Slowly, carefully, I stepped back onto the frozen pond.
The ice cracked. I drenched one boot. It was waterproof enough that only a trace of the freezing water touched my foot.
Too close to the break I’d made to talk to Rose.
“Blake?”
I circled around a bit further. The bird-masks at the leftmost edge began to take longer strides, to move around and cut me off.
This time, I stepped onto the ice with care, a distance from the break I’d made before.
I backed up, towards the one with three masks on the far end of the pond.
I watched as others stepped forward, maintaining a roughly even distance. I saw as the one with the wreath avoided the crack in the ice.
Each step was a careful one as I made my way towards the middle of the pond. I transferred my weight with care, doing my best to avoid putting too much weight on one point at once. The three-masked one moved to cut me off, keeping me on the ice.
I heard the faintest cracking sounds. Around me, not them.
I made a beeline straight for three-masks.
I saw the hands come out.
Woman’s hands, oddly enough, with flecks of nail polish still on one. Wizened, worn, abused, with bits of nail splintered off where they had maybe scraped violently against something.
The faint cracking sound intensified. The stress of my weight was going to break the ice right beneath me.
Right.
I ran, and the ones behind me ran to follow.
The ice didn’t break beneath them. My heart sank.
I collided head-on with three-masks, and felt her stab at my shoulders through my coat, clawing through fabric with no heed for her own well being. Frenzied, violent and noisy after the almost tranquil quiet.
I broke away, as best as I could, and she followed. I tried to find a path that would get her to back off, give me two seconds, and she refused to give it to me.
Up until I stepped onto the ice at the edge and it broke, soaking my boot. This time, it lapped around the skin at my calf, soaking my jeans. A glance back verified the others had stopped when I had started fighting.
Three-masks began stalking around, cutting off my retreat.
I didn’t care. Reaching down, I grabbed a snow-covered rock the size of my head, heaving at it. It was half-frozen into the earth. Prying it loose put it into the water, forcing me to get my uninjured hand wet to pick it up.
In one motion, full-body, I managed to heave it about three feet. I watched it bounce off the ice and slide, uselessly, towards the middle of the spread out bird-masks.
It lay there for a good ten seconds before the ice broke. I watched as the things plunged into the water.
Leaving me with only two to deal with.
I ran, fueled by desperation.
I ran, fueled by the adrenaline that pain was dumping into my body. Through shock and fear. Nothing conserved, nothing saved.
Thick trees tore at me, costing me my toque. My frozen hand and foot were throbbing, now, and my injured hand was so cold I couldn’t open my fist.
Every footstep hurt, and the only thing that kept me putting one foot in front of the other was the idea that one more of those things might appear to bar my way if I slowed down in the slightest.
I found the end of the trees. A strip of snow. A line of road.
Squat, short buildings, and a sign reading ‘truck inspection area’.
Headlights flared in my field of vision, blindingly bright.
I staggered forward, collapsing onto my hands and knees. I could hear a vehicle’s door open.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. If they came-
But there was nothing. The wind stirred swirls of snow across the road,
“Good god, man,” a deep voice said. “What the hell did you get yourself into?”
I thought about explaining, about the others. I’d sound crazy.
I thought about making an excuse, saying I was chased by some delinquent kids. It would get the police involved, and it would delay me.
“Car broke down,” I said, a little numb. “I thought I’d take a shortcut, got turned around. I- I- panicked. I started running and got hurt.”
“We’ll get you an ambulance, not to worry.”
“No. No, it’s not as bad as it looks. I’d be embarrassed,” I lied. I wasn’t sure where things stood. If they came after me while I was in the hospital, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to walk, let alone run.
“You look nearly dead.”
“I need to warm up. That’s all.”
I glanced over my shoulder, nervously. The things still hadn’t made an appearance. They should have caught up by now.
“If I don’t get you to a hospital, and you die-”
“I’m not going to die,” I said, not sure if I was lying. “Drop me off at the rest stop, I’ll warm up and get food. I’ll hitch a ride to where I need to be.”
“If you’re positive,” he said. “I don’t want you haunting me or anything, and I don’t want lawsuits either. I don’t make that much money.”
He nodded. “Sure, then. You need help getting up?”
“Just a bit,” I admitted.
We made our way around, and I climbed up into the passenger seat. The heating was already on, and I held my hands out to warm them.
Looking out through the windshield, I could see a trace of pink in the sky.
Was that a rule, here? No monsters after sunrise, or no monsters when others could see?
The truck pulled away, moving down the long road. I could see the rear half of the rest stop creeping into my vision.
I made eye contact with Rose, in the side-view mirror.
She looked drained, haggard. Almost worse than I did.
She’d broken the mirror, and it had taken something out of her. To look this drained… she’d broken the ice, or she’d helped it along. A bit of an extra push.
The truck driver circled the long way around, pulling into the eighteen-wheeler’s spot for the rest stop. We climbed out and made our way to the shop opening, where employees were setting up at the fast food places.
As the truck driver talked to some employees, negotiating a way to get me to my stop, I saw a man in the corner with an oddly crooked stance, leaning against the wall as if his limbs wouldn’t hold him up, the whites of his eyes too white as he tracked us with his gaze. Staying out of the way, almost out of sight.
We’d have a relatively safe way to the house, soon enough. We couldn’t get there fast enough, for the shelter or the answers we could find there.