Lions

She could barely hear them, and her eyes were far too heavy to open, so she tuned in to the sound of their voices, fighting the overwhelming urge to let go, to slip away. Two men? Yes, she could make out two above the…other noise, which for the moment, was not a priority to her failing senses.

“Her…can…it.”

She could only make out every few words as she gripped on with all her strength to the here and now.

“Cage?”

“Yes, the…long…”

“Dead any….”

“No-one left. We need to…”

A shuffle of feet and the sliding of a…was it a door? She could not tell but the sense of being alone now was somehow solid.

Ally groaned and tried to open her eyes but all it did was to drain her of any last shred of energy. She drifted off to a tired confusion laced with fear.

-

Ally woke with a gasp and a thumping headache. Gingerly, she raised herself up as her vision slowly brought the surroundings into focus. Her hand went instinctively to her forehead as she winced, her eyes taking in the light coming through the…

…train windows? She was on a train?

Still groggy, Ally looked left and right, puzzled, and afraid.

I’m on a train? I don’t remember, how…

Structured thought was impossible for the moment, so she sat and waited while her mind settled, as the fear rose on the inside. A drop of blood landed on her jacket, causing her to gasp. She touched her forehead in a couple of places and realised she was bleeding.

I’ve been hit on the head.

Her mind had now settled enough to piece together, in a moment of time, a very possible scenario which although plausible, based on the evidence, was concurrently without any valid reason.

Someone struck me on the head. Then they left me on a train…

She looked around and apart from the noise of the train running, found silence.

…alone.

Ally felt for her pockets and realised her purse was still securely tucked away in the bigger one.

They left my purse and…got off the train? So, they weren’t thieves then. So…

Her thoughts were interrupted by another drop of blood.

The toilet. Need to clean myself up, then make some sense of…of all this.

Ally got to her feet alright, but her gait was a little uneasy as she walked toward the door which had the bathroom symbol next to it. After a few steps she became acutely aware of something else; the need to throw up. As best she could, she quickened her pace and, opening the door to the connecting part of the carriage, she opened one of the cubicles, fell in more than stepped into it, and vomited into the basin. A few drops of blood also fell into the sink, and she turned on the water which helped the associated mess down the drain.

After leaning her head over the basin for what seemed like an age, Ally lifted her eyes and peered at the gash on her forehead.

Not so bad.

There was a medicine cabinet, of sorts, nearby so she opened it and found some antiseptic wipes, band aids and cotton balls. She also dried her mouth and chin with a paper towel, flushing it down the toilet with shaking hands.

Two deep breaths brought an unexpected calm and Ally looked back to the mirror.

“What is going on?”

The sound of her own voice was strangely comfortable, but the feeling was short-lived as thoughts of being alone flooded into her mind.

This makes no sense.

She opened the cubicle door and stepped out, looking left and right.

Nobody.

For no purposeful reason, Ally went in the opposite direction from where she had been and wondered why on earth a train, a moving one, had no other passengers, that is, if it did not. A sense of foreboding was lodged somewhere in a recess of her mind that, for the present moment, was being subdued by the overriding need to work out why she was here and – no one else was.

Surely there must be someone else here, she thought. Surely there must be…

The thought was interrupted by another and this one was truly terrifying.

Who was driving the train?

Again, she turned to look out one of the windows. The train seemed to be going too fast, but then, Ally was no expert on rail travel. Still, the scenery flew by so quickly that it would be impossible to enjoy the view, even if she could. She furrowed her brow, and a determined look came over her.

“Ok, who is driving this sucker?”

She went from carriage to carriage until she came to a door that had a dark, black window. She knocked on the door. Nothing. She banged on the door. Nothing.

“Hey!” she yelled at the top of her voice. “Help! Hello?”

Eventually she stopped banging on the door because the recessed foreboding sense that she had, up until now, managed to subdue, was now screaming that she was in a great deal of trouble.

I must get in there.

Assuming the door was locked and only able to be opened from the inside, Ally looked around the immediate area for something that may give her a chance of breaking in. Then, she chuckled, almost.

Why would they leave something around to help someone break into the driver’s compartment?

The absurdity of the idea caused her shoulders to drop and as she was about to turn around another silly idea came to mind. It worked.

In keeping with the strangeness of all this, the door to the driver’s area was not locked at all. This meant it had been left open intentionally or….by accident. Perhaps in haste? As she pushed it open, foreboding rose to a new level due to the fearful thought that the driver was not going to be there.

He was.

-

The holding pen was at a place some way off from where they should have been, but kids being kids, the three of them managed to evade the rest of the class, and the teacher, making their way to the interesting little block of buildings off in the distance.

“Come on, quick! Mrs Van Eisden will see us!”

