“Cody’s right.” Brandon struggled to push himself from his nest on the floor. “We have to stick together. If we’re going to make it out of this thing, we need to work out how we’re going to eat, how we’re going to drink.” He pawed a fist at his eye. “We should probably catch up on sleep, too.”
“Trust the fatty to think of food.”
Sophie whirled on Kyle. “I swear to God.”
Kyle raised his hands defensively, the smile not slipping from his face. “Fine. Fine.” He sat back in the chair and turned to the computer. “Maybe we can log into paedo Davidson’s emails and send a message from there. Internet might still be running, right?”
“Doubt it,” Brandon muttered.
“Worth a shot though.”
Brandon returned to his place on the floor and closed his eyes. His skin had paled and once more his hand returned to his chest.
“Dude, are you okay?” Cody asked.
“It’s nothing. I get it sometimes. Palpitations and stabbing pains when I’m stressed. It’ll pass. I just need to breathe through it.”
Cody looked at him with concern, then started pacing around the room. He stroked a hand across the cold stone of the walls and scanned the shelves for anything that might come in useful. “What do you think those things out there were?”
“Never seen anything like them,” Sophie said.
“They’re monsters.” Amy pulled her legs towards her chest and folded her arms over her knees. “Monsters.”
“Monsters don’t exist,” Kyle spat back, busy jimmying the mouse and attempting to guess Davidson’s password.
Amy shut her eyes and whimpered into her sleeve, face laced with hurt. Sophie glared at the back of Kyle’s head, then took a seat beside Amy and placed an arm over her shoulders. Amy closed her eyes and nestled into her.
“If it’s not monsters, how do you explain what we saw?” Cody asked.
“I don’t know what I saw,” Kyle replied. “I was a little too busy getting King out of harm’s reach and cracking locks, in case you hadn’t realized. The most I saw were people, sick people, trying to break in.” He puffed out his chest and span to the room. “In fact, if it hadn’t had been for me, you all would likely be captured or dead right now. And do I get a modicum of thanks for that? No. No I don’t.”
“Maybe if you weren’t so much of an ass, we’d be thankful,” Sophie said.
“They may not be monsters, but they’re not human.” Brandon declared, staring emptily into the centre of the room.
“Of course, fatty has the all answers,” Kyle scoffed.
Cody narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean? What do you think they are?”
Brandon’s eyelids were barely parted. “I read a book once, a while ago, about fabled creatures and monsters that have appeared in texts across the world. Vampires, werewolves, ghosts, that kind of thing.”
Kyle scoffed and returned to the computer. “Here we go.”
“I found it interesting that most of those monsters appeared in Europe or Asia, halfway across the world. The most famous beings and creatures never spawned from a region as isolated as Alaska or anywhere along the frozen belt of the north. It was always Transylvania, or Scandinavia, or Russia. But then I came across something that I almost couldn’t believe.”
“What was it?” Sophie asked.
“The Inuits who were once local to this region had their own set of gods and superstitions, unique to any other tribe or culture. Just one example I came across was an immortal being the Inuits know as ‘Sedna.’ Sedna was once a young girl who upset the tribe and was cast into the ocean by her father for penance. When she tried to climb back into the boat, her father severed her fingers and she fell back into the sea. The sea goddess witnessed this and turned Sedna into an immortal being who spends her days growing new fingers to replace the old ones. When a finger is fully formed, they wriggle free from her hand and become the walruses that populate the arctic seas.”
Amy turned her lip up. “Eww…”
“What’s this got to do with those freaks that chased us?” Kyle asked.
“I’m just giving you a sample of how ludicrous I know this sounds.” Brandon took a deep breath. “The Inuits also believed in a shadow race of their own people, a sub-branch of the Inuit population who, after a long winter in which food was scarce and times were desperate, were forced to resort to eating their own kind in order to survive the elements…”
“That’s it! Fat boy is going to eat us. He just confessed.”
“Kyle!” Sophie scolded.
