“You know what, guys… I don’t think you’re all that funny anymore.”
Chapter 10
Following their hasty departure from Weyr Resort, Xander and Tom had struggled to gain much distance in the deep snow. They only made it as far north as the French River bridge before darkness and empty fuel tanks forced them to call it a day. They ended up spending the night at an abandoned cottage digging into their limited food supplies and stretched out around a warm woodstove.
During their discussions, Xander couldn’t help bringing up Tom’s mock fistfight with his older brother. He was satisfied with the overall authenticity of the display, but was curious as to whether or not Tom felt he could actually best Mick in a real fight. Tom assured Xander that he could have laid out Mick in seconds, but he would never do such a thing in front of his brother’s own crew. Xander was extremely pleased with this answer, as it proved to him that Tom understood the importance of loyalty and of maintaining the respect of your men. He still wasn’t sure where Tom would end up in his organization, but his prospects had just improved considerably.
The next morning they were both eager to get going again, but the same snowstorm that would eventually hit Hal’s resort and George’s cabin had already arrived in the French River area. Throughout the day the snowfall had only intensified seriously slowing them down and hindering their efforts to find their friends. By 3:00 p.m. they could barely see the front of their own snowmobiles. Not only that, but even the 139” tracks under their matching 1982 Ski-Doo Skandic snowmobiles were beginning to get bogged down in the snow.
Realizing that they could soon be in serious trouble, Xander decided to find a place to hunker down and wait out the storm. Eventually, the sun would come out again and firm up the snow pack enough for them to continue. As it was, they were only wasting gas and oil, a commodity of which they did not have an abundant supply.
The very first cottage they found was already occupied by two couples, all four of them approximately 30 years of age. They were even kind enough to already have a warm fire going and dinner on the table. Xander and Tom wasted no time in brutishly forcing their way into the young couples’ lives. The men were savagely beaten, tied up and left unconscientious on the living room floor. Then, while the women stood terrified and huddled in the corner, Xander and Tom sat down and helped themselves to a delicious home cooked meal.
When they were done, Xander politely asked the women to kindly take a seat, so that he could present them with their options. Both being fairly good looking, these women would be experiencing similar evenings regardless of which option they chose. He simply wanted them to believe that they had some say in matter. The deal that Xander had set up with the women back in Sudbury had worked out very well for him and he found that he preferred it when his ‘associates’ at least pretended to be willing participants.
Choice number one involved watching their men bleed out on the carpet after his friend slit their throats where they lied. The second and far less heinous option meant running off to their rooms, putting on something nice and providing them with a little harmless adult entertainment. Should option two be chosen, Xander explained, he and Tom would soon leave and all four of them could go back to being meaningless nobodies stuck out in the middle of nowhere.
Finally running out of patience, as he waited for them to get over their shock, Xander nodded to his friend. The instant Tom stood up and pulled the long knife from behind his belt, both women jumped out of their chairs and rushed off to their bedrooms to change. Xander smiled at Tom and commented that their enthusiasm was very encouraging.
Xander and Tom ended up spending two full nights in that cottage before finally getting under way again. The devastation and suffering that they left behind failed to register with either one of them. As far as they were concerned, all four of those people were left alive and well. They were even kind enough to not rob them of all their belongings or dwindling supplies. What Xander and Tom had taken from those two young couples, however, was far more traumatic. They were still alive, but none of them were anywhere close to well.
◆◆◆
“Any luck, Ken?” Mars asked.
“None.” Ken replied as he stomped his feet on the doormat. “We didn’t see any sign of them at all.”
“Sons of bitches.” Mars said while shaking his head. “Bray said he was gunna set up his crew on the next road east. Did you get all the way up to Lake Nipissing?”
“No, we only made it about half way when this storm kicked up.” Ken replied. “You told us not to take any unnecessary risks, right? Three guys went out, three guys came back.”
“Yeah, you did the right thing, Ken. It’s looking brutal out there. Up to that point, though, how was the sledding?”
“Not too bad, but we stayed on the main roads. We could have cut the distance in half if we went cross country and rode across them lakes though.”
“No, just stick to the highways, Ken. I don’t want you guys getting stuck out in the middle of nowhere and having to spend the night on the ice.”
“You’ll get no argument from me on that one.” Ken said.
“Assuming this weather lets up by tomorrow, Dom and Cam are heading out early on another hunt. You already know how that’s been going. They haven’t seen as much as a rabbit in days.”
“Shit… We should have just followed Bray further north on day one.” Ken said.
“Yeah well, we didn’t and now it’s up to you to find them.” Mars said firmly.
“Bray must have taken them all the way up to Lake Nipissing.” Ken said. “Other than a few abandoned shitholes here and there, we didn’t see anything on the road we were on… I’ll find them.”
“Alright, good. When you do, I want you to send two guys back for us. We’ll have our stuff packed up and ready to get the hell out of here.”
“What about the trucks?” Ken asked.
“What about them? They won’t roll in this shit and we can’t eat them. They’re fuckin’ useless. We leave them behind and hope they’re still here waiting for us when we get back in the spring.”
