Whiteout (Book 4): The City of Light, page 4
part #4 of Whiteout Series
Remember, this wasn’t the first time I’d been in such a situation, but seeing the fear in the man’s eyes morph into red-hot rage, I thought it would certainly be the last.
I won’t say I saw my life flash right before me, but this close to having your throat slashed open definitely brings out a type of melancholic longing in you.
“You’re one of them, aren’t you?” the man seethed, clenching his teeth together so I could barely understand him.
“Whatever you think I am, I’m not. I’m just a nobody. A regular guy trying to do right by his friends.”
The knife jittered with the man’s shaking hand. If I got out of this, I thought, I wouldn’t have to shave for a while. Blood rolled down my neck, the icy wind virtually freezing it as soon as it fell from my wound.
“Liar!” he shouted. “Liar!”
The man’s mask had gone askew in our scuffle, so I scanned his brow for a dark line, a sign he’d been infected by the wraiths, and saw none. That meant nothing, though, because he could still be infected the way Bob Ballard was.
Deep down, I didn’t believe the man was insane in any sense of the word. There was something…different about this man.
“Just listen to me,” I tried to reason, acutely aware of how a few more pounds of pressure on his end could result in having the underside of my tongue skewered by steel. “Put the knife down. We can talk this through, I promise.”
The man shifted, bucking me off of him, and stood. He never even blinked, and the blade, long with a serrated edge, stayed poised in my direction. That craziness was back in his eyes. Yet he slumped to one side, and his free hand clutched the part of his sternum I’d felt bend inward when I initially hit him.
Talking seemed like a fantasy. I scanned the snow for the rifle, my last chance at safety. Part of me hoped the man would give up, turn around, run back to wherever he came from, and lick his wounds in the shadows. By the time he was better, we’d be long gone, safely away from any chances of revenge.
The arm holding the weapon suddenly wavered. Maybe my wishes were coming true; maybe reasoning wasn’t out of the question. Of course, he tensed back up and those thoughts vanished.
I needed the gun—
A shadow crept into the edges of my vision from the alley a few feet to my left. Was it a wraith? A projection? This guy’s partner? I resisted facing whatever it was, afraid that if I took my eye off the deranged man with the knife, he would pounce and finish what he started.
Turned out I didn’t have to face it, because the shadow advanced, and instead of staying in my peripherals like one of the monsters would have done, it showed itself completely.
And it was no shadow.
It was Eleanor.
Remaining quiet proved almost impossible. The love of my life had entered the lion’s den, weaponless except for a branch, and what was I supposed to do? Let her get sliced up by some crazy guy?
Not a chance.
But I’m not always a complete idiot. I threw my hands up and started babbling about nonsense. Seriously, whatever came to mind. I asked what the man’s favorite flavor of cotton candy was, if he preferred Xbox or PlayStation before all things went to hell, what his name was, and what he liked to eat on Thanksgiving. The whole time, I tried my best to keep my eyes off Eleanor. She moved like she was drunk, a side effect of the wind, no doubt, and I’m sure she probably made a lot of noise. But the silver lining about the wind—if you could call it that—was how it demanded you hear only it.
The man flashed me an uneasy look, the likes of which I’ve never gotten before, and he one-upped me in the crazy department, saying, “Shut your mouth! Stop talking! You’re not real! You’re not real! You’re a Thumbprint Person! Take off your mask and show—”
The crutch drove through the air and hit him in the side of the head. A heavy clonk, like something you’d hear in a cartoon, sounded on contact. The guy’s eyes opened wider than ever and his knees started shaking. As he took a step forward, the knife fell from his hand and landed silently in the snow, disappearing beneath the white.
“Wuh—” he began, turning his head to see what had hit him. But no other words left his mouth after that, because his shaking knees gave way, and he belly-flopped not far from where his weapons had vanished.
Ell dropped the crutch, pulled out a flashlight, hastily turned it on, and ran my way. She tripped once, but scrambled back to her feet before I could reach her. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” she asked me.
