The Winter People

by Bret Tallent

  With the office secured, Johnny plopped into the big padded chair and began massaging his bum leg. Nick and Mike sat down on the couch and Sarah sat between them. Tom pulled up the receptionist’s chair and eased his aching frame into it, while Gary stayed with Roscoe. The lot of them sat around in a semi-circle, dejected. It was Nick that said what they all were thinking.

  “This isn’t going to stop them, is it?” he said to Johnny.

  “Probably not.” He replied.

  “Then why the hell did we do it?” Mike barked.

  “It will slow them down.” Johnny replied flatly. “It will give us a chance.”

  “…A chance to do what…Survive?” Mike asked sarcastically. “Make ourselves the last treat before they head out of town? …A snack for the road?”

  “It will give us a chance.” Johnny replied.

  Mike just shook his head. Sarah put her arm around his shoulders and gave him a squeeze. Mike glanced over to her appreciatively, and then hung his head, embarrassed. “I’m sorry.” He mumbled. “I just feel so freakin’ helpless. I don’t want to just sit here and let them come.”

  Nick asked, “What can we do?”

  Finally Tom, who had been listening quietly, said. “We know how to hurt them. And I think Johnny has more in mind than he’s let on.” He gave Johnny a knowing look and Johnny replied with a light nod.

  “This is not just survival.” Johnny agreed. “We can make a stand here, and probably survive. But there is more that I have to do. There is more that we have to do.” Johnny thought for a moment then continued. “They have already gathered a number of the town to take with them for the summer. We need to help them.”

  “But you said they let them freeze to death?” Nick protested.

  “That’s true.” Johnny replied. “They are dead.”

  “Then how can we help them?” Nick asked.

  “We can free their souls. They cried out to me when I was in Donner getting Hayden. I have to go back.” Johnny sighed, “I have to.”

  Tom looked hard at Johnny, “They cried out to you?” He said, incredulously.

  “I have to go back.” Johnny repeated. He didn’t have the energy or inclination to explain. He knew what he had to do and that was good enough for him. “I need to kill them, the others.”

  Finally, Gary piped in. “Fuck yeah!” He shouted. “Those bastards deserve to die! Especially after what they did to…” His voice trailed off and he began to cry. Sarah got up off the couch and went to him. She squatted down beside Gary and put her arm around him. Gary buried his head in her shoulder and let it come. All the fear and anxiety, all the grief and pain, came out of him in a torrent. He held himself against Sarah and sobbed.

  “It’s okay.” She offered.

  Mike turned from the scene and faced Johnny. “What are you planning on doing?” He asked, curious.

  Johnny brought his gaze up to Mike’s eyes. It was as good a time as any he decided. “I’m going to burn down the building the townsfolk are in, and kill as many of the Winter People as I can.” He said flatly. “This is my time to finish what my people, and my great grandfather started. I intend to wage a war on the Winter People.”

  “No.” Nick said. “We need to stick together and defend ourselves. This blizzard can’t last forever…and help will come.”

  Johnny replied, “It will last long enough. And even after it ends it could be a week before we see help.” Johnny decided he had to try to explain. “We were chosen,” he started, “each and every one of us. We were chosen to be here, to survive to this point. It is our responsibility to end this, to end them. We need to survive, yes, but that’s only part of it. We need to stop the Winter People. I feel it. I know it.”

  Mike stared at him, scrutinizing him. He believed him. It flew in the face of logic that he had clung to all his life, but he believed him. And he knew he had to help. “Can I help?” he offered.

  “What?” Nick asked, dumbfounded.

  “You all can, in your own way.” Johnny responded.

  “What?” Nick asked again. But deep inside Nick already knew the answer. He had been in their heads just as they had been in his. He had seen them up close and personal, and he trembled at the memory. “What do you need us to do?” he finished.

  “You,” Johnny said to Nick, “need to help these people survive.” motioning to Tom, Sarah, Gary, and Hayden. “Mike and I need to go to Donner.” He said, turning toward Mike. Nick started to protest but Johnny cut him off, “You’ve been tainted by the Winter People, it could give us away if you came. Besides, I need Mike’s strength for this. It will be very difficult.”

