The Beast on the Tracks Read online

  ***

  “So, busy night?” I ask a few hours later, as Victoria and I walk across the forecourt and head out of the light, into the darkness of the road.

  “Same as usual,” she replies nonchalantly. “Long stretches of boredom, punctuated by the arrival of occasional freaks and weirdos. Present company not necessarily excepted.”

  “Hey,” I say, stopping in front of her and turning to block her way, “do you want to see something totally cool that I discovered today?”

  “I want to get home, is what I want to do.”

  “It'll only take a few minutes,” I continue. “You won't believe it, it's like nothing I've ever seen before. Honestly, it's in the cemetery and it's going to totally blow your mind.”

  “I have pepper spray.”

  “I'm sorry?”

  “If you try anything, I have pepper spray and I'm not afraid to use it.”

  “I just want to show you something amazing I found in the cemetery,” I explain, “that's all. I swear, I'm not the kind of guy who'd ever do anything weird.”

  “We're already way past weird,” she replies, before pausing as if she's thinking my proposition over. “You know what? You're cute, and I'm curious, and I'm absolutely certain I could snap your neck if you tried anything. So sure, why not? Show me what's so amazing in the cemetery.”

  “You won't be sorry,” I say excitedly, as I lead her across the road, heading toward the gate. “This is the coolest thing ever!”

  ***

  “Is this it?” she asks as we stand and look at the railroad that runs through the heart of the cemetery.

  “Isn't it amazing?” I say, as I take a deep breath. “I never would have ever believed that there could be a railroad that cuts through a cemetery, not in a million years. I mean, it's hard to even imagine the circumstances that could possibly have led up to this kind of thing existing. Cemeteries and railroads are just two totally different things, yet here they are, co-existing. It's even in use, too. Apparently actual trains occasionally come through here. Can you believe it?” I turn to her. “On a scale of nine to ten, how blown is your mind right now?”

  She stares at me, and she seems distinctly unimpressed.

  “Richard,” she says finally, “I've lived in Sobolton my whole life. Everyone here knows about the fucking railroad.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “This is the amazing thing you discovered?” she continues. “A railroad that everyone knows all about? Hell, there are even entries about the line on the internet. It's kind of a weird local landmark. Did you seriously think that people didn't know about it?”

  “Well, no,” I reply cautiously, as I feel the wind rather going out of my sails, “but it doesn't seem like many people come out here to take a look.”

  “That's because it's old news,” she says with an unnecessarily labored sigh. It's almost as if she's mocking me. “Dude, the Sobolton railroad is, like, the only thing this town even has going for it. There's nothing else of interest here. And you think you stumbled across some massive secret that's gonna impress people?” She starts laughing. “This is the funniest thing I've heard in years. You really need to get out more, do you know that?” She pats me on the shoulders as she turns to walk away. “Drop by again some time if you need -”

  Before she can finish, I pull her back and slam her head against the nearest gravestone, knocking her out instantly. And then, as I take a deep breath, I realize I can hear footsteps coming up behind me.

  “I told you she wouldn't be impressed,” my father says darkly, his voice oozing with condescension and satisfaction. “Now you know what you have to do, and how to do it. I'm so hungry. I need you to feed me.”

  ***

  Her eyelids start to flicker slightly, which I guess means she's about to wake up. I don't know, I've never watched anyone wake up before, but something seems to be stirring in her brain. And then, sure enough, her eyes finally open and stare up at the vast, starry sky.

  “Don't be afraid,” I say calmly, “it's only -”

  Grunting, Victoria tries to get up, only to find that her wrists and ankles are tied firmly to the railroad. Laid across the tracks, her head is jutting over one side with her neck resting firmly on the cold metal, while her legs are poking over the other side. She looks around, seemingly panicked, and then she tries to yank her left arm free.

