Read Online Freeze by Daniel Pyle - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Daniel Pyle
Tags: Horror
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puff of white exhalation floated past his eyes, obscuring the monster for a moment. He tried to curl his arm against his stomach, but moving the arm at all was horrendously painful. He was afraid if he tried to move it again he’d pass out. And be at the mercy of this unthinkable, impossible beast.
The thing pulled back the tentacle for another swing. This time, Warren did duck. The limb swung over his head, whooshing through the air, and continued swinging until it had wrapped itself around the creature’s body. It melted into the thing’s torso, and another limb grew in its place.
Warren tried pulling his feet free again. He let his arm dangle at his side, but the movement brought fresh pain nonetheless. He hissed and did his best to ignore it. His boots wouldn’t move, felt frozen in place, but he thought he could feel his feet pulling free, right out of the footwear.
One of the creature’s tentacles shot straight at Warren. He tried to dodge it, but it was much quicker than he was and hit him square in the shoulder. It knocked him back, right out of his boots, and sent him flying through the air.
He was weightless for a second, floating through the falling snow, and then he hit the ground and the air woofed out of him. He lay there for a second, trying to find some oxygen to breathe, trying to turn his head out of the falling snow but finding only more snow to either side. He coughed and finally caught his breath. He gasped and scrambled backward through the snow with his good arm, but it was too late, and he was far, far too slow.
The creature slid across the snow, moving effortlessly, its body crackling and ringing. It leaned over him.
Warren’s hand found a clump of hard snow. He gripped it as best he could with his thick glove and hurled it at the creature’s head. The clump hit the thing in the face but didn’t affect it at all.
Of course it didn’t. Are you kidding? You’re trying to fight off an ice monster with a goddam snowball?
The creature chomped its teeth together again, raised a tentacle, and swung it into Warren’s head.
For a moment, Warren felt the snow continue to fall into his face, but then he felt nothing at all.
And the freezing white world became cold black nothingness.
16
“Is someone there?”
Tess had gotten out of her chair and turned toward Bub. The fire blazed, warming the side of her body, almost burning it. She took a step away and called out again. Bub looked over his shoulder at her for a second before turning back toward the hallway.
The intruder didn’t respond. Of course not. Tess trembled. Her heart rattled. She felt lightheaded, like she might faint.
Don’t you dare. Pull it together.
She should run. That seemed like the only option. Get Bub and run away.
Except where was she supposed to go? The truck wasn’t drivable, and they had no other means of transportation. They could try to run, but without warmer clothes, without a coat and gloves and (most importantly) some shoes, she’d freeze to death before she could get half a mile from the house. She wasn’t even wearing a bra for crying out loud. If someone had come into the house, she was going to have to face him. That’s all there was to it. Fight or flight got a whole lot simpler when flight was no longer an option.
You really think you should be fighting? Or even moving? What if whatever’s lodged down there in your chest breaks loose and slices up your insides even worse than it already has?
She’d just have to hope that didn’t happen. It was either that or sit here like a helpless idiot and wait for the intruder to find her. Hurt her. Kill her. She looked around for something she could use as a weapon.
The fireplace poker. It was a heavy-duty thing made from a single piece of wrought iron. It was no 12-gauge shotgun, but it was better than nothing. She picked it up, swung it once experimentally, and then wrapped both hands around the handle and took a deep breath.
She thought of the
The thing pulled back the tentacle for another swing. This time, Warren did duck. The limb swung over his head, whooshing through the air, and continued swinging until it had wrapped itself around the creature’s body. It melted into the thing’s torso, and another limb grew in its place.
Warren tried pulling his feet free again. He let his arm dangle at his side, but the movement brought fresh pain nonetheless. He hissed and did his best to ignore it. His boots wouldn’t move, felt frozen in place, but he thought he could feel his feet pulling free, right out of the footwear.
One of the creature’s tentacles shot straight at Warren. He tried to dodge it, but it was much quicker than he was and hit him square in the shoulder. It knocked him back, right out of his boots, and sent him flying through the air.
He was weightless for a second, floating through the falling snow, and then he hit the ground and the air woofed out of him. He lay there for a second, trying to find some oxygen to breathe, trying to turn his head out of the falling snow but finding only more snow to either side. He coughed and finally caught his breath. He gasped and scrambled backward through the snow with his good arm, but it was too late, and he was far, far too slow.
The creature slid across the snow, moving effortlessly, its body crackling and ringing. It leaned over him.
Warren’s hand found a clump of hard snow. He gripped it as best he could with his thick glove and hurled it at the creature’s head. The clump hit the thing in the face but didn’t affect it at all.
Of course it didn’t. Are you kidding? You’re trying to fight off an ice monster with a goddam snowball?
The creature chomped its teeth together again, raised a tentacle, and swung it into Warren’s head.
For a moment, Warren felt the snow continue to fall into his face, but then he felt nothing at all.
And the freezing white world became cold black nothingness.
16
“Is someone there?”
Tess had gotten out of her chair and turned toward Bub. The fire blazed, warming the side of her body, almost burning it. She took a step away and called out again. Bub looked over his shoulder at her for a second before turning back toward the hallway.
The intruder didn’t respond. Of course not. Tess trembled. Her heart rattled. She felt lightheaded, like she might faint.
Don’t you dare. Pull it together.
She should run. That seemed like the only option. Get Bub and run away.
Except where was she supposed to go? The truck wasn’t drivable, and they had no other means of transportation. They could try to run, but without warmer clothes, without a coat and gloves and (most importantly) some shoes, she’d freeze to death before she could get half a mile from the house. She wasn’t even wearing a bra for crying out loud. If someone had come into the house, she was going to have to face him. That’s all there was to it. Fight or flight got a whole lot simpler when flight was no longer an option.
You really think you should be fighting? Or even moving? What if whatever’s lodged down there in your chest breaks loose and slices up your insides even worse than it already has?
She’d just have to hope that didn’t happen. It was either that or sit here like a helpless idiot and wait for the intruder to find her. Hurt her. Kill her. She looked around for something she could use as a weapon.
The fireplace poker. It was a heavy-duty thing made from a single piece of wrought iron. It was no 12-gauge shotgun, but it was better than nothing. She picked it up, swung it once experimentally, and then wrapped both hands around the handle and took a deep breath.
She thought of the
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