by Maxey, Phil
He looked at Jess in the motorhome’s passenger’s seat. “What do you want to do?” She knew they had the time if it had been just another trip, but she wanted to arrive in Missouri with hours to spare. She gestured for the radio and he gave it to her.
“How long will it take us to get through it? Over.”
“Normally, ten minutes. There’s another small town just after. Usually five for that. We should be back on the highway in twenty… Over.”
Jess looked at the dark single-story warehouses and barns they were already passing. She clicked the ‘talk’ button again. “Let’s do it. Over.” Landon looked at her with a nod.
Steering around a long bend they immediately had to slow. Dark shapes of vehicles sat across the two-lane road. To the right, the motorhome’s headlights illuminated a green sign.
‘Shepards elementary school.’
The three-story building sat solemnly to their left as they slowly drove past. A silver sedan was perched on the base of a statue’s plinth, its fender crunched, its passenger’s door open.
They kept on going.
In the surrounding fields, distant rectangular shapes were dark against the sky, which was awash with heavy clumps of swirling snow. A smart looking farm house passed by.
“Hey, stop! There’s a light!” said Arlene, from somewhere in the back of the motorhome.
“Light? Where?” said Landon, easing down on the breaks.
“The house we just passed. There was a light in the upstairs window. It went off as soon as I saw it, but it was there.”
He looked to Jess. “Maybe we should stop? See who’s there?”
Jess looked at her watch then nodded. After letting those in the other vehicle know, they stopped, then backed up to the entrance to the small farmstead. A sign advertized logs and fresh eggs for sale, and farm equipment was parked alongside open barns.
Landon slid his window down and looked back at the house, which was almost lost to shadow and the wall of white flakes. “I can’t see anymore movement back…” A light sparkled in the window above the wrap around porch.
“Did you see it?”
“Yeah. I think someone’s trying to get our attention.” He looked back again to Daryl seated behind the small drop down table. “Stay here, I’ll go check it—”
A commotion came from Meg’s vehicle, shouting followed by a door being opened and closed. Landon’s radio came to life. “Owen’s conscious. Wants to know where Abby is…” said Meg.
Landon sighed just as a heavy knocking came on the side door. “Let him in,” he said to Daryl. Jess quickly got out of her seat and joined Josh and Sam on the padded seat opposite the table.
As soon as Daryl unlatched the door it flung open, a flurry of snow entering the confined space. Owen, with a bandage over the side of his head, his eyes sunken, angrily started to move up the steps, but grimaced and grabbed the frame for support. He leaned inside, looking left and right at the faces looking back at him. “Where is she! Where’s Abby!”
Meg’s voice came from Landon’s radio. “I’m going to see what’s up with the light in this house. Over.”
“Hold on. I’ll go with you. Over,” said Landon.
Owen awkwardly walked up the steps. “Where…” He grimaced in pain again. “Is she!” He looked for answers amongst those around him, but only Landon would meet his gaze.
“She’s dead…”
“What?”
“The things got her back in Rocky Pine,” said Jess. Owen’s head flicked back to her. He then fell backwards against the small wall to the driving cabin. “There was nothing we could do for her… I’m sorry.”
Landon pushed open the driver’s door. “I’m going to check out the house.” He then got out. The icy flakes stung his face, making him immediately pull his hood over his head. He looked out into the gloom and spotted Meg’s form moving through the open gate, towards the house, her shotgun barrel’s already leading the way to the front door. He scampered after her, stomping through the foot of snow, eventually catching up just as she arrived at the deck. Both pulled their hood’s down on stepping on the frozen wooden steps.
Meg reached for the handle then slowly turned it. The door opened and she let it swing back. They both listened best they could against the wind for any sign of life, but only silence inhabited the hallway. Framed pictures of an elderly couple wearing boots, holding shovels, smiling happily while surrounded by various farm animals looked back at Landon as he shone his flashlight across them. A creak made him flick it towards the stairs, some ten feet away.
Silently they stepped across the rugs, then hardwood boards, and shifted their expectations to the steps, raising the light to the top, where a young boy stood.
“Have you come to rescue me?”
“What’s your name?”
“Tye McKinley, sir.”
“You alone in this house?”
He nodded.
“Where’s your parents?” said Meg.
“They… are in the city. I was staying here with my grandparents, but… they left.”
“Left?” said Landon.
“They went outside… and never came back. That was this morning…”
Meg looked at Landon. “We could stock up on supplies here.”
He nodded then looked back to the boy. “I’m Landon, this is Meg. You got a bag to pack some things in? Clothes and stuff?” He nodded. “Good, get packing. Yes, we’re here to rescue you.”
*****
8: 48 p.m. Outskirts of Walland.
Jess looked at her watch. She couldn’t believe that an hour had passed since she last looked at it. It felt like a few minutes. It didn’t help that there was nothing to see outside, due to the increasing blanket of white flakes amongst the absolute dark. The world’s mood which started with an angry storm in Denver had become a resigned whiteout. Her map told her they were passing through the town of Walland, but beyond the hardworking windshield wipers the motorhome’s headlights provided no confirmation.