“If we pull their batteries it might keep them from getting stolen.” Ken said. “Before we take off we can place them under the floor boards where we stashed our extra rifles and ammo. They’ll probably be dead by spring, but once we get those trucks jump started, they should charge back up quick enough.”
“Xander mentioned something about pulling all the fuses too.” Mars said.
“That’s an even better idea.” Ken said. “I’ll get the guys to help me with that tomorrow morning.”
“Day after tomorrow, I want you, Luke and Easton to head out again. We’ve got to find some more gas and two-stroke oil too. There should be plenty around Nipissing, so make sure you bring a couple of sleighs with you.”
“You got it, Mars.” Ken said.
“Hey, I noticed Dom and Cam out there in the truck keeping watch.” Ken added. “Something happen around here today?”
“You could say that.” Mars replied. “We went out on another scavenging run this afternoon. You remember that really nice cottage down the other end of the lake? The place with the young family living in it?”
“The two story timber frame… yeah, I remember.” Ken replied apprehensively. “I also remember telling you to leave them alone.”
“Don’t start with that bullshit!” Mars shouted, turning on a dime. “You don’t tell me anything!”
“Okay, Mars, I…”
“…I agreed to leave them alone as long as we didn’t need their shit. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in a bad way here, Ken. I won’t have some personal assistant telling me my business, so you best check your tone when you’re talking to me.”
“Alright, I’m sorry.” Ken said, holding up his hands in symbolic surrender. He had seen the absolute maniac that Mars was capable of becoming several times and he had no desire to have any of that insanity directed towards him. Still, though, he simply couldn’t resis
t asking one last question.
“Are those two kids alright?”
Mars closed his eyes, grimaced and combed his fingers through his tangled black hair. He knew Ken wasn’t going to like hearing this, but there was no use trying to hide anything from him. Dom and Cam were probably still talking about their horrific trip to that cottage. They’d be champing at the bit to tell Ken and the others all about it.
“That family was already gone when we got there.” Mars finally replied. “Some seriously messed up shit went down in that place though. You wouldn’t believe what it looks like inside that cottage right now. Furniture, appliances, everything they had was piled up in front of all the windows and doors. They barricaded themselves in the best they could, but whoever it was they were trying to keep out eventually got in. It looked like the patio door was eventually shot out. By the looks of it, I’d say the snow’s been blowing inside for at least a week now.”
“For fuck’s sake…” Ken said, visibly upset.
“Yeah, I know, Ken. We found an empty shotgun on the living room floor that the assholes didn’t even bother taking with them… Half a box of bird shot too. Dom seems to think the patio door was shot from inside the cottage, with that same shotgun we found on the carpet. He said most of the shattered glass was outside on the deck.”
“What the hell?”
“Not everyone’s great under pressure, man.” Mars said. “Maybe the guy panicked, who knows? The only thing I can say for sure is that the guys that attacked that family were some sick fucks. There’s blood all over the damn place in there. It looked like somebody was even dragged down the stairs from the second floor while they were bleeding out. We didn’t find any bodies though. I imagine they’re all outside somewhere… buried under all the snow we got this week.”
“My God… what the hell’s the matter with people?”
“Strangest part of the whole deal was that they didn’t even take all of their food. Maybe that family had so much stored up that the assholes couldn’t carry it all, I don’t know. We filled an entire cooler with canned goods and drink boxes.”
“Oh, come on, man… drink boxes?” Ken asked, his voice starting to crack.
“Shit’s messed up, Ken and it’s only getting worse.” Mars said. “Anyone that hasn’t joined a larger group by now won’t last much longer. There’s probably dead families all over the place. That’s another reason why we need to hook up with Bray’s crew as soon as possible. Our guys are some hardcore mothers, but even we’d have a hard time fighting off a large gang capable of doing what we saw in that cottage. At least we know we have some pricks running around out here now. We’re gunna keep watch full time and fire on anybody that looks at us cross eyed. We’re not taking any chances.”
“Sounds like a good idea, Mars.” Ken said. “I’ll take a short nap and go out on the night watch.”
“I’ll head out there at midnight.” Mars said. “Go ahead and get your stuff put away, Ken. I’ve got a can of pork and beans for you tonight.”
“Oh, great.” Ken replied sarcastically.
“You can make yourself a damn snow cone for desert.”
The next morning, with the sun shining low in the southeastern sky, Dom and Cam headed into the woods on their hunt. Unfortunately, so too had the depraved gang that had begun operating in the area. They had recently staked claim to this entire valley and they were none too pleased when they discovered the intrusion. They had been planning a nighttime assault for some time now, but having two of them separated from the others was too good an opportunity to pass up. They would begin thinning out the last of their competition under the warmth of the morning sun.
For over an hour they had patiently watched the two trespassers stumble awkwardly through the trees. Silently and methodically the band of ruthless killers slowly surrounded the two hapless men. As Dom and Cam continued to wander unsuspectingly into range, the ambush was set. The instant they entered the kill zone, a small open area that the winds had blown almost completely clear of snow, they launched their attack.
