Winter's Fury - Volume Two of The Saga of the Twelves

by Richard M. Heredia

  Now, it made sense to her why, out of the wild blue yonder, her dad decided life in Holbrook, Arizona was not good enough for his family. It seemed fitting now when she peered back in time. It made sense that her father would find his dream job so fast. It had been within the first week he began to look for work along the west coast. He had found deliverance at the Department of Water and Power as one of its’ Systems Managers, based in Los Angeles.

  Although, it was true he had worked for many years as a Systems Analyst at the Cholla Power Plant. It was a massive factory just a few minutes outside of the small town she had grown up in. Never in a million years would he have thought he could land a job in a major metropolitan area. Plus, one that came with more than a few pay grades above his current salary. Back then, it had seemed like a wish come true for her and her family. But now, from Marianna’s altered perspective, it seemed like something altogether different. It seemed like something eerie, deviant. It made her skin crawl. When she looked at it from this holistic standpoint, it did make sense. This was all destined to have happened to her, just as it was for every other member of the Twelve.

  There were powers of such magnitude at work here, they were impossible to fathom. They seemed so vast and so ancient, how were they alone going to fight against them.

  We are all sooo screwed…

  “So, Marianna,” began Joaquin. He was one of those sitting in the arch about her, pulling her from the dreary play of her mind and back to the present. “Tell us your story.” He looked around with a sly smile on his face. “I mean, tell us how you ended up in a snow storm wearing only a sweater.”

  Jason and Derek chortled behind an arm or a fist. The question being funny, they were still trying to show her a small degree of politeness.

  She smiled in spite of herself, glancing around. Hyun, Anthony and Sophie were smiling back at her. Kimberly and three little ones were either lying still or had fallen asleep on the air mattresses. She could not see them from where she sat, so she did not know if they were listening or were already lost to their dreams.

  She cleared her throat and massaged the roof of her mouth with her tongue. It still ached from her lack of proper food. She had heard. If one followed a period of adequate nourishment with a serious “pig-out” session, the roof of one’s mouth would spasm in pain. Apparently, it was one of those strange physiological reactions people rarely experience. She had heard it from only one source - a friend of a friend who had to spend the night in the desert, lost. She knew it for the truth now. It had felt like she had pulled some unknown muscle between her upper jaw and sinus cavity.

  She sighed, gearing-up to take the plunge. “Well, let me see,” she said framing her story in her mind. “I had gone out to the garage, looking for this stupid pot my mom always uses for cooking the turkey for Thanksgiving. You know, one of those old fashion blue thingies with the white specks of paint all over them?” She peered about, wondering if anyone knew of what she was talking.

  “Yeah, I know what you mean. It’s one of those pans that are rectangular and have those little, metal spikes welded or fastened onto the bottom. I think it's so the turkey won’t slide around when you carve it,” confirmed Anthony. His face was bright with comprehension. “My grandmother has one of those.” It was an afterthought, enthused, urging Marianna to continue with its' expression alone.

  Marianna saw Sophie give the teenage boy a warm look, able to see how much she liked Anthony. It was a lot.

  Then Andrew spoke at her side. “Dude, I think my mom or one of my aunts has one of those things too.”

  Anthony nodded and pointed at his friend, raising, then lowering his eyebrows a few times. It was a gesture of mutual understanding.

  Marianna turned to look at Andrew with a look similar Sophie’s. “Well, anyway, I was out in the damn garage looking for the stupid thing. Some of you know already, we had just moved here in the summer and…" She smiled a crooked smile. "Well, we hadn’t unpacked everything yet, especially the seasonal crap. So, there I was looking through all the boxes, wearing my sweater, because I thought I was only going to be out there for a short time. Gosh, there were boxes everywhere...

  “I guess I was in there for about ten minutes when it hits me. I remembered seeing my dad put the same pot, or whatever the hell it is, down in the broiler beneath the oven. You know, in the stove.”

  Only the girls and Joaquin nodded at this.

