There it was again, the buzzing. Maybe going out for a drink hadn’t been
such a good idea after all.
- Sorry bro, but I think I’ll have to call it a night.
- Already sis? I thought you had guts for at least three more of those,
my brother said and nodded towards my half-empty glass.
- Normally I would have Lance, but I feel a headache coming. And you of
all people should know what a bitch I can be if it hits me, I said to my
younger brother with a cruel grin.
Lance made a face. Yeah, he knew what I could be like. He had way too
often for his sanity’s sake been the sorry part to trigger it.
- Try get home safe then sis, he said and knocked back the rest of the
nasty looking liquid from his glass. I’ll have a few more of these before I
turn in.
- Right, sleep tight then.
A few my ass. I’d better leave my phone on tonight since he sooner or
later would call me and whine himself to a sorry ride home.
Walking home alone wasn’t an option at 3 a.m. on a Friday night in the
city that never sleeps. A cab ride home would be heaven. A heaven that’d cost a
fortune, but what the hell it would be worth it. Of course getting a cab was
a whole different story. I’ve never believed in short skirts, revealing tops or
high heels, so most men (and cab drivers) preferred to treat me as important as
thin air.
After the fifth cab drove past me without noticing me (I could swear by
God if I’d believed in him that one actually accelerated when he drove past me) I decided to hope that there would still be a
train to take me home and started walking towards the closest subway station.
When I got there I saw that there actually was one more train going my way.
As I walked down the steps I felt the buzzing again. Much,
no, a lot harder and louder this time. I barely made it down the stairs before
I felt the hard, cold asphalt against my knees and arms. Hell no this was
headache. Someone must have put something in my drink when I wasn’t looking.
Shit if it would knock me out, that would make me a sitting duck just waiting
for a shot in the head. I couldn’t let that happen, so I put myself together.
I
felt alright when I bought the ticket, but when I got out of sight of the booth
it hit me again. This time it felt like a pulse went through me and it hit me
again and again and again. This time it wasn’t just buzzing, it was voices,
thousands of them. I felt a pain hit against my head, but soon realized it was
just my head hitting against the floor tiles. I could see small pieces of text
floating in front of my eyes and the voices shouted clearly now.
They
are everywhere. They kill and feed on
you without you knowing. They hide in plain sight everywhere. You will see and
save. You have no choice, you will save. Find her. Save her. Help her. If you
don’t she will be just another meal for them.
Well
one thing was sure. This was no headache, but it didn’t feel like any kind of
drug either. What the hell was going on? The voices shut up and I no longer
felt the pulses. I somehow got myself standing again only to be almost pushed
out on the rails by a little girl running across the platform.
-
What do you think you’re doing kid! I yelled after her.
She stopped, turned around and I could see the terror in her face.
-
Hey it’s okay. You just shouldn’t be running around in a place like this, I
said calmly. No need to be scared.
She
was just about to answer, but something kept her from talking. I again see the
panic rising and her body tensing up, preparing to run for it. I turned around
to see what had scared her that badly. Now I understood the girl perfectly and
didn’t hesitate to give into the same primitive instinct to run. As I set of I
picked the girl up and threw her over my shoulder. Hell no I was going to leave
her behind.
The
platform was long, but not long enough. Our escape was cut short by a tile wall
covered in various forms of words and pictures. I could have jumped out on the
rails, but if there was a train coming… I couldn’t take that kind of a risk. I
turned around to see if our followers were still after us. Who am I kidding? Of
course they were. You could smell those, those things from miles away!
Hopelessly I put the girl down. She had started to sob, but it seems
like fear had struck her so hard that she couldn’t move an inch. There was
nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Bloody hell we were doomed to die here. I
knelt beside the girl and tried to comfort her. It was a half-hearted attempt,
but I had to do something.
I
heard how the things that should have been dead for a long time started to get
closer and closer. Then the pulse hit me
again, not as bad this time though.
Save
her, or she will be just another meal for them.
I hate to admit it, but the voices were
right. I was the only one who could save her now, but how? I looked around and
noticed a fire extinguisher on the wall. That probably wouldn’t kill them, but
it was likely to be a bit more effective than the pocket-knife I carried around
just in case.
-
Look, we don’t have much time, I said to the girl much more calmly than I
actually felt. Hide as well as you can and I’ll see what I can do about those
freaks, okay?
