Cold Hell - 18. Chapter 17

Everest followed Dinah into the clinic. It had been a long night. He was cold and his eyes burned with exhaustion. He didn’t like this business with Adwele or the missing bodies...not one bit. It all felt wrong. Especially with the blizzard just hours from closing in. He liked Dinah’s behavior even less. She was acting like a madwoman, making decisions that left him feeling uncertain. In the beginning, when he’d first become her squire, she had been a competent, level-headed leader. Now everything she did was for the gain of power.

“Wait here,” she said briskly, when they reached Adwele’s room. The door was closed. He watched her open it and slip her head inside. A second later she cursed. “He’s gone!”

Everest felt a flash of alarm. “What do you mean he’s gone?”

“Adwele’s not in his room.”

"Check the security cameras!"

Dinah stooped over the aged computer monitors and tapped at the keyboard, rolling back through the computer image. Everest watched Dinah and himself walking quickly out of the building in reverse. She stopped abruptly.

The camera footage now showed Dinah, Everest, Danni, and Natalia out in the corridor. Now Dinah and Natalia were walking away. Natalia and Danni were standing close together, talking. Judging from the intense expression on Natalia's face, the subject matter of the conversation was serious. There was no audio feed so neither Everest or Dinah could hear what was being said.

Danni shook his head, arms folded defensively. Whatever she's saying, he doesn't like it, Everest thought. His heart was pounding away in his chest like rapid hammer falls.

On the camera feed, Natalia walked away. Still standing in the middle of the hallway, Danni wiped his face with his hands warily before entering Adwele's room. Dinah fast forwarded several minutes. The door opened again. Danni came out of the room again, only this time he was pushing a gurney, with a blanket draped over the top of the bed.

Danni turned, went halfway down the hallway, and went through another door. The time stamp indicated this had happened just five minutes ago. "He's gone into the crematorium!" Dinah shouted. She cursed and ran down the hallway towards the crematorium. Everest followed, rifle swinging from side to side on his shoulder.

They burst through the door.

Danni stood in front of the furnace with his arms crossed over his chest. His face, completely sombre, glowed in the warm light coming from behind the door.

"What did you do!" Dinah shrieked. Her eyes bulged from her head. Everest didn't think he'd ever seen her look so livid.

Danni looked at her. His skin was pale. Dark bags marked his eyes. But worse yet was the look of emptiness in his eyes, as if all the energy had been sucked out of him. "I did what you wouldn't."

Dinah stayed where she was, frigid.

Danni turned to face her fully. For a moment his eyes were filled with an inner fire, a restrained anger. "You brought him into this camp when he was infected with a pathogen, without knowing what would happen if it got out and spread, all because you crave power."

Dinah was shaking now she was so angry. When she spoke her voice was full of venom. "Everest, shoot him!"

Everest looked at his clan leader, awestruck.

"Do it!" Dinah shouted. "Put a bullet between his fucking eyes!" When Everest didn't move, she stepped towards him. Though she was six inches shorter than he, it didn't stop her from appearing any less dangerous. "Follow my orders, Everest," she growled through gritted teeth. Her dreads hung around her shoulders like snakes. "If you don't I can assure you I will make life for you and your father a living hell…"

Everest thought of his father, Steig Evreux sitting at home, probably wondering when his son would be home. His father who had done everything to teach Everest right from wrong, to be different from everyone else on Planet Redemption. He looked at Danni who now stood straight, still looking completely calm, except for his eyes which studied Everest intently. Had Everest's mind not been spinning in so many different directions, he might've noticed the silver glint of the scalpel in Danni's hand.

Everest made his decision. His head swiveled slowly in Dinah's direction. "For over ten years now I have followed you, loyal to a fault," he said in a gravelly voice. "I have done everything you asked me without question. I never questioned your leadership because I believed you were different. I believed in you, Dinah." He crossed the room now, so he was standing by Danni. "But over the years I have watched you change bit by bit, until you're someone I don't even recognize anymore. You have become cold and power-hungry. And you will do anything for your own gain, even if it means putting the whole camp at risk."

Dinah's eyes had turned wide and glassy with tears; she looked as if she'd been slapped. She turned away, hands planted on her hips. The tense air within the crematorium was suddenly pierced by a shrill scream from the hallway.

                                 …

Calvin stood in the hallway outside his mother's living quarters. He'd been wavering on the edge of decision: should he knock or would it be better just to walk away?

He could hardly say what madness had driven him to walk through the cold in the first place, to come back to this place. His anger towards Anastasia, her indifference to what Mikael had done to him still stung - and would continue to do so. I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive her, he thought. Not ever.

But some part of him must have missed her, or else he wouldn't have come here, would he? After all, after their mother's accident, Anastasia had been the one to step up and take over the household. And she had helped finish raising him.

He walked away, gritting his teeth. Why should he come back to her, slinking like a naughty dog with its tail between its legs? It was he who had been wronged, not Anastasia. It was he who had been assaulted, not her.

Fuck her! Before leaving the dormitory, Calvin pulled the goggles down over his eyes and the hood over his head.

The colony was empty, not a single soul in sight - at least not that he could see. Most people would have gone inside now, hunkered down in their quarters, ready to sit out the blizzard. When the blizzard actually hit, which would be any minute now, the wind and snow would pick up to the point of being blinding. Walking outside would be suicidal. Calvin had heard several stories of people stupid enough to try and brave through the cold. Many of these unfortunate souls weren't found until after the blizzard, their corpses frozen solid, buried under several feet of snow.

