Rage of Winter

by Sam Herrera

  “I never thanked you, did I?”

  “Thanked me?” he frowned.

  “For pulling me out of the fire.” I didn’t know what she was talking about but it seemed to make sense to Kyle because his brow suddenly cleared and he nodded, smiling.

  “How’s your girlfriend?” he asked. Girlfriend?

  “She vanished.”

  “Shit. My wife and kid vanished too.”

  “Fucking sucks, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes, it does.”

  “So what’s the deal between you and Mara?”

  “Hmm?” he asked as I pricked my ears.

  “I saw the way you two are with each other.”

  “For a long time, I have been the father she never really had.” I felt my father stiffen beside me at this. Fuck him. If he couldn’t handle the truth, that was his problem.

  “We have flown this thing, the Rage of Winter, all over the world: Iceland, the States, Hawaii, you name it.”

  “Wow. What is it, though?”

  “Chloe.”

  “Hmm?” she asked, turning in the co-pilot’s seat.

  “What is this thing?” While Chloe filled Kristen in on the events of the Apocalypse, Ethan took us on a course heading for the Mojave.

  *

  I lay awake, in the main cavern, with my head on Caleb’s chest listening to his heavy breathing. We were both exhausted and shaking from the mad rush of the past few hours. After a quick freeze-dried meal, made by Faith and Richard, we’d just dropped. Kristen and Abby were sleeping onboard the Winter as we had no bedrolls for them. I gazed steadily at his eyes, glinting in the pitch dark. I love you. It was true; my body and soul didn’t respond to anyone the way they did to him, not even Kyle, and I didn’t want them to.

  “Do you think we’re the last people on Earth?”

  “There have been many times when I have hoped so,” he nodded.

  “But not like this?”

  “No. Mum’s dead, isn’t she?” My smile vanished instantly. Shit! You idiot, you forgot.

  I looked away from those wounded eyes, feeling like an asshole, and nodded once.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” he scowled, turning away.

  “So much happened. I…I’m sorry.” I knew he was trying to hold back tears without seeing it. I moved to press my forehead against the small of his back.

  “Don’t.”

  “Come here,” I whispered putting an arm around his shoulder, my heart breaking for him. “I love you.”

  “I love you too,” he sniffled as he rolled over, facing me. I saw his tears carving rivers of light across the bridge of his nose and the skin beside his eyes. I’d never seen him cry before. My own vision blurring, I put my hand over his heart and kissed him gently on the lips. That seemed to open the floodgates; I held him as he gave vent to wracking sobs.

  “I’m sorry, baby. I’m. So. Sorry,” I mumbled, my own tears running into his thick sweet-smelling curls. I froze, seeing a huge, hulking shape coming towards us. What the hell was it?

  “Ewww, Cujo, fuck off.” We both began to laugh as he started giving my face a wash. We lay side-by-side, with our newfound friend curled up next to us, the both of them sleeping peacefully. I couldn’t sleep. I wanted to but I just couldn’t. My mind wouldn’t stop seeking an outlet. One of the good things about being a skilled songwriter, though: I had one. I smiled as I found my small notepad, where I stored all my thoughts, in my back pocket, and flicked on a flashlight I kept just for this, putting it in my mouth as I got out a pen.

  Uprooted

  I feel a great sense of all that I have lost

  And it makes my heart chill as if in a sudden frost.

  All hearth and home I’ve had to rescind

  It’s all gone and I’m tossed in the gale-force wind.

  I’m a tree, hewn down and thrown on the truck.

  It feels like I, out of all, have had the shittiest luck.

  Now I am one of the uprooted,

  All I once had, spoiled and polluted.

  When will it end? I have no idea, but at least you’re still here.

  I want to cling to you with all I have; you’re all I’ve got.

  The world has become terrifying, cold and dark.

  You are the light. Hold me. Leave your mark.

  For what you and I have is the last of the pure.

  Of that, if nothing else, I am sure.

  I’m a tree, hewn down and thrown on the truck.

  It feels like we, out of all, have had the shittiest luck.

