. What a stroke of luck that Lucas was out of the monster's field of vision.

He watched from behind as the dreaded figure descended into some kind of rocky basement that emitted red lights.

"Alas…"His voice was a loud slow drag. "The final hours of the winter solstice draw closer. My precious devils," he called without looking back. The tiny red-eyed men surrounding the basement hatch perked up all at once. "Stay vigilant while I discuss the end of the human race with Grýla. The link will form anytime soon."

"Gah!" Lucas woke up, sweating bullets.

"Kiddo! You're awake."

That can't be right. Lucas squinted. It sounded like Coach Timi.

"Where…" he muttered, eyes taking in his surroundings. Definitely the back seat of a car. He sat up and looked at the driver. "Coach? How did you–"

"Find you? Oh, I just happened to be driving by the outskirts of a forest when you tumbled out into the main road. You're lucky I was there. Care to explain yourself?"

"I was chased…and I fell. Then I rolled down, how am I not injured?" Lucas examined his body which was so fresh, even the little rashes on his wrist were gone.

"Umm, "Coach Timi became laser-focused on the barren road ahead. "Let's skip that part. Tell me, who was chasing you?"

"Okay, one; we're not skipping anything. And two; you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Here we are!" Coach Timi pulled over at the School's parking lot. His was the only car there. "Wait in the car, I want to grab something from my office. Then I'll drive you home." He unbuckled his seatbelt and exited the car. "Lock's jammed but it doesn't matter as long as you stay put. Can you do that?"

"Coach–"

"It'll only be a second. I'll explain everything on the ride to your place." He slammed the driver's door shut and cupped his hands over his mouth as he backtracked. "After all, it's dangerous to wander alone on foot in the night!"

"You–" Lucas pointed a finger in objection. Until he remembered the wendigo. "You make a fair point, actually."

He watched Coach Timi jog across the parking lot,  disappearing into a bend.

"Damn." He rubbed his forehead. "Why is today so weird?" Deep down he wondered how much weirdness he could take before he lost it.

Then it occurred to him that Fantasio Inc might have been on to something all along.

They claimed they could handle cryptids, right? He pondered. That wendigo was definitely real and is probably a cryptid by Fantasio Inc's definition. Maybe he could report this, and at least one of his problems would be solved.

Some people say if you think too much about a certain subject, it'll eventually manifest. But whether the wendigo 'manifested' or was just lurking around and happened to stumble upon the school's parking lot, one thing was clear, he had tracked down Lucas.

He locked eyes with Lucas from several meters across. Lucas gulped, knowing it would take mere seconds for the wendigo to cover said distance. Fleeing the car was his only option, but he doubted he would be given a headstart as per good sportsmanship. It really was the end of the line.

Just when Lucas thought he was a goner, a window on the school's second floor shattered.

Squinting, he could form the silhouette of Coach Timi who landed on his feet between the car and the wendigo. His royal blue scarf tussled under the wind's influence, complimenting his dark blue tracksuit.

Why did you do that? How did you do that? These were reasonable questions swarming the mind of Lucas. Though he resorted to a warning. "Coach, get out of there! It's a wendigo!"

"I know!" Coach Timi grinned at Lucas. "That's why I jumped in as soon I saw him through my window!"

Lucas slumped in despair. This man had gone nuts.

"Don't worry, kiddo." Coach Timi faced the wendigo who flexed his claws and licked his bony lips with a thick slender tongue. "I'm gonna take this punk to school."

And how exactly do you plan to do that? The words couldn't surface outside Lucas. He was too dumbfounded to speak. He just watched in bewilderment as the wendigo pounded a fist into the earth and roared. "Ex-Protector, I am not afraid of you!"

"Oh, yeah?" Coach Timi cracked his knuckles. "Then why haven't you attacked?"

"As you wish!" The wendigo charged, his monstrous right hand up in the air, about to swipe at Coach Timi.

Lucas had his face pressed on the window, unable to look away. He saw as Coach Timi dodged with composure as if it was all part of an early morning exercise routine. In a flash, he kicked the wendigo's abdomen with his Air Jordan, and a cracking sound emanated. The creature doubled down.

"Ha," Coach Timi snorted. "Even your weak spot is weak." He jumped backward just in time to avoid a slash from under. "Woah, almost had me there, pal."

"I will tear you limb from limb!" The wendigo got up and reached for a lamppost, unearthing it easily like it was a candy cane in a gingerbread house. He launched it at Coach Timi who was barely able to dive out of the way.

Coach Timi crashed on the concrete and winced. Lucas grew even more anxious. Somehow, his Coach managed to do a Chinese get-up. "Alright, wendigo. Now I'm done playing."

His monstrous foe bellowed, spreading out long ghastly claws. Lucas saw Coach Timi crouch and touch the metal base of the damaged lamppost. The next thing he said not only startled Lucas but also the wendigo. "Fascino!"

A popping sound tore through the air.

His foe was shocked but it was only temporal. "Ex-Protector, you think enchantment scares me? Hah!"

Before Lucas's very eyes, the wendigo–who leaped towards Coach Timi for another slash—was suddenly met in the air by a floating lamppost that bonked him on the head and drove him into the ground of the parking lot. A web of cracks diverged from the spot where the wendigo crashed. He laid there crumpled and motionless, down for the count.

"Ha!" Coach Timi grinned, basking in moonlight. "Still got it."

Lucas could not peel his gaze from the now-dented-but-still-floating lamppost.

"That pen did write by itself!"