The Dream Train

RUN!

The sound made Ana's skin crawl. She pulled Sam's hand from her mouth. Her voice was barely a whisper. "We need to run."

Sam looked unsure.

"Now!" Ana whisper-yelled and darted across the tent. Sam was faster and got across the tent ahead of her. He flopped on to his stomach and pulled up some of the heavy canvas. As Ana slid underneath she heard the skittering not-a-dog as it scuttled into the tent. She held the canvas up as much as she could for Sam to follow her. She could hear pointy appendages step across the hay-strewn ground. "Hurry!" She called through gritted teeth as Sam belly crawled under the flap.

Sam had nearly cleared the tent wall when he made a face and jerked. "Ugh!" His face was panicked. "It has my ankle."

Ana's body moved faster than her mind. She grabbed a long stick off of the ground, fell to her stomach, and thrust the stick and her across Sam's legs and back into the tent. She swept, as hard and as broadly as she could in the direction of his feet. There was a snapping sound and Sam was free. Ana dropped the stick and launched to her feet, pulling Sam with her.

As soon as he was vertical, Sam took the lead and they raced, pell-mell, through the trees behind the tent. Ana focused on staying close to Sam and on not tripping. After a few yards, the trees ended and Ana and Sam found themselves on an empty playground. Yellow street lamps bathed the playground in an eerie glow.

A swing set two the left sported half a dozen rubber swings that swayed in the night air on squeaky metal chains. To the left was a merry-go-round. It was the metal kind that kids needed to run around to make spin. Straight ahead was a giant climbing structure. Plastic slides and firepoles, monkey bars, rope bridges, and rock walls combined to make what Ana was sure, in the daytime, was a bright and colorful addition to the park. At night, however, with its colors bleached by the dark and the street lamps making long shadows, it was decidedly ominous. There were pockets of pitch darkness where anything could hide.

Ana and Sam stood, frozen, for just a moment st the edge of the sand. Neither wanted to get any closer to the structure that loomed in silhouette across their path.

Then, they both heard the sound like old skin and dry leaves from the trees behind them and they bolted. Sam went right and Ana went left. She was halfway around the massive structure when she heard rustling from the trees beyond the merry-go-round. Somehow, it had gotten ahead of her. It would be able to cut her off in a few seconds.

Ana slid in the sand as she turned to run back the way she'd come. She fell and caught herself with her hands. Jarring pain shot from her palms to her elbows but she pushed herself to her feet.

The merry-go-round was now behind her and she began to run back to where she'd started but then she saw something glint at the tree line infront of her and she realized her mistake. The thing hadn't gotten ahead of her at all. It was still behind her. There were two of them.

* * *

Ana acted on adrenaline and instinct. She pivoted, ducked, and scrambled under the behemoth play structure. She could see Sam across the sand near the swings. He was scuttling backward in an awkward crabwalk. Something shiny was moving in the trees near the swings.

Sam nearly crab walked into Ana in his attempt to evade whatever was coming for him. Ana grabbed him and he let out a decidedly embarrassing shriek that almost made Ana laugh as her brain struggled to combat the terror of her situation.

Sam adjusted himself so he was crawling on his hands and knees. They were surrounded on three sides. Ana prayed desperately that there was not a fourth creature as she crawled under the climbing structure to the far side. Tugged Sam's arm, and sprinted across the sand.

Something big but impossibly lightweight bounded across the sand after them. Ana could feel the sand it kicked up pelt the backs of her legs. She didn't look back. In the movies, they always fell down when they looked back. She put her head down and ran as fast as she'd ever run in her life.

At the edge of the playground, Sam and Ana hurdled over a shot cement wall and landed in a soccer field. Scratchy legs scrabbled up and over the wall behind them. In front of them and to the right Ana could see lights and hear the sounds of the festival. It was still in full swing. Maybe, just maybe, they would be safe if they could get back among people.

They sped across a field and launched themselves back into the lights of the festival. Across the path, they could see a man in overalls packing unsold produce into a pickup truck. Sam and Ana hurtled across the path and skidded to a stop in the now-empty farm stand. They both spun to watch behind them.

They stood, panting, staring into the darkness of the field. No skittering creature appeared in the light of the path. Ana's heart pounded in her ears. Sam's palm was sweaty against hers. She strained her eyes and tried to see into the darkness across the path.

There! Had something moved or had she imagined it? She could feel herself trying to open her eyes wider. Maybe the thing wouldn't follow them into populated areas. Maybe they should head back to the festival? Or back to the hotel?

There was a crunch of feet on hay right behind them and Ana and Sam whirled in panic. A smiling farmer grinned at them. "Sorry. Didn't mean to frighten you. I just wanted to see if you two were ok? You came flying over here like a couple of bats outta hell. You need some help?"

Tears pricked in Ana's eyes. She was tired and scared. Despite her misgivings she desperately wanted to trust this big strong farmer with kind eyes. She gulped twice and looked over her shoulder.

"Sir, do you have a phone we could use?"

The farmer smiled softly. "Two teenagers running around with no phone? How is that possible?"

Ana shrugged and tried not to cry. "I am wondering the same thing," she mumbled.

"I can flag down one of those security guys if you all need help?" The farmer offered.

"We're just trying to get ahold of our grandmother," Ana replied, "can we please use a phone?"

The farmer looked at her and nodded. "Stay here, I'll grab it. It's just down at my other booth."

He turned and started to walk away.

Ana let out a little sigh of very little relief. "Thanks," She called.

The farmer turned and smiled at her. "It's my pleasure." His head tilted to the side.

Ana felt the blood drain from her face. In the next booth, a woman was selling honey to a man in a baseball cap. As soon as Ana's eyes touched the woman, the woman shivered. The shiver made a sound like dry skin and blowing leaves. Ana turned in a circle. A little girl was holding her father's hand while he bought her a seashell. The little girl was staring at Ana. A couple of teenage boys walked past. Ana was pretty sure they had already walked past twice since she and Sam had been standing there. They watched Ana and Sam as they passed.

"We need to get out of here," Ana breathed.

Sam put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "We will Ana, that guy will be right back with his phone,"

"I don't think he will. There is something wrong with this place. We need to get out of here."

"Ok, we'll go back to the hotel. We'll use the phone at the desk if we need to."

"No Sam. We need to get out of Traum."

"And go where?"

"It doesn't matter. We can follow the train tracks to the next town or something." Ana could see the lights of the train station across the square. She began moving toward it.

Sam didn't say anything until they had reached the train tracks. On the other side of the tracks was the forest. Sam looked at her. "You really think it would be better for us to be lost in the woods than to stay in this town?"

Ana met his eyes. "Yes."

Sam nodded once. Then they turned, crossed the track, and plunged into the trees.