Read Online White Walker by Richard Schiver - Free Book Online

beneath his hand
was dull, as if it, too, did not belong. A chill washed over him
and he remembered what had brought him to this place.
    The stranger in the storm. A thing of legend carried
in the hearts and minds of those who had come from the frozen
Russian steppes of Siberia. If his Nanny was to be believed. A
being that carried the harsh winter wind in its pocket. Leading the
unwary to their doom so it could feast upon their souls.
    From the shadows of the main room behind him came
the soft sob of a child. As he turned around to locate the source,
he saw Kevin lying face down on the other side of the hallway.
    “Kevin?” Teddy said as he knelt down beside him. He
placed his hand on Kevin’s back, shivering at the icy chill that
emanated in waves from his prone body. “Are you all right?” He
slipped his hand along the side of his Kevin’s searching for a
pulse. There wasn’t one.
    Kevin stirred, moaning as he rolled over onto his
back. Suddenly he pushed himself up off the floor, his face a mask
of anger. He grabbed Teddy by the throat and drove him across the
hall to the opposite wall. Teddy slapped at Kevin’s arms as he was
driven back. The back of his head rebounded from the wall, stars
exploded behind his eyelids, and he struggled to breathe as Kevin’s
hands tightened around his neck.
    “Kevin, it’s Teddy,” he tried to reason with his
older, more muscular opponent. His pleas were ignored. He was
pinned against the wall, his feet inches above the floor. Kevin’s
eyes were wide, his nostrils flaring with the exertion, his mouth
set in a grim line. It was Kevin, but it wasn’t Kevin. Something
else lurked in the black depths of his pupils.
    Teddy tried to hit him in the face, his fist
bouncing uselessly off Kevin’s shoulder. Black spots danced before
Teddy’s eyes as his brain slowly starved for oxygen. He didn’t have
much longer. If he didn’t do something soon he would die. The truth
of his predicament startled him into action and he brought his knee
up savagely.
    The tight band around his throat loosened as Kevin
dropped his hands to cover his injury. He staggered back as he
retched onto the floor, his vomit splattering hot and steaming onto
the cold tile.
    Teddy slid down to a sitting position as he gulped
down a fresh lungful of air. The black dots that had been swimming
before his eyes faded. Kevin dropped to the floor, curled up on his
side, moaning in pain as he rolled back and forth with his hands
clasped between his legs.
    As his breathing came under control, Kevin started
moving with more purpose.
    “Kevin,” Teddy shouted at his co-worker, who was
slowly drawing himself up onto his knees. When he looked up, Teddy
realized it was not Kevin kneeling before him. It may have looked
like Kevin, but Kevin was gone, replaced by that which crouched
before him like a savage beast coiling itself up for another
attack. Something had come in with Kevin’s body.
    May I come in? that sinister voice whispered
in his mind.
    Teddy glanced to his right. At the doorway to the
break room. Beyond lay the rear door that led to the open dock and
the winter storm raging outside. Neither was a good choice, and he
looked left into the dense gloom that filled the main floor of the
call center. In that direction his chances of survival were much
better. He could become lost in the maze of temporary walls that
created the cubicles for those who manned the phones.
    Kevin lunged at him and Teddy fled into the dark
shadows of the main floor.
    From his vantage point, he watched as Kevin stepped
into the doorway, silhouetted by the weak light coming through the
window in the rear door.
    “Where are they?” Kevin shouted as Teddy slowly
backed away into the shadowy depths of the main floor.
    Kevin walked into the room, throwing aside temporary
walls, desks and chairs as he made his way into the shadowy
recesses. “They belong to me,” he shouted with rage as he plowed
through the center of the room.
    Teddy backed