  Now I am one of the uprooted,

  All I once had spoiled and polluted.

  When will it end? I have no idea, but at least you’re still here.

  Your very name means faithful and you have ever proven it.

  I’m glad you’re in my life, though you can be a tit.

  Can you and I be in this dangerous world,

  As from threat to threat we are hurled?

  I’m a tree, hewn down and thrown on the truck.

  It feels like I, out of all, have had the shittiest luck.

  Now I am one of the uprooted,

  All I once had spoiled and polluted.

  When will it end? I have no idea, but at least you’re still here.

  “Can I see?” I looked up at the sound of Chloe sliding across the ground towards me, her face coming into the torchlight. “Hmm,” she murmured, seeming impressed as she read it by the small beam. We both looked over at Caleb as he lay beside me, dead to the world.

  “Were you really his babysitter? I still find it hard to picture that.”

  “Picture it because it’s true,” she nodded. “Time travel, who can fathom it?”

  “So you and Kristen seem to be pretty tight already?” They did. They were as thick as thieves.

  “They had been about to kill her,” she said, “and make it look like a suicide. She’s dead grateful to all of us, especially me.”

  “Why you?” I asked, smiling at the phrasing.

  “We were a thing once, before all this, but I left as always.”

  “Why?” She shot me a disparaging look.

  “Ah.”

  “I don’t…I want…” Chloe’s face was the picture of sadness and longing just as it had been by our campsite, that night in Borneo. “Flings are the best I can hope for. I’ll just vanish one day, never to be seen again.”

  “In this day and age anything’s possible,” I told her, “and for what it’s worth, I hope so. You deserve to be happy.” She gave a small smile and nodded. “Goodnight, Mara.”

  KYLE

  Richard, Caleb, Chloe, Abby, Cuffy, Cujo, Kristen, Abby, Mara, Faith, David, Ron, Ethan and I all sat on the sand, gathered around a computer. It had been stolen from a store on our last raid. I doubted it would last long, having no source to power it. Most of us were paying rapt attention to Ethan as he began talking. I listened, but David Grey and this woman, Faith, seemed to be more interested in nattering and petting the dogs. Typical. On the screen was a podium with Karden going up, bathed in camera flashes.

  *

  “My people,” he smiled as he took the stand, “citizens of the great and glorious One World Order. I am standing here before you today, not only to celebrate my birthday, but the beginning of a whole new stage in my life: the culmination of my great work of bringing the planet together, in unity and faith, as one, singular community. In recognition of this, I propose to you an all-new decree: a currency that will render the divided, dissimilar notes and coins obsolete: the Mark of the One World Order. Three flames to symbolize its three principles: unity, peace and faith.” I watched as the madman raised his right hand and held it, palm up, for the benefit of the cameras. Tattooed on it, sure enough, were three flames, in vivid red, yellow and orange but I saw the shape of them, t
he way they slanted forming three sixes. My blood ran cold as I watched Matthew Karden, the true Antichrist, walk away to the thunderous applause, applause?! of the audience.

  *

  “As some of you may already know,” Ethan said, turning off the clip, “I and all my kind were created by scientists for the express purpose of defending the One World Order and conquering those who would oppose it. I was intended as a single unit in a vast army, an army that has now come from the cracks in the underground laboratories where they were created and burst out upon the Earth. My kind are now capturing, alive, all who follow Karden and have taken his Mark and are torturing them just as they tortured us. They answer to only their own kind. You all have different beliefs and different religions. But I have read the passage of the Bible that refers to us. And, as you can see, here I am. We also have this,” he added, stepping forward and picking up the laptop, balanced it on his knee, opening up another YouTube clip.

  “Fuck,” Grey whispered and I concurred as we saw the city of London, and its most famous monument, Big Ben, burn. Then another clip opened up, this one filming Madrid. People were running and screaming as the creatures swooped down on them from the air, fire pouring from their mouths onto their victims. I watched as he opened yet another clip. Washington, the heading said, but the video was utterly black.

  “What’s this?” David asked, frowning.

  “That is Washington,” Ethan said, “except there’s no sun.”

