Prologue

 

Book 1             

Prologue

 

Pittsburgh, PA

10.30 P.M.                           

December 21, 2000

 

It is mid-winter, almost Christmas and there’s barely any snow on the ground. The last snow fell just last week, but the weather, being abnormal for this climate, had already melted it into this gooey concoction of slime and road salt. Dr. Barbara Avery is waiting at the train station for the midnight rail to the small town of Erie. It is almost 35 degrees and quite comfortable compared to most of the winters she has spent here. The winters of her past, that bring back many of her beloved childhood memories, would have made it impossible to think of her being outside at this hour. The temperature alone would have made it unbearable. The snow that usually fell by this time of year would have made the roads impassable within minutes if the road crews were not working an all-night shift.

Barbara has spent all her life here. When she was young, she loved to play in the soft, white drifts making snow angels and snowmen, but as she grew older, she found that the winter white no longer held her dreams the way it had. It doesn’t fascinate her any more. Maybe this is because she grew up, or maybe it’s just human nature that she got used to seeing the snow so it doesn’t have the same effect. Many psychologists would argue that what fascinates and awes a child doesn’t have the same effect on adults. 

By high school, she found that she couldn’t wait to get out of this town. It wasn’t the desire to get away from her family, nor the memory of something that had gone horribly wrong in her hometown, but the simple desire to get away, to find out what life had in store for her; to find herself via the beaten road. She couldn’t bear the idea of living in that small town for the rest of her adult life. That mere thought would hamper her breathing when she was younger. Now, however, she is in her mid forties and working on her second divorce. Now she realizes that what was giving her angst before, is now making her feel more secure.          

Her second husband, Rob, couldn’t understand this. He didn’t want to see the same road that she saw ahead of her. He was stuck on one path and wouldn’t stray for no one. This was one of the many reasons why she is now considered the Ex-Mrs. Rob Whitmore, the National Bank president. 

They had a courtship and first year marriage that anyone would dare to dream of having. Rob would kiss her hand when they would meet for lunch. He would open doors for her and generally most of the time, make her feel like a goddess. But the last few years of their five year marriage was different. He stopped calling her in the middle of the day just to say hi and that he loved her. He had stopped meeting her at the door of their home when she came home late after having an evening meeting with a client.

Barbara just stopped feeling the love that she had felt for him for so long. When her feelings were discussed, he would shrug it off and say that everything was okay and that he was just overwhelmed these days at work. Later, she found out about what was keeping his mind away from her and their life together. He was having an affair with his secretary Shelly. They had an office affair going on for the better part of the previous year. 

In retrospect though, she can’t really blame him though. She hasn’t been the better part of the marriage for a long time. She let her work get in the way of their relationship. 

                Now, she finds herself alone at this all but deserted train station in the middle of night so close to Christmas. 

Alone.

With her eyes getting moist, she takes a glance at her watch and realizes that the train is already late. Damn! Why does this always have to happen? Why must she be alone…here…right now?  

                In the wake of her thinking back, she barely perceived the sound of a thud in the alleyway behind her. She felt it more than heard it. Instinctively she looked into the alley that was more like a black hole than an alley. The architects that designed the place opted for optimum space usage.

                She turned around to stare into the darkness between the train terminal and the storage building and saw black, like charcoal, staring right back at her. Had she not been here all alone, the noise wouldn’t have startled her quite as much, but it did and the chill that formed in her heart and soul was like no other she felt before. 

The noise was a dull thud as if a solid object fell from some height and hit the ground. After seeing nothing in the alley but darkness, she turned back around to the tracks and looked, impatiently, up and down the tracks in search of the train.

                “God, I am acting like a school girl scared of her shadow.” She said to herself in shame at how she felt and how she was acting.                  

Then a low hiss as if it is coming a distance away. Thinking it’s the train’s brakes gearing up for the stop she glanced back down the track. Having seen nothing coming from left or right, she questions her sanity. The hissing gets louder and deeper as it gets closer. She turned reflexively to her rear again and sees the most gruesome sight she has ever seen. A cat! The cat fled from the alleyway into the light and stopped to look at her. Barbara rolls her eyes and smiles at the nocturnal devil creature. There are no such things as monsters. That’s what her dear father used to tell her when he tucked her, lovingly, into bed as she complained about noises she had heard the night before coming from her closet. There are no such things as monsters! She would of course agree with her daddy, but deep down she didn’t believe it. No child really believes this because they really do exist if only in their mind. In a child’s mind, a monster can come alive and torment to its heart’s content as long as the child believes.

