The Snow and The Darkness

by Matthew Warren Wilson

knobby arms just inches from the back of his head.

  Jason turned his head to the side, desperately trying to see what the creature was doing. He was terrified. He hardly noticed Cliff tying his ankles together, then tying them to his wrists. All his attention was focused on the thing. It hadn’t touched him yet, but he could feel those claws moving around just below the base of his skull. He shuddered involuntarily.

  He felt something wet spatter his right ear. It ran down the back of his neck before freezing there.

  “I think Colonel Cuddles likes ya,” Cliff said. He guffawed at that, loud and boisterous, as if he was having the time of his life.

  “Hurry the fuck up,” Rodney said, not amused. “And don’t call him Colonel Cuddles. What are you, retarded?”

  “He likes it,” Cliff said. “Don’t ya, boy?”

  The creature snorted and looked up at Cliff. “Cuddas,” it said.

  “Good boy.” Cliff reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out another one of the treats. This time, with his face in the snow, looking up at Cliff from the corner of his eye, Jason was able to see what the treats really were. He thought he would be sick again, right there, but he held it in.

  What Cliff was holding was a finger. And Jason knew exactly whose finger it was.

  Cliff threw it to the beast, who again caught it in one of its clawed hands and popped it immediately into its snout, its teeth churning and spinning. As Jason tried to hold back his revulsion he was able to wonder at how it was even possible for those teeth to spin like that. It seemed like the whole snout should just twist off like the cap on a bottle of beer.

  Cliff bent down and grabbed Jason under both arms, hauling him up in the air. With his ankles tied to his wrists, Jason couldn’t stand on his own. The tailgate of the pickup was down, and Cliff heaved Jason into the bed of the truck. A few seconds later he shoved Valerie in, too. She was tied up in the same way. And then Frank, also tied but still unconscious, was shoved in with them.

  “All right folks!” Cliff said. “We’re off to more hospitable parts than these.” He moved to the passenger door and swung it open. He whistled sharply, once, and the little white beast glided up next to him and struggled its way up onto the running board and then into the cab. Jason didn’t have a good view of it from his position in the truck bed, but he could see it wasn’t easy for the creature to climb. He filed this away in his mind for future use, if there was ever a chance to use it. At least he knew if he climbed a tree he’d probably be safe from the thing.

  Valerie was shivering beside him. He was shivering himself once he thought about it. With the way she was tied up it looked like Valerie might be having a seizure.

  “It’s gonna be okay,” Jason said, even though he knew he was lying. “We’re gonna get out of this.”

  Valerie didn’t respond. Her eyes didn’t even focus on him. She stared blankly at the back window of the truck cab as her whole body shook with the cold.

  “C’mon, baby, say something. Help me out here.”

  She was silent, staring.

  The truck engine fired to life and they were suddenly moving.

  Lying in the bed of the truck blocked most of the wind, but the temperature was still well below freezing and the three of them were jostled around as the truck made its way through the snow-covered roads. Hog-tied as they were, there was no way to stop themselves from hitting their heads against the bed walls and wheel wells. After only a few minutes, Frank started to come to, moaning painfully. Valerie remained completely silent, even when her head hit the side of the truck bed hard enough for Jason to hear the crack.

  Jason tried to count the number of turns the truck made, just in case they had the opportunity to run. There weren’t many. After two rights and a left, they rumbled to a stop. Jason’s view was still the same: trees covered with snow and darkness beyond. Although the fear and the adrenaline coursing through Jason’s body, mixed with the bitter cold, had made time slow down, the whole trip had only taken maybe ten minutes. Probably more like five.

  Jason’s entire body was numb. He assumed if he lived through the night he would at least lose a few fingers to frostbite. Frank, of course, had already lost a few fingers to a different kind of bite. He was moaning louder now, but Jason couldn’t tell if he was actually lucid or not.

  The passenger door of the truck opened with a creak and then Jason heard Cliff saying, “C’mon Colonel, let’s go.” The man treated the monster like it was a dog.

  A few seconds later and Cliff was grinning at them over the tailgate. “We’re heee-aaahh,” he said in a sing-song voice. “Didja enjoy the ride?” He laughed heartily.

