Read Online FROSTBITE by David Warren - Free Book Online

mouth was over two feet wide, with ragged pointed teeth going completely around the orifice. It didn’t appear to have a tongue, however. All I could see for certain was the creature’s pink colored throat. It looked as though it was sucking on the glass, sort of what an algae eater would do in a fish tank.
     
    “What is it?” Stephanie shrieked.
     
    “It’s an alien!” Ted exclaimed.
     
    I turned and looked quizzically at Ted, then back to the entrance. It was then that I noticed that a small piece was missing from one of the creature’s teeth. I was positive that I had found Spike’s killer. “I don’t know what it is,” I confessed. “It looks like some type of…”
     
    Just then the creature started coiling itself and slid up the glass until it reached its max height of about four feet. It was a ghastly sight to be sure, but at the same time we all seemed to be in awe at what we were seeing as well. Again, the mind is an enormous computer with which we still know very little about, especially during horrific circumstances. Abruptly it then slithered down the door and vanished back into the storm.
     
    “We…we’re trapped here, aren’t we?” Elaine asked.
     
    “We can’t be,” I replied. “We need to get young Billy to the hospital.”
     
    “No you don’t,” Stephanie announced, barely above a whisper. “He’s gone.”
     
    I turned and kneeled down by the young couple. Billy was still staring up at the girl of his dreams, but there was no longer any life in the gaze. I leaned over and closed his eyelids. “I’m sorry Stephanie.”
     
    As hard as she tried to hold it back, the floodgates burst open and she grabbed onto me and buried her head in my shoulder. “I know,” I whispered as I hugged her back. “It’s going to be okay.” Then, I motioned for Ted. “You wanna give me a hand?”
     
    “With what?” he asked.
     
    “I think it would be best if we move Billy to another location,” I answered, motioning to the kids. “You have a walk-in freezer back there, don’t you?”
     
    “Yeah,” Ted replied. “But I don’t want a corpse in there…that’s disgusting. It’s plenty cold outside.”
     
    “I don’t think we should do that,” I continued.
     
    “Why not?” he snapped.
     
    “Because I think Billy’s dear mother would like a body for the funeral,” I answered honestly. “If we put him outside, there is a good chance that our new visitor will take him.”
     
    “Good!” Ted exclaimed. “Let it chow on him while we escape.”
     
    At this comment, Stephanie started to bawl all the more. Giving Ted a disapproving look, I said, “Number one that was a horrible thing to say. And number two, we don’t know if there is more than one. Suppose you put Billy out front and then went for your car out back to find three more of them waiting for you. What then?”
     
    “Are you kidding?” Ted scoffed. “There ain’t another one of those things out there. Trust me, that thing is one in a million.”
     
    Ted’s comments actually did make sense. The chance of there being more than one was slim. On the other hand, what were the chances of this creature being here at all? Moreover, I had known Billy’s mother since she was a little girl. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I fed her only son to a monster so I could save my own hide. I guess it does come down to character. I was brought up a certain way and I tried to live my life that way, for better or worse.
     
    “Are you willing to take that risk?” I asked him. “And are you also willing to tell Mrs. Wilson what you did to save your own butt?”
     
    Ted looked down at the floor for quite some time. Finally, he raised his head back up, looked me in the eye and said, “Come on. I’ll help you move him to the freezer.”
     
    I nodded my approval to him and said to Stephanie, “We’re going to move him now.”
     
    She nodded and slowly laid his head on the floor. “Please be gentle with