  “It's quite misty here tonight,” I explain, watching her continued attempts to break loose, “and I'm reliably informed that the train's driver rarely bothers looking out at the track ahead. Not when they're coming through the cemetery. This stretch of track is generally considered to be something of a rest opportunity, so the odds of anyone spotting you here are pretty low. And I'm also told that a train is due through tonight, in just a few minutes.”

  “What are you doing?” Victoria asks, pulling harder and harder on the ropes. “Richard, untie me right now!”

  “All you had to do was be nice,” I tell her. “That's all. It's not too much to ask for, is it? Maybe I was wrong about the cemetery and the railroad being amazing, but you didn't have to -”

  “Help me!” she screams. “Somebody help me!”

  “No-one's going to hear you,” I reply. “We're too far from the road.”

  “You're insane!” she snaps. “I don't know what sick game you're playing, but I want you to untie me right now or I'll call the cops.”

  “You don't have your phone anymore,” I point out, “and, anyway, you can't exactly dial right now.”

  “I knew I should never have trusted you,” she sneers. “From the first moment I saw you in the gas station, I knew there was something wrong with you. Damn it, when will I ever learn to just listen to my own gut instinct? I swear, when I get out of here, I'm gonna make you pay for -”

  Suddenly the train's horn sounds, and I turn to see a glow starting to spread through the cemetery. At the same time, the metal lines of the railroad start to hum.

  “Is that a -”

  Victoria freezes for a moment, before turning to me with pure fear in her eyes.

  “Get me out of here right now!” she yells. “Do you hear me? This isn't funny, it's dangerous!” The lines are shuddering slightly as the train thunders our way. “The joke's over, Richard. Do you hear me? Untie me right now or I swear I'll make you pay!”

  “It's really not going to go that way at all,” I reply as I get to my feet and start stepping back. The ground is starting to rumble beneath my feet now, and light from the front of the train is dancing across all the gravestones even as mist swirls in the air. “You seemed so nice, Victoria. Why couldn't you have been nice? He said I wouldn't have to do this if you turned out to be nice. Why did you have to prove him right?”

  I turn away, as the train thunders closer. After all, I don't want to have to see what happens next.

  “Stop!” she screams. “Somebody -”

  The train rushes past, going quite a bit faster than I'd expected. As the rails shudder and hum and the engine roars in the night air, I watch some nearby gravestones and take a series of slow, deep breaths. Finally the train disappears into the distance and is quickly swallowed by the mist. To my surprise, I realize that not only did the driver not see Victoria tied to the lines, and not only did he not hear her screams above the sound of the engine, but apparently he didn't feel the train shudder as its wheels sliced through her neck and legs. Either that, or he didn't care.

  A moment later something bumps against my foot. I think it's probably Victoria's severed head, but I don't look down. There really are some things I just don't want to see.

  “Good work,” Dad says, stepping over to me. “I really wasn't sure that you'd be able to do it, son, but maybe there's some hope for you yet. And now, if you don't mind, I really am starving. It's been so long since I had a good meal.”

  “Do I have to watch you do it?” I ask.

  “I don't give a damn,” he replies. “Just make sure you come back soon. If you don't, I'll come
and find you. I own you now, boy. Your work for me has only just begun.”

  I turn and start walking away, although after just a few paces I flinch as I hear the sound of meat getting torn from bones. I know full well what Dad's doing to Victoria's corpse and, well, there's absolutely no way I want to see something so disgusting. I'm a little puzzled as to why, after returning from the dead, Dad has chosen to start eating human flesh, but I guess there's a whole lot about the world that I simply don't understand. And, truly, I can live without the gory details.

  Still, there's some part of me that would feel like a total coward if I didn't look, so I force myself to slowly turn. As soon as I see the scattered chunks of Victoria's corpse, however, I flinch, and then I see Dad's ghost chewing on her bloodied, severed neck.

  I turn away.

  I've seen enough.

  As Dad slurps his way ravenously through his meal, I make my way to the far end of the cemetery. Right now, all I want to do is sleep.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Richard

  Today...

