Winter's Fury - Volume Two of The Saga of the Twelves (49 page)

“
Take your time, Joaquin.
You can tell us when you are ready,” said Anthony, soft and
soothing.

Joaquin stayed
still.

“
So, they’ll stay put
then?” asked Jason, looking at the great cat.

“
If you take all we've
said into consideration. If you also consider if one as strong and
formidable as Kodiak feels threatened by the blizzard raging
outside these walls, then it’s deadly. I tend to be of the mind
that nothing could survive out there, not even something as massive
as a Jötun. The storm is just too strong.”

Marianna could see Anthony
lapse into thought, but turned her attention to Hyun. The girls’
face wrinkled and creased with a new thought.

“
Why is it, Garfield, or
anyone?” She glanced around. “Why is it that we haven’t changed all
that much since we've come here? I’m pretty much the same girl I
was before.”

“
That’s an easy question
to answer,” said Joaquin, answering for the big cat, still holding
his head in his hands.

Garfield looked at the
teenage boy with as much interest as the rest of them.

“
There was no need for you
to change.”

His simple answer seemed
to rouse the entire group. “What are you talking about?” asked
Derek. “I sure could’ve used a minor change here and there to help
me survive this place.” He laughed a nervous laugh, shaking his
head.

“
You were born with it,
Derek. It’s always been with you and because of that, you have
always carried around that aspect of yourself within you. No need
to alter what had been perfect since birth.” Joaquin did not look
up as he spoke.

To Marianna, it appeared
as though he had closed his eyes.

“
You mean our Gifts,
right?” offered Anthony.

“
Yeah…,” mumbled Joaquin.
Without warning, his head came up and his eyes locked on Derek.
There was an intensity that startled each of them when they saw his
expression.

“
Derek, have you always
been a good at jumping?”

Derek, completely caught
by surprise, sputtered a response none of them could understand. He
cleared his throat and tried again, “I guess.” He looked around
with quick eyes before settling upon Hyun for a second longer than
the rest of them.

What the hell is going on
now?

“
My vertical leap is
greater than most kids my age. That's what my coaches have always
said to me. Why?”

Joaquin’s eyes bored into
the smaller boy, more of the whites showing than before. “You
should remember that when the time comes,” was all he said. Just as
abruptly as he had looked up, his head fell to his chest and he
seemed to dose off.

Derek could only stare
back aghast and looked from one of them to the next uncertain of
what to do or how to respond.

“
Don’t be too alarmed,
Derek,” soothed Anthony. “It is just his Gift.”

That appeared to drain the
tension out of the other boy. “Ok, man, ok. But… wow, that was
weird!”

“
Just don’t forget what he
told you, ok? Once Joaquin has an episode like that he is never
wrong,” expounded Anthony to which Derek nodded. “Good, because it
might save your life…” Anthony left the rest unsaid.

He turned toward the rest
of them.

“
Well, I guess since we
have time, we might as well do something and get everything
together that we’re going to take with us back to the cave. We
might as well be productive, especially since we seem, at least for
the moment, to be safe.”

Marianna watched as
Anthony stood up.

Sophie followed
suit.

Then the rest of them
stood as well.

“
Yeah, it might be some
time before we can say that again, huh?” commented Jason with just
a touch of sarcasm.

“
You can say that again,”
joked Andrew from beside her, almost back to his usual self. After
he had laughed at her and she had given him a mental beat
down.

“
So, you all know what to
do. Let’s get to it then.”

“
Let’s do this!”
encouraged Derek as he sauntered off toward the mall entrance of
the store with a bounce in his step.

Marianna could only frown
after him not sure why he was going in that particular direction.
Her thoughts scattered when Hyun came up to her, walking on
ginger-toes she touched her upon the elbow, her fingers
light.

“
You wanna help me find
some travel food?”

“
Sure,” she replied and
began to follow the girl.

They got three steps when
Anthony tapped them both on the shoulder.

They turned in
unison.

“
I’ll go with
you.”

The both smiled and nodded
at their leader.

He returned it. “That way
I can fill in any gaps Joaquin left out. You can tell Kimberly and
Derek later, ok?”

They agreed.

