by Phil Maxey
Out here amongst the mist, trees and ice, his mind felt somewhat at peace and the drumming had dulled. When they left Camp Bravo he had felt optimistic about what lay ahead. Even knowing the world he knew before his incarnation had gone, and that creatures from the darkest of imaginations had lay waste to the cities and its peoples, he felt a sense of freedom that went beyond just being free of his cell.
He checked through his backpack at what little supplies he had, and took out his water bottle. Leaning forward he filled it with ice-cold water, taking a sip, then placed it back in his pack. Looking up he figured if he kept heading to the right of the sun he would be going in a roughly westerly direction, and hopefully that would take him past the mountain to any nearby towns. He didn’t rate his chances very high of surviving the forest, but he also knew there was no going back.
*****
As Brandon and Zach pulled up in front of the large two-story building, a few men were waiting outside. Zach went to get out, when Brandon stopped him.
“Best you stay here. I’ll be back out as soon as I can.”
Zach watched him walk up to the men, who angrily waved in Zach’s direction. He put his hand on one of the men’s shoulders, and pushed him towards the door of the building. Standing in the doorway was a dark-haired woman in her forties, with her arms wrapped around herself. The man that was angry seconds before walked up to her and hugged her, they all then disappeared inside.
Zach had learned from Brandon that one of Zach’s group had attacked one of their men who was on patrol. A young guy by the name of Jason, and that he was in a bad way. Fiona had also informed him that Cal was missing.
Zach clicked on his radio. “Fiona, you there. Over.”
“I’m here, what’s the situation with the young guy. Over.”
“No idea, but from the reaction of those here, not good. Over.”
“I can’t believe Cal would do that.”
Zach went to say something then stopped. His mind went back to the conversation he had with Morgan in the fire station a few days before. Should have listened.
Before Zach’s mind returned to where he was, Fiona continued talking. “I’m going out after him. Michael’s coming too. Over.”
“Fiona, I know you and Cal are close, but if he’s out there, there’s a good chance he’s never coming back. And even if we found him, how do you think the people in this town would treat him? Who knows how they deal with people who attack their own,” no sound came from the radio. “You there? Over.”
“Me and Michael are going, it’s up to you if you want to come or not.”
Zach swore under his breath. “Fine, I’ll return to the Inn, pick up some stuff then we will head out. Over.”
Fiona acknowledged his request, then he got out of the pickup, and started running back down the hill and towards the inn. He soon got to the first gate, which was manned by two men, one with a beard who was overweight, and another skinnier older guy.
“I need to pass through,” said Zach to the man with the beard, who stood in front of the gate as he saw Zach approaching.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Zach walked closer to the man. “I don’t care what you think is a good idea, I need to get to the Inn.”
The bearded man looked anxiously to his friend, and then fumbled in his pocket, pulling out his radio and clicking it on.
“Brandon, you there? Over.” Brandon’s voice came through just loud enough to be recognized but not understood by Zach. “He’s here at the gate, wants to get through to the Inn.” More garbled talk came through the radio’s speaker. “You sure? Over.” After a sigh, the bearded man, told the other they need to open the gate, and Zach passed through, running uneasily over snow covered rocks and back down to the parking area of the Inn. Fiona and Michael were already standing in the entrance, both wrapped in winter clothing with backpacks on their backs. Abbey was also there wearing similar attire.
Zach ran up to her first. “No, three of us are enough to find him, Abbey.”
“He’s one of us, Zach.”
“I know, but I need you back here, to try and keep everything from getting worse than it already is. If there’s anyone that can keep the townsfolk here from losing their heads, it’s you.”
Her expression turned angry. “You keep shutting me out, like you forget I was stuck in that hellhole for years too, I need to do this.”
He knew he had no choice but to agree.
“Wait. Three? I’m coming as well, Cal’s my friend,” said Michael trying to suppress his anger.
Zach turned to him. “Michael, I need people here that I can trust. If it goes wrong with the kid that Cal took down, you and Bass will need to take care of whoever they throw out of this place.”
Michael shook his head, but remained silent. Zach then ran inside, Bass was at the bottom of the stairs.
“You going after him? You sure that’s a good idea?” said Bass.
Zach stopped and sighed before talking. “We have to try. I’ll need you to keep a lid on any hotheads in our group, and try and keep things calm with the town’s people, especially if it doesn’t go well for the young guy. Offer them more of our supplies, whatever it takes.”
Bass nodded.
“There’s still a good six hours of sunlight left, and I’ll try and bring us all back before dark. But if we’re not back by this time tomorrow, we’re not coming back. Then it’s going to be up to you, to decide what happens next,” Zach went to walk away when he stopped. “If the worse happens… well, Austin’s a long way, this place isn’t too bad.”
Zach ran up to the room, grabbed his backpack, helmet and gun, then ran back down to the lobby. Fiona, Abbey and Michael were still at the entrance, but now they were joined by Brandon and some other men.
