Snow & Ash: Endless Winter (20 page)

I turn and start walking away, I would never actually turn her over to Ted but she needs a wakeup call because this IS reality and I’m living it.

The first thing I do is go to the gun safe in the shooting room and arm myself with a handgun and rifle that I sling over my back. I don’t plan on going back on the deal but I won’t be double crossed either. Sasha doesn’t speak to me again as we start loading supplies into my Dad’s old pick up but the misery on her face the whole time makes me hope that my words have gotten through to her. The truck’s been covered by a tarp for years but I always started it every month like he used to do. There are double wide doors at the back of the cavern with the same rock façade covering them on the outside as well as a smaller man door. Last time I was around back on the outside was over a year ago but I could still make out the faint track Dad used to drive in. With nothing growing it should still be manageable, just covered in snow and ash.

I don’t care about most of the supplies we’re loading up. There’s so much in storage that this small amount won’t be missed, but the guns are another matter. I hate the idea of arming this guy and any like-minded people he has. It’s not right to give him the means to prey on other people, so I take the time to pull the firing pins on the five rifles I’m giving him and then empty the bullets from all the ammunition boxes and refill them with empty casings. I figure his greed will make him careless and he won’t discover what I’ve done until he’s long gone.

The truck is loaded as full as we can get it. I look around the cavern and sigh. I’ll have to let Ted come through here to get to the truck and that may be too much for his greed to handle. I dig around and find the small cages Dad used to bring the chickens here back on the first day and wrangle three of the laying hens. It’s the last thing I can think to do to satisfy him and get him out of my home. Once they’re loaded in the back seat of the truck I pull my gun and start walking back to the living quarter’s door. It’s time to end this. I send Matty and Sasha into one of the storage rooms to keep them safe and out of the way before getting AIRIA to patch me through. AIRIA has been giving me updates on Rex and Ben’s vital signs every ten minutes so I know they’re both unharmed but I won’t feel a hundred percent until I see them with my own eyes.

“TED! The truck is ready to go. The door will open in a minute. Are you ready?”

His response is immediate.

“Well it’s about time, sweetheart! Now, we aint gonna have any more funny business! I’ve got my gun planted in your little brat’s neck so watch yourself!”

I push away the instant terror that floods me at his words. He wants what I’ve got to give so hopefully he won’t do anything stupid.

“AIRIA, open the living quarter’s cavern door.”

I’m a good twenty feet back from the door with my gun firmly in my hand. The door slides open and a second later Rex stumbles out. He’s clutching a towel against the top of his left shoulder and it’s stained with blood but he’s on his feet and moving so I look past him as he moves out of the way. Next Ben comes with one of Ted’s hands gripping his shoulder and the other pressing his gun against his little neck. Ben’s eyes almost bring me to my knees. They’re completely blank. My baby brother has checked out and gone somewhere else. He’s been so protected his entire life that this must have been too much for his young mind to handle.

Ted pushes Ben ahead of him into the cavern but comes to a stop and pushes the gun harder against Ben’s neck when he sees me with the gun I’m holding. I steel myself not to react when Ben doesn’t even flinch at what must be painful pressure of the gun.

I nod at Ted and motion him forward with my gun.

“Just to keep you honest, I thought I should level the playing field.”

He smirks at my words and starts Ben moving again. His eyes take in every inch of the cavern and he’s shaking his head in wonder. I keep backing up and we make it over the foot bridge before he stops again. His eyes are on the animal pens and they gleam with calculation. I try and beat him to it.

“I’ve put three laying hens in the truck already so as long as you don’t decide to have a chicken dinner you’ll have eggs for as long as you keep them healthy.”

He purses his lips in consideration.

“Hmm, look at all of this. It just doesn’t seem right that you’ve been keeping all this for yourself and the brat while the rest of us live in the filth outside.” His eyes leave the pens and flash back to me filled with sick amusement. “I took a look around your place while I was waiting and what a surprise to see someone I recognise. That must be your dad in all those pictures you got framed up in there.” He shakes his head with fake sadness. “It’s really too bad. If I had of know he was sitting on this sweet setup I might have let him live long enough to get us in here. Oh well, his boots and rifle came in handy for a few years until they wore out.”

Time freezes. I’m thirteen and Benny’s just a baby crying for his daddy again. I’m all alone and I don’t know what to do. I just keep stacking those rocks over his body because I’m not strong enough to dig a proper grave.

Rex’s roar of anger snaps me out of it and makes Ted swing the gun away from Ben’s neck to point it at him. My hand moves before my brain is even working. My gun’s up and level without the slightest tremble. Ted’s eyes dart to me and they have time to flare wide before I pull the trigger and a small neat hole appears in the middle of his forehead.

