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

In the last scene, Barry managed to break free of the vampire rabbit’s control and save a girl from its attack. They fled to the nearest T Station to get away.

Artwork copyright Revensis and Mikhail Matsonashvili, licensed through Dreamstine

What Lurks Between - Part Fourteen

The train door slid closed and we slumped down onto the plastic seats, drained. A few seconds later, the train began moving down the track in the direction of Alewife. Not that I intended for us to go that far. Downtown Crossing was just a few stops ahead; we could get off there with all sorts of options while I figured out what to do next.

As the train’s acceleration picked up, the girl shook herself as though rousing from a daydream. And perhaps she thought she was; all power to her if she found that comforting.

The look on her face said she did not.

“Alright, what the hell was that?” she asked, her voice still trembling.

I shook my head. “You wouldn’t believe me.”

“You said that before. Tell me.”

I looked at her for a moment. She was obviously shaken, afraid, but she was gathering herself quickly. More quickly than I had, the first time I met the bunny monster. In fact, she looked… I blinked. I had not really noticed before how good she looked. I mean, I had noticed, but not noticed. And really, she was a looker.

I suddenly became aware of how God-awful I probably looked, in clothes that had not been washed in who knows how long, to say nothing of how I probably smelled. I looked away, feeling the heat of an embarrassed blush creeping onto my cheeks.

I heard her sigh, in exasperation I thought. I was going to lose her in a second. So, I spilled it.

All of it.

From getting “transferred” to Ketcham Station, to winding up at my apartment, to the bunny dominating me for all this time. I told her all of it, and it was like a weight had been lifted. Just to tell someone else what the hell was going on felt good, comforting.

The fact that no one else was sitting anywhere near us did not hurt. She, at least, stood a chance of believing me, after what she had seen.

I finished and she responded with only silence.

I looked back at her and saw that she was chewing on her lip thoughtfully. She still did not say anything.

“Well?” I asked, when I could bear the silence no more.

“You were really on Ketcham Station? I heard there were no survivors.”

I blinked. I had never seen any news updates about the station’s status, but then I had been a bit distracted. I suppose I had just assumed they rescued everyone. To hear differently was…

Wait a minute.

“No survivors? None?”

She shook her head.

“Holy Cannoli,” I breathed. Now that was something I had not considered. Hell, for all I knew, they probably had me listed as deceased, since I had no idea if I checked in with anyone when I left the station or arrived planetside. Hell, I still did not know how I managed that at all.

If I was officially dead, that opened up whole realms of possibilities. For later.

The girl looked at me with a quizzical expression. “So you think this thing came back with you from the station.” It did not sound like a question, but the way her eyebrows rose as she said it spoke volumes about how much she doubted I was correct. Or telling the truth. Or something.

I nodded, spreading my hands helplessly.

“So what the hell is it? Cause it sure ain’t a bunny rabbit.”

I shook my head. “I really don’t know.” My thoughts flashed back to the dream from the previous night, and the things I remembered yesterday. “I… I think they were doing some kind of experiments up on the station. They had rabbits…and a device of some sort. I think whatever they were doing went wrong and…” I made a vague gesture toward the rear of the train. “Now it’s like it’s a vampire or something. At least that’s how it acts. All I know for certain is it’s going to have babies soon, and once that happens…” I left the rest unsaid.

The girl nodded slowly. “So what, it wanted to eat me next?”

I nodded. She was remarkably calm about that part.

“Why didn’t you let it?”

“What?”

“You let it eat the others. Why not me?”

“I… I didn’t let it! I…”

She just stared at me levelly until I dropped my eyes to the floor, all the guilt and shame I had felt the last several days welling up again. She was right, of course. I stopped it from getting her; I could have stopped it with any of them. Or figured a way to kill it. Something. Anything, besides being a passive vessel for that damned thing.

Everything that had happened was my fault

I felt tears - of shame, of guilt, of accumulated stress - welling up, but I refused to let myself cry. Instead, I sniffed and wiped them away, and forced myself to look back at her.

She had asked a legitimate question. But how to explain that she alone of the bunny monster’s chosen victims was not one of the dregs of society? That she was, well, pretty. Too pretty for me to allow her to come to that end. Just thinking it made me cringe at how shallow a reason it was.

Instead, I just shrugged. “I’d had enough of it.” That much was true, at least.

She nodded slightly. “Fair enough.” Her tone said she suspected there was something more, but thankfully she did not press.

“Well.” The next station was coming up; she stood and held out her hand to me. “Thank you, I suppose.”

Surprised, I took her hand. She gave mine a quick shake, then turned toward the train door.

“What are you doing?”

She looked back at me, confused. “I’m getting off this train and then I’m calling the cops.”

“Uh…miss, I don’t think…”

The train came to a stop and the door opened. The girl turned her back on me and stepped down the stairs and off the train.

Something small and white jumped off the top of the train and crashed onto her back, and she went down.

It had followed us.

*****

Previous Posts:

1. Part One
2. Part Two
3. Part Three
4. Part Four
5. Part Five
6. Part Six
7. Part Seven
8. Part Eight
9. Part Nine
10. Part Ten
11. Part Eleven
12. Part Twelve
13. Part Thirteen

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