“How’s Jason?” said Zach tentatively.
Brandon went to reply, when the angry man that Zach saw at the medical center, spoke first. “He might be brain damaged, and it’s because of one of your men!” the man stepped forward when he was shouting, causing Brandon to turn and put his hand on his chest, stopping him from moving any further. He then turned back to Zach.
“He had swelling on his brain from the blow your man gave him. The only reason all of you are still here is because your Dr. Tanner, operated, and gave him a chance of life. I’m going to let all of you stay here until we know how it’s going to go with young Jason. If he survives, then we can have a conversation about what happens next. If he doesn’t, well, we will cross that bridge if we come to it. I understand that you and some of your people want to go out after this crazy SOB?”
Zach could feel Fiona’s reaction to Brandon’s words and he spoke before she got the chance too. “Yes.”
“You do realize, even if you do find him, and don’t die trying, he won’t be able to stay here, right?”
“We know.”
“Well okay then.” Brandon and those with him, stepped back, clearing a path. Zach, Fiona and Abbey walked past them, and down to the outside gate that was already slightly open. As they walked through the small gap, the large wooden partition slowly closed behind them with a loud thud. The snow had stopped falling, and the forest around them sat in silent judgment.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The pain in Cal’s limbs was so intense, that it was all he could do not to cry out, but to do so would mean certain death. As he sat mostly buried in snow, watching the ten-foot high bipedal creature walk past him, he wasn’t sure if his hands and feet would ever be of any use to him again. When he first saw the large ape like thing, which had a combination of straggly dark-brown hair and lizard like scales a few hundred yards ahead of him, he was sure he had been spotted by it. Quickly, he jumped into a small recess and covered himself with snow and hoped the creature’s senses would be confused by the complete lack of body heat, coming from the strange disturbance in the ground.
As he watched the impressive beast traipse across the snow and out of eyesight, he went to move his
arms and legs but nothing happened. For a moment all he could feel was his head on his neck and nothing else, like his limbs had been removed and he was sitting in an icy grave. This is my punishment.
Again he struggled and slowly the snow started to move around him and a tingling sensation pulsed along his limbs. He pushed with his legs, and wriggled and finally fell onto the ground, looking up to the canopy of pine trees and a single whiteness that formed the sky above. The snow had been pretty relentless, but for now it had stopped. His eyesight was always a step above most peoples, but the snow and mist around him rendered that useless, so he kneeled and listened. No sound came back. The misty sun was now beyond its zenith, so he knew he hadn’t much time left to reach some kind of structure to give him protection from whatever emerged in these woods at night. He also knew from looking at the maps they had before that heading north meant moving up the mountain, and even though there would probably be less E.L.F’s up there, surviving in those conditions would be hard even before the Cascade, so south it was.
After thirty minutes he spotted a road and walked down onto it. Even covered in fresh snow, its flatness felt like a carpet compared to the uneven bumps of the forest floor. He kept to the edge of the road, to be able to jump back into the forest if needed. He wasn’t sure if the young man would live, and if the town’s people decided to go after him, Zach and Fiona probably wouldn’t be in a position to stop them. Being a sniper he was trained in covering his tracks, but with the ground being so impressionable, he wasn’t sure if he had succeeded.
Eventually as the sun grew dangerously close to ducking below one of the nearby peaks, a two-story wooden house appeared through the gloom, close to a gas station. His legs were tired, but thankfully the static in his head had stopped and he approached it thankfully. A sign stated that this was a ski camp. Further along he could see what remained of the gas station. The canopy that once covered the pumps was now sitting on the ground covered in snow and the pumps themselves tilted at angles. Ignoring them, he looked up at the darkness behind the mostly broken glass of the windows of the house and ran across the snow and onto the front porch. Even with the padding of the white encrusted ice under his feet the planks further down creaked as he tentatively walked forward and icicles fell from the beams above.
The front door lay open, with snow heaped up against it and into the lobby. A staircase to the second floor sat opposite, with the entrance and rooms which would have once been welcoming, split off on both sides. Cal could see further rooms down the side of the staircase, but for now, just finding a way to close the front door seemed a good course of action. He carefully dropped his backpack on the frosted rug and kicked away at the small heap of snow stopping the door from closing. After each stab with his boot he stopped and listened for a reaction in the darkness inside, but none came. Soon the door was swinging, and he pushed it shut, as he did he noticed it had begun to snow again.
From the outside it looked like a large house, with many rooms, but as he stood in what was left of the day’s light, the shadows made the walls feel closer. Reaching into his backpack he pulled out a candle and lit it. He hadn’t realized how cold it was inside, but the light from the candle illuminated his breath, drifting away from his face.
