Winter's Salvation (7 page)

             
The creature soon disappeared from her line of site and the whole car shook and jumped as she hit the beast directly head on.  She made sure she ran completely over it and stopped inches from her garage.  Trying to calm down, she took a deep breath and turned her gaze to the rear view mirror.  She only moved her eyes, but still felt a sharp pain run through her neck.  There was no movement behind the car, but she could not move forward any farther because of the white garage door.  She didn’t think the creature was alive and she had no doubt that running it over the first time killed it, but out of the same rage the creature had for her, she backed over it. 

             
Naomi tried to straighten her back out as much as possible and get out of the small car without making any bends in her body, but wasted no time getting out of the vehicle.  Her daughter was trapped in the house and Naomi had no idea if she was ok.  She stepped over the broken screen door and walked into the house.  The second she past the threshold she hollered out for her daughter.  “Sam!” she ran through the living room and into the kitchen as fast as she could while maintaining her stiff posture.  “Sam!” 

She heard a call back, “Mom!”  The call came from upstairs and as soon as Naomi reached for the cherry wood colored door that lead to her room the door flung open.  Samantha stood at the first step and wrapped her arms around her mother.   Searing pain shot through Naomi’s neck and back, but she could not let go of her daughter.  They squeezed each other tighter than they had ever held each other before. 

Minutes felt like seconds and they held each other, until they both stopped crying.  Samantha is a thirteen year old, light colored black girl with hair that mimics her mothers.  Her black braids were not as long as Naomi’s, but matched her thin frame.  She is tall for her age and has the exact features her mother had when she was her age.  Naomi and Sam are a spitting image of each other, with the only difference is that her mother is taller.  She wore blue cuffed Capri jeans that had rips designed into them and an all black shirt that read Gorgeous in gray lettering on the front of it. 

Naomi didn’t notice it until they pulled away, but evidence of where this man had been was all over the house.  Bloody hand prints were smeared all over the white kitchen walls and large splotches from where the beast thrust its self against the wall.  All the utensils that were thrown and broken were covered in the creature’s reddish black blood. 

Sam looked at the walls in horror knowing that the thing that was down the stairs just minutes ago, looking for her did all this and could not help, but think about what it was going to do to her. 

**********

              They sat on Sam’s disheveled bed and watched her small TV.  Pink walls and pink curtains surrounded them, and dozens of teddy bears looked down on them, that seemed to relax them just a little.  It managed to give them a small touch of the ordinary.  The only thing that changed the atmosphere was the unfamiliar voice and a stranger’s face sitting behind the news anchors desk on the T.V.  This was not the anchor that normally announces the news, but this new anchor held his composure and informed the active listener about the events that were happening outside of their homes.  The man put his right hand to his ear and looked down at his desk listening and concentrating intently on what was being passed to him. 

             
At that point the T.V. switched screens and went to what was believed to be live footage of the surrounding counties.  They showed the highways moving very slowly from the view of a helicopter.  There were people walking along the cars and keeping pace with them.  It made no difference which direction the vehicles went in because both directions were in the same shape.  The foreign voice came over the footage, “We are advising everyone that is watching us to stay inside.  The military and police officials are working together to find shelter and will be picking up everyone in our listening area.”   He forced himself to sound sincere, but there was something in his voice that was beginning to creep through.  He himself was beginning to have doubts of what he was saying, and that there was somewhere else he wanted to be.  It then cut back to the anchor and the camera slowly shifted and the view on the T.V. shifted down.  They were able to see the speaker, but whoever was running the camera must have let it go, causing it to shift downward.

             
“Ladies and gentlemen I regret to inform you that major power outages are begging to be reported.  Some of our viewing area will soon be losing power in just an hour or less.  The Jasper Generating Power plant and the Urguhart Power Plant have been abandoned.  If you have a generator please prepare for the power drop off.  Please gather all of your batteries and insure that your flash lights are in working order.  We suggest that if you are able to, gather all of your supplies and keep them close to you.  You should avoid your windows and lock your doors.” 

             
Naomi had no idea where the plant was that she received her power from, but she lived in Jasper County and assumed she would be losing her power shortly.  She thought to herself and realized she did not own a flash light or have any of the equipment she needed to stay here for a long period of time.  She barely had enough food for dinner tonight. 

The news now started flashing recorded video of other areas outside the county, the state and from all over the world.  The video they were watching all looked the same.  It showed jammed streets, burning houses, people running franticly, and with all of this they never gave a reason why.  The entire listening audience was clueless as to why this was happening to them and to the world.  The TV flashed to an outside view of the local hospital and it showed people running out from the front doors.  Patients and nurses alike fled from the very place people wanted to go.  They showed another video of a hallway in the hospital, but the only thing they could make out was people running away from the camera. 

Between the frantic cracks of herding people the T.V. showed fast shots of a fight and some other confrontation that was occurring while people rushed past it.  In the middle of the hallway was a boy dressed in khaki slacks, a blood stained white button up shirt and what used to be white apron that hung loosely around his neck, now it shined of crimson red splash.  Naomi saw this and gasped, because she immediately recognized this young boy as the one that works at the food mart across from her bank and the same boy they all watched die less than two hours ago. 

