Story #8

       The cold wind blows through the poorly boarded up walls, as I clamber out of bed. I look around the room, no bigger than the master suite of my childhood home. Three single beds join mine in the middle of the room, one of the many strategies we’ve used to stay warm since the harsh winter started. We never could have expected just how quickly the world would turn on itself. As temperatures across the planet started to drop, we were told to prepare for a ‘colder than usual winter’ which, is ironic, as I sit here in a full-on Ice Age. When I planned for an end of the world situation, I was thinking more The Walking Dead… you know, living in a cute little community, they were usually warm, probably got a few good nights of sleep. At least we don’t have to worry about undead corpses trying to get a quick bite. Always a silver lining.

       I quickly get dressed, then cover myself in my red and white parka and matching snow pants. As I head towards the door, I notice the other girls starting to wake up.
       “Kaela,” one of the girls whispers, as I look over at her, “what if I let everyone down today?”
       “You won’t, Sindy, you’re just as strong on the ice as any of us.” I give her a supportive glance and see her ease up for a second.
        “But this game means everything…” Sindy trails off, pausing for a few seconds. “If we don’t win this- “
       “I know… but we have to do everything we can.” I’m nervous too, but I have to look strong, especially for Sindy, she’s been like a little sister to me. I stand in silence, watching Cassandra and Paras wipe the sleep from their eyes. They played together on the same team, the Caledonia Chinchillas, before hell froze over. The two of them were a fierce defensive duo on the ice, knowing each other’s next move almost as if they had some sort of twin telepathy. They both give me a look to say, “we’ll take it from here” and I once again head for the door.
       I can’t help but let the memories take over as I pass my old hockey gear, hung lifelessly on the wall. I remember every winning game… growing up on the ice… but now that we live in an endless winter, the cold adds a sharp bitterness to the once warm memories.

I step out into the spherical courtyard, “Holy fuck” I think as the snow-reflected light very nearly blinds me. Slowly, my breath comes into view as it hits the blistering cold air. Our encampment never fails to amaze me. The courtyard has a diameter of roughly two thirds of a football field, and the entire thing was surrounded by snow and ice banks that had to be at least 20 feet, providing some solace from the wind. Our bedrooms, if you can even call them that, were hastily scavenged from the tool huts and garages they must use to have been, dotted around the perimeter in small clusters. Worse yet was the half-assed job at boarding them up to protect their insides from the cold. So much for being women in STEM.
The most impressive part by far was the massive furnace that sat in the center of the encampment, somehow still burning from the foundry or forge that this site once was. It’s why we came here and haven’t left yet. I feel goosebumps encompass my body as warmth starts to radiate, a blast from the furnace ripples through the courtyard. That right there. That’s why we stayed.

       “Kaela!” I hear someone shout from my right, “Where are the other three?” Her sharp and steadfast tone tells me she’s not fucking around.
“Oh, they stayed back with Sindy, she was having a moment.” I respond to Ika, who stares daggers at me. If looks could kill I’d be as dead as… well… as most of the rest of the planet.
“She better smarten the fuck up and get out here.”
       Ika had always been a powerhouse. I played with her a few times before this all happened, and the girl doesn’t budge. She knows what she wants, and she gets it… I’d admire it if she wasn’t such a bitch. We all knew how important today was, but she could still afford Sindy some sympathy, but at the end of the day, she was our captain.

       As we stood around the large table in the garage that became our main living area, the whole team watched as our coach, Kathy, got ready to lead us through the plays for today. It would be the game of our lives, and everything had to be perfect or else we-
       “HEY!” shouted Kathy in my direction. “Rise and shine babes, get your heads out of the clouds we’ve got a lot to go through.” I nod in agreement and watch as she starts to place figurines around the rink that she had carved into the wooden tabletop. All the figurines were unique to who they represented. One of my favourite rings was near the center of the table, Sindy’s bow was off the rink to the side. Both Cassandra and Paras were sat together in front of the goal. They used coins, which had no monetary value anymore so why the fuck not. Ika’s shredded envelope was neatly placed to my right, With Austin on her other side. Austin used a hair tie for her figurine, she doesn’t need one anyway, she always wears her hair down now to protect her neck from the cold. We continue listening to Kathy as she nears the end of the plan.
By now she had swapped out a few figurines, mainly those of Jillian and Julie, who would swap out on center when needed, and Latoya and Neda, the replacements for Cass and Paras. Jillian and Julie had been friends since the 3rd grade and were basically attached at the hip. When everything froze, they both lost their families, and they wouldn’t have survived the trauma without each other. Latoya was a cop, and Neda was in school to become a teacher… she would have been amazing with the kids, she’s always been so patient with the girls. Our goalie, Victoria, could’ve ran a masterclass on how to stop shots on net. She even used a small piece of netting as her figurine. We’ve all been pretty close, playing on the same team for a few years will do that. We had always been a team, but now… now we’re a family.
       Kathy ended her lecture and we all knew the plays. It all had to go perfect. Even one misstep and we could lose everything. We weren’t playing for fame or fortune, we weren’t playing for bragging right, we were playing for our lives.

