FROSTBITE (7 page)

“That’s all a load of garbage,” Ted scoffed from behind us. “Death Worms.”

“Oh,” I said, turning in my seat. “But this creature being an alien isn’t?” Ted frowned and walked away.

“He’s kind of a jerk,” Brad said, nodding in Ted’s general direction.

“Oh I don’t know,” I replied. “He may come around. People conduct themselves differently depending on their circumstances.”

“What do you mean?” Kevin asked.

“Take your average Joe. He is a decent guy; pays his taxes, cuts his lawn and raises his family the best he knows how,” I answered.

“Yeah?” Kevin urged me, interested.

“Well, if you take that same fella and put him in an extremely stressful or dangerous environment, he quite possibly could conduct himself rather contrarily than he normally would,” I continued.

“How so?” Brad asked. “I mean, you seem to be yourself so far.”

“Well,” I exhaled. “I’ve been through some bad stuff in my life, maybe even worse than this.”

“Worse than this?” Kevin echoed. “How is that possible?”

“I don’t think I should go into all that detail,” I replied.

“Why not?” Brad probed.

“You’re young for starters,” I said.

“Young?” Brad interrupted, apparently offended. “I’m almost fifteen years old.”

“I know.”

“Plus take a look around,” he insisted. “This is pretty bad.”

I sat silently for a moment, brewing over how I should go about the conversation. They were actively talking-which was good-their minds were being occupied on something other than what they had just witnessed. On the other hand, they had already been through enough and my story wasn’t exactly light-hearted.

In the end I decided on telling my experience for two reasons. One, the boys had already been through a lot and knew that the world could be ugly at times. It’s a lesson we all have needed to learn at one point or another in our lives. And the other reason was that I hoped it would somehow help them later on down the line in this journey we called life.

“Okay,” I conceded. “You boys ever hear of the Vietnam War?”

“I guess,” Kevin shrugged.

“Sure,” Brad said. “We learned about it in school.”

“Well I was there,” I continued.

“Really?” Kevin asked. “Did you have a gun?”

I slightly chuckled. “Yes, I had a gun.”

Brad leaned forward. “What kind?”

“I had several,” I replied. “But the one I always had slung over my shoulder was an M-16 rifle.”

“Wow,” Kevin said in that special ten-years-old fascinated kind of way.

“I heard that the Vietnam War was really bad,” Brad said. “My teacher said that between both sides, there were over a million casualties.”

I nodded. “That’s true. There really never was an official declaration of war, so the dates are a bit sketchy, but it lasted nearly twenty years.”

“When did you go?” Brad asked.

“1967,” I answered. “And I was there well over a year.”

“Whoa,” Kevin gulped. “That was rough, huh?”

“Yes it was,” I responded truthfully. “And it was there that I learned that some normal people do some very abnormal things when the circumstances are extreme.” They both stared at me, wanting to hear more. I stared back, not wanting to really tell.

“Go on,” Brad urged.

After a long pause I finally said, “It was February of 1968. Not long before I came home, come to think of it.” Then suddenly I was there, almost as if I had never left. It wasn’t freezing cold anymore, no sir, it was actually quite warm. I could picture the foliage, smell the odors, and hear Sargent Hellerman barking orders.

“Our troop had stumbled upon a small hamlet and the order went out to gather any and all civilians in the area,” I said in an almost dream-like voice. “My buddy, Woody Harris and I went off and started searching. He and I went through boot camp together and became pretty good friends. He was a tall, lanky fellow with a wife and a one year old daughter back home and I was engaged to my Sarah.”

“She was your wife?” Kevin asked innocently.

“Yes,” I answered and continued on. “Anyway, after a while we happened upon a small hut and inside huddled in a corner was a mother and daughter. The mother’s face was sunken and you could tell that she had not eaten in a while. The little girl had to have been no older than seven and she wasn’t fairing much better.”

I paused for a moment and then went on. “I still remember the doll the child clung to; dirty and matted with one eye missing, but to her I’m sure it was beautiful. Anyway, we tried to get them to come with us but the woman started crying and in very broken English told us to leave them alone. I really wanted to help them. I guessed her husband was a solider and I also assumed he wasn’t coming back.”

