Winter's Salvation (2 page)

“What are they doing?”  Eric asked as he leaned on the railing to get a closer look.

David being the excitable person he is almost screamed, but it came out as an excited whisper.  “Dude you’re going to think I’m crazy, their fucking eating that red head chick.”  Then out of nervousness let out a small laugh. 

Rod and Eric stood staring at him like he was a moron for a few seconds, before he spoke again.  “You know that good looking red head that always wears that white bikini?”  Dave only knew this because the weekends he didn’t have duty on his ship, he sat on his balcony and watched her swim, for hours on end.  Neither of
them replied, but stared at Dave with the, you really are a moron look on their faces. 

“That’s her
!”  He shouted as he pointed to the crowd, and then quickly covered his mouth to hush himself.  A single street light shown on them as if it were a spot light.  Now Eric and Rod could make out a carpet of crimson blood that the people knelt in.  As they stared, pieces of red flesh swung around and through the hands of the people kneeling over the red haired woman.  Rod and Eric’s minds wouldn’t let them comprehend what was actually happening and they looked back to Dave.   

Eric broke their silence, but was rather confused and expected at any second a TV camera was going to jump out and say they were going to be on the next episode of Scare Tactics.  “Are you going to do something?”

“Oh my god, are you serious!  You haven’t been watching TV?”

Eric’s phone rang and he looked at the screen and saw it was his parents.  He answered the phone, but looked to Dave, “Hey.”

Dave waved them into his apartment.  On his Sony flat screen TV,(more like a movie theater in his living room), was an emergency broad cast.

A young brunet woman with the look of controlled worry was warning people to stay indoors, lock them and from this point on do not allow anyone in or out of your home. 
“Be cautious of anyone outside and if anyone you know has been in contact with anyone from outside your house within the last few hours quarantine them to a secluded part of your home and wait for the authorities.  Do not give shelter to anyone seeking it, including family members if they have been outside.” 

Eric’s face was one of shock and awe, as he focused on the TV.  “Ok, alright, are you guys ok?”  He said with his face pressed hard against his phone.  “Well did you lock everything up?”  His left hand pressed hard against his left ear and he hunched over as if
that were going to turn the volume down on the TV.  “Dad, hello Dad,” He looked at his phone and a message on the screen read
network busy
.

Rod took his eyes off the screen and looked to Eric.  “What did your dad say?”

“He said the same thing the T.V. said.  Lock everything up and don’t go outside.”

“Are they ok?”

“Yeah, so far.  He locked everything up, but he’s like seventy years old,” His voice cracked, but he regained his composure.  

The sounds of squealing tires followed crushing metal and then car alarms sounded through the house.  Dave looked out the front window to see a baby blue colored Toyota Celica crashed across the parking lot about twenty feet from the red headed woman with three people running behind it.  The people gorging themselves on the woman all stood up in unison and took flight after the wrecked car. 
Under the shine of the street light was a red mass where the woman once laid.  The bloody red mass that was there now was nothing more than a small pile of ripped blood soaked clothing.  They thought they could make out what might have been arms or legs, but the clothes and lack of anything resembling the beautiful red haired woman made it difficult for Dave to fathom what just happened.  The only thing that resembled to woman now was the fan of red hair that was spread evenly on the pavement above the carnage.  

   Rod looked just in time to see the crazed people attack the Celica.  All eleven of them hit the car at the same time and the driver side window shattered.  As one reached into the window, the glass ripped into it’s arms.  He stood there just long enough to see a male being pulled through the window.  He was in his mid-thirties and from his apparel, dark blue button up shirt and long black neck tie, must have been rushing home from work.  His
thoughts immediately turned to Julie and Drew.  She was at the hospital today.

Just as he was thinking about Julie his subconscious picked up the anchor woman listing the symptoms to look for when in contact with people from outside your home.  “Profuse sweating,”
check,
Rod thought to himself almost as if he were using a mental clip board.  “extreme mood swings,”
check
“fits of violent rage,”
check
“unusual scratches or bite marks”
check
“and tight leathery skin with a grayish complexion or skin tone.” The news anchor finished her list.
Aha no grayish complexion.
 

“I’m going next door to check on Drew.”  Rod said as he ran out the front door.  Eric was just a few steps behind him when Rod got to his apartment. 

Rod pushed on the front door sending it flying open.  Straight ahead of him was his thirteen year old son standing at the end of the hallway that connects the bedrooms.  Drew is a skinny, taller kid with pale skin, from sitting in front of the computer for endless hours.  His hair is black with a small curl to it that hangs down to his shoulder.  His body blended in with the dark hall way behind him because he wore black shorts with a black shirt with Pantera’s heavy metal band logo on the front of it.  He looked shocked and confused after seeing the front door fly open. 

Rod was relieved when he saw him standing at the beginning of the hallway and breathed deep as he felt the anxiety let go for a second.  From the shadows behind Drew, Rod and Eric both saw a huge mammoth of a figure step out from the bedroom door.  It wore a black short sleeve shirt and short blue shorts.  It took one step out of the bed room and looked at Drew with a look of anger and hunger.  Rod looked in sheer terror as Julie’s face emerged from the shadows to reveal tight grayish leathery skin.  A playful thought in Rods head immediately said
check
and that was followed by a verbal “Fuck!” from Eric.

Julie’s small feet sounded like thunder as they pounded her heavy body toward the thirteen year old.  Drew turned toward his
mother fast and took a step backwards just as she fell on top of him.  The boy disappeared under his mother’s huge body.  Julie’s head flew up and back with a mouth full of black curly hair.  She placed her hands on his head and ripped the hair from his head.  Eric and Rod both jumped on her as she opened her mouth for another bite from her son.   