       As I took some laps around the courtyard, I couldn’t help but revel in how beautiful our makeshift home was. That’s why this game was so important. We found this haven, it’s not perfect, but it’s ours. But that’s the issue… we weren’t the only ones who wanted it.
       We’d only been here for about a month (I don’t really count the days anymore) when we started hearing weird things outside the snowy walls of the courtyard. One night a few of us finally decided to investigate.
       “I heard it right up here,” Ika whispers as we move swiftly through the snow beyond the walls.
        “Keep your eyes open, we have no idea who or what is out here.” I’m speaking with more confidence than I have. I hate the dark, and really don’t love the cold, but can’t really bitch about that anymore can I? Ika ahead of me, Jillian and Latoya behind me. I let myself relax for a minute, indulging in the quiet. Wait… the quiet. A shuffle in the snow to my right, and a sharp gasp ahead of me. All of a sudden, I’m pinned to the ground.

       I struggle to push against the long stick holding me down. My hands slide down it as I struggle, and realize that it’s a… hockey stick?
       “Who- are you?” I choke out, as the force against me lightens.
       “Get up.” she snarls.
       “Get the fuck off me.” I hear Ika say as I hear a large thud. She did not just body slam that chick… oh, yeah, she did.
       I look behind me and see Jillian and Latoya now on their feet as well, closely guarded by two other women I don’t recognize.
       “We’ll be back. This place? It’ll be ours real soon.” The one who pinned me down nods at the other girls and they turn to walk away. Ika attempts to stop them but Jillian quickly shuts her down and they leave.
       “What the fuck was that? What the fuck did they mean they’ll be back?” Ika takes the questions right out of my mouth.
       We discuss in awe as we walk back into the courtyard, still unsure of what those girls wanted or what they were going to do.

       The morning after we were attacked, we went to Kathy to tell her what happened. We discussed what they looked and sounded like and what they said to us. I tell them how they used hockey sticks to pin us down.
       “Hockey sticks?” asks Kathy, “Where’d they get hockey sticks and why do they still have them?”
       “To be fair, we still have them so we can’t really judge.” Sindy had a point.
       Kathy looked up with shock, processing all this information. “They’re coming to take this place… they’re going to try to take it from us.”
       The garage erupted with questions and ideas to keep our home. We all want to be here, it’s the best place we’ll find.
       “Wait if they have hockey sticks, then we can assume they know how to play hockey, correct?” Everyone shrugs as Neda continues with her idea, “We want to fight to keep this place, right?” Everyone nods in agreement, “Then why don’t we find them and challenge them for the foundry. We beat them in a game, and if we win, we stay.”
       “You do realize how stupid that sounds, right?” Ika asks with her usual cadence, and for once I couldn’t really disagree with her.
       “No… It’s- It’s worth a try. We have to do anything to keep this place, I don’t know how we can survive without it.” Kathy was right, we weren’t in the position to wait for the perfect answer.
       We were going to try this Hail Mary of an idea. I didn’t think this plan would work unless Hell froze over, no pun intended.

