The Man from the Ice

by Brian Smith

  Sailing time to Kerguelen: Nine days.

  French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle

  7

  In Kerguelen Anthony and Edward were huddled together with the other survivors in the basement of the radar station. Outside the storm had broken and howling winds raged across the land. Angry thunders roared through the night. There was total darkness outside which was only occasionally pierced by lightening.

  Then the power failed. There were gasps of fear.

  “They’re coming!” someone sobbed.

  A beam of light cut through the darkness. All eyes turned towards it. Anthony had switched on a torch.

  “It’s just the generator,” Alain Charpentier said. “It shouldn’t have run out of fuel so quickly, but then all the equipment seems to…”

  There was a strange sound coming from the front door of the radar dome. Then there were screams. A soldier took the torch from Anthony and shone it around the room.

  “Everyone’s here,” he said.

  “Then it must be them, outside,” someone said.

  There were strange howls and wails that didn’t sound human. Then the banging started.

  Bang!

  The sound of a heavy, hard object slamming into the main door echoed through the building.

  Bang!

  The metal doors shuddered under the force of the impact.

  Bang!

  The people in the basement cowered together.

  Bang!

  Would the doors hold?

  Bang!

  Then everything went quiet.

  The people in the basement listened with bated breath. Had those outside given up? Slowly a new feeling pervaded everyone in the basement. Somehow it entered their heads. Some people got a headache while others became tired and lethargic.

  “It’s HIM,” someone whispered.

  Slowly the thing in their minds took over and the people began to lose control, it was as though their own will faded away, replaced by something stronger. One of the women stood up. She had a strange, vacant look in her eyes. Then she began to move towards the steel door. Everyone watched her as she crossed the room. If she opened the door they were doomed, they knew it and yet they had no strength to act. Edward and Anthony watched her in horror. Anthony was holding the torch, the only source of light in the room. In his heart he had a growing feeling of anger and aggression. The strange sensation in his head was infuriating, the sight of the woman shuffling across the room was too much. With every step she made her feet dragged on the concrete floor.

  Anthony jumped up and shouted at her “You ugly, smelly, fat toad!”

  The woman reached the door and began to remove the steel bars that secured it.

  In a rage Anthony dashed to her and began hitting her with his torch, again and again, and all the while he yelled and shouted at the top of his voice.

  The woman woke from her trance.

  “Ouch!” she cried, “stop hitting me.”

  Anthony didn’t hear her. His heart was filled with rage. “Gormless, ugly toad!” he yelled and kept striking at her with the torch. “You dirty toilet brush!”

  Now the woman got angry. She was still holding a steel bar in her hands and without thinking she struck at Anthony with it. The steel bar collided with the torch. It flew from his hand and hit one of the soldiers in the face. Moments later both Anthony and the soldier awoke from the trance they were in.

  The three people looked at each other in surprise.

  “I’ve got it!” Anthony exclaimed. “Pain can wake you up!”

  The woman and the soldier immediately realized the truth of his words. They walked from person to person in the room and smacked everyone in the face until they were all masters of their own minds again.

  “Astounding,” Alain Charpentier said. “And we’ve got this young man here to thank for saving us all.” He shook Anthony’s hand and said “How did you know what to do?”

  Anthony felt all eyes resting on him. It would have been easy for him to show off now, but he was an honest boy, so he said “To tell you the truth I didn’t really know. That feeling in my head just made me so angry. It happened this morning already.”

  “I see,” Edward said, “so different people are affected in different ways.”

  “Speaking of which,” Frederic said, “I can’t feel anything strange anymore. Looks like HE has gone again. Maybe HE’s given up?”

  “Not likely,” a soldier said. “HE, or rather that thing, will only stop when it’s got all of us.”

  “At least HE can’t get here without us knowing about it,” Edward said. “We can always feel it when danger is approaching.”

  The soldier looked at him with respect. “Good thinking there. And it’s just as well since we’ll have to leave here soon.”

  “What do you mean?” a woman said fearfully. “This is the only safe place on the island. We’ve got to stay down here until help comes.”

  “Firstly,” the soldier said, “we don’t know how long it’ll take until help comes. It could be another two months if that message we sent didn’t get through, and secondly there’s nothing to eat and drink down here. Some of us at least will have to go out and get supplies.”

  The light from the torch flickered, then it went out.

  “And that’s another problem,” Edward said. “We need light.”

  “It’s late already,” someone said. “If we have to go out tomorrow we’d better catch some sleep.”

  They arranged for two people to keep watch while the others slept in case HE came back, yet the rest of the night passed without any further events.

  Kerguelen Radar Station

  8

  Despite having nothing but a hard concrete floor to lie on everyone slept until late the following morning. Even the two men who were supposed to keep watch during the second shift had fallen asleep. Was it because they were all exhausted and mentally drained or simply because they were in the pitch dark? No one knew. The fact is that it was eleven o’clock gone by the time the first of them stirred. At first the previous day’s events seemed like a bad dream, but when the people in the basement tried to turn on the side to sleep a bit longer they were quickly brought back to reality by the hard floor they were on.

