What Lurks Between - A SciFi/Horror Novella - Part Fifteen

michaelkingswood (53)in #fiction • 7 years ago

Oh, it’s on now. The monster followed them onto the train, and it’s pissed.

Artwork copyright Revensis and Mikhail Matsonashvili, licensed through Dreamstine

What Lurks Between - Part Fifteen

I stood transfixed for a second. In shock. In disbelief. In horror. How? How had it followed us, staked out the very car we were riding in? Not that I should have been surprised at all; the thing was nothing if not relentless and effective when it set itself to a goal. That much had become abundantly clear in the time it kept me prisoner.

But…damn…

The sound of the girl’s scream broke me out of my reverie, and I bounded forward. The chimes that announced the doors would be closing sounded, and I threw myself out of the train. If I did not make it out of the train to help her, she was done. I knew that without question.

I felt the door tug at the sole of my shoe, and for a moment I wondered if my foot was caught and I was about to be dragged along beside the train car. But then the pressure on my shoe eased as my momentum carried me forward. I landed sprawling on the concrete of the station’s floor at the same time as I heard the solid thud of rubber striking rubber, signaling that the door had seated.

Then the train pulled away.

I pushed myself onto my feet and moved toward the girl. She was squirming and flailing about with her arms and legs, trying to dislodge the bunny monster, but it held fast. And was steadily making its way up her back to her neck.

I glanced around, hoping another commuter or two would be able to help, but the station was empty. How was that possible, at this hour of the day? But it was, and all the wishing in the world was not going to change that. It was, again, all up to me.

A good solid kick had dislodged the thing from my back. I charged froward, hoping the same would work here.

But the bunny monster was waiting.

Maybe it expected my move. Or maybe attacking the girl was just a ruse meant to make me show myself, so it could exact some revenge. For whatever reason, it was ready. When I drew back to kick, it launched itself toward me. As it flew toward my face, I could clearly see its eyes, bright red to reflect its anger and blood lust, the pupils narrowed to tiny slits as it put all its attention on me.

I was moving forward with too much momentum. I could not just stop, or hop backwards. In the split second before the bunny monster struck me, I considered doing both and just as quickly dismissed them. In the end, I did the only thing that seemed reasonable: I raised my forearms in front of my face and dropped to the ground, fully expecting to feel the bunny monster’s claws digging into my arms, followed by its fangs on my throat.

But that did not happen.

Somehow, my dive made it miss.

Unbelieving, I rolled onto my back and sat up. Beside me, the girl had done the same, but unlike me she did not stop there, but was beginning to stagger to her feet.

The bunny monster lay at the base of a concrete pillar a few meters away. For a second, I thought perhaps it had sailed into the pillar and crushed its head. No such luck. It turned to face us - to face me - and stared for what felt like forever. Then it growled. No, roared.

“Oh my God,” the girl breathed, scampering to her feet.

I was forced to agree. I wracked my brain, trying to think of something, anything I could do. But how do you kill a vampire?

“What?”

I had not realized I had spoken the thought out loud. I gestured toward the bunny monster. I had begun to advance, slowly for now as though savoring the moment of our fear. “How do you kill a vampire?”

I began backing away from the thing, toward the stairs leading up to the street level. The girl did the same, never taking her eyes off the bunny monster. “I don’t know…holy water? Garlic?”

I was about to tell her that was not going to work, and we did not have those things anyway, but the bunny monster picked that moment to charge.

Predictably, it went for the girl first. Was it trying to piss me off, or did it really think I had so little thought in my head that it assumed I would act stupidly again just because she was in danger? More than likely the later. And, in its defense, I did do something stupid because she was in danger.

I leapt in front of her, shielding her with my own body.

*****

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