  “We don’t have much to survive with.” Tom reminded them. “And I have two patients that will need things.”

  “If we go out one of the garage bay doors, we’ll only be about fifty feet away from the General Store. They should have everything we need there.” Johnny replied. “It will be dangerous, but then so is just staying here. But we need to be quick about it; they’ll be here before long.”

  And they all knew who “they” were.

  ***

  Gary and Sarah were waiting for them in the big garage bay when they returned. Johnny, Mike, and Nick had managed to make one trip without incident. The three of them dropped from the snow drift down into the garage, exhausted. They had brought back a lot of things Johnny felt they needed, but not nearly as much as he had hoped. They would need to make another trip. But then, Johnny already knew this. He knew it as surely as he knew that it wouldn’t be he or Mike that made that second trip. Johnny looked up at Gary then.

  Gary’s eyes were puffy and red, and there was great sorrow on his face. But there was also determination. Gary had come to grips with his grief, at least for the moment. He had also come to grips with the situation and was now ready to help. Johnny offered him a wan smile that almost looked sinister, accented by the scar down his cheek. Gary didn’t smile back. He just looked over the stuff they had brought, and admired the two compound bows.

  As they unpacked the bundle, Johnny said aloud, “Mike and I need to get moving, time is short.” He said to Gary, “Can you go with Nick on one more trip to the General Store to get the rest of the stuff you need?”

  “It’s a little more than a General Store.” Mike huffed.

  Gary looked over at Johnny. “Yeah, I can go.”

  Nick said, between breaths, “I just need a minute or two to get my strength back.”

  “That’s okay,” Johnny said, “Mike and I need to do a few things before we go anyway, rest for a bit.”

  “Can I help?” Sarah offered.

  “Me too.” Gary added.

  Johnny gave a little better smile this time. “Okay,” he directed, “grab those arrows and the tape.” To Mike he said, “Bring the dynamite and the towels over here too.”

  Sarah and Gary both looked wide-eyed at Johnny but didn’t say anything. They just did as he asked. They split the arrows into two equal bundles and started taping one stick of dynamite to each shaft near its tip. At the same time, Nick and Mike started tearing the towels into one inch wide strips. They wrapped the cloth around the shafts of the remaining arrows near their tips and tied them off. Meanwhile, Johnny was busy with several plastic quivers.

  Johnny took a couple of remaining towels, placed them into two garbage bags, then stuffed them into the ends of two of the quivers. Next, he poured some of the kerosene they’d brought back into each towel. Then he poured more of the kerosene over the towels on the arrow shafts, and then placed them into the saturated towels in the two prepped quivers. By this time, Gary and Sarah had finished their chore and started placing their arrows into the remaining two quivers.

  Satisfied, Johnny turned to Mike. “Are you ready?”

  Mike sighed, “Yup.” And he leaned over and picked up one of the bows and one of each of the quivers.

  Next, Johnny handed Mike a dozen hand held flares from the bundle, and then grabbed a dozen more for himself. To Nick he said, “Ta
ke what you need for the next run to the store, and leave the rest of this stuff here for Sarah and Tom.

  Nick nodded and handed a couple of flares to Gary, and kept a couple. “Here.” He said to Gary.

  Gary took the flares and stuffed them into his coat pocket. “What else do we need? Should I get my crossbow?” he asked Nick.

  “Nah,” Nick replied, “we need to move light and be able to carry stuff back. The flare could hold them back.” Then Nick turned to Sarah, “Sarah, take these.” And he handed her two boxes of flares for the flare gun. “We’ll be back soon.”

  Sarah took the flares and hugged Nick. “I love you Nick.” She said. “You’d better come back.” Then she turned to Mike, “You take care too Mike.” Then she hugged him. Mike blushed but hugged her back fiercely. “Gary, you take care of Nick for me.” She said to him as she hugged him. Lastly she looked at Johnny. “I hope you’re right about this.” Was all she said. Because somewhere deep down inside, she felt like she were saying goodbye to them all.

