What Lurks Between - A SciFi Horror Novella - Part Ten

On to the next scene of Barry vs the Vampire Bunny!

:)

Enjoy!

Artwork copyright Revensis and Mikhail Matsonashvili, licensed through Dreamstine

What Lurks Between - Part Ten

I awoke a short while later, sitting upright with a start. My heart was pounding, and I was wet with sweat.

The dream must have been a doozy, but I could not remember any of it. That was odd; I normally remembered most of my dreams. Going back over them helped ease the drudgery of my work days, a lot of the time.

Wiping the sweat off my brow, I decided it was probably just as well that I did not remember. Any dream that left me in such a state was best cast aside as quickly as possible. Besides, whatever the waking world, and the bunny monster, had to throw at me would be so much worse…

I glanced aside and did a double-take. The bunny monster was still asleep.

That was odd. Ever since it first arrived, it had awakened before I did. Most times, until the last couple days as its pregnancy grew more pronounced, it had been awake when I fell asleep as well. Oh, I had caught it napping a time or two, but rarely. This…this was unheard-of.

Moving carefully to avoid disturbing the bunny monster’s cushion, I boosted myself up from the couch. As I reached my feet, I was struck by the urge to flee. Just run out the door and get the hell out of there. Go to the nearest police station and tell them what happened, so they could come in force and take the bunny monster down.

No sooner had I thought it than I recognized how stupid that thought was. The police would not believe me. Best case, they would ship me off to the funny farm. Worst case, they would lock me up and charge me with all those homeless people’s deaths. Or both. By the time they realized I was telling the truth, the bunny monster would have given birth, and so, maybe, would have its offspring.

And then it would be too late.

No, there was no shoving the bunny monster problem off on someone else. I had to deal with it. And quickly.

But first, I needed to brush my teeth. They felt like they had a year’s worth of accumulated gunk on them, but it had only been a week or so since I last managed the time to take care of that little chore, and I had a horrible metallic taste in my mouth.

I trudged over to the bathroom, scratching at an itch on my forearm, and tried hard not to notice how I smelled. I was sure I probably put those homeless people to shame.

I looked even worse.

The person brushing his teeth in the mirror was almost unrecognizable. Unkempt brown hair that was…going grey? When did that happen?…at the temples, a scraggly beard that also bore its share of silver, sunken eyes with dark half-circles below them. A stained green t-shirt with some obnoxious logo or other on the breast. All in all, I looked like hell boiled over.

I could not imagine why.

I swished and spit, and found myself transfixed by the sight of the water from the faucet as it took hold of the foamy residue from my mouth and swirled it down the drain.

I blinked, then spat again and watched it flow away. There was something about it…

An image flashed through my mind, like a single frame inserted into a movie, and I almost fell over. I had to grab the sides of the sink to keep my feet.

What the hell was that?

It came again, and I found myself sagging forward. My forehead touched the mirror, and I remembered.

I saw.

I was back on Ketcham Station, repairing some fried wiring in the rear of a backup lighting switchboard. They had experienced a minor malfunction that managed to knock out their primary lighting a couple days earlier. The backups had engaged automatically, of course. But several of the backup lighting strings failed, hence their urgent need for an electrician, once the initial malfunction was resolved.

The wiring in that particular switchboard was mostly intact, so I quickly finished, closed up the switchboard panel, and moved on. Or tried to move on.

The switchboard was directly opposite one of the station’s research labs. What exactly they were doing was beyond me, and well above my pay grade, so I made sure not to pay too much attention. Easier to avoid trouble that way.

But something in the lab caught my eye, and I found myself stepping toward the large plexiglass window that separated the lab from the corridor where I was working. I glanced around, but none of the white lab coat wearing people noticed me. Their attention was fixed on some device toward the rear of the lab. I could not see what it was, but clearly it was important.

From another room, off to the left, a burly scientist entered the lab, carrying two wire mesh cages, one in each hand. Each cage held a cute white rabbit.

The bunnies seemed relaxed and content, even when the guy dropped their cages - quite abruptly - onto a countertop near the center of the room. Only when a couple of other researchers opened the cages, reached in, and yanked them out by the scruffs of their necks did the bunnies react, kicking and squirming in their captors’ grips.

The researchers turned their backs to the window - to me - and carried the bunnies further back, toward the device I could not fully see, and I got a hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach. What were they doing to those little rabbits?

“What are you doing?”

The gruff female voice made me jump in surprise. I turned to see Dr. Liu, one of the more senior researchers on the station, glaring at me. She was in a white lab coat, like all the others, though her security badge had several more stripes of color than almost everyone else’s did; she could go pretty much anywhere in the station she wanted. Her hair, still mostly black despite the fact that she was certainly in her mid fifties at least, was pulled back into a neat bun. All in all, she was not bad to look at…except for that glare.

I said something inane about just finishing up what I was doing and she grunted.

“Don’t linger…” her eyes lowered and narrowed as she focused on my security badge, and my name, “…Barry. This is a security area. I’m sure there is more work for you elsewhere, yes?”

I nodded and, gathering up my tool kit, hurried away.

*****

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

If you like what you've read so far please go to where it's sold and leave a good review on it, and then buy a copy (I am a professional and like to be paid).

Visit My Website - http://michaelkingswood.com
Say Hi on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/michael.kingswood
Or on Twitter - http://twitter.com/michaelkingswd

Sign up for my newsletter to receive notifications of new releases (guaranteed spam-free) - http://www.michaelkingswood.com/newsletter-signup/

Support Me On Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/michaelkingswood

Finally, here are my various wallets if you just want to give me a tip.

BTC - 1JbEz6gXM2jQSqMNkECfnA18XN31Q2t8h2
ETH - 0xcbf16a75f0de8d089011de5ca4d3e08e5527684e
LTC - LZzcqyw8h5TQ5JPyuSs3kZc9aRC7ojz51v
DSH - Xdf1jpwR5nj95MEMvAye7f4T9RPehwS3Ww
ZEC - t1f4SsfdpeC43mSYfrLSfEamoFqK4odW2KQ