  The other boys frowned, wondering how the large wrestler knew what the hell a broiler was.

  The hulking boy did not seem to notice.

  “So, I almost left the garage when I realized I hadn’t turned off the lights, which is one of the things my dad’s like super anal about. So, I turned to walk across the room when this strange sound comes out of nowhere, shaking everything. At first, I thought it was one of your famous California earthquakes, but it didn’t feel like the ground was moving or anything. It felt more like everything around me was vibrating in some weird way. It made me sick to my stomach. So I said screw it to the light, you know, let my dad be mad at me. I didn’t care. I just wanted to get out of there.” She paused to swallow, uncomfortable. She brushed at a stray strand of hair from her eyes, tucking it neatly behind her ear. Even now, the memory of the sick green oozing from every source of light around her made her stomach turn.

  “N-E-ways,” she began, swallowing to steady herself, “I just went for the door. I was just about to put my hand on the doorknob when the funky-ass sound begins to vibrate everything again. This time, I was definitely sick to my stomach, but I also remember seeing this ugly green color filling my vision. I think I was about to pass out or something. I knew then something was wrong. This was something no one in Holbrook or Los Angeles or Cucamonga had ever felt before.

  “All I want to do was get back to my family. I had this nagging feeling in the middle of my shoulders something super bad was about to happen.

  She swallowed big, steeling herself against the memory. “I twisted the door handle thingy and opened the door. And I see the most horrible thing I have ever seen in my life.” She could feel the tears beginning to fill her eyes.

  Andrew’s hand engulfed both of hers in her lap. He gave her a short, heartening squeeze, enough to allow her to continue, to forestall her from breaking down.

  “I see… or at least I think I see… our house… our brand new house dissolve away into nothing right before my eyes. It was as though it was never there. With it went all my things, my brothers and sisters, my mom and dad, everything… it was all just gone.”

  She paused a second time to take a few deep breaths. “But… that damned sound came again. I just remember it felt like I was falling down a hole, some deep, bottomless hole that was cold and black, and full of death.”

  She could see the others, every single one of them, knew exactly how she felt. The pain, the loneliness and the desolation at losing what was most dear to them, they all knew it. It made her feel more at ease, more welcome now that she knew they all shared this experience in common.

  She had not been the only one to have everything stripped from her. She was not the only one left her bare and vulnerable, lonely and frightened in a place that should not exist. They had all felt the same thing. They had lived through the same harrowing event, having experienced the same disheartening feelings. From the two tiny sisters to the giant boy named, Joaquin, they had all gone through it. Finally - since having awakened on the cold and unyielding cement of the garage - she knew then she would not be alone. She would have them for a long, long time. There would be others to protect her, to help her, and fight beside her… until they finished what need finishing. She prayed it would not take too long.

  They waited for her to continue, saying nothing, knowing patience was in order.

  She gulped at the air once again before she went on. “I woke up on the threshold of the door. The garage was still there. The lights were off. In the semi-light of that first, cloud-covered morning, I had no idea what happened
or why. I must have just sat there, you know, cross-legged for a while, trying to get my bearings for a few minutes. But after a while, I felt my legs beginning to cramp. It was then I realized how freaking cold it was.

  “I got up and dusted myself off. I looked around and didn’t see my house or my neighbor’s house or the house beyond that one. I knew it hadn’t been a dream. I knew I had been right in my assumption. Something awful had happened to me and my family. I guess I sort of freaked out, because I ran up and down what used to be our street, yelling and screaming for help. But no one came, no one answered. It was like I was on some deserted island in the middle of the ocean.”

  They were all staring at her rapt.

  “By then, though, I was getting pretty cold, so I went back to the garage to look for something to wear. I only found an old tarp and some rags my dad used to clean his tools and stuff, but nothing else. I wrapped myself up in the tarp and closed the door, hoping over time things would warm up. Hours later, I went through everything in the garage, trying to find useful things to help my situation. But, I only found some boxes of granola bars, some old clothes, old pots, a bunch of fire logs and a few other things. Not much else. Everything I could’ve used was in the house, and that was gone. So, I sat down and ate some of the granola bars and drank the water not sure of what I was going to do next. At first though, all I could do that day was cry.

