After several train changes, in which we saw only three other people, all of whom kept their heads down and didn’t make eye contact, we arrived at the jogging trails. The sun was out, the air warm. But no one was strolling the pathways. We were the first to arrive, Nick and Elizabeth nowhere to be found. We stood on the platform, looking down at the peaceful milieu. I longed to run through the trees, far away from all this terror. Adam was carefully watching the escalators, but no one came. I explained to him I felt this place was the safest spot in the city to meet up with the others, simply because it was an out-of-the-way running trail. But more time passed, and I began to worry.
“Do you think they got the wrong station?” he asked, his shoulders tense.
“No. But maybe things aren’t running as smoothly around the city. Just wait.”
But I was pretty tense, too. I had pulled my phone out to call them and get their ETA when the cry cut through the silence. My head snapped up, Adam’s mouth fell open. An Eater. In daylight, and close. Adam bolted toward the escalators before I could call him back. We’d be out in the open down on the trails. He didn’t listen, but instead ran in a panic. Swearing, I followed him. I almost tripped on the downward steps but righted myself in time. A glass edge of adrenaline was flowing through my veins. My muscles tensed, ready to run once again. But Adam was ahead of me on a trail, stumbling and falling to his knees several times. I had almost caught up with him when the cry came again, this time close enough to bend my eardrums inward. I stopped. Adam didn’t. He was blubbering now, something unintelligible. I hissed after him, “Adam, get back here right now.”
He ignored me. In his panic, common sense had fled. I knew my only hope was to stay still. I flattened myself against a tree and waited. I counted my heartbeats, one skipping as the cry came again and the Eater rounded the crest. It was excited by our scent. Adam was crawling now, looking over his shoulder at the slowly slinking beast. A second cry came, and another Eater appeared. Now there were two of them. I slowed my breathing, barely noting the musky scent wafting off their scaly skin. They were mere feet from me, their heads darting forward like chickens as they got closer to Adam. I wanted to close my eyes. I knew what would come next. His death, then mine. My hand found its way to cover my belly. I apologized to the life growing inside me. A scream came then, but it wasn’t mine. Adam had rolled over onto his back and was trying to fend off the jaws of a creature. It was slowly sniffing him, taking its time. It was playing with its food, I thought. This is fun for it. I bit my tongue to keep from either laughing or crying. A quick dart of its long snout and angled teeth and Adam’s throat was torn. His cries were strangling now, choking on his own blood. The Eater slowly lapped its tongue over the spewing freshet, a contented burbling coming from its mouth. Its jaw unhinged and gaped open in preparation of devouring Adam.
The other Eater had noted my presence now, and was walking over to me in an almost casual manner. Its arms were knotted with muscle and tendon, the raptor-like claws clicking in anticipation. It was rank, this thing. And tall. Something told me to hold still, and every muscle in my body became stone. I closed my eyes. I didn’t need to watch what would come next. I felt its heavy breath, reeking of rotted meat, wash over my face. The twigs beneath its bony feet snapped. I turned my head to seek out fresh air. There was none. A growl came, next to my face. Still, I kept my eyes clamped shut. I would not offer this monster any sport. I waited … and felt nothing. No searing pain, no cries of delight.
I heard the crunch of bone from over on the trail, the other Eater enjoying its meal. The rancid breath was still sliding over my face, my throat. “Get on with it!” I wanted to shout. Instead, I cracked an eye open. Through the slit, I saw the face of a demon up close. It had two horny protuberances above its eyes. I thought I might go mad. Instead, I opened my other eye. It continued to breathe in my scent. I felt a wetness along my collarbone. It was tasting me. But its eyes were on mine. And in those eyes I saw something so familiar I cried out. That warm brown that had always lit up at the sight of me, those eyes. They belonged to Jack. And then suddenly, of its own accord, my mind began to click and meld with the monster’s, and the sensation was like nothing I’d ever experienced in my former life. At first all I could discern was a crimson hunger, the feeling so overwhelming that I could hear myself mutter incoherently as if from a great distance. The rage and the hunger were all I knew in that moment, and the horror of it almost drove me mad. Then a sensation of familiarity replaced the ravening insanity, and I knew, somehow, with every fiber of my being, that this was indeed Jack. I reached my mind forward and out, gently probing its mind and quietly asking this Jack-thing to leave me, to leave us, alone.
But before I could sense any response, the connection was broken as a sharp call came from its partner. I tore my gaze away to see that it had finished devouring what was left of Adam. The trail was slick with red. I returned my gaze back to the Jack-thing. It was looking toward the trails. The other began to run away from the scene of carnage, its long leaps eating up the trails the way it had eaten up Adam. The Jack-thing didn’t look back at me as it loped after its companion. I fell to the grass, heaving in breaths of clean air. Unable to stop shaking, I looked at my undamaged hands. I was alive. And so was Jack. And he had spared me.
I crawled toward the path, avoiding the splashes of gore. I was aware that Adam was dead, but my brain seemed to have shut itself off. I sat there, staring out over the rolling hills dotted with flowers and trees, and listened to bird calls. It was a while before I remembered Elizabeth and Nick would be up at the train station. That motivated me to move. I had to ensure they were safe, at least. I staggered up the elevator and felt relief wash over me at the sight of them, huddled against a post, clutching their bags. Nick’s mouth was white with shock, Elizabeth had hidden her head in his shoulder. I rushed to them, wrapping my arms around them.
“We saw what happened down there. God. Are you OK?” Nick trembled, and my response was to hug them harder. I wouldn’t cry, though. There’d be time for that later. Elizabeth looked up at me, and her eyes were ancient.
“We need to get out of here,” I managed.
And as if on cue, a train arrived.
“I know where I’m going.”
We boarded the train, and, like the Jack-thing, I didn’t look back.