Snow(33)

He groaned and rolled over onto his side. He heard movement in the darkness close by, which sent him into self-preservation mode. He recalled having had a gun at one point; he patted himself down but could not locate the weapon. Also, his head throbbed and he thought he tasted blood at the back of his throat.

“Who’s there?” he asked the darkness.

“Shhhh,” came a voice. Female. “You’ll be all right.”

“Where am I?”

“St. John’s. A church. You’re safe here.”

He swallowed what felt like a chunk of obsidian. “Who are you?”

“My name’s Meg.”

He felt the girl slide closer to him in the darkness. A moment later, he felt the fabric of her clothing brush against his bare hand. She sat beside him and he could smell the staleness of her flesh. Panic raced through him. He imagined the faceless little girl sitting beside him in the blinding dark, taking to him with a mouth she did not have.

A scrape of a match, the stink of sulfur, and a candle was lit. Above the flame, the girl’s face was a quilt of candlelight and shadows. She looked like a teenager, possibly younger.

“Are you okay?” she asked him.

“I think so.” He looked around and realized he was sitting up on one of the church pews. Deep in the shadows, the altar loomed atop the pulpit like a Stonehenge pillar. “Where’s Kate?”

“That lady you were with?”

“Yes. Where is she?”

“She’s getting cleaned up in the back. You can get cleaned up, too, if you like.”

“Who are you?” he asked again.

“I told you. I’m Meg.”

“I meant, where did you come from? How did you get here?”

“Our folks brought us here when it started. They said it would be safe.”

“So you’re from town? From here in Woodson?”

“Yes.” She looked him up and down. Her grimy clothes were in tatters. Her dark hair hung in unkempt coils at either side of her face. “But you’re not,” she said.

“No,” he said. “My friends and I were driving through. Our car broke down back on the highway. We came here for help.”

The girl giggled, covering her mouth with one hand. Then she quickly apologized. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh. It just sounds funny, saying you came here for help. Of all places.”

“Yeah, right,” he said, running his hands through his hair. He sniffed and smelled blood in the air. “How many of you are hiding in this church?”

“It’s just me and my brother. His name’s Chris.”

“What happened to your parents?”

The girl looked away. Her profile made her appear more adult than Todd guessed she was.

“I’m sorry,” he said, not waiting for an answer. Anyway, he didn’t think one would come. “Do you have access to a car?”

“I can’t drive.”

“But is there a car here at the church? Something we can drive away in?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think so. We didn’t come in a car. We ran here.” She blew out the candle, dousing them both in darkness once again. “Chris says not to leave the candles burning for too long.”

“Where is Chris now?”

“In the tower. He can see the whole town from up there.”

“What happened to my gun?”

The girl didn’t answer.

“I had a gun,” he said. “What happened to it?”

“Chris took it.”

“Why?”

“For protection. He said we needed weapons and God provided one for us.”

“God?”

“God sent you to us for protection. That’s what Chris says.”

“Terrific. How old is Chris?”

“Twenty.”

“And how old are you?”

“Fourteen.”

Todd was startled to feel the girl’s hand slide into one of his. He was too shocked to pull away. “I think I should see my friend now,” he said.

“What’s her name? Kate?”

“Yes. Can you take me to her?”

“I can do it in the dark,” the girl said. “I don’t even need to light the candle to take you.”

“I won’t be able to see where I’m going,” he said…although he was beginning to make out the lighter shades of darkness as moonlight struck a series of stained-glass windows. Directly above the chancel, he thought he could make out panels of glass in the ceiling, though the cloud cover on this night was too great to permit the moonlight’s full penetration.

“Just hold on to my hand,” she said, and stood up.


Head back against the headrest and her eyes closed, Shawna took in great whooping breaths. Beside her in the passenger seat, Nan wept almost soundlessly into her hands. As her heartbeat regained its normal rhythm, Shawna opened her eyes to find herself staring at a windshield that was completely covered in snow. She slid the rifle between the two seats, then gripped the steering wheel, if for no other reason than to anchor herself to some tangible form of reality. She could have been in a convertible cruising down a desert highway, the sun glinting off the chrome and the wind in her hair. It was all she could do to fight off the reality of her surroundings…and she surrendered to it before too long.