The Final Winter: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel(16)
Ben swallowed. He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear what it was the girl saw – especially the bit about how her phone was all messed up the same as his and Jerry’s. The last thing Ben needed was to be freaked right now, but he asked the question anyway. It felt like he needed to. “What did you see?”
Jess shook her head and shrugged, her bleached-blonde hair glinting in the white light coming in from outside. “I…I really don’t know, but it had a face, you know? It was a man, I guess. A tall man.”
“Like Phantasm? Dude!” Jerry left it at that. Sometimes Dude was enough for him.
Ben wasn’t quite so impressed though. “A face? You just bumped into someone in the dark! No big deal.”
Jess nodded. “Maybe – except for the only thing I could make out on this person’s face were his eyes: big, glowy white ones inside of a hood.”
“A hood?” Another one of Jerry’s fantasies took a hold of him. “What kind of hood? Jedi or Sith? Or one like the guy in Assassin’s Creed?”
Jess shook her head, a blank expression on her face. “I don’t know what any of that means, but it was like a priest’s robe or something. I didn’t see anything else – just the face – and I ran. Then I ended up at your door. Thank God!”
Jerry put an arm around the girl’s waist and squeezed tightly. “Amen to that!”
Ben’s common sense was telling him to dismiss the girl’s story as paranoid nonsense, but part of him couldn’t help but wonder…
Was something out there in the snow?
Chapter Ten
Damien had separated himself from the group and was now standing by the window in his bulbous puffer jacket, staring intently at the world outside. Harry and the other drinkers had remained around the sofa, a row of beers at their feet thawing in front of the fire. A couple were cracked due to the change in temperature, but several more seemed to be returning to their more natural state of crisp, bubbling liquid.
Damien stared out into the night.
What is with this weather? It came out of nowhere…
Damien had never known anything like it. The air was cold enough to freeze a person’s eyelashes – not to mention the beer – and if he was honest (which he never was if he could help it) he was worried. If the power didn’t come back on soon, would it continue to get even colder? Would he freeze to death? It seemed absurd in this day and age, but he wasn’t so certain anymore. The ghost-white blanket swirling outside the window made him even less sure. The whole world was freezing.
How did I get stuck in this dump on a night like tonight? The one Tuesday where I have serious business to attend to and this happens – and that f*ckface Jimmy hasn’t even turned up. I should be sitting in my Jacuzzi right now – some bitch waiting on the bed to gobble my knob – but no, I’m stuck here with a bunch of deadbeats. Steph isn’t so bad – in fact I wouldn’t mind giving her one – but the others deserve a good old-fashioned beat down. Especially that waster, Harry. Thinks he’s better than me when really he’s the biggest degenerate here.
Damien craned his neck towards the group by the fire. Harry was sitting on the sofa alone, whilst the others milled about nearby.
Everyone probably moved away because of the stink of booze and vomit. Who the hell does that guy think he is?
Damien had noticed plenty of times how Harry turned his nose up whenever him and his mates were in the pub. Damien would have done something about it before now but the guy wasn’t worth the effort. Besides, despite his superior attitude, Harry pretty much kept to himself, and it was a bad move to pick fights with people that kept to themselves. It put you on the radar, and that was the last thing he needed right now
Still, the geezer best wind his neck in because I’ll put him down if he gets in my face again. That thick Mick will get his too if he’s not careful. Sick of people treating me like a worthless thug, thinking they know all about me, but they don’t know shit.
For some reason, when Damien thought about Lucas it produced butterflies in his stomach and he wasn’t sure why. Certainly wasn’t because he was scared of the man (or any man for that matter), but for some reason Lucas made Damien feel uneasy. Especially after the guy had damn-near bust his hand.
Damien shuddered as a cold breeze made it inside his collar. Time to get back in front of that fire, I think; freezing my bloody nutsack off!
He turned away from the window and saw Lucas staring at him from across the room.
Speak of the Devil!
Damien wrinkled his brow at the man, who had now begun smiling as well as simply staring. Damien shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. Body language for: What you looking at?
Lucas nodded at him and held up a bottle of beer.
Right! Damien thought, relieved, without knowing exactly what he had to be relieved about. He’s just letting me know that the beer has thawed out.
Despite relaxing a little, the butterflies in Damien’s stomach were still acting up. In fact they were multiplying.
###
Harry watched while Damien took a lightly-frosted beer from Lucas and wondered if he saw nervousness in the lad’s eyes. The lad had started to seem less sure of himself as the night had gone on, as though some well-kept veneer of toughness had slowly started to show cracks. Harry took a swig of his own beer and cringed as the icy liquid passed over his teeth, making them ache a little. Think I would actually prefer a steaming mug of coffee about now.