The three of them walked
toward the area where the food was stored, Anthony already
talking.

~~~~~~~<<<
ᴥ
>>>~~~~~~~

~ 28 ~

A Ghoul from the
Past

Day Four, Sunday, 4:46
pm…

Hyun sat against the
cushion atop the lawn chair. She did so as slow as possible, easing
her weight up against it. Albeit, she had to manage this somewhat
to the side; she was trying not to put undue pressure on her
wounded back. It still ached and pinched if she moved too quickly.
The three Tylenol she swallowed a few hours ago were making a big
difference, though. She glanced around, her position near the
center of the space the others of their group had cleared. She
surveyed all the hard work her and companions had done over the
course of the past few hours.

The air mattresses, now
designated their sleeping area, were still in the same general
place as before. Only they had pushed them farther back against the
racks of baby clothing. This provided more space for the lawn
chairs, like the one she rested upon. But it also made room for the
deep-cushioned patio chairs and matching glass-topped tables now
filling the space. Now there was more than enough seating for
all.

Along the right side of
the clearing, the group had laid out a multitude of large pet
pillows and plush rugs for the members of the Fist. Should a few of
them decide to rest nearer to their human friends, they would be
more or less comfortable. Though the space before the mall entrance
to the store was more spacious, it was cold and drafty as
well.

To her left, the pile of
supplies they were taking with them to the cave continued to grow.
Now it included large backpacks for each of them. They had stocked
them with new clothes, toiletries and a few personal items
individualized to a person. Also, a few days’ worth of “travel
food” she and Marianna had scrounged from the food section was
within as well. These provisions were meager, but hardy. Small bags
of trail mix, energy bars, crackers and packages of beef jerky
would not hold them for long. But they weren't meant to in the
first place.

Of course, Marianna had
frowned as deep as her face would allow, but said nothing out loud.
After all, she had lived off granola bars for four days. They had
kept her alive. Maybe not in the best condition, but alive
nonetheless.

On top of that, there were
two full-scale tool kits. They were jammed into separate stainless
steel toolboxes that weighed close to fifty pounds each.

Next to them were three,
twin-pulley, Compound Bows and all the arrows that Marianna could
find. Sixteen full quivers, holding twenty-five arrows each. Who
knew Target would stock so much lethal weaponry.

An assortment of baseball
bats, hockey sticks and golf clubs lay in piles as well. She
assumed Andrew had gathered them to use as weapons. Though why he
had added hockey pucks, golf balls and baseballs as an
afterthought, she had not quite figured out.
Maybe we supposed to use them as missiles of some
sort?

From the lower floor of
the store, she could hear the continual pounding and sawing sounds
made by Jason and Joaquin. They boy were busy modifying the
shopping carts they had brought from Vons. Four new, over-sized
carts they had found here at the Target store were undergoing
alterations as well. She was a little anxious herself to see how
the skies would work versus the snow sleds they had attached
before. She was hopeful Jason’s idea would prove sound. It sure
sounded like a good one to her, in theory at least.

She glanced up at Andrew’s
approach with Marianna in tow. Both of them were carrying armloads
of what looked like rifles and pistols, magazines and cartridges.
She could not contain her shock as they walked passed her, Andrew
with a satisfied look on his face.

“
I thought Anthony said
not to get anything inadequate, Drew. I thought you promised it
would be so,” she managed when they began to unload their burdens
near the Compound bows.

“
He did say that and I did
promise, but these aren’t real ballistic guns.” He said this with a
flourish. He pulled one from the throng, a weapon that, to her,
definitely looked like an assault rifle used by the U.S. Special
Forces.

Has he lost his
mind?
she wondered as she stood with
deliberation and walked closer toward him.

“
I don’t understand,” she
declared, looking at Marianna for support, but the girl just smiled
back at her.

Oh great, she
thought.
Now we have two loons in our
midst!

Andrew laughed at her
confusion, which annoyed her. “This, my dear Hyun, is an AUG Styer
Air Sniper Rifle, fully auto-electric, and shoots only bb’s.
Although, it does shoot them pretty freakin fast." He paused to
look over the weapon, flipping from one to the other. "They are
supposed to be accurate up to 100 yards, but still it isn’t a real
gun. I would say it is adequate. Wouldn't you?”

Her eyes bulged,
incredulous. “That’s a god damned bb-gun?”

“
Yup, pretty cool, huh?”
he answered. “It won’t bring down anything big, but it will sure
scare away anything smaller than a good-sized dog. You know,
discourage it from coming any closer and shit. I thought the older
guys could carry these high-powered bb-guns. The rest of you could
lug some of the more traditional pump-action types, which are those
ones over there.” He pointed to the pile Marianna had placed on the
floor. Sure enough, there were eight or so more “normal” looking
bb-guns.

“
What do you think?” he
asked curious of her reply. The cast of his face seemed genuine
enough.

Hyun thought about it for
a while, then nodded her head. “I think that’s a good idea, because
there is no telling what is going to be out there by the time we
leave this place. Honesty, I sure would’ve liked to’ve had one of
those when that spider-monkey-thing attacked me.” She paused with a
wry twist of her mouth. “I am assuming the others would see it same
way. It’s not like we’re out to kill everything we come across
right, we just want to keep some of the bad things at bay. It makes
sense.”

She was stunned, though,
when he smiled ear to ear and without warning lunged forward to
give her a big hug. His eyes sparkled. She stifled a yelp at the
pain that lanced through her upper body, not wanting to curb his
enthusiasm. It still did not hide the fact her back was protesting
like a bitch.

“
Sorry, if I hurt you, but
thanks, Hyun.” Then, more to himself than her, “I knew it was a
good idea!” He spoke with a flood of emotion in his
voice.

She looked at Marianna
uncertain. She did not want her to get the wrong
impression.

The other girl was still
smiling back at her, and then turned to Andrew. “See, Andrew, I
told you, you could be brilliant when you needed to be,” she
decried.

He turned back toward her
and winked. His gaze found Hyun and he spoke through a grin, “Well,
I gotta go and get the batteries for the rifles and the electric
pistols. So, I’m off.” He extended his hand toward Marianna. “My
dear…?”

Marianna gained her feet,
taking Andrew’s hand without hesitation. “For sure!” she squealed
with delight.

Together, they walked off,
hand-in-hand. Andrew holding the lantern high and in front of them,
so they could see as they left the better lighted area where Hyun
remained.

She could tell already
they had fallen for one another. The fact they had only known each
other for a quarter of a day was a non-factor in this
case.

What the hell is it about
this place? People are falling all over themselves!

She returned to her seat,
wincing as she moved to sit on one butt cheek. She leaned more onto
her side than against the spot where the spider-bat had wounded
her.

Once she settled, she
watched as Louis and Anthony’s sisters came back from the toy
department again. They had a bunch of action figures, all different
types representative of a myriad of cartoons and movies. They were
talking amongst themselves, excited, but not too loud. They strode
over to the air mattresses, sat down and began playing with each
other.