Story 3: The Severing

Chapter 13:

The Doll Monsters swarmed through the tables until they stood around BossWoman and NemesisGirl, who were apparently oblivious. Then one looked up toward the bathroom where I stood.

I slammed the door and looked around for some place to hide. There was a single frosted window in the bathroom. I had to climb up on a radiator to reach the latch. I pulled the window down on its hinges. It would be tight, but I thought that I'd be able to squeeze through.

I climbed up and looked out the window into the night across a maze of stacked rail cars. I could see wooden palettes stacked below the window. I pitched my purse out the window to the ground below. Hoping I wouldn't kill myself on the other side, I began to push myself through the opening head first. After my head and shoulders were out the window, I twisted my body to find a handhold above the window.

Suddenly, I realized that my skirt was stuck on the window. I started to ease myself back in a little. The window apparently was not designed to take my weight. There was a popping sound and the window dropped a few inches. I lost my handhold and tumbled out the window bouncing down a series of palettes and onto the cold, hard pavement below - bruising a shoulder a scraping my ass.

I slowly stood up and looked back where I had come from. My skirt was still hanging in the window. I climbed up the palettes and began to retrieve my skirt, but as I reached for it, a hand sprang into view. The skin on the hand was flawless. There were no fingernails. It was a Doll Monster.

I jumped back down to the ground, grabbed my purse and began to run. Why did I wear a thong tonight? Fuck! Why did I wear heels? I paused for a moment and kicked them off so I could really run fast.

I heard a shriek high above me... Etheryords! I turned towards the stacks of rail cars hoping that they'd have a harder time seeing me there.

I turned a corner and tripped over a metal rail that I had not seen in the darkness. I was cursing my stubbed toes as I tumbled to the pavement - my purse spilling out in front of me.

"subGrrl!" I have no idea where the voice was coming from, but I wasn't going to stand around and find out.

I got up and grabbed my house keys where they had tumbled to the ground and then began to feel around for my wallet when I noticed a silhouette appear between the stacks of rail containers. I froze and looked to see if it was a Doll Monster trying my best to hold my breath and keep quiet.

"subGrrl!" This voice was different. A woman's. Musical. The figure began to move towards me. She was carrying something. A stick maybe? No! As she raised it into the air, light reflected off of its surface. It was a blade! A machete!

I'd seen enough so I turned to run the opposite direction.

It is strange how fast an array of thoughts passed through my frenzied brain as I sprinted as fast as I could between two tall stacks of rail cars. What is this new monster? Maybe it's just a dream? Maybe it's Machete Man? Does anyone know the gender of Machete Man? Whatever. I thought that it would be best to simply run like hell.

"subGrrl! Let me into your heart!"

Holy shit! Just like Lisianski's lullaby! Fuck! The bitch was right behind me. She had much longer legs. There would be no way for me to out-sprint her. I turned sharply to the right between another set of stacked containers and apparently I made my move none too soon. I heard the whistle of the blade pass closely by my head followed by a ringing explosion of metal and sparks.

My turn bought me a few steps, but I knew she would catch me soon - before the end of this row. Someone will find my hacked up remains. Ms. Morality will shake her head and say, "She should have bought the carbon fiber burka."

I saw a dark void low and to my left - a small gap along the ground between the containers. I have many fears in life. Claustrophobia is NOT one of them. I dove towards the gap and crawled as fast as I could deeper into the darkness. Even if the bitch followed me she wouldn't be able to swing her blade in this tight passage. I just hoped that it comes out somewhere.

Indeed, I heard a clanging sound behind me. Machete Woman was poking the blade in after me, but I was already shimmying my way deeper into the hole, far from the bite of her blade.

I scraped my way along the passage until I bumped my head. There was still a passage forward. It simply was only half the height of the section that I was currently in. After a second of thought I flattened down onto my stomach and continued to wiggle on. There was no way to go back, after all. I had to use my feet and elbows to advance along inch by inch. I could feel the steel sides grazing against my shoulders as I squeezed on through the darkness.

Every once in a while I would stop and listen, although nothing could be heard over my own raspy breathing. There was nothing to do, but continue to go forward into oblivion.

I came to another seam in the tunnel where I felt the space above my head open up again. As I crawled forward I hit my head on a solid steel wall. I felt around with my hands for a moment. There was no way forward. I twisted over onto my back and reached up over my head. There was no top. Maybe I could go up to get out. Using the sides for leverage, I pulled myself into a sitting position. Next I pulled my knees in close to my body. Hopefully, there would be enough room for me to stand. The moment that I started to try, I heard a scraping sound of metal down near my feet followed by a loud clanging.

There is no way that Machete Woman could have followed me through that tight tunnel. I knelt down to listen. Suddenly I realized that the passage I had just slithered through had been shut off from where I now crouched with my knees pressed to my chin. The metal I heard sliding was some sort of door which was now closed. I felt along the new stretch of steel desperately looking for a handhold of some sort in order to try to move the door out of the way. As I did, I heard another movement of heavy metal directly above me. I started to reach up, but already, inches above my head, the second plate was sealing me into an even tighter box.