Free The Winter People by Bret Tallent Page B

for the bottle and poured himself another
shot, didn't offer it to anyone else, then sat the bottle back down in front of
him.
    Ted looked over at
him with one eyebrow raised and a look of annoyance washed across his face
momentarily.  "Well I believe them," sounding more like, wayell a
balieve them.   "They were too upset for this to be a joke.  Besides,
who would want to get out in this weather for a joke?  No, they were
scared."  Ted looked down at his bottle of Jack and was obviously not
pleased that Clayton had made himself to home with it.  But the tall Texan was
either too polite or too nice to say anything about it.
    "Me too
Ted," Johnny turned to him, "I think something pretty bad has
happened, I feel it in my gut."  Ted looked back at him and nodded.
    "Oh Je-sus
Christ!" Clayton said exasperated, emphasizing each syllable.  "Are
you going to give us some more of your sixth sense horseshit?!  You
sound like a couple of old ladies.  And I'll tell you what your problem is, the
both of you."  He paused briefly and looked at each one in turn,
seriously, so as to get their undivided attention.  So they would know what he
was about to say would be the revelation that would change their lives.
    Ted and Johnny
just stared at him, blankly.  "You ain't gettin' no PUSSY!" Clayton
barked out in laughter, his yellowing toothy grin filling his pudgy face. 
"That's right," he said to Ted, "I'll bet you ain't had pussy
since pussy had you!" he laughed again, throaty grunts that turned into a
cough.  He downed his whiskey with a gulp and a sigh, and Ted only blushed and
looked down at the table.
    "Clayton?"
    "Yeah,
John?"
    "You're an
asshole."  He said it flatly as though he were just stating a fact that
everyone knew.  He turned to regard Ted, "Good night Ted, it's late and
I'm getting some sleep.  I'll see you in the morning."  Ted looked up and
Johnny gave him a look that said, "I'm sorry, but I'm also damned glad
that you're working with him and not me."  Ted only nodded to him.
    Clayton ignored
him and strained out a fart then belched.  "Well, I gotta' get up in a
couple of hours thanks to those two asswipes.  I'm hittin' the hay; I'll see
you girls in the morning."  He stood and began walking to the back of the
station, to the bedroom.  He was completely oblivious to the fact that he'd
said or done anything that might have offended anyone.  He wouldn't have cared
anyway.
    Johnny stared
after him for a moment then followed.  In his mind, behind him, he could see
Ted recap the bottle and take the glasses to the kitchen sink.  He returned
with a washcloth and washed off the table, paying particular attention to the
area where Clayton's feet had rested.  Johnny continued to watch Ted in his
mind for a while, watching him straighten the chairs and then rinse out the
glasses.  Johnny pulled off his uniform and climbed into bed wearing his long
johns and socks.
    Beside him Clayton
had already done the same.  A few minutes later Ted entered the room.  Even
though it was pitch black, if Johnny turned his back on Ted, he could see him
as clearly as if all the lights were on.  He lay there on his side, facing the
wall, and was washed over with the feeling that after tomorrow he would never
see either Ted or Clayton again.  He fell asleep quickly and had a nightmare
that he had not had for a long, long time.  Johnny dreamed of the "People
Eaters".
     
    ***
    It had been
fifteen minutes since they had entered the wall of snow that marked the
boundary to the storm front and Hayden was no more at ease now than then.  It
made his skin crawl.  He cast a glance at the two young men beside him and
could see that they were anxious as well.  Hayden couldn't explain it, but for
some reason this storm
felt
different.  He felt malevolence in it, an
evil.  It just plain gave him the creeps.
    Hayden considered
the two men beside him.  His first instincts when reading a person were usually
right on the money.  He