Read Online White Walker by Richard Schiver - Free Book Online Page B

as
his awareness of his surroundings became more substantial. He felt
so cold, yet at the same time he remembered the agony of the
imagined fire that seared his flesh as the memory blossomed. With
it came an understanding that she had avoided his wrath. She had
done her job, and protected her charges, and for that she would be
severely punished when the time came.
    Who? What? Teddy wondered as he hovered on
the fine edge of consciousness. His fingers were numb, the flesh of
his arms chilled, and his shoulder blades were resting painfully
upon a hard surface. As his awareness of his surroundings grew, he
realized that the chattering sound he heard was his own teeth. Then
he saw her face with his mind’s eye. No more than a child herself.
She had been charged with the care of the children under her
guidance
    The image faded as the ceiling of the hallway swam
into focus above him. Judy’s face came into view, her features
twisted with worry, and she pulled her hair back with one hand,
pinning it in place behind her ear.
    “Are you all right?” she said.
    He looked around the room, at the others gathered
around him, worry printed on their faces.
    “What happened?”
    “That’s what we’d like to know. We found you on the
dock just staring into the snow like you were spacing out or
something,” Cody said. “If we hadn’t of gone out to grab a smoke
you’d still be out there freezing your ass off. Me and Kevin got
you inside real quick, but…” He faltered, all the bravado, that
macho tough man front, dropping away to reveal the insecurity of a
young man who had never been properly taught how to care for those
around him.
    “Where’s Kevin?” Teddy pushed himself up into a
sitting position and saw Kevin lying face down on the floor across
the hall from him. “What happened?”
    “We think he had a heart attack.”
    “Yeah, he was the last one to come in,” Cody said.
“He was complaining about being cold, then just dropped.”
    Teddy recalled the monster from the dream that had
not felt like a dream. How it had emerged from within Kevin’s body. Could Kevin have seen the same thing he did?
    Let me in. That sweetly sinister voice
whispered in his mind. It had found a way in. Just like his Nanny
had told him years earlier. The winter spirits of the north could
assume the shape of any creature that suited their purpose, man
included. It was probably how it had infiltrated the German patrol
that vanished that night so long ago.
    “What are we going to do?” Andrea said. “The phones
are down but the computers are still working. We have to contact
someone about Kevin.”
    They couldn’t leave Kevin’s body inside. It would be
in the building with them then. No telling what would happen, but
if his waking dream was any indication it would not end well for
any of them.
    “Put his body outside, on the dock.”
    “What?” Cody said.
    “Are you crazy?” Andrea said.
    “Why?” Judy said.
    “Just do it, trust me.”
    “It just doesn’t seem right, man. I mean it’s
fucking cold out there,” Cody said.
    “He’s not going to know it,” Teddy said as he rolled
over and pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. His joints
were sore from the cold and it took some effort to move. Judy
helped him to his feet, her warm hands standing out in sharp
contrast to the deep chill that had invaded his flesh. He had to
get Kevin’s body outside, where it belonged. Crossing the hall, he
knelt down beside Kevin’s prone figure. As he did, he was overcome
with emotion. Until this moment, the knowledge of Kevin’s death had
been an abstract thought with no basis in reality. Now, as he knelt
beside Kevin’s body, searching for a pulse he knew he wasn’t going
to find, the full impact of what had happened slammed into him.
    He had witnessed death up close and personal,
viewing it in its many forms. As an EMT he had seen the mangled
remains of drunken drivers, had cleaned up after suicides, some not
as successful as