Rage of Winter

by Sam Herrera

  “How was Borneo? I’ve never asked you that, have I?”

  “It was cool. I learned how to skin an animal. Can you believe that?”

  “What animal was it?”

  “Some kinda monkey thing,” she shrugged. “She made me do it. She did her part, I guess. She climbed up the tree, bare-ass naked, and brought it down. Then she showed me how to skin it.”

  “Still bare-assed?”

  “Still bare-assed,” she nodded, wrinkling her nose and shuddering.

  “What the hell?” I whispered, hearing a great roaring coming from the burning desert.

  “Christ,” Mara whispered as we drew closer and saw what was going on.

  “What in God’s holy name?” I whispered. We looked through the cockpit window out towards the fiery lake just in time to see it: the people fleeing the burning city were being chased by a new nightmare. Slowly rising out of the chasms the fire had poured from, like some kind of monstrous fungus pushing out of the soil, was a giant bronze…something. As it rose and rose, I saw it was shaped like the tail of a scorpion. We watched, stunned, as it grew to the height of a skyscraper. The sting’s reflective metal caught the light of the fires in its surface. Along the segments of its tail were silver spines with razor-sharp tips glinting in the red light. We then saw that the entire surface was covered in small doors that opened with a deafening shrieking and grinding noise. We doubled up, covering our throbbing ears. Creatures from the pits of hell poured out, like great dark swarms of flies, with an equally deafening, roaring cry.

  “My God,” I gasped, willing to bet good money that Cuffy was the only one who wasn’t fucking terrified. As they flew right by us we saw what they were: monsters with the faces of lions, huge bat-like wings and snakes for tails. Riding them were creatures that looked just like that Ethan thing only armored and with gold crowns on their heads. Covering their faces were iron masks; a woman’s face contorted in a scream with tendrils of steel framing it. They flew straight towards the panicked convoys fleeing them. We followed, watching in horror as they poured fire from their mouths on both people and vehicles without mercy and without relenting. Cars flew up into the sky in balls of flame and what police and National Guard there were trying to protect the people were hopelessly outnumbered, and either burned to ash or put to the sword.

  I looked at the small, smoking husks of tanks and army trucks surrounded by the charred corpses of soldiers while the survivors, those that abandoned their cars and ran, were chased down by the things, lifted into the air and carried, screaming and wailing, out across the fiery desert, back to the scorpion’s tail.

  “Can’t we do anything?!” Mara begged, her eyes shining with tears.

  My hands tensed on the triggers, but then…

  “Down there.” I followed her pointing finger to a convertible just leaving the burning city, looking remarkably undamaged and going like a bat out of hell, millimeters ahead of the creature’s jets of flame, with a very familiar-looking driver and passenger.

  “Shit, that’s Chloe,” I frowned. How? I had dropped her off only an hour ago. A group of the things split off from the main body to chase her. I looked from the Ferrari to the helpless civilians. Shit, I can’t help everyone.

  “God, look at her go. I’ll bet Grey’s shittin’ himself.”

  “Follow them.” We followed, keeping up easily, hovering just above as they wove through the chaos around them with casual ease.

  MARA

  We raced along the freeway, just behind the car and the things chasing it. Seeing the Utah furnace, Chloe veered off and followed a road that skirted the desert. It truly was Chloe; only one woman could stay so cool facing the end of the world while manning the wheel like a pro stunt racer. She swerved around the shells of cars and easily outran the fire the creatures shot after her. Kyle fired, our twin guns shooting their own flames. The first of the things fell, screeching, from the sky. The others swooped around, searching for their invisible enemy. Kyle held down the triggers, his knuckles white on the handles. I almost cheered as more and more of them fell, their armor pierced, their wings shredded and their fire extinguished, to either splatter on the road or burn on the fiery sand.

  I knew Utah still was burning. I could see the blood-red moon and sky. I knew as well that the horrors back there still were back there and would need to be faced at some point, but we’d won this round. I smiled as the Ferrari slowed and Chloe got out, waving at us. I almost waved back, but of course she wouldn’t see it.

