Microsoft word winterb.., p.16
Microsoft Word - Winterborn_final-ADRoland, page 16
slithered up next to him and rose slowly on his tail.
He wore the little-boy head. Blood ran down the dead face like tears. The ill-fitting mask drooped
around Jake-o's face. Tiny, sharp teeth caught the moonlight.
The man cried out and stumbled backwards, tripping over his own feet. Jake-o struck, biting
down on his leg. The man screamed, so loud it echoed around the yard.
The front door flew open. Through the blood-red haze of rage, Kevin heard pounding footsteps.
Somebody grabbed him from behind and jerked him off his feet. He fought the strong arm, refusing to
be dragged back on to the porch. He yelled and fought, clawing and kicking, until Sean threw him
down on the porch and Tam fell on top of him, holding him down. Her arm was close to his mouth, so
he chomped down until he tasted blood.
She screamed, louder than the man was screaming, louder than his dad was hollering. Louder
than Jake-o snarled.
So loud it cut through the haze over Kevin's eyes. Heavy darkness fell over him, blacking out
anything, everything.
****
The moment the police left, Sean hurried upstairs, tight-lipped, and came down with the shotgun.
Tam peered out the narrow windows beside the front door. “Are they coming back out tomorrow to
look for him?” she asked. While the police spoke to Sean, she stayed with the paramedics as they
checked out Kevin. She missed anything they might have said to him.
Thunder rumbled across the sky. Lightning struck over the trees across the road. Tam blinked
away the spiky afterimage seared into her eyeballs. Sean paused at the bottom of the stairs, checking
the gun. “No.”
“Why not?”
“Because nobody believes we saw a lizard drag off a grown man. Damn it, Tam, I’m not even sure
I saw it.”
Tam glared at him over her shoulder. “What, you think I’m contagious? My psychosis is rubbing
off on you?”
“Tam, it’s just…”
Tam stepped away from the windows and hugged herself. “It dragged him off, Sean.”
He stepped close and wrapped his arms around her from behind. She cringed to the left to avoid
the barrel of the shotgun. It thumped against her shoulder. Most people would think it’s weird to
have a shotgun included in a romantic embrace!
“So what do we do, Sean?”
“I’ll call Pastor Walty in a minute and tell him Mike showed up here. He was drunk, and…he left
his car.”
“And then?”
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“He’ll have to file a missing person report in a couple of days.”
Tam shook her head. “It seems really wrong.”
“What else can we do, baby? I’m not going out there to look for Mike.”
Tam agreed. “That thing is so strong. What if it tries to get into the house?”
As tall as he was, Sean had to stand on a stepladder to get the gun on the hooks over the front
door. He grunted and tapped the stock. “That’s why this is here.”
Tam made a face and looked toward the stairs. “You know I'm not squeamish about guns in
general, but one that can be reached by our resident demon...”
“He can't reach it. There's nothing high enough for him to climb on, and we aren't letting that kid
out of our sight. He can go to school, and when he gets back, he's either with you or with me. I'll get
my work done fast, so you won't have to deal with him alone too often.”
Tam sighed and sank down on the couch. Nearly every light in the house burned.
“It's got a trigger lock,” he said, hopping off the stool and standing back. He held up a small key
ring with a single oddly-shaped key. “I've got one key and it's on me all the time. You know where the
other is.”
“I'm still not sure keeping loaded weapons around that kid is a good idea.” Tam crossed her arms
over her chest. Nothing will sell me on that idea. Nothing at all. “We're bound to wake up with him standing over us with a gun, or worse, we'll wake up dead.”
“If you're waking up dead, we have more problems than a rebellious kid.”
Tam rolled her eyes and leaned back against the overstuffed cushions. “Seriously, think about
this, Sean.” She leaned forward again, propelled by another idea. “Did you see how he was just
standing there while that thing chewed on Mike's leg? He was just literally standing there, watching.
He wasn't scared. He wasn't running. It was almost like he'd sicced it on him!”
Sean shook his head, his shoulders tense, his body screaming his inability to accept what had
clearly happened. “He was just petrified.”
“I think he called that monster.”
“I think you're still adjusting to being off the drugs.” His curt tone silenced her. His words cut
deep.
“I'm not crazy, Sean.”
“He's a kid. He has no control over that monster. Whatever it is. I’ll call Animal Control first thing. They'll find it and everything will be fine.”
“Sean, baby—”
“Zip it, Tam.” He gave the door a hard smack with his palm, deep lines of frustration etched into
his face. “Look, I know the kid has issues. Runs in the family. He's just a kid. He's not some snake
charmer. He doesn't have magical powers.” Sean headed for the stairs, turning off lights as he went.
“He's just a screwed up little kid.”
****
A dense gray morning greeted Tam late the next morning. She hung her feet over the edge,
groaning. Last night had been horrible, full of Sean's nightmares as well as her own. Not to mention
both of them waking up every couple of hours to make sure Kevin hadn't snuck out again.
