CHAPTER 18
Gavin woke up to the thumping of several engines a distance away in front of him. The droning of spinning wheels and rumbling of distant engines replaced the soft yet intensely furious crackling of the now extinguished fire that he had fallen asleep to.
Gavin groaned as he heard the thumping grow closer; the short bouts of intensified rumbling signified the acceleration of the engines ceased, and so did the droning of the spinning wheels.
He rose like a vampire ascending from his coffin from a nocturnal nap. His back cracked with every inch he sat up and he opened his sore eyes. Everything remained in the dark until he rubbed his eyes with his fists and blinding white invaded his vision. Gavin put up his hand; he could see the silhouette of his hand against the bright light.
Gavin groaned as his vision restored and he rolled out of the bush with thorns still stuck in his back, groaning as he landed onto the snow covered ground on his already aching shoulder. The cold, fresh snow was cool against his body as he craned his head up to see an ATV parked in front of him with it's headlights cutting through and deflecting off of the falling snow, blinding him still. The snow literally gave Gavin the blisteringly cold shoulder.
"Geez, 'bout time," said a silhouetted figure seated in the maroon ATV in front of Gavin. The ATV was humming steadily at an idle state. "Some snow."
Gavin quickly got up with beads of sweat on his forehead, he'd decided he'd had enough of silhouettes... especially after what they did to Tracy, even though he didn't know her well; she was still a human who died too soon. Gavin jumped up with a start; he fumbled for his shotgun and aimed it in front of it, in his panic, he forgot to pump his shotgun.
"Uh-oh, we've got a heater in here. Sara." the voice of the silhouetted figure sounded normal, but Gavin's suspicions of the shadow-clad figures were still teeming in his paranoia fueled traumatized mind. He decided he wasn't going to take any chances, he didn't want to.
"H-h-how dare you?" screamed Gavin in a scared but deceivingly brave manner. He was trembling profusely and veins stuck out of his neck; he was angry and terrified for his life. He pumped his shotgun before he shouted again, "Don't say my wife's name! You bastard! I'll have you dead, I'll put a hole in you if you say her name again!" Gavin was very unstable; most of the fire behind him was smothered by the increasingly heavy snowfall, leaving nearly no light where the silhouettes and their two ATV's stood. But unlike the ATV's and silhouettes, Gavin was clearly lit by the bright headlights of now two ATV's. It was apparent he was out of his mind, his clothes were covered in grey soot and black ash, and his once slicked back hair was in disarray.
A shorter silhouette appeared from the passenger side of the ATV, it traced its long and skinny fingers along the steadily vibrating hood as it approached Gavin. "Gav," the voice was obviously female, it was high and soft, and faintly familiar. But Gavin couldn't begin to try and link the voice to something or someone he knew. His brain was panicked and in more disarray than a child's room with Legos scattered on the floor like mines on a battlefield. Gavin would know.
"No... No!" he thrusted the barrel of his shotgun upwards and aimed down the sights of the Mossberg 500 ready to fire at the figure shrouded in a coat of blackness, like how one would use fire to keep wolves scared and at bay. "Only my friends call me Gav..." he said shallowly with a scowl and growl combination. At the same time, he was scared. Scared for his survival, scared he would never see those who had the privilege of calling him "Gav" ever again, those he truly loved.
Just then, the figure stepped slightly forward. It was backlit by the ATV's headlights at a n able that revealed half of its body while keeping the other side ominously shrouded in a cloak of darkness. It was a her. She had smooth skin, thin lips, bright sapphire eyes, and a curly golden ponytail bobbing behind her head. Her face seemed greatly familiar, familial even. Even in Gavin's jumbled brain, he could see the resemblance of her face to the face of her fourteen-year-old daughter.
She moved her thin lips to form a single word that just now seemed to resonate in Gavin's head, "Gav," her voice was soft and pleading, and Gavin came to his senses.
