The Final Winter: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel(59)

Lucas walked over to the cash register and hopped up onto its surface, then took a long, deep breath. “Who I am is something we really don’t have time for right now, but how I know you is a little easier.”

“Well, get started then,” Harry demanded.

Lucas nodded. “I know you, because you’re the sinner. Same reason them outside know you – who, might I add, have nothing to do with me.”


“You expect me to believe that? You must have something to do with them.”

“I really don’t. You have my word, for what it’s worth. What happened tonight was going to happen whether I turned up or not.”

Kath stepped towards Lucas. “Who are you? What’s going on?”

Lucas looked tired of the questions already, but he still gave answers. “Both questions we don’t have time for. All I can say is that the fellas outside came for Harry. Does the ‘what’ or the ‘why’ really matter?”

“It f*cking does to me,” said Harry. It felt like his stomach was going to burst open and release his organs onto the floor. The scar on the back of his hand throbbed; it always did when he was losing control, as though it were trying to remind him what could happen when he let his anger run away with him.

“Why me?” Harry asked, trying to keep his focus on what mattered.

“B’Jaysus, we’re going around in circles. Because you’re the sinner.”

Kath shook her head. “Why is Harry ‘the sinner’?”

Harry would tell her why. It was time to own up. “Because I murdered a man.”

Lucas acted as though he knew this all along, but Kath recoiled in horror, stepping away from Harry and towards the door.

“Calm down, woman,” said Lucas. “He’s not intending to kill you.” He looked at Harry. “Are you?”

“No, of course not! The man I killed destroyed my life. It was revenge. So why is this all because of me? There’re far worse people in the world,”

“I agree,” said Lucas. “In the grand scale of things, you’re pretty low down on the Sin scale, but murder is murder.”

“But why did my sin cause all this? If that’s what you’re suggesting?” Harry felt dizzy. This morning he’d woken up expecting the day to end in a drunken stupor just like the 365 days before it. He never expected it to end like this.

Lucas stared at Harry intensely. The man’s blue eyes seemed to light the darkness around him. “Because yours was the last. The sin that finally tipped the scales.”

Harry was about to demand what the hell that meant, but, before he could grab Lucas around the throat and force him to speak sense, the doors blew inwards. Not a gust of wind swinging them open, but an actual concussive force that ripped them from their hinges and flung them across the room. The wind and snow flew in through the gap like the breath from a dragon.

Harry ran to Lucas and grabbed the man by the arm. “What the hell is happening?”

Lucas had to shout to be heard above the howling wind. “They’re coming to get you.”

Harry shook his head. “But inside the pub we were safe, they left us alone. Why are they coming inside now?”

“They couldn’t enter the pub, but they can enter here. That’s all I can tell you, right now, but I can help you get out.”

“I’m listening.”

Lucas raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Go and get all of the porno magazines.”

“What?” Kath joined them over at the cash desk. The wind had blown her dark hair into a freakish mess of tangles. She looked like a homeless witch. “This is no time for self-gratification.

“Just go and get me all the smutty magazines,” Lucas reiterated. “You’ll see why.”

Harry lacked the energy to ask more questions. The monsters outside would be inside any minute, led by the insidious dog beasts that had shredded poor, stupid Jerry to pieces. He turned, ran, and then sprinted over to the magazine aisle. It was closest to where the fire doors had been and the nearest racks were shedding their contents under the harsh wind attacking them. Harry almost slipped on a Gardening Annual as he made his way over to the far end, where the shining images of bikini clad women lay three deep. Why on earth Lucas wanted all the lad mags, he could not fathom, but it seemed as though the man know what was going on a lot better than anyone else. Harry saw little choice but to do what Lucas asked.

He picked up a copy of Nipples and then quickly gathered up several more publications of ill-repute. He clutched the pile to his chest and turned back in the opposite direction, making sure not to slip on the Gardening Annual as he ran back to Lucas. When Harry got there, the Irishman was accepting what looked like cello tape from Kath, who’d obviously been sent on her own errand.

Harry stood in front of Lucas and waited. “Well?”

“Set the pornos down on the counter, fella, and pass me that broom behind the counter.”

Harry played along, leaning over the service desk to grab the wooden handle. “Okay, got it. Now what?”

Lucas took the broom and placed it on the counter with the magazines. Then he began to tear out the pages featuring naked women (as well as a few men).

“What are you doing?” Kath asked him. “We need to hurry. I can hear them growling out there.”