Winter's Fury - Volume Two of The Saga of the Twelves (12 page)

“
I need you to summon your
Gift?”

The little girl turned her
head to the side, being cute, though she appeared confused to
Joaquin. “Ok…,” was her unsure reply.

“
Come with me. We have
some vermin to get rid of, my dear.”

As the gravel-like voice
of the bear-dog dissipated, Joaquin could not help but
smile.

Kodiak was going to have
Elena burn the shit out of the Crawling Creep. She too was not
taking any chances.

From behind, he heard
Sophie ask Anthony, “Do you think you can carry me? My feet are
freezing. I guess that creepy-thing didn’t see fit to put on my
shoes before it decided to make a meal out of me.”

“
Oh my god!” exclaimed her
boyfriend. “Of course! I forgot you didn’t have shoes on. Come over
here.”

“
Weeeee!” She was playful,
enjoying being in his arms.

Joaquin turned in time to
see his newfound friend hoist the stunning teen in his
arms.

Lucky
bastard
, he thought, thinking of Clarisse,
a forlorn expression on his face.

~~~~~~~<<<
ᴥ
>>>~~~~~~~

~ 8 ~

New Worlds

Day Four, Sunday, 8:12
am…

Once they concluded that
Sophie’s injuries were no more than a few minor scrapes and
bruises, they got about cleaning the cave. They did well
considering a major brawl had occurred within its’ cramped confines
less than an hour earlier. It had not taken long. Elena had reduced
most of the corpses to cinder and ash. Thus, it was more of a sweep
and mop operation versus anything having to do with blood and
bones.

After they picked up what
had fallen, righted what had tipped over, they began to prepare for
their journey into the Melded World. They mulled over everything,
rehashing their thoughts and re-organized yet again. Until, about
forty minutes later, a sense they were ready for just about
anything began to emerge. Yet, they spent another half hour digging
out of the narrow, open-aired passage leading from the cave. They
had all run through the passage earlier, but they could not move
the sled-bound carts through until they cleared all the snow. They
had to pile the icy precipitation in huge mounds within their
sanctuary itself. There was nowhere else to put it.

As time progressed though,
an eight by ten foot jumble of the white precipitation in their
wake, they emerged. They had packed and were ready for their short
foray to Jason’s house, hoping it (and all the camping gear) was
still there.

They came from the cave in
a strict formation, having planned in advance how they would travel
through the Melded World. They wanted to ensure the most protection
to those who needed the most protecting. So, Garfield came from the
passage first, swift and silent. He looped to the left, then the
right. He stopped once to sniff at the twisting trail left behind
by the Crawling Creep now burnt to a crisp thanks to Elena. He did
not find anything of note and was off again, ranging farther ahead,
looping to the right of the cave. He was heading in the general
direction of what used to be the intersection of Colorado Boulevard
and Figueroa Street. It was an area they would need to find to
orient their position upon the landscape. Without landmarks they
could recognize, they would lose themselves in minutes, forever
gone astray.

A minute later, Mr. Patas
hopped out from the concealed entrance and stood, quiet, unmoving.
His great ears strained for any sound that did not belong. He
waited, still, his great lobes turning this way and
that.

A few minutes after,
Garfield came traipsing back through the snow and trees, nodding
once to the rabbit-man.

With an acknowledging bow,
Mr. Patas ducked back into the cavern. He motioned to the remaining
members of their group the way was clear. He immediately ducked
back out. He skip-hopped twenty yards or so in front of the rock
pile, the marker of the location of their new made home.

Mugzy came out next with
Anthony and Sophie following behind him. Elena and Mikalah
followed, each one of the girls clutching onto the coats of one of
the larger teenagers before of them. When they came around the
large boulder at the end of the passage, Anthony and Sophie
bracketed the girls. As a group, they continued to walk forward,
looking about. They stayed behind Mr. Patas and Mugzy – all
following Garfield’s trail in the snow.

Kenai, Louis and Kodiak
came into view next. Each of the bear-dogs pulled a shopping cart
one-third filled with the supplies they would need. When they
continued past the boulder, the bear-dogs moved parallel to one
another with Louis between them. Their huge bodies blocked him from
view on either side.

Last to come from the cave
was Andrew, Joaquin and Jason. They formed a sort of triangle at
the back of the procession. Andrew at the tip of that triangle and
the two other boys spread out behind him on either
flank.

Sophie glanced about,
surprised. Now that she had recovered from the effects of the
Creep’s sedative, the Melded World was unlike anything she had seen
in the past. Though she had already been outside, it was still
pleasing to be in the open once again. This time she could soak it
all in at her leisure.

There no trace of the
snowstorm that had raged for so long. The bright rays of the sun
were somewhat warm. They were much more soothing to the mind.
Though she felt little warmth from the landscape itself, the
briskness of the early morning was still comforting against her
cheeks. She welcomed it, glad inside, especially after having gone
without it for so long.

All about them, the snow
piled high and deep, covering everything. Every tree seemed to bend
or droop under the sheer weight of it. Even the trees of foreign in
nature sagged and drooped as if under strain. These types were
strange looking growths, towering above them, sprinkled about the
land. Some of them topped at one hundred and fifty feet.

She was not sure she could
call them trees, though. Their bark was black and appeared more
metallic than wooden. They had long, spindle-like limbs, protruding
at odd, unnatural angles. They were uncharacteristic of any tree
she seen in memory or read about in books. Their leaves were just
as unnatural. To be specific, they were preternatural and they did
not grow from just the smaller branches and twigs either. They
sprouted from every inch of the tree. Every single one of them grew
perpendicular to whatever limb or branch from which they grew, the
trunk included. These leaves were long and seemed more like daggers
or long knives than something growing on a tree. The largest of