She turned away from the cat while continuing her restless wait for the train. She contemplated going back to the terminal to inquire about the whereabouts of the illusive train if not just to have an excuse to get back into the light.

The hissing started again, this time right behind her. Barbara jumped, immediately feeling foolish for letting the cat get the best of her again! She turned around looking for the nasty beast that rudely interrupted her thoughts earlier and, as before, saw nothing but darkness in the alleyway. A pair of lights appeared as if a car is off in the distance moving closer. But she knows this isn’t possible. The alleyway is only four feet wide at its widest and definitely not the width of a car.  

The lights flicker simultaneously, and Barbara realizes that the lights are not that of a car, but another nocturnal animal like that of the terrible beasty, the cat. She looked around for the ungrateful beast but it was nowhere to be found.

It happened way too fast for her mind to comprehend. She saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye and felt a surge of anxiety. She whipped her head toward where she saw the flicker and saw something that totally disproved her parents’ theory about monsters being in this world. Or maybe the rumor that monsters actually don’t exist has never reached this things ear because here is a true monster. If not a monster, a horribly mutated animal that she has never seen before. It had claws the size of shark teeth and the skin looked opaque and smooth like a snake. It seemed to shine as if it were moist. 

It just sat there as if poised to strike, but without making a move, almost as if it were waiting for her to make the first move. The only movement that was visible was the rhythmic rise and fall of its chest.

Barbara eyed the entrance to the terminal. The entrance to the terminal and her relative safety is only about thirty feet away. Could she sprint that far? Her reflexes didn’t give her a chance to answer that question because her legs decided to give it a shot anyway. Without giving the creature time to react, she moved in one fluid motion to the entrance. She ran as if her life depended on it, which it very well could have. This run could mean the very life or death of her. 

She made it to the door and all of a sudden, the thing was on her back. She could hear the ripping of clothe and the creatures moans and hissing. The next thing she knew she was on the ground and the creature was on her back still ripping her clothes, but the only sound she heard was herself screaming. She failed her arms and legs to no avail. 

Then the weight was off her. The pain was still there but it was not as searing as it had been. She eased her head around and saw the creature a few yards away, panting as if the strain of its attack on her took its breath away.   

The thing didn’t move as she made her way all the way around to her back and half seated up. The thing was playing with her, just waiting for the right time to pounce. A soft glow was emanating from the creatures belly. The glow had a soft pinkish haze to it that was getting brighter as time went by. 

Seconds turned to minutes and still no movement from the creature, but the glow went from the haze it was when she first noticed it to a brighter, more fluorescent hue as if the creature had a light bulb coming from inside its abdomen.  

A low growl erupted from the creature sounding like a train. Then she realized it was the train coming.

With a flash of hope, she whipped her head to the tracks and saw the light from the train moving up to the loading platform and while she was looking at the loading dock the thing jumped. It landed on her again, this time on her stomach.

                She felt the claws of its hind legs pierce her skin. The pain was like no other that she has ever felt. She let out a bellow that hasn’t escaped her since the first years of her life when the monsters from her dreams were attacking her in the middle of the night. She flailed her arms, batting at the creature head, arms, trying to break the contact it had on her; trying to do something. She was not going to just lay down and let this creature take her. She was a fighter and by God she will not give up.

                Not even that subconscious pep talk was enough to give her the strength it required to haul the creature off of her, though. Even as she flailed, she noticed her strength waning, her movements slowing. She felt herself relax and realized with freight that the end is near. Darkness slowly consumed her vision allowing only one last sight, her blood pooling around her head. It must be her blood, she thought. The pain wasn’t so bad anymore, but she knew that it could be no other than her blood. 

Then a strange feeling comes over her. The train station terminal, the train, and the creature itself didn’t seem to matter anymore. She feels a single tear running down her right eye, over her cheek. As the darkness threatens to consume her entirely, she hears a brief whistle blowing as the train eased to a halt and a blood curdling scream came next and then, darkness consumed her entirely.

Author's Note

Be brutal.