  “Set us down,” I grinned.

  *

  A sweaty and terrified David looked around the Winter, stunned.

  “Hello, Dave.”

  “Kyle?” He nodded, smiling.

  “Hi, David,” I smiled, coming for ward to hug him. He held me tight,, the pain of his loss and the trauma of the past few hours still clear on his face. Once we’d convinced him to sit and relax, he began to demand answers.

  “How are you doing?”

  “What?! How am I do—” he scoffed. “What were those things? What the fuck is going on?”

  “We don’t know. We don’t have time for this. We have to get to safety.”

  “Give him a break, will ya?” Chloe glared. “He’s just lost his wife.” I agreed. The man looked like a scared little kid.

  “We have to get back to the Mitten,” Kyle said shortly, taking a seat in the pilot’s chair and grabbing the joystick.

  “No,” Chloe said suddenly. “No, I can’t go with you.”

  “What are you talking about?” Kyle asked as we all stared at her.

  “I need to get back into the army. Karden trusts me and you need my eyes and ears among them.” He sighed and nodded, setting us down.

  “Wait a minute,” I protested. “What about those things out there? They’ll rip you apart. And have you noticed half of America is on fire?”

  “One third of the globe is on fire,” she shrugged, smiling. I didn’t know whether to deck her or admire her. “And no, they won’t,” she smiled. “Trust me.”

  “She’s. Mad,” I sighed, shaking my head as we watched the small figure get back into her Ferrari and head back towards the flaming tower blocks.

  “Maybe,” Kyle allowed, “but she’s right.” We took off, shooting into the red sky like a bullet from a gun without so much as a murmur or shudder. David sat in one of the other chairs and looked across at me.

  “So, what are you doing here?”

  “You didn’t think I’d let my boyfriend go it alone, did you?” I looked out the cockpit window at the flaming desert. Where are we going? What the hell were we doing?

  “So, what’s her story?”David asked suddenly.

  “Who’s?”

  “Chloe’s. I recall her being Caleb’s babysitter, but besides that…”

  “Y’know, I dunno really. We’ve spent a long time together. I know what she looks like naked. She stripped down to wash blood out of her clothes,” I explained, seeing his raised brows. “I know she hails from England and I know she’s an expert hunter. But I know nothing about her past. Kyle met her before I did and, according to him, this thing belongs to her.”

  “It belongs to the government,” he retorted, “and she stole it.”

  “From the people who killed your wife,” Kyle retorted, turning in his seat. “You’re not very grateful, are ya?”

  “I am grateful,” he assured. “I just can’t help feeling a little uncomfortable around…”

  “Criminals?” Kyle snapped. “Welcome to the new world. Mara, take over,” he sighed as we switched and he leaned back in the co-pilot’s chair, closing his eyes and falling fast asleep.

  “Bloody hell, what the fuck happened to your hand?!” David demanded, his eyes bugging. Oh, boy. It was the first time he’d seen it. How am I going to explain this?

  “I got it stuck in the machine once and
when it came out this was how it looked. It’s fine, David,” I added quickly. “I know it looks weird, but I’ve had it since I was twelve and it’s fine. It’s nothing.” He groaned and dropped his face in his hands.

  “Someone wake me up,” he muttered, massaging his temples.

  “Don’t worry, Dave,” I said. “I know it’s terrifying. But, trust me, we’ll be safe with Ethan.”

  “Who’s Ethan?” David frowned.

  “Yeah, we’ve got one of those things on our side apparently. He’s a nice guy apart from the big tail with the scythe,” I grinned. David dropped his face back in his hands to groan some more.

  “Christ!” David yelled, suddenly as Cuffy leapt up and began slobbering all over him. I’d forgotten all about him. I couldn’t help laughing.

  “We’ll get you a shower for a start,” I offered. “Maybe that will make you feel better.”

  KYLE

  A truck stop far away where service was still running as normal was the best we could come up with. We all walked up to the stop, pausing to let Cuffy shit and piss.

