When Winter Comes | Book 3 | Black Ice Kills Read online

  Black Ice Kills

  When Winter Comes, Ep. 3

  Daniel Willcocks

  Other titles by Daniel Willcocks

  The Rot Series (with Luke Kondor)

  They Rot (Book 1)

  They Remain (Book 2)

  They Ruin (coming soon)

  Keep My Bones

  The Caitlin Chronicles (with Michael Anderle)

  (1) Dawn of Chaos

  (2) Into the Fire

  (3) Hunting the Broken

  (4) The City Revolts

  (5) Chasing the Cure

  Other Works

  Twisted: A Collection of Dark Tales

  Lazarus: Enter the Deadspace

  The Mark of the Damned

  Sins of Smoke

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  Copyright © 2020 by Devil’s Rock Publishing Ltd.

  First published in Great Britain in 2020

  All rights reserved.

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  Contents

  1. Cody Trebeck

  2. Tori Asplin

  3. Karl Bowman

  4. Cody Trebeck

  5. Alex Goins

  6. Amy Lawson

  7. Tori Asplin

  8. Alex Goins

  9. Brandon Trevors

  10. Cody Trebeck

  11. Alex Goins

  12. Kyle Samson

  13. Tori Asplin

  Author Notes

  Become a darksider

  About the Author

  Other titles by Daniel Willcocks

  1

  Cody Trebeck

  The bricks fell like dominoes. Once the first one was knocked clear, the rest struggled to hold together, collapsing of their own volition, as if the passageway wanted to be discovered.

  Cody stepped back, mouth agape, eyes monitoring the situation through fear, terrified that this simple act of curiosity, of nudging a brick, would cause the whole room to fold in on them, And then what? The monsters wouldn’t matter anymore because Cody and his group would be squashed to death, buried under the weight of the walls and ceiling, lost in the darkness of paedo cave.

  The top half caved first, the bricks clattering into the darkness beyond, fading instantly from sight. It was loud, too. Loud enough to stir the others who pawed their eyes and looked dazedly around for the source of their disturbance. Sophie was on her feet almost immediately, Kyle joining her quickly after. Amy and Brandon were slower to rouse, the bags beneath their eyes saying all that needed to be said about their energy levels and mental state. Travis remained fast asleep.

  The recess where Cody stood was just out of their eye-line, and Sophie approached with caution. Cody caught her gaze, then turned back to the wall as a steady stream of frosted air entered their safe space.

  “Cody?” Sophie approached with more confidence after seeing that this disturbance was at the hands of one of their own. “What are you…”

  Kyle wrapped his arms around himself, the air knocking the temperature down several degrees in one quick snap. His brows knitted together as he stood behind them both, staring ahead into the darkness. “A tunnel?”

  “Seems that way,” Cody said. He glanced at his hands where a layer of brick dust coated his fingertips. He rubbed them together, letting the dust sprinkle to the floor. “I felt a breeze through the wall. The bricks… it was like they weren’t properly put in place at all. Like this was all hastily built up, used to cover something up, but poorly done.”

  Sophie inched closer, craning her neck as if she’d be able to see further than the darkness would allow. “What do you think’s down there?”

  Kyle shoved his way between them, bringing his toes to what remained of the wall line, nothing more than a three-brick-high layer below. He gave the bricks a nudge with his foot and finished the desecration. “Shine some light, then. Let’s see what we’ve got.”

  Cody brought his phone to his eye level, activating the torch and shining it into the darkness. While the light was weak, it was clear that the wall blocked a passageway that likely hadn’t been accessed for some time. The cone of light illuminated the way for a distance of no more than thirty feet before the darkness consumed the tunnel once more.

  Kyle gasped, a realisation dawning on him. “I was wrong! The room isn’t paedo cave, paedo cave is through this tunnel.”

  Sophie rolled her eyes. “Will you let it go? You think Davidson’s going to have his own private tunnel that he rebuilds the entrance to every time he’s finished diddling with kids? That’s absurd.”

  Kyle shook his head. “I once read a story about a man who kept his wife in the basement of his house for fifteen years. Declared her publicly dead, arranged a funeral for her and everything. Had friends over for dinner, threw parties, celebrated new year, all while she was locked up beneath the house. Fifteen years. You telling me that it’s impossible that Davidson could have led his victims down here and just rebuilt the wall when he came back?”

  Brandon appeared behind them, warily eyeing the passageway. “There haven’t been missing children reports for years. If Davidson was taking kids away, surely some of them would be declared missing?”

  “I didn’t say he killed them.” Kyle’s brow furrowed. “Man, use your imagination.” He stepped across the threshold and into the tunnel.

