Йен Райт - The Final Winter

Jess began laughing. “Is this what you two are like all the time? You crack me up!”

They both blushed. Ben hated when Jerry got him involved in one of his asinine nerd-fiction routines. It had been embarrassing him his whole life. It was his own fault though; sometimes he just couldn’t resist winding Jerry up. It was one of life’s few pleasures.

“You know what?” said Jess, still giggling. “If we stop by my house, I can leave a note for my parents. I’ll crash at yours like you said. It could be fun.”

Jerry’s face lit up and, if Ben was honest, he too was pleased at the thought of having Jess back to his place; she seemed pretty cool. All they had to do now was make it home – which, right now, seemed easier said than done.

Ten minutes later, Jerry had to stop. Jess wasn’t thrilled about it because somewhere in the snow was the tall, hooded man that had frightened the life out of her earlier. She was certain of what she’d seen.

Well, pretty sure anyway.

“Dude, I can’t see two inches in front of me!” Jerry bumped into the back of Ben, sending them both into a stagger, the deep snow making it hard to keep balance.

Jess laughed at them. “Come on, Ant and Dec. I’m freezing my tits off here.”

Jerry regained his balance, pushing against Ben’s shoulders to steady himself. Ben huffed, most likely irritated that he was being used as a steadying post.

“Hey, if you want me to warm them up for you,” said Jerry with a smirk, “just let me know.”

“Nice try,” she said. “But I’m not as easy as that.”

Ben chuckled and pointed at his friend. “Wounded!”

“Hey, she said she wasn’t easy – not impossible.”

“Well, I must admit that’s closer than you get with most girls.”

“You ain’t so hot yourself, Gandalf.”

“I told you to stop calling me tha-“

“Children, children,” Jess interjected. “Put away the testosterone and try to remember I’m not a Star Wars figurine. I don’t like being fought over, and my packaging stays on.”

“Worth more like that anyway,” Jerry muttered. “Besides, I thought most girls liked being fought over.”

Jess stopped walking and put her hands on her hips. “Well, I’m not most girls.”

The three of them shared a laugh and they continued struggling onwards, crunching their footprints into the twinkling snow. The increasing blizzard made it difficult to see – and to hear – but they all saw clearly the shadowy silhouette standing before them.

Jess froze at the sight. Earlier, when she had been pounding on the door of the video shop, begging to be let in, she had been terrified, but during her time with Ben and Jerry she’d come to the conclusion that perhaps she had just been spooked – or maybe even a little bit insane. Now though, she was certain that what she’d seen earlier was very much a reality; not a figment of her imagination. The same hooded figure now towered over her like a prison wall, making escape seem impossible. Beneath its grey cowl, the same glowing white eyes were studying her once again. The figure must have cleared seven feet – maybe even eight – and was looking down at them all like children. A long, tattered cloak covered its entire body from head to snow (its feet were not visible).

Jess screamed.

Jerry chipped in with what he probably felt was an apt expression for the situation. “Dude!”

Jess quickly quieted down however as she witnessed Ben step forward towards the stranger. Obviously he was stark raving mad.

“Sir? Are you trying to get home?” Ben spoke to the stranger without any sign of fear, apparently oblivious to their unnatural size. “We are too. Perhaps we could help one another?”

Jerry started backing away, clutching at Jess’s arm and pulling her with him. She didn’t resist – it was the right idea given the situation.

“Let’s get the hell out of here, Ben,” Jerry shouted. “People that make nice with the bad guys end up on the end of meat hooks.”

Ben shot Jerry an angry look. “Jerry, do you always have to be so stupid? There is no such thing as monsters. This isn’t one of your pathetic movies. I’m sick and tired of-.”

Ben’s speech was derailed by an explosion, not of sound but of light. Behind the hooded figure, a towering palisade of flames rose up, growing from the very snow itself and blotting out the night sky as it drenched their freezing bodies with intense heat. The sudden change in temperature made Jess’s skin pop and tingle, but her legs were still numb and buried by the snow. Her limbs lacked feeling so much that she felt as if she were floating in place. The flames behind the hooded figure were mesmerizingly bright and, for the first time, Jess could make out the stranger in clear detail. The robes were not the drab, weathered grey that she had first thought. They were magnificent silver, sparkling in the flickering backdrop of liquid fire that now illuminated them. Jess laughed as the inappropriate image of a Vegas magician presented itself in her head.

I think I’m losing my mind.

Jerry shouted from behind her, but still she could not move, her legs paralysed by fear. Her eyes remained fixed on the hooded figure and the flames behind him. The lurching figure started to move and from beneath the silvery cloth came a talon-like hand, all bony fingers and bulbous knuckles. Jess gawped, wide eyed, as the creature begun to draw a long slither of grey from inside its flapping cloak.

Is that… a sword?

Finally, Jess found control of her legs, the sight of the lengthy, sharp-edged blade helping her to take charge. “Ben, I think you should back away and come over here with us.”

Ben seemed to snap awake, as if suddenly he had been released from a temporary lobotomy. Maybe he’d noticed the sword as well – or maybe it was the flames. He turned and stared at Jess, ballerinas of fear pirouetting through his eyes. “No shit!” he said before starting to run. Not a single second passed before Jess and Jerry were doing the very same thing.

“Who the hell is that?” Jess managed to ask mid-run, the words coming out in huffs and puffs.

Jerry answered in the same out-of-breath way. “You mean what is that, don’t you? It ain’t no man.”

The conversation went no further as the three of them carried on their rapid retreat from the hooded creature. The snow slowed their running down to less than half its normal speed and Jess couldn’t help but worry that if they were being pursued each of them had slim hopes of getting away. “Is that thing following us?” she asked, trying to increase the speed of her clumsy, snow-bound strides.

“I don’t know,” said Ben, looking back over his shoulder. “Let me see.”

While Jess tried to catch up with Jerry a few yards in front, she waited anxiously for Ben to reply from behind her about whether or not they were being pursued. After several more, exhausting strides, Jess’s racing heart surged with panic and she could wait no longer for Ben’s answer. She stumbled to a stop and looked back.

For some reason, Ben had stopped several yards behind. He was still following after Jess, but was making slow, almost laborious progress. Beyond him, she saw nothing but snow and darkness. The crisp, bright flames that had held her mesmerised were now gone. So too was the hooded figure.

“Ben,” she called out. “What are you doing? Get a move on!”

It was a few moments before he replied to her. “I… I don’t feel right. I…” He fell down in the snow.

Jess panicked. She had to go back to help Ben – she knew that without even thinking about it – but going back to help him meant going back towards the creature with the sword. She had to go, she decided, but sure as hell wasn’t going alone. Jess turned around and yelled.