Code Frostbite (STORM Book 1)

by John Darling

  My eyes lit up as a thought popped into my head.

  “So, I can use any of this stuff?”

  “Anything you want is yours. And since you have some time off, I think you should get some skating in.”

  My heart skipped another beat when he said the word “skating”. It has been way too long since I had stepped on the ice. It had only been a few months now, but growing up I’d spent almost every day on the ice. Going a week without skating felt like an eternity. If I didn’t skate for a while, I started to feel like a fish out of water. Despite still being sore and worn from all the swimming and crazy PT sessions, I was ready to go. Even if they catch us breaking the rule for going above Deck Five, I don’t care. This is more than worth it.

  “Alexei, I’m not sure if you can skate or not, but you’re also welcome to hit the ice as well. We have a league here that plays every once in a while but it’s hard to get everyone out there at the same time. There are only about sixteen or so guys that I know that play, and most of them are usually scattered across the country at any given time.”

  Uncle Keith looked over at me as I furiously laced up a pair of size nine skates.

  “Although, whenever your Dad was around, more and more guys seemed to find their way onto the ice. Too bad none of them could ever get by him.”

  I knew my Dad had been a great defenseman and I wish I could have seen him play in his prime. Of course we’ve skated together, but I’ve heard stories from my Mom and other parents of how he had played when he was in high school. From everything I had been told, it sounded like he was amazing to watch.

  Just then something beeped and Uncle Keith took out his V-pod just as I finished tying the skates.

  “Crap, I’m going to have to go for a while. Now both of you can stay here as long as you want, just make sure you don’t leave. I should be back in a few hours and then I can escort you both back down to Deck Five.”

  The three of us exited the locker room and split up. I stepped onto the ice while Uncle Keith left the rink and Alexei walked over to the scorekeeper’s box. My blades dug into the perfectly smooth ice, sending ice chips and snow outward in several directions. With each stride I took, I enjoyed hearing the familiar ripple that skates make when you shift your weight the right way. I glided around the far net and skated as fast as I could coming back toward the main rink door. Just before I got to the wall, I turned my feet parallel to the boards and dug into the ice as hard as I could. A huge wave of snow clouded up onto the glass as I came to a stop.

  “Damn!”

  I looked over at Alexei and skated across the ice to where he’s standing.

  “So, there is actually something that you’re good at, huh?”

  “Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want. I’m not completely useless.”

  “Well maybe if there’s an outbreak in Antarctica you can skate across the continent and take them out.

  Alexei continued laughing and poking fun at my unusual skillset. He might have been laughing, but I knew it was harmless. I could just as easily have made a fish joke about his unique ability to swim so well or a nerd joke about his tech skills. But I preferred to skate a few more laps, instead.

  After about ten more laps I decided to get a stick and a bucket of pucks. The nets were already set up at each end and there was nothing better than taking a slap shot after a few stressful weeks. All of the pain seemed to flow from my body to the stick and then to the puck. After a few big shots, I felt great. One of my favorite things in life is watching the puck hit the net so hard that it causes the netting to flare out, and snap back into place after a shot. That millisecond when it happens is pure perfection in my eyes.

  I shot another puck as hard as I could from the center red line and watched as it bounced off the crossbar and into the right corner of the rink. Instead of taking another shot, I followed up on this puck. I scooped it up from the corner and sprinted down the right side of the ice. I cut to the middle and acted as if there were several other players out on the ice with me. I continued to pretend to move in on the fictitious defense and deked left, then right, and then left again. The puck was sitting nicely on my backhand and I decided to shoot once I got close to the net. I was about five feet from where a goalie would be standing and snuck the puck up into the left corner. As soon as the puck crossed the line, the buzzer sounded. I looked back to see Alexei with his hand on the button in the scorekeeper’s box.

  I turned back toward the net and suddenly stopped when I spotted another person. My stomach dropped and I got scared for a moment. Standing behind the glass over by the far right corner for some reason was Jemma. I hesitated, unable to tell if my eyes were deceiving me or not. As I skated closer, my vision confirmed that it was in fact her. I had no clue why she was up here, or how she had found us. Alexei exited the box and gave me a weird look. He pointed to the door and indicated that he would leave the rink. Jemma and I met at the door.

  “Hey there.”

  “Look, I just want to apologize for the other day. I know you were trying to do the right thing and I appreciate you standing up for me. So I’m sorry.”

  Well, this was a shock, to say the least. After what happened, I didn’t think I was going to get an apology from Jemma. Especially after that whole “independent woman” speech, she gave me.

  “No problem, Jemma. I was just trying to help.”

  “I know you were. Anyway, that’s all I wanted to say.”

  She started to walk in the other direction. I could have just let her keep going. Apologizing could not have been an easy thing for her to do. People with tough personalities like that don’t apologize on a regular basis. It compromises their strong image and makes them seem human. I had to take advantage of this moment. Even if what I was thinking about doing didn’t work, I had to try. I wanted to know why she was so guarded all the time. Maybe if I could get through to her, she’d open up to everyone else and become a better person to work with.