The cold will keep the monsters away…
There was no certainty in the thought, just hope that the darkness inches from their windows contained nothing of danger.
Their engine pitch increased as the wheels fought for grip, and Landon steered left and right to correct the lateral movement that kept threatening to take over. He looked at the fuel gauge. The needle had fallen from orange into red. “We should look for a gas station,” he said to Jess. “Or at least syphon some fuel from parked vehicles.” She nodded and he passed the idea to Meg on the radio.
At the outer edges of the cones of light from the two vehicles, sidewalks slid by with the occasional glimpse of a partially snow submerged advertising boarding, mentioning rooms to rent or ten percent off the lunch buffet.
“Should be gas stations around here,” she said. “We’re on the main route through the—”
Landon slammed on the brakes, causing the back of the vehicle to move out while sliding towards the fallen traffic light poles that stretched across their path. They slid to a stop, gently bumping up against the metal constructions which creaked and clanged on contact. He looked to his wife then the others behind. “Everyone alright?”
The kids, Arlene and Daryl nodded they were. Owen had decided to stay in Meg’s pickup.
He went to click on his radio when the sound of the other vehicle came from his left, pulling up alongside.
“You all okay in there? Over,” said Meg. She was just visible leaning across Grace in the passenger’s seat.
He nodded to her then held his radio to his mouth. “We’re low on fuel. There should be a gas station on one of these corners. Can you see any? Over.” He saw her leaning forward to better see through the ice built up on her windshield.
“Looks like something to the left. I’ll drive there. Over.”
Landon looked to his wife. “How we doing on time?”
She forced a smile. “Fine.” It was a truth that felt wrong. She wanted to be in Missouri alre
ady, or at least on the highway moving away from the blizzard. She looked outside to the torrent of falling snow. “Be happier when we’re moving again.”
Meg’s voice came from his speaker. “Gas station over here. Just drive to your left. Over.”
“Copy that. On our way.” He revved the engine, putting it in reverse then eased down on the gas. The large vehicle started to move then abruptly stopped. “Damn it.” He tried again, pushing further on the gas, but despite the chugging engine, they remained firmly where they were. “Shit.” He held his radio back to his mouth. “Got a problem. We’re stuck. Over.”
“I’ll head back over and pull—” A gunshot came from behind her voice, along with a shout.
Everyone in the motorhome strained to see through the snow. The two streams of light from Meg’s pickup flickered.
Landon pushed open his door, glancing behind. “Daryl!” The younger man sprang up, grabbing his shotgun and pushed the side door open. Landon jumped out, his boots disappearing into snow up to his ankles, as another shot rang out from the direction of the first. He staggered forward with Daryl, stomping through the snow, both men trying not to slide. Another boom heralded a flash of light in the gloom ahead of them. “What’s happening!” he shouted into his radio.
“We got company!” said Meg. “Owen’s trapped in the gas station store!”
Landon and Daryl ran to the back of the pickup then to the driver’s door which was already partially open. “Where is it?” said Landon to Meg, who was leaning her semi-auto rifle on the frame.
She gestured to the triangular shape of a roof of a nearby building, just visible through the gloom. “Grace spotted it up there. We shot at it, but it dropped down the back.”
Daryl looked towards the store. “Why hasn’t he come out?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he saw it too.”
Landon looked at Daryl. “Stay here and cover me,” then at Meg. “Hit the horn if you see it again.” She nodded and he ran forward, weaving around the right side of a gas pump and made it to the glass front entrance of the store, just as the headlights on the pickup behind him dimmed, plunging the interior into darkness.
He pushed it open, feeling into the void with his free hand. “Owen! We need to go!”
There was a clink of glass then a sigh. “I ain’t going…”
“Owen!” said Landon with his best loud whisper, while turning around to scan the wall of darkness at the edge of the lot for any sign of movement.
“What’s the point… She’s gone, and I’m banged up real—”
The pickup’s horn blasted through the silence and then Landon saw the reason. A thing flittered across the back of the snow-covered forecourt, careening into an ice machine. Its legs were multiple, and looked catlike, but its top half lacked any real definition being a mass of tissue buried beneath ice and snow.
Daryl and Meg shot at it and in an instant it was gone, back into the shadows.
Landon moved quickly into the store letting the door close, the sound of the wind being extinguished. He flicked his flashlight on and moved between the aisles, finally finding Owen on the floor, open beer bottle in his hand, back up against the refrigerator door.
“I get you’re going through shit, and I’m sorry about Abby. She seemed a good person.”
“She was all I had…”
“She wouldn’t want you to die out here!”
Owen took another swig then looked up, squinting against the light. “Look around! It’s over!”
“Five more days! We can get through that!”
“You got people. So maybe you will, but I think I’m just going to—”
A horn rang out again, but this one was different. This one Landon was sure belonged to the motorhome.
“Hey, sounds like you got to go.” Owen gave a dismissive salute. “It’s been real good knowing ya.”
Landon’s thoughts of dragging him outside was interrupted by the same horn again, this time accompanied with gunshots. He shook his head as he ran back to the front, skidding to a stop.
