Dennis Yates - Red Mountain

They were supposed to be dead. And now they were moving toward him, quietly, making only delicate mouse scratches on the ice with the tips of their boots, their gunshot-mangled bodies floating in the blue hue of the glow sticks.

Billy shrieked again. He could feel the air rattle up from the bottom of his lungs, burning and twisting as it broke from his mouth. He’d never been this scared in his life. Piss soaked the front of his jeans and froze painfully against his crotch. What managed to escape his jeans was forming icicles.

“Go away!” He shouted at the black approaching mass. He could see the pale yellow orbs of their eyes dancing with a kind of life that seemed otherworldly. It was clear they were angry, that they wanted him dead. When Billy saw them float across the crevasse without falling he turned his head away and sobbed like a child.

This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening.

Then they were upon him, squeezing his flesh between their cold hands, and the woman scientist who’d stood up to Marsh in the ice shrine sank her shattered teeth down deep into his Adam’s apple and tore it away.

Gunfire exploded throughout the cave. A bullet passed through the back of the dead woman’s head and tore Billy’s lower jaw to shreds. Billy went limp and his head toppled back spouting blood as the woman slid away from him and plunged down into the shaft below.

The three dead grad students turned away from Billy and faced Marsh and Chester.

“Fuck me,” Marsh said, clumsily reloading fresh bullets from his coat pocket as he backed up. Suspended not far above Billy was the treasure-laden sled, swaying back and forth like a canvas-skinned cocoon. Marsh was relieved to see the ghouls appeared to show no interest in it.

If I can slow them down enough to get out of this place… it shouldn’t take much time to reel the sled out of here.

Chester stepped forward with his rifle at his side, unloading all he had into the ghastly figures whose eyes burrowed into him.

They weren’t going down like he wanted them to. Chester worried that once his and Marsh’s ammo was spent there would be very little left they could do to stop them. Even the grisly remains of the woman who’d been biting into Billy’s neck had floated back up to the edge of the crevasse. She drifted in their direction, leaving behind cold clumps of brain matter splattering against the ice like uncooked hamburger.

The ammo wasn’t going to last forever. Especially if those things just kept getting back up again...

Lagging behind, Marsh raised his rifle and searched for a target. He only had a few bullets left and he had to make them count. He aimed at a large bearded grad student with lungs that bubbled from a gaping wound in his chest. But just seconds before he pulled the trigger Marsh was struck by a better idea. He calmly re-guided the crosshairs over to Chester’s leg and fired…

Chester hit the ice floor screaming as he grasped at the splintered chunks of what used to be his knee. Marsh didn’t stick around to hear his curses.

Sorry pal, but I’ve got my priorities. I’ve waited too long to get this far, and I’m not going to spoil it by becoming dog meat for those things…

CHAPTER 62

Robert pounded Maynard with his fists until they were completely slimed with his own blood.

“You son of a bitch. I never asked for your help. I never did.”

His head was swimming with the after-images of his encounter with the ghost of the frozen man. He no longer knew what he was supposed to do, or who he was anymore for that matter.

“You must get out of here,” a voice behind him said, as brittle as crackling ice.

Robert recognized the voice from long ago. His heart slammed against his ribcage. He turned to face the ghost that had nearly frightened him to death when he was a boy. The tall figure wavered in the candlelight, but created no shadow on the smooth porcelain-white walls. He was surprised by the expression on the ghost’s face, for unlike the cruel ghost of Charlie Maynard he thought he sensed concern.

“Jared Horn… Why did you have to speak to me in riddles? Why couldn’t you have truly warned me when you had the chance?

The ghost of his great grandfather took a step closer and his features began to appear sharper, as if his transparent form was now being filled with solid matter.

“I wanted to protect you. I’ve watched your father become a man. Not a perfect one, but your father nonetheless. And then you came along—as did your cousins—and I wished I could have put a stop to it all.”

“It’s your fault people’s lives have been ruined and innocent people have been killed. I wish to god I’d never been born.”

“I understand. I am ashamed I have brought this curse upon you. If I had the power to do so I would have turned back the clock. I would have made things different. But Charlie Maynard tricked me from the very beginning. He knew he could take advantage of a desperate man. That’s how he came up with a plan to have me killed and yet still possess my family. He was a liar and a thief, even after he was killed. There are some men you can never change and he was one of them.”

“And now that he’s gone...”

“He’s done with me. I’ve served his purpose and now I’m free to leave this lifetime of purgatory forever.”

“So what’s keeping you from going?”

“I wanted to be sure that you survived. To make certain you were aware of the powers you now possess.

“Powers?” This had to be the greatest joke of all, Robert thought. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t feel any different. I’m so tired now I could lie down and let myself freeze to death in this hellish place.”

Horn reached out and set his hand on Robert’s shoulder. Robert could feel the coldness of the ghost’s touch through his jacket. It reminded him of the night up in the woods near his grandfather’s cabin. Except this time he was pretty sure the ghost wasn’t going to kill him.

“Don’t be fooled Robert. What you’re now capable of is beyond your comprehension as yet. Just promise me you won’t take the same poisoned path Charlie Maynard chose. The man had no heart left in him. It was already eaten up by revenge long before he took advantage of me. And once I was under his spell there was no escaping it. I did terrible things. I might have lived had I only walked away from him in the first place.”

“I’m going to do what it takes to save those close to me,” Robert said. “It’s all I want. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

The ghost’s eyes softened. Robert saw for the first time the great sadness in them.

“I have some good news. Your family has come to look for you. They are above us now. But there’s a wretch of a man named Marsh who will kill them if given the chance.”

“I know who Marsh is.”

Horn nodded, removed his hand from Robert’s shoulder. A frosted print remained glittering on his jacket.

“Then you better leave this place now. Get above ground before it’s too late.”

Robert didn’t stop to think about it. He ran from the shrine and followed the trail of glow sticks up to the top. For awhile he felt as if Horn was following him, but when he took a moment to catch his breath he turned and saw nothing. A few minutes later, when he came near the remains of Billy and the research crew, Horn’s shadow reappeared, beckoning him to take another route leading out of the glacier to the mountain’s red surface…

CHAPTER 63

Peggy and the others watched as a man emerged from the crevasse. At first they thought it might be Robert, until they recognized Marsh’s stiff movements and blockish frame. They hid behind a boulder and watched him pull-start the gas-powered winch positioned near the edge of the gaping hole. His back faced them, and jammed into the hardened snow nearby his rifle stood sentry. The ebony cable attached to the treasure-sled far below began to slowly wrap around the metal spool as the winch belched smoke and growled.