Snow & Ash: Endless Winter Read online

  “Hello, I’m Belle and this is Rex. Your son has told him about your situation and we’ve talked it over and think we should work together. We were also stranded in the area and don’t know anyone locally. There’s something to be said for safety in numbers.”

  The guy shot a frown at Marsh before nodding his head.

  “I’m Lance. Marshall told me you took charge of Rex and his little brother. Is that true?”

  Belle shrugged. “Their mother had died in a crash on the hiway. I couldn’t just leave them out there alone.”

  “So you made it to town here and have been in hiding ever since? None of you are sick?” When Belle shakes her head he asks, “Why did you hide? Why didn’t you look for other people right away, like the authorities?”

  Belle looks at me and bites her lip so I nod at her to go ahead. We have to trust someone. So Belle tells them about Daniel and everything he told us and all the advice he gave us. The only thing she doesn’t tell them is where we’re staying or how many supplies we have. We have to hold that back until we have a deal.

  “All of that sounds plausible. He gave you good advice, you’re lucky. A lot of people didn’t take shelter and they died. We stayed in a basement until a few days ago, but my husband’s sick and needs antibiotics. There’s a group at one of the hotels but they’re not real friendly and they claim they have no medicine. I’ve looked through the pharmacies but they’ve been cleaned out so I’ve been trying empty houses with no luck. Apparently so has Marshall.” He shoots a stern look at his son who just shrugs.

  Belle pulls a pill bottle from her pocket and hands it out to Lance. “Here, this is the medicine Marsh said you needed for your husband.”

  Lance’s gaze goes from the pills to Belle’s face. “What do you want for them?”

  She shakes her head. “Nothing, take them. I would like to talk some more though about our situation and how we can help each other. We don’t know anyone and we don’t know who we can trust. I’m alone with three kids and one of them is just a toddler, I don’t know if I can do it all by myself. If you’d be willing to team up there are things we can share.”

  Lance stares at Belle hard in consideration before his face softens and he reaches out to take the pills.

  “Ok, we don’t know who we can trust either but we have to start somewhere. So, do you have a secure place to stay? If you don’t, you and the kids should move in with us. It’ll make it easier to protect you. It will also help to find food faster if we work together.”

  Belle looks at me and raises her eyebrows in question. I glance at Marsh who shoots me a wink and thumbs up before finally looking at Lance. This is a big risk but I just don’t see us making it on our own so I nod and say,

  “Actually, we think you guys should move in with us. There’s no way we could move all the supplies we have without anyone seeing them and coming after us for them.”

  At Lance’s confused look we tell him about the pallets of food that’s still stacked up in the back room. His eyes get real big and then panicky as he looks around the store.

  “Holy crap, you guys are on borrowed time! People will be coming here to search for food. It’s been just over two weeks and most of the people left alive are starting to move around again. They would have gone through most or all of the supplies they looted on that first day. The first wave of death is over, now it’s really going to get ugly! You don’t want to be anywhere near this store when that happens!

  Marshall, take these pills to your dad and tell him to start packing, that we’re moving to the fallback point tonight, then get back here as fast as you can to help.

  Rex, please go to the outdoor and gardening section and see if there’s any utility wagons left. There might be some that haven’t been assembled in boxes. Oh, and see if there’s any seeds left! If there is bag as many as you can carry and bring them to the back room.

  Belle, can you show me around the back of the store? I need to get an idea of just how much we can take with us.”

  We all just stand there nodding until Lance barks, “GO!”

  And then we scatter.

  After that things move very fast and frustratingly slow at the same time. Lance has us all moving at packing up the staff room and stacking things by the exterior door we had first entered the store through. He’s moved the toaster pallet as well as others in front of the main store doors closest to the staff room to create a better barricade, but now we’re all terrified that looters will be pounding them down at any minute or attacking through the doors we left open at the other end.

