White Walker (8 page)

As Kevin approached the woman, she stepped forward
to meet his advance, the yellow flames around her revealing her
face. With the exception of her curly hair. she could have passed
as Judy’s twin. Flames rose up behind her. The air around him
thickened as smoke formed roiling clouds above his head.

Children cried out in terror as the flames
intensified, driving that which inhabited Kevin backwards as his
flesh melted away to expose muscles of glacial ice. Flames
encircled his body, cutting off his escape, feeding on an unknown
source as Kevin melted right before his eyes. Icy muscles sloughing
off to expose crystal clear bones as he sank into a pool of water
that quickly evaporated, the steam rising into the air to vanish
into the black clouds of smoke crowded close to the ceiling.

From the hallway came a faint chattering sound that
drew his attention. He felt compelled to follow the noise. To
discover its source, torn between finding out the connection
between Judy and the shadowy woman who could control the fire, and
learning what secrets might be hidden in the shadowy depths of the
hallway. The world around him grew darker as his attention was
drawn to that chattering sound.

That strange chattering sound grew even louder as
his awareness of his surroundings became more substantial. He felt
so cold, yet at the same time he remembered the agony of the
imagined fire that seared his flesh as the memory blossomed. With
it came an understanding that she had avoided his wrath. She had
done her job, and protected her charges, and for that she would be
severely punished when the time came.

Who? What?
Teddy wondered as he hovered on
the fine edge of consciousness. His fingers were numb, the flesh of
his arms chilled, and his shoulder blades were resting painfully
upon a hard surface. As his awareness of his surroundings grew, he
realized that the chattering sound he heard was his own teeth. Then
he saw her face with his mind’s eye. No more than a child herself.
She had been charged with the care of the children under her
guidance

The image faded as the ceiling of the hallway swam
into focus above him. Judy’s face came into view, her features
twisted with worry, and she pulled her hair back with one hand,
pinning it in place behind her ear.

“Are you all right?” she said.

He looked around the room, at the others gathered
around him, worry printed on their faces.

“What happened?”

“That’s what we’d like to know. We found you on the
dock just staring into the snow like you were spacing out or
something,” Cody said. “If we hadn’t of gone out to grab a smoke
you’d still be out there freezing your ass off. Me and Kevin got
you inside real quick, but…” He faltered, all the bravado, that
macho tough man front, dropping away to reveal the insecurity of a
young man who had never been properly taught how to care for those
around him.

“Where’s Kevin?” Teddy pushed himself up into a
sitting position and saw Kevin lying face down on the floor across
the hall from him. “What happened?”

“We think he had a heart attack.”

“Yeah, he was the last one to come in,” Cody said.
“He was complaining about being cold, then just dropped.”

Teddy recalled the monster from the dream that had
not felt like a dream. How it had emerged from within Kevin’s body.
Could Kevin have seen the same thing he did?

Let me in.
That sweetly sinister voice
whispered in his mind. It had found a way in. Just like his Nanny
had told him years earlier. The winter spirits of the north could
assume the shape of any creature that suited their purpose, man
included. It was probably how it had infiltrated the German patrol
that vanished that night so long ago.

“What are we going to do?” Andrea said. “The phones
are down but the computers are still working. We have to contact
someone about Kevin.”

They couldn’t leave Kevin’s body inside. It would be
in the building with them then. No telling what would happen, but
if his waking dream was any indication it would not end well for
any of them.

“Put his body outside, on the dock.”

“What?” Cody said.

“Are you crazy?” Andrea said.

“Why?” Judy said.

“Just do it, trust me.”

“It just doesn’t seem right, man. I mean it’s
fucking cold out there,” Cody said.

