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

michaelkingswood (53)in #story • 7 years ago

The battle continues.

The monster attacked the girl again, and Barry again came to her defense, putting himself squarely in between it and her.

Oboy.

Artwork copyright Revensis and Mikhail Matsonashvili, licensed through Dreamstine

What Lurks Between - Part Sixteen

If I had taken a minute to think about it, there is no way I would have put myself in the bunny monster’s line of fire. A loud voice in the back of my head screamed, “What the hell are you doing?”, but it was far too late to pay any heed to the voice of reason. The thing was coming right at me now, and I only had time to react by instinct. I barely had time to get my hands up before the bunny monster struck me.

But somehow, that was enough.

I stood there, stunned, and looked at the diminutive beast that I had somehow caught in midair before it would have landed on my throat. I held it beneath its front legs, and could feel the bones of its ribs quite plainly beneath my fingers.

For a second, we just looked at each other. I think it was as surprised at my miraculous catch as I was, if the widening of its eyes was any indication.

Then the second passed and it opened its mouth wide, barring its fangs. It began squirming around in my grip, trying to break free. It was all I could do to keep my hands locked around it, but I managed. Then it began scratching at me. Its forelegs clamped onto the muscles of my forearms, and the claws dug in. Deep. Far deeper than it had scratched at me before, even the first time when it was asserting its dominance. No, these blows were intended not to subdue but to punish, and punish severely.

And boy did they do the trick.

Searing pain, beyond anything I had ever felt, ran up my arms, and I saw red. I heard myself crying out - hell, screaming - but was not conscious of actively doing so. The world compressed until it consisted only of the pain and the image of the bunny monster’s eyes, glowing as though lit by a red fire. That was all I could see.

Kneel.

The command crashed into my mind like a sledgehammer. I only thought the bunny monster had been forceful before. This… This was like nothing I had ever experienced or dreamt of. I was down on my knees in an instant; it was like the bunny monster had directly controlled my leg muscles to get me there.

The pain lessened slightly, enough that I could make out more than just the bunny monster’s eyes: its entire face came into focus, now just inches away from mine. How I managed to not lose my grip on it completely, I had no idea, but somewhere beneath the pain and the pressure on my mind I felt the soft fur of its coat.

Release me.

This order was less like a sledgehammer and more like a soothing caress. It contained promises of an end to pain, of comfort even. It was like an offer of lemonade on a humid summer day while lying in a hammock with a gentle breeze blowing past you. I wanted to give in, and not because of the pain of my newest wounds, but because of that promised bliss.

I knew it was a lie, but all the same I felt my fingers beginning to relax. It wouldn’t be so bad to just let go, let it all go.

No!

Somehow, I thought of all the people it had taken - had forced me to help it take. Of the vile babies growing in its belly. Of the havoc those babies would cause. And I became angry. Furious. That anger beat back against the pressure of its mental command, and I felt myself regaining control.

“No,” I growled, and I began squeezing, as hard as I could.

The bunny monster’s eyes grew wide, whether in surprise or anger I was not sure. But a moment later, as I felt its ribs beginning to give beneath the pressure of my hands, I knew the expression taking shape on its face was pain. And, I knew for certain, fear.

I felt more than a little satisfaction from that.

The beast began squirming madly. Its foreleg claws, already dug into my arm, began pulling downward toward my hands, and I saw deep ruts begin to open in my flesh. Its rear legs kicked up and I felt a new pain as those claws struck the undersides of my upper arms and held fast.

I was not going to win this contest. Either I would lose my grip from pain, or shock, or blood loss. But sooner or later I would let go, and then it would be all over.

Fortunately, I was not fighting alone.

From out of nowhere, or at least that was how it seemed to me, something crashed down onto the bunny monster’s head. I heard the hollow clank of metal striking bone and, all at once, the bunny monster went limp.

It also dropped out of my grasp, unprepared as I was for the sudden additional force.