Amy covered her ears, not wanting to hear any more.
“I’m just telling you what I know,” Brandon said.
Cody, whose attention had been grabbed by Brandon’s story, encouraged him to continue. In the back of his mind he saw the floating skull, imagined the creeping black fingers of something that certainly wasn’t human as they sought refuge in the school and gave chase to the group. The hairs on the back of his neck stood to attention.
“When the storm passed, the Inuits who refused to eat the… well… you know… banished those who had partaken in the feast. A hunger passed through the group and became insatiable, and soon enough people were going missing every other day, found somewhere in the woods with their stomachs open and their insides eaten out.
“They called them wendigos,” Brandon stated, drawing out the word slowly from his lips. “Beings who crave human flesh but can never satisfy their aching hunger for more.”
A pregnant silence filled the room. Cody and Sophie exchanged a brief look.
“You’re talking about fictional creatures,” Cody said at last. “Monsters from fairy tales and myth. You don’t seriously believe any of that, do you?”
Brandon gave a weak shrug. “I don’t know. I didn’t believe that I’d also see the aurora bleed, but that all changed tonight. Something’s going on in the world right now, and we’d be stupid to think otherwise. Forces are in effect that we may never understand.”
“Fuck!” Kyle slammed his hand on the keyboard and threw the mouse. It stretched to the end of its wire then sprang back and clattered against the wood, swinging flaccidly against the desk drawers.
Sophie and Amy jumped out of their skin, the sudden burst of noise like a gunshot in a library. “What the hell is your problem?”
“I can’t figure out paedo’s password.”
Cody sighed. “You scared the shit out of us.”
“What, because of Fatboy’s fairy-tale? Come on, you’re not really buying any of that, are you?”
Sophie chewed her lip. “Honestly, I don’t know if it’s the tiredness of the adrenaline wearing off, but I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
“I’m with Soph,” Cody said, avoiding her gaze but noticing a wry smile in his peripheries. “Until we know what’s going on, we can only assume that every possibility is a reality, and whittle them down from there.”
Kyle slammed his hands on the desk and stood up. “Fine. You really want to see what those things are? Let’s go have a look. Let’s poke our heads out and see, shall we?” He marched to the stairs and ran up two at a time.
“What are you doing?” Sophie called after him. Amy sobbed and recoiled into her shell. Cody met her at the bottom of the stairs and gripped the handrail as they looked up at Kyle.
Kyle pressed his ear to the door, eyes wide with excitement. After a few seconds he said, “See? Silence. Bet they’re not even out there anymore. They got bored and moved on.”
He eased the locks open, then gripped the handle tightly. He teased the door a centimetre, then an inch, until he was able to peek through. After a heart-stopping minute, he let out a breath of relief and laughed. “See? Nowhere to be—”
The screech was deafening. Something sped towards them from behind the door and slammed into it with such suddenness that Kyle actually screamed. If he hadn’t had been holding the handle, he would have been thrown clean down the stairs, however he held on firm and managed to
keep his grip as the door crashed against its frame.
“Lock the damn door!” Cody shouted.
Kyle obliged without question, spinning the locks furiously into place. The beating fists started against the door again as the screams penetrated the walls and the metal and forced Amy to clamp her hands to the sides of her head.
Kyle took a cautious step away, turning gingerly to Cody and Sophie who waited below. “Don’t you say a fucking word.”
Cody didn’t need to. He was certain the look in their eyes was reprimand enough. They stepped away as Kyle eased himself down the stairs, his legs visibly shaking. The colour drained out of his face as he returned to his seat at the desk and stared at the floor.
Something caught his eye. One of the desk drawers had slid open slightly. He opened it all the way, eyebrows raising, even as the creatures slammed themselves against the door.
He held up a number of glittering silver snack bars. “On the plus side, I’ve found us some food.”
7
Alex Goins
“We have to get out of here,” Alex whispered, teasing the curtains open an inch or so to look out onto the street. The permeating white of the snow, somehow glowing and bright even under the blackening sky, stung his tired eyes, yet still there was no sign of the creatures.
