21 June 2012
He readied himself. This was it. Now or never. He stared into the abyss and took deep breaths. He could do this.
Sonny climbed into the small hole without ever looking back. It had been carved into the station wall by ratmoles. Security hadn't found it quite yet, but Sonny had.
Ahead of him lay a tunnel, devoid of light. He switched on the flashlight equipped to his jacket and ran inside. It was safe, he knew it was. He had shined his flashlight through that hole multiple times, just to be sure. The tunnel was a short shaft, no more than twenty feet. He could easily see the open door at the other end. He just didn't know what was on the other side.
Slowing to a halt just at the end of the tunnel, he peered around the door. Sonny breathed a sigh of relief. It was a normal subway tunnel, its train tracks lit up by the spinning, red emergency lights. This would lead him to the train.
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Sonny had been walking for hours. So far, it had been a boring journey. Nothing out of the ordinary. A lone boy and his tunnel. He felt hungry and his feet were beginning to ache. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.
He neared a bend in the tunnel and stopped. Something wasn't right. There was a noise ahead. He crept up to the turning and peeked past.
Ahead, something was moving. A dark shape, a silhouette.
The noise increased in intensity. Squelching and cracking. It gave the boy a sense of disgust. There was a hint of something in the air; a sickly, sweet smell, but what it was the boy could not tell.
Sonny, with his back to the wall, sidestepped closer to the shape.
He stopped, frozen in place. Fear shot through him like lightning. The spinning, red emergency lights passed over the silhouette, revealing its form.
The shape was hunched over on all fours, head bowed. Now that he was closer, it was easier to pick up details. The silhouette had long, gangly arms that were tearing something stringy and shovelling it into its mouth. It had loose, damp hair hanging off its head in greasy clumps. Sonny could make out the shape of its spine protruding from its back, a line of bumps and dips.
The boy dared not move. This... Thing. It looked absolutely terrifying. Nothing like the other mutants. Sonny shook with fear, sweat glistening on his forehead.
The creature continued eating its meal in silence, either not noticing Sonny, or simply ignoring him. The noises were getting louder and louder, each crunch of bone causing him to cringe. He closed his eyes and tried to block out the noises.
It must have worked, for after a minute or two, he could no longer hear the disgusting sounds. A few more minutes passed and he still couldn't hear anything. Frowning, he opened his eyes and stared.
The creature was staring back.
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Campfire Tales -> The Hunt -> Interlude 1 -> The Haunted Train
Campfire Tales: The Haunted Train - Pt. 2 • Opuss № I