  The train finally rumbles away into the distance, and the ground falls still beneath my feet. I take a deep breath, inhaling the cold night air, and then I wait for the sound of Dad starting his meal.

  Any moment now.

  I wait a few more seconds, but now I'm starting to wonder what's happening. He's usually ravenous, he usually falls upon meat as if he can't hold back, yet this time all I hear is the silence of the cemetery.

  Finally, slowly, I turn and look at the tracks.

  The ropes are loose, and there's no sign of Milly at all.

  “What the -”

  “MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!”

  Something slams into me hard from behind, knocking me to the ground. Startled, I turn just in time to see Milly running away across the cemetery. Somehow she must have managed to get her hands and feet free from the ropes, and for a moment I can only stare as she disappears into the forest.

  “Do something!” Dad snarls, and I turn to see him hurrying toward me. “If you let her get away, she'll ruin everything!”

  Stumbling to my feet, I feel a flicker of pain in the back of my head, but I immediately start racing after Milly. I swear, I tied the ropes as tight as ever, and I can only assume that somehow Milly must have some kind of special skill when it comes to breaking free. I can just about see her now, as she runs through the forest, and I tell myself that I have to catch up to her before she's able to call for help. If she finds her way back to civilization, I'll be captured and I'll end up failing Dad and my whole world will be destroyed.

  I slip between the trees, and I can already tell that I'm starting to catch up to Milly. I used to be so bad at running, but I guess the last few lean years have permitted me to gain a little fitness. That's good, that's another thing that Dad should be proud of.

  Still, it's not easy to catch Milly, especially when she keeps changing direction. I have no idea whether she knows that I'm closing on her.

  And then, just as I think I'm getting within striking distance, I slam straight into a tree. I let out a pained gasp as I bounce to one side and hit the ground, but I immediately scramble to my feet and set off again.

  “Stop her!” Dad yells from a little way further back. “You have to get her back!”

  For a moment, I think I've lost her. I keep running forward, racing between the trees, but there's not much light out here and I can't see anything or anyone else moving. Then, just as I'm about to give up hope, I spot a flicker in the distance and I hurry that way. I quickly reach the edge of a clearing, and I stop as I see that Milly is opening some kind of hatch in the forest floor.

  She turns and looks at me, still wearing the gag, and then she starts hurrying down through the hatch.

  “No!” I yell, racing out after her.

  Just as I reach the hatch, the door slams shut, but I grab it by the edge and heave it up again. There's some resistance at first, and I quickly realize that Milly's trying to hold it firm from the other side.

  “Why can't you just stop fighting?” I shout, summoning all my strength in an attempt to get the hatch open. “You're making this much harder than it needs to be!”

  I pull harder, but I still can't quite get the hatch open. I hesitate for a moment, trying to summon every last scrap of strength in my body, and finally I pull as hard as I can. The hatch roars open, almost hitting me in the face, and I instantly see Milly falling back and tumbling down into whatever dark space has been created down there beneath the forest.

  “Stop!” I shout, as I clamber down onto the wooden steps and hurry after her. “This is all completely unnecessary!”

  As soon as I reach the bottom of the steps, I find that I'm in a low-ceilinged, dimly lit room, some kind of bunker. Milly is over at a bench on the far side, where there's an assortment of knives and other blades, and she's reaching behind her head in an attempt to loosen the gag that's wrapped tight.

  I step toward her.

  She grabs one of the knives and turns to me, holding the weapon toward my face.

  I raise my hands, in an attempt to calm her down a little.

  “It's only me,” I tell her, although I'm not sure that I'm being especially reassuring. “You really shouldn't have broken free like that. If you'd just accepted your fate, it'd all be over by now. All the pain would be in your past, instead of being still to come.”

  I step toward her, but she lashes out at me with the knife and I immediately take a step back.

  “Mmmmmm!” she murmurs from behind the gag.