  “I had forgotten it was Thanksgiving.

  “Truthfully,” she went on, bravery welling, her inflection lightening, “I did not care. There were things even more critical than celebrating a holiday. There were things happening around me I had to focus on – facts, conditions.

  “When I got up the following morning, I saw a bad snowstorm had struck during the night. It began to dawn on me that I was stranded. I was stuck there in the garage with little to no food and only a miniscule amount of supplies. I had no clue how I was going to survive. I began to ration my food and just waited out the blizzard.

  “It wasn’t until the day after, I began to understand that things around the garage were beginning to change too. I saw strange plants that weren’t there before start to pop out of nowhere. They had features and characteristics I had never before seen. That was the day I almost got juiced by some ugly, pig-thing when I mistook it for a person stranded out in the cold.”

  “You saw a Klürrg?” questioned Joaquin, his eyebrows raised.

  “A what?” she countered.

  “A Klürrg,” he clarified, “a kinda piggy-squirrely thing about… I don’t know… four hundred pound or so,”

  Piggy-squirrel? she mused. That mother-humper almost took my head off! Aloud, she said, “So that’s what you call it, huh? A Klürrg?”

  “Yup,” Andrew answered instead, “or a Pig-squirrel or whatever the hell else you wanna call it. Call it a butt-munch for all we care.”

  Marianna giggled into her hand.

  “Those things suck,” objectified Elena, rubbing at her bruised shoulder as she spoke.

  Then Louis leaned to one side and tapped his rear end. “Tell me about it!” he exclaimed.

  So everyone was listening, huh?

  Sophie, the young girls and the older boys laughed.

  Marianna searched their faces for answers and found none.

  Hyun and Derek looked as confounded as she felt.

  Kimberly remained silent, out of her immediate view. She had no clue what her reaction was to all this.

  Private joke, she figured. Their group had been together before they had come upon the rest of them. They would know things about one another that none of the rest of them would.

  She waited for the laughter to die down before she went on. It did not take long.

  Andrew was shaking his head at the pudgy boy with a cheerful face.

  “Anyhow,” she began, “I got attacked by the Klürrg-thing. I just managed to get the door to the garage shut before the son of a bitch eviscerated me. I just waited after that, scared the awful creature was going to come back, but it didn’t. I sunk back into my routine of rationing my fruit bars and drinking melted snow until I woke up today. This morning I saw it was clear. The sun was out. I ate the last of the granola and the water and set off. I needed to find out what the hell had happened, to get some answers. I would let nothing stand in my way. But ,things didn’t quite work out the way I thought they would.” She smiled with remorse, wiping at the corner of her eyes. “The first thing I saw alive and walking around I thought was a dog. It was about the same shape and size of a dog at a distance, but as I got closer I could tell it was something else. A moment later, I realized how bad I had fucked up. I saw the familiar form of a giant deformed squirrel. By approaching, I had put myself in mortal danger, which was stupid. The goddamned thing was tearing through something, eating and swallowing like it was mad. I couldn’t tell what it was, but the squirrel-thing was ripping at it and making these horrid chewing sounds. It was gross.” She shuddered at the thought.

  Anthony piped in, “Yeah, we encountered a few of those ourselves.”

  “Yup, you stumbled on another Klürrg,” elucidated Joaquin. “Or maybe it was the same one you had seen the day before. Those things don’t tend to travel all that far when the weather is bad, especially if there was food around.”

  Marianna remembered something. During her first interaction with a Klürrg, it had sniffed at the air a few seconds. Then it had streaked off after something she herself had not heard or seen. “Yeah, maybe you’re right,” agreed Marianna.

  “So, what did you do? Did you just leave?” asked Hyun, still intent upon Marianna’s story.