I took her into my arms, hugging her as tight as my tired muscles allowed. “I’m fine, I’m fine. And it’s all thanks to you.”
As we parted, the corners of her lips rose above the scarf covering the lower half of her face.
I wasn’t smiling with her, though; I was frowning.
“Grady…don’t give me that look.”
“What were you thinking? You could’ve been killed!”
“I wasn’t going to let you die. If you think I could’ve honestly sat in the sled and done nothing while you wrestled around in subzero temperatures, in the dark, then you’re even dumber than Stone says.”
“Ouch.”
She ignored this. “What would you have done in my situation? And don’t give me any of that ‘But, Ell, you’re just a fragile girl’ crap because I’m not.” A few seconds passed as she waited for my reply. When none came, she nodded. “Exactly.”
I shrugged. What else could I do?
Ell turned and pointed toward the buildings on my left, her right. One of them was an old-looking movie theater. Snow obscured part of the marquee, but I made out the words there. Advertisements for the last movies to hit theaters before the end of the world.
COMING ATTRACTIONS:
TENET - JULY 17
&
DISNEY’S MULAN - JULY 24
TIX ON SALE NOW!
“Stone parked the sled over there,” Ell continued. “He was about to come get you…” Another smile. “I guess you can see I vetoed that idea pretty quick. But I only did it because I love you.”
“I love you too.”
We kissed, and the warmth of our lips pressed together felt better than that of any sun. You may think I’m insane for saying such a thing, especially in our current situation, but if you’ve ever been in love, you’ll know I’m far from that. You know, now that I think about it…maybe love is insane.
The unconscious man, momentarily forgotten, stirred in the snow. The collision of crutch against skull had knocked the ski mask almost entirely from his face. I grabbed Ell’s light and shined it at him. His eyelids fluttered, and his mouth twisted into a painful grimace. A fresh sheen of blood rolled from the top right of his head, where a nasty gash had opened. He was pretty fucked up, in all honesty; Ell had hit him good. I hadn’t recalled her ever telling me she played softball before, but if she hadn’t—especially with a swing like that—that was a shame. I will say I definitely pitied any piñatas that crossed her path.
Leaning a little closer to the man as he continued shifting, Ell put an arm across my chest and tried to hold me back.
I said, “It’s okay. I just wanna see if he’s got a mark.”
Hesitantly, her arm fell and I stumbled through the snow, the light trained on his face. There was no mark there, but I knew we weren’t in the clear yet. Just because I had seen the line on the foreheads and faces of the others, that didn’t mean they couldn’t be hidden elsewhere. Still, my gut feeling told me this guy wasn’t dangerous. Just lonely and suffering from cabin fever. After my stay on Prism Lake, both in our house and in Helga’s, I was familiar with that concept.
“We can’t leave him out here,” Ell said. “I mean, if he’s not infected or whatever. That would be wrong, right?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“So what do we do?”
I handed her the flashlight. “Keep it on me. I’m gonna look for the gun and the knife.”
Ell nodded. First I walked around the guy, who started mixing in groans with his twitching, and grabbed the crutch. It wasn’t an assault rifle, but it was pretty solid despite its low weight. There was a large dent in the metal near the arm cushion. Usable, but Stone would probably have a fit about the damage. More importantly, the crutch was better than no weapon at all.
It took me a minute or two to locate the rifle because it had sunk through the few feet of fresh powder. I dusted the snow from the muzzle and the stock, and then put the strap over my shoulder as I started searching for the blade. I found that faster, thanks to having seen it fly from the man’s hand when Ell intervened. It had been buried a few feet from where he lay, near some of the splatters of blood.
As I pocketed the knife, the man found himself able to talk. “What—what the hell happened?”
Grabbing the rifle and aiming it at him, I said, “You attacked us, and my girlfriend here knocked you on your ass.”
“Huh?” The man struggled to sit up and clutched the wound above his eye. This movement caused both Ell and I to take a cautious step away. The cold had pretty much stopped the bleeding, but I doubted it stopped the pain. The man blinked a few times, shook his head, and then stared wide-eyed at Ell, who I had given the crutch. “You gotta helluva swing, ma’am.”