He waved the candle towards each of the side rooms. A few chairs lay on the ground on their sides, but apart from that it looked fairly untouched. He stepped forward and looked down the side of the stairs to what lay beyond. The minimal light provided by the flame exposed a door with a small circular frosted window and a sign “Kitchen.” Slowly he walked along the passage and gently pressed the door to the kitchen open. It creaked slightly, and then hit something causing it to roll across the smooth stone floor. Again, he waited for a reaction, but nothing responded. Pushing the door further open, he walked into a good-sized rectangular kitchen, which was bathed in a dull blue light. The back of the lodge must have been built partially against a slope and the kitchen window was completely blocked by a wall of snow. Pots and pans law strewn across the floor and many of the wooden cupboards were open. He didn’t have much hope of finding any food, but he looked anyway. After a few moments of searching he found a half empty packet of noodles and a small can of olives. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do with the noodles, but he quickly opened the olives and gratefully devoured them.
After placing the can on the kitchen top, he instinctively turned the stoves nob, and to his amazement, a flame emitted from one of the rings. Almost in a panic he quickly turned it off, and looked around him for sign of movement. When he was sure there was none, he opened the cupboard below the stove and found a gas cylinder. Must still be some gas in it. He decided that he would use it sparingly to warm the kitchen, especially as it seemed a good spot to defend with there only being one viable entrance in and out. He was also concerned that if the house warmed too much it would bring unwanted attention from the things outside. At least with the back window being buried, there was no way the light from the stove or his candle could be seen. However before settling down, he needed to secure the rest of the rooms.
He placed his backpack on the floor and walked back into the passage, with his gun in one hand and the candle in the other. He had a quick look in the side rooms again, and then tilted the candle up towards the second floor above him. Away from the momentary warmth of the kitchen, he felt chilled to the bone standing at the base of the stairs. He put his boot on the first step and waited for the wood to creak, but luckily it remained silent. He then proceeded to walk up the stairs. Getting the short distance to the top took more of his energy than he knew it should and he sat on the top step, looking left and right along a corridor with doors off of it. The right corridor had something at the end of it, some form, but from his sitting position he couldn’t quite make out what it was. Standing, he lifted his gun to point at the form, and held out the candle in front of him. The further forward he walked the clearer the form became, until finally he saw it. A large human shaped shadow stood there. Cal stopped, his head felt light. The form in front of him was similar to the figure in his dreams. But here it was in reality, or was it real? The floor below his feet started to move like he was on an elevator, he grabbed at the wall, knocking the candle to the floor and plunging the dark figure back into the shadows. Desperately he slid to the ground, trying to keep his gun pointing in the direction of where the shape was while reaching for the candle, which had now extinguished. The drumming had returned to his mind and as he kneeled in the darkness clutching at his skull he pleaded for the pounding to stop.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Zach and Fiona were both kneeled down examining the brushed snow.
“I think it could be his,” said Zach. Fiona looked unsure, and Abbey looked nervously out into the sea of frosted pine trees around her.
They had headed west since they picked up his trail near the wall. Even in the fresh fall of snow, Cal had done a good job of making his tracks hard to find, but Zach had spent years tracking people in a previous life, and Fiona had spent more than a few nights on missions in dense winter forests. To Abbey though it all looked the same. At least she can watch the woods while they watch the ground she thought.
They reckoned he had been gone for an hour before they started looking. The young guy, Jason, has been carefully placed in a small shack, so it was obvious at least to Zach that it had not been Cal’s intention to kill him, just to put enough space between himself and any would be pursuers. Without being inside the semi-warmth of the shack, Jason no doubt would already be dead.
Zach clicked on his radio to try and get an update on Jason from Bass, but static and crackling blurted from the speaker. “Even if Cal had taken his radio with him we wouldn’t have been able to reach him on it anyway.”
Fiona stood and looked into the mist around her. “Might have been able to triangulate his position though if he did.”
Zach frowned and put his radio back in his side pocket. Standing, he too looked around himself into the trees. �
��It’s hard to say which way he went. I think we have four hours of daylight left, maybe less when the sun drops behind one of the peaks around here. We have to choose, we go back now, or we go forward and try to find somewhere to bed down for the night.”
Fiona kept looking into the forest. “You know my view.”
Zach looked at Abbey, who looked back at him and he knew her choice would be to keep going too. “Let’s keep heading west, hopefully we will pick up a path which will have some ski cabins or something.” The idea of Tinley moving further away flashed into his mind, but he pushed it away.
After what seemed an age of walking in snow that swallowed you, they came upon a creek with water forcing its way through cracks in clear blue ice.
Zach kneeled and started to fill his water bottle. “Fill your bottles, might be a...” Before he could finish, a loud crunching noise shattered the silence around them and some snow fell from the branches of nearby trees.
They all froze in place and Zach immediately raised his gun in the direction of the sound, but it was too late. A large dark humanoid figure sprung from between trees, grabbing and flinging Fiona with one movement. She spiraled through the air and hit a trunk. With its next sweeping movement, it grabbed Abbey’s leg, sending her falling and flailing backwards to the ground. It then charged away. During all of this Zach kept trying to get a shot off, but the creature moved so quick and the two women were in danger of being hit.
