Ice Cold

"Guys come this way," A man gestured, face covered with a scarf. "They haven't heard us yet."

A woman and a child came rushing out of a nearby alley in the cover of darkness making their way into the convenience store.

The boy stumbled along the way. The man cursed under his breadth. As he made his way to come and help the two of them. When he heard the most horrifying sound. A screech that rang out into the night. Shattering the silence that had lay solemnly over the city of Surrey. A large urban city just north of Washington.

The woman rushed to the child grabbing onto his hand and tugging him to his feet. The man looked over to the screamer and saw the onset of their doom. Runners came pouring out from the abandoned homes, parks and restaurants.

The boy yelled out.

"Dad!"

Everything tore into him to rush out there to help them along. But the fear was mounting as they closed in. His feet stepped tentatively forward. His wife running with all her might. The boy barely able to keep up.

Behind them the Runners were swarming over cars and buses to get to them. Their bodies twitching and convulsing erratically. They came upon his family quickly and without mercy.

His wife rushed passed him then his son. The first zombie was met with a crowbar to the face then he latched the double doors with it. Knowingly full well it would only hold for a moment.

"God, where are we going to go."

"Check the back, Alice. And Kyle please listen to me carefully. You have to find somewhere to hide while Mama and I find a way out. You got that champ?"

"Dad, I'm scared." He confessed as the banging at the glass windows and doors continued to resonate through the store.

"Look," He bent down and held his face as gently as he could with all the adrenaline pumping through him. "I would never let anything happen to you. You understand? Nothing is going to hurt you."

He lied openly as he tried to keep a strong face. His child's face lighted up. And pain punctured through his heart. As he thought of what was going to happen.

"Now go!"

The three of them scrambled around the Mac's corner store. The back door was locked. No exit aside from the front. No real place to hide for his kid aside from the janitors room.

"Found the janitor's key!" Alice said from behind the till. She tossed them to her husband and vaulted over the counter He caught it and ran around grabbing Kyle's hand to bring him to the service room.

It was small. Enough for about four people to fit tightly. Unfortunately, their wasn't a way to lock it from the other side. Alice came over and he herded them into the room.

"You can't..." Alice protested, but she knew it was the only way.

"I love you both."

Before they could reply. The front door glass broke and zombies swarmed into the convience store.

Reaching into a nearby ice cooler, he grabbed a bag of ice and tossed it at the first zombie. Two others came at him. He dodged back and elbowed another. Finding no where to run he jumped into the freezer.

Then something odd happened. It was if they no longer noticed he was actually there any longer. But they did hear Alice cursing in the room nearby.

The zombies swarmed and tugged at the door. Somehow with sheer numbers and force they dislodged the door. The husband heard in horror their screams and he tried to move but every ounce of him was shivering in fear and cold.

When he finally walked out the following night after the swarm was drawn to another helpless soul. He found the bodies of his wife and child mutilated. With the crow bar. He finished them both. Not wanting them to share the same fate as those mindless fiends.

***

He wasn't that person anymore.

He looked down on a squirming zombie beneath him. It's bloodshot eyes hungering for his flesh. But there wasn't anymore mercy nor any fear for the undead. It bit down hard on his arm. But his biker suit proved too tough for its teeth.

Saki is what people called him. Due to his Kawasaki Jacket.

He swiped his crowbar across the mangled face once. Then twice. Until it was just a bloody mess.

A group of kids who had been hiding in their mom's basement looked up at him in awe.

"My mom's upstairs."

Without a word, he wiped off his crow bar and went back up to the living room. The room was dark as he made his way up to the top floor. At it's crest stood a long haired woman. Her dress unkempt. Saki tapped the wall at his side. It got her attention. She turned to him slowly tilted her head each way as she dived for him.

He ducked and hooked his bar on her jaw breaking it free as she tumbled down the stairs. Fueled with searing cold hate, Saki rushed down with little regard for balance. Nearly tumbling down himself. When he got to the bottom floor he dug his bar into the creatures skull.

Flashes of Alice and Kyle's bodies spring to his mind and he stops. A bloody mess at his feet. He gets up and goes downstairs.

The three kids, who look like the neighbourhood squad, look up to him. Like he was some sort of superhero.

"Get your stuff, come with me. It isn't safe here." Just like an Arnold or a Rambo would say. Might as well play the part, he thought.

He found out the kids names. Mako, Nico and Sara. Apparently they were siblings. His mistake.

"How'd you survive with your parents turned?"

"Not sure, mister." Nico replied.

"They never came down." Mako said.

"I had to sneak to get food cuz these two were fraidy cats." Sara boasted.

"Now listen here, I'm going to tell you something that very well might save your life. They can't sense you in cold places. So if you are looking for a place to hide. Go to a really cold place."

"For sure."

"You got it."

"Sure thing."

"Where are we going anyway?" Asked the three of them.

"A place with a lot of food." He replied.

They cheered quietly. Shushing each other.

Saki simply shook his head.

***

A few hours later.

A Superstore came into sight. The kids rushed out to meet the guard. While Saki walked behind them.

"Kids, really Saki?" Aisha shouted at him giving him a knowing look.

"What other choice did I have. Alright... boys and girls in you go." Saki announced.

The hungry bunch shuffled in past Aisha. Meanwhile she brought Saki aside.

"You can't keep doing this, you know?"

"Doing what?"

"Playing the hero. I know you don't want to hear this, but no matter how many people you bring back. You won't be able to get over their deaths. Revenge will just get you killed, Saki."

"You don't understand Aisha. If I had only known what I know now. They would be alive. You still keeping it frosty in there?"

"We are living like penguins in Antarctica, Saki. Stop changing the subject. You have to put some effort in taking care of yourself."

"Aisha, that's what got me into this life in the first place."

"Now I got to check the hydro team."

Aisha stopped him from turning away and brought him into a hug. Her body against the bloodied biker brute.

Shocked, Saki slowly wrapped his arms around her.

"What's this for? It's only zombies. What you have to really worry about is catching a cold."

Aisha smiled and stepped away.

"I've never seen your face, you know that Saki."

"Some things are better left to the imagination."

With that he took one the Triumph motorbikes nearby that still had oil and made his way north. She may be right. But he couldn't tell her how satisfying cracking skulls and savings lives felt.

Sure, he may be really stuck in that freezer back in the Macs.

But Saki... Saki was out there saving Kyle and Alice everyday.