Winter's Fury - Volume Two of The Saga of the Twelves (45 page)

Still, it was stuff they
needed if they were to survive upon the Melded World.

She smiled to see they had
found adequate clothing for the last of their group. She took a
liking to the three-quarter length sweater, the black jeans and
russet-colored hiking boots the new girl had picked for herself. It
was all better suited to the cold.

To Sophie, she still
managed to look stylish.
The girl has a
good eye.

Out of habit, she grinned
and waved, which the girl returned at once. But she was taken aback
when Andrew did not respond.

He just stared back at
her. His face flushed red. Then, he peered around like he had no
idea where he was.

What the hell is wrong
with him?
she began to think, but her
thoughts scattered without warning. Anthony approached, piled high
with two arm-fulls of double-high air mattresses. He dropped them
like a clod next to her with a loud thud, making her jump out of
her skin.

“
Babe! Damn, you scared
the shit out of me!” she complained.

She got an apologetic
shrug from him as he mouthed a silent “sorry”. He returned to where
the rest of the group was currently ransacking the shelves. They
were scrounging. Every single bit of useful gear was leaving with
them. They needed it, specifically to endure an extended period in
the hostile environment outside the mall.

This was point was all the
more real by the angry bluster pounding the stout walls of their
sanctuary. The climate of this world was brutal.

The girl and Andrew walked
up to her.

“
Hi,” she said, with a
smile, before either of the others had a chance.

“
Hi. I’m Marianna White
Horse.”

Sophie’s eyebrows rose
before she could catch herself. The state of amazement sometimes
challenged her ability to be polite.
But
her last name… wow, a Native American.

“
So, I’m the last one of
the group?” She worded it like a question, but it came out more as
a statement of fact. “At least, that’s what he said,” she went on,
pointing behind her at Andrew with her thumb.

“
Yeah, I guess that’s
correct. You would be the twelfth of us, the last, which is a big
relief, let me tell you,” said Sophie. She stopped, remembering her
manners, blinking. “Oh my god! I am so sorry. My name is Sophie
Reed. Damn, with all this crap going on, I’ve just totally
forgotten how to be a decent person. I swear to God I have been
behaving like a farmer’s daughter ever since I got here!” She stuck
out her hand with a jerk.

Marianna reached out and
shook it, smiling anew. “Don’t worry about it. I imagine we’ve all
had it rough the last few days, so I’ll cut you some slack,”
reasoned Marianna.

“
Hey Ant,” called Anthony
to his friend as he came back only this time carrying a load of
tents and a huge sack full of batteries.

“
Huh, wha- ?” was all
Andrew managed. His face was still beat red.

Sophie frowned
again.
What’s this dude been up to?
Her eyes narrowed.

Anthony looked at his
friend and then at Sophie, and then back to Marianna, putting down
his load and pointing at Andrew. “What’s up with him?”

Sophie just put her hands
out in surrender. She had no clue.

“
Dude, will you please go
the Men’s department and get yourself a real jacket or something,
ok? You look like Juan Valdez on crack! You've walking around with
your head stuck through the middle of fourteen thousand blankets
for days on end!” Anthony's commented was a full-fledged challenge.
He raised his eyebrows, expecting some sort of outrageous comeback
from his friend. When none came, he duplicated Sophie’s frown as
the other boy just stood there, bemused. “Jeez, bro, take care of
it already.”

A few more seconds
passed.

Andrew did not
move.

Anthony mumbled,
“Whatever.” He stepped closer to Marianna, introducing
himself.

She did
likewise.

He glanced at the
dumbstruck Andrew again, discomfort turning to disdain. “Would you
mind helping my friend find a coat or a jacket, or
something?”

Sophie could tell Anthony
had concluded that Andrew was all together on some other planet.
Thus, he was completely useless.

“
Sure,” said Marianna,
tugging at Andrew’s arm.

He followed her like an
Idiot Savant, letting the minute-sized girl pull him along like a
marionette.

Sophie watched, perplexed.
She would have remained at a loss if she had not seen Marianna look
up at Andrew only to see the other girl’s face burst into a
brilliant smile. Then, Sophie knew. It had only taken the tiny,
petite girl a half hour to flip Andrew completely head over
heels!
Oh my God, she’s already got him
hooked like a junkie on Mr. White’s blue meth!

“
What was that all about?”
asked Anthony, staring after them as was Sophie.

“
That’s called talent,”
was Sophie’s succinct reply.

“
What?”

“
It’s a girl thing,
honey,” she offered, not explaining in any sort of
detail.

He rolled his eyes.
“Whatever.”

Sophie ignored him as he
walked off. Her attention shifted as Garfield came up to her from
the front of the store. “Have you seen Kodiak, Snow Girl?” he
asked. His face was solemn and expressionless.

Sophie jerked her head
back at her new moniker. “Snow Girl? Why would you call me
that?”

Garfield looked at her
with only one eye, tilting his head so he could see more of her
with that single orb.

Sophie grimaced, not sure
if she wanted to know the reason why after all.

“
Your hair is white like
the snow. It is beautiful like the snow. Your skin is as pale as
milk.” His lip stretched.

Is he smirking at
me?

“
With so much white about
you, how could I call you anything else?” His voice trailed off as
he looked away, sniffing at the air, emotionless,
indifferent.

“
Oh,” faltered Sophie
caught unawares of the compliment, immediately embarrassed. She put
a hand to her chest as if to steady her breathing, swallowing
though her mouth was dry. “I think Kodiak is with the other… um,
the others of the Fist. They are all resting on this level near the
mall entrance to the store. It is between the music section and the
registers. That's where they keep the shopping carts,” she
spluttered, fighting off feeling bashful. She felt her face flush.
She pointed in the general direction she had indicated, her finger
shook, unsteady.