  “I wish,” she replied with a shake of her head. “No, the deranged creature glanced up at me, getting my scent or something. It stared at me with its beady, black eyes. I think I backed up a few steps, trying to get out of there without disturbing it. I thought everything was cool when it started chomping down on its’ meal again, so I turned and trotted away. That’s when I heard this crazy howl like a baby screeching. When I turned, it hit me on my side and took a huge bite of the tarp I was wearing. It ripped it off me in like a second. I just turned in the opposite direction and took off running as fast I could. I can’t tell you if that thing followed or not. I don’t even remember hearing it. All I could hear was the pounding of my heart in my ears. I remember running and running until it felt like my lungs were going to burn inside my chest, but I didn’t stop. I could feel the cold seeping in even though I was running like a crazy bitch. But I kept on going. I had no choice. The last thing I remember, I was coming out of the forest, crossing a pathway, looking up at the hills. I was thinking I could at least protect myself from the creature if I was on higher ground. I must’ve tripped on something. I’m uncertain. I just remember flying, and then I hit something and everything was dark, and cold.”

  She looked at Andrew of a sudden, wiggling her hands still within his grasp, garnering his attention. “I woke up in Andrew’s arms…”

  Andrew could only smile beneath her fond gaze.

  A warm sort of silence settled on the two of them.

  The others watched her and Andrew stare at each other for a while, exchanging smiles and winks.

  “I think, out of us all, Marianna, you definitely had it the worst,” commented Anthony. “Still, I’m glad we found you when we did. I am also glad to have you with us, because we need you. You are the final member of the Twelve. So, welcome!”

  Marianna grinned almost from ear to ear without realizing what she was doing so. To be honest, she did not care if she looked like an idiot. It was just a relief knowing there was for a reason for all this. Their abduction from their world was not some random, meaningless act. There was a reason why their situation was so desperate, fraught with danger. There was purpose behind it all along. Something greater than she was at work, was responsible. Something had chosen her and her newfound companions. It had selected them for a specific task. A job no other human being had faced throughout the entire history of human
ity. True this undertaking might seem daunting or impossible at that moment. But, it was still comforting for her to know everything had happened with a degree of deliberation. Because of that, she did not feel as bad as she would have if she had known it had all been for nothing. Her terrible experience, the hunger and the terrible cold had almost killed her. Yet, it had not been for naught. There was meaning behind it and she was able to accept this stipulation, and move on. This was why Anthony’s formal welcome meant more to her than one would expect under normal circumstances. She was part of a group now, a part of the solution that might be capable enough to return her to her family and everything else she loved.

  Well, almost everything…

  She came back to the present.

  Jason was asking Anthony: “So, after we’ve completely bum-rushed this place, are we going to make for the Legacy? Or are we heading back to the cave?”

  Anthony seemed to consider this for a bit, biting his lower lip in concentration. “I’m thinking back to cave where we can go through the stuff we have there, rest for a night and then make for the trip up to Crystal Lake. Sound good, Joaquin?”

  The other teen did not speak, but nodded instead.

  Anthony continued. “Yeah, so we’ll be heading to Crystal Lake. It’s at least three thousand feet above sea level, maybe even higher than that. If things are as bad they are down here, can you imagine what the weather would be like up there?”

  Marianna was struggling to keep up with the conversation. These kids are freakin’ organized! She sat back, amazed. Even through a semi-confused state, she agreed with Anthony. They would need to gear up big-time. Moreso than when she and her friends had camped about the outlying countryside around Holbrooke. This was something far more permanent.

  “Brutal, man, it’ll be brutal,” echoed Joaquin. “I agree with you, Ant. I also think we ought to all grab like the biggest backpacks we can carry from the outdoors department. We need to load them up with personal items. I'm talkin' clothes, underwear, socks, extra pairs of boots and coats, bedding, and maybe an extra blanket. We also need toiletries and shit like that to keep ourselves clean. Hygiene is going to be something we are going to have to pay attention to. Nothing around us will be one hundred percent clean. Not like at home, not like before.”