  “What are you doing?” Sophie asked.

  “What does it look like I’m doing? Finding out where this thing leads. If this is our way out of here, then what are we standing around for? Those things up there are waiting until we’re starving enough and thirsty enough to come out. So, while they wait, I’m heading in this direction.” He thumbed ahead, and then strode onwards until he disappeared beyond the reaches of the torch and into the darkness.

  Sophie leaned closer to Cody. “You think he remembers that his supposed best friend is incapacitated?”

  Cody stared into the darkness, waiting for Kyle’s form to reappear, but nothing
came. He sidled past the others and crouched by Travis, gently nudging his shoulders.

  Travis came groggily out of his stupor, eyes struggling to open as the reality of where they were set in. “Oh, man. I hoped it had all been a dream.” He scanned the room. “Where’s Kyle?”

  “Are you okay to move?” Cody asked. “We’ve found a way out of here. Well, sort of. We need you walking.”

  “I don’t know, my head is still a little foggy.” He pressed a palm to his temple as he attempted to push himself into a sitting position. He struggled until Cody gave him a hand, easing him up. Travis grimaced and took a sharp intake of breath. “I wonder if this is what a hangover feels like.”

  “We need to be careful,” Brandon warned, standing over the pair. “If there’s internal damage somewhere, anything we do could exacerbate it. The best thing for Travis is to lie down and rest until someone comes for us.”

  “We’ve already dragged him halfway across the school. He’s come down a flight of stairs for Christ’s sake.” Sophie folded her arms, eyes laced with a mixture of fear and concern. “What further damage could we do? He’s fine. Let’s go.”

  Brandon deflated. “We’re not really going to follow Kyle down there, are we? We have no idea where that tunnel leads. For all we know, it could go straight towards a whole nest of those things.” He turned to Cody for comfort, but none came his way.

  “We’ve got to do something,” Cody said. “If we wait here, we’re just sitting ducks. At least that tunnel could take us to other people who could help. We’re just kids, man. We can’t do this alone.”

  Brandon rubbed a hand down his ashen face. Cody was pleased to see his heart had stopped giving him cause for concern, though Brandon’s face looked just as pained now. “Cody…” His voice was pleading, a negotiator talking a suicidal man off a ledge. “You can’t be serious. This isn’t a movie. We’re not heroes. You said it yourself, we’re just kids. We need to rest. We’re safe here.”

  “You were the one that said this storm could last for weeks! We may be safe for now, but what happens if those things find a way in? And what about the people looking for us? They come to the school and those creatures are just going to let them walk straight on by? We’ve got to fight for our survival. We’re on our own down here.”

  Cody blinked away the image of Alex fast asleep in his bed, a horde of those creatures surrounding him while he dozed. As much as he wanted to believe that Alex was out there looking for him, the chances were more than likely that he wasn’t. If he wasn’t still asleep, he’d already be mauled by those things.

  Only if there are more of them.

  Brandon shook his head. “I’ve got a bad feeling.”

  “You’re with us,” Sophie added, taking a stand next to Cody. Her hand brushed against his. His ears flushed red. “As long as we stick together, we’ll be okay. Come on, we can do this.”

  Brandon fought with the decision, his face going through a kaleidoscope of emotions. Just as it looked as though he was about to yield, Amy’s soft voice broke the silence. “No.”

  Sophie raised her eyebrows. “No?”

  “I can’t. I won’t.”

  Cody couldn’t believe the change that had come over Amy in so short a time. She was a puzzle undone, every minute removing a single component of her carefully put together persona. Looking at her now was like looking at an entirely different person. The put-together, well-to-do queen of the upper grade had been dismantled at first by Kyle, but now fear had broken her too. Her shoulders were tense, her whole demeanour withdrawn. Her perfectly combed hair now displayed tufts of bushy nests. Her eyes, those were the most alarming. Usually keen and bright, now they were shadowed and dark. The tiredness bruised her complexion, and she struggled to hold back tears.

  “I’m staying.” Her words no more than a whisper.

  Sophie offered a reassuring smile. “Amy, it’s okay. Come on, stick with me. We’ve been through shit before. Together. Me and you. It’ll be okay, I promise you.”

  Amy’s lip quivered. “Those things… You knocked down the walls… The only thing protecting us from…” She sniffed loudly. “And Kyle. He… he hit you.”

  Sophie turned to Cody who immediately moved his eyes to the floor. On the one hand it was gratifying to see that Kyle’s actions had consequences, and at some point along the way even Amy had figured out that her toy-boy boyfriend was an asshole, but on the other hand, no one should have to witness their friend beaten by the one they were supposed to rely on the most.