"Sara! Baby!" screamed Gavin, with a sudden volley of tears streaming down his salty cheeks. He dropped the shotgun and ran over to Sara, embracing her in a tight embrace, like a loving Boa constrictor. A faint puff of smoke dissipated into the air as soon as the two embraced, causing Sara to cough lightly.
"Hey. Are you ok?" said Sara, sounding relieved. Her head was resting on Gavin's shoulder, and his on hers.
Gavin put his hands on Sara's shoulders and pushed her in front of him, so he could see Sara's eyes. "Yeah babe. I'm fine, especially that I now have you." He said reassuringly, but Sara sensed a deep sense of bother on her husband's face.
"What is it?" said Sara, fearing that she was losing her beloved.
"It's nothing." said Gavin as he looked down trying to desperately avoid her unbelieving gaze, her arms were crossed across her chest. "Yeah, yeah, I know you ain't buying it. Well here's the story: a bunch of thugs in color changing suits found a baby in there," he said pointing behind him at the charred but not completely destroyed deck. He backed up a few steps and pointed to a section of wall that was completely burn through and surrounded with a border of crumbling, ashy wood.
Sara rose her hands to her most, her face in a expression of fear and undivided sadness. "Kenny." whispered Sara under her breath.
The figure in the driver's seat stepped out into the light, Gavin had immediately noticed the figure, it was Jimmy. "Wait. Didn't James take Kenny with him?"
Sara thought for a second, "No I think the assumed we'd only be there for an hour or so." she said shaking her head, her eyes wide as she realized their potentially fatal mistake.
Jimmy and Gavin looked at Sara longingly and grimly, both of them visibly melancholy for the loss of the infant. The slowing rumble of an engine behind Sara and Jimmy broke the silence in the air.
Another pair of fluorescent headlights backlit the two and nearly blinded Gavin as he raised his hand to eclipse the light. The combined list of the two ATV's mad the increasingly heavily falling snow seem slightly brighter. The idling engine faded to a stop and three more figures stepped into the light, Matt, Eddie, and some blonde haired chick Gavin had never met. The new girl was skinny to the point where she could've been borderline anorexic, she had wavy blonde hair like Sara's but hers was hanging down well past her shoulders and down to her mid-back. Runny makeup was smeared under her blue eyes and her red lipstick seemed oddly perfect.
The newcomer recognized Gavin's curious gaze directed at her, as he seemed to scan her up and down. Like he was looking for something. The woman cocked one of her contrastingly dark eyebrows and approached Gavin with an outstretched hand. "Hi. I'm Darya." she had a heavily evident Russian accent. Must be new to the states, thought Gavin.
Gavin cocked an eyebrow of his own; he grabbed her hand and stole another scan of her hourglass figure. She was wearing a loose, shoulder less pancho-like shirt that was dark green and had a black dream catcher logo on the front. Black bra straps hung thing form her shoulders, she wore a necklace that was made to look like rope with a black fishhook hanging from it. She wore blue skinny jeans that hugged her legs beautifully.
"Damn...” said Gavin, still grasping her hand as he looked her in the eye. "Very casual for the apocalypse." he said with a playful chuckle, Darya returned with a giggle. Sara slapped Gavin on the back of the head and glared a thin coldly with her arms crossed. "So... Insta?" asked Gavin as he let go of her hand and took a step back.
"Yes. Full time. This is why I am in Utah.,” said Darya with a model's perfect smile.
"Nice... called It." said Gavin smugly as he looked back at Sara who didn't seem amused.
Eddie and Matt were spewing a volley of incomprehensible questions.
"Boys, boys. Since the entire cabin isn't lit, can we discuss this inside? I'm freezing"
The squad nodded their heads in agreement. They turned around and treaded through the door of glittering snow that was compacted to the ground. They slid open the back door and streamed into the cabin.
Little did the group know, an armed assailant heard their entrance and his trigger finger was feeling particularly itchy.
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