Dead Cold

by Roddy R. Cross, Jr.

  Roland started back towards the truck the Eagle in his right hand, first aid kit in his left. He saw Emily had finished filling up and was shooing Eve back into the truck. Without his left eye Roland found his vision very limited and being accustomed to having two eyes he didn’t look around to check his left side, so he didn’t notice the creature until it was almost on top of him.

  A moan reached his left ear and Roland turned quickly bring up his right arm; the massive gun it held squeezing the trigger as soon as it was level with the thing’s head. Not wanting another face on his conscience Roland turned quickly back towards the truck and ran as best he could through the deep snow the sound of dozens of moans carried to his ears on the wind.

  One of the creatures came around the back of the truck catching Emily off guard and knocking her over backwards. Still running Roland aimed and watched as a corpse with only half its head collapsed to the ground. Emily was just standing up as he reached the passenger door and pulled it open the first aid kit leaving his hands as soon as the door was fully open.

  “Come on, Emily, get in this side.” He climbed over the seats to the driver’s side Emily following close behind, pulling the door shut behind her.

  “Are you sure you should be driving with one eye?” She asked buckling up her seatbelt.

  Roland started the truck and put it in drive “Guess we’ll find out but it’s better than staying here.” He could make out a large group of people through the rearview mirror and he slammed his foot down on the gas a cloud of snow kicking up behind the truck obstructing his view.

  Roland lit a cigarette and took a long drag before turning down Emily’s hard rock music, he had music on his cell phone and he reached into the pocket it had been in when he left the mall. It was empty and he frantically checked all his pockets and coming up empty, he thought back to the last time he’d seen the phone when he had taken it out of his old jacket and put it in the duster. He was trying to think of when it could have fallen out when he remembered the fight with the big creature it must have fallen out when he was knocked to the ground.

  “Damn.” He swore quietly.

  “What’s wrong?” Emily asked tossing her cigarette out the window.

  “I lost my phone.” He took one last drag of his cigarette and dropped it out the window.

  “Shitty.” She leaned her seat back and closed her eyes, falling asleep instantly.

  Roland drove the rest of the way listening to the sound of Emily and Eve’s breathing. The storm showed no signs of slowing and there were no other vehicles on the road with the exception of the occasional one in a ditch or left at a gas station. Just north of Gibbons Roland saw bright headlights at the bottom of a hill and he tapped Emily to wake her up before moving the Desert Eagle into on of the duster’s deep pockets. “Huh? What’s going on?” Emily said in a deep sleep daze.

  “There’s a roadblock ahead.” Roland’s eye narrowed as he made out the dark green of military vehicles.

  Chapter 10: All That You Can Be

  Roland moved the HK to the backseat and told Emily to put the Browning in the glove compartment as he slowed a stop directly in front of the concrete barriers, the bright lights blinding his one eye. A soldier in a balaclava and helmet approached the truck his FAL with tactical light held at the ready. Shielding his eye Roland rolled down the window and looked at the soldier reading the name “Martin” on his body armor. “Good evening, private.” Roland said eyeing the patch on the soldier’s jacket.

  “I’m gonna need you and the little lady to step out of the vehicle!” The soldier said aiming his rifle at Roland’s face.

  “Not a problem, come on Emily let’s do what he says.” Roland climbed out the vehicle his hands up as two more soldiers walked up with plastic riot cuffs in their hands.

  “You, come around the vehicle.” The soldier kept his weapon trained on Roland as Emily walked around to the driver’s side.

  Roland and Emily were both handcuffed by the soldiers and told to stand near the hood. The soldiers started searching the truck from back to front and when they reached the back door Eve started barking and attacking the window. “Hey Sarge, what do we do about the dog?” Private Martin called out.

  “Shoot it, we don’t need it.” A tall soldier with “Hosky” on his armor said.

  Roland pulled the Desert Eagle from his pocket and aimed it at the Sergeant’s head. “If he pulls the trigger so do I!”

