Dead Cold (6 page)

“
If you say so, what happened to your eye?” He knew she was skeptical of his plan; Emily was usually skeptical of anything Roland came up with.

“
I may have rolled a Jeep, while not wearing my seatbelt, while carrying a knife in my lap. Anyways the eye is fine, face is another story.” Emily nodded at that not at all surprised.

They reached the house with the Hummer and found the door locked. “I don’t have time for this.” Roland raised his right boot.

The door came off its hinges and fell into the house with a large crash. A trail of blood led up short stairs to the first floor and Roland pulled out his Desert Eagle and flipped off the safety as he went up the stairs. Emily and Eve followed close behind as Roland made his way towards the bedroom following the trail of blood drops. He could smell her before he saw them, that smell of rotted flesh he was getting so used to.

Eve bared her teeth and started growling as they reached the door. Roland pushed open the bedroom door and looked in. There were three people in the room; Crystal, a tall thin guy and a shorter girl who was a little bigger than the rest. Crystal was sitting on the floor against the wall, her skin a patchy grey and her eyes yellowed at the corners, the other girl was wrapping a bandage around Crystal’s hand and the guy was facing the door, Crystal’s Browning in his hand.

“
Who the hell are you?” Assuming he was Crystal’s brother Roland figured a bad attitude ran in the family.

“
His name is Roland, he found me downtown and brought me here to get you.” Crystal’s voice was weak and Eve started barking as soon as she spoke.

Roland grabbed the dog by the collar and pulled her out of the room. “Crystal I have to tell you something, it’s the bites that turn you into one of them.”

“
I kind of figured that.” She smiled sadly looking at her hand.

“
You know what you’re going to become. What do you want to do about it?” Roland hefted the Eagle.

“
Nothing! She’s not sick, there’s nothing wrong with her! You put that away!” Her brother had moved between them and was aiming the Browning at Roland’s head.

“
Cory, don’t…” Crystal tried weakly to stand.

“
Crystal don’t move; this guy is crazy.” Cory took a step towards the door keeping himself between Roland and Crystal.

“
I’m not crazy you idiot, she is going to become on of those things and then she is going to attack you.” Roland took another step into the room; closing the distance between himself and the taller man.

“
No, she isn’t! She’s gonna be fine!” His anger was almost palpable and Roland saw the knuckle on his index finger whiten. Without thinking Roland swung his left arm up knocking the Browning from Cory’s finger while simultaneously using the Desert Eagle to backhand the other man knocking him to the ground.

“
Fine, you want to die? Go right ahead. You’re not my problem but she will turn and she will try to kill you.” Roland turned to leave the room leaving the taller man on the floor his right cheek red and eyes filled with hate. “Eve come. Emily are you coming?”

Emily looked at the three in the room then to Roland’s retreating back; his quick pace causing his long jacket to fly out behind him before running after him.

“
Guess we’ll be needing your truck after all Emily.” Roland said as she caught up to him.

Once outside Roland saw that the storm was almost finished with only a few light flakes left. Stopping at the sidewalk Roland turned and looked longingly at the Hummer; it was royal blue with oversized tires, a large black bush bar, and a light rack on the roof. Shaking his head he turned and headed down the street following Emily to her truck.

Chapter 9: Southbound and Down

Emily had the truck running by the time Roland and Eve got there and was sweeping the snow off. Using his sleeve to brush the snow off the passenger side; Roland threw the heavy duffel bag in the back seat breathing a sigh of relief to be free of it before helping the dog into the truck and throwing the HK onto the center console. He climbed into the passenger seat just as Emily finished sweeping the truck and flipped down the passenger side vanity mirror.

The entire left side of his face was coated in thick gooey blood making it impossible to open his eye and the four-inch gash already starting to heal. Shutting the mirror as Emily pulled her door closed Roland turned to look at her with his still functioning right eye and she looked back at him.

“You look like shit Roland; anyways where are we going.” She buckled her seatbelt and cranked the heat.

“Thanks, you too. We should head to Edmonton but we need to stop by the Mac’s store first.” He smiled and pulled off his leather gloves putting his hands over the heat vent.

“Why? What’s at the Mac’s?” She buckled her seatbelt and put the truck in drive.

Buckling his own seatbelt Roland took his crumpled cigarette pack out of his pocket and looked at the two cigarettes. “I need to pick up a few things.” He lit one of the cigarettes and Emily lit one of her own.

They pulled into the parking lot and Roland had Emily park next to the overturned Jeep. “Nice job.” She said stopping with the Jeep on the passenger side. The storm was getting bad again with heavy, wet snow starting to coat the windshield. Roland exited the truck telling Eve to stay and started moving the camping gear into the box of Emily’s truck, she joined him shortly afterwards and they had all the gear transferred in only a few minutes. Shutting the tailgate Roland turned to Emily.

“Wait here, I just have to run in the store for a few seconds I’ll be right back.”

“What could you possibly need from there that we don’t already have?” Emily asked; a little incredulous.

“Just need to use the facilities.” Roland said starting towards the store.

Inside the darkened store Roland took a careful look around and listened for any movement, there wasn’t any so he moved quickly towards the washroom. His business done he went to leave the store but the black sheets covering the cigarette displays reminded him he was almost out. He was almost to the counter when he heard the chewing sounds and recognized the scent of something dead.

Backing away slowly Roland reached for the Desert Eagle in his coat pocket as he bumped into a display; knocking it over with what sounded like an ear shattering crash. Almost instantly the chewing stopped and the all too familiar growl pierced the silence as the thing jumped up from behind the counter its yellow eyes boring into him. It had been a young girl before it died probably only thirteen or fourteen. She was dressed in a miniskirt and an overly tight t-shirt. Blood dripped from her tiny chin and blonde hair as she opened her mouth and growled before lunging towards Roland.

