Dinner Train

What I can hear: The Squeak, squeak, squeak of rattling metal against metal.

What I can feel: The rumble of movement. The distinct feel of a vehicle moving.

What I can smell: Rotten flesh

What I can see: Pitch black, emptiness.

As I become aware of these things I break out in a cold sweat.

I try to move but I can’t. My hands and feet are enclosed in metal that seems to be attached to the wall or ground. The air reeks of rot and disease. The groans of others filter in through the tidal wave of information. I am not alone in this prison.

I try to swallow as my breath quickens. I can feel vomit rising, my mouth going dry as my heart pounds against my chest. I thrash against my restraints, my brain racing for answers but not reaching any.

“Hey, You need to calm down.” The voice was close and quiet, no more than a whisper but it was an anchor in this void.

“Hello? Who’s there? Where are we? What's going on?” The questions come out of me in a rush with barely a breath to separate them. A small chuckle comes from the other side of the room.

“It's ok” The small voice reached me, slightly louder now. “Well, not really. But you need to breathe. Panicking will not help anything.” Focusing on her words, I try to fill my lungs and nearly gag. “Ya, sorry about that. I guess I should have warned you but you’ll get used to it. I can’t answer all of your questions… most of us can’t remember how we got here or who we are, But here is what I know: We're on a train. And before you ask, I don’t know where we are going. There are about ten of us in here, and as well as I can tell we have been in this car for about three days.”

The information settles between us as I try and fail to make sense of it.

“Why -” The question I was forming is cut off by a loud scraping noise and a door sliding open. Some light filters in and I realize that there is a thin band of fabric covering my eyes obscuring some of my view. Through the veil of cloth, I try to take in my surroundings. The light doesn’t offer much but I take in the other figures on the floor around me. I glance beside me towards the woman I have been speaking with but can’t make out much beyond the fact that she is skinny. She was right though, there seemed to be about ten of us in this small room. A figure blocks out the thin light, and my blood runs cold. It filled the entire height of the doorway while still being forced to hunch slightly to fit. The long thin fingers that stretch from its hands catch my attention as it reaches in and its arm stretches across the small room without the figure needing to leave the doorframe.

I can’t breathe, the arm reached me and I feel one of the fingers brush against my leg, it continues up and taps my shoulder then up again to brush my long hair from my face. With a flick of its boney wrist, heat pours from my cheek, the coppery smell hits me before the shock lets the pain through. I whimper a cry, instinct telling me that making any noise would cause this predator to do worse than cut my cheek. The fingers, I belatedly notice, ended in long sharp nails. The blood now dripping from my face was the only proof I needed.

Withdrawing from me the arm scraped over another form, then lifted it from the floor. The creature retreated taking the other captive with it.

Once the door scraped closed and we were returned to total darkness, I released the breath I didn’t realize I had been holding.

“What the hell - “

“Shhh.” The woman next to me hissed. I noticed the footsteps. Scrap - Thud - Scrap - Thud. Then the scream.

“It should be far enough away now.” The blood from my face dripped, landing on my chest. Tears burned my eyes. “It comes from time to time, that is the eighth time it has come here.” I had no words, the questions from before died in the face of this reality. “ I think - I think we're like cattle to it.”

“Oh, you think?” A new voice, from the direction of the chuckle earlier joined the conversation. “Come now, since we're being so chatty you might as well tell her the rest. That thing comes every so often to take someone to be slaughtered. I can see it from my side. It bites right at the neck. It's only a matter of time before it has devoured every one of us. Because this train has not stopped and I doubt it will any time soon”

****

The creature has come back four times. The only time there is light is when it comes, and they sprayed water on us once. The pipes in the ceiling gurgled as our only warning before the rainfall of ice-cold water. The remaining five of us tilted our heads back with our mouths open, trying to get as much as we could before it shut off again. The woman next to me remembered her name: Sora. And the man who had spoken - Hunter - was still here, although he hasn’t spoken again since. I understood. I could feel my hope draining with every person it took. Sora and I spoke occasionally but mostly we sat in silence. The quiet allowed us to hear when the creature was approaching.