  Johnny only nodded. He understood. So without a word he and Mike gathered up their bows and arrows, bundled up, and mounted the two snowmobiles in the garage. The machines grumbled to life even as Sarah raised the big garage door. Gary and Nick climbed onto the back of each machine and held on. The four of them lurched up the mountain of snow into the storm and disappeared. The buzz of their engines was lost quickly in the wind, and Sarah closed the door.

  CHAPTER 17

  Nick and Gary stood at the side door to the General Store and watched as Mike and Johnny vanished into the trees. Then they turned and quickly entered the store. It was dark, but relatively undamaged. The only real sign of destruction was what had been done on the group’s first visit. Gary was glad for that.

  They rummaged through store and found some medical supplies and Gary stuffed them into a backpack he had found on the floor. Nick was also stuffing supplies into a similar backpack. After a short time they had filled the two bags and started to fill two more. As Gary was putting a can of corn into his bag he noticed a reflection in the glass of the counter in front of him. Behind him, peering in through the top of the window where the snow had not yet reached, he saw two black and soulless eyes.

  Gary froze. The world had gone oddly silent and his heart stopped in mid-beat. He slowly turned toward Nick and saw him staring at the reflection as well. Gary slowly placed the corn in the bag and reached for a flare from his pocket. Nick saw the motion and grabbed Gary’s arm.

  “Wait.” Nick warned, in a whisper.

  Then Gary remembered something. “I don’t think he can see us.” He whispered back. “I think it’s too dark in here.”

  Nick nodded. He remembered what Gary had told them about what had happened in the Diner. “I think you’re right. But we can’t just sit here forever. Either we’ll freeze, or that thing will come in here.”

  “What do we do?” Gary pleaded.

  “I don’t know.” Nick admitted. He tried to think, but nothing was coming. There was a droning off in the back of his brain, getting louder. At first he thought it was Gary and his mind was just filtering him out. But as the drone grew louder, Nick knew what it was and he closed his eyes tight in a vain effort to fight it. But it would not be denied. The voice of the others burst upon his mind like a downpour in the desert. It was a flashflood that filled the arroyos and gullies of his mind, drowning out all else.

  “We know what to do Nick. Just wait right there and we’ll be right over.”

  NO! Not again.

  “Can’t wait to see ya Nick, we’ve got something special in mind just for you…and your little sister.”

  No!

  “Don’t worry Nick, we wouldn’t forget Gary either. We’ll fix him up just like we did his mother…”

  No.

  “And Mikey and the Indian…We’ll be after them soon enough…We’ll be after them in…Donner…”

  Please…no.

  ***

  Gary waited for Nick to say something more, but he just got a dazed look on his face then closed his eyes. That’s when Gary saw the blood, tiny rivulets at first, and then a steady flow coming from Nick’s nose. Nick tried to mumble something but Gary couldn’t quite make it out above the wind outside. Gary’s panic swelled in his chest. The wind became frenzied. The world was about to go to hell.

  “Nick!” Gary screamed, as he grabbed Nick’s arm.

  At that moment Nick’s eyes flashed open and he shoved Gary away from him hard, so hard that Gary went flying backwards tumbling onto his back. In an instant, the storefront window burst inward carrying a mountain of snow, and something else. Nick grabbed a flare from his pocket and lit it just as the mountain of snow came to life. One of the Winter People, the one who had been staring in from outside, stood to face Nick. There was a devilish grin on his face and a demonic twinkle in his eye.

  Nick held the flare out before him as a shield, toward the Other. The creature stood its ground but did not advance. “Grab the packs!” Nick yelled to Gary. And even as Gary scrambled toward the two full backpacks, the creature made an advance. Nick moved swiftly to the side to put himself more between it and Gary, and the creature backed off. It seemed to Nick that it was either contemplating the situation or just waiting for instructions from its brethren.

  “Got ‘em!” Gary said. “What now?”

  “Work your way to the door.” Nick replied. “I’ll try to keep it off of us.”

