MELT: A Psychological Thriller (15 page)

Chrissie turned the hat inside-out. Empty now, she threw it at Victoria's feet. 'I knew you were lying.'

Victoria spun on Glen. 'How dare you!’

Glen picked up Victoria’s hat. He dangled the hat before her face. 'How dare I?'

Victoria snatched her hat.

Megan stepped between them, holding the gardening gloves. 'I almost got frostbite climbing that ice, Victoria. My fingers were so numb I dropped the phone. Then you made me move Ericsson. A dead body! I
asked
you for something to cover my hands. You called me disgusting. Disgusting! You’re the disgusting one!’

'Why were you hiding these?' asked Carl.

Victoria exploded in rage.

'To save your lives! The ice is trying to kill us. It killed Ericsson and then dropped a bomb on us. Now it's poisoning us with radiation. Digging into the ice is suicide! I'm trying to protect us!'

Megan shook her head.

'We don't have a choice now. We have to bury that lock before it kills us. We have to dig to live.'

Dig to live
, thought Glen.
What a motto.

 

 

#

 

 

Glen stabbed the ice with the shears.

They bounced right off.

Useless.

‘What’s wrong?’ asked Megan.

‘They’re not designed for stabbing,’ explained Glen. ‘The handles are too awkward to grip.’

Carl hadn’t had any luck either.

'Lend me your belt,' said Carl quickly. ‘I have an idea.’

Glen handed Carl the shears and his robe’s belt.

Carl wrapped up the shears, ensuring the soft fabric covered the nut.

'I had tools the last time I did this.'

He lifted the shears as though he planned to play them like a flute.

'Holy crap!
thought Glen.
He's trying to unscrew the nut with his teeth!

'Oh, no, Carl,' cried Megan. 'He's using his teeth! Don't, Carl!'

Carl paused, but didn't lower the shears. 'We're dying right now, Megan. Every moment we're getting more irradiated.'

'Let him do it,' said Chrissie firmly. 'We don't have time.'

Megan covered her mouth and turned away, shivering.

Carl positioned the nut between his teeth.

Glen grimaced as Carl began applying steady pressure. Tendons lifted under the skin on Carl’s neck.

He bit down hard.

Then harder.

Then he started turning.

Or rather, he tried.

Please turn, please turn, please turn
....

Nothing happened, except the tendons on Carl's neck tried to break through his skin.

Carl's face turned bright red. His hands shook. His head twisted sideway until —

Crrrruuuunch!

The shears jolted ninety degrees.

The noise sounded wrong. It sounded organic, not metallic.

What has he done to himself?

Carl lowered the shears. He checked his teeth. His fingers came away bloody. Glen saw shards of broken teeth in his palm.

'He's broken his teeth!' exclaimed Alex.

The broken teeth cut his gums
, thought Glen.
Or he's shattered his teeth below the gum line.

Either way, Carl had caused himself some serious dental damage.

Carl looked vacantly at the broken teeth in his palm. He put them into his UPS shirt pocket.

'Are you all right?' asked Glen.

Carl unwrapped and then carefully rewrapped the gardening tool with Glen's belt.

'He's trying again,' declared Alex.

'No, Carl,' begged Megan. 'Don't be ridiculous. You're going to strip all the teeth from your mouth.'

Carl ignored everyone. He positioned the tool into the other side of his mouth.

He started the process again.

'Wait!' yelled Glen.

I can’t let him grind all his teeth apart.

Glen had an idea.

'Just wait, Carl. This can work. Chrissie, give me your cigarette lighter. Carl, give me the shears.'

Carl hesitated, but handed over the shears.

Chrissie offered her lighter, but jerked it back as Glen reached out. 'If this is a trick to stop me smoking....'

‘It’s not,' said Glen sincerely. 'I promise. This is for Carl.’

Chrissie gave Glen a warning glare and then the lighter.

Glen thumbed the lighter once, twice, three times before the flame appeared. He held the frozen nut precisely over the flame.