At the moment, silence enshrouded the house.
She patted Sean’s side of the bed. Cold. “Sean?”
The hair on the backs of her arms stood up and a chill ran down her spine. The room darkened,
like clouds had rolled over the sun.
She tucked her feet back under the covers. “Sean?” She said his name loud enough for him to hear
her, if he was inside the house.
The shadow under the bed reached out like it wanted her.
More than shadows, it did want her! The deeper she stared into the deep gray dark, the darker the shadows became. A sense of hunger radiated from the amorphous form.
Tam gasped and clutched the edge of the bed tighter. The darker shapes moved through the
shadows, growing more numerous, thickening until the texture of the shadows became almost
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tangible. She couldn't see the grain of the wood floors through the layer of shadows.
Tiny red dots moved in the cloud in pairs. Eyes. Tam's heart began to race in her chest, and a cold sweat broke out on her body. Her thin T-shirt stuck to her back. A bead of sweat trickled down her
arm and followed the contour of her arm to the outside of her elbow. The drop clung there, tickling,
and fell into the shadows.
It was like pouring blood into the shark tank.
The tangible shadows roiled and bubbled, leapt up like fish, snapping tiny dragon jaws. Tam
jumped back into the center of the bed, screaming at the top of her lungs. One of the shadow creatures
flung itself high and landed on the comforter. It had a long body, serpentine, with spikes on its back
and a head like an oriental dragon. It writhed and struck like an eel. Made of shadows, the outlines of
its body were only in sharp relief when it crossed a patch of sunlight. Tam shrieked again and backed
up against the headboard.
It didn't like the light. When it hit a patch it screeched, a tinny, harsh sound that cut to Tam's
bones. It continued to writhe and flop. She fumbled behind her head with one hand for the string for
the drapes. Where is it? It always hangs about here!
Her fingers finally closed around it, just as the nasty little shadow reached the indentation in the
blanket around her feet. She kicked at it, but her foot passed right through its body, leaving an oily
sheen on her skin.
She yanked the string hard. The blinds shot up, crooked. The strings weren't even! The light that
beamed through the windows was barely more than what was already in the room.
The little shadow monster looped around her ankle, digging tiny, razor-sharp claws into her leg
and dragging itself higher. She felt the jagged edges of the scales on its belly. Nothing she did, no
matter how hard she kicked and slapped at her leg, dislodged the thing. It blended in and out with the
gray light.
You’re an idiot, Tam! She leaned over and whacked the bedside lamp. Bright buttery yellow light blasted through the room like flash fire.
The needling claws vanished as the shadows disappeared like flares. Tam stared down at her leg,
then down at the patch of warmly-lit, needed-to-be-polished-badly wooden flooring. The rug lay flat,
undisturbed. Cautiously, she stepped down off the bed. The second her foot hit the floor the damn rug
shot out from under her. She landed in a jackknife split that hurt so badly she curled up in a ball,
grimacing.
She opened her eyes and found herself staring into the shadow once more. It was still there, just
waiting for her. The light from the lamp forced it to stay in one place, blocked in by laws it couldn't
break. She opened her mouth to scream for Sean, whether he was in the house or not.
Before she made the first sound, the bedroom door swung open and he stepped into the room,
hitting the switch for the overhead light.
“Wake—” he broke off mid-phrase. “What are you doing on the floor?”
“There's something under the bed!” She righted herself and scuttled backwards, away from the
edge of the bed. “Sean, it crawled up and was on my leg and—”
“Oh good grief, Tamsyn.” He marched over to the bed and ducked down. Tam held her breath,
expecting the shadows to grab him. Then she remembered the light and the effect it had. “There's
nothing here but shadows and dust. And I think that’s a pair of your underwear back there. I
understand you have some paranoia issues, but now you’re scared of dirty panties?”
“Why are you in such a nasty mood?” she asked, her fear forgotten in the wake of his bitterness.
Sean sat on the edge of the bed and flopped backwards.
Sean shrugged. “I don’t know. Keep Kevin inside, try not to go out at night. Even in the daytime,
we shouldn’t be out there without some sort of protection.” He pointed toward the closet.
“You and your guns.”
He flexed his biceps. “You like?”
“You’re an idiot.”
“You know you love me.” He dragged her down for a kiss. Her lips met his and she gave in, even
though she thought, Do I?
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Tamsyn touched his stomach, his chest. The hard muscles beneath his skin fascinated her.
Mesmerized, she slid her hands under his shirt and rested her head on his chest. Still shivery and
chilled by her latest hallucinations, she craved his strength, his warmth.
“Seriously, what do we do? I mean, there’s a person missing on our property. And the monster
that dragged him off is still out there.”
He trailed his fingers along her shoulder before resting his hand on the back of her neck. “I don't
know, baby.”
“Kevin at school?”
Sean nodded. He was quiet for a long time. “Are you all right?”
Tam sat up on her elbow and looked at him. “Yeah. Why?”