The creature was mere yards away from the front door. Its back to him, or at least what he thought was its back. Some of the snow had fallen off, revealing brown rippling muscles conjoined with what looked like features of human faces. Eyes, mouths… parts discarded. What little food was inside Landon wanted to leave his stomach. He fumbled for the switch on his flashlight, switching it off and slid it into his pocket, then slowly raised his rifle until he was looking through the scope at it. A level of detail he could have done without. His finger started to squeeze the trigger, but stopped short of going all the way.
Rifle not going to kill that thing…
If he fired, all it would do would alert it to his presence. He started to back up slowly…
A door closed at the back of the store. The creature spun around, revealing a gaping hole rimmed with teeth and a multitude of black pits for eyes above it. Landon hesitated, not knowing to fire or not.
It can’t see me… too dark in here.
The motorhome’s horn echoed out again as gunfire rang out, this time more sustained. The thing turned its head slowly, when suddenly something caught its attention, its head jolting to the side, around the corner to Landon’s left.
“Hey… ugly monster thing. Over here!” shouted Owen.
No… Landon knew what Owen was doing. Trying to pull the thing away, so he could get out.
“Hey!” Owen shouted again.
The creature surged through the snow, just as headlights blinded Landon’s view out of the window. He flung the door open to see the pickup suddenly turn and skid, sliding then smashing up against the side wall of the store, trapping the creature against it. It squirmed and screeched, its claws flailing at the vehicle’s metal body, which was already being shunted away.
Meg jumped out and fired point blank at the thing, as did Daryl, the creature turning its ire on them as it scrambled to get free.
Landon ran forward, switching his view from the monstrous fury inching its way out, to the intersection and the orange glow of the motorhome’s headlights just visible in the falling snow. Even in the swirl of ice particles he could see things, dark shapes moving closer to it in the distance.
They’re coming.
He glanced back to those desperately trying to kill the thing creeping out from behind the pickup. “Leave it! Come on!”
Jess and Arlene were outside the motorhome, the young girl waving a shotgun at the darkness while Jess was kneeled, examining the back wheels. Landon slid to stop by her side, immediately seeing the issue. A cable was jammed up in the wheel arch.
His wife looked up at him. “It’s stuck! I can’t get it out!”
He bent over, grabbing the metal twined cable, and pulled but it remained fastened. He flicked his flashlight on to get a better look. “I need you to—” A cacophony of groans, some almost human sounding, played out in the surrounding darkness. Through the gloom Daryl, Meg, Grace and Owen appeared, each carrying multiple backpacks.
Landon looked at his wife. “Drive it forward a few inches.” She ran back to the driver’s seat, while the unnatural sounds intensified. The small group raised their weapons, trying to see through the sheets of snow.
The Motorhome eased forward and stopped.
“There!” shouted Grace, her own rifle flicking towards their left, where a small wall was just visible beyond the sidewalk. “Something’s—”
A mass of ice encrusted clawed limbs thrust forward out of the darkness. Everyone fired immediately, hot projectiles slamming into the thing’s body, which stumbled then collapsed, but kept on crawling towards them through the snow.
“Got it!” shouted Landon, the cable slipping down the front of the tire. “Everyone get—”
Something charged forward, humanoid in shape but with multiple arms. Everyone jumped to the side as it crashed into the front of the motorhome. All fire converged on the thing which turned angrily, just as parts of it disintegrated under the barra
ge raged against it. It dropped into the snow, its arms immediately trying to pull it back upright.
“Get in!” shouted Landon again. This time everyone scrambled up the steps, he being the last. “Go!” he shouted to Jess.
She hit the gas pedal, the motorhome spurting backwards, making everyone lose their grip on whatever they were holding onto, including Landon. He watched the creature from the open side door, try to crab the fender, but missed, and then other dark shapes rushing at them through the deluge of falling snow.
Jess put the vehicle in drive and it surged forward.
Landon fired at the dark angry forms, as was someone else behind him, through the side window. He wasn’t able to tell if he was hitting the thing’s or not and by time his finger produced a dull click from his weapon the things had returned to the gloom and they were leaving the town.
CHAPTER THREE
9: 21 p.m. Base of the Rocky Mountains.
Norman Colm staggered forward through the two-feet of snow, which oddly hardly slowed his progress. His journey started hours before with one goal in mind. Find those that had destroyed what was his. The town of Rocky Pine. It was a singular thought which provided more than enough fuel as he traipsed across parking lots, and up snow-covered roads, then lanes and tracks. Always moving towards the orange glow which clung to the side of the mountain, and lit the clouds above.
Keller’s home… Ruiners…
The young guy had told him their captor had bought a place in the hills. But beyond that he had no idea where it was, but then he saw the light. The only light. A luminance surrounded by a void. It was a sign. One which he wasn’t going to ignore, so he started walking towards it.
And now he was close. Close to his revenge. He wasn’t sure what he would do after the woman and her offspring were dead. Made them pay. The world had changed and he with it. For now their demise would suffice.
He moved through the open gate, keeping his eyes fixed on the crimson embers still alive amongst the blackened collapsed timbers. To him though everything appeared as a green hue of various brightness.