'The heat will liquefy any lubricant,' he explained. 'The nut will expand a bit too. It might be enough.'

'Don't use all my gas,' warned Chrissie. 'I still need that.'

Glen ignored her.

'That's enough,' insisted Chrissie, reaching for it.

Glen turned his back on her. 'You ready, Carl? You'll have to be quick.'

'I'm ready.'

Carl's hands waited just inches from the shears.

'There,' said Glen. 'Go.'

Carl snatched the shears.

And dropped them.

He lashed out to catch them, but instead sent them skittering across the floor.

Fuck no
, thought Glen.
We only had one chance at that.

But Megan stomped on them. Lightning fast she snatched them from under her bright orange sneaker and tossed them straight to Carl.

Carl didn't drop them this time. He wrapped the belt once around the nut and tried again.

We only lost a few seconds
, thought Glen.
This can still work
.

Carl took longer to position the nut this time, perhaps learning from painful experience.

Megan didn't cover her mouth or turn away this time.

Alex said out loud, 'Come on, you good thing. Turn, you little bastard. Turn.'

Glen prayed Carl could do it. He'd learned in school that the jaw muscles were the strongest in the human body. From the intensity in Carl's eyes, either the nut would turn or Carl would bite the shears in half.

With or without his teeth.

Is that turning?

Almost imperceptibly the handles moved. By bare degrees at first, the handles began turning without the sound of Carl's teeth disintegrating.

'He's got it,' yelled Alex. 'He's got it!'

 

 

#

 

 

'That was frigging awesome!' yelled Alex. 'You want me to finish it off?'

Carl shook his head and unscrewed the nut with his fingers. The bolt slid free. The shears fell apart.

He held them up.

'Two knives,' said Megan.

‘Two icepicks,’ said Glen, accepting one.

'Stronger than a pocket knife,' mumbled Carl. 'Each is a single piece of metal.'

Chrissie shook her lighter. 'It's almost empty, Glen!'

'There's enough for your cigarettes,' Glen replied, tying his belt back on. Carl had bitten holes in it.

Alex tested their new icepicks.

'These work great. Now we have three tools. Three people can dig while three people move ice.’

Megan touched Carl's arm. 'How's your mouth?'

'Never mind that. Let's get digging, get warm, and get that lock buried.'

Carl pointed at Ericsson.
'Chrissie and Megan. Could you two make a space between Ericsson and the ice for the lock? We'll bury them together. Ericsson’s body will absorb radiation.'

'We haven't enough loose ice,' countered Victoria.

'Not yet,' replied Carl. 'Glen, Alex and I will start digging. You gather our ice chips with your sunhat, Victoria.’

No one argued with the man who'd wrecked his teeth for the group.

Carl turned and began smashing into the ice with a pick.

Glen found Victoria's gloves and tossed one to Alex.

Oh, crap
, he realized.
I've kept the left hand glove. Alex and I are both right-handed.

'Turn it inside-out,' said Victoria.

‘What?’

'Here, I’ll show you.'

She wanted the glove.

Glen passed it to her. 'I'm right-handed.'

‘I know.’ Victoria turned the glove inside-out. 'Now it's a right hand glove.'

It was.
I'd never have thought of that.

'Thanks.'

The glove made a huge difference. Glen was still pounding the ice hard when Megan called out.

'The hole’s ready.'

Carl approached the lock.

'Everyone stay back.'

Doesn’t he want help?
thought Glen.
That thing weighs a ton.

Carl proved what a UPS delivery driver could do. He grabbed the lock by the shackle and dead-lifted it.

His legs wobbled.

He needs help.

Glen dashed a few steps, but Carl shouted, 'Stay back, Glen! You too, Alex. Only one of us needs to touch it.'

I've already touched it
, thought Glen.

Carl shuffled slowly around the ice. 'Watch out!'

Chrissie and Megan scattered.

THUUNNK

Carl heaved the lock into the space behind Ericsson.