Sub-Zero by Edwin Page

Author:Edwin Page
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-04-19T16:00:00+00:00

-16

Stewart carefully brought the car to a standstill and stared out at the road ahead. He’d only left the motorway twenty minutes before and had made slow progress, darkened Penrith still visible in the rear-view mirror. Now he wouldn’t be going any further, at least, not in the hatchback. The road ahead was filled with undulating snowdrifts which rose and fell between hedges battered by strong winds and he could see three fallen trees amidst the snow, their shattered forms lying half-buried.

He turned off the engine and the wipers stilled halfway across the windscreen. Stewart switched the headlights off and looked over at Toto, who was staring at him with a curious expression on his furry face.

‘We’re going to have to walk from here,’ he explained with a frown, not relishing the thought of spending days travelling through the open country.

Toto barked and made Stewart jump.

There was a tap on the window by his shoulder and he turned to stare wide-eyed at the apparition standing beyond the glass. In the wind and snow stood a girl of about seventeen. She was a bedraggled creature, blonde hair matted to the side of her face, which was dirty and raw from the cold. Looking at him pleadingly, she rubbed her bare hands together and then held the collar of her black coat about her neck.

Stewart wound down the window hesitantly. ‘Can I help you?’

‘Have you got any food?’ she asked in a whisper, her eyes turning to the ground as she spoke, her white trainers all but hidden in the snow.

‘A little,’ he replied with a nod.

‘Can I have some? I’m starving.’

Stewart pondered a moment and then stepped out of the car. ‘Most of it’s in the boot,’ he explained as he walked to the rear of the hatchback, hearing her footsteps behind him as she followed.

Two young men darted from the cover of the roadside hedge and stood before him brandishing carving knives, gritting their teeth, eyes narrowed as they glared at him.

‘We’re taking your car,’ stated the one on the right, short and stocky, wide shoulders covered in a puffy, grey jacket which accentuated their width, a white baseball cap on his head.

‘But…’

‘Take his car keys, Sam,’ instructed the youth.

The girl walked up to Stewart and held out her hand as she waited for him to give her the keys.

‘There’s nowhere for you to go. The road’s blocked,’ protested Stewart.

‘Give her the fucking keys,’ hissed the second boy, taller and thinner than the other, a trace of dark stubble on his otherwise smooth face, which was darkened by the shadow of the black hoodie he was wearing.

Stewart reluctantly dropped the keys into the girl’s waiting hand.

‘Thanks,’ she said with an unkind smile.

‘Get in and get it started, Dan,’ said the stocky boy, a few pimples on his cheeks.

‘But I can’t drive. You know I haven’t started my lessons yet, Steve.’

‘For fucks sake, you really are a winging tosser sometimes,’ responded Steve angrily. ‘I’ll have to do it then.’ He frowned. ‘You two keep your eyes on him while I get it turned round.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.