She crossed the short distance between them quickly and Roland found the Eagle was caught on something in his pocket. Letting go of the gun he lifted his hands realizing he wasn’t wearing gloves and grabbing the girl by her midsection before her arms could reach him and throwing her away from himself. She weighed less than one hundred pounds and Roland had tossed her fairly hard slamming her against a wall.

She hit the ground with a light thump and hopped up to her feet charging at him with surprising speed. Giving up on his gun Roland waited until she was close and side stepped grabbing her by the neck and giving a quick twist. Her neck snapped instantly and her tiny body crumpled to the floor the head still moving and snapping its teeth. Roland stared down at the creature; he knew it had been a girl the day before with dreams and hopes now it was a monster that desired human flesh with no trace of its former life remaining. Roland was about to bring his heavy boot down on the tiny blonde head when he stopped. “I’ve killed enough today.”

Gathering up two cartons of his preferred brand of cigarettes and the entire display of Bic lighters Roland left the store in a hurry; the creature’s moans and snarls following him out the door. Climbing into the truck trying to keep his sadness from showing Roland shut the door and buckled his seatbelt doing his best not to look at Emily. “What took so long?” she asked.

“Long lineup.” He tried to joke. “Let’s go.”

“If you say so.” She said; shifting the truck into drive and heading back onto the street for the highway.

The storm had gotten pretty bad; limiting visibility to just past the hood and Emily had the wipers on the highest setting. Roland attempted to make conversation but the events of the day weighed heavily on his mind and Emily eventually turned on the stereo as they reached the city limits. Trying to focus on the music Roland found his mind constantly drifting back to the faces of everyone he had killed or let die since waking up that morning; the homeless woman, James and the others from the mall, the old man at the sporting goods store, the big guy in coveralls, the kid, his ex, Emily’s boyfriend, and now Crystal. Looking at the truck’s clock Roland saw it was only 1:30 PM but he felt as though he had been awake for days. His eyes closed and he felt darkness take him, the faces of the dead burned into his eyelids like a silent movie.

He awoke to Emily shaking him two hours later. “Roland, wake up!” Startled he woke up and looked around reaching for the Eagle resting in his lap. They were stopped at a gas station in Wandering River, the snow still falling heavily and it was quickly becoming dark. Roland could see the lights were still on inside and the store was empty. “We need gas, you run in and activate the pump and I’ll fill up the truck.”

Roland nodded and unbuckled his seatbelt blinking his right eye attempting to clear the fog from his vision; his left eye was now crusted shut and would need to be cleaned soon. Once outside the vehicle he let Eve out of the backseat and flipped off the safety on his Desert Eagle. “Eve stay with Emily.” He could have sworn the big husky nodded when he said that. Heading for the store Roland made sure to listen carefully and look around with every step through the knee-deep snow. Once inside the store he shook the snow off his shoulders and listened for anything, the Desert Eagle raised just in case.

The controls for the gas pump started beeping just as he decided the store was completely empty taking a deep breath through his nose just to be sure. Roland had worked at a gas station a few years back so he found it fairly easy to activate the pump and he watched the numbers climb. Looking around the store Roland saw a first aid kid against the back wall and decided to grab it tucking it under his left arm as he exited the store the icy wind biting into his face as the door opened.

Roland started back towards the truck the Eagle in his right hand, first aid kit in his left. He saw Emily had finished filling up and was shooing Eve back into the truck. Without his left eye Roland found his vision very limited and being accustomed to having two eyes he didn’t look around to check his left side, so he didn’t notice the creature until it was almost on top of him.

A moan reached his left ear and Roland turned quickly bring up his right arm; the massive gun it held squeezing the trigger as soon as it was level with the thing’s head. Not wanting another face on his conscience Roland turned quickly back towards the truck and ran as best he could through the deep snow the sound of dozens of moans carried to his ears on the wind.

One of the creatures came around the back of the truck catching Emily off guard and knocking her over backwards. Still running Roland aimed and watched as a corpse with only half its head collapsed to the ground. Emily was just standing up as he reached the passenger door and pulled it open the first aid kit leaving his hands as soon as the door was fully open.

“Come on, Emily, get in this side.” He climbed over the seats to the driver’s side Emily following close behind, pulling the door shut behind her.

“Are you sure you should be driving with one eye?” She asked buckling up her seatbelt.

Roland started the truck and put it in drive “Guess we’ll find out but it’s better than staying here.” He could make out a large group of people through the rearview mirror and he slammed his foot down on the gas a cloud of snow kicking up behind the truck obstructing his view.

Roland lit a cigarette and took a long drag before turning down Emily’s hard rock music, he had music on his cell phone and he reached into the pocket it had been in when he left the mall. It was empty and he frantically checked all his pockets and coming up empty, he thought back to the last time he’d seen the phone when he had taken it out of his old jacket and put it in the duster. He was trying to think of when it could have fallen out when he remembered the fight with the big creature it must have fallen out when he was knocked to the ground.

“Damn.” He swore quietly.

“What’s wrong?” Emily asked tossing her cigarette out the window.

“I lost my phone.” He took one last drag of his cigarette and dropped it out the window.

“Shitty.” She leaned her seat back and closed her eyes, falling asleep instantly.

Roland drove the rest of the way listening to the sound of Emily and Eve’s breathing. The storm showed no signs of slowing and there were no other vehicles on the road with the exception of the occasional one in a ditch or left at a gas station. Just north of Gibbons Roland saw bright headlights at the bottom of a hill and he tapped Emily to wake her up before moving the Desert Eagle into on of the duster’s deep pockets. “Huh? What’s going on?” Emily said in a deep sleep daze.