His eyes were white and wild, and as the nurses ran past him, he tackled them one by one like a lion jumping on its prey
that is forced to run next to it.  With every nurse or patient he took down he would come up with fresh blood layering his face and flesh hanging from it’s mouth from his victim.  Just as fast as he took that one down he quickly scanned the hallway with his white eyes that glowed under a red mask for his next closest victim.  His victims were not dead and immediately got up and ran from the hospital, but everyone left with a painful bite that soaked their clothing with blood.  

The T.V. once again shifted to the man behind the desk and his face changed from a light tanned color to a very light pale.  He tried to say his next line, but he could not find his ability to read the cards in front of him.  Each word came out as a short and soft syllable, but he continued to try to report on the news until the frustration of not being able to talk consumed him.  He could no longer restrain his fear and it forced him to his breaking point.  Then he magically found his voice, “Sorry I can’t do this anymore.” He stood up; his shoulders down were the only thing showing on the television set.  He reached up with his right hand and a set of wires and a hearing device were dropped on the desk.  There was to be no more reporting and the picture on the screen stayed the same.  This news anchor was the last person to stay at the station. 

Chapter 5

Mr. Cook

             
They sat in the pink room holding onto each other until the screen on the TV turned to a solid blue pane.  They had watched the empty news room for what felt like hours and they both jumped as the abrupt change shocked them.  “We should lock this place up.”  Naomi said pulling free from her daughter’s grip. 

             
“What about dad?”  Sam cried with worry. 

             
“I’ll call him, but we need to fix this place up.  The front door is wide open.”  Sam’s father was a very level headed white man and seemed to always have the right answer, in and for every situation.   To Naomi that is the reason they separated.  She wanted to be the one that had the answers and the one that could get them out of whatever pickle they were in, but Berry always had the best solution. She actually really wanted him to be with them right now. 

             
The sound of groaning followed by a faint pounding of something came from the window behind them over the bed.  They shifted their positions and looked to Mr. and Ms. Wingate’s house.  The Wingate’s house was to the right of theirs and Sam’s window faced directly in their direction.  Standing on the porch at the front of their small blue Cape Cod house were four of those beasts gathering at the front door.  There is an acre of property between the two houses, but more of them were traveling from the street.  Six ghouls slowly lumbered from the street and two of them were pushed to the ground as three more came running past them.  Sam’s face turned to sheer horror and she looked to her mother.  “We need to get out of here.”  Naomi said calmly.  She needed to be the strong one and prove to her daughter that she could lead.  

             
“I want to go to dads.”  Sam cried.

Naomi reached for her phone, but she left everything in the car.  “I need to use your phone.” 

Sam reached under the bed and started dialing her father.  Naomi reached for the phone and Sam retracted.  Reacting to her daughter pulling from her, she grabbed her arm and yanked the phone free. 

“God!” Sam hollered and her voice started to crack.

Network busy
, the screen on the phone read.  “It’s not working.” 

Sam reached
back for the phone, this time Naomi retracted and a shot of pain coursed through her back.  “Damn it Samantha,” She hissed, “Look, let’s see how this pans out.  Let’s go and lock up everything as much as possible and grab the things the T.V. said to get.”

             
“I want my Dad, he would know what to do.  I want to go to his place.” Sam cried and continued to grab for the phone.

             
Fighting for control of the phone with waves of pain sailing through her, Naomi mustered the strength for one push away from her. “Samantha!”  She barked, “We’re not going anywhere right now!  I mean we need to get ready.”  She paused and spoke in a soft voice, “Let’s get the stuff we’re going to need and start looking at our options.  You saw the T.V. those things are all over the place and our front door is wide open right now.”  

             
Sam didn’t reply, but stood quietly and nodded slightly in approval.  They traveled down the steps slowly and as quietly as possible.  They emerged from the room and the horrors of the creature that Naomi ran over hit both of them.  The pounding on the door and walls trying to get to Sam, and Naomi thought back on the beast of a man running through her house trying to get to her, sent shivers through both of them. 

Staying as far away from the bloodied walls as possible, Naomi walked in front of Sam, but Sam spared little room between her and her mother.  They passed the bathroom on their left and Sam stepped to her side as
the hallway got a little wider.  As Naomi stepped into the living room, the sound of a gurgled scream erupted from in front of them.  Naomi thrust out her right arm in defense of her daughter, to stop her.  At the front door in the broken door way lay the same beast that she ran over in the drive way.  It was pushing up with it’s arms crawling towards her.  It’s legs were limply dragging behind it.  The left side of the creature’s face was smashed in and a deep black hole existed where an eye once sat.  It reached out toward them and fell forward.  It let out another scream as if it were in agony, but showed no signs of pain.  With the yell they were able to see it had no control of the left side of it’s mouth, as it’s jaw swung loosely almost separated from its mangled face.

Naomi pushed Sam back as she stood stiff. 
Paralyzed with fear, she gazed at the milky white eye that shown brightly within the smashed black and red face.  Naomi pushed hard against Sam’s chest and she caught herself from falling backwards.  “Out the back,” Naomi hollered to her.  The ghoul screamed out almost as if it understood and disagreed with her. 

She stepped backwards, slowly
, one concentrated step after another.  The slow step turned into a turn and with a forceful push against Sam, they ran back into the kitchen and out the back door.  As soon as they closed the door they heard something fumbling through their house.  This fumbling was not Naomi’s hit and run victim, but another faster ghoul that ran in over the downed creature.   They ran down the back steps and started running to their neighbor’s house.  From here they could see the house did not have any of the ghouls climbing over each other to get in like the neighbors on the other side of them did.