Tori stood beside him, the warmth returning to her body as she clung onto his arm and rested her head on his shoulder. If he felt tired, she looked worse. Her eyes were dark, and she could barely keep them open. Sherri and Harvey lay on the sofa, dozing with their heads together, Damien strewn across their laps, looking as though they’d just come back from a twenty-mile hike and weariness had claimed them.
“We can’t leave,” Tori replied softly. “If we go out there, we’re as good as dead.”
“What about your sister? What happened to the Tori that was prepared to traipse through a blizzard to find her? She’s still out there.”
So is Cody.
Tori cast her eyes downward. “It was stupidity. She’s too far away. We’d never get there without something happening. We’d either get hunted by those… animals, or we’d freeze to death. We have no choice but to remain here until this all passes over.”
“Do you really want to do that?”
“No.” A pause. A lip quiver. “We have to.”
Alex remained unconvinced. Ever since they had cleaned the wounds of their hosts, he had noticed strange behaviours that were putting him on edge. Harvey had taken to standing sentinel beside him, for a short while, at least. Until he began to wobble unsteadily on his feet and had to hold onto Alex for support. There had been a brief moment in which something akin to the rumbling growl of an angry Pitbull had rumbled up Harvey’s throat before Alex convinced him to take a pew beside his wife and rest up. Harvey relented, his eyes unregistering as he slumped over to the couch and fell asleep almost instantly.
In those few seconds of movement, Alex was almost certain that the blue rings of colour that circled Harvey’s pupils had all but disappeared, his eyes so dilated that they were almost black.
“It’s not just your sister out there, Tori,” Alex said. “Cody is out there, too. If these things are working their way through town, who knows if the kid is safe. I need to get out there and find him. He’s unprepared for this kind of situation.”
“And you are?”
Alex was taken aback by the question. He glanced at Tori, brow furrowing.
“You’re not from around here. You don’t know what these kinds of storms can do. I’ve lived in this town my entire life, and these blizzards incapacitate the town. Harvey was right, there. We hide out in our homes until it’s all passed over, that’s just the way it is. Even out bravest hunters bunker down until it all blows over. There’s a reason we hold reserves of food and build an entire way of life around surviving inside our houses. Our summer clothes are insulated, we have curfews in the coldest months, even our cops won’t come out when things are this bad. The cold is a killer. You think those monsters are a threat, wait until you step into the heart of a blizzard.”
Tori looked up at him in earnest, eyes sparkling as she spoke. Alex eased himself away, an idea coming to him.
“Where are you going?”
Alex placed a finger over his lip and pointed to the snoozing family. He pointed to the rifle in Tori’s hands and signaled that she should keep watch. Tori obeyed, but not without a slight hesitation.
Alex crept across the room and padded up the stairs as quietly as possible, finding a nearby room with the door ajar. Tori had mentioned the stores of food and clothing, and that ignited something in his brain. Tori may not be ready to step out into the cold with her current attire, but she had mentioned that Sherri and Harvey were the owners of a clothing store. Surely that would mean that…
Yes.
The walk-in wardrobe was packed to the brim with snowsuits and insulated gear at the far reaches of their silent bedroom. Alex rifled through the stores and produced items that he believed would stand them the best chance of fighting the elements. Although the Dutton’s had offered them hospitality and a chance to wait out the worst of the storm, Alex couldn’t rest until he knew that Cody was safe with him. What timing was better than now, when the creatures were nowhere in sight, and they had an opening to sprint across the town and find him?
They’re not creatures. You know what they are.
Alex shook the thought away. The research of this isolated region for his new book had taken him down some deep rabbit holes into Inuit lore and the myths, gods, and rituals they believed in this part of the world, but he was not insane enough yet to forsake the power of science and worldly knowledge to open that floodgate and let himself believe.