  “Hey! You know one of these days you’re going to have to let someone in.”

  She kept walking, but I noticed her pace slow down.

  “What you’re doing to yourself isn’t healthy. How long are you going to keep up this standoffish attitude? Whatever you’re going through isn’t any of my business, but it doesn’t hurt to smile every once in a while.”

  She stopped and looked back with one of the deadliest glares I had ever seen on a person’s face. “You have no idea what I’m going through.”

  “Maybe I do. Maybe I don’t. But that doesn’t give you the right to be a jerk to everyone around you. This training is about working together as a team. We can’t do that if one of the best isn’t thinking straight. You need to let whatever it is you’re dealing with, out.”

  Her face turned a shade of light red and she walked back in my direction.

  “You can’t tell me what I need! You don’t know what’s best for me! Who are you to judge? You can barely keep up with the class as it is and now you want to play psychiatrist with me?! You really need to learn how to mind your own business.”

  I wanted to participate in the argument but she wasn’t done.

  “And I’m not taking anything out on anyone! I’m doing what I have to do to get through each day so I don’t end it with putting a bullet through my own head. You have no idea the kind of things I know about or the horrors I’ve seen with my own eyes. The world is a pretty awful place and it took away the one thing I loved most in the world! What is there left to fight for after that’s gone? Why should I go out my way to make you or anyone here feel good when the world has ripped my life to shreds, huh?! You can’t even come close to comprehend the pain I’m in.”

  Tears started to stream down from her eyes. I had had the feeling she was dealing with something, but I hadn’t expected her to explode like this. It’s funny that she thought I had no idea what pain was, after losing my Dad. If I found out this yelling was all over some cat dying, I was going to flip. Now she was full on crying. I wanted to hug
her, but she didn’t seem like the hugging type. She wiped her face with her sleeve and sniffled.

  “Perhaps no one will ever understand what you’ve gone through, but that doesn’t mean you have to carry that weight on your shoulders forever. Let someone else share the load.”

  I put out my right hand out and gently took hers; “But first I think you need to have a little fun.”

  She looked up at me with a confused look as she wiped away another set of tears; “What do you mean?”

  “C’mon, why would someone as talented as you sneak into the range in the middle of the night to shoot. You’re using that as an outlet to relieve stress.” I glanced over at the ice; “Whenever I get mad, I do something similar, only this is my outlet.”

  “I can’t ice skate. I’ll fall!”

  “And I’ll pick you up. That’s why everyone needs someone to lean on; so they can pick you up when you fall”.

  She let go of my hand and gave me a big hug. I wasn’t expecting this at all. Even the toughest people in the world need a break. And from how hard she’s gripping me right now, I can tell Jemma hadn’t gotten a break in a long time. I leaned into her ear; “And unlike the shooting range, I’m actually good at this.”

  We let go of each other and I saw something I haven’t seen. I quickly took a mental picture of it because this was a rare sight. She was actually smiling. I couldn’t believe it. It had taken almost two months of training, but she was finally smiling.

  We walked over to the locker room and I grabbed a pair of skates for her. Within a few minutes, I had them laced up and on her feet. I can tell she was nervous, which is funny because throughout this training she has been about as stubbornly confident as someone can be. She cautiously stepped onto the ice and almost fell. I grabbed her arm and helped her regain her balance. I put my hands out for her to take and she didn’t hesitate in grabbing both of them were hers. I started to slowly skate backward while pulling her. A few strides in, I picked up the pace and we went faster. The cold air rushed past our faces and she smiled again. Whether she realized it or not, Jemma had finally let someone in.

  Chapter Nineteen: Family Secrets

  After a few minutes of pulling Jemma around, I figured this could be a good opportunity to get to know her a little better. The few interactions we’d had had been tense, especially the incident in the lounge. Other than that she’d been very quiet during our training sessions, all I really knew about her was her name, that she’d clearly had some military training prior to this school, and that she was extremely guarded for some reason. Since she was still smiling and enjoying being pulled, now might have been a good time to start breaking down those walls.

  “So tell me a little about yourself,” I said.

  She looked at me and raised her right eyebrow as I slowed the two of us down.

  “Hmmm, why don’t you go first?”

  Her tone surprised me. Her voice was higher and peppier than the one she had used to talk to me before. I did as she had asked and told her about my hometown, that hockey was my favorite sport (fairly obvious considering where we were), and that I had been at the Merchant Marine Academy before coming here. She had never heard about the Academy so we spent several minutes discussing the program. I also told her a little about my family, even though she knew about my Dad and who he was. Out of nowhere she pulled me into her and gave me another hug.

  “I’m so sorry about your Dad. Losing a parent is the worst thing in the world.”

  “Yeah, it was rough at first but I’m getting by. You get used to it. Though I do wish he was still here.”

  She lifted her head off my shoulder and looked up at me.

  “I lost my dad when I was really young. It took me a long time to recover from losing him. At least you got to have your dad longer.”

