Rage of Winter

by Sam Herrera

  “Have I grown another ear?” I looked away embarrassed at being caught staring.

  “Sorry. Sometimes—”

  “What, I freak you out?”

  “No,” I protested.

  “What then?” she frowned. Her blonde brows came down over her pink eyes, making her look more fiery than ever. “Y’know, I thought you were a lot smarter and had more respect for my feelings than to stare at me as though I were some freak in a circus.” She waded away, the water swirling and sloshing around her. I seem fated to annoy, I thought, sighing.

  “Is that your daughter?” I looked across at some blonde woman resting her forearms on the rim of the wooden platform.

  “She’s a pain in my ass, that’s what she is,” I smiled, cleverly side-stepping this question. She laughed, her full breasts, filling to the brim the top of her blue two-piece, shaking with the chuckles. “Kyle,” I introduced, offering my hand.

  “Sylvie.” I looked over at Mara who was watching us sulkily.

  *

  “Look, I don’t think you’re a freak, alright?” I offered the silent, still-sulking child in the seat beside me.

  “No?”

  “No. Of course not. I think differences are what make the world a more interesting place.” She sniffed and knelt up to look out the window.

  “When are you going to grow?”

  “Shut up.”

  “Sure you don’t wanna change your mind about those books?”

  “Not in the mood,” she snapped. I fingered the number in my pocket. Maybe I would give her a call, maybe not. I liked tall blondes as much as the next guy, but she had been rather forward, offering her number, just like that.

  “Whoa!”

  “What?”

  “Turn around, quick.” I turned us around and, at first, could see nothing but a black cliff. Then I saw that it was only black because it was buried under the masses of birds that were swarming on it.

  “Whoa!” I breathed, tilting the joystick, bringing us in for a closer look.

  “The Latrabjarg Bird Cliffs, one of the largest bird colonies in Europe, home to millions of puffins, gulls and gille… gilli…?”

  “Guillemots,” I corrected, taking the travel guide from her and reading. “Wow.” We stayed for a long time, just hovering there, awed by the cawing, fluttering, seething masses.

  “Those cliffs must be covered in shit,” Mara chuckled, nodding.“Let me take some photos before we go.”

  “Okay,” I grinned, lowering the ramp.

  SARAH

  I woke up, feeling like shit. My head was buzzing and my vision was blurry. I sighed as I looked around. I was in Mara’s bedroom. She often dragged my drunken ass up here when I was passed out, leaving herself with nothing but the couch and when I woke up, I always felt really shitty about that. Groaning at the doorbell that sounded, to my inebriated ears, like a church bell, I answered.

  “Had a nice sleep, Auntie?” Mara asked, grinning up at me.

  “Where have you been all day and… what the hell are you wearing?” Mara was wearing…an Eskimo outfit.

  “You like?” she grinned. I was just about to ask if this was a joke when, as I watched, she brushed some white powder off her shoulders and hood. “Sorry, it’s just snow,” she explained, rubbing her red nose as she walked out through the door, stamping more white powder off her furry boots. There goes my joke theory, I looked, stunned, at the wet patches on the carpet. Snow? In the middle of June? I followed her up the stairs to her room.

  “What is this?” I whispered, noticing her new wardrobe for the first time as she hung up her coat. It included the boots, the outfit, a flashy, expensive camera, hanging by its strap, the sombrero, camping gear that looked like it had been bought only that day, a book on extreme survival and a series of photos tucked into the brim of the hat. They were snapshots of an arctic landscape, what looked like a nature show still-shot showing a mass of different birds swarming on a cliff side and the face of the Statue of Liberty. All these photos had one thing in common: my niece and whoever the hell that was were smiling with their arms around each other in them.

  “Mara, what. Are. These?” She looked at the photos I was waving at her once, then, avoiding the question, took some normal clothes down from a shelf.

  “I need a shower,” she told me shortly before vanishing into the bathroom. I slowly sank onto the bed, hearing the water running. I felt bewildered and helpless, a deer in the headlights. We used to be so close, she and I. Now…Now it was as if I didn’t know her at all. I saw, folded in the strings of her guitar, a page of her well-used notebook. I opened it, expecting another song. I wasn’t disappointed.

  My Friend

  You have shown me so many weird and wonderful things.

  At times I have been in agony. At others my heart positively sings.

  It’s only because of you, my friend, I can still breathe.

  If only they knew you; they would never, against you, seethe.

  Why can no one see beyond your dark past?

  It’s like you’re invisible except for the shadow you cast.

  I have seen something else, something better:

  Kindness, caring, more loyalty than a red setter.

  You have shown me so many weird and wonderful things.

  At times I have been in agony. At others my heart positively sings.

  It’s only because of you, my friend, I can still breathe.

  If only they knew you; they would never, against you, seethe.

  I looked up at her as she came back in, dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, toweling her sopping-wet hair.

  “What. Is. Going. On, Mara?” I demanded through gritted teeth. She looked at me and my heart sank. I knew that look: it was the same look she always gave me when she was going to be stubborn and immovable. I suddenly noticed her left hand. Before she could do a thing to stop me, I grabbed her wrist. I gasped. Mara’s entire arm was covered in long, ribbony scars.