        I drudged through the knee-high snow, following the faint tracks left behind from the night we were pinned to the ground. Jillian, Ika, and Latoya were with me again, but Kathy also joined us. We had all volunteered to venture out to find this other group, knowing they couldn’t be far.
       “Holy shit, look.” I point ahead of us as a fire glowed faintly through the blowing snow. We found them.
       As we approached their camp, they all seemed to sense us coming and look up with staggered glances. Their camp was a few raggedy tents, that hardly looked big enough to fit all of them. There were no walls to stop the wind’s cold bite, and they all looked pretty miserable… no, not miserable… sad.
       “What do you want?” The blonde one that held me down sat facing the fire, Pierzina written across the back of the blue jersey that she wore over her coat. I now see that all the girls have the same blue jersey over their coat, each with a different name and number on them.
       “I’m Kaela, and this is Kathy, Ika, Jillian, and Latoya.” I pointed to each of the girls as I said their names, and they hesitantly nod.
       “Janelle.” She almost spit the words out of her mouth.
       “We’ve come to make a deal.” I said shakily.
       “A deal? Why would we want any sort of deal from you?” A hostility took over her words as they left her lips. The rest of her team slowly inching closer to us, sticks in hand.
       “We want to challenge you for the foundry. A fair chance for both of us.” I said it much more sternly than I thought I’d be able to.
       Janelle and her team start to laugh. “Da’Vonne,” the woman closest to her right steps forward, “Do you think they deserve a fair chance? Have we had a fair chance?”
       “No,” she responds, “We haven’t had a fair chance. But this might be our time.” I can see a spark of hope in her eyes as she whispered to Janelle.
       I wonder what she was whispering. I only make out a few words at a time, but it almost sounded like she was pleading for Janelle to take our offer.
       Janelle looked up, visibly annoyed. “Tomorrow, when the sun meets the center of the sky. There’s an ice field between here and your camp.” She got up with a deep, hasty breath and walked into one of the larger tents.
       “We’ll be there.” I say to Da’Vonne. She nodded and sent us off with a meager smile.

        I snap out of my daydream and finish my laps. I grab some food from the shack turned canteen where Sindy’s little brother usually sat all day. He enjoyed talking to the girls about hockey, and he loved stealing extra food whenever he could find the chance. We would tease him and call him Tater Tot, but we all loved the kid like he was our brother too. Another heavy reminder of what was at stake today.
       “Hey Kaela!” he was always excited to see me.
       “Hey Tater,” I tried to stay as happy as possible so he wouldn’t get worried about what was happening.
       “Wanna know something crazy?”
       “What is it?”
       “Hockey pucks used to be made of frozen cow shit!”
       “Language!” I try to say sternly, but can’t help but let a laugh escape, as I walk away.
       I headed back to my room, where Cass, Paras and Sindy were starting to get ready to head to the icefield. All the other girls were in their rooms doing the same.
       A knock on the door, and we knew it was Kathy. It was time to go. It could be our last time at the foundry, the warmth kissing my skin as I walked through the courtyard. No. It wouldn’t be the last time. It couldn’t.

       I watched the sun as we walked. Not directly, my eyes would be important if we were gonna win today. I saw it crawl through the sky until it hit just about the center. As we crested the snowbank we were on, we could see the icefield and 10 blue jerseys, floating effortlessly across the ice. As we got closer, we could see that they had marked out everything to make this seem like a real rink. We never got to the Olympics, but this felt bigger… more important. The rink didn’t match the feeling though. I remembered reading the first outdoor hockey rink was made by some university students at McGill back in 1875, but this rink, 150 years later, was still depressing to look at.
       “This is the team you’ve brought?” Janelle’s words jab at Kathy, but she stands strong, confident.
       “Thank you for accepting our challenge.” Kathy’s words sounded genuine, she never liked to be fake.
       “Are we doing this or what?” Janelle barked, her ego swelling. Her team standing strong behind her, jerseys emblazoned with the team name ‘Patriots’. As she turned to skate across to their side, her team followed as the names Dayton, Rousso, Franzel, and Rockstar glided away.
We follow suit. I skate towards center left, as I notice the nets, made impressively well with scavenged materials. Our red and white jerseys match our snow gear perfectly, and the red stands out against the snowy tundra. The stitching on our team name, the Carlton Canucks, gleams in the sun. I see the girls on the side of the rink, ready to swap out at any time. Sindy looks nervous, but I give her an excited nod and she brightens up a bit. She was always better on the bench, supporting us from the sidelines.
       Kathy reaches for the puck, picking it up and heading towards the center of our makeshift rink. She glances at Janelle, and then at Ika. Seconds later, the puck hits the ice. Game on.

       The game started at a blistering pace, I think it was the first time in a long time that I felt hot, like there was a fire inside my body again. Skating, passing, finding the puck, knocking it away from the blue jerseys and towards the red ones. Janelle’s girls had made a small wall of snow and ice around the entire rink to stop the puck from escaping. We were used to using like 12 pucks per game, which was pretty standard for any hockey game since they thaw so quickly, but we didn’t have that issue in this cold, we only needed one.
       Janelle and her girls were aggressive, constantly forcing us on our heels, playing more defence than we had expected. I could see Cass and Paras tiring out, their faces red from exertion. Just as I turn to find the puck again, I see it sail past my stick, towards the net, right to Victoria. But then I saw the look in her eyes as her hand raised up towards the puck, missing it by a hair’s width. Kathy blew her whistle and that was is… a third of the game finished and we were losing.