  “Stay,” I told him. Ever obedient and well trained, he sat. I insisted on ladies first after I blew the lock off the door with one silenced shot and Mara led the way in. I moaned as I felt the water beat away the tension and wash away the grime. Sometimes, like now, a shower was better than sex. God, I miss you, Sarah.

  “How’s it feelin?” Mara asked from the next stall. There had been only one unisex shower room so we had each undressed in the cubicles..

  “Great,” I grinned.

  “Well, don’t start jerking off; we need to be gone soon.”

  “Very ladylike, I must say,” I snapped while Grey, in the stall to my right, began sniggering.

  My train of thought had been along those lines, but she was right. I toweled off and reached for my clothes. I wrinkled my nose at the sweaty fabrics and dirty underwear, knowing we needed more than this.

  MARA

  David and I jumped about a foot in the air as Kyle, dressed in new trucker gear, walked into the bathroom and I tightened the towel around my chest. I’d actually been wondering where he’d gone for a while now.

  “Oh, sorry.” He offered me a pile of new clothes, sniggering at the Playboy Bunny on my new T-shirt.

  “I hope you weren’t implying anything,” I frowned, looking down at it. LET’S FUCK was on the back of his. David and he turned, giving me some privacy.

  “Um…where’d you get these anyway? Where did you go?” We’d been stuck in here for a while with nothing to wear but our sweaty rags and I would rather have gone naked. I pulled on the shirt and my new jeans under my towel, thanking God they were my size and no smaller because I didn’t see any underwear.

  “I was getting some things together,” he told me. I could tell he was smiling a secretive little smile.

  I gave the all-clear and Kyle, turning, explained the mystery of the new clothes: he had broken into the nearest shop he’d come to and walked in, taking all he wanted. I eyed the faint smoke drifting from the gun lying on the slotted bench and decided I didn’t want to know anymore.

  “Shit,” I whispered as we, in our disguises, walked out the exit and saw the red-and-blue lights coming closer and closer. It wasn’t just cops either. Someone had called Edwards Air Force Base. Since the attacks by the Locusts, air force bases, gyms, schools and places like that had become like small, self-contained towns all by themselves with people wanting more and more protection around them. I saw the cars had the symbol of the OWO: a raven holding the globe in its talons, and that the men getting out wore black helmets and black overalls under black body armor.

  “C’mon,” Kyle hissed in my ear as they swarmed out to surround the scene of the break-in. “Get Cuffy.” After years of training he was the model of self-control. I untied the dog and we walked in a straight line, feigning indifference while joining the tiny crowd of late night truckers at the police barrier. I smiled as I saw that our attire – baseball caps, woolen coats and faded jeans, together with the guys’ unshaven faces – allowed us to fit right in. I tugged my own cap low over my face and rolled up the collar of my denim jacket as we walked off after a while, pretending to lose interest, and headed back to the Winter, trying not to run or do anything that would get us noticed. The guys climbed aboard one by one, leaving a few minutes between to avoid attention.

  “Goddamn, that was close,” Kyle muttered as we took off.

  “Nice Bunny,” David sniggered.

  “You should talk, Forrest Gump,” I smiled, scratching the dog’s ear and looking down at his T-shirt. It had a weed-smoking alien on it below the words: TAKE ME TO YOUR DEALER .God, we all look weird.

  “Couldn’t you have done any better?” I asked Kyle.

  “The female trucker selection was somewhat limited,” he deadpanned. I looked around at the Winter’s new selection of clothes and bedspreads. It would seem we were well-stocked: pillows, sleeping bags, bedrolls, T-shirts and jeans of every size and buckets of water. Hot water too, judging by the steam rising from them. I looked, frowning, at them and at the pans and brooms he’d gathered as well.

  “What do we need them for?”

  “We’re going to be inside a cave tonight. You don’t want to sleep in the dirt, do you?” I shook my head, fighting off a yawn.

