Free Windigo Soul by Robert Brumm

lives, completely oblivious to the fact he was alive and well, made it that much worse. There was virtually no chance they’d ever be together, but there was still that nagging sliver of hope, torturing him. If he could only get a message to them somehow. In his darkest hours, lying awake in bed, he almost looked forward to the day when he knew Peg would retire. At least he would get some closure. But that still left Sara.
     
    *****
     
    “Ready to seal up,” Seamus said. He picked up his side of the pod cover and waited for Hank. “You try that new apple pie last night?”
    “What? I didn’t see any.” Hank picked up his end and they carried the dense plastic cover over to the pod. “All that was left for dessert by the time I got there were those rock hard molasses cookies.”
    “Mmm-boy. You missed out, Son. Ain’t too often they break out something new in the cafeteria. You snooze you lose.”
    “I guess I’ll have to start eating dinner earlier,” Hank said. “That’s not the first time I’ve missed out on something by the time I get to eat.”
    “You’re an old man now,” Seamus grinned. “You gotta start acting like it. Rule one is get up by four in the morning and eat dinner at four in the afternoon. Pretty soon you’ll be telling me you don’t go to bed ‘till eight or nine o’clock!”
    Hank chuckled and helped Seamus push the pod into position so it could be secured to the boiler core. Once it was filled with conductive fluid and brought online, they’d be done. It was the last swap for the day and he was looking forward to the last hour of their shift. Hopefully if things kept quiet, he’d have a chance to get even with Seamus in their ongoing gin rummy tournament.
    “Woah!” Hank jumped back and banged his head on the pod directly behind him.
    “Man, what’s the matter with you?” Seamus scowled. “Scared the hell outta me.”
    “I could’ve sworn I just saw her hand twitch. Did you see that?”
    Seamus leaned over and shook his head. “Ain’t nothing twitching. Come on, let’s get this shit done. I gotta take a squirt.”
    “I’m telling you, I saw her move. You checked for a pulse, right?”
    “Yeah, I…” Seamus scratched his head. “Look, the bitch is dead, alright? Won’t make a difference in a minute once it’s full anyway.”
    The woman in the pod opened her eyes and lurched upwards, banging her head on the unlatched cover. Hank and Seamus flinched at the same time as the cover fell to the floor and the woman sat up. She thrashed about, obviously far from dead and scared out of her mind. She ripped the breathing apparatus from her mouth and screamed a loud and inhuman shriek. She clawed at the tubes and wires surrounding her, brushing them off like spider webs.
    Hank looked to Seamus for answers. “What the hell is going on?”
    Seamus just shook his head and backed away from the wailing woman. “Hell if I know! You charged the gun from last time, right? Light was green?”
    Hank looked over at the wall to the device that shocked the retirees mounted there. If it wasn’t fully charged, the full amperage needed to render the retiree brain-dead wasn’t delivered. It was designed to not fire at all if that was the case, but it was malfunctioning and Seamus had been waiting for maintenance to fix it for months. It was the reason he insisted Hank checked the status light every time before they used it and why Seamus took extra care when checking for a pulse. Hank couldn’t remember if he had. Another step overlooked while the complacent men talked about pie.
    The woman’s thrashing caused the pod to tumble off the scissor lift and crash to the floor. Moaning and heaving, she slowly rose to her feet. It wasn’t a pretty sight. Bald and naked, bulging and insane eyes filled with panic. She spotted Hank and Seamus and shuffled toward them on unsteady feet. Her frantic shrieks of terror turned to two barely coherent words – “help me.” To Hank, it sounded