  As the girls pack up the staff room, he has Marsh, once he’s back, and I take overlooked supplies from the main store. It’s things Lance calls comfort items like more clothes, bedding and beauty supplies. Basically, anything people would be willing to trade for after food and water. Lance is assembling the three garden trailers I found still in their boxes to help haul as much as possible. They’re not very big but those three plus the bigger display model that was in the garden center will help us move more than we could ever carry.

  The plan is to get everything we want into the back room and then barricade the other set of door so we have some protection if anyone comes to search the store.

  When we finally haul the last trailer down to the staff room it’s late afternoon and I’m wiped out. I’ve done more today than I have in the last sixteen days and all I want to do is collapse onto my air mattress. The massive amount of supplies that now fill our end of the store room is staggering. There’s no way we can move that stuff with these four puny wagons, but Lance is determined and he calls us all around.

  “Alright guys, I know you’re tired but we have to get this done. I’m going to leave now and scout out a route to our new home while there’s still some light left. After that I’m going back to our place to grab Ethan, Marshall’s Dad, and move our stuff over to the new place. Once I get back, we’ll wait for dark and start moving this stuff. We’ll have to haul all night. From what I’ve seen so far, no one comes out at night. With the street lights out and the heavy cloud cover blocking the moon and stars we should be able to move a lot of these supplies without being seen.

  I need you guys to load up the trailers so they’re ready to go as soon as possible. It’s going to take us many trips to get this done. We will only be able to take three on the first trip. Belle and I will pull one each, Rex and Marshall will try and take the third and Sasha will push the baby in the stroller. Once we get to the house, we’ll leave Matty with Ethan and we’ll come back and do it again, this time with all four trailers. Try and pack the lighter stuff on the trailers you boys will be pulling. Sasha, you’ll be helping push for the boys when they need it.

  This is going to be hard but the more we move, the better chance we’ll have to survive.”

  Everyone nods their agreement so Lance slips out the back door and Belle re locks it. She turns to us and goes to speak but after looking at all our faces in the dim lantern light shakes her head.

  “Ok, first things first, dinner! It will take Lance a while before he gets back so let’s have some dinner and then we’ll get to work.”

  I let out a groan of relief and Marsh jabs a fist in the air.

  “Oh man, a meal not made by the Dads, righteous!”

  I snort out a laugh. As much as I’m dreading the night to come, I’m happy we aren’t alone anymore.

  Chapter Thirteen-Skylar

  It’s been three days. Three days of Benny asking for Dad and me having no answer. I’ve barely slept, barely eaten. I’ve been like a zombie doing the bare minimum. Milk the cow, collect the eggs, feed the baby. I don’t know what else to do. I need to know for sure but that means going out there and checking. Maybe he lost his communicator and that’s why AIRIA can’t get a reading but then why hasn’t he come back? I need to know but if I go out there and find him then that’s it, it’s over, final. Right now there’s still a chance Benny and I aren’t alone but if I check, that chance will be gone and I’
ll have to face the reality that we’re on our own.

  I angrily brush away the tears that keep leaking down my face. I have to know.

  Benny’s breathing levels out and he’s finally asleep for his daily nap, so I rush to the door and palm it open. Inside is a small closet that has the containment suits that I hadn’t noticed the first day we came here. Dad had planned on taking me out so he had customized the arms and legs of the suit to fit me but there’s no way to change the dimensions on the helmet. It’s too big for my head and it won’t stay on properly.

  More tears leak down my face but this time they’re in frustration. I have to know!

  “AIRIA, can I go outside without a suit helmet?”

  “Skylar Ross, radiation levels are at acceptable levels for nonfatal doses. Ash and air contaminants are present. A filtered face mask is advised.”

  Right, face mask, ok. I shove hanging suits aside until I find what I think will work and then tighten the straps to keep it on my face. I grab a communicator and turn it on.

  “AIRIA, I’m going outside. Will you give me directions to my dad’s…” I choke on the word body and have to take a minute to get it together before I try again. “AIRIA, Please give me directions to Daniel Ross’s last known location.”

