Flurries

“Earth teach me to forget myself as melted snow forgets its life. Earth teach me resignation as the leaves which die in the fall. Earth teach me courage as the tree which stands all alone. Earth Teach me regeneration as the seed which rises in the spring. “ – William Alexander

 

 
“We are urging everyone to stay inside. This storm is going to be unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Folks, we’re talking about at least four to five feet of snow if not more.” The T.V. behind my wife blared. I was getting ready to head out for the store as we speak. We’ve been prepping for this storm for a few weeks now, but I realized we needed a few things.

“Oh, don't forget to pick up an extra case of water...If there’s any left.”

“Will do.” I smiled at her, making my way out of the house. The weather was weird. We had just passed the last part of October, but here we are the first few weeks of November and they were calling for one of the biggest snowstorms we’ve ever had. Nonetheless, it felt good to be done with work. I was able to take early retirement. My father who had recently passed away left me with enough money to do so. Now, I was able to sit back and spend time with my wife. We’ve been together for ten or so years, but have only been married for six. My life hasn’t been easy on her. My career choice isn’t a good one for a married man. I was gone late a lot at night and rarely got any sleep. It was the price I paid for being a full-time surgeon. Through thick and then though she’s managed to stay with me. Finally, it was nice to be home for a change. It is going to be nice to actually spend time with her.
 
I arrived at Wal-Mart the very place I dread shopping. Sadly, this one of the main places to shop for basic needs. I got out of my car noticing some sort of weird smell, coming from the outside air. Out of all the thirty-six years, I had lived here I never noticed a smell like this. I tried to place my finger on it, but I couldn’t. I knew the sewage plant wasn’t far from here so I figured that’s what it was. I locked my car making my way into Walmart. When I entered I was greeted by the door greeter. I nodded, grabbing a cart from the side and making my down to the water aisle. I was lucky enough to grab a couple of cases of water. Everything else was wiped out.

“I’d really hate to see what this town would be like if something worse than a snowstorm happened,” I mumbled to myself, making my way out of the water aisle. I came out of the aisle and was met with an older woman.

“Ryder Ashford? Is that you?”  I smiled at the elderly woman,” Hello, I’m sorry do I know you?”

“You did my husband’s heart surgery a while back. I never really got a chance to tell you how happy I was. You saved his life.”

“Please, no need to thank me. I was just doing my job.”

“Well, I better get back to my grocery shopping. The big storm is coming.”

“Indeed,” I said, nodding at her making my way out of the aisle over to the bread aisle. Every single loaf of bread was gone. I turned around to look at the frozen goods, but half of those were gone too.

“This is crazy. We still have a week or two before this thing even comes.”

    I decided I was going to have to stop at one of the other local groceries stores on the way home. I wanted to get a few more canned goods as well as bread. I made my way to the checkout aisle, getting the things I needed and making my way back out to my car. While I was loading up the car I noticed the smell had gotten increasingly worse…I almost had to plug my nose while I was loading the things in my trunk. I shut the back of my car and noticed a snowflake hitting the backside of the rear windshield.

“That can’t be, right? There was no snow predicted in the forecast.” I said to myself. I looked up as more snowflakes started coming down. I quickly got into my car starting it up and turning on my windshield wipers. I started pulling my car out of the parking space, but as I did the snow started to fall even harder.

“No…This can’t be right.” I said, pulling back into my parking space waiting for the snow to clear up. I decided to give it ten minutes to see if it was going to clear up.

   The cool temperature helped the snow stick the ground quicker and it was really coming down. I decided it might be best to call my wife Ariel to let her know I was going to be awhile getting home. I pulled out my cell and was astonished that I didn’t have any cell signal. I turned my car off and stepped outside trying to get a better signal…I still had nothing. I also noticed that the temperature was dropping outside. This wasn’t your normal drop, either. I made my way back into the Walmart to see if I could get anything on my cell phone. Apparently, everyone else was having the same issue as me everyone was pointing their cellphones up to the ceiling, and walking around the store trying to find some sort of cell service.

“Something isn’t right here,” I mumbled, looking outside at the snow. The ground was completely covered and there had to of been more than 5 inches out there already. It was getting harder to see outside, now that the snow was coming down so hard.

  I looked around at the crowd hoping to see a familiar face, but sadly I didn’t recognize anyone. At this point, I was hoping to see a former patient or the sweet elderly lady I had seen earlier. She must’ve left shortly after me, though, I didn’t see her in the crowd anywhere. Plus, the chances of her having service were slim to none. It didn’t look like anyone else was having any luck either.

   I walked back over to the main doors. The snow was starting to get deep now. I wanted to call up our local news station and cuss at them. How could someone get this prediction wrong by a long shot? I know it’s not really there fault, but now I’m stuck in one of the superstores, I can’t stand to be in with a bunch of strangers.

“Sorry to bother you.” I felt someone grapple onto my shoulder, I turned around and was met with a younger looking man with a full flesh beard.

“I don’t mean to bug you. But are you having any luck getting any type of signal on your phone?”

“No, I’m sorry I haven’t. It doesn’t look like anyone else really has either.” I nodded toward the group of customers looking at their phones.

“True. Sorry to bother you. My name is Max. Max Deaton.” We shook hands,” Hey don’t worry about it. It doesn’t look like we’re leaving anytime soon, anyway.” I pointed outside. He chuckled nodding his head and started to walk off, but was quickly caught off guard by an announcement that came over the intercom.