“You're seeing things again.”
“I'm not crazy, or anywhere near it, Sean.” Tam sighed and lay back on the bed. “I think I'm
seeing things that are really there...there.”
“You aren't making sense.”
Tam sat up again and rolled on her side, propping her head up on her elbow. “Spirits, Sean.”
Sean ran his hand through her hair and nodded, weary. “It’s not that I don’t believe you. I mean,
hell, I just watched a lizard monster attack somebody. I'm not going to argue with you about it, but I
want you to really...I don't know, just try not to freak out so often. I heard you shrieking from the
yard. It didn’t sound like a nightmare.”
“I was wide awake.”
“Yeah, right.”
The sound of something heavy and hard falling from someplace downstairs silenced her. Sean sat
up, brows furrowed. “I left the back door open. Stay here.” He grabbed the portable phone off the
nightstand and pushed it into her hand. On silent feet, he crossed the room to his closet and got his
gun.
Tam snapped her fingers softly. “I'm not staying her alone,” she mouthed. Sean rolled his eyes
and attempted to argue with her via gestures but gave up and motioned for her to follow―quietly. She
gave him a 'well duh' look and fell into step behind him.
At the head of the stairs they paused, listening. Sounds came again, from the kitchen and the odd
little room next to it that really didn't serve any purpose. The part of the house they couldn't see from the open landing. A long rectangle of light stretched into the dining room, the outline of the open back door.
The scraping, thudding noise came again. Tam gave Sean's upper arm a tight squeeze. He glanced
back at her. “Please stay,” he mouthed.
She shook her head. The shadows darkened around them. Tam forced herself to stare at the light
coming in the windows downstairs. Focus on the light. The things of darkness can't exist in the light.
Sean started down the steps. Tam stayed right behind him, far enough away that if he needed to
turn and run, she could, too. The living room seemed normal, as did the dining room, until they got all
the way down the stairs, and could see into the kitchen.
“Call 911,” Sean said, running the few steps to the bloody, damaged body that lay on their kitchen
floor. Frozen, Tam could only stare until Sean yelled at her again.
“We need an ambulance,” she stammered into the phone. The operator confirmed the address,
and Tam dropped the phone, not caring if she'd hung up or not. She dropped to her knees at her
husband's side. “Mike?”
A black substance crusted the man's face and neck. He stank like an old grave. Tam touched his
chest to calm him. Her hand came away covered in a sticky, oily substance with the consistency of dog
drool.
“Sean, his leg!”
Sean recoiled, gagging. The flesh from the knee down had withered away. The limb looked like
that of a mummy from a museum, old and shriveled, but moist instead of dry. The foot turned inward
at an impossible angle, pointed up like a clubfoot deformity. Blackening veins traced their way farther
up his knee and his thigh, prominent against the mottled, dissolving flesh.
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“Don't touch him,” Sean ordered. Tam backed up, scrubbing her hand on a towel.
“Sean, that's where that thing bit him.”
“Baby, I know. Get a blanket or something to cover him up.”
Unwilling to leave her husband alone with Mike, Tam leaned over and opened the china hutch
doors. She reached inside and dragged out a tablecloth decorated with Santa and elves. A small
avalanche of other junk fell out.
Sean helped her spread it over Mike. Faintly, they could hear sirens wailing in the distance. Tam
ran to the front door and flipped all the deadlocks, then cracked it open, so the paramedics could get
in.
Mike struggled to talk. Gray-green flecks of foam peppered his lips and ran from the corners of his
mouth. Sean urged him to rest, to be quiet.
From outside, they heard the slam of the car doors and the clamor of men running up the porch
stairs. Mike's dirty, crusty hand latched around Sean's wrist. Two medics burst into the house,
followed by a deputy. All three newcomers stopped short and stared.
Mike cried out in pain and his back arched off the floor. Gouts of blood-streaked black fluid
poured out of his mouth, so much he started to choke. The paramedics rushed up and froze.
“What happened?” one cried out, visibly fighting to keep from getting sick.
Tam shook her head, wringing her hands. “We don't know. We heard a noise and came
downstairs, and we found him in here. We tried to report him missing last night but the idiot cops
wouldn’t listen to us!”
Another yanked on a double layer of rubber gloves. “What’s his name?”
“Mike Walty,” Sean said, softly. Tam looped her arm around his waist, and he held her tightly, his
face buried in her hair.
The medics gave way to the ambulance crew who thundered in a couple of moments after yet
another deputy arrived.
Within a few moments, they hustled him out the front door on a stretcher. Tam and Sean hurried
behind them and watched from the front porch as they loaded him into the back of the ambulance.
****
Sean hung up the phone and turned back to the table, mouth tight, face pale. Tam paused, her
fork at her lips. “Baby?” she asked. “Who was it?”
Kevin had a mouthful of broccoli, so much that green flecks stuck out of his lips as he chewed.
With his mouth open. Making as much noise as possible. He stared at Tam the whole time, just