  “Stand down Martin; we’ll let the kid keep his dog.” He turned to Roland. “That’s a pretty big gun kid, think you can use it?”

  “I’ve used it plen…” He was cut off as the butt of the Sergeant’s rifle slammed into the Kevlar vest he’d forgotten he was wearing knocking the wind out of him and dropping him to the ground.

  “Let the dog go Martin, kid’s willing to kill for it and we’re not supposed to kill people.” The Sergeant kicked the gun out of Roland’s hand and another dragged him to his feet.

  Roland did his best to whistle as a soldier opened the door and Eve hopped through the snow and sat down at his feet. “Got a hell of an arsenal here and a shitload of camping supplies here Sarge.” Martin said.

  “What a boy scout, luckily the army is here to keep them safe.” Hosky laughed and picked up Roland’s Desert Eagle.

  Roland and Emily were thrown in the back of a Coyote APC; Eve jumping in right behind them and driven to the Edmonton Garrison where they were both given thorough medical examinations. The doctors took the time to clean and bandage Roland’s eye, offering to stitch up the gash, which Roland declined.

  “The scar will be a nice reminder.” Was all he said.

  His wounds fixed he was given an opportunity to shower and change his clothes, declining the army greens for his own jeans and hoody. He noticed he was always under an armed guard and as soon as he finished eating his first meal of the day Roland found himself unceremoniously tossed into a holding cell along with Eve. “Hey what happened to my friend?!” He yelled to the guard down the hallway.

  “She’s being housed elsewhere.” Came the disinterested reply.

  “Elsewhere? Where the hell is elsewhere?”

  “It’s elsewhere, now shut the hell up.” The guard turned his back on Roland and back to a news broadcast from somewhere reporting mass riots.

  “Douche bag.” Roland muttered sitting down on one of the cots that were placed along the cell wall.

  Too tired to care anymore Roland collapsed onto the cot, Eve coming over and laying down next to it. He looked at his watch before his eyes shut the doctors having given him the use of his left eye again seeing it was just before midnight. He closed his eyes and the world slipped away replaced by nightmares filled with monsters and snow. A commotion outside his cell brought Roland back to the real world a few hours later, as two soldiers tossed someone else into the cell. “What did you do with my sister and girlfriend?” A vaguely familiar voice screamed.

  “Your sister has been quarantined and your girlfriend is elsewhere now shut up and sit down!” The guard yelled back.

  “Why is she in quarantine?” Cory’s voice rose in pitch and volume.

  “Just because you yell doesn’t mean they’re going to tell you.” Roland’s eyes were still closed and he opened them to look at the taller man.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Cory directed his anger at Roland now.

  “Oh you know, I had some extra vacation time and I thought a military prison during the apocalypse would be a good place to spend it.” Roland sat up and gave Eve a pat on the head. “I was arrested just like you idiot and they have my friend too. Now sit down you’re not doing any good getting all worked up like that.”

  Defeated and apparently drained Cory sat down on the farthest cot from Roland and turned his back towards him. Roland used the short silence to listen the news coming from the TV; there were riots all over the world now and the anchorwoman was advising everyone to stay in the homes with the doors locked. It was twenty-four hours since he h
ad been arrested when Roland felt the explosion and he sat straight up pressing his ear against the wall. He could hear sporadic gunfire coming from the other side and it wasn’t long until the guard’s radio crackled to life. “Shit, they’re everywhere, were being overrun!” A panicked voice shrieked

  “There’s too many of them, and weapons fire is ineffective.” Another voice this one even more panicked.

  “This is Colonel Stonedecker, I am ordering a full retreat, evacuate the base. I repeat evacuate and good luck to you all.” A deep commanding voice now.

  The guard got up, grabbed his rifle and headed for the door. “Come on man, you can’t just leave us her to die.” Roland called after him.

  “Damn.” The guard cursed before turning around and pressing the emergency unlock button for the cell doors. “You’re on your own now, good luck.”

