Frozen Man

Lex Sinclair

Description

When Kate and Tom hear Charles's story about a mythical Frozen Man, they believe it to be just that, and nothing.So when they stumble across a body encased in a block of ice in a forest, while snowbound in North Wales they become afraid for their safety.Against Tom's pleas, he and Kate cart the corpse home with them and hide it in their loft. Thereafter, Charles tells them they must return it after reading tales relating to the From Man mythologies. Yet when they do this they discover the corpse has vanished.Shortly after, very bad things start to befall them. They discover the Frozen Man is an abomination of God's first creation that must not be tampered with at any cost.The Frozen Man will never die.The Frozen Man taps into Kate and Tom's worst fears and seeks vengeance for destroying its healing corpse and won't stop until its deepest, darkest desires are fulfilled...

Informations

• Publié par: Andrews UK
• Date de parution: 10 octobre 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783339501
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Title Page
THE FROZEN MAN

Lex Sinclair



Publisher Information
The Frozen Man Published in 2014 by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
The right of Lex Sinclair to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998
Copyright © 2014 Lex Sinclair
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any person who does so may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.



1
Somewhere high above the moon shone - but in North Wales a January blizzard choked the sky with snow. The wind gusted full-force on a deserted stretch of hidden road where The Travellers Pub was situated a hundred meters or so from the deep forest, high up in the mountains. The cars and vans parked in the lay- by opposite the large pub, belonging to the campers and drivers caught in the storm, were already covered in a thick layer of snow, and it was only dusk.
Headlights of a grey Vauxhall dimly broke through the swirling storm, tyres crunching over the snow-carpeted surface. Tom squinted through the windscreen, passed the wipers at the timber construction on the right hand side of the road protruding from the pine trees behind it. ‘Oh, thank God,’ he said, relaxing his tense shoulders, relieved. As the pub came into view, Kate now realised what her husband’s comment meant.
Tom indicated to turn off the hazardous road into the lay-by. He used the gearshift to slow the car, rather than the brake pedal and chance sliding uncontrollably into a parked vehicle; or worse still, down the steep mountain slope, where they would almost certainly crash through the barriers off the meandering road, over the edge and plummet off the mountain to their horrifying deaths. No thank you. He’d been fortunate enough to have kept them on the road this far; risking going any further in these extreme conditions, when there was a pub they could get a drink and hopefully get something to eat, would be imprudent. He brought the car to a halt, but left the engine running as it was blowing hot air on them from the vents. They were facing the pub across the road; although it was still barely visible through the incessant snowfall.
Tom and Kate had been married for three years, and they had been seeing one another for seven years. The first two years of their marriage were bliss, until the honeymoon years had gradually passed. This was the first year since they’d been together that had had its difficulties. They had always bickered from the start, but an hour later they kissed and made up. However, last year had been completely different. Tom irritated Kate immensely for a number reasons, some insignificant, some not, and she no longer felt the way she used to towards him.
She still loved him; just not with the same passion and fervour as she once felt.
Last summer they both decided that it was the right time to start a family.
Then a week before Christmas, Kate had been informed by her gynaecologist that she was unable to conceive. Needless to say she was devastated by the news. It still hadn’t quite sunk in yet that no matter how hard they tried, she would never fall pregnant. Kate didn’t think it ever would. She would merely live out her life with a void in her soul that could not be filled.
Tom, upset as he was, told her it didn’t matter, and had mentioned how they should consider keeping an eye out in the local paper for any pups or kittens that required a good home. She knew he was only trying to help. But a pup or a kitten was one thing; having a child, you yourself brought into the world was another matter entirely. Tom would never understand that because he wasn’t a woman. He’d comforted her for a while afterwards, but then (although he never said out loud) he’d grown tired of her crying and complaining. He advised her to seek professional help, because when he came home after a long day at work she would be sprawled out in bed, sobbing under the covers. He said it depressed him, knowing there was nothing he could do.
Now, here they were in North Wales - snowbound.