The boys just stared at me but I hardly noticed. I haven’t thought about this day in many years and it was quite eerie how well I remembered it. “Woody’s radio crackled and Hellerman’s voice echoed out an order to bring everyone to the center of the village. I turned and spoke softly to the woman, reassuring her we were there to help. She tried to strike me, but didn’t have the strength to do so. I reached down and picked up her daughter-she was so light it was scary.”

I was no longer in the diner-I was back to that day in 1968. It was almost as if I was in a movie theater, watching the scene unfold. “After I started walking off with her daughter, the mother stopped fighting and came along willingly. We reached the center of town and there were maybe a dozen others, all of them women and young children. All of them were abandoned by the head of their households to go and fight the war.”

My heartbeat started to race. “Good job men,” Hellerman said to us upon our arrival. He turned and yelled, “Line ‘em up!” Several of my fellow combatants pushed them all into a line, including the two we just brought back.

Sargent Hellerman turned to us and barked, “Line up with your unit!”

We lined up facing the civilians. The mother I was trying to console a few minutes before was staring at me. “Aim your weapons!” All of my comrades raised and aimed their M-16 rifles, including Woody.

“Whoa!” I shouted, stepping forward. “What are you doing?”

The Sarge turned and looked at me. “Following orders and you will do the same.”

“But they’re just children…”

“You will either follow your orders or the next gun fight we encounter you will be shot in the back and no one will be the wiser do I make myself clear?” He screamed, an inch from my face. The thought of never seeing Sarah again scared me more than the ominous death threat.

“This is wrong,” I persisted, barely above a whisper.

“This is war,” he snapped. “Now fall in line.”

I did. He gave the order to fire and we all followed the order. I shot high and to the left, taking off a good piece of bark from a nearby tree. Nobody else missed. I silently prayed that nobody noticed my intentional slight.

After the last innocent fell, the Sargent said quietly, “Dismissed.”

Suddenly I was back at Lovell’s with two young men staring at me intently. “Woody and I weren’t the same after that,” I said. “A man with a young daughter at home didn’t even blink about shooting someone else’s for absolutely no reason. So you see, basically good people can behave pretty horrifically when put into certain circumstances.”

The boys just stared at me in utter shock. “The moral of this story is no matter what your circumstances, always be who you are and don’t let your situation dictate your character. Understand?”

The boys nodded slowly and looked down at the booth. Then Brad looked up and said, “I’m sorry you went through that Mr. Harrison.”

“Me too,” I replied.

“You did the right thing.”

“I could have done more,” I said more to myself than to Brad. “But thank you.”

We sat and chatted about all kinds of things for the next half-hour. Anything, really, that would take their young minds off of their current dilemma. A few moments later, Elaine arrived, carrying coffee and soda for everyone. “Thought this might help,” she smiled, setting down a steaming cup in front of me.

Just then, Ted came through the swinging door from the kitchen and stopped. “Hey Elaine, you better make sure they pay for that!”

Elaine turned and glared at the cook. “Really?”

“I don’t think Mrs. Lovell would appreciate…”

“Stow it Ted,” Elaine snapped. “You apparently do not know Mrs. Lovell very well then. She would do a whole lot more than this.”

“I gotta get out of here,” he mumbled and walked away.

“He’s right about that,” Elaine conceded. “We all have to get out of here. In a little while it will be dusk and then it will be
really
dark.”

“Can you try your cell phone again?” I asked.

“Sure,” she complied and fished it out of her apron. After a moment of button pressing and walking about the diner, she finally gave up. “No luck Mr. Harrison.”

“Thanks for trying,” I sighed. Then it hit me; that unshakable feeling of being watched. I slowly turned toward my window and yelped. A mere inch or so away, a suction-cupped, tooth filled mouth was plastered against the glass. At the sound of my cry, everyone came scuttling over. Jumping up, I said, “There it is again.”

A small cry escaped Elaine’s lips as she stared off in a different direction. “And there,” she whispered, pointing shakily at the glass front door that the creature had been attached to earlier. It was back again, this time slithering around the bottom of the door, banging into the frame from time to time.

“There’s more than one?” Ted asked, completely astonished. “How many are there?” Nobody answered.

We all stared at the creatures for a full five minutes until they disappeared back into the snow. Then Ted broke the stunned silence. “That’s it!” he bellowed. “If these things are out front then I am gonna head out back and get to my car.”

“Are you crazy?” Elaine asked. “Your car could be crawling with those things!”