  “Alright, Mara,” I said, holding up a Polaroid of her and Blondie, “who is this guy and what did he do to you?” She scowled up at me, wrenching her arm free. I was shocked by the sudden anger in her face. She walked by me, her normally pink eyes now shooting furious, red flames. “Whatever it is, you can tell me,” I said.“I wanna know, I have to know: is he hurting you in any way?”

  “You can leave now,” she whispered, pointing her finger at the door.

  “Mara?” I blinked, stunned.

  “Get. Out!” she ordered, suddenly looking a hell of a lot like her father. I stared at the door, the slam still ringing in my ears. I was scared. What was happening to my niece? Who was this guy who had such a hold over her; that she was so loyal to?

  KYLE

  “Since when are you a news buff?” Dave asked.

  “Quiet,” I frowned.

  “I need you to help with crowd control.”

  “Fine,” I sighed, turning off my small handheld radio. It was a week later and my two lives were, so far, remaining happily separate. Mara and I had both agreed, without actually saying it, that we both needed to cool off and put my crime-fighting crusade on the back burner for a while. Apart from a few little vacations, we’d hardly used the Winter for anything. But my patriotic feelings were still strong within me, and I had been scanning the news with the eye of a trained reporter. There were the usual disasters: war, landslides and global warming and such, but nothing really major. Nothing we could actually prevent. Hold on, what’s this? A fire had started on one of the top floors of a Tokyo skyscraper. The emergency crews were struggling to reach the blaze, but it was too high. I smiled a slow smile. This was perfect.

  “Dave, I need a really big favor.”

  “What?” he frowned.

  “I need you to cover for me, just for tonight. I’m sorry, man,” I added, seeing him sigh and shake his
head, “I feel like shit.” I made a show of rubbing my stomach and grimacing.

  “What’s wrong with ya? You seemed fine a minute ago.”

  “I dunno. Something I ate, I think.”

  “Fine,” he sighed. “I’ll get Rick to replace you.”

  “Thanks,” I smiled, getting up.

  “Kyle, last time,” he warned me. I nodded and made my way through the pounding floor and writhing bodies to the exit.

  SARAH

  I’d been asleep on the couch when I’d heard the door slam. At first I’d thought Ron had come back, but then I’d seen Mara’s white form, through the window, make its way towards the woods out back. I followed, wondering where she was going. She stopped at a large oak tree and stood for a while with her back to it, clearly waiting for something. I watched her for a while then, just as I was about to break cover and tell her to come back inside… What. The. Hell? I watched, with a sense of disbelief, as a long rectangle of white light unraveled itself, a stairway slowly extending from it in the style of a freight aircraft’s ramp. She walked towards it and then through it without any hesitation, as though it was perfectly normal. I leapt out from behind the hedges, suddenly terrified, my mouth open to call her back, when the light vanished and there was nothing to show she’d ever been there at all.

  MARA

  “Slow down, will ya?” I whispered in alarm.

  “I told you lives are at stake,” he growled. “I know what I’m doing.” I sure hoped so as he was shoving the joystick as far as it would go. I watched the landscape, and then the ocean, flash by as fast as the view from a bullet train. Only we were, most likely, going faster even than that. Tokyo came into view, from a small blip on the horizon to a massive sprawling city in seconds. I looked out over all the glittering lights and flashing colors. “No time,” he snapped at me.

  “Where is the fire?” I whispered, wide-eyed. For some reason that made him smile.

  “Sorry,” he sighed, “but we need to find it, don’t we?”Find what? I looked around. Oh. There it was: a small orange glow on the far side of the city. We were there in, literally, no time. Surrounding the building were fire trucks, squadcars and everything, looking like Lego cars from all the way up here.

  “Keep the Winter straight and level,” he told me, handing over the joystick and climbing out of his seat. I watched, alarmed, as he grabbed a shotgun from the armory, smashed one of the cases with the butt and pulled out one of the tan, hooded firesuits, a pair of black rubber gloves, and a gasmask from the cupboards. “Keep circling the building,” he told me, pumping the gauge.“When you see a window shatter, fly in. Keep the ramp lowered and I’ll send the survivors out to you.” I watched, over my shoulder, my heart in my throat, as he walked toward the lowering outer door.

  “My God,” I whispered. The fire had spread to the roof now; the whole building looked like one huge matchstick. He cannot be serious. I watched, wide-eyed, as he stood in the ramp’s opening, for a second, before he jumped. I knew he was very tall, but for a second, he looked like a small stick figure facing a large bonfire. Then he was gone and I was left wondering if I would ever see him again.

