Snow Creatures

Emily took her father’s portable heaters, three in all, and plugged them in to the outlets outside.

“That should keep them away,” she said, to no one in particular. She was home alone after school, as she always was. It was perfectly safe in this small, rural town. Perfectly safe, until today. She grabbed her mother’s cordless hair dryer as another SWAT vehicle passed by her house. Those creeps were not going to get her. She would make sure of that.

“Citizens of Lansgate,” the P.A. system blared from squad car driving slowly down the block. “There is no need to panic. Please stay inside your homes, and you will be safe. We have the situation completely under control. There is no need for panic…” the voice faded as the squad rolled down the street.

“No need for panic?” Emily starred at the streets, ravaged by those animals. What had started as a simple snow sculpture exhibit had become complete chaos. Things went oddly, horribly wrong. On her way home from school, one of the kids got a call on his cell saying that a polar bear had attacked his dog. Emily saw that polar bear only yesterday. He was made of snow. She knew he was. There were other reports on the radio news, too. The children on the bus hushed as the monotone speakers above their head told of snow gorillas ravaging storefronts, a snow leopard mauling an elderly lady as she walked out of the Five and Dime, and a “snow warrior” ripping apart cars and anything else in its way.

Someone had called in the S.W.A.T. team. The local Sheriff’s Department had never seen anything of this magnitude. The devastation had swept the small town, and was headed, last Emily heard, to the rural areas north of there. She thought of her friend Susan.

Did Susan even know? Emily wasn’t sure. She knew the kids on Susan’s bus listened to a different radio station, but she imagined this had made the news everywhere within a fifty-mile radius.

She shook herself from her thoughts of Susan as she saw the band of eight Snow Zombies walking down the street to her house. They had been in the middle of the exhibit when her uncle took her to see it yesterday. Where was Uncle Jerry? Was he okay? Emily knew she needed to act quickly, but she knew her one hair dryer could not stop this whole band. She called Tommy, her next door neighbor. He answered his cell on the first ring.

“Tommy! You’ve got to help!”

“What the heck can we do? We’re just kids,” Tommy’s voice shook over the phone.

“You’ve seen Frosty. You know what makes snow creatures go away.” Emily watched as the troop of Snow Zombies came closer. Their pace was slow but steady, arms straight out, coal eyes shining, heads spinning, as if searching for victims.

“Come on, Em, S.W.A.T. is here. They should know how to make this stop.” Tommy did not seem willing to leave his house.

“What the heck does S.W.A.T. know?” Emily barked into the phone. “All they are doing is launching tear gas and trying to shoot at these things. If they get hit, all they do is pack themselves with more snow and they heal. Grown-ups don’t remember, Tommy! They don’t know what to do!”

“Frosty!” Tommy exclaimed. “I get it!” He paused, “Wait, where are we going to get a greenhouse?”

“You’re so thick, Tommy! Did your Mom ever ask if you were heating the outside…”

“When I left the door open…” Tommy finished.

“Exactly! Open your doors, get all the fire power you have and make as many calls as you can. Meet me at the end of the block; we’ll take my snow-jet. We’ve got to get out by Susan’s, and fast!” Emily hung up the phone.

Near the edge of town, the kids built a bigger bon-fire than their parents would have ever allowed. The blaze seemed to shoot to the sky. They took the chance that the Snow Creatures would continue to head north. It made sense. That was the way they were all headed, and north was colder than south. Emily, Susan and Tommy took the Snow-Jet back towards town. They saw the devastation and egged the creatures on.

“Come on, stupid snow idiot!”

“Where’s your backbone, Creep?”

As they expected, the creatures followed them. By the time they got back, the fire was so hot Emily had to take her hat and coat off. The creatures of the man-eating snow exhibit could not walk away from the luscious flesh of the children. They counted on that, too.

Each creature approached the fire, not understanding how the other dwindled and eventually turned to a wet pool. One by one they met their ill demise. SWAT was soon upon the group, ushering the children back home. The snow creatures had melted. All that was left was the devastated town. They would rebuild. They always did. All of the children were home safe by the time their parents arrived home from work.

“Ah, the imagination of small children. What an adventure they’ve had,” was the sentiment as the children regaled their parents of how they saved the town. SWAT, of course, took credit for keeping the children safe through the ordeal.

“Mary,” John said. “When I put Emily to bed tonight, she refused to go without your hair dryer. I didn’t know what to do.”

“That’s fine, John. I think she truly believes the story she told you.” Mary and John looked in on little Emily, sleeping soundly, Mary’s hair dryer snuggly in her arms.

Word Count: 943