Scratch - Thud - Scratch - Thud. The loud scraping door, the stream of light, the shadow in the door frame. It watched us for a moment. The arm reached in, it hovered over us in turn, then stopped over Sora. Panic shot through me. Sora was no one to me, just a voice in the dark. But she was the closest thing to a friend that I had here. The creature’s hand closed around her, and her body shuddered.

“No!” I thrashed, trying to reach out to her, to stop the creature from taking her. Her head snapped up in my direction. My hands and feet were still trapped on the ground and wall but it didn’t stop me. The creature froze, then shifted. Its long hand released Sora and reached for me. Tears streamed down my face.

BOOM

The train shuddered and rocked. The creature pulled back. Another explosion rang out and the creature’s shadow disappeared from the door frame. I waited for the light to vanish too.

“Are you crazy? That was insane! Sora shifted and I realized that she was no longer trapped in the wall. She moved in front of me and pulled the fabric from over my eyes. Her eyes searched mine. “It could have taken you!”

“It could have taken you!” She rocked back and her hands hid her face. She was still shaking. I looked over to Hunter, he was staring out the door.

The door was still open!

“Sora!” I tried to shift forward again, to grab her and shake her, to get her to look! “Sora! Look, the door!” She looked at me, her glazed eyes taking me in and then shifting to the door. They widened. She turned back to me and looked at my shackled hands and feet.

“It's open, we can leave.” She said it flatly.

“You gotta get me out of these shackles! We have to help the others this is our only chance!” I was yelling, I didn’t care.

She stood and glanced at the others. Glanced at Hunter who was still staring out the door.

“I don’t know how..” She spoke softly. She turned back to me. “I don’t know how to get them open. How to get you out. We don’t have much time. It could come back.” Her voice sounded broken and she hiccuped from her sobs.

I glanced at my hands, being able to see clearly for the first time. They looked like they were welded into the wall. Where Sora had been the cuffs were open, like they had a magnetic lock of some kind.

“There has to be a key, it got you out with one had so it had to have pulled or been magnetic in some way.”

She leaned forward to inspect my cuffs. Pulling on one then backing away again. Tears filled her eyes once again.

“I’m sorry. I can’t.” She backed further away. Towards the door.

“Sora?” She turned and walked to the door, peeking her head out.

“I’m sorry” Then she ran, disappearing through the door. I stared after her. Loud, shorter bangs echoed from the halls on the other side of the door. The lights flickered.

Hunter started laughing. It was a loud, bitter laugh with no humor in it.

“She totally just left you.” His voice was bitter. “Did you ever remember your name?”

His question took me off guard. His eyes never left the open door. The short bangs were getting closer. Why did he care what my name was? Shouts reached my ears, voices.

“Your name girlie?” Hunter had looked at me this time.

“ I- I can’t remember.” The conversation didn’t make sense, we should be figuring out a way to escape, why did he care about my name now?

“Really? Because the rest of us got our names back. And there are people here. Can’t you hear the gunshots? They’re calling for someone and I need to know if it is you that they are looking for.”

Gunshots. Yes, I can hear them. And they are getting closer. The shouts too, were they for me? “ My name….” I could feel it, I should know it. “ My name is..”

“KENNA!” A figure burst into the room, a human figure. It stopped just through the doorway. “Oh, this smell.” The man mumbled as he scanned the faces of the four remaining prisoners. His eyes landed on me. “Kenna?” Relief filled his face and he came to me. He held out a magnet and unlocked the cuffs that kept me pinned to the wall and then the ones at my feet, then met my eyes again. His own filling with tears.

“I’m sorry it took me so long. I swear I was fighting the whole time.” He pulled back and took my face in his hands, he pulled me in and kissed me. My mind raced. He pulled back and took my hand lifting me from the floor. He led me to the door. Another figure appeared.

