White Walker (7 page)

The air around her carried a chill that raised goose
bumps across her exposed flesh. But David’s hand on her breast felt
good, igniting a fire deep inside her, an itch that needed
scratching.

Before she knew it he had stripped her down to just
a pair of panties, her dress lying crumpled on the floor. It was
gonna be a bitch ironing out those wrinkles, but what did it
matter. He was unbuckling his belt when the faint sound of a child
crying came from the back of the training room. Hidden in the deep
shadows where the light of the desk lamp could not reach.

“What’s that?” she said.

“What’s what?” David said, pushing down his jeans
and stepping out of them, the bulge at the front of his briefs
confirming his horniness.

From the shadows at the back of the training room
came the unmistakable sound of a child crying.

“There it is again,” Jasmine said, wrapping her arms
around her body to keep warm. Covering her exposed breasts and
effectively killing the moment. The chill of the room invaded her
body, burrowing to her bones.

David moved towards the back of the room. “Who’s
back there?” he said, vanishing for a moment into the shadows,
leaving Jasmine alone.

From the outer wall came the shrieking cry of the
wind as it battered itself against the building. It was a distant
sound that brought to mind the image of a windswept plain across
which a solitary figure staggered against the wind.

The image filled her with such a sense of
loneliness, of loss that weighed down her heart, a forlorn
emptiness without end. From the freezing depths of the endless
Siberian winter, this lonely wanderer had come to this place in its
never-ending search for the warmth of the living. Over the
centuries he had gone by many names that had been celebrated and
feared. He was the essence of the winter wind, the driving snow,
and the relentless cold. Feeding on the souls of all who became
lost in his raging storms. He had been known as the White Walker,
the White One, Jack Frost, and Old Man Winter, as well as a long
list of names lost in the faded memories of the distant past.

“Jasmine, come here.” David’s voice pulled her from
her thoughts and she knelt down to retrieve her dress. She slipped
it on, glancing at her bra still lying on the desk; she shrugged
and pulled her dress on the rest of the way. In the back of the
room she found David peering into the dense shadows that crouched
in the corners. From their inky depths came the unmistakable sound
of a child sobbing.

“Where is she?” Jasmine said.

“Right there in the corner.” David pointed, his arm
a darker shadow against the velvety emptiness. “Come here, little
girl, we won’t hurt you.”

“How did a little girl get in here?” Jasmine said as
she tried to make out the child but saw only shadows. Then she felt
it, on a deeply emotional level, a terror that washed over her with
a blind panic.

He was coming.
The thought whispered in her
mind and she knew, on a deep, instinctive level, the child was
afraid of that which inhabited the storm raging beyond the walls of
the building.

“It’s okay, we won’t hurt you,” Jasmine said.

There was movement in the deeper shadows as a black
shape stirred in the darkness. It came towards them and Jasmine was
suddenly filled with a desire to flee, to run away from what was
unfolding in front of her, but she stood her ground, quashing her
own fear as a little girl, no more that five, emerged from the
deeper shadows.

“You’ll be safe now,” David said as he extended his
hand to her. She reached for him, one small hand held out in the
gloom and Jasmine had a moment to reflect that something was
terribly wrong here. There were forces at play beyond her
comprehension. A confrontation was brewing and they were stuck in
the middle.

As the girl reached for him a wicked smile spread
across her face. Jasmine was nearly floored by the raw power of the
rage that emanated from the child’s silhouette. She reached out to
stop David, one last attempt to save him from the fate that
awaited, but that all-consuming rage kept her arm in check.

“It’s okay, sweetie,” David said as the little
girl’s hand was folded into his own.

He started to stand, that self-assured expression on
his face dissolving into a grimace of pain as small wisps of smoke
rose from his arm. The sickening smell of roasting flesh filled the
room. The little girl vanished from sight, dissolving into the
shadows as David dropped to his knees and clamped his hands to
either side of his head. He cried out as a thick ribbon of smoke
rose from his back. He shrieked as flames flashed across his
shoulders, enveloping his head, racing down his body, flashing
across his flesh as they greedily fed on the ready supply of fuel.
He reached out for Jasmine, who stood transfixed by the spectacle
playing out before her. His pain and terror washed over her in
waves, nearly driving her to the ground as his flesh bubbled and
popped beneath the churning flames that covered his body.