  *

  “So, what do we do now?” I asked as we looked out over the desert. The fire was dying, though a great, dark smoke still hung over the plain of ash and dust, dotted with smoking stumps of trees. The whole expanse looked like Mordor.

  “Good question,” Kyle nodded. David had refused, point blank, to go anywhere near the hole, never mind jump in it, whatever we said. So, what did we do?

  “Winter, Winter, come in. What’s going on?” the posh, English voice asked.

  “Weee have an unwilling jumper.”

  “I’m coming up.” What?

  “Whoa,” Kyle exclaimed, leaning forward in his seat. I joined him in watching as the flying, bat-like…creature I’d met in Borneo came shooting out of the hole with the speed of a high-velocity bullet and swooped onto the ramp behind us.

  “Oh, my God!” David yelled while Cuffy ducked behind my legs. “Shoot it. Shoot it.”

  “It? I find that rather offensive. Hello, Mara,” he grinned, his thick, dark lips parting to show his wicked, curving fangs as he stood to his full height, his leathery, green, foot-long span framing him. I had to admit he looked pretty damn terrifying.

  “Chill Dave, he’s a friend.”

  “Friend?!” he squeaked, backing as far away as he could get.

  “Yeah. Dave, Ethan. Ethan, Dave.”

  Ethan slowly walked forward, doing a decent impression of Count Dracula with his claws raised and his eyes wide. He was stretching his lips as far as they would go, showing all his molars. The red moon shone on his back, casting his face and winged body in a dark shroud. He had never looked scarier and that was saying something.

  “Very nice to meet you,” he greeted the terrified man cowering before him, offering a hand to shake. Kyle and I grinned at each other as he slowly took it.

  KYLE

  Even after all this time, the Winter continued to amaze. Ethan had flown each of us through the hole with a bedroll apiece and here we were.

  The inside of the Mitten was truly incredible and, according to Ethan, completely accidental. Chloe, while the ship was hers, had tried target practice way out here where there was no chance of shooting anyone, launching a missile at random. It had impacted the rock, crashed through a few feet and detonated. This place was the result: a hollowed-out cave with rugged ridges and ledges used for beds and storage. There was even a haphazard staircase: a set of ridges that, in places, weren’t connected. But a few light hops and skips would carry one over some of them. For those gaps too wide there were ropes and rope ladders. There were also flood
lights and torches balanced on small ledges and hollows to help people find their way in the dark and locate things they’d kept safe. It was amazing they were safe, that the rock had protected them from the fire. It was still like stepping into a sauna here. I was gasping and panting after a few minutes and my furry jacket I’d chucked instantly.

  “Hello everyone,” Chloe smiled, stepping out of the shadows. How the hell had she gotten here? Ethan and she sure had been busy, getting all these survival kits together and learning to navigate the perches and ledges. They had also gathered a large following down here: men, women and a few kids, all dressed in dusty, stained clothes and heavy walking boots. Introductions were soon made between us. The man in charge here was a woman.

  “Alex Mitchell and this is my son, John,” she introduced as she offered us a water bottle. The others looked at her as though she were mad.

  A tall, olive-skinned kid came forward and she put her arm around his shoulder. I suspected the father was the black one as she was white and sounded as though she’d been born and raised in Ireland.

  “I’m Kyle, this is Mara and David. The mutt’s Cuffy.” Alex smiled as she and the mutt shook paws. “Caleb was the one you’ve just taken to the sickbay,” I said. I turned around, planning to leave the others to their introductions and almost ran straight into Ethan behind me. “Christ! Don’t do that,” I scowled, my hand going to the gun at my belt that I was planning to appoint my constant companion for as long as he was living with us.

  “Suspicious of me?” he asked, giving a smirk.

  “What can I say? Not stupid.” I placed my back to the wall behind me until he’d gone, not wanting to show it to him for a second.

  MARA

  I watched this silent battle of wills, sympathizing with Ethan. Just ‘cause he looks weird…

  “Hello, David.” We looked up to see some old guy with a beard and moustache step out of the shadows.