“He’s not going to know it,” Teddy said as he rolled
over and pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. His joints
were sore from the cold and it took some effort to move. Judy
helped him to his feet, her warm hands standing out in sharp
contrast to the deep chill that had invaded his flesh. He had to
get Kevin’s body outside, where it belonged. Crossing the hall, he
knelt down beside Kevin’s prone figure. As he did, he was overcome
with emotion. Until this moment, the knowledge of Kevin’s death had
been an abstract thought with no basis in reality. Now, as he knelt
beside Kevin’s body, searching for a pulse he knew he wasn’t going
to find, the full impact of what had happened slammed into him.

He had witnessed death up close and personal,
viewing it in its many forms. As an EMT he had seen the mangled
remains of drunken drivers, had cleaned up after suicides, some not
as successful as others. He had seen the old and the young alike
passing alone. Over the years he had become intimate with death,
acknowledging that it was a natural part of living. Growing immune,
he thought, to the emotional impact that one’s passing imparted to
those still alive.

But they had been strangers, all of them. Reduced to
nothing more than blood, bone, and internal organs subject to the
laws of decay. Kevin was different. Not even his parents’ deaths
had had the effect on him that Kevin’s passing was having on him
now.

Kevin had been emotionally involved in Teddy’s life.
He’d taken him under his wing when he first started at the call
center. Had shown him the ropes to make sure he was successful in
his job. And in that time they had become the best of friends,
celebrating one another’s triumphs, and comforting each other in
their failures.

Standing up, he stood still for a moment, weaving on
his feet as the room spun around him. He slumped against the wall,
resting his weight against that solid surface until the dizziness
passed. He had to stay strong for the others, now more than ever.
He couldn’t let his emotions take over, not yet, there would be
time for that later.

“Are you all right?” Judy asked as she slipped her
arm around his waist.

“I’ll be okay. Where is everybody?”

Andrea and Cody looked up from Kevin’s body. Cody
shrugged.

“Norman’s in the main room,” Andrea said.

“Don’t know where David and Jasmine are, but Liz and
Leslie are in the main room too,” Cody said.

Teddy pushed himself off the wall and staggered,
with Judy’s help, into the main room. He spotted Norman at his
desk, his head down as he studied the screen of his monitor.

“Norman, I need your help,” Teddy said.

Norman looked up, swiveling his head around to gaze
at Teddy, who motioned for him to come closer. Norman pushed
himself to his feet, carefully rolled his office chair under his
desk where it belonged, taking great pains to make sure everything
was in order before he left his cubicle. When he finally looked up
and met his eyes, Teddy saw the frightened expression on Norman’s
face.

When he got close enough, Teddy whispered, “You’ve
seen him too?”

With an almost imperceptible nod Norman silently
answered Teddy’s question, then looked down at his feet.

It was all the confirmation Teddy needed. They were
caught in the middle here, between two forces he couldn’t fully
understand. Something that inhabited the storm, be it legend or
folklore, and the inhabitants of the flames he’d seen in his dream.
But it hadn’t really been a dream. While he was unconscious he had
gone somewhere, to a place where the past and the present occupied
the same time and space. Be it speculation or the imaginings of an
overactive imagination, one nourished by years of reading about
those things that should not exist, of viewing movies about the
same, he had been preparing himself in a way to accept the notion
that these things could possibly exist; his mind was not a closed
book, opened as it had been by a lifetime of reading in a genre
many frowned upon. Looking around, he realized that for the most
part, many of the people he worked with, with a few exceptions,
were the same type. They were the type drawn to this kind of work.
A little more open-minded. A little more willing to accept the
impossible.

“I need your help, Norman,” Teddy said as he reached
out and placed his hand on the older man’s shoulder.

“What do you need me to do?” Norman’s reply was
barely above a whisper. Teddy noticed that Leslie and Elizabeth had
drifted over to eavesdrop on their conversation.

“You might as well come closer so you can hear,
everybody needs to know this,” Teddy said, loudly enough for the
two women to hear. With a brief glance at one another, the two
stepped closer. Teddy wasn’t sure about Leslie. She had only been
with the group for a short period of time; there hadn’t been time
to get to know her better, but she struck him as someone only
concerned with herself. Elizabeth had proven herself to be
outspoken, one who believed she knew better than others, a
perfectionist unafraid to call someone out on their mistakes. But
she had yet to learn humility. That would come in time.