He cried out one last time, a final shriek of agony
before he fell face-first to the carpet. The flames consumed his
body, merely singing the carpet beneath him, leaving the rest of
the room untouched.

Jasmine staggered back as the last of his agony was
washed away. She dropped to her knees, panting in fear, her hands
covering her face. She understood without really knowing why that a
line had been drawn in the snow and the first casualty of the
coming battle had been taken.

This one by fire.

As he drifted just beneath the surface of
consciousness, the first thing Teddy became aware of was the smell.
A faint mustiness that reminded him of the basement in the house he
grew up in. A stale scent that whispered of things long abandoned.
The next thing he noticed was the peculiar stillness that filled
him with the sensation of not belonging. That he was the one out of
place. Gone were the normal sounds of everyday life in the call
center, the faint hum of the overhead lights, the soft hiss of
moving air from the vents that provided warmth in the winter and a
cool breeze in the summer’s heat. Those everyday sounds that were
never noticed until they were no longer there.

There were other sounds, faint voices that came to
him as if from a great distance away, but upon opening his eyes he
realized he was alone. Yet those distant whispers remained, faint,
almost inaudible, too soft for him to distinguish what was being
said. They came from all around him, whispering from the shadows
that were crowded along the walls and pooled in the corners.

Where is everyone?

He sat up, his head throbbing in response to the
sudden change of position. The floor beneath his hand felt
insubstantial. It was there, yet it wasn’t. He felt the tiles
beneath his fingers, but the sensation was weak. There was a
dream-like quality to everything around him, as if the hallway was
but a memory shrouded in shadows.

Getting to his feet, he steadied himself against the
bulletin board. The sound of the paper crinkling beneath his hand
was dull, as if it, too, did not belong. A chill washed over him
and he remembered what had brought him to this place.

The stranger in the storm. A thing of legend carried
in the hearts and minds of those who had come from the frozen
Russian steppes of Siberia. If his Nanny was to be believed. A
being that carried the harsh winter wind in its pocket. Leading the
unwary to their doom so it could feast upon their souls.

From the shadows of the main room behind him came
the soft sob of a child. As he turned around to locate the source,
he saw Kevin lying face down on the other side of the hallway.

“Kevin?” Teddy said as he knelt down beside him. He
placed his hand on Kevin’s back, shivering at the icy chill that
emanated in waves from his prone body. “Are you all right?” He
slipped his hand along the side of his Kevin’s searching for a
pulse. There wasn’t one.

Kevin stirred, moaning as he rolled over onto his
back. Suddenly he pushed himself up off the floor, his face a mask
of anger. He grabbed Teddy by the throat and drove him across the
hall to the opposite wall. Teddy slapped at Kevin’s arms as he was
driven back. The back of his head rebounded from the wall, stars
exploded behind his eyelids, and he struggled to breathe as Kevin’s
hands tightened around his neck.

“Kevin, it’s Teddy,” he tried to reason with his
older, more muscular opponent. His pleas were ignored. He was
pinned against the wall, his feet inches above the floor. Kevin’s
eyes were wide, his nostrils flaring with the exertion, his mouth
set in a grim line. It was Kevin, but it wasn’t Kevin. Something
else lurked in the black depths of his pupils.

Teddy tried to hit him in the face, his fist
bouncing uselessly off Kevin’s shoulder. Black spots danced before
Teddy’s eyes as his brain slowly starved for oxygen. He didn’t have
much longer. If he didn’t do something soon he would die. The truth
of his predicament startled him into action and he brought his knee
up savagely.

The tight band around his throat loosened as Kevin
dropped his hands to cover his injury. He staggered back as he
retched onto the floor, his vomit splattering hot and steaming onto
the cold tile.