The
girl nodded and hid in some shadows. I myself took a deep breath, picked up the
extinguisher and waited. I didn’t have to wait for long.
When the first half-rotten thing walked around the corner it got a nasty
surprise, a metallic upper cut right to its chin. I heard something crunch when
I hit and saw how the thing jolted back from the impact. That however didn’t
seem to be enough, since it immediately rose up again.
-
You have to be shitting me, I muttered to myself in surprise. That should’ve
knocked out a bull.
But it didn’t knock out this thing or the next
one either. Now I was seriously screwed. There was something even freakier than
the rotten flesh hanging from the creatures’ limbs and that was none ever
actually looked at me. They all focused on the whimpering shadow behind me. Over
my dead body they would get to her. Over. My. Dead. Body.
As
by a miracle I heard a train approaching. This was our chance, if we didn’t
make it we’d be killed. Please let it stop here. Oh God please let it stop! And
it did. I had never felt this relieved in my whole life (and that’s a lot from
a woman who spent a couple of years of her life dodging bombs, landmines and
bullets).
-
Run into the train! I shouted to the girl.
I
didn’t have to tell her twice. She jumped to her feet and ran for her life. The
things turned their attention after the girl and started moving towards her. I
hurled the extinguisher at the first one and managed to knock down a few with
it, but that wouldn’t keep them at bay for long. Damn it! Why can’t they just
leave the girl alone? For fucks sake, I had made more damage to them in a few
minutes than the girl could in a lifetime!
-
Can’t you just leave her alone? I roared at the monsters. Pick at someone your
own size for change!
They didn’t even flinch. Obviously I couldn’t do much about the things,
so I ran into the carriage after the girl. The doors shut after me and the
train started to move painfully slow. I silently hoped that it would move fast
enough for us to escape. A few of the monsters tried to make their way into the
carriage, but failed with dramatic results. The nightmare was finally over. I
sat down and took a deep breath. A little bit of sleep would make miracles now.
I felt a presence next to me. It was the girl who had sat down next to me, a
bit too close for my taste, but I guess that under the circumstances I could
let it slip.
-
You could see them too, she whispered. What they really were I mean.
-
Yeah, I could. What were those things really? Was this some kind of sick joke?
The girl shook her head. She neither knew what those things were, but
she knew what they had been.
-
They were friends to mama and papa, she said. But they didn’t look like that
then.
I
was just about to ask more when we heard a loud thump from the ceiling.
Something had landed on the roof and I was praying that it was just some trash
from the tunnel. To my dismay the thumps started to get louder and the roof
started to sag. This was no ordinary piece of junk, this one had a target.
Me
and the girl had no option but to just sit and see how the roof started to give
in, inch by inch. Soon it would break through and we would be done for. Really
done for this time. After that I would go to hell and the girl to heaven. What
a bloody happy ending. Why the hell did this have to happen to me? Why did this
have to happen to the girl? I had never felt this defenseless in my whole life
and I didn’t like it.
-
Can’t you just go back to the hell hole you came from! I shouted at the thing
on the roof.
I
felt how something happened and soon after that we heard a loud clang and a few
thumps going down the train. It fell off?
We
reached the next station peacefully. It was completely empty, if you didn’t count
for a few passed out drunkards. No monsters. No sound of them. No smell of
them. Did we make it? Were we safe? Were they really gone?
We
didn’t have time to stay and think of that. We rushed out from the station and
out into the cool night air towards my apartment. Nothing followed us. We had
actually managed to shake them of our tails. I let the girl follow me home and
offered her a ride home. She gladly accepted it.
We
spent the whole ride without a word, but when the girl disappeared through the
doors to her house my phone rang. It freaked me, but I quickly got a hold of
myself and answered it.
-
Yo, Rika, my brother’s soggy voice yelled in my ear. You kno’ you would be such
a fuckin angel if you came and picked me up from this shit hole. Some bitch
took my money and - hick - well ya know, walking home ‘ould be a nightmare.
-
You have no idea, I sighed back. I’ll come and pick you up in a minute.
-
Thanks a lot sis. You’re a real life saver, I heard my brother shout before I
hang up on him.
A
life saver. That was truer than he could ever imagine. He would never believe
me. No one would. Maybe I should keep this a secret from my brother, I thought
as I drove towards the local watering-hole. Well at least that nightmare was
over now. Now I just had to drive another, much more pissed one home.