Coming at them from multiple directions at once, Dom was caught completely by surprise. His feeble attempts to defend himself were immediately quashed by a crushing bite directly to the throat. He went down sill clutching his rifle. Neither he nor his weapon made a single sound.
By sheer luck, Cam had caught a glimpse of something leaping between the tress. It was just ahead of them slightly to the left and it was moving at an incredible rate of speed. While his hunting companion continued ahead to his fate, Cam stopped and quickly raised his rifle towards the unknown animal he had spotted. Shocked when a large wolf suddenly leapt out of the trees beside him, Cam fired his rifle repeatedly as he turned to run.
The sudden loud cracks of gunfire caused the wolves approaching from the rear to hesitate long enough for Cam to avoid their snapping lunges. His last two rounds went directly into the hides of two of them. A third snarling beast was knocked backwards a second later, a golf pro level swing of the gun barrel catching it directly across the lower jaw.
As he continued to run, Cam dropped his rifle and drew his handgun. He fired blindly behind fully prepared to empty it as well. By that time, however, the predators had grown wary of the man with the deafening and deadly tools. The pack already had their prize anyway. They had no interest in expelling anymore of their depleted energy reserves in the pursuit of a second… not today anyway.
A little over an hour later, after a petrified Cam was finally convinced to return with the others, Dom was nowhere to be found. Only a long trail of blood streaked snow led deeper into the forest. Resisting the urge to follow that trail, Mars reluctantly accepted Dom’s fate and ordered them to collect up the three dead wolves instead. None of them had any idea what they would taste like, but the wolves wouldn’t be the only ones feeding on the flesh of their enemy today.
Had they followed that trail of blood they would have found the pack’s dining table, but not much of their friend. As the alpha male and female dragged Dom’s savaged body deeper into the forest, an aggressive tug by an impatient younger member had immediately set off by a vicious feeding frenzy. The starving beasts quickly tore his body to pieces. It wouldn’t end until every ounce of Don’s remains rested in the stomachs of 18 fully grown timber wolves. The entire area where the wolves had held their feast was left a bloodied mess of shredded clothing, scattered skull fragments and matted hair.
It wasn’t the first time this particular pack had tasted human flesh and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. They had discovered weeks ago that humans were far easier to hunt than their usual prey. Since the herds of people had come through the area, decimating the population of moose, deer and small game, they had been desperate to find an alternative. They had already attacked and eaten a few of their older pack members, but only the strong were left now.
Faced with no other option, their alpha male and female had led them in the attack of a small group of ice fishermen. While their families watched in horror, shouting frantically from shore, the three helpless men were quickly dispatched and dragged from the ice. The last their families would see of them were their lifeless bodies being dragged by their feet into the forest on the opposite shore.
The following week, the pack would return for the others.
After learning how little energy the entire endeavour had taken, the pack had found their new food source. Some people could be dangerous, as today’s hunt had reminded them, but no more so than a stomping moose or a kicking and goring buck. On the contrary, they had come to the surprising realization that most humans were practically defenceless.
The family of four that they had devoured last week hadn’t offered them any serious resistance at all. Once they had finally found a way into their cottage, it was only a matter of choosing the order in which they would die. That particular hunt had tested the pack’s resolve, but certainly not their endurance.
Facing the very real possibility of starvation eventually driving the
pack back to cannibalism, the alphas were satisfied with their decision. They would continue in their unnatural predation of the human species… and they would be getting hungry again in a day or two.
◆◆◆
Seeing Xander come to a stop up ahead, Tom pulled his sled along side and shut his engine down. The two of them raised the visors on their helmets and stared down the road at a large two story cottage.
“You think that might be the place?” Tom asked.
“Shit, I don’t know… maybe.” Xander replied. “Mars said he was gunna look for something near the western arm of Lake Nipissing and that’s where we are. There’s smoke coming from that chimney, so somebody’s living there.”
“We need to stop for the night somewhere, man. I’m freezing my ass off out here.” Tom said.
“Oh, we’re spending the night, Tommy. Whether this place belongs to Mars, Bray or just some idiots, this place will be ours in few minutes. I’m just wondering if we should walk in from here.”
“It’s dead quiet out here, Xander. If you’re wondering if they heard us coming or not, I’m sure they did. We’re only a few hundred metres away, man.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Xander said. “I don’t feel like walking in the damn snow anyway. We don’t have time to play nice anymore though. If those pricks down there say anything other than, ‘come on in,’ we drop them and charge ahead. If we give them a chance to get organized, we’re screwed, so keep moving until we get them under control.”
“How do you know they won’t shoot first?” Tom asked.
“You gotta have faith in people, son.” Xander replied with a smile. “Everybody around here is just trying to survive and protect their shit. Nobody’s looking for trouble. Hell, that guy the other day was actually moving in to shake my hand when I put my gun in his face.”
As twisted as his logic obviously was, Tom couldn’t help but see Xander’s point. He also couldn’t help the slight chuckle that escaped him as he slid his visor back down and restarted his snowmobile. They revved their engines and pulled away, both with a Sig M17 resting in an unzipped pocket.
EMP [Collateral Darkness] | Book 4 Page 15