  “So what is this place, anyway?” I ask, looking around. “This forest really does keep springing surprises, doesn't it? First there's a railroad going through the middle, even going through a cemetery, and now there's some kind of bunker down here. It looks like someone lives here, too, or at least spends time here.” Spotting what looks to be something pretty large under a tarpaulin, I go over and pull the covering away. “A wood chipper, huh?” I continue, turning back to Milly. “What kind of -”

  Before I can finish, she lunges at me with the knife again. This time I have to step around the rear of the wood chipper, and I'm starting to think that Milly might yet be pretty dangerous.

  I just need to get that knife out of her hand.

  “You're being unreasonable,” I tell her, “you need to -”

  Suddenly she rushes at me, and this time I'm too slow to pull away. She grabs me and shoves me against the wall, and then she reaches back and presses a button on the side of the wood chipper. The machine comes to life, shuddering loudly and causing the concrete floor to shake beneath my feet, and then Milly pulls me around and tries to push me straight into the machine's jaws. I manage to pull away, and then I grab her wrist and crack it against the machine's side.

  I pull the knife out of her hand, but she quickly tries to grab it again. As I try to turn away, the blade slices against the pinky finger of Milly's left hand, grinding against bone and almost severing the finger entirely.

  “MMMMMMMMMMM!” she murmurs as she grabs my collar and throws me across the room.

  I hit the wall and, in the process, knock over several large boards that were leaning nearby. Looking down, I'm horrified to see what appear to be human ears pinned to one of the boards, while another features several severed mouths.

  “What the -”

  Milly comes at me again, but I grab another knife from the table and hold it out, stopping her just in time. Nearby, the wood chipper is still running loudly, filling the tiny space with a sound that threatens to rattle my brain loose.

  “What is this place?” I ask, horrified by what I've seen so far in the bunker. “What kind of sick person lives here?”

  “Mmmm,” she replies, her eyes frantic and wild as she tries to work out when to lunge at me again. “MMMM!”

  “Something doesn't seem quite right here,” I continue, edging away from her with the knife still raised, backing toward the bottom of the steps. “I don't know what you've been doi
ng down here, but I don't want any part of it.”

  I make my way up the stairs, and then I reach up and push the hatch open.

  “You're not -”

  Something slams into me from behind, and I turn as I fall. A raging, foul-smelling hobo has crashed into me, and we tumble together down the stairs and land in a heap at the bottom. I try to push him away, but he instantly bites down hard on my left ear, chewing through with such force that he's quickly able to pull it free. As blood gushes from the wound, I turn the knife around and drive it hard into the man's shoulder, but he doesn't even react.

  “Maybe you're no good anymore!” he sneers, as his face flickers and changes. “Maybe I should get her to feed me instead!”

  Just as I'm about to push him away, his face twists and becomes familiar again, and I see Dad staring down at me.

  “Why, father?” I gasp, struggling to understand what's happening. “Please, I -”

  “How many times do I have to tell you?” he asks, as he chews on my severed left ear, “I'm not your father! I don't know what's wrong with you, boy, but you're beginning to outlive your usefulness. How did you let that stupid girl get free tonight, eh? I thought you knew how to tie a rope!”

  “I do, I swear!” I yell, as I try to push him away. “I don't know how she got free, she just managed to slip out of the ropes somehow!”

  “You've been useful up until now, boy,” he replies, taking the knife from my hand and holding it against my throat, “but all good things come to an end. I'm sure I'll be able to find some other deluded kid to take your place. This time, I'll try to make sure it's someone who doesn't think I'm the ghost of his goddamn father!”

  “Someone who -”

  Staring at him, I realize that his face is flickering again. Sure enough, in an instant I see the hobo again, and I realize that something's horribly wrong. He's chewing on my ear, biting it into smaller chunks as blood runs down his stubbly chin, and after a moment he swallows hard before beaming at me with filthy, red-stained teeth.