Free The Biting Cold: A Winter's Horror Tale by Graeme Clark

The Call
    'Will you wake the fuck up?' Peter stated with a swing of his left arm. The lorry was a six-wheeler and wide enough for three seats but not wide enough for Danny to be completely out of reach. The lorry had been 'home' for the last four hours; Peter hoped it wouldn't be another four.
    'What, whe.., wha..?' Danny said as he jumped straight up in his seat, spilling some of his two litre bottle of juice that had been balanced on the flat console to his right. 'I've been awake.'
    'If you're no' sleeping you're on that damn phone of yours,' Peter said pulling over to the kerb-side. 'I need you to check the back door.'
    'Check my back door?' Danny rubbed at his eyes. 'You're no gettin' near my back door, ye dirty auld bastard.'
    Peter had driven the local authority gritters for half his fifty years of service. He had had a multitude of 'second men' to help him when the snow came , but none could match the cheek of young Danny. Young, dumb and full of cum, someone once said to him.
    'Just check OK? Lift the door up a notch, we're needing forty grams for the rest of the route.'
    'Forty grams?' Danny was perplexed. His doleful expression and heavy eye s seemed to be a little show for Peter, maybe not as daft as he makes out.
    'Per square meter,' Peter continued.
    'Wish I had a clue what you were on about.' Danny was honest at least.
    'Blue . We need the door at blue OK, fuckin' blue, it's at red just now, need blue.' Peter never had much patience for the younger generation. He liked Danny but his circus did not have the full complement of clowns. The youth of today seemed destined to have everything done for them, an instruction manual had been written in digital but Peter still lived in an analogue world. Life was being mechanised and automated to make life easier, but how difficult was life anyway?
    'Why didn't you just say?' Danny said pulling on his florescent yellow jacket, slowly, arm by arm.
    'C'mon, I'd like to get home before Santa comes.'
    'Nae chance, bad forecast, this will be an all-nighter,' Danny said with a smile. He grabbed the torch and jumped down from the lorry. Danny was right, there had been a forecast of snow, and with severe gales also blo wing in from the east, there was more than a chance of an all-nighter. Even if the snow stopped, the drifting alone could keep them out all night. He hated this, he just wanted a Christmas when he could see his wife open her presents in the morning rather than at lunch time, just once.
    'Check the load as well, wasn't much coming out back there, it might be jammed, push some salt onto the belt.' Peter could only hear a little mutter of discontent as Danny disappeared into the darkness behind the gritter.
    The two way radio above Peter's head crackled into life.
    'Echo Base to Echo six.' Peter wasn't sure he wanted to answer, it usually meant they needed him to do something not scheduled, and he was serious about wanting to get home before Santa.
    'Echo Base to Echo S ix, come in.'
    Peter snatched the microphone from the radio housing, stretching th e coiled cable almost straight, 'Echo Six.'
    'Peter, we have had a call from the police, couple of cars are stuck at the Leadburn junction, they need assist ance, when do you think you will get there?' The Leadburn Inn was only a few miles up the road; it was part of his route anyway.
    Peter depressed the trigger and spoke, 'Just leaving Penicuik now, should be five, ten minutes.'
    Danny jumped back into the cab, shook off his damp jacket and removed it, 'Your back door is all clear, needed to poke it a bit with the shovel but all done.' He smiled that infectious grin of his and settled back into the seat.
    'OK Peter, traffic queuing back a bit, when you reach the scene, liaise with the officers and aid them as much as you can,' Echo Base replied.
    'Fuckin' liaise? That prick was on the tools four weeks ago, now he thinks he's management.' Peter depressed the trigger again, 'Roger that, we are at the moment stationary,