Drew arched his back and turned his head screaming as his mother’s mouth was inches from biting into his cheek.  His hands were pushing against Julies eyes and were small in comparison to her obese face and gaping mouth. 

Eric yanked back on her hair, as Rodriquez pressed his small forearm against her throat and pressed his body between the child and Julie.  Drew tried to push out from under her body, but Julie had two hands full of black curly hair in her fists and pulled his head toward her mouth.

Blond hair pulled free from Julies head, leaving large chunks in Eric’s hands, causing him to fall backwards down the hall.  He was up in seconds and was back on top of the raging woman trying to pull her head back.  Drew’s body was out from under his mother, but she had him by the hair and was pulling him back in.  Eric pulled his small pocket knife from his back pocket and began sawing through the black hair from one of her hands.  He quickly went to work on the other hand, when she let go and reached for Rod that had taken Drew’s place under her. 

From behind Julie, Eric grabbed hold of her right wrist and quickly twisted it up and out to her side as much as he could in the confines of the hallway.  “Let go Julie!” Eric screamed, while he twisted her arm back and up over her right shoulder.  Any other person would be screaming in agony and trying to be still to stop the pain, but she pressed forward, pulling Rod into her.  Eric felt her right arm snap and let go of it in shock.  The forearm waved wildly as she used the stump of her arm to get closer to the victim under her. 

Rod pushed up on her face and his left thumb accidently, but deeply thrust into her right eye.  He tried to pull it out, but his elbow was propped on the ground and with her pushing against it trying to bite him he could not pull it free.  His thumb penetrated her eye socket and a black greasy fluid leaked over and into the palm of his hand.  The black liquid continued to leak from her eye until her face laid flush with his palm and his thumb jammed deeper into her eye socket, stopping the leaking fluid. 

Eric straddled Julie’s back and grabbed her by her throat and pulled back.  As her head pulled away Rod tried to pull his thumb from her head.  She quickly turned her head to bite at the hand that was being pulled free from her eye. 

Without either of them seeing, David pulled up on her left arm.  “Grab the other arm!” he shouted.  Eric let go of her neck and her head jutted forward.  Rod screamed in pain as he felt his left thumb bend back and a sharp pain shot through his wrist. 

Eric fumbled to grab at her flopping right arm.  Her arm twisted and spun as she supported her weight on the stump of her right arm.  He finally grabbed her by the upper part of her elbow and her arm pit. 

“Throw her in the bathroom!”  Dave shouted over Rod’s screams and the growl of the beast that had been Julie. 

Eric turned to see how far he would have to pull her to get to the bathroom.  The bathroom was to his right a few feet behind him.  A couple steps back, he felt her weight being shifted to his side as Dave picked her up. 

As they lifted her to her feet,
she turned her attention to Eric.  She snapped at his face as they began to guide her to the door.  She lunged at Eric ripping from Dave’s grip, but Eric was able to side step forcing her to trip and fall face first into the bathroom.  She hit her head on the white tube and black blood appeared down the side of the white porcelain.  Eric grabbed the door knob and tried to close it, but her legs were in the path of the door.  She quickly got back to her hands and knees, using the tub to assist her up.  Dave stepped in next to Eric and kicked her hard in the butt causing her to fall into the tub.  Now that her legs were no longer in the way a quick pull of the door and she was trapped.  The door shook as she beat wildly on it.  The sound of her heavy hand beat high on the door then followed by a dull thud.  She beat the door with her left arm and hit the door with her right stub.  Even being crippled the door shook wildly and with her large body smashing against it, they knew it would not be long before the door collapsed. 

Rod sat where he lay
a second before and did not say a word.  He just sat there with his right arm back to support his weight and his left arm held up in a defensive posture.  Looking at his left hand, he realized his thumb had been buried in his wife’s eye.  His thumb was covered in a thick liquid that streamed the colors of red and white with a black tar that mixed the two.  Once he took in the colors and as soon as he recalled the incident, the searing pain of his broken thumb and sprained left wrist shot him back into reality.  The pain was great, but he did not show it.  He stood up and started to walk to the sink in the kitchen. 

Drew stood away from the fight with his back leaning against the three s
tools that were under the bar in the kitchen.

Dave cleared his throat, “We need to go.” He grabbed hold of Drew to shake him out of his shock.  Who looked at him with complete confusion. 

Standing over the sink, Rod washed his hands gently so as to not move his thumb. “We need to get out of here.”  He mumbled to himself. 

Eric moved to the door, grabbed Drew on his way out an
d Dave followed.  As they passed Rodriquez, Eric hollered to him, “Dude come on!” He pushed Dave and Drew passed him, “I’ll meet you at my Jeep.”  He walked to Rod slowly as he stared at the stainless steel sink under his clean hands.  “Rod, your son and Dave are going to my car, “Eric said softly,” and we need to go with them.” 

The banging of the bathroom door was followed by a crack.  Eric looked down the hallway to see a bloody hand hanging out of the door ripping at the hole it just made.  “Rod the door is not going to hold for much longer.  We need to GO!”  Eric started talking quietly and ended up screaming.
 

Rod stared at the reflection of himself in the distorted stainless steel curve of the sink.  Black and red blood slowly drained into the sink and his distorted reflection looked as if he himself were a crazed person covered in blood, staring back at him.

Eric seeing he was not making any connection with his comatose friend, smacked his partially clean left hand turning him into a screaming maniac.  “Dude come on!”  Eric screamed back pulling on the collar of his shirt. 

As if Rod was listening the entire time he ran past Eric and through the front door.  Eric ran behind him and turned as he grabbed the door knob.  The same time he turned for the door was the same time Julie’s head broke through the bathroom door.  As soon as she looked at him, the front door slammed with no hesitation behind Eric.