“Kenna! My word, we finally found you!” The new man glanced at the room behind me. “I can’t tell who else is in here, what do we do about the rest?” The man who freed me still held onto my hand and glanced back into the room as well, then both men looked at me. I hesitated and the second man looked at the first. “We don’t have a lot of time.” The man holding my hand nodded. Then pulled me out of the room.

“We can’t just leave them to be devoured. We have the key, we might as well use it.” He held up a little magnet thing and then let go of my hand. “Stay here Kenna, we’ll get them and then go.” The two men disappeared into the room, going to Hunter first. I stepped back until my back hit the wall.

The hallway was bright and went in both directions. The left stretched about the length of the little room ending in a thick metal door. The right was double the distance, and also ended in a door but this one seemed thinner and had a small circular window in it. I stepped towards it, I could still hear the men shuffling through the room behind me but my curiosity was getting the better of me. I wanted to see through that window.

An echo of another scream bounced around the hallway as I reached the door. Leaning forward I peeked through the small window.

“Sora” her name came out as a breath. I stared through the window, the next hallway looked almost identical to this one, however, it had at least three doors on the wall. The other big difference was that the floor and walls were covered in blood and that Sora was sitting on the floor next to one of the doors. She had shoulder-length blond hair, that was sticky with red and plastered to her head…or what was left of it. She was missing large chunks of her body. Half of her face was missing. She was dead.

On the opposite end of the hallway, there was another door with a window like the one I was currently leaning against. I noticed it as the handle began to turn, I watched it as if in slow motion. The door clicked and crept open as the creature that tormented us came through. It went to Sora and grabbed her ankle, then dragged her limp body through the door that she was leaning near. The creature wasn’t gone long though, it returned to the hallway. It turned towards me and I got a hard look at it.

It was tall, slightly hunched to not hit the ceiling. Its thin skin looked to be the only thing clinging to its bones. Its long arms hung in front of it, and its hands and long sharp fingers brushed the floor as it moved. I gasped and moved from the window.

Running back to the dark doorway, the men had unlocked the others and were checking them. Bringing them back towards awareness and getting them on their feet. Hunter was helping. Pulling one of the others up to standing.

“We should move! That thing is close!” All eyes turned to me. The two men stepped forward, followed by Hunter.

The metal door behind me scraped open. I turned to see the creature sliding through the door. Its eyes were yellow and reflective in the light. Its mouth hung open, filled with razor teeth that dripped with blood. The blood ran down its face, down its thin pale body. Its head twitched as it stepped forward. Its eyes never left my own. It crouched, like a cat ready to pounce on the mouse it’s been toying with. My arm yanked sideways and I slammed into a hard chest the light around me dimming. A high pitch screech rang out as the creature slammed into the doorway. I knew the people behind us were crying or screaming but all I could hear was my pounding heart. We were trapped, still, in the same room where I have been stuck for as long as I can remember. Suddenly frustrated, I ripped away from the arm that was holding me, wanting to charge the damn thing but was stopped.

“Cover your ears!” I barely had time to react when the loud pops went off. The creature fell back from the door frame. “Move!”

The man from before grabbed my hand again and we ran from the room. Heading in the opposite direction from where I had wandered, we faced the heavy metal door. The second man slipped past us and lifted a device to the door. The device hissed and made strange knocking sounds. The door slid open, we ran through it. The footsteps from the others pounded loudly behind us, followed by the unholy screeching of the creature. The new hallway we faced was dark, lit only by flickering emergency lights. We poured into the new darkness without hesitation. Up ahead was another door, a scream came from behind us. Then another, I turned and the creature had caught up with us. It had two of the others. One, the creature was holding by the throat, its claws digging into his neck pinned against the wall. The other, pinned to the floor, the creature had sunken its filthy teeth into her shoulder and ripped at the flesh.

