The Final Winter: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel(25)

But today he would do anything to be back home with Momma and Poppa. He’d never felt as alone as he did right now.

“Jess,” he called out into the emptiness. “Jess, are you ok? It is Peter.”

There was no response, as there had not been for the last twenty minutes since he’d first split ways from Kath. He’d almost given up hope of finding Jess now, but that didn’t stop him worrying about why she had screamed. Jess was a nice girl, attractive and funny. Most of the Polish people in the town stuck to their own and socialised together – especially when it came to dating. It was easier that way and provoked less xenophobia than if the Polish men went around sleeping with the English women, but, if Peter was honest, he yearned to spend time with Jess, and thought about kissing her all the time.

I hope you are okay, my beautiful friend.

“Peter!”

He stopped in his tracks, the snow crunching beneath his polished work shoes. “Jess, is that you?”

“Yes, Peter, I’m over here. I need help. Come quick.”

Peter turned a full circle, unable to pinpoint where Jess’s voice was coming from. “Jess, I hear you, but I not see you. Jess?”

The voice came closer. “Peter, I’m here. Help!”

Peter turned another circle and stopped half way around. He spotted something in the distance and stepped toward it. “Jess, I see you.”

In the near distance, Peter could just about make out a grey shape in the howling blizzard. A sigh of relief whistled from his cold, blue lips and he began to head toward it.

###
Jess and Jerry had fled in terror after witnessing Ben’s death – disintegration? – too much in shock to comprehend what they had witnessed.

“I don’t have…a goddamn clue what…just happened,” said Jerry, out of breath from all the running.

Jess was beginning to slow down too. They hadn’t gone far, but in the deep, sucking snow, running any length at all was an endurance test. “I need…to stop,” she said. “I’ve got a stitch.”

Jerry halted and looked at her. Then he grabbed her arm and pulled hard. “Are you loco? That thing will get us. You never stop when there’s a demon on your arse. Have you never seen Friday the 13th?”

Jess pulled back, her chest rising and falling in great heaves. “There’s…no such thing as…demons.”

“There is too. Exorcist was based on true events and so was The Entity.”

Jess shook her head. “They just say that so idiots like you believe it. The thing in the hood wasn’t chasing us when we ran. I think we can stop.”

“You saw what it did to Ben!” Jerry seemed to struggle with something internally, before going on. Maybe he was realising that his childhood friend was gone for real; that it wasn’t all just some movie. “It killed him,” he said, staring her in the eyes, “and if we don’t get moving it’ll get us too.”

Jess nodded. “Okay, but where the hell are we going? I can’t see anything and I’ve already gotten lost in this snow once tonight.”

Jerry pulled on her arm again and the two of them started moving. “We need to find the pub or see if your boss is still at the supermarket.”

Jess laughed. “I’d rather let that thing back there have me than ask that cow for help.”

“The pub it is then,” said Jerry.

###

Twenty minutes later, the two of them came to a stop at the bottom of the hill leading up to The Trumpet. It had taken the last of their energy, wandering around in the white darkness of the growing blizzard, to find it, and if it wasn’t for the fear and adrenaline dominating her system, Jess was sure she would’ve keeled over by now.

“Thank God we found it,” she said. “I don’t think I can get much colder. My nipples could cut cake.”

Jerry stared at her chest.

“That wasn’t an invitation to ogle my tits. Just take my word for it, they’re cold.”

Jerry shook himself as if escaping a hypnotic trance. “Sorry! Well, it’s one thing finding the pub, but let’s hope somebody’s still in there. Else, I don’t know what we’re going to do. With the Siberian weather and Flame Boy on our tail, I don’t know what’ll kill us first.”

Jess shuddered.

“Sorry,” he said. “I know you’re scared.”

Jess didn’t admit it, but it was true. They were both fighting back the pangs of panic as their bodies continued to freeze. Jerry’s cheeks had gone clammy and looked like they were burning. She worried that if they didn’t get under cover soon they’d be in danger of getting frostbite or hypothermia.

Jess started to take the steps up the hill, sticking to where she imagined the path lay beneath the snow. She peered up at the pub, which looked back down at her ominously. “I think I see light in there.”

Jerry squinted. “Yeah, I think I do too. There must be people inside.”

The two of them hurried, taking steps as quickly as possible in the knee-high snow sloping upwards. As Jess got nearer the top, she became more and more certain that there was indeed light inside the pub. Not electrical light, but a flickering, glowing light from a torch or-“

“I think they have a fire in there,” said Jess, giddy at the thought of warmth.