  Ever since my dad had died I’d been feeling sorry for myself and felt that losing him was unfair. Listening to Jemma and how she had lost her Dad when she was younger made me realize how fortunate I was. Instead of being sad that he was gone, I should have been grateful that I had had him in my life for as long as he was. Hearing about Jemma’s misfortune really put things into perspective.

  I wanted to move the conversation away from my Dad and anything sad. Surely, there are better things we can talk about. I pivoted my body around to her side and grabbed her hand and we skated forward. I was about to ask another question but Jemma beat me to it.

  “So what made you agree to join S.T.O.R.M.?”

  “I imagine most of the other recruits think I’m here because of my Dad, and although that’s partly true, I’ve realized over these past few weeks that we have a huge opportunity here.”

  Jemma questioned my response and gave me a confused look.

  “I’m here because I want to help people. That’s why I started this training.”

  “Well, that’s something I’ve certainly never heard before from a Stormer. I think you’re going to have a hard time doing that in this organization.”

  “Aren’t we supposed to be helping people?”

  There was an awkward pause and I tried to speed up again in an effort to get through the stale moment. I tried to think of something to say to steer us away from this topic but nothing came to mind.

  “I don’t we’re helping anyone by killing people. We’re just preventing the world from falling apart. So in a way, we’re helping everyone, but no one outside of S.T.O.R.M. will ever understand that.”

  Jemma pulled on my arm and forced herself to come to a stop.

  “Hey my toes are getting cold, can we be done skating?”

  I led Jemma over to the door and she quickly ripped the skates off her feet. She asked if I wanted to get some lunch with her in the mess hall since it was almost mid-day. I didn’t really want to leave the rink but I knew we should probably sneak back down to the training decks before anyone noticed we were gone. After I had taken off my own skates, I looked around for Alexei but he wasn’t around. He must have gone back down to our room or maybe he was in the lounge with some of the other guys.

  Jemma and I made our way down to the mess hall, thankfully without been seen by anyone, and had lunch. Not many recruits were in the room so it was nice having a somewhat quiet meal. We didn’t say much and most of the noise we made came from chewing our food. I tried to make some small talk but for some reason, it just felt awkward. What she had said back in the rink was really bothering me for some reason. Was I really missing the big picture here? I had honestly thought we were all here because we wanted to help people.

  We finished eating and turned in our dishes. She asked if I wanted to hang out some more but I declined her offer and said that I wanted to go lay down for a while. I walked a few feet before she called out to me.

  “Thanks again for today. It means a lot having someone standing up for me.”

  “You got it Jemma. We’ll have to go skate again before the training is over.”

  “Oh for sure. And if you ever want to see a green light in that range, let me know. I’ll give you some pointers.”

  She scampered off toward the lounge as I made my way back to my room. I hoped she was serious about offering to help because I really needed the assistance. Otherwise, I was going to fall way behind the class.

  I opened the door to our room, expecting to find Alexei, but he wasn’t here. With the room to myself and the meal I just ate making me drowsy, I thought it was the perfect time for those extra hours of sleep I had desperately wanted this morning. I crawled into my bed and was asleep within a few minutes.

  * * *

  Fourteen hours later, I heard a commotion in the hallway and then our door flung open. Alexei turned the main overhead light on and I tried to keep my eyes open as the light temporarily blinded me.

  “Alexei, is everything all right?”

  He slammed the door and dropped a giant box full of papers on the floor.

  “He never told me. I’ve been working here for three years now and he never told me the truth
. “

  “What do you mean he never told you? Who are you talking about?”

  “My dad, Trevor. My freaking dad. All this time I had thought he was a Strike officer like your dad and now I find out he was something worse… much, much worse.”

  Alexei furiously tore through the box and pulled out half a dozen files. He rushed through each file and pulled out random pictures and documents. I slowly climbed down from my bed as he spread them out across the floor.

  “Alexei, what the hell is going on?! What time is it?”

  He stopped shuffling and looked right at me as my bare feet hit the floor.

  “I’ve known about zombies for as long as I can remember. I thought my Dad killed zombies for a living, not people.”

  Alexei tossed a file across the floor and several papers flew out of it. I picked up a black and white picture of a building with a police car in front of it. At the top of the picture in the right-hand corner is a white label with the words ‘Las Cruces 1998’ on it.

  “My Dad killed people that S.T.O.R.M. thought were going to leak information. He and one of his partners snuck into a bowling alley, shot seven people and four of them died. They even robbed the registers to make it look like they were criminals. It’s all in this report.”

  Alexei handed me a packet with the words ‘Black Gang Case 3402’ on it. I flipped through it and glanced over some of the details of the case. The whole thing had been a set-up. One of the two guys had apparently seen this base while on a road trip to the Grand Canyon. Once they identified the suspect, they had located him and killed him in cold blood in the bowling alley where he worked. They had also shot all of the others to make it look like they weren’t just after him. This all seemed very strange.

  “Why can’t you just call your Dad right now and have him explain to you what he did. Maybe there’s a different explanation other than what you’re reading in these files.”