“There’s only one way to find out,” he said and started toward the kitchen.

“Wait!” Brad suddenly sounded.

“Why?”

“If you insist on doing this,” he answered. “Then maybe we can help.”

“What have you got in mind?” I asked.

“Maybe we could distract them,” he replied. “I didn’t see any eyes on either worm.”

I stopped and thought for a moment; I didn’t recall seeing any either. “Go on.”

“Maybe we could make a lot of noise somehow and it would draw their attention away from Ted,” he continued. “They probably hunt by sound or by vibrations.”

“I like it,” Ted said. “Good idea kid.”

“Why can’t we just wait for someone to come rescue us?” Stephanie piped up. She had been quiet and distant ever since young Billy died. “Why even risk leaving? We have food, drinks…a bathroom. Why risk your life?”

As she said this the diner suddenly went dark. Stephanie stifled a scream and Elaine said, “Oh great.”

“This was bound to happen in a storm like this,” I said. “Just like the phone line.”

“No,” Stephanie said. “It…it was those things!”

“No,” I said. “I don’t think so.”

“Yes it was!” Stephanie suddenly screamed, jumping up. “They are out there just waiting for us!”

Elaine hurried over and put her arm around the young lady. “It’ll be alright.”

“These things are just animals,” I said. “They don’t understand electricity.”

“They’re going to kill all of us,” she muttered as Elaine led her away.

Kevin and Brad looked upset by what just happened. “She’s just scared boys,” I said. “We will get through this.”

“I know,” Brad said, regaining his young composure.

“With the electricity out, it won’t be long until it is nice and cold in here,” Ted remarked.

“No generator?” I asked.

“Sure,” Ted smirked. “Just not one that works.”

“Oh.”

“That hysterical girl was starting to make sense,” Ted said. “I mean, the sheriff will come looking for the kids once their mom reports them missing, right?”

“If the roads are accessible,” I agreed. “And if her phone is working.”

“I just can’t believe in this day and age a stupid storm can stop us from communicating with anyone,” Ted complained.

“A storm can do a lot worse,” I said. “Look at the natural disasters over the past, let’s say five years.”

“You’re right Mr. Harrison,” Elaine said from the nearby booth that she and Stephanie were sharing. “Look at what happened to Japan.”

“It is quite a storm though,” I said, looking out at what I could see of Main Street. The snow drifts now covered the entire bottom half of the windows all along the diner. Judging by the wind and the onslaught of flurries, there didn’t appear to be any end in sight. I wondered how much accumulation we had received just in the few short hours that we had been trapped in Lovell’s. “The storm of the century.”

“We’ve had bad storms before,” Ted agreed. “But this one is…different.”

“It sure is,” Stephanie agreed. “We’ve never had a storm that brought man-eating worms with it before!” After she had said this, she laid her head down on the silver tabletop and started to cry again.

Her comment however, struck me as interesting. Did the bad storm we had earlier this year and the storm now have anything to do with the creatures? Did having so much snow so close together give them the incentive to come down from the mountains? I certainly had no idea, but it seemed like an awful coincidence that we hadn’t seen these things until now. Did the storm somehow bring them with it? It was anyone’s guess.

Maybe the weather had absolutely nothing to do with it, other than the fact that the worms obviously knew that camouflaging themselves in the snow helped them to score their prey. Perhaps it was the same thing with the death worm from Mongolia. Did its red color help it blend in with the desert terrain?

Elaine, who was on the inside of the booth, glanced at her watch and said, “It will be dinnertime soon.”

I couldn’t believe that it was almost five o’clock already. Time does fly when you’re scared senseless, I guessed. Despite everything, my stomach was telling me to get something to eat. “Hey Ted,” Elaine called, leaning her head against the window. “We’re gonna have to scramble up some dinner for these folks.”

“Alright, if we must” he frowned. “We are going to have to find some flashlights even though it's pitch black back there.”

“There was a couple in the cabinet by the employee bathroom,” Elaine responded. “I guess we’ll use up anything that will go bad sooner than later, like the lunchmeat and cheese.”

“This outage is going to cost Mrs. Lovell a small fortune,” Ted said.

“Really Ted,” Elaine sighed. “She won’t care as long as we are alright.”

“Maybe you’re right,” he conceded.

“Of course I am,” Elaine tried to manage a smile. “Stephanie, could you move so I can get out and make us some dinner?”