I stumbled backwards, reeling and for a second unable to comprehend what had happened. Then finally my vision cleared and I saw the girl crouching over the bunny monster, a fire extinguisher held in both of her hands.

She brought the base of the extinguisher down on the beast’s head over and over again. There was a crack, then a squishing sound, and then its head broke open completely and grey matter splattered out all over the concrete floor. Only then did she stop. She pushed herself to her feet, dropping the extinguisher to the ground, and stumbled backwards until her back struck another pillar.

The only sound for a long several seconds was that of the extinguisher rolling away from where she had dropped it.

“Good Lord,” I breathed. I wanted to say something - several somethings - more colorful. The burning in my arms alone seemed to call for it. But for some reason, just then I felt like swearing would have been wrong, sacrilegious almost.

The girl just stared at the bunny monster for a few seconds more. Then she looked back at me. Her eyes were haunted, but that quickly changed when she saw me. Or more in particular, when she saw the vast amounts of blood leaking from my forearms.

“Oh God,” she cried, and hurried over to my side. “Are you alright? Put pressure on it.”

Like I didn’t know that. I somehow managed a half-smile. “I don’t know. Hope so.” I drew a deep breath and held it for a second, focusing only on that action. It seemed to help with the pain. A very little bit. “Thanks,” I added.

She nodded, but only briefly. She took my hands and raised them so she could examine the wounds in my forearms more closely. “You’re going to need stitches, quickly, or you’re going to be in trouble.” She turned her head side to side, scanning the station quickly. For what, I was not sure until she spoke again. “We need to put on a bandages. Can you get out of that coat?”

Despite the pain, I managed a resigned chuckle. My trench coat was totally destroyed. Between the scratches the bunny monster had put in the back and now the sleeves… The thing hung in tatters. All the same, it took some doing, and no small amount of assistance from her, to get it off.

She saw the t-shirt I was wearing and rolled her eyes, but said only, “That cotton will be a better dressing. Take that off, too.”

That was quite a bit more difficult and painful to do, but I managed. Once the t-shirt was off, she began tearing it into strips using a small pocket knife she pulled from seemingly out of nowhere. It took me far too long to realize she kept it - duh! - in her pocket. I was losing a lot of blood.

Very quickly, she had what she needed, and she began dressing my wounds. She was very precise and neat in how she tied off the dressings, as though she had a lot of practice doing this sort of thing.

I cleared my throat. “Do this a lot?”

She blinked, pausing what she was doing, then flushed slightly. “I studied nursing for a while,” she said. She went back to work. A few minutes later, my forearms looked like those of a mummy, but at least I was not dripping blood everywhere. “That should keep you until you can make it to a hospital.”

“Thanks,” I said, trying another smile. It was easier this time; the pain had reduced quite a lot, the way it tends to in the aftermath of wounds. A thought hit me. “You know, I never got your name.”

The girl stared at me for a second. She looked surprised, then she just shook her head and laughed. “Sheila,” she said, and we shook hands again. More gently this time.

“Barry.”

“Nice to meet you, Barry.”

“You too. I…”

I glanced past her shoulder toward where the bunny monster’s body lay, and my words caught in my throat.

It was gone.

“Oh crap,” Sheila breathed when she saw it. “Where the hell is it?”

I shook my head, unable to fully comprehend what I was seeing. How could it have gotten back up from that? It’s brains were splattered all over the floor. Hell, some of them were still splattered all over the floor. So what the hell?

“Barry, what do we do?” She sounded well past freaked out. So was I, for that matter.

I drew in a deep breath and picked up what was left of my trench coat. My t-shirt was gone, so it was wear that or walk around topless, and it was getting a bit chilly for that. “We get the hell out of here,” I said as I straightened.

Sheila nodded, her eyes darting back and forth in a fearful scan of the area.

She took my hand as we turned toward the stairs. Not from any romantic impulse, I was sure. But it still felt nice. I gave her hand a little squeeze and started up the stairs.

It was not until we reached the top that I realized how screwed we were.

*****

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