The Snow and The Darkness

by Matthew Warren Wilson

wall. He ran out into the snow, barely registering the two white creatures waiting for him, their globular black eyes curious.

  He’d already taken three or four running steps beyond them before he heard one of them say, “Kiff?” A horrible sinking sensation filled the pit of his stomach. He had failed these creatures; he’d broken his promise and failed to protect them. Cliff would know they’d helped him, and they would be punished. Maybe they would be killed.

  He slowed, glancing over his shoulder. Both of the creatures were directly behind him, moving with a fluid ease of motion in the snow. They didn’t seem to exert any effort to keep up with him. He had intended to tell them to follow him, but they were already doing that. He made the decision, right then and there, that if he lived through the night and managed to escape, he would take these creatures with him.

  He faced forward again and sprinted the last twenty-five yards to the barn. Ghastly visions flashed through his mind as he approached the door, visions of Valerie chopped up and dissected, but when he finally crossed the threshold, into the stifling heat, he saw she was just as he’d left her. He rushed to the pedestal she stood on and began to fidget with the cords that bound her wrists. He made a silent prayer that she would be able to move quickly on her own once she’d been freed.

  She was still humming Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Had her mind completely snapped? Or was that song, repeated over and over in her head, the only thing keeping her mind from snapping? Jason didn’t know, but he was having no effect on the knots in the cord. He looked to his left and saw both of the creatures waddling toward the stalls at the far end of the barn. They appeared to be hurrying, but they were so much slower and clumsier than they were in the snow.

  “Cuddles!” Jason shouted. “Help me!”

  Colonel Cuddles stopped and turned. Jason wondered if he had learned that behavior from the humans he’d grown up with; surely those eyes of his could see in all directions and he had no reason to turn around. The other creature stopped, too, but Cuddles motioned him on with one arm, accompanied by a few mewling sounds, and the smaller beast resumed waddling in the direction of the stalls.

  Jason imagined he could see a sad expression on what passed for Cuddles’ face. He remembered earlier, when he’d first seen the monster, thinking there was nothing but pure evil behind that horrible visage. Now he was attributing complex emotions to the thing.

  After a few seconds of silence, Cuddles said, “Kiff.” It was the same word, the same one syllable, that he’d been saying all night, but it still got the point across. I helped you once, and you promised something in return. I can’t help you again. He slowly turned around and moved away, finally disappearing into the same stall where they’d stashed Frank and Lucy’s bodies.

  “Goddammit!” Jason shouted, and returned his attention to the knots. “Valerie? Baby?” he said. “I’m gonna get you loose here in a minute, and you have to be ready to run, okay? Okay?”

  Her only answer was her continued humming.

  “I’m serious, Val, we’re gonna have to tear out of here as fast as we can. We can do it. You can do it.”

  The knots were too tight. His attempts to untie them were wholly ineffectual. He needed a knife. Or a claw. “Goddammit,” he said again. He could feel tears of frustration beginning to well up in his eyes and he willfully forced himself to swallow. He blinked back the tears.

  What were his options? He could try to find a knife, or any other sharp instrument, somewhere in the barn. But that would leave Valerie alone and vulnerable again, and he had no idea when Cliff would show up. Would Cliff assume Jason had simply run away? Would he even check the barn right away? Maybe Jason had more time than he realized. But he was afraid to risk it. He could find a weapon—the shovel Lucy had used to brain Rodney still laid on the blood-soaked straw nearby—and hide in waiting, ready to pounce on Cliff the instant he appeared. But that’s essentially what he’d done upstairs in the house and it hadn’t worked out in his favor. Cliff could just as easily disarm him a second time.

  Jason knew he didn’t have the time to sit and contemplate. How long had he been in the barn already? At least a few minutes, perhaps as many as ten. Even if Cliff thought Jason had gone somewhere else, he would get to the barn eventually, probably sooner than later. Jason decided to combine his two options; he left Valerie’s pedestal and scooped up the shovel, then hurried to the rear of the barn to begin his search for anything sharp.

  There were a total of five stalls, all with wooden doors that stopped a few inches above the ground. Jason knew the one closest to the back wall was where Cuddles and the other beast were, but there was nothing to indicate that any of the other four were better than the next. So he stepped up to the first one and pushed open the wooden door.