  “‘And his kingdom shall be plunged into darkness. His subjects ground their teeth in anguish and they cursed God for their plagues and sores. In those days people will seek death but not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee them,” I heard David softly quote. I saw Abby Grey sidle up to him and slip her hand into his. She looked even more scared than he did.

  “All that’s Karden’s problem,” I broke in, getting up, suddenly sick of all the Scripture bullshit. “What do we do about these creatures? What do they want? You should know,” I snapped, rounding on Ethan. “You’re one of them.”

  “Maybe, but I never followed their cause.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “As I have said, to punish those who have inflicted these crimes on us.”

  “Grey, replay the Madrid tape, would you?”

  “My grandfather’s favorite color was gray. He was a long distance walker in the army.” Who said that? Oh, of course. Faith, as always, had this vacant, silly look on her face. “They used to call him the Hulk, because he was not fazed by any amount of heavy hauling at any distance.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” I whispered, wide-eyed. I winced as I looked back at the video, watching the fire fall and hearing the screaming.

  “Your old friends seem to be killing everyone, not just the enemy.” It was true. The clip clearly showed that those who dodged the fire were put to the sword. My lip curled in disgust as blood spurted out of one man in a foot-long stream. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Grey holding his niece, pressing her face into his chest.

  “You people are causing suffering for the sake of it? Why? What have these people done to you? They’re just innocent civilians.”

  “Who have taken the side of Karden. Anyway, I am not involved. I escaped, wanting nothing to do with it. Don’t ask me to mourn them though. You can judge me all you wish, but I am glad they taste our pain.”

  “And you can quote Scripture at me all you wish, but I. Will. Not accept a massacre is justice.” My hand strayed to the weapon at my belt and my eyes narrowed as Ethan flexed his fingers, claws extended. We both slowly stood, nose-to-beak. I was pretty fast, but if I wasn’t fast enough, fuck it. A family reunion was long overdue.

  “Ethan,” Ron said, coming up behind him, “let it go.” He relaxed and backed off, walking out of the cavern.

  “My uncle used to quote Scripture all the time. He was a Methodist preacher and a real believer until he was run over. He was very good at keeping a stiff upper lip. In the car accident, he went right through the windshield and cracked his skull open on someone’s garden wall. But his upper lip was still as stiff as reinforced steel.” We all stared, wide-eyed, at Faith as she went back to stroking Cuffy’s head, staring at the ceiling and humming to herself. Who’s she actually talking to?

  “Ummm. Kyle, we could use his knowledge of his old pals, y’know?” Ron told me.

  “We don’t need him,” I sneered. “Now as I was saying, these things, whatever they are, are moving in a cavalry unit.” I played back the Madrid video. “Two cavalry units, in fact: one on land, one flying through the air.” As we watched, the video zoomed in and we saw the airborne units were breathing fire. Great sheets of flame rained down on houses and on people. “As you see, they are capable of mass destruction and can cover great distances at speed,” I added, recalling what I had seen happen to Utah.

  “So, what do we do?” someone asked.

  “If they are moving to strike only Karden, I would say do nothing,” I told them. “If, however, it is as Ethan said, they’re targeting everyone, we should prepare a defense which is exactly what we will do.”

  MARA

  A series of loud explosions suddenly resounded throughout the whole cavern, coming from just around the corner. Caleb and I woke with a start and, getting up, raced in that direction. We stood before what seemed like a scene from Lethal Weapon. Kyle had Caleb, Andy, Father Abby and Caleb’s aunt, Kristen lined up in front of white chalk ‘Xs on the floodlit far wall, filling them fulla lead. I watched as the tall redhead handled her weapon with some hesitation, but her aim was okay.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Target shooting. Obviously. Care to try?” Kyle grinned, handing Caleb a weapon. He hesitated.

  “Kyle, he’s not trained,” Kristen objected.

  “And this is how he becomes trained. Get back to shooting, Harper.” I had heard, before his arrest, that Kyle had been a sergeant in the air force. It was certainly his sergeant’s face he wore now as he led us to the homemade range, shoved his gun into my hand and put both of us in front of a target.