  “I’m hungry,” Anthony complained.

  They all were. And thirsty.

  “Time to go and get our breakfast, then,” Edward said with a yawn. “Everything’s quiet outside and I can’t feel anything strange, so it should be safe to go out.”

  “I agree,” a soldier said. He felt his way across the floor until he reached the steel door. The steel bar made a loud clang against the metal door when he removed it. When he pulled the door open a faint light from upstairs entered the room. They slowly went upstairs. The outer door was still locked from inside and everything was normal.

  “At least they didn’t manage to get into the building last night,” a woman said.

  Frederic looked out of a window. “I can’t see anyone,” he said. “Let’s make use of the opportunity. We’ll go back into town, grab as many supplies as we can and then come back here immediately.”

  “What if we feel HIM?” someone asked.

  “Then we leave at once,” a soldier said. “And one more thing. Don’t wander off alone. Always stay together in groups of at least four or five people.”

  “How many are we?” Anthony asked.

  “Thirty-one including you two boys,” the soldier said.

  “So we can form six groups,” Edward said. “Let’s decide who goes where so we can work more efficiently.”

  “Right you are,” the soldier replied.

  “I have a question,” Anthony said.

  Everyone looked at him.

  “How many people were here before, I mean how many are there now with that weird man?”

  Alain Charpentier sighed. “That’s a good question. There were 130 people here not counting you. The district chief is dead, as you told us, but that still leaves o
ne hundred of them.”

  “We’re badly outnumbered then,” Edward said.

  The soldier nodded. “All the more reason to stick together, and at the slightest sign of trouble get out immediately.”

  When they reached the outskirts of Port-aux-Francais they stopped and looked around. There was no one in sight. Some penguins were waddling through the deserted town and everywhere they heard the sound of seabirds.

  “Good,” a soldier said, “let’s get going.”

  They hurried into the town. Anthony and Edward were in one group together with one of the two soldiers, Frederic and the communications officer Alain Charpentier. Their task was to find technical supplies such as batteries, torches and any kind of electronic equipment. Whatever they found they put into two rucksacks they had brought along. The rucksacks were already half-full when Anthony said “It’s so quiet now.”

  They all stopped to listen.

  “I can’t here the birds anymore,” Edward said after a moment.

  “Get out!” the soldier ordered.

  They ran out of the building and looked around. Not a single bird could be heard. At first they couldn’t see anything, but then Anthony said “Look!”

  There was movement in the country. A line of figures was moving towards the town.

  “They’re all around us,” Edward said.

  “Run back!” the soldier shouted.

  They ran back towards the radar station. At the same time they yelled shouts of warning to the other groups in the town. People began pouring out of the buildings.

  The figures around the town began to move faster. They were closing in rapidly and some of them were close to the road that led back to the safety of the radar station.

  “Let’s slow down a bit to let the other groups catch up with us,” Edward suggested. “In one big group we’ll be able to break through their line.

  The soldier agreed and they slowed their pace to a brisk walk.

  One of the THEM appeared on the road ahead. Then THEY began pouring in all around past the buildings in the town.

  There was no more time for waiting or they would all be lost. Four groups caught up with the one Edward and Anthony were in. Everyone was in a panic. They charged ahead.

  There were three of THEM blocking the road now. But where was the last group?

  Edward glanced back and saw how they were surrounded. They tried to break through, but there were too many of them.

  “Help!” a woman screamed in desperation.

  It was too late. There was nothing anyone could do to help them. The surviving groups managed to break through the blocked road and ran back towards the radar station. All the way THEY were in close pursuit. The survivors began dropping supplies they had gathered in the town as they were too heavy and slowed them down.

  The radar station came in sight, yet THEY were catching up. The distance narrowed. Would the survivors reach the radar station in time?

  They were almost there. Edward and Anthony ran through the door. The soldier jumped in and turned, ready to slam the door shut. When the last woman ran in THEY were only an arm’s length behind. The soldier tried to push the door shut. Too late! Arms reached in and prevented the door from closing.

  “Help me!” the soldier called.

  He put his shoulder against the door and pushed hard.

  More arms reached through the gap.

  The men inside hit the arms and tried to push them back out while other pushed against the door.

  Clang!

  At last it closed and they quickly locked and barred it.

  “Let’s go back down,” Edward said. “We’ve got enough batteries and torches now.”

  Anthony’s torch

  They got back down into the basement and securely closed the steel door.

  “Not good,” a soldier said when they had finished examining the supplies they had managed to get from the town. “That’s just enough food and drink to last us for one day, and we lost five of us.”

  The rest of that day and the following night everything was quiet.

