Servant of the Undead

"It's not anything dangerous, is it?"

Hayden opened his eyes and watched his breath come out in frigid puffs. Beyond the car's windshield, moonlight blended into a narrow line of snow-covered trees, stretching across the horizon. The sky was clear, the night still, the air bitter with an icy scent.

Beside him, a woman groaned.

Rachelle, wrapped in her fur coat.

She opened her eyes. "Oh, hey."

He nodded, fighting a wave of dizziness.

"Guess I feel asleep." She rubbed her cheeks with her mittened hands. "Where are we?"

"Not sure."

Outside, Mattie lingered, her booted feet deep down in the snow, the wind pushing her skirt against her thighs.

Rachelle dropped her hands. "You drove us here."

Hayden glanced at the backseat. His backpack with his notebook, camera and tablet was there, the bag of food they'd brought and the thermos. The last thing he remembered—Mattie giving him directions while they were all drinking tea. He patted his chest pocket. His phone was gone. He reached back, checking his back pocket, checking for his wallet and noticed his belt was undone, hanging down the back of his pants.

"What's wrong?" Rachelle asked.

"Nothing. Let's get out." He shoved open the car door and climbed out, fixing his belt as he stood. A wave of dizziness found him and he grabbed the top of the door.

Mattie trudged over. "It'll wear off once you start moving."

"Seems I've already been doing some moving."

"You did a little. I did more."

Rachelle, who'd moved away from the car, spun in a circle, her arms wide and her face toward the sky. "Where are we, anyway?"

Mattie lifted the map and pointed to the top right corner. "We'll walk up the river, through these trees where the snow isn't as deep."

Hayden propped his foot on the bumper. "Just leave the car here?"

"We won't be gone long." Rachelle spun again, moving so fast that her scarf flew out, waving through the frigid air like a banner.

Mattie opened the car door, grabbed Hayden's bag then held it out for him. "You'll want this."

Hayden took it and dropped the strap across his shoulder. Mattie grabbed the thermos and tucked it under her arm.

Rachelle rounded the back of the car. "You really think we're going to see something out there?"

"My friend must've seen something or else he wouldn't have made this map. Right?" Mattie rolled the brown paper up, tucked it into the inside pocket of her leather and started walking toward the trees.

Rachelle followed, her shorter legs working harder to get through the snow. "It's not anything dangerous, is it? I mean, nothing bad can happen to us, right?"

Mattie waited for Rachelle to catch up then bumped her shoulder. "Only bad stuff we want to happen." She glanced over her shoulder and caught Hayden's gaze. "Right, Hayden?" Then she unscrewed the top of the thermos, passed it to Rachelle. She drank. When she offered it to him, he took it and drank too.