My brain catches up just as he falls to the rock floor and that’s when the trembling starts. I killed him, not a target shaped like a person but a real living person. No matter how horrible that man was, he was still a person and I just killed him. I sink to my knees and the gun clatters to the rock floor. My eyes are locked on to Ben who just stands there. His eyes are still blank and he makes no move to come to me.

It’s Rex who breaks the moment by scooping him up and carrying him with his one good arm the ten feet to me. He sets Ben down in between us and wraps both his arms around us and just holds on.

We stay like that with Ben’s head tucked under my chin and my tears wetting his hair until Matty shouts his brother’s name. Rex kisses the top of Ben’s head and looks questioningly into my eyes but I’ve got nothing for him right now. I just lower my head down onto Ben’s so he lets go of us and goes to his brother and Sasha who have come out of the storage room.

I rock Benny back and forth on the floor and whisper my love to him until I feel him move. I pull back and look down at him. A wave of relief washes through me when I see life behind his eyes and a small smile cracks my face when he says in a small voice that he’s hungry. That’s good, that’s normal, that I can handle. I pull him up with me as I get to my feet and heft him into my arms. His skinny legs wrap around my waist before he lays his head against my shoulder. As I walk past Ted’s body and Rex and the others I flash back to Ben being a baby and how I used to walk the cavern with him in a sling against me. I want to go back. I want us to go back to how it was because if this is the living I thought I wanted, I was wrong.

Rex, Matty and Sasha follow us back into the living quarters where I set Ben down at the table and head to the kitchen. I pull out food from the fridge and start making sandwiches. I can see Rex staring at me with concern but I don’t care. I’ve been pushed and stretched beyond anything else right now. My brother’s hungry so I’m making sandwiches.

Rex steps towards me and reaches out his hand.

“Skylar…”

Before he can say more, AIRIA interrupts him.

“Skylar Ross, multiple perimeter breaches detected.”

I just keep making sandwiches. Maybe I should add some cut up veggies to his plate but he doesn’t like them raw so no, not today.

Rex is trying to ask AIRIA questions but she won’t answer him because he has no authorization. I add a few oatmeal cookies to the plate and set it in front of Ben before going back to make more when Rex grabs me by the arm.

“Sky, snap out of it! We need to know who’s out there!”

I look at him with no expression at all. I don’t care who’s out there but he’s in my way so I ask in a dead voice.

“AIRIA, how many?”

“Skylar Ross, sensors indicate one hundred and eighteen life forms within perimeter.”

Rex sucks in a surprised breath at such a huge number before a grin tugs at his lips.

“Marsh, Marsh brought everyone up!”

I shrug my shoulders and shake off his hand on my arm before sliding past him back into the kitchen. Rex follows me and keeps on talking.

“This is great! He wouldn’t have come up here unless he had Ethan or Lance with him so they’re probably all here.”

Sasha pipes up. “Do you think they have my mom with them? Ted left her down on the road with Mickey. They would have rescued her, right?”

Their voices are like a drill in my ear as I make more sandwiches. I just want them to stop. Stop talking, stop being in my way, just stop and leave me with Benny in peace.

“You should go see. Here, I’ll make these sandwiches to go. You can take them with you.”

Rex and Sasha stop talking and just stare at me. Sasha looks guilty and Rex has hurt confusion on his face.

“Sky, Skylar? Don’t you want to come? You could meet the rest of our people. Help get things organized, for our plan?”

I start wrapping up the food I’ve made in plastic wrap and keep my eyes down.

“You should go. They’re probably worried about you.”

He shakes his head.

“Skylar, I’m so sorry for what happened here but Ted was a bad man! The rest aren’t like that. They’re good people!”

My eyes flash up at him in a brief moment of anger.

“You mean like Sasha?”

I lower my eyes just as quickly. I’m not doing this. I’m not going to argue with him. I have nothing left inside for him or anyone else except Ben.

“Really, you should go, have that shoulder checked out and cleaned up by Marsh’s Dad. He’s a doctor, right? I’ll get you a first aid kit to take.”

Rex’s voice is full of anguish when he says my name and I can’t take it anymore.

“GO! GET OUT! I don’t want you here anymore!”

I throw the sandwiches in a plastic bag and rush around the counter to the closet as he stares in disbelief. I pull out all of their outer wear that I had washed and throw it by the exterior air lock door before I head out into the cavern to storage. I grab a pre-loaded med kit and then snag two go-bags that Dad had made up years ago. I can’t remember everything that’s in them but I know they’re filled with survival gear.

When I carry everything back into the living area, Sasha and Matty are dressed to go and Rex is struggling to get his jacket on over the towel he has wrapped around his wound. I dump the bags at his feet.

“There’s lots of survival gear in those bags and this med-kit is full so you should have everything you need.”

Rex gets his jacket on and zipped up before meeting my eyes with a hard stare.

“No, that’s not all that I need. You, Sky, you are what I need! I’ll go but I won’t leave. I’ll never leave you! You’re not a quitter Sky, you don’t give up and neither will I. I’ll be waiting for you, no matter how long it takes.”

