Kylie McKeddie shivered in the dark, the final train of the night due any minute. Tree branches scraped the walls of the station like fingernails on a tombstone. Dead leaves brushed against her legs as they skittered across the platform. A disembodied female voice announced the imminent arrival of the train. She was grateful to take her seat in the warm safety of the empty train car. Her journey home would take around an hour, and there were few stops along the way. She relaxed by getting lost in the world of an enjoyable book.
Kylie was vaguely aware of the train stopping, the tinny announcement of the current stop, and the doors cycling. A man shuffled into the car and stiffly took a seat on the opposite end from Kylie. He looked homeless, wearing a heavy dark coat, torn trousers and dirty shoes. Hood and shadows obscured the man’s face. He seemed uninterested in her as she returned to her book.
The train pulled into another station, the last one before Kylie’s, half an hour away. She glanced over at the homeless man. He stared in her direction. Only his pale and dirty chin were visible. Kylie crossed her legs and shifted away from him.
A wretched smell ripped Kylie from her book. It was a horrific stench of rotting meat and body odor. The homeless man now sat directly across from her. How did she not notice him? He smiled grotesquely at Kylie with teeth devastated by decay and dark liquid congealing around his lips. Kylie’s hands shook as she shoved the book into her purse. She bolted towards the rear of the train and mashed the button to open the door between rail cars. The man smiled at her when she glanced back from the next car. Kylie fled through another car. She sat and watched through the doors, waiting to see if the man would follow her. The train continued through the night, still somewhere in the long gap between stations. He followed, creeping over the lurching passageways between cars. His arms thudded like dead weights at the buttons that removed the barrier between him and her.
Kylie’s trembling fingers activated the intercom to the train driver. Static answered her pleas for help. The door separating her from the man opened, and he stumbled closer. The hood fell away from his face. Kylie shrieked. Hollow sockets, dripping with maggots glared into her soul, his wicked smile a perversion of a friendly expression. Screams became sobs as Kylie retreated through another empty car. She ran to the very back, desperate to put as much distance as possible from the pursuing creature. She stopped, terror growing inside her. This was the last car. The locked door she pounded her fist against was for the driver on the return journey. There was no one on the other side to let her in. She had nowhere to run, and the thing was now in the car with her.
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The thing stood, staring and grinning, sensing its victory. It took a step towards Kylie. The train slowed as it approached the final station. She begged for the train to stop, for the doors to slide open. It wouldn’t happen soon enough. The hideous thing was now between Kylie and the doors. It’s jaws worked in anticipation. A clump of maggots fell to the floor as the train lurched to a halt.
“This is Hutchings, where this service terminates.” The disembodied voice chimed from above. Kylie jumped on the seats closest to the door and tried to run past the creature. With surprising speed it grabbed her coat. With a terrified cry, she shook herself out of the coat and through the door to freedom.
Kylie ran into the night, glancing back to see if the nightmare still chased her. She stopped under a street light to catch her breath, and to look and listen. The night was silent and lonely as a crypt. Teeth chattering and body shivering from cold and fright, the young woman hurried to get home.
She fumbled with the lock on her door and swore when the keys dropped to the welcome mat. A look over her shoulder while retrieving the keys, revealed no shadows stalking her. She slammed the door shut, making sure to lock everything. Kylie peered out the window through the blinds. What if it followed me?
Time passed in eerie silence, with no sign of the horrific passenger. Exhausted and with the adrenalin worn off, Kylie went to bed. She locked the bedroom door and left the bedside lamp turned on. With covers clenched to her chin, she lay, listening, jumping at every little noise. Eventually she drifted off to sleep.
Kylie awoke suddenly, gagging from a ghastly familiar smell…