  “Align your body with the gun,” he told us. “Arm up.” I raised my aim and looked, down it, towards the white cross. I watched enviously at Kristen as she hit the bull’s eye for the first time. “Good, isn’t she?” Kyle smiled encouragingly. “Okay, squeeze the trigger.” I fired, the recoil jerking my arm back. It wasn’t a bull’s eye, but it was okay.

  “Not bad,” he smiled. “Keep practicing.” He moved on to another shooter.

  “Not bad at all,” Caleb smiled beside me. I eyed his wrinkled T-shirt and boxers, still rumpled from last night and stretched tight over his sinewy body. Hubba, hubba. It was almost a shame when he put some pants on. I eyed also the fading bruises on his face. I shuddered. In those few, terrifying moments locked in that trunk, thinking that he was dead, I had wanted to die too. Seeing, when they’d got me out of the bag and that he was, apart from those few cuts and bruises, alive and beautiful had been like the sun shining again. But I still hated looking at them.

  KYLE

  Abby, Mara, Caleb, his father and I were led by Ethan into an adjacent cavern with about six rock pillars connecting floor to ceiling. In the walls were mirrors and reflective metal hammered in. I frowned, as clueless as to what was going on as the rest. Where’d all that come from? I recalled the Winter had gone missing this morning. Ethan must have flown it. My eyes missed nothing, including the guns stacked in the corner and the way Mara’s hand was clasped around Caleb’s. No surprise there. Ethan stepped out of the shadows to stand at my right…with a sub-machine gun in his scaly hands and ammo belts slung across his chest. Chloe stood next to him, dressed in a black vest and joggers. Anonymity was the word we all lived by. All the clothes around here were plain, logo-less and of nondescript colors: black, navy-blue, rust, dark-green, shades like that. I should know: I’d brought them for that reason. There was somethin
g sticking up from her left shoulder, I noticed. It looked like the handle of a sword. Ethan had found himself a worthy protégée here: Chloe had trained with him vigorously, often getting up at the crack of dawn to wake us all with the ringing of sword on sword. The Outcasts. I smiled at Caleb. It had been his idea to give us a name and I guessed that was kinda fitting.

  “You have been brought here to learn how to use your mind to fight with,” Ethan began. “Any fool can fire a gun, but to defeat your enemy soundly, and make sure he stays defeated, you must engage with what resources you have and use your intellect to do it properly. Child.” Chloe, scowling, hating being called “child”, drew a gun from her waistband and ran behind the nearest pillar. Several of us screamed in alarm and my hand shot to my sidearm, as Ethan opened fire, bullet casings flying from his weapon. Yet she was not hit. She raced, around and around the cave, jumping from pillar to pillar. Goddamn, she’s fast. She was a flash of black, white and brown. I then saw the rest of the thing on her shoulder. It had been the handle of a short sword slung across her back. At one point, she stayed behind a pillar while Ethan fired every round he had into it, sending rock fragments and dust flying into the air. When he stopped to reload, Chloe slammed her shoulder into the pillar, sending it crashing down, almost crushing him. She’d chosen the only one that wasn’t connected to the ceiling. Ethan leapt up from the floor and swept the whole room, looking for her. But she had vanished behind the next pillar. Suddenly a shower of sparks came off the metal in the patch of wall right in front of him and Ethan grunted in pain, pawing at the bleeding scar on his head that seemed to have come from nowhere. Sly and fast, she’d used the metal to ricochet her shot. Growling, he wiped away the blood trickling down his face and flung away his rifle. She too tossed her gun and drew her sword, twirling it in an almost idle arc as she met him head-on. Claw and blade met in a shower of sparks. Driven back, Ethan flung his tail scythe at her like a coiled whiplash. Chloe parried once, twice, three times, stopping the whiplash before it got anywhere near her and ever coming closer. When she came in range and swung on him, he caught her blade, clenching his fist around it, dark-green blood running down the length of his forearm, and bent it back. I saw her lips press into a thin, white line over clenched teeth and the muscles in her arms bulging as she fought to hold her sword.