“Kevin had a heart attack in the hallway.”

“Oh my god, is he going to be all right?” Elizabeth
said.

Teddy shook his head. “No, I’m afraid he died as a
result. The problem is we can’t leave his body inside.”

“Why can’t we just call somebody to come take him.
They have people who do that, don’t they?” Leslie said.

“The phones are down, and even if we could get in
touch with someone, how are they going to get here in this storm?
You saw what it looked like when you came in. It hasn’t gotten any
better.”

“I could have stayed home today,” Elizabeth said. “I
wouldn’t have to deal with any of this bullshit.”

“Why can’t we leave him inside?” Leslie said.

Norman looked up at her question and Teddy saw it on
his face. A look of pure terror. He had the expression of a trapped
animal. He knew what was outside, just as well as Teddy knew, and
he hated himself for having to make him help move Kevin’s body back
on the dock.

“It’s too warm inside,” Teddy lied. There was no
sense getting anyone else involved beyond what was absolutely
necessary.

“Do I have to?” Norman said, his eyes begging Teddy
to give him a way out of this.

“I’m gonna need your help, Norman.”

With a sigh Norman nodded as his shoulders slumped.
He looked like the condemned man about to take his final walk.

***

Andrea held the door open while Teddy, Norman, and
Cody carried Kevin’s body out into the raging storm. A cold wind
whistled down the short hallway, stirring the papers attached to
the bulletin board, setting them to fluttering with a crinkling
sound. As Norman, who held Kevin’s feet in his hands, passed
through the door, Andrea pulled it closed, cutting off the wind.
She stood on her tiptoes as she gazed out the small window to watch
as the three men carefully laid out Kevin’s body.

“Shouldn’t we cover him?” Cody said.

Teddy shook his head. “We don’t have anything to
cover him with.”

Norman stood at Kevin’s feet, gazing into the sheets
of falling snow with a hundred yard stare.

“Norman!” Teddy said, stepping around the prone body
to stand at Norman’s side. His gaze was drawn to the swirling
sheets of falling snow and beneath the steady voice of the wind he
heard the slow and steady crunch of approaching footsteps coming
from somewhere in the distance. It wasn’t possible to hear these
steps, but the day had already proven that impossible was but a
frame of mind.

“Let’s get back inside,” Teddy said as he turned to
retreat across the dock. Cody followed but Norman remained rooted
in place, staring into the storm, his face drawn into a mask of
fear.

Norman moaned in his throat when the stranger
appeared atop the small rise across from the dock. It was like
watching a stage show with the actor stepping out from behind the
curtain.

I know what you did
,
Norman,
a sweetly
sinister voice whispered in his mind.
Admit to your faults and I
may let you live.

“Leave me alone,” Norman shouted into the storm. “I
never did nothing, besides, it was an accident. I didn’t do it on
purpose.”

Teddy and Cody exchanged concerned looks tinged with
a touch of terror. Neither of them could see anything. Only the
endlessly falling sheets of snow that danced and swirled, driven
this way and that by a restless wind.

Jimmy tells me different
, that voice
whispered in Norman’s mind.

“No,” Norman moaned as the images from that day
infused his thoughts. The sun rode across a cloudless blue sky as a
young, overweight Norman wound his way through the scrub of second
growth known locally as Coopers Woods. It was a place the
neighborhood kids viewed as a vast wilderness that in fact only
covered an area the size of a football field. Following him was his
best friend, Jimmy, a small boy with a pasty complexion and a weak
constitution that forced him to live most of his life indoors.
Today was a rare treat for Jimmy. His latest doctor’s visit had
gone well and the signs were good that the cancer was in remission.
As a reward for his bravery at the doctor’s office, his mother had
agreed to let Jimmy accompany Norman to the nearby public park to
watch the older kids play football.