The Winter People (33 page)

            “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, “Take 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.

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, away 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.

            That
relief was short lived however, as moments later they entered the town of
Donner.  Its buildings were great mounds in the snow, most of them buried up to
their eaves.  Here and there Mike could make out the dark line of a rooftop
defiant to the white that encompassed it.  It was not so much a town Mike
noted, as it was more a loose collection of cabins lying vacant in the deep
winter snows.  Not quite vacant Mike reminded himself, and trembled at the
thought.

Johnny paused only
briefly at the edge of the tiny village and surveyed the streets, then
continued on to a large lump at the far end of town.  Great uneasiness fell
upon Mike and he had the distinct feeling of being watched.  Through the flurry
of snow tossed up by Johnny’s machine, Mike noticed that Johnny seemed to be
looking around quite a bit more than he had at any time on the trip here.  Mike
wondered then what he had gotten himself into.

Johnny circled the
last building in a wide arc, moving slowly.  It was one of the largest of the
cabins in Donner, and the only one with a second story.  The upper story was
all that could be seen above snow level and its windows were dark and
sinister.  Johnny noticed that a door to the upper balcony on the back of the
building was gone, torn off or smashed in he surmised.  He circled the cabin
two more times, gathering up his courage as much as surveying the area.  He finally
came to a stop in the back by the non-existent door along side the railing of
the balcony.

Mike pulled up
beside him and they both just looked at each other for a moment.  Mike couldn’t
seem to stop shaking, and he knew that it wasn’t just from the cold.  Even
without knowing what they were there for, this place felt like a dead place. 
It was frozen, and empty, and dead.  Mike trembled then shook it off.  He
focused on Johnny again and gave him a nod indicating that he was ready to go,
as ready as he could be anyway.

Johnny nodded back
and climbed from his snow mobile to the balcony.  He leaned over the railing
and took Mike’s hand to help him cross the two snowmobiles and climb onto the
balcony.  As he did so he lost his balance and nearly fell off into the deep
snow, but Johnny was able to steady him and get him onto the firm surface. 
Mike sighed and turned to follow Johnny who had quickly moved into the ruined
opening.

As soon as the two
were inside they halted.  Between the snow outside, their goggles, and the
light from behind them, they were staring into a gaping maw of blackness. 
Johnny and Mike both removed their goggles and let them hang loosely around
their necks, but it did little to help their vision.  It was a deep, dark
cavern where nightmares were born.  And nightmares were waiting for them as
well.  Of this they were both sure.

Almost
simultaneously they each removed a flare from their pockets and lit them.  The
flickering light cast a blood red glow to the room, and shadows danced across
its surface.  The room was a shambles.  The furniture was toppled and battered,
and there were dark stains on the walls in the shapes of massive handprints
that they just knew was blood.  Mike had to swallow down his gorge.

Johnny worked his
way through the debris to a door at the far end of the room, and Mike
followed.  He concentrated on Johnny’s back so he wouldn’t have to look at the
room any more than he had too.  Even though it was freezing in the room and his
breath hung around his head in a frosty fog, Mike was sweating.  He couldn’t
help but think about Barbara, and Marty, and Taylor, and every one of the poor
bastards in this hellhole of a town.  He also couldn’t help but think about
what was waiting for him beyond the door.

The door led to a loft
with a railing that opened up to the room below.  But Mike never made it to the
railing.  As he came through the door he saw them; bodies, and parts of bodies,
all twisted and frozen, and stacked up like cordwood.  There were bodies
leaning up against the walls, some without heads, and some with nary a mark on
them.  Some of them he recognized as people he had seen in Copper Creek on the
few times they had gone there.  But most of them he didn’t know, or couldn’t
recognize.  He fell to his knees and vomited.

***

            Gary ran as hard as he
could.  Although there was somewhat of a path from the snowmobiles, he still
sank into the snow up to his waist on many occasions.  It took every bit of
strength that Gary had to trudge the fifty feet or so to the garage bay door. 
With every step that he had to force himself to take, the cold grabbed at him
like a thorn bush.  He forced huge amounts of arctic air into his lungs and
each breath burned more than the last.