Now would’ve been a good time for her to reply with some sort of badass quip, which I’ll admit is what I expected—but she didn’t. She said something very…Ell-like instead, and I loved her all the more for that.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you so hard. I just wanted to knock the knife out of your hand, not knock you unconscious.”
The man shrugged. “It’s all good, sweetheart. No harm done. Hell, I needed a nap anyway. I’ve been up for—shit, I don’t know how many days.”
I eyed the man warily. He seemed normal enough to me, but after what we’d gone through in Woodhaven, I operated with even more caution than before. The man saw me looking at him, and he arched an eyebrow. I found it funny how it was my expression that caught his attention and not the fact that I was currently aiming his own rifle at him.
“What is it, chief? I got some food on my face? Spinach in my teeth?”
“You were rambling on about ‘Thumbprint People’ or something like that,” I said. “But you don’t look like you’re infected. I don’t see any marks.”
A ripple of uncertainty passed through the man’s features. “I—uh, I thought you were, you know, them…fuckin’ with me.”
“What are the ‘Thumbprint People’?” Ell asked, huddling closer. Although the resulting surge of adrenaline kept my blood warm and we’d only been outside the snowmobiles for five minutes—if that—the subzero temperatures were starting to get to Ell and I both. We needed to find shelter before frostbite settled in.
“That’s a long story,” the guy answered. “Way too long to tell ya out here in what I like to call ‘Santa’s Asshole,’ but in short, the Thumbprint People are how the shadows get in my head. Personal and all that. I’m sure y’all know, seeing as how ya survived this long.”
I nodded.
“I’m sorry about shootin’ at y’all,” the guy continued. “It’s true that I ain’t been in my right mind, yeah, but I ain’t tagged. I promise you.”
“Promises don’t mean anything these days,” I said.
“Did they ever?” the man replied and smiled again. How he could smile after probably having a concussion, I’ll never know. Maybe it was the concussion that made him do that.
“Good point,” I said.
“Guess I just needed a good smack on the head.” The guy winked at Eleanor. I didn’t like that, but the whining of an approaching engine diverted my attention elsewhere. Our other snowmobile.
Stone eased his way toward us, the light nearly blinding to our dark-adjusted eyes. When he saw it was me holding the gun and not the stranger, he picked up the pace. Then he parked about a dozen feet away, cracked his door, and shouted, “You guys okay?”
I gave him a thumbs-up.
“Good. Now let’s get the fuck outta here!”
The man pulled himself to his feet, clutching his head with one hand the whole time, as if letting go would cause it to fall off. My aim on him had gotten lazy, but at that movement, I stiffened. He didn’t so much as flinch. Instead, he nodded toward Stone’s snowmobile.
“Y’all are gonna travel in that? A two-seater?” He snorted. “Good luck. You won’t get more than a mile before that old gal shits the bed.” The man turned, pointed at the other sled. “What about that one?”
“Broke down,” I answered. Then, through gritted teeth: “Nearly crashed it when you shot at us.”
“Well, let me make it up to y’all.”
Ell and I exchanged an uncertain look.
“Oh, c’mon,” the man said. “You got the gun and the knife. I’m a scrappy fighter, I won’t lie, but not when my brains are leaking outta my head. Plus, how many are ya, four?”
“Five,” Ell corrected. “Including our dog.”
“Five, okay. Well, I’m outnumbered, ain’t I?”
Ell leaned closer to me, and whispered, “I don’t care what we do, Grady, but I wanna get somewhere warm.”
The man cocked a thumb at the theater up the road. “That’s my HQ. We can weather the dark together, and come first light, I’ll take a look at your snowmobile. See what I can do. And let me tell y’all this, there ain’t an engine I can’t fix. I promise ya that.”
It sounded nice, I’ll admit, and aside from shooting at us, the man didn’t give off bad vibes like Bob Ballard had. But the decision ultimately came down to the group.