  It was dim inside, hardly enough light to see, but after only a few seconds Jason realized there was nothing in the stall but hay. He suddenly remembered that Lucy had discovered the same thing; but she’d found the shovel in the second stall.

  Jason quickly moved to the next stall, pushed the door open, and stepped inside. This stall, too, had a covering of hay on the floor, but the walls were lined with pegboard. Hanging from the pegs was an assortment of common tools. As Jason surveyed his options he wondered why Lucy had picked the shovel. Perhaps it was simply the closest thing, the first item she saw. But Jason saw a crosscut saw resting on two pegs, just to his right. He snatched it off the wall. He bent the blade back and forth, carefully, testing its rigidity. This would definitely cut through Valerie’s bonds.

  It would also serve as a handy weapon.

  Jason turned around, prepared to run back through the barn and cut Valerie free, but he stopped before he’d taken the first step. He heard Cliff. The man was bellowing. Jason could tell he was still outside, and for a second he thought he might still have a chance to get Valerie out of there, but when Cliff’s shouting became exponentially louder, Jason knew the man was inside the barn.

  But something wasn’t right. Cliff was clearly angry, but he was also agitated in a manner much different from anything Jason had seen before. He didn’t stop shouting, but there was nothing coherent coming from his mouth; he was just making sounds.

  Jason peered hesitantly around the edge of the stall door. When he saw Cliff’s back was turned to him, he looked out a little further.

  Cliff had moved directly in front of Valerie. His wordless shouting had quieted a little and he seemed to be assessing Valerie like one might assess a racehorse he intended to purchase.

  Jason realized he was now in the exact same position Lucy had found herself in just a few short hours ago. If Lucy had the balls to go out there and attack Rodney, then Jason had no excuse not to do the same thing to Cliff. He felt the weight of the saw in his hand and felt a small glimmer of hope.

  Cliff still carried the axe, but it was hanging from one hand, the blade almost touching the ground. It didn’t seem like he was about to use it on Valerie, but Jason knew he would need to act fast anyway.

  Jason crept slowly from the stall; once he’d cleared its door there was no cover at all, so now he needed to just move quickly and get it over with.

  Cliff was talking to Valerie. “Yer man done left ya hee-ah,” he said. “What do ya think of that? Ain’t really a man at all, izzy?”

  As Jason got closer he could see Cliff was twitching every few seconds. His left shoulder seemed to be having miniature spasms, and he kept tilting his head minutely to the left.

  “But since ya ain’t got no man no more,” Cliff continued, “and since I ain’t got no mama to tell me otherwise, I figure I might as well just go ahead and do what I want with ya.” He paused. “I can see that song,” he said. “I can see that fuckin’ song.”

  To Jason’s horror, he saw Cliff was rubbing his crotch with his left hand.

  “Gonna have a real good…” he trailed off. After a few seconds he shouted, “Stop hummin’ that fuckin’ song!”

  The sudden outburst startled Jason, and he jumped
. He couldn’t help it. Luckily, Cliff was too transfixed on Valerie to notice. Jason continued to move toward him, desperately trying not to make any sound. He carried the saw in front of him, blade out, like a talisman.

  Cliff reached out with his large hand and squeezed Valerie’s breast. As he did, Jason was sure the volume of her humming increased.

  “Oh yeah,” Cliff said, “that’s nice.” He paused and leaned closer to her. “What is that?” he asked, his voice void of the menace Jason had grown accustomed to and instead was full of child-like wonder. “What the fuck is that?”

  Jason didn’t know what he might have seen on Valerie, and he didn’t care. He was very close now, only fifteen yards away.

  “Are ya…” Cliff started. “Are ya…” He didn’t seem capable of finishing the sentence. Then, “No, let’s just do this. Stop hummin’!”

  Cliff stepped back, releasing Valerie’s breast, and began to unbuckle his belt. He pulled it free of the belt loops and dropped it to the ground beside him. Then he unzipped his fly and pulled his jeans and underwear down in a single motion. Jason was confronted with his pasty, white ass below the hem of his stained t-shirt.

  Jason was only five or six steps away. And he was not about to let Cliff do anything more to Valerie. He prepared to charge, but stopped short when Cliff