“
Ah, yes. I can sense them
now,” sensed Garfield as if he had not noticed Sophie’s discomfort.
He snaked his sinuous body toward the mall entrance. Then he looked
back at her. “Thank you, Snow Girl.”

Sophie stared after him as
he padded off.

He was
smirking!

She stood there wrapped in
her thoughts for a second or two before she was finally able to
shake off the thought. Unsure of what had transpired between her
and the seven hundred pound feline, she shrugged. She began
unpacking a slew of battery operated lanterns the others had
scavenged. With systematic calm, she began turning them on and
placing them well apart to light the entire back corner of the
store. This way they could see without the aid of their
flashlights.

“
Hey, very nice! I see the
light,” Jason commented as he walked up to her with an armload of
huge eight-man tents. He put them down. He peered over at Sophie.
“Do you want me to help you with clearing a space so we can pump up
the air mattresses?”

“
Yeah, that would be
awesome. Thanks,” she answered with a nod of her head.

Together, they began to
dismantle the entire toddlers section of the store. In no time,
they had cleared a space that was at least forty feet by forty
feet. It was carpeted and clean. Next, they opened six of the
queen-sized, double-high air mattresses. With the help of
battery-powered air pumps, they inflated them quick enough. After a
few failed configurations and errant head-scratching, they ended up
placing them together in a huge rectangular formation. It was so
large it would swallow the sleeping forms of all twelve of them
with ease. Excited, they walked back to the pile of supplies. They
grabbed as many of the rolled sleeping bags they could carry,
tossing them on top of their new sleeping area for the time being.
They would open them later.

Elena, Louis and Mikalah
came from around the corner. They had a bunch of toys in their arms
- each of them exuberant. They were almost shouting over one
another. It was obvious they had raided the toy section of the
store.

Sophie saw them and
smiled. She told them they could relax on the air-filled beds and
play with their toys until they figured out what they were going to
eat for lunch.

The three kids bounced on
their tiptoes the entire way and flopped down on the mattresses to
enjoy their newfound items.

Sophie turned from the
littlest members of their group, smiling. The thought of them
finally feeling secure enough to simply be children again was
gratifying. They could play without having to worry about being
anyone's prisoner. They did not have to worry over serious injury
by some mysterious plant straight out of Hell or anything of that
nature. The poor dears had not been able to let down their guard
since they had left the cave early that morning.

She was more than a little
grateful for the respite. Simple relaxation could sometimes cure
just about anything.

Kimberly came from one of
the smaller aisles. Her arms piled high with an incredible amount
of portable-sized propane canisters.

Seeing this, Sophie ran
over to the other girl to assist her. “Wow, girl, that’s a lot of
propane, who piled you up like camel?” she kidded, taking six or
seven of the twin packs of propane from her and placed them with
the other equipment.

“
That would be your
boyfriend,” replied Kimberly with exaggerated sarcasm. “I think
he’s still trying to punish me for acting like an ass
earlier.”

Sophie looked back at the
girl with a quizzical look on her face, a little wary. But it took
only a moment to realize, Kimberly was making fun of herself. After
that uncertain pause, the remark made Sophie chuckle. “Ah, I see,”
she said with mock understanding. “He’s just being a task master,
because wants to get this part of the prep-work out of the way so
we can all rest for a while. It has been a pretty crazy
morning.”

“
Yeah, I
think you’re right. I’m just messing around anyway.
And
, I completely agree
with you. I could do without any more mornings like the one we just
had,” assented Kimberly. Then her eyes caught a hold of something.
Her vision angled over Sophie’s shoulder, toward the mall entrance
of the store.

Sophie turned,
half-expecting to see Garfield with all his talk of snow and white,
but realized it was only Hyun and Derek. They were each pushing a
Target shopping cart full of food and drinks. They were plates and
utensils, paper towels and blankets as well as a few collapsible
nylon camping chairs.

“
Oh good you brought some
food from the market section,” remarked Sophie, enthusiastic.
“Thanks you guys, I’m starved!”

Derek and Hyun exchanged a
knowing glance.

“
Naw, girl. They didn’t
get that stuff from here,” countered Kimberly at her side. “They
went down to the Fish Market. That was where we’d been hanging out
before we decided to leave this morning. They just brought up some
of the stuff we had stashed down there.”

Some of the cheer had gone
out of Kimberly. It left Sophie to wonder what was truly going on
between the three of them.

“
You see there?” Kimberly
pointed. “That was the comforter set I’ve been using for the past
few days.”

Sophie’s eyes locked onto
where the other girl was pointing. She saw the black and white,
zebra striped comforter set. It was one of those bed-in-a-bag deals
where everything matched. “That’s right, I forgot the three of you
had already been here, stuck at the mall for four days.” Sophie
lightened her tone, trying to break the sudden pall that had
befallen them.

“
Yeah,” added Kimberly,
her tone anything but light.

“
It was… an adventure to
say the least,” interposed Hyun. She hunched over the handlebar of
the shopping cart, giving her back some much-needed
rest.

Derek cackled with
derisive mirth, but stayed otherwise silent.

This shit has got to
stop
, though Sophie,
before someone does something stupid and we all get
killed.
Aloud though, she kept her voice
as cheerful as she could without sounding fake. “Come on! Let’s see
if we can make some sort in indoor camp. After, we’ll see about
grabbing something to eat. Sound good?”

“
Yeah, sure does,” piped
up Derek. He came around his cart eager.