He threw a host of items on the floor that looked useful, then took a quick detour to the bedroom window. He looked out onto the street, both glad that there was no sign of them out there, but also concerned at their lack of presence. He had written enough books and seen enough movies to know that silence wasn’t always as comforting as one would hope.
At the top of the stairs, Alex signaled Tori’s attention. He waved her towards him, and she reluctantly left her post.
“What are you doing?” Tori hissed, eyes lingering on the pile of clothes at his feet.
“Suit up. We’re heading outside.”
Tori’s eyes widened. “Are you crazy? What about the guys downstairs? What about those monsters outside?” She kicked at a neon pink jacket strewn on the floor. “I wouldn’t be seen dead in something like this.” She crouched, investigating the logo. “She told me they didn’t have any new imports! They kept the best stuff for themselves.”
“Those things have gone,” Alex said, ignoring Tori’s frustrated stares at the brands of clothing. “We haven’t seen one in almost an hour. If we don’t seize our time to go now, we’re going to lose it.”
“But Harvey… Sherri…”
“They’re at home with their family. They’re protected with their weapons and safe in the place they want to be. My nephew is somewhere out there, possibly freezing to death, or terrified and stuck, and I need to get to him. I dragged him a thousand miles away from home, and I made a promise, okay? I promised.”
“Promised who?”
Alex fell silent, eyes imploring. “If you don’t come with me, I’m going alone. You can’t stop me, Tori. Didn’t you say that your sister lived out there, too? Not all that far from the school?”
“I did.” Her words were flat, a sudden weight bearing down on her shoulders.
“Then let’s go together.” Alex imagined Cody’s face, a pale blue in colour as he shivered alone somewhere near the school. Eyes unblinking, lips cracked, tongue black. He had no idea what to imagine he’d find when he found him. Had Cody even made it to the school? Was he lost and freezing in the snow? Was he with a friend somewhere inside the school, cold and terrified? The idea of it made him sick. He promised Kathrin and Tom that he would take care of Cody. He thought that a trip away from the e
picenter of their pain would be conducive for his grieving, granting him some time away from the constant reminders, but instead more pain had been inflicted. This time physical and life-threatening.
What the hell were you thinking, Cody?
Tori examined the clothing with heavy eyes, picking up a crisp white snow jacket that looked as though it had never been worn. “This is insanity.”
“I know.”
“What if we don’t make it?”
“What if we do?”
Alex was taken aback as Tori wrapped her arms around his body and hugged him tightly, her head resting on his chest. She remained silent, as did he. As much as he wanted to find some words to comfort her, he wasn’t sure what was going on in that moment. Was it a mistake to bring her along with him? Would she be a weight holding him back as he trudged across the town in search of Cody? Should he have found a way to sneak out there alone?
Tori took a steadying breath, the flow quivering as it passed her lips. “I’m glad you found me.” Their eyes met and, in that moment, Alex saw a wellspring of hidden strength as determination replaced the vulnerability she had displayed in the wake of the madness. “Let’s go find them.”
They emerged at the top of the stairs a short while later, Tori sufficiently wrapped in clothing that held the faint smell of Sherri’s perfume. There was room to spare inside her jacket and trousers, too. While Sherri easily had an extra hundred pounds or so, Tori’s supple frame left enough of a gap that the warm air circulated inside the suit and provided her with an extra layer of comfort. She had to tie the strings as tightly as possible and, even then, they felt a little loose. Alex found a hat and gloves that were far warmer than the ones he had bought in England, and as they worked their way down the stairs, they fought to remain quiet as the artificial material of their new attire rubbed and squeaked with each step.
Tori took the lead, turning back to Alex and stifling a laugh at the sounds. It seemed childish, but it was great to have something to smile about. A fleeting passage of respite. Alex pressed a finger to his lips, his cheeks rising above the high collar of his jacket which covered the majority of his mouth. It was only as they neared the bottom of the stairs that the smiles slipped from their faces.
When Winter Comes | Book 2 | Buried Page 5