Winter's Gifts by Ben Aaronovitch

Author:Ben Aaronovitch [Aaronovitch, Ben]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473224391
Published: 2023-06-07T22:00:00+00:00

12

I like to think that I maintain a higher standard of fitness than mandated by the Bureau. I run every day, hit the gym three times a week and eat a sensible meal at least once every three days. But running in a foot of snow is its own kind of agony. That nightmare where you’re running in one place – that’s what it’s like. The only thing worse than that is wading through waist-high sewage – that’s a true comparison, by the way.

I tried to stick to the tracks of Scott Judas Iscariot Walker’s pickup. That was probably the gravelled driveway, which at least didn’t have any garden features hidden under the snow. Once I was a hundred yards away I risked a look back.

The garden lights might have been off but luckily the exterior lights around the entrance were still on. I could see the big horror limping toward me as a lurching silhouette. Behind it came more man-shaped things. But, worryingly, scampering ahead were small creatures running on four or more legs.

The man-shaped horrors were not fast, but the dog things scrambled through the snow swiftly enough to create a bow wave. I turned and pushed on, feeling the sweat trickling treacherously down my back and the strain settling into my thighs and butt. High stepping is not sustainable over the long run, and I certainly wasn’t going to stop until I had a defensible position. At the very least.

The woods adjoining the hotel grounds were old growth, mature white pine and other conifers. A thick enough canopy to thin out the snow on the ground.

I got off the driveway on the basis that broken ground with little snow was better than tarmac with plenty. It was noticeably warmer among the trees, and the air I was sucking in no longer burned the back of my throat. There was also a noticeable slope – the start of Eloise Point, I remembered. I headed up on the assumption that having the high ground was always useful.

After two hundred yards or so I turned to check the pursuit. There was just enough light to make out the driveway as a pale line through the trees. Darker shadows moved along the road, pacing laboriously. I made out the heavy tread of the two-headed horror, and what looked like men dragging themselves through the snow.

I entertained the hope that I wasn’t their quarry and instead they would continue chasing after the others. Preferably focusing on the treacherous dirtbag Walker, rather than Mrs Cole or Ashley.

Either way, they were in a working vehicle and would have reached Eloise proper by now. I hoped they had the sense to shelter with Deputy Larson and her table full of neatly stacked shotguns.

There was a flare of orange light from the direction of the hotel, and a moment later the low whumpf sound of a gas explosion. There must have been a fire in the kitchen or by the generator in the basement. My money was on gasoline.

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