  “Skylar Ross, exit decontamination room and proceed north for eight hundred meters.”

  North, right, except which way is north? I growl in frustration.

  “AIRIA, is north right, left or straight ahead?”

  “Skylar Ross, north is to the left of the entrance.”

  Left it is! I take a deep breath and ask her to open the exit door then just stand there staring out. The sky is so ugly, every shade of grey to black rolls through the heavy clouds. When I finally tear my eyes from it and look around the clearing it’s not much better. The trees, the grass, the rocks are all covered with what looks like dirty snow but I know it’s ash. Ash that is all that remains from burnt cities and people.

  I don’t want to go out there. My breath is heaving in my chest and my blood is roaring in my ears but I have to know so I step out. The door whooshes closed behind me causing me to flinch and making me want to claw it back open.

  I have to know!

  I turn left and start walking. Every step crunches the brittle dead grass under my feet. My eyes are constantly moving looking for a threat of some kind but I see nothing except a dead grey world. There’s a bleak winter wind that makes my skin shiver under the suit. I didn’t expect the cold. I didn’t expect to feel this hollow.

  My feet keep moving as I go around trees, bushes and rocks but always north. I’m on an incline that makes my legs burn. It’s been two and a half years since I’ve had to walk on anything but a flat surface and over a year since I’ve climbed stairs to the lower level. My legs tremble at every step and I keep my eyes down on the ground in concentration until I reach level ground again.

  And then I stop. And then everything stops. I no longer feel the burn in my legs or the cold biting wind because there are his feet and they are blue. My eyes don’t want to move from those bare feet. My mind doesn’t understand why his feet are bare.

  I have to know so I look. I look at all of him. He’s not wearing anything except his boxer shorts and he’s blue and in the middle of his back is one small hole.

  My knees give out and I hit the dirt beside him and go away for a while.

  A horrible noise brings me back and it takes me a few seconds to understand that it’s coming from me. I sound like a wounded animal. My hands reach out to try and turn him over so I can see his face but he won’t move. He’s frozen to the ground. His arm feels like solid rock through my gloves and that ugly sound becomes louder.

  I can’t leave him like this out here in the open but I can’t move him. I tear my eyes away from him and look around for his clothes. Why isn’t he wearing his clothes? Everything is gone. His suit, his boots and socks, his rifle and mask, even his communicator are nowhere to be seen. I don’t understand what this is, how this happened until my eyes go back to him and I focus on the small hole in his back. Then everything clicks into place.

  MURDERED! My father was murdered. Someone shot him in the back and then stripped him and stole all his clothes and gear. My first reaction is fear. I jump to my feet and spin around. What if they’re still here? What if they shoot me too? I’m such an idiot! All that time learning how to use a gun and I didn’t think for one second to bring one with me for protection. I’m seconds from launching myself back the way I came and to the safety of the cave when I remember it’s been three days and whoever did this is long gone.

  Next comes anger. I scream in rage. Why, why did this happen? Why has everything been taken from me? It’s not fair! First my home then Mom and now Dad!

  I kick out and my boot slams into a rock. The pain in my foot settles me down but I have to rip off the face mask to wipe away the tears and snot before I can breathe properly again. I get my mask back on and look down at the rock I kicked and then back to him. I can’t leave him like this and I can’t move him but I can cover him.

  Rock by rock, I slowly cover him. It takes a long time to hunt down and carry back rocks that I can lift but I never stop. I think about all he did for us and how he’s with Mom now. I think about who did this to him and if I’ll ever know. Rock by rock I get colder and harder inside until AIRIA speaks.

  “Skylar Ross, Benjamin Ross has awoken and is calling for you.”

  “Thank you AIRIA. Please tell Ben I will be there soon. I have found my father’s body but all of his clothing and his rifle are gone. Even his communicator is gone.”

  “Skylar Ross, current GPS location of Daniel Ross’s communicator is thirteen kilometers south of your present location.”