All three girls looked back over their shoulders and made a dash for the intriguing building. Mostly out of breath, they opened the large metal door and stepped in. It took a moment to allow for their eyes to adjust to the low light, but when they did, an impressive, but scary, sight greeted them. There, in a small pen with a glass front, were two large male lions.

“Whoa!” Cassie Jones’ eyes were wide, and her heart rate increased to match them. She took Ally’s hand as Beth moved closer toward the glass.

“Come on guys, let’s get a better look!”

Cassie and Ally looked at each other and stepped forward, very slowly.

The lions both turned their heads to look at the girls, pacing back and forward as they did.

Bam!

Beth banged her hands on the glass as the lions grew more and more restless.

“Beth!” exclaimed Cassie. “Don’t! You’ll make them mad!”

Beth shrugged her shoulders. “I know, silly! I want to make them mad! There’s glass, they can’t get us!”

Bam! Bam!

“Scaredy cat, scaredy cat!” Beth’s taunting of the big cats was beginning to get the desired result. Their eyes were starting to get intense, and their pace quickened as they eyed off the girls, the movement of their mouths giving a glimpse of their huge teeth as a rumble emanated from each of them.

Ally’s imagination had reached a level that was no longer making this idea a good one after all. In fact, she now wished they had stayed with the rest of the class.

“I’m…I’m scared. I think I’ll…I’ll go back to the class now.”

The worried look on her face was passed on to Cassie, but Beth looked upset.

“You two are wimps! They’re behind glass, they can’t hurt us!”

“But what if they get out?”

“Ally, you are so dumb. How can they?”

Deep down, Ally knew Beth was right, but fear made logic pack its bags.

“I’m getting out of here. They look really mad! If they got out….”

Beth raised her eyebrows and rolled her eyes, then she said to Cassie,

“Are you going back with the wimp or are you gonna stick with me?”

Cassie looked at the lions who were now incredibly agitated. Their faces said, “Just let us out and we’ll teach you a lesson.” She looked at Ally and then back at Beth, who was getting impatient waiting for an answer.

“I’m…ah…going back with Ally.”

Beth rolled her eyes again and said, “Huh! Two wimps!”

Cassie and Ally left the holding pen, leaving Beth to keep up the taunting.

They faintly heard Beth yell, “Should have fed both of you to the lions!”

As they made their way back to class, Ally looked back at the building. The fear did not leave, and she could almost feel the lions had broken out. After they had dealt with Beth, they would come after her and Cass. She and Cassie picked up the pace, joining the rest of the class. As her heart started to calm down, Ally closed her eyes and remembered theirs. Watching. Studying.

They looked hungry.

-

The train roared on down the tracks, not showing signs of slowing down, as Ally stepped into the driver’s compartment. There in front of her, slouched back in his chair, was the driver, or more specifically, what was left of him. There was blood everywhere. Ally stumbled backwards in great fear. She turned and got out of the compartment, shutting the door to the carnage within.

I must get out of here! I must get off this train! Now!

How, was the problem. She looked out of the window and noticed the light was dimming outside. She also noted how fast the train was now going and wondered how she would survive jumping from it, working out at the same time that she simply would not, unless it slowed down.

Incline, she thought. When it goes up hill, maybe it will slow down enough for me to jump?

It was an idea. Of course, then there was the question of when and if that time would ever come. There was also another thought moving through her also, one that gripped her soul with ice cold hands and sent a shiver down her spine.

What had killed the driver? Was it still here?

Suddenly, Ally became hyper aware of her surroundings. Every creak, every other sound as the train careered along, was somehow amplified. Her own breathing seemed to fill her ears and every step she took felt like she was walking on nails. She stopped and stood. As far as she could, she peered off down the carriage and through the windows of the connecting doors. Each carriage angle changed a little as the train moved along the subtle bends in the tracks, left and right, up, and down. Ally saw nothing.

Phone!

Almost in disbelief that she had not already thought of it sooner, Ally followed the urge to go back to the original carriage to get her phone from the bag she had left on the seat next to her. She could call for help! The idea caused hope to rise like a life preserver upon a stormy sea and she quickened her pace. When she reached the carriage, she found her bag and plunged her hand into the side compartment, pulling out her phone.

Dead.

Of course, the battery was dead. She may have been unconscious for hours and now her lifeline was useless.

“Charger!” she said suddenly as the thought lit up in her mind. She could plug it in and then she would be fine!

She grabbed it from her bag and plugged it in to her phone. Then she examined the seat she had been sitting in and found the power point built into it.

Success.

The phone started charging immediately and she exhaled relief.

Now, I wait.