  “Goddammit Cliff,” Rodney said, sidling along the driver’s side of the truck, “do you ever stop? Oughta tell Mama and have her slap ya upside yer fool head.”

  “Only cuz yer ‘fraid to slap me yerself.”

  Rodney didn’t reply.

  Jason couldn’t see the bulbous creature, but he knew it was there, somewhere. Probably right beside Cliff’s leg. He had a moment to think about the fact that sustained fear could make a person as numb as the cold. With both of them combined, Jason couldn’t feel any part of his body.

  Cliff opened the tailgate and grabbed the cord tying Frank’s hands to his ankles. He pulled Frank along the bed of the truck. Frank grunted and made some semblance of a scream, but it still sounded like gurgling. When Frank had been pulled clear of the tailgate, Rodney moved in and did the same to Valerie. She didn’t make a sound. It seemed impossible that these men—brothers, apparently—could lift Frank and Valerie with such ease. Well, Valerie, okay. But Frank had to weigh at least 200 pounds and probably a bit more. Cliff didn’t even struggle. He acted like Frank weighed no more than a sack of sugar. Jason thought about what he’d seen in the woods earlier; Frank shoving Cliff to the ground, then beating on him. But from the look of things, Cliff had been acting. If he was strong enough to carry Frank like that, he also could’ve resisted the attack. Rodney was right; he really was just playing games.

  “Let’s get this over with,” Rodney said. He carried Valerie toward the front of the truck, out of Jason’s line of sight.

  Before Cliff followed, he leaned over the side of the bed. “Don’t go runnin’ away on us now,” he said. His laughter trailed off as he moved away.

  Jason sat motionless for a few seconds, pondering the complete lack of feeling in all his extremities. Then he began struggling with his bonds. If he was too numb to feel anything then he shouldn’t be able to feel the cord cutting into his wrists as he squirmed, but he still could. There was no slack in the knots. It only took a moment for Jason to realize there was no way he was going to get himself free of the cord. Instead, he began trying to inch his way along the truck bed to the tailgate, laying on his side, pushing with his toes, his only leverage in his ankles. He had no idea how long it would be before Cliff and Rodney came back, but if he could somehow get himself out of the truck and hidden, he would have more time to work on the knots. It was a weak option, probably futile, but he had to try something.

  He could only imagine what they were doing to Valerie and Frank. After what they’d already done, and after what he’d seen, the things Jason conjured in his head were too grotesque and dismal for him to allow them to fully form in his mind. He just kept pushing with his feet, bending at the ankles, scrabbling his way to the tailgate a few centimeters at a time. It was a goal, at least, something to keep his brain occupied for the time being. If he stopped he would see horrible things; he would panic, scream, cry, and that would be the end.

  He would save his little brother. He would save his girlfriend. He had to.

  With each passing second, Jason expected to hear Cliff’s guttural laugh or to see Rodney’s bulk emerge from around the front of the truck. With each second those things didn’t happen, Jason silently thanked a god he hadn’t spoken to in years.

  And then he was there. At the tailgate. Right there. He just had to push himself out far enough to
fall to the ground. He might hurt himself; he might crack his head wide open. But that was a risk he would have to take. Besides, he thought the snow would cushion his fall.

  He continued pushing with his toes. His head was over the edge. Now his shoulders. If he could just leverage himself correctly he would topple.

  And then he saw the creature.

  It was off to his right, not more than ten feet away, and it was watching him. At least, he thought it was watching him. With the way those black eyes bulged out it wasn’t really possible to tell what the thing was looking at.

  Jason stopped moving, the top half of his body protruding over the edge of the tailgate. If he fell to the ground now, that creature would be on him in a second. Cliff had called it Colonel Cuddles, but Jason couldn’t see a single thing about it that qualified as cuddly.

  Jason’s suspicions were affirmed when the creature began moving toward him. It glided up to the rear of the truck and stopped directly under him. He saw the veins lightly pulsing underneath its white skin. It cocked its head to the side, staring at him, like a dog might do. A quizzical expression. As if Jason was the one that looked strange. It raised one of those bony white arms and extended it, the razor sharp claw coming dangerously close to Jason’s face. He held his breath.

  “Food?” it said.

  Jason didn’t know if it was asking him