  “Bitch.” Travis chuckled as he raised his head and rested it against the wall. “You have no idea how lucky you are.”

  “Zip it,” Sophie snapped, accompanying her admonishment with a finger.

  Cody grabbed Travis’ arm and aided him to his feet. “Just keep it quiet, yeah? Now’s not the time to jump to your boyfriend’s defense.”

  Travis wobbled unsteadily, eyes glossing over as they fought to fix on Cody. Something wet and warm hit Cody’s cheek, and it didn’t take long to figure out that the phlegm had come from the very person Cody was trying to help up.

  “I’m done.” Cody let Travis fall back to his ass. Travis laughed drunkenly the whole way down. “I can’t do this. You want to be an asshole like him, then fine. I’ve dragged you this far, you can stay here and wait for the cavalry, but I’m getting the hell out of here.”

  He wasn’t sure where the sudden emotion had come from. Whether it was the tiredness, the hunger, the thirst, or something else entirely. All he knew was that he was done trying to help two guys who couldn’t give a shit about what happened to him. Travis sat in fits of giggles while Cody turned his back and fixed his gaze on Brandon. “Are you in or out?”

  Brandon gave Cody a pleading look. “Cody…”

  “In or out?” Cody barked, his words echoing around the room and down the tunnel, as if they were chasing Kyle.

  Brandon’s eyes flickered to Amy, then to the floor. “Out. I can’t, Cody. This is safer.”

  “Fine.” Cody marched past Brandon and paused at the threshold of the tunnel. He fought back the hurt that was creeping through him, a mixture of guilt, shame, and anger as he contemplated his journey into the darkness. Brandon had been good to him, had stuck up for him during all of this madness. It had been because of Brandon that they made it here, to safety.

  And all of this because he had dragged Brandon out of his house.

  He placed a hand against the wall to steady himself, a wave of dizziness washing over him. He glanced back at Brandon.

  Brandon shook his head, taking a seat beside Amy who had slumped against the wall. Travis who was still in the final throes of his laughing fit. “We’ll come back for you. I promise.”

  Brandon nodded. “I know.”

  Sophie tore her eyes from Amy who merely stared at the floor, all motivation and hope lost from her eyes. She pulled her hood tightly about her head and huddled her knees to her chest.

  Cody held out a hand for Sophie. She tentatively took it in her own as he held up the torch on his phone and pointed it into the darkness, no sign of Kyle remaining ahead.

  “Wait,” Travis announced just as they were about to cross the threshold. He pushed himself unsteadily to his feet, wobbling dangerously as he gripped the nearest shelf for support. The items rattled precariously, the unit threatening to topple. “I’m not staying behind with these pussies. I want out.”

  Cody sighed. “If you’re in, you keep up.” His eyes caught the box of tools. “You might want to grab something from the bucket. Who knows what we’re going to encounter along the way?”

  Sophie nodded her agreement and rifled through the tools. She settled for a long-handled claw hammer, while handing a flathead screwdriver to Travis. She offered another to Cody who shook his head and flicked out the blade of the boxcutter to show that he was already prepared. A strange look came over Sophie, but it didn’t last long before she hooked Travis’ arm around her shoulder and guided him to the threshold of the t
unnel.

  Cody Travis’ other side, already scornful at the fact that he wasn’t walking beside Sophie. The ghost of her touch warmed his hand as he offered one final glance at his pale-faced friend, then headed into the darkness, convincing himself that it would be better this way. They could come back for their friends. Brandon and Amy would slow them down if they fell, and they needed speed if they were to survive whatever monsters were lying ahead on the darkened path.

  2

  Tori Asplin

  While the church offered a brief respite from the winds, it did little to provide any warmth or comfort.

  Tori kept guard as Alex dug away at the snow blocking the opening of the thick wooden doors. As the storm raged and snippets of the town’s pain fluttered on the wind, Tori kept her eyes fixed on the white, hunting for any sign of the creatures, or any indication that Karl was somewhere nearby. Her mind played away at the strange visage that she had seen, a creeping doubt sowing seeds that took root. How could that have been Karl? Shouldn’t he be at home with his wife? Was the storm once again playing tricks on her fragile state? Yet, it wasn’t enough to shake the certainty of what she had seen. His lumbering stride, his powerful build. It had to have been him? And, if it was him, the bear’s skull perched across his head was a sure-fire sign that the worst had come, and Karl had been taken by those creatures. First Stanley, then Harvey and Sherri. How many of the town’s civilians had been taken?