  Gary did as Nick said and worked his way toward the door they had come in. He carefully picked his way over and around debris on the floor, kicking it out of the way so that Nick wouldn’t trip over it. As they moved toward the door, Gary looked around for anything that could be a weapon. In a rack next to the door he found several small camping hatchets, next to the folding shovels and camp stoves. Gary dropped one of the packs and grabbed a hatchet. He flung it at the creature with all of his might but the lightning quick beast dodged it easily.

  “What are you doing?” Nick yelled back to him.

  “I’m trying to help!” Gary replied as he threw another hatchet. But this one harmlessly hit the creature by the handle and bounced off.

  “Get out of here!” Nick scolded.

  “Not without you!” Gary replied, and he threw the last hatchet. This one hit by the blade on the creature’s shoulder and barely nicked the skin, then fell to the floor. “I promised your sister…” he said.

  “We don’t have time for this Gary…I need you to get those packs back to the courthouse!” Nick pleaded. “I’ll be there as soon as I deal with this.”

  At that moment the creature took a wild swing at Nick and caught him on the arm before he could react. Nick flew to his right and hit hard against a shelf containing canned foods and condiments. Sparks of pain seared the muscle and bone in his left arm where the creature had hit it, but he managed to maintain his footing. The creature turned to regard Nick and ignored Gary. Nick brought the flare up just in time to halt the creature’s advance, but it was still fully intent on Nick.

  “Now’s your chance!” Nick screamed at Gary. “Get the hell out of here!”

  Gary bent down and picked up the pack he had dropped, “I can’t just leave you.” He whimpered.

  “You have to. Go now!” Nick commanded.

  And Gary did. He turned and bounded out into the snow, crying. He knew there was nothing he could have done, and that he had to get these supplies back to Sarah. Nick could handle it he kept telling himself. He had the flares and they seemed to work. The creatures were afraid of the fire. And Nick was smart. He could handle it.

  ***

  Gary had disappeared out the door and Nick breathed a sigh of relief, but then his flare started to flutter. Nick reached into his coat pocket and grabbed the other flare he had brought with him and lit it off the first one. Nick threw the first flare at the creature and it backed away momentarily as the flare dropped to the floor. In that moment Nick moved as quickly as he could toward the other side of the store, aw
ay from the creature.

  The thing caught up to Nick in an instant, but not before Nick had made it to the other door to the store. Nick stopped there to face the creature again, holding it at bay. Nick knew that this would only last as long as his flare did. And the creature seemed to know that too. It no longer approached Nick, it just held its ground and waited, a thin smile easing onto its twisted face.

  Nick thought hard. He scouted his surroundings but had effectively backed himself into a corner, with the door to his back the only way out. He looked back to the grotesque figure before him and noticed just the slightest trickle of liquid on its shoulder where Gary had hit it with the hatchet. Blood, he thought. That must be its blood. What did Johnny say about their blood? Then Nick remembered, and did the only thing he could think of.

  Nick moved as quickly as he could and totally caught the creature off guard. He lunged for the monster with the flare held out before him. The creature froze, startled by Nick’s sudden attack. Nick aimed the red, flickering light directly at the small gash in the thing’s shoulder. By the time the creature could react, Nick had managed to touch the flame to its blood and it ignited.

  Even as the flames quickly consumed it, the thing’s look changed from surprise to fear to nothing. Nick rolled to the side just as the flames were spreading out from its shoulder. Nick continued to roll toward the door, to get as far away as he could as the flames spread to its upper body. It did not follow or lash out at Nick. It just stood there and let the fire take it. And as it did, it lit the surrounding store on fire as well. Nick had no choice but to go out the door into the storm, on the opposite side of the building as the courthouse.

  ***

  Johnny and Mike quickly left Copper Creek behind as they entered the woods. In the confines of the trees, fear worked its way into Mike’s head. Johnny had a singular path that his mind’s eye had shown him, but Mike was unaware of it. Mike’s heart hammered with each shadow of a distant tree they passed, or some figment his imagination toyed with. On several occasions he had nearly rear-ended Johnny, but had saved it at the last moment. So it was with some relief that they exited the woods into a large open field.