  “Wait, where’s my sister and our friends?” Cory asked a look of worry covering his face.

  “Your sister is in quarantine on the other side of the base but I wouldn’t go there. As for your friends they are in barracks Charlie.” The guard rushed out the door and was gone.

  Roland quickly began looking around for a weapon; finding nothing he looked to where Cory still stood in the cell doorway. “Are you comin’ or what?”

  “Where are we gonna go, the base is under attack and the news said Edmonton is considered lost.”

  “Right now anywhere but here sounds good to me, and I think we should find barracks Charlie.” Roland headed towards the door.

  “What about my sister?” Cory took a tentative step out of the cell.

  “You heard the guard. We don’t want to go there, now let’s get going, Eve come here.” The dog came trotting out of the cell and Cory followed close behind as Roland pushed the door open.

  Chapter 11: All Hell Broke Loose

  The base was a war zone with buildings burning, sporadic gunfire, bodies everywhere, some still, others moving, and one sound that caught Roland’s attention immediately; the sound of a helicopter starting up. The snow had stopped during his time in the cell and he could clearly see the massive green Chinook helicopter warming up, he also saw the two soldiers half dragging, half carrying Emily and Cory’s girlfriend towards the open loading ramp.

  It was at least five hundred meters from where Roland was standing to the helicopter and he could hear Emily screaming at the soldier who had lifted her up on to his shoulder as she pounded on the armor covering his back. “Let me go! Where’s my friend? Where are we goin’?”

  “Emily!” Roland yelled as he started running across the snow-covered cement, tripping over what he hoped weren’t bodies as he went.

  “Roland!” He heard her hopeful scream as the ramp was raised and the helicopter lifted off covering Roland in a miniature blizzard.

  Collapsing to his knees Roland watched the helicopter lift off into the night sky and quickly disappear to the east. Lowering his head, he could feel his eyes grow warm and moist as he realized the only person he knew in a world gone mad was gone and he didn’t know if he’d ever see her again. He felt Cory’s hand on his shoulder, the other man’s words muted as if in a dream, felt Eve’s muzzle push against his hand but he never moved.

  Roland had lost all will to go on and he didn’t care if he died there on that spot, everything he had been through, everyone he had tried to save, it had all been for nothing. Cory’s hand began shaking him violently and Eve began barking and suddenly a sound he had come to despise pierced through his self-pity like a full metal jacket slug and something changed in Roland. It was like a fire that was smoldering in his chest suddenly blazed to life, fanned by the moan of one of the undead making its way towards the easy prey slumped on the ground. Blinking to clear the tears that clouded vision he found the world coming back into sharp clarity. Eve’s loud barking; the moan of the creatures and Cory’s panicked shouts.

  “Come on dude, get up we gotta get out of here!”

  Something black was half buried in the snow a few inches from Roland’s right hand and as he wrapped his hand around the cold steel grip of the Browning Nine Mil as new resolve cemented itself into Roland’s head. The girl’s weren’t dead, his family might still be alive and he was going to be damned if he was going to let anyone else down! Rising from his pity party like a phoenix from the ashes Roland stared at the trio of creatures making their way slowly across the snow towards him.

  The only light on the base was from the various fires burning throughout the flickering lights playing over Roland’s gaunt features and making his green eyes blaze. Bringing the Browning up he sighted the first creatures forehead and squeezed the trigger, repeating with the second and then the third, a bullet punching a hole in the head of the last one as the first finished falling. Cory was staring in amazement when Roland turned around to look at him.

  “Holy shit, dude. That was bad ass.”

  Roland looked at the three fallen corpses then back to Cory. “Come on we need to get out of this base before their friends arrive, any idea where the vehicle pool might be?”

  Cory pointed to a hangar style building that was completely engulfed in flames. “I’m guessing that was it.”

  “Looks like were walking, there’s a dealership not far south of here and if were lucky it won’t have been destroyed.” Roland slid the clip out of the Browning seeing he had six bullets left. “Maybe we can stop by an armory on our way out of here.”

