Home for the Holidays

1 - The Suburbs

Snow fell in heavy flakes on the windshield of the beat-up sedan. "You sure this thing is going to make it through the storm?" Nick unscrewed the top of his silver flask and tried desperately to get a few more drops out of it. Somehow, on the three hour drive out of Midway, it had all disappeared. He wasn't sure, but he suspected some sort of water demon might have had a claw in it.

"I've done this drive plenty of times, Nick." James hands gripped the steering wheel calmly. The weak, yellow cones of the headlights tried to cut a path through the snow, but barely illuminated ten feet in front of them. The highway, usually bumper-to-bumper with traffic, was almost completely empty. Occasionally, they'd pass another vehicle, gathering snow after its owners had abandoned it, but no one else was fool enough to still be out.

"Maybe we should turn back to Midway, get ourselves a couple of handles and spend the night drinking every time we see a snowflake." Nick shook the flask violently, rattling the metal stopper. "I could have sworn there was more of this."

"You drank it before we even hit the onramp. I believe your words were: How fast do you think I can—"

"Drink this flask, alright, I get it." Nick tossed the empty flask to the floor. "Why would anyone live out here anyway?"

"Parkview is a nice place for those who don't like the hustle and bustle."

"Quite a few murders for the burbs if I remember right."

"That was over twenty years ago, and I'll remind you, you wanted to come."

Nick sighed and slumped into the seat. "Only because you said there would be free food. I don't know if you've seen the financials lately, but after the Cerberus in the sewers, no one is jumping to hire us." It had been a damned good fight, but so messy for Public Works the following morning. Pissing off civil servants was never a good way to drum up more business. "Fucking unions," Nick muttered.

"Maybe if you hadn't have pumped it full of thermite right next to a gas main, the explosion would have been smaller."

Nick huffed and leaned his head against the window. The glass was cold, calming what was sure to be the start of a raging hangover if he couldn't get to more booze soon. "We might have been that thing's chew toy if I hadn't."

James sighed. "Maybe we could use a bit more planning for the job we've got coming up in Clearwater?"

Nick laughed. "The tabloid job? You're staying in the car for that one. It's going to be a quick in and out, nothing more."

"You ever fought a sasquatch before?"

"It's just a man in—" Nick stopped as the radio turned on suddenly, flipping between stations rapidly and playing unintelligible garbled static. A mix of Christmas music, weather warnings and talk radio blasted through the car at full volume. Nick slapped at the dial trying to get it to turn off, but the noise sent sharp pain coursing into his temples.

James reached out and turned the dial to off, but the radio continued to whine and sputter. Ahead of them something ran across the road, visible only briefly in the headlights. Nick had a chance to see mangy, grey fur before James slammed on the brakes. The car started to spin immediately, sliding sideways through the freeway like a drunken acrobat.

"Jesus, James, turn into the spin!" screamed Nick, wishing once more that he had been more thoughtful with his flask rations.

James turned the wheel, gripping it with white knuckles and the car skidded slowly to a stop. Looking through the fogged windshield, it was difficult to see anything beyond the falling snow.

"What was that?" asked Nick.

"Probably a bear. They started moving out here a few years ago after the forest fire."

"A bear, in the dead of winter?"

James sighed. "Do we really need to talk about climate change again, Nick?"

"I don't know, does climate change explain why the bear would have fucked with the radio?" Nick reached into the back seat and pulled out a thick, leather-bound tome. He always carried it with him , despite protestations from James that 'monsters don't live in the suburbs.' He'll learn, thought Nick and began flipping through the tome's pages.

"Five minutes out of Midway and you're pulling out the Monster Manual?" James scoffed.

"You know damned well, it's not called that."

"It's a manual for monsters. What would you like me to call it?"

"It's the ramblings of a drunken master who killed far more beasties than you or I. Now, I suggest you start driving, because the longer I go without a drink, the lower your chances of survival get."

"Right, like your other apprentices?" James put the car into gear and they were rumbling down the snow-covered highway again.

Nick rolled his eyes. For once, he had been completely honest with James when he hired him. Almost all his previous apprentices had died horribly at the hands of strange creatures, cannibal cults, or door-to-door salespeople with a grudge. Trouble was that James hadn't believed him and thought it was all just a scare tactic. It didn't help that the confrontation with the Cerberus had given him far too much confidence for his own good.

James continued guiding them on their already harrowing journey to suburbia. Nick read through the pages of his master's book, looking for creatures that lived in cold climates. There were far too many for an expeditious search. It seemed the old fool had catalogued everything, even a yeti, a creature most believed to be extinct. Finally, after looking specifically for entries tagged with 'Found in Urban Areas', Nick came upon The Wendigo.

The beast was originally of Native American origin, but in the modern world had become more of a general horror. Nick read on. Wendigos are one of the trickiest beasts for a hunter to encounter. While I am fairly certain I have never run across one, there is no way to be sure as Wendigo are well versed in psychic warfare. When they aren't roaming the forests looking for fresh prey, they can disguise themselves in human form.

James pulled off the highway and onto a street lined with identical houses. To differentiate themselves, the various owners had littered the outside with colored lights. Nick looked out the window and saw an inflatable Santa Claus rocking back and forth in the strong winds. "Why did it have to be the suburbs?"

"Oh, shut up and enjoy it." A wide grin was plastered across James's face.

Nick was distracted by his puzzlement. In their short time together, James had been nothing more than a dour, sarcastic ass. How was the kid not panicking about the creature or the radio? Nick shook his head and continued reading. What's worse, Wendigos are so persuasive in their appearance that they can force false memories on their prey. Nick stopped as a few pieces clicked together. "Hey James, how did you say you know these people again?"

He laughed. "They're my family, Nick. Well, not blood-related, but they were around all the time when I was a kid. You know, the kind of people you call aunt and uncle even though they're not?"

Nick didn't have the slightest idea what the hell James was talking about. Holiday cheer at the Ventner household was found at the bottom of a candy-cane-stuffed rum bottle. Between that and re-runs of the same fifteen movies on television, the holidays passed in a fuzzy blur. "But you're not blood related? Interesting." Nick turned back to the book.

"What are you reading about?"

"Probably nothing, don't worry about it." The entry didn't say anything about radio frequencies or messing with electronics, but Nick supposed with a psychic being, that wouldn't be too far off the mark. "How much farther?"

"Five minutes. Enjoy the view. Isn't this nice?"

"Sure, kid, this is nice." The words tastedlike vomit. Somehow, over the course of their drive, the holiday lights hadgrown more prevalent. Nick looked out the window at the glittering houses andfelt an empty feeling. Something wasn't right, he was pretty sure of it. A queasyfeeling sloshed around in his lower stomach. All at once, he felt the contentsof the flask he had drained. Maybe it's just that, he reassured himself.