-

Darkness. The eyes narrowed and were all she could see in the pitch black. They stared intently at her, hungry, angry. The sound was almost like the rumble of an earthquake, and it made her bones shake. She stared at them, those eyes in the darkness. Move! She must move, run, escape, but no matter how hard she tried, the darkness would not allow it. So, she watched in fearful anticipation as the eyes moved toward her, slowly, relentlessly until the face became clearer as if luminated by moonlight. And those teeth, they were bared as the hungry beast moved to strike. Those eyes, those terrible eyes that gazed at her from the darkness, as she screamed.

Ally woke from the dream as if hit by a baseball bat. She panted for air and held her chest, fearing her heart would break out of it. Sweat dripped from her brow, and she was still shaking as the reality of her surroundings slowly caused the effect of the dream to subside.

She lifted her head and looked about. Still the same noises and the train was still moving fast.

Phone!

She picked it up and touched the screen. Yes! It lit up like a Christmas tree and so did her hopes. Dan, she would call Dan. No, no, wait. Police, she needed help. She would call the police. She dialled the number and…

…nothing. Frustrated she went to dial again, but then noticed that there was no signal. Her heart sank and so did she, into the seat as she dropped the phone back down onto it.

Why was she here? She did not even find a ticket, why was she on board a train? It was not as if she had lost her memory about anything else. She knew her name, where she worked and what she had for lunch yesterday. Then, this. It made no sense. Had someone knocked her on the head and planted her here and the details become lost because of the blow? Whichever angle she approached it from, no explanation presented itself. So, Ally sat, right there in the seat as the train sped on into the night.

-

When she awoke again, sunlight warmed her face. Ally sat up and peered out of the window. Was she seeing things? Was the train, slowing down? It must have hit a gradient and the countryside outside confirmed it as the trees became slightly clearer, though still speeding by somewhat.

This is my chance!

Ally grabbed her bag and stuffed her phone into it. It was time to jump. As she got out of the seat to make her way to the door, she realised something.

“I don’t know where I am.”

Her words rang in her ears, and they were right. She may be able to jump for it now, but to where? What if she was in the middle of nowhere? Her bag had half a bottle of orange juice left and a small bag of mixed nuts. There was some water in a flask, but if she was a million miles from nowhere, would that be enough? Hurriedly, she checked her phone. Still no signal. She stood, frozen between two options which were both likely to end badly. She could jump for it, thereby avoiding being victim to a train derailment – or – she could stick with the train and hope to survive a crash.

“Great.”

Ally dropped to her knees and looked up. From the time she was little, Ally Davies had never believed in God. Not really. Prayer was never part of her life, and she had no intentions of stepping foot inside a church or rushing out to buy a Bible any time soon. Here though, now, there seemed nowhere else to turn. So, even if reluctantly, Ally started to pray for help.

-

When she had finished, Ally heard a noise behind her. The growl made her heart stop. Slowly she turned her head.

Those eyes. She had seen them before.

The lion stood at the other end of the carriage. Thoughts of how it came to be here could not be dealt with now. Ally turned pale and slowly backed away as the great cat moved toward her, keeping its gaze fixed on hers all the time it did.

Step by step, it edged closer and step by step, Ally moved backwards, until she reached the door. Without turning her head, she felt for the button and pressed it. The door slid open and the sound of the train on the tracks filled the air. As the door started to close, the lion leaped at her, extending its claws, sharp as sabres, toward her throat. She fell backward as the lion’s paw slammed against the glass, the door closing not a second too soon.

Ally gazed through the window and the beast stared back at her, eyes ablaze with fury and mouth dripping with hunger. It roared and Ally felt the tremor in every inch of her being. She glanced over her shoulder to the scenery flying by outside and then to the emergency exit sign. It had to be now. She would jump now.

-

“Could you dedicate it to Christopher please?”

“is that your name?”

“Yes.”

“And how old are you, Christopher?”

“Twelve.”

“Twelve? Gosh. What do your parents think of you reading a scary story like this one?”

The kid shrugged his shoulders and answered with as much confidence as he could manufacture, “Oh, ah, they don’t mind.”

‘Fair enough. Let’s see…To Christopher, the bravest kid in the world. Best wishes, Ally Davies.”

Ally smiled and handed the book back to Christopher who took it, face beaming with joy. Just as he was about to skip off back to his waiting parents, he stopped, turned back, and asked,

“Did that really happen? I mean, a lion, on a train. Why would there be a lion on a train?”

Ally Davies leaned back in her chair, smiling knowingly at the boy. She laid her pen down on the table and took off her glasses, placing them next to the pile of books to her right. With hands folded in front of her, she leaned forward and replied,

“Ah, you see, Christopher, they are everywhere. Lions are everywhere.”