  The base was basically deserted except for the dead bodies and it took a while to find the armory, a wicked smile crossing Roland’s face as he shot off the lock and kicked in the door. The armory had been basically untouched by the devastation that had torn apart most of the base; only a few bullet holes in the walls and a shattered window but the weapons had remained untouched. A row of military backpacks on hangars hung by the door and Roland grabbed one with an ill concealed smile as he looked at the rows upon rows of weaponry. Roland looked down at his watch it was December 24.

  “Last minute Christmas shopping Cory, everything must go.”

  Cory raised an eyebrow. “Dude, what happened? Five minutes ago I couldn’t get you to move, and then you go all Matrix now you’re making jokes?”

  Roland smiled, his oversized canines glinting in the dim light. “We’re not gonna abandon the girls but first we need to get out of this base before it’s overrun.”

  “Overrun?” Cory had grabbed his own backpack.

  “Think about it, everyone of those monsters from here to Fort Mac is probably on their way here and we’ve seen this is not a good place to be so we should load up and head for the city.” Roland grabbed several spare magazines for the Browning as he spoke.

  “What about the girl’s how are we gonna find them? That helicopter is long gone by now.’ Cory had wandered down a row of assault rifles and pulled an FAL from one of the racks.

  “After the majority of the horde passes we’ll come back and check the command bunker for any hint on where Colonel Stonedecker may take them. SWEET!” Roland had spied something he always wanted at the end of a row of submachine guns; a P90 PDW with red dot sight, tactical light, and laser sight already attached.

  Startled by Roland’s outburst Cory raised the FAL to his shoulder looking around. “What?!”

  “Sorry, just found something incredibly sexy.” There was a box of full magazines and a shoulder strap on a shelf beneath the P90.

  “You scared the shit out of me dude.” Cory began throwing ammo for the FAL into his backpack.

  Roland also grabbed a C14 Timberwolf sniper rifle, a second Browning Nine Mil, and a combat knife. After he realized he had too much to carry Roland found the solution against the back wall; there were several black combat vests and a pair of thigh holsters. Once he had all he gear distributed between the holsters, vest, and backpack Roland glanced over to where Cory was staring into an open crate.

  Cory was carrying a Browning Nine Mil and the FAL his backpack sagging from the magazines filling it. Walking over to the
crate Roland saw what Cory had been staring at; it was filled with two dozen fragmentation grenades. Roland’s smile grew as he reached into the box and hefted one of the grenades; it felt good in his hand.

  “Grab as many as you can and let’s get moving.”

  “Are you serious?” Cory said looking at the pear sized explosive in Roland’s hand.

  “Deathly.” Roland hooked the grenade onto his vest and reached into the box again taking five more.

  In the end they each took six of the grenades and as they were getting ready to leave Roland saw a fifty-caliber machine gun propped against a far wall. “I’ll be back for you.” He whispered.

  “What was that?” Cory asked.

  “Nothing, let’s get going.”

  Chapter 12: City of Champions

  They left the base in the direction of the city and Roland wished he had a cigarette; his had been confiscated along with the rest of his belongings by the soldiers that had arrested him. The storm was over but with no one around to clear the two feet of snow left behind it was slow going as they walked along the highway towards the brightly lit city.

  Roland wondered why the power was still on here but not in Fort Mac as he trudged through the deep wet snow; his duster dragging behind him and Eve hopping to keep from being buried. The wind had died down and he guessed it must be only five degrees below zero. He listened carefully as they walked, trying to hear the tell-a-tale moan of the undead sensing a meal but the world was quiet. No vehicles and no people to drive them, the only sounds were his, Eve, and Cory’s march towards the city. Cory jogged a few steps until he was keeping pace beside Roland.

  “So I got a question.”

  “Oh and what’s that?” It had been at least a day and a half since Roland’s last cigarette and the cravings were getting to him.

  “How come we didn’t see more of those things at the base and why aren’t there any behind us?”