“Sure,” Stephanie replied and slid out of the booth.

“Thanks,” Elaine said as she and Ted headed toward the kitchen. “We’ll be back shortly.”

I turned and looked at the Connor boys, who were now standing by the counter, transfixed on the windows. Brad, who seemed to be always thinking, said, “That’s really not how high the snow is Kevin. The wind is just making huge drifts along the outside of the diner.”

“I want to go home,” was the response.

“So do I,” Brad confessed. “The sheriff will be along soon, you’ll see.”

That comment got me thinking. Was the sheriff snowbound at the police station? Did he make it home? Surely the search party had been called off the moment the storm turned ugly. Alex’s cruiser was only a six cylinder car with not much giddy-up. In this town, there wasn’t a need for anything faster. With that being said, with the amount of snow we get, the county really ought to invest in a four wheel drive vehicle. But, that was our gracious mayor, not caring about the little folks.

A short time later Elaine came back from the kitchen, holding a dozen candles in little holders. She sporadically set them up along the counter and then one at each booth, lighting them as she went. “This should help,” she said, glancing out at the darkening sky. She disappeared into the back again and then came back through the swinging doors carrying a large tray filled with sandwiches. “Here you go everyone.”

Ted followed suit, carrying a tray filled with bowls of soup. “It’s still lukewarm anyway,” he said as he passed out the bowls.

“Thank you very much,” I said, taking a seat at the third booth in. Kevin and Brad joined me. “You boys hungry?”

They both nodded and silently dug into their meal. Yes, they certainly were hungry. Even in circumstances as extraordinary as this, the body will still tell you what it needs. I tried to make small talk with the boys as we ate our dinner. “You boys like baseball?”

“Yeah,” Kevin answered. “I’m not very good at it though.”

“You will be,” I encouraged. “It just takes practice.” I took a sip of the chicken noodle soup that had been brought to me. It was slightly cool, but very tasty nonetheless. “Practice makes perfect.”

“I wish it was spring now,” Kevin paused, sandwich half-raised to his mouth. “Then we wouldn’t have these things here and we could go home right now.”

“I know,” was all that I could think of to say in return. “I know.”

“Do you think the sheriff is looking for us?” Brad asked. Then he added, “Honestly?”

So I was honest with him. “I don’t know. Assuming your mom’s phone is working and assuming the sheriff’s car can finagle the streets, then…maybe.”

Kevin looked crestfallen but Brad simply nodded. “Kinda what I figured.”

“We’ll be okay in here,” I quickly added.

“I’m not so sure,” Brad countered.

“Why?” I asked.

“The temperature in here is quickly dropping,” he replied.

“Really?” I asked and as I did so, I suddenly realized that I could see my breath as I spoke. “So it is.”

“I think those things were staying clear because they sensed the warmth,” Brad said matter-of-factly. “That’s why they stay really high up in the mountains where it usually stays cool year round. But with all the snow we’ve had, they felt comfortable coming down and seeing what was going on down here.”

“You could be right,” I concurred.

“It’s just a guess,” he shrugged.

I was finding out that Brad was an abnormally bright young man. He and his brother both, under the circumstances, have overall behaved calmly and responsibly. I turned and looked at the booth behind us to see Stephanie and Elaine.

Elaine was on the inside of the booth again. I guessed she liked the inside better. Stephanie, on the other hand, was acting the complete opposite of the Connor boys. She had hardly touched her dinner and she kept rubbing her hands over and over again as she rocked back and forth. She must have cared for Billy more than she had earlier let on, the poor thing.

Ted was eating at the counter directly across from us, where poor Harry Meadows had eaten lunch earlier in the day. That seemed like an eternity ago. Spinning around, he said, “There it goes.” We all turned and watched as the last of the sun disappeared beyond the horizon. Other than the candles Elaine had spread out, it was now pitch black in the diner that only a little while ago was filled with warmth, light and laughter.

“Oh no,” Stephanie whispered.

“It’s okay,” Elaine said. “It’ll be alright. We just have to stay in here for the night and by tomorrow everyone will be searching for us.”

“If the storm lets up any,” Stephanie retorted as she began to fumble through her purse. “I don’t think this storm wants anyone to find us.”

“That’s not true,” Elaine replied, leaning back and banging her head against the window again. “It’s just a bad storm, that’s all.”