  It was another eight days until the rescue fleet was due, though no one in the basement knew about it.

  9

  The next day was foggy.

  “I don’t like it, not one little bit,” a soldier said looking out of the window. “In this fog we’ll have even less warning.”

  “We’ve got nothing to eat and drink,” a woman said.

  “So let’s stay together in one big group today,” Edward suggested. “That way we can always break through their line even if we get surrounded.”

  The soldier looked at him. “Maybe,” he said. “It’s probably the best we can manage under the circumstances. And we’ll leave several to stand guard outside a building while the others go in.”

  “Perhaps we don’t need to go back into town,” Anthony said. “All those supplies we dropped on the road yesterday should be enough for us.”

  “That’s an interesting idea,” Frederic said.

  Yet much to their disappointment there was nothing left lying on the road. All the supplies they had dropped while fleeing on the previous day had been taken away.

  “Well,” a soldier said, “that settles it. We’re going back into town.”

  Fog whirled around Kerguelen

  That day everything was quiet. The fog was all around them and the birds and other animals kept quiet. The group of survivors crept into town as quietly as they could and gathered supplies. They kept close watch.

  “Looks like we’re lucky today,” Anthony whispered.

  “Let’s not count our chicks before they hatch,” Edward whispered. “We haven’t got back yet.

  In spite of Edward’s caution everything seemed to go well. They managed to get everything they wanted and turned to leave the town. On their way back everyone was in a jubilant mood. They had succeeded. Now they would be able to hold out in the radar station for a long time. The fog was still all around them and the road vanished into it.

  “Well, that was easy,” a woman said happily.

  They began chatting and even making some jokes. Everyone was relieved.

  Through the fog a dim, dark shape loomed ahead: the radar station.

  “We’ve made it!” Frederic said happily.

  They walked faster and talked loudly. There was no need anymore to hide their presence. The safety of the radar station was right ahead of them.

  Then they stopped in shock. There were figures standing in front of the radar station.

  The survivors were horrified.

  “THEY took over the radar station while we were in town,” a shocked soldier said.

  The survivors had no time to think. Suddenly figures appeared all around them in the fog. There was no way out.

  “Back into town!” someone shouted.

  They turned to run but found their way blocked by a strong group of THEM.

  Then there was panic.

  Everyone tried to run. There was nowhere to go. Screams filled the air.

  “Follow me!” the soldier near Edward shouted.

  The soldier, followed by Edward, Anthony and Frederic charged at the line of people surrounding them. He punched a man in his way. The man fell down and they broke through. The soldier was at the front, the boys in the middle and Frederic at the back. A hand reached out and grabbed Frederic’s leg. He fell.

  “Help!” he shouted.

  For a moment the soldier and the boys wanted to help him, but then several more of THEM pounced on poor Frederic. There was no way to help him. The soldier and the boys ran into the fog. For a few minutes they heard screams of terror through the fog.

  Then it was quiet.

  The soldier and the boys stopped running. They were out of breath and crouched on the ground.

  “I can’t see anything,” Edward whispered as he peered into the fog.

  “Do you think anyone else escaped?” Anthony whispered.

  “Hard to say,” the soldier said.

&
nbsp; “What’s your name?” Anthony asked.

  The soldier managed a brief smile. “Thierry. I think we’re safe for the moment. Let’s see what we’ve got.”

  They examined the contents of the rucksacks they had escaped with.

  “That’s enough for about three days,” Thierry said. “What we’ve got to do now is to find a place as far away as possible where we can find shelter. Kerguelen is quite big when you’re on foot.”

  “So if we get away far enough they won’t be able to find us?” Edward asked.

  Thierry shrugged his shoulders. “That’s the idea, yes. There’s not enough of THEM to search Kerguelen properly if we keep on the move. There’s only one thing…”

  He said nothing and peered into the fog.

  “You mean that strange man?” Anthony asked.

  Thierry nodded. “He’s obviously got some special powers. Can HE sense where we are? Who knows. If not then we should be all right, but if HE can direct the others towards us, then we’ve got a problem.”

  “Do you know any place where we can go?” Edward asked.

  “Maybe,” Thierry said. “I’ve been in Kerguelen before and I know my way round, but we’ll have to get a move on. It’s a long way to go to the nearest shelter I know and if we’re caught out in the open over night we’re likely to die of cold.”

  They took their things and set off towards the mountains. On their way Thierry stopped from time to time to gather a plant.

  “What’s that?” Edward asked.

  “It’s Kerguelen cabbage,” Thierry said. “It’s the only edible plant around here. If we gather enough we’ll be able to stretch our supplies by a day or two. I can’t say it’s delicious but it’ll keep us alive.”

  Kerguelen cabbage

  Two hours later they came out of the fog.

  Kerguelen covered in fog and clouds

  Their way took them through the mountains for several hours. It was nearly nightfall by the time they reached their destination, an old, abandoned hut.