       When the second period started, Janelle and Da’Vonne led a charge against us, almost immediately scoring a second goal. The puck had barely touched the ice, but our home was slipping further out of our grasp. Something had to change, and with a couple of glances, Ika and Austin were ready to push with me. We started fast at the blue jerseys ahead of us and for the first time, got the puck onto their side. Their confidence must’ve grown after those goals, taking their guard down enough for us to get on their side and get a shot on the net. As the puck flew at the net, I saw the stick of their goalie, Negrotti written across her back, just barely pat the puck, setting it on a whole new course. It was never going in… at least not until she tapped it. Two, them; one, us. We could get this back.
       Riding the high of our first goal we continue the barrage, keeping Janelle and her team, on their feet. After no time we had scored a second goal, tying the game just as Kathy blew her whistle to push the game into its final stage.

       It happened so quick I barely had time to process what I just saw. As soon as the puck hit the ice, Vanessa, the center to Janelle’s right, charged at Austin, checking her with the full force of her body. Austin hit the ground hard, her nose cracking quietly against the ice. Jillian and Julie rushed over to pick up Austin, as a small river of blood flowed from her nose. They laid Austin down on the side and she sat up, attempting to stand and get back on the ice but the girls stopped her. Janelle glared at Ika, I could see that Ika was ready to pounce.
       “Ika, don’t.” I say, as she moves backwards as little as possible to notice a difference.
       Janelle continues to glare at her, “What? You’ve got more girls over there…”
       “What’s to stop us from laying you all out right now?”
       “Your home.”
       Ika stared with rage.
       “You’ve got more girls, so bring one out. Bring the short one.” Janelle points at Sindy and I see her face freeze. She doesn’t waste any time shakily skating over to where Austin used to stand, the nerves taking hold of her.
       “You don’t have to do this.” I whisper over to her.
       “Yes I do.”

       It was a rough start to the third, but we somehow managed to fend off their attacks on our goal. It felt like a four on five for most of it.
       Kathy shouted out. Only two minutes left. I look over to Sindy, and she looked different… she looked… confident. It’s like she finally found her footing as she skated around Janelle and Da’Vonne, snatching the puck from Vanessa and knocking it to the opposite side of the rink.
       Kathy shouts again. One minute. Rockstar smashes the puck back towards our net, but Sindy sticks it down and passes it to Ika. Ika sends it towards me as I breakaway for their goal. As I’m about to shoot, I feel my skate hit something solid and I tumble forward as Franzel’s stick blocks my path and I tumble towards the ice.
       I watch as the puck drifts away from me. Knowing there’s only seconds left. Then she does it. Sindy glides effortlessly past me, past Franzel, controlling the puck like it was a part of her. She shoots, and that’s it. We won.

       Our girls crowd Sindy as celebrate. Still on guard I look over at Janelle and her team, but they’ve changed. They don’t look angry, or hostile. They don’t look dangerous. They look defeated, sad, defenceless. It only takes a moment to realize that they were fighting for just as much as we were. We’ve only survived because we found the foundry and have been staying warm. I don’t know how they’ve managed to survive in that camp they had.
I skate over to Kathy and don’t know what came over me, but I plead a case for Janelle and her girls. We could bring them back with us, all they wanted was to live as comfortably as possible at the end of the world.
       As one of the girls, Rockstar, skated over with a raggedy bandage for Austin, apologetic for the incident, I saw it all click for Kathy. She beckoned over to Janelle, who hesitantly came forward.
       “You really hurt one of my girls.” Said Kathy sternly.
       “We were fighting for our lives; we were going to do whatever we needed to.” Janelle’s response, aggressive in nature, came out almost timid.
       “Come back with us.”
       “What?” Janelle, for the first time, looked shocked.
       “Come back with us. It’s warm. We don’t have a ton of room, but we make it work.” Kathy seemed to have struck a nerve,
       The girls from both teams, all scattered around now, all waited in anticipation for Janelle. All that came were two words… “Let’s go.” After exchanging smiles, they all headed towards the foundry, the sun setting on the icefield behind them.

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