  “What? What does that mean? What is thirteen kilometers south of here?”

  “Skylar Ross, the town site of Canmore is at that location.”

  Like a knife cutting through me I remember yelling at him, begging him to help those people. I remember him telling me we couldn’t, that it was too dangerous, that we had to just keep our family safe. I remember how mad I was at him, how disappointed I was in him.

  As I place the last rock on his grave, the rage comes back but this time is not red hot. This time it’s cold white. All those people I wanted to help. I hope they all burn and die because now I know.

  Chapter Fourteen-Rex

  That was full on terror. Thirty three minutes of pulse pounding terror and now we have to do it again and again and however many more times it takes to move the supplies. It’s so dark. Not like dark were you can stumble around and find your way dark, like can’t see my hand in front of my face dark. The only thing that guided us was two small flashlights that still work, one at the front of the line and one at the back.

  The trailers weren’t that hard to pull once we got them moving but my shoulders and back say different now that we’ve stopped. We’re in a house behind a house. Lance’s friend who invited him up north owns this huge monster vacation home in town. It’s where he would have stayed when he came up in November for the bow hunt. We aren’t staying in the monster house but the original home that was built on the property. His friend told him the story of how the property originally belonged to his grandmother who passed it down to him when she died. He wanted something new and modern but the original house on the lot was where his mother grew up so he restored it as a guest house for her and built the new one in front of it. The reason Lance picked it out for us to stay in is because his friend kept all the old fashioned features like the three wood burning fireplaces, hand pump in the kitchen as well as the wood fired cook stove, alongside of the modern plumbing and heating. He said it was charming. For us, it means well water and heat. It also has the bonus of being set back from the road and hidden by the main house which is surrounded by a fence with a gate.

  My hands and feet are numb with cold by the time we unload the last trailer and all I want to do is crawl under a blanket and sleep, but the
re’s no chance of that happening with all the supplies that still have to be moved.

  Marsh’s Dad, Ethan seems like a good guy. He’s doesn’t seem to be as hard as Lance but that might be because he’s sick. The guy has a pretty bad infection of some kind but he still kept trying to help us unload until Lance put him in charge of Matty. He must be good with kids as Matty fell asleep in his arms pretty quick, or it just might be that its hours after his bedtime and the heat from Ethan’s fever made him sleepy.

  I’m just grateful he’s here to watch my brother while the rest of us make the trips back and forth from the store. They both sleep through our coming and going four times but Ethan comes out of the bedroom on the fifth trip and demands that we stop. It might be because there’s a hint of light in the sky or maybe because the three of us kids are staggering around banging into things in exhaustion. Whatever the reason he’s my new favorite person. I can’t even see straight as he leads Marsh and me into a room and pushes us onto a bed. I’m out even before I feel the heavy blankets settle down on top of us.

  The next time I open my eyes I think I must have only slept for a few minutes cuz my whole body aches and the room is very dim like that start of a day. It’s weird waking up to natural light after being in the staff room for so long with candles and the lanterns. All I want to do is roll over and close my weary eyes but when I do I see that Marsh is gone and then I hear Matty laugh somewhere in the house. As much as I want to sleep and am thankful there are other people to help with him, Matty’s my brother and my responsibility. I push myself out of bed and stand bent over to stretch my aching back and wonder if this is what it feels like to be really old. I shuffle towards the door and almost face plant when I trip over my boots. Huh, someone must have taken those off me last night. When I finally reach the door and pull it open, the most heavenly smell hits me right in the face, making my steps quicker. I didn’t really get a good look at the house last night so I glance down the hall and see two more open doors with bedrooms and another one with a bathroom behind it. Turning the other way leads me out to the main living area where the living room, dining room and kitchen all flow together. Everyone’s sitting around the dining room table eating and as I get closer my eyes are drawn to what my nose told me I would find. Bread! Two loaves of what can only be fresh baked, unsliced bread sit in the middle of the table.