  KYLE

  It occurred to me for the first time, as the smoke billowed all around me and I saw the concrete bubble and crack from the intense heat, that I could very well die doing this. I had no idea how well the suit would protect me from the blaze or how well I would be able to see through the mask when the smoke clouded my vision. I was scared. As I blasted away the locked attic door and bounded down a stairway that looked like the gateway to hell, I was fucking terrified. Remembering my firearms training, I kept the shotgun to my shoulder as I approached the first office door and kicked it open. An old woman lay on the floor surrounded by fire and smoke. I skidded to my knees beside her and checked her pulse. It was there but it was very faint. Getting to my feet, I fired at the melting window, shattering it into a million pieces. Where was Mara? I could see nothing but the night sky and the other buildings. Thank God. I saw the square of light coming around the corner of the building. I waved frantically to her as she looked around in her seat at me, her face backlit, a small, black circle in the bright rectangle, and the Winter moved in, the ramp touching the empty frame. Hefting the unconscious woman onto my back, I climbed aboard and lowered her gently to the deck.

  “Is she alright?” Mara asked, leaning forward in her chair.

  “Smoke inhalation. Get her a mask and she will be. I’m going back for any others. I’m going down the building, floor to floor. Stay out here and keep circling the building.” She nodded, snapping instantly back into mission mode as she turned back in the pilot’s chair. I slung my rifle across my back and rushed again into the blaze. This is insane.

  The further I went, the hotter it got. Shit! I could feel the gasmask actually start melting from the heat. Trying hard not to think about what molten plastic could do to skin, I went from floor to floor, doing pretty much what we’d done the first time. Four people, in all, were pulled from the blaze: a receptionist whose arm had become trapped under chest of draws that had keeled over, a suit trapped by a shut-off stairwell, a security guard, literally too scared to move and a maintenance guy.

  The fifth was the unlucky one: another security guard who lay trapped under a collapsed vent duct. Seeing me, he began yelling in a torrent of panicked Japanese, or Cantonese, or what-the-fuck-ever. I shoved both hands under it. Strong as I was, I couldn’t shift the heavy metal. “Shit!” I got up, fired my gauge and the window shattered. “Sorry,” I growled, wrenching my foot from his grasping, desperate hands and just leaving him there. I ran for the window and leapt onto the ramp. “Go,” I told Mara and we rocketed out into the night.

  MARA

  The next few hours were spent handing out blankets, water flasks and masks and glowing all over. We. Were. Heroes. They all thought so. A blushing Kyle was lavished with attention. The tall receptionist lady caught my eye as she, and all the others, looked around the gleaming, futuristic spaceship in awe. I smiled and shrugged. Don’t look at me, I just fly the thing. We dropped them off in the middle of some park nearby and, with many a wave and round of applause, took off, headed for the stars and the States.

  SARAH

  I waited, pacing up and down, for Ron to come back. I had called and told him Mara was missing, but, as was typical of him, he’d just said she was out partying or something. She’s thirteen for Christ’s sake. I’d given up trying to sleep hours ago. Seeing, every time I closed my lids, that damned square of light. Something strange, inexplicable, was going on here and I didn’t like it. But how could I explain it? A door in thin air, strange photos, endless vanishings… What the hell? I exhaled and checked the clock; it was four hours later and still he wasn’t here. I’d considered the cops, but what would I tell them? The moment I mentioned a door in thin air…Well, I wasn’t going to.

  “Where are you, Ron?” I growled. Probably has another precious meeting. I sighed and went to get a drink. I then heard a noise, coming from upstairs. It sounded like two sets of feet on the floorboards.

  “Mara?” I called as I started up the stairs. There was no reply. When I opened the door, there they were, sleeping together, side-by-side: Mara and whoever that was, covered in ash and dirt with her head on his shoulder. I stared at them, stunned. Where the hell had they come from? No call. No buzz from the gate. No nothing. Mara stirred and opened one eye a crack.

  “Hey,” she sighed, getting up and rubbing her eyes. I watched stunned as she took a long pull of what looked like an army-issue water flask.

  “How was Mordor?”

  The weirdo sat up, rubbing his eyes and yawning. “Who are you?” I snapped at him as Mara passed him the water. He held up a finger as he drank, indicating for me to wait. He was the man on the Youtube clip and in the photos I’d seen..

  “No one” he grunted, wiping his mouth, “I’m just a figment of your imaginat
ion.”

  “Are you trying to be funny,” I demanded, in no way noticing the eyes that were a shade of bright green I’d never encountered before, or the way the overhead lights gleamed in his blond hair, or the way his perfect teeth flashed against his dirty face as he and Mara flashed smug, scathing grins, at me and at each other, at this. As if that was a joke to them. I went downstairs to call the police. When I put the phone down and came into the kitchen, my niece was there, getting another drink, wrapped in a bathrobe, now perfectly clean with her hair still dripping.

  “Where is he?” I glared at Mara.

  “He said something about…taking off,” she smiled at some joke I didn’t get. She looked just fine, as though everything was normal. Never mind, he was hiding here, somewhere. The cops, when they got here, would arrest him and then everything would be back to normal. I sipped my gin, set it down on the counter and went to answer the door. The cops came in record time and I led them upstairs. He wasn’t there, nor was he in my room, Ron’s, Mara’s, Andy’s, the bathroom, anywhere. I looked in all the cupboards and everywhere I could think of and the cops followed me, the looks on the faces growing evermore skeptical as it became clearer and clearer that he really wasn’t here.

  “Excuse me, officers.” All three of us turned to see Mara standing in the doorway, holding my gin glass up.