Teddy slid down to a sitting position as he gulped
down a fresh lungful of air. The black dots that had been swimming
before his eyes faded. Kevin dropped to the floor, curled up on his
side, moaning in pain as he rolled back and forth with his hands
clasped between his legs.

As his breathing came under control, Kevin started
moving with more purpose.

“Kevin,” Teddy shouted at his co-worker, who was
slowly drawing himself up onto his knees. When he looked up, Teddy
realized it was not Kevin kneeling before him. It may have looked
like Kevin, but Kevin was gone, replaced by that which crouched
before him like a savage beast coiling itself up for another
attack. Something had come in with Kevin’s body.

May I come in?
that sinister voice whispered
in his mind.

Teddy glanced to his right. At the doorway to the
break room. Beyond lay the rear door that led to the open dock and
the winter storm raging outside. Neither was a good choice, and he
looked left into the dense gloom that filled the main floor of the
call center. In that direction his chances of survival were much
better. He could become lost in the maze of temporary walls that
created the cubicles for those who manned the phones.

Kevin lunged at him and Teddy fled into the dark
shadows of the main floor.

From his vantage point, he watched as Kevin stepped
into the doorway, silhouetted by the weak light coming through the
window in the rear door.

“Where are they?” Kevin shouted as Teddy slowly
backed away into the shadowy depths of the main floor.

Kevin walked into the room, throwing aside temporary
walls, desks and chairs as he made his way into the shadowy
recesses. “They belong to me,” he shouted with rage as he plowed
through the center of the room.

Teddy backed into a corner, watching Kevin around
the edge of a temporary divider as he staggered past him. From the
back of the room came the unmistakable sound of a child crying.
Kevin stopped and turned in the direction the sound had come.
Another child cried out, or maybe it had been the same one. Teddy
didn’t know. His only hope was that Kevin couldn’t hear his heart
thundering in his chest.

Monitors crashed to the ground, towers were tumbled
over, telephones jangled as they were smashed under Kevin’s
feet.

“Where are they?” Kevin shouted, his words echoing
through the darkness.

From the back of the room came a faint red glow that
steadily grew brighter. From within the glow came the sound of
several children sobbing in terror. The red glow became yellow
flames that flickered through the shadows. Teddy slowly raised
himself up until he could see over the top of the divider. Kevin’s
silhouette was backlit by the growing flames dancing against the
wall. The sickly sweet smell of roasting flesh filled the room,
causing Teddy to gag at its scent. Kevin spun around at the sound
and moved towards him. Teddy quickly backpedaled as he tried to get
some distance between them. His feet became tangled in the mess on
the floor and he fell backwards as Kevin closed the distance
between them.

Then he was on him. Kevin’s powerful hands wrapped
around his throat as he was lifted from the littered floor. He was
raised off his feet as he tried, without success, to dig his
fingers in between Kevin’s hands and the flesh of his throat. He
struggled to breath as his windpipe was constricted from without,
his heartbeat thundering in his ears, the flow of blood to his
brain severely restricted.

“Where are they?” Kevin shouted, his eyes glowing
with a pale blue light that awakened a bone numbing chill. He had
been turned, Teddy realized; Kevin’s soul was lost in the White
One’s domain. Cursed to forever wander the frozen wastes.

“Stop it,” A woman shouted from the flames
flickering along the back wall. From his vantage point he saw the
silhouette of a woman in a long dress against the backdrop of the
flames. Around her were smaller shadows, the silhouettes of
children huddled about her.

With the image came the burning sensation of flames
searing his flesh. On its heels came the understanding that she had
done everything in her power to protect those she had been charged
with caring for.

Kevin dropped Teddy and turned to confront the
woman.

Teddy struggled to his feet, pulling himself up
using a desk, coughing and gagging as he sucked in air tinged by
the scent of roasting flesh. A sickly sweet odor that he realized
wasn’t really all that bad once you became accustomed to it.