Tom had brought her up here in the freezing temperatures on a camping trip for the weekend, hoping to take her mind off the baby situation and to rekindle their love. Kate always had a keen interest for camping out in the woodlands.
Yet they had been caught in the blizzard that afternoon, unable to find a safe secure spot where they could erect their tent.
Tom had annoyed her for most of the ride with his usual talk; claiming that he knew what she was going through. How the hell did he know what she was going through? He had no idea whatsoever. He was a guy for Christ sake! He kept on about how she would feel much better if they got a dog. In truth, she probably would feel somewhat happier if they did have a pup to make a fuss over, but that still wouldn’t change the fact that she could never have children of her own. If he could fathom that, maybe he would shut up and talk about something else for a change.
The Travellers was a two-storey building, which appeared to be a lot more than your average drinking bar. Lights shone a welcoming glow from inside, so surely it had to be open.
Tom zipped his coat up before turning the headlights off and killing the engine. As he pushed the door open the wind blew hard enough to buffet all the stationed vehicles in the lay-by. The door was very nearly ripped out of his firm grasp. He kept his head down against the flurry and held his gloved hand out for Kate to grab hold of before they cautiously crossed the road to the pub.
***
Outside the wind sounded like a shrill scream. Charles raised his head uneasily from his drink and then back again. He was a heavy set middle-aged man with a worn, sagging, wrinkled face and a smoker’s evident respiration.
Behind him snow billowed through the creaking timber door, which had unexpectedly opened. When the amplified wind hit Charles, it caused him to laugh in his smoker’s surprised husky chuckle. The man and woman who entered the pub had a darker shade of pink on their frozen cheeks than Charles’s flushed complexion.
Tom and Kate closed the door shut on the howling wind and removed their woollen gloves. Kate stood next to the frost-traced window, shivering. She shook her blonde hair, spraying a dreamy sugar puff of snow on the Persian rug beside the crackling fire. She scanned the warm cosy interior as Tom headed to the bar to order drinks from the tall, slender, bald-headed landlord with a thick moustache.
The mahogany bar was on the right. The shelves behind the bar were lit with soft bulbs. In the centre of the room there were five tables and a row of dark red leatherette booths on the left. Each table and booth held a candle in an orange lantern. Against the far wall a blue-cloth pool table was in use. There was also a dartboard and a jukebox.
Kate went and sat in one of the vacant booths alongside the window and watched the wind blow veils of snow across the frozen pathway.
Derek, the landlord, stopped speaking quietly to Charles, who looked at least ten years older than he actually was due to the deeply etched lines on his rugged features.
‘Caught out there in that God-awful blizzard, huh?’ Derek said, in a warm, friendly tone.
‘Yeah. We were damn lucky to have stumbled in here when we did.’ Tom smiled.
Derek nodded, agreeing. ‘You can say that again. Anyway, how can I help you?’
‘Well, I wondered if you served cooked meals, or are we too late? And also do you know anywhere close by that my wife and I can stay for the night?’
‘Food will be served in about an hour. As far as the sleeping arrangements go, you can stay here with the other campers, until this storm eases off. You’ll have to bring your sleeping bags from your car and sleep in the booths or on the floor. I’m not telling you what to do mister - but although you and your wife won’t exactly be comfortable sleeping in here with a lot of strangers, it’ll be much safer and a lot warmer than sleeping out there in your car.’
Tom nodded. ‘No, I’m gonna take your advice. We’re not from here. We’re from Herefordshire. And by the looks of things out there,’ he said, pointing to the window, ‘I’d rather not take a chance sleeping in the car. We were being rocked back and forth out there.’
Derek smiled, approving of his wise decision. ‘No one expected the weather to be this extreme, except for Charles here.’ Derek gestured at the man seated at the bar. ‘Almost everyone else is up here was hoping to camp out in the forest, just like you and your wife.’
Tom counted eight people in the pub all together.
‘Now, will you like something to drink while you wait for me to bring the menus?’
‘Yes, please. That would be great. Thanks.’ Tom stood at the bar, waiting patiently for the drinks he’d ordered, when he met Charles’s worn, genial gaze.
‘How are ya?’ Charles asked, taking another deep inhale of his cigarette.
‘Not too bad under the circumstances, I suppose,’ Tom said.
Charles blew a cloud of blue-grey smoke into the air and said, ‘Let me buy this round.’
Tom looked at him closely, not sure if he heard him clearly. ‘Say it again?’
‘Lemme buy these drinks for you, okay?’
Tom shrugged. ‘Uh... what the hell. All right. But you let me buy you a drink later on.’
Charles hande