“Attention all Wal-Mart customers and employees. It has come to our attention that the weather has turned for the worst. Wal-Mart will be offering shelter for those who need it for the night. We also have multiple phone lines. We are willing to let our customers and employees use these lines to call their loved ones. Thanks, Management.”

     I was shocked. It seemed this store rarely gave back to the people, but this time they were. I made my way past Max to the customer support center. People were already starting to line up. There were at least twenty people ahead of me already. Just as fast as the people were lining up they were leaving. Most people were leaving in tears. It was almost like a terror attack had happened, or something. Finally, after what seemed like forever it was my turn to use the phone. I picked the receiver and started to dial my wife’s cell-phone number. It rang once then went straight to a busy tone. I squinted, knowing that something wasn’t right.

-Crash-

I jumped at the sound of glass breaking. Shortly after I heard cries of fear ringing out. I ran over to the front entrance where all the noise was coming from. The main entrance was shattered. The sliding open doors were both ripped off the hinges. I had to double take to make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me. The snow had broken through the first main entrance and was now making its way into the second entrance. We were officially trapped. There was no way out of the store now. We were all officially trapped.

“Oh my God what are we going to do now?!” Someone in the crowd called out.

“We’re all going to die in here!” Another person shouted out.

“We all just need to calm down. I’m sure that the authorities are on it. No way are they going to let us die in here.” I called out to the crowd,” If we all remain call and stay cool everything should be fine.”

“Hey Fuck you, man! I got a family out there! I’m not going to stay in here and die!”
I grabbed the man by the shoulders looking him in the eyes,” Look I understand that. I too have someone out there waiting for me to come home, but if you go out there you aren’t coming back the best thing to do is to wait for the officials to come and get us.” The man jerked away from my grip walking back into the crowd.

  The snow that made its way into the store started to move closer to us. It was still snowing outside and fast. It was clear to me that if we didn’t get out of here we could die. The entire time I’ve lived here I’ve never seen this much snow.

“Look!” A younger woman from the crowd called out. I turned around, noticing the snow was moving from underneath. It was almost like it had a pulse, or like it was breathing.

“What the hell?” I muttered to myself, crouching down to the snow. I reached out to touch it, but something popped out forcing me to the ground, screaming in my face while laying on top of me. I used all my force to try to get the thing off, but couldn’t.

“Help!” I cried out,” Somebody get this fucking thing off of me!”  The beast let out a loud shriek exposing its rotten teeth to my face. Some green looking slime oozed out from its mouth onto my face. I turned my head and heard a loud thumping noise. A young blonde girl from the crowd started wailing on the thing with a baseball bat. I crawled away from the scene trying to gather myself, trying to figure out what the hell I just saw. Everything was like a slow-motion bad horror movie. The creature coming out of the snow and the ooze from its mouth. I looked over at the young lady wailing on the creature. She had splatters of blood on her face from hitting the creature. She came over to me reaching her hand and helping me up. I shook myself off trying to gather myself.

“Someone want to explain to me what the hell that was?” My voice cracked with fear.

“Wish I could tell you, but we all saw the same thing you did. My name is Cecil Knight. Sorry, I took so long to get to you. Finding some sort of blunt object close by was harder than you would think.” She reached out her hand for me to shake it and I did.

“Don’t mention it. You pretty much saved my life back there.”

“I wasn’t going to stand by and let you die to that thing. If I didn’t do something I think someone else would’ve.”

   I smiled at Cecile hoping that she was right, but I wasn’t really sure. It took a long time for someone to come to my aid. At least that’s how it felt…I made my way back over to the group and was about to introduce myself when someone else called out.

“Look!” He pointed to the ground at the creature that Cecil bludgeoned with a metal batt. It was moving around…Almost like it was having some sort of seizure. I had to shake my head to make sure what I was seeing was real. The creatures head was completely smashed in, but it was still acting like it was alive. After what seemed like five minutes and everyone standing in silence the creature stopped.

“No! This isn’t real! This isn’t real! This isn’t happening!” A young black gentleman frantically started pacing back and forth. I walked over to him trying to get him to remain calm,” Hey, it’s going to be okay. Just calm down and take deep breaths. If you keep this up you’re going to end up in a panic attack.”

“How the hell do you know?”

“Because I’m a doctor.” As I said those words Cecil said the same thing I did.

“Wait how did you know that?” I asked her.

“I could tell.” She smiled at me.

“Well, technically I’m a surgeon, but yeah it still classifies.”

“What the hell is that!!??” Someone from the group said, pointing to the snow. More creatures were popping out from the snow. Each even more hideous than the other. Some were missing jaws, some looked like they’ve been frostbit from the snow, while some looked like they have been dead for years. The creature that Cecil dropped slowly stood back up with a smashed in face. I looked over at her and her face was just in awe as mine was. A silence quickly filled the store as the creature that attacked me tilted its head to the side. It then let out a loud shriek so piercing everyone had to cover their ears. We were all stunned and couldn’t move from the sound. Luckily the shrieking only lasted about a minute. That’s when the creature did a quick spin igniting its self on fire.

“Run!” I cried out taking off down the walkway of Walmart toward the section electronic section with a few others behind me. I through the electronic aisle straight back into the warehouse. The younger black man and Cecil, as well as two others, were with me, but everyone else split up.

“We need to barrack the door to give us some time!”