I look into those green eyes and see love and determination. He’ll fight for me. But a quick glance over at Ben who just sits and stares at his uneaten food pushes all that away.

“AIRIA, open living quarter’s exterior air lock doors.”

One last look at what might have been and then I turn my back to him. I stand strong and rigid until I hear the door slide shut and then I let the tears flow. I go scoop up Ben and settle us both on the couch. I sit with my future cuddled against my side and let all the rest go.

To be continued…

Coming Soon

Skylar

I make my way through and around the groups of huddled people.The smoke from so many fires that are keeping them alive in this cold is like a haze clinging to the ground. I keep my head down and don’t make eye contact with anyone. I’m not ready to talk to Rex yet. It’s been three days since I exiled him, Sasha and Matty.

I wouldn’t even be out here if not for Benny. It only took him a day to come back to his former self from the shock of what happened. He’s had nightmares every night but the rest of the time he seems fine. He started asking about Rex and Matty and his new friend the “super cool” Marsh right away and wouldn’t let up with the questions on where they were, when they would be back and when him and Matty could have another sleepover. I finally had to tell him the truth to get him to stop badgering me and breaking open the scar I carry from losing Rex and the future I thought we’d have. He didn’t take it very well.

At first he just kept trying to convince me to let them come back and when I wouldn’t budge he started asking AIRIA questions. When she informed him of the group sitting outside our door he got mean. That seems funny that my seven year old sweet brother could be mean to me but his words were like constant arrows to my heart. He’s smart, that kid, he gets way more than I give him credit for.

After he said I was a coward and selfish and that I was going to let all those people die, I ran. His words were like hearing a long ago echo of the things I had said to Dad. I ran to the barracks and tried to lose myself with a hard run but his words and Rex’s face wouldn’t leave my mind no matter how hard I ran. So I just stopped running and faced it all.

The plan Rex and I had to move all those people into the barracks would still work but there would need to be a few changes. They could have all of it but no one would be allowed into our area. I would authorize AIRIA to provide minimum support to them in the barracks and they could have all the supplies but I was out. I wasn’t going to be a part of anything they did over there. I won’t take another chance on Ben’s safety no matter what he says to me. Everything in the barracks was theirs except for one room, the armory. That room will stay locked down with no exceptions.

So here I am, walking through more people than I have seen in seven years and I won’t lie. My skin was crawling and the hairs on the back of my neck were lifted. I get to the end of the campfires without seeing Rex or any of the others but there are a few tents and tarps set up that they might be in. My dead forest has changed so much since I was last out here. Where it use to have trees everywhere it now has stumps surrounding the area the group was camping in.

I pick the widest stump I can find and take a deep breath and square my shoulders before stepping up onto it and turn to face the crowd. No one is looking my way and I’m not going to yell for attention so I pull my handgun and fire a shot into the air. There are a few startled screams but most people are too cold to move. Every eye turns my way and all sounds cease except the hiss and crack of wood burning in the fires.

I see movement as a few people dash out of a tent and there’s Rex and Marsh followed by Sasha, Matty and some older people I don’t recognize. Rex’s face breaks out into a huge smile when he sees me but I’m not out here for that, so I look away and focus on the air just above the crowd.

“My name is Skylar Ross. My home is behind you inside the mountain. Beside my home is a huge empty barracks. It has plenty of room for all of you with electricity, heat, hot water and all the food and supplies you need to live comfortably. It’s yours. I don’t care what you do in it or how you run it. There is only one condition. Your former leader, Ted came into my home and put a gun in my seven year old brother’s neck. He threatened us and tried to take my home from me. I killed him. The same thing will happen to anyone who tries to gain entry into my home. You stay in your side and I’ll stay in mine. Just in case you think you can overwhelm me, you should know that there is an A.I. computer that controls all the mechanics of the barracks and I won’t hesitate for an instant to order it to cut all of it off if I feel threatened.”

No one moves and no one speaks when I pause for breath. “There are doors that will open shortly just to the north of you. I suggest you gather your things and go inside them.”

That’s it. That’s all I have to say to these people. They can figure out the rest with AIRIA’s help once they’re inside. I’m about to step down from the stump when the alarm from my communicator blares out followed by AIRIA’s voice.

“Skylar Ross, meteorological anomaly detected. Seek shelter immediately.”

I look up at the sky and frown in confusion. The temperature’s not dropping, if anything it actually feels a little warmer and the sky is the same boiling grey black it’s always been. I don’t see or feel a problem until there’s a sting on my cheek. I reach my hand up to rub it away when something hits the back of my hand and it too starts to sting and then burn. I look closely at my hand but all I see is a drop of water. Then I understand, it’s raining, it’s raining for the first time in seven years!

And that’s when the screaming begins.

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