I was moving before I realized it. I slammed into the creature with all my force. Grabbing at its face and clawing at its eyes. My throat was raw from screaming, and the creature hissed as I dug at the yellow staring back at me. Claws sank into my back but I dug at the eye until it popped and black blood coated my hands.

“John get her out of there!” The pain had begun to register all around my back and sides. My vision blurred. The creature cried out and I slammed to the floor. Black holes in the creature's pale body drained more of the black blood and it fell back. I looked for the girl, my gaze landing on her cold eyes. Unblinking, unmoving, they were empty as they stared back at me. She seemed so familiar then like I had known her. The train rocked, and I rolled. The second man appeared above me. He was speaking but his words were fuzzy in my ears. I felt heavy, and I couldn’t move, and the world faded away.

****

Gasping I sat up. It was cold and dark, panic registered as I remembered the creature's claws sinking into my back, slashing at my sides.

“Easy Kenna!” The first man was by my side, his blurry face slowly coming into focus. “Lay back you're still hurt”

“What happened?” My voice was scratchy and my throat was sore. I met his gaze. He was so familiar to me like the girl had been. But I didn’t recognize them. “Who are you?”

His face fell. Confusion, concern, and hurt, all registered but he pushed them away. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. It makes sense that they would wipe your memories. Makes it harder for you to escape.” He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. “Lay back Kenna. Please, you need to rest. You nearly got yourself killed back there. I’ll tell you everything, just rest.” Reluctantly, I obeyed. Cringing at the sting of the wounds meeting the soft palette that I was laying on.

“What exactly do you remember, if anything, from before the train?” His voice was soft, defeated almost.

“Nothing.” All his muscles tightened and his jaw clenched.

“Right then. Well, I guess I should start by introducing myself. My name is Alec and I am your husband.” I could feel my eyes go wide, but it made sense. His familiarity, the way he had embraced and kissed me the first time I saw him. My mind raced for memories of him, but none came. Neither did any words, he seemed to understand so he kept going. “You were taken, along with several others from our clan by monster worshiping cultists who think that offering people as sacrifices to those damn creatures will bring themselves safety and peace. They had you for about three weeks, I am so sorry it took me so long. They were hard to track down, sneaky bastards. The train is where they live. They ride the thing back and forth since it runs on a continual loop in and out of the mountains. They live at the front of it in fortified cars, and they capture people to feed the creatures that live in the mountains. So every time they pass through the beasts will have something new to feed on. I guess they wipe the memory of the people they capture to make it easier for them to subdue you. We’ve never been able to get anyone back before.”

Tears burned my eyes. These people had taken so much from me and I couldn’t even mourn it. They had taken so much, from so many people. They needed to pay for it.

“Did everyone get out?” I couldn’t help but think of the others. The girl who was so familiar, I had tried to save her. But I failed.

“The remaining people who had been in your cell did yes, which I suppose doesn’t mean much. There were only two others, besides you, that were still alive after you tried to save Sarah.”

“Sarah?” His eyes searched mine a moment.

“She was one of the others taken at the same time as you. She was- She was your sister.” My sister? I had a sister. Frustration and rage grew, who else was there that I should have known? How many friends and family had I truly lost?

“The other who survived. Do I know them?” I held my breath.

“No, We believe they are from another clan. But like you, their memories are gone so it’ll be difficult to find where they came from. But their names are Hunter and Steve I believe. Steve’s injuries were not quite as bad as we originally thought so he should make a full recovery soon.” I nodded. That was good. At least we would be able to return them home someday, they were still alive. My fists clenched as I latched onto something Alec had just said.

“You said from our cell…were there other cells on that train?” He nodded.

“We lost a lot of good people trying to get you back. The others that went on the mission didn’t make it.” He kept talking but I was no longer listening. I trembled, not from fear though. I couldn’t stand that so many people had been lost, sacrificed by strangers. They had to be stopped, they had to pay, and I would see to it that they all burned.