them shot out from the trunk itself and were a foot in length. They
looked sharp, even at a distance.

“
Spindle Downs,” said
Joaquin from behind. He had noticed her staring at the strange
growths, raising his voice so they all could hear. “From the World
of Storm as well… beware of the downward facing leaves. They drop
off on purpose onto any unsuspecting victim in hopes of cutting him
or her to cascade blood onto the ground. Believe it or not, they
feed on it.”

Eeew!
thought Sophie, but large boy went on.

“
Some of them on Storm -
some of the ancient ones - have grown over a thousand feet tall and
have leaves that can cleave a grown man in two. They can be up to
seven feet long and can weigh upwards of seventy pounds…

“
Anyhow, whatever you do,
don’t walk underneath one.”

What a
hell
, thought Sophie.
The World of Storm must be a shit hole!

Of the smaller plant life,
she could not make them out as individuals. Whether it was a bush
or a fern or a sapling they were all buried. All around, they
formed humps and bulges of varying sizes, stretching on and on
across the landscape.

Yet, in some cases, she
did spy other oozing or razor-edged foliage poking through the
snow, into the sunlight. These plants did not look familiar either
and grew in bizarre fashion. They gave the impression they were
bright, glimmering, either red or orange, or in one case - a
vibrant blue. Others appeared withered or dead, oozing a putrid
smell that made her wince. These ones seemed to draw the eye,
almost as if by some compulsion. They were otherworld-ish, alien
and frightful at the same time. She swore she could feel intent
whenever she gazed upon one, as if it had a mind of its own. It was
calling to her. It made her shiver every time she looked at
it.

It was a greenish,
low-lying plant. She saw it belch a black cloud of dust-like motes
into the air. It had been off in the distance. She had wondered
what it was, but pushed onward instead. She was not sure she wanted
to know after all. Besides, there were things of greater importance
to attend to than mere plant life.

Ok, just remember to avoid
the Spindle Down. You see one; you keep pushing on,
girl
.

She realized, walking as
she was behind creatures much larger of foot than she, was
beneficial to say the least. They broke the trail for her, so it
was easier going through the trampled snow they left underfoot than
if she had been in the lead. She was thankful for their efforts,
even if to them it was a minimal thing.

The air about them was
still. Aside from a few fluttering wings of periodic birds, the
forest was just as still. The only thing coming to her ears was the
champing and scraping sounds of their footfalls as they walked.
And, of course, there was the constant crunch-scraping of the carts
as they slid through the snow.

She glanced sideways over
the heads of the girls, to look at Anthony in the sunlight. She
watched the shadows cross his face as he walked under the
encumbered trees. Their bulky limbs blotted out the sky whenever
they walked near one. His eyes were bouncing about, what Joaquin
had said at the forefront of his mind.

Unable to control it, she
felt a warm flush spread throughout her chest as if the entire
upper half of her body had warmed by an invisible fire. Next, came
the inevitable, but exciting clenching of her gut. It came every
time she looked at him now. She had never experienced anything like
it before meeting this teenage boy in this impossible
place.

He was all about
vigilance, determined to root out anything that could harm his
sisters. He was not aware of her scrutiny.

He’d come to save me. His
eyes were the first I saw… His body cradled mine, so alight with
fear in his eyes and love in his heart. I could see it! I could
tell…

He loves me.

Sure, she had liked boys
ever since she had entered puberty and the little things about her
body began to change into much bigger ones. It was in those first
early years when boys stopped being only her playmates and,
overnight, had a new, more exciting appeal to her. It had been
years since her fist kiss, years since she had gone on her first
date. It had even been a while since her first hot and heavy
make-out session.

So why would this be any
different? Why would her reaction to him be anything more than she
had experienced in the past?

Besides, she did not know
the boy. The fact she had met him four days before and had slept
next to him the last three nights in a row, meant little. She had
not experienced enough of him to have a valid opinion. And yet,
from the moment she had laid eyes on him, she had liked him. She
liked his mannerisms and the way he carried himself. She could
admit that now. She liked how he could act so shy at times and then
bold at others. Sometimes the switches were minutes
apart.

Like when he held me in
his arms and hugged me tight… so sure of the feelings
inside.

He was tall, which she
preferred, although being short was not quite a deal breaker
either. He was also nice looking, with his pale complexion and dark
eyes, and his long wavy, brown hair reaching down to the middle of
back. He was not a jock - all muscled and rude. Nor was he a nerd
with bowl-cut hair and a pocket protector. He was not Fringe or
Emo, or even Cholo. He was somewhere in the precise middle of all
that, maybe a little rocker-ish. Yet, he did not go out of his way
to let you know he was a Rocker. He was not like so many people she
knew nowadays. They were always so desperate for identification or
affiliation with this group or that.

Why did there have to be
so much self-advertising these days?

He wore his punk metal
shirt as he would any shirt, not like some placard. He was not
showing off. He was just being himself. Maybe that’s what she liked
the most. Maybe she liked the fact no matter where he was or who he
was with, he was himself.

Maybe that was why she
could be herself around him. He relaxed her, allowed her to act
natural. She did not have to put up a façade, shielding him from
the real her. She was not afraid that he might lose control and
lust after her, stalk her or worse. With him, she did not have to
worry about that. She could be open. She could let him see more of
her, the real her.

Even through the
embarrassment she knew he felt when he came near her; he did not
come onto her too strong. He had to know by now of his effect on
her. He had to know just the thought of him made her squirm in
forbidden places. She had been so obvious at times.