Calvin glanced up at the sky, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the three moons. Instead all he saw was black, oppressive clouds and the uninviting presence of the glaciers. Calvin had grown up looking at the glaciers his whole life. They'd been here for hundreds, maybe thousands of years, unmoving, unchanging. They filled him with an inexplicable disquiet.

He hoped Danni would be home soon; he and Everest had been gone for a few hours now. He prayed Danni knew what he was doing and not getting himself too involved with Everest. He didn't trust Everest. Everest had been close friends with Mikael. Calvin also knew he'd threatened to kill Danni.

He spotted someone up ahead, walking in the same direction. Calvin was glad to be in the presence of someone else, even if that presence was fleeting. He had begun to realize how lonely and depressed he'd begun to feel. Unlike the blizzard, which approached quickly, the feeling of depression swept in slowly, catching him unaware.

The person turned, heading towards one of the dormitories, and out of sight.

Calvin sighed. Now I really am alone.

He decided to cut through one of the alleys, a shortcut that would take him closer to home. Another two minutes and he would be behind closed doors, safe from the wrath of the blizzard. He was almost to the end of the alley when a crunch-crunch-crunch sound caught his attention. The sound was close by, coming from somewhere in front of him. But he couldn't see anyone.

"Is someone there?" he asked.

Calvin stood, waiting. He'd begun to shiver. Already he could feel the cold seeping through his jacket like a sickness.

A human figure came shuffling towards him out of the dark. It moved with a drunken gait, its steps unevenly spaced, it shoulders swinging awkwardly from side to side.

Calvin's body sensed something was wrong before his mind did. He backed away, eyes bulging from his head as the stranger came towards him. Why do bad things always have to happen to me in alleys? he thought.

The stranger stepped into a stray beam of floodlight. For just a second, Calvin caught a glimpse of the stranger's face.

To say something was wrong with the man was an understatement; what was coming towards Calvin looked like something straight from a nightmare. The man's face and hands were covered in the same grey-blue moss that Danni had described seeing at the scene of the accident. Liquid the same color as the moss leaked from the corner of his eyes, instantly freezing to his face; the tattoo of the M, marking him as a clan man of Clan Mureen, was barely visible. More seeped from his lips, which were peeled back from two rows of needle-sharp teeth.

A sudden realization broke through the terror: This was one of the men from the crash site.

But how the hell was the man up walking around? Hadn't he been dead when Danni found him?

It doesn't matter, Danni's matter-of-fact voice said in Calvin's mind. He's alive when he shouldn't be. You should be running.

The man stopped suddenly, looked at Calvin with eyes that showed no trace of human thought, or emotion, or humanity in general. He cocked his head for a moment, and then with an animalistic smile, lunged at Calvin.

Calvin turned to sprint, only to feel the man collide into him. They fell into the snow. The full weight of the man crashing on top of him knocked the wind from Calvin's body. He managed to wiggle about and roll on his back just as the man's fist came down towards his face.

Calvin caught his wrists just in time and bucked with his hips hard enough to throw the man off him. Calvin kicked frantically with both feet. The heels of both feet connected with the man's open, snarling mouth from which the foul-looking fluid still dripped. Yet no matter how hard he kicked and fought, nothing slowed Calvin's attacker. Already Calvin could feel himself growing tired.

Calvin tried to stand, almost made it into a standing position, only to feel the man's gnarled frost-bitten fingers wrap around his ankle and jerk his leg hard. Calvin lost his balance once more and went down.

He freed himself once more with another kick and began crawling towards the dormitory just feet away. The building was raised to provide just enough space he might be able to crawl under it. With luck the man wouldn't be able to follow him. Calvin was too frightened, too desperate to live to have any other ideas. Screaming for help would only be a waste of time because no one would bother.

Calvin wiggled from side to side like a caterpillar, tucked his shoulders in towards his chest, tried to make himself as small as he possibly could. He kicked with his feet. The crooks of his elbows dug trenches in the snow. His mind had switched into autopilot mode, leaving the body to do all the work. The fit was so tight he was barely able to turn his head and see what was happening behind him.

The man was trying to crawl after Calvin. He clawed at the snow with blackened hands. The veins in his forehead pressed against flesh as he let out a blood curdling sound that was somewhere between a snarl and a howl...and yet no matter how much the creature clawed and struggled, he was unable to come any closer.

"Stuck," Calvin said. "You're stuck. You can't come after me."

Snow billowed into the small burrow he'd made. He was colder than he could ever remember being in his life, even after Mikael and his friends had finished with him.

Danni's voice spoke up in Calvin's mind: You're not safe yet. He might not be able to get to you but now you're stuck. If you don't get out you'll freeze to death.

Calvin knew he had to do something but he couldn't think of what. He was tired…so tired. He just wanted to close his eyes and go to sleep.

Suddenly the creature cocked its head to the side, as if it could hear something calling for it. The movement snapped Calvin awake. He watched wide-eyed, teeth chattering, as it backpedaled out of the gap, climbed drunkenly to its feet, then tore off into the night.

Calvin forced himself to take a deep breath, then began to wiggle his way out of the gap. The wind battered at his face, blinding him with snow. He knew he should wait to make sure his attacker was gone, but he also knew if he didn't get inside right now, he was going to die.

He held his hood down with one hand and felt along the wall of the dormitory with the other, hoping against hope that the creature didn't decide to come back and finish what it'd started. Determined to survive, Calvin fought bravely through the wind until he at last reached the entrance to the dormitory and let himself into the hallway.

He was too exhausted, in too much pain to call for help, so he slid down the wall, onto the floor, and waited.