“Give us a minute,” I said, motioning Ell toward Stone and Mia while I kept the rifle trained on the stranger.
Stone leaned farther out of his open door. “He’s inviting us to stay with him?” He laughed. “Yeah, right.”
“I mean, his place is right there.” I patted the rifle. “I’ve got the weapon. But he seems all right to me.”
“Me too,” Ell said. “Kinda sweet, actually. I mostly just feel bad for him.”
“That’s probably because you busted his head open with Stone’s crutch,” Mia said. “Yeah, we saw it.”
Ell shrugged.
Ignoring this, Stone raised his voice. “You guys can’t be serious. This dude fucking shot at us.”
“Well…” I said, “to be fair, he shot upward, like he was trying to scare us off as opposed to killing us.”
Stone bowed his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. He looked back at Ell and me after a few seconds. “You get this dumbass expression on your face whenever you wanna do something stupid, Grady. Did you know that?”
“You’ve reminded me a few times, yeah.”
“Have we learned nothing?” Stone said. “Do you want to go through another Woodhaven situation?”
“He’s not infected,” Ell said.
I kept not only my eyes on the guy standing in the snow a few feet away, but the gun too. Aside from keeping his head on a swivel, he hadn’t moved.
Stone’s upper body jolted as he chuckled. “Bob wasn’t infected either, not in a way we were familiar with.” He drew an imaginary line between his eyes.
“What are the odds of running into two people like Bob this close together?” Mia asked.
“Fuck if I know, but I don’t wanna find out.” Stone’s brow wrinkled. “Do you guys?”
Eleanor leaned closer. “Listen, I don’t want another Woodhaven situation as much, if not more, than any of you. But I’m freezing and Mia’s pregnant—”
“As hell,” Mia interjected. She seemed comfortable despite that, reclining as far as her seat allowed, petting Chewy beneath his many blankets.
“Yeah, she’s pregnant as hell, and we’re gonna need the other snowmobile to get to the City.”
“Crazy or not,” I added, “the guy’s right about not getting far with all of us piled in this piece of junk. Remember the short trip from the Woodhaven Motel to Bob’s house? We moved about five miles per hour.”
Stone took a deep breath, exhaling a white cloud of vapor. He knew I was right, and I could always tell how that annoyed him. I could also tell when he was going to give in, and this, too, was verging on one of those times.
I patted him on the shoulder. “It all comes to risk, buddy. The way we’re living now, you can’t escape it. It factors into everything we do, no matter how small. Right?” Stone glared at me, opened his mouth to argue, but I raised a hand from the rifle, stopping him before he could get started. “Hey, I’ve listened to your countless rants about Tom & Jerry and horror movies. Least you could do is hear me out.”
He rolled his eyes. “Fine. You’re right—about the risk, I mean.”
“I know I am. What I’m saying is, no matter what we do, there’s a risk. So it comes down to what’s the bigger risk. You think I really wanna share a room with the dude who could’ve put a bullet through one of your guys’ brains? Hell to the no I don’t, but I’d much rather take my chances against him than an army of monsters.”
Silence except for the wind as Ell, Mia and I, and even Chewy, waited for Stone’s response.
“Damn it,” he finally said. “Fine. But when we’re dead, I’m gonna rub it in your face so hard.”
“Wow,” Ell exclaimed. “What a wonderful mindset.”
Stone offered half a shrug.
I gave Ell a quick shake of the head. “Don’t pay any attention to him. He likes being right more than he likes living.”
In the circle of light, the man raised a hand our way. “Uh, yeah, excuse me, I don’t wanna be rude here or nothin’ like that...you know, on account of you havin’ my rifle and all, but I think we should get a move-on ASAP.”
“The movie theater right there, correct?” I shouted.
He nodded, squinting against the beams cutting through the darkness. “Yeah. It ain’t much, but I’ve been livin’ there a long time and I like to think I’m all right.”
Besides the occasional mental breakdown, I added silently.
“That’s debatable,” Stone mumbled, the voice to my thoughts.
