Lady of the Night Train

F3 Cycle 104
Prompt:  Use the following words in your story, or in the title, or both:  Gunshot, train, mime, balcony, monkey, rain
Genre:  Any your chatty little heart desires.
Word Limit:  Let’s keep it tight this week and cap it at 900 words. (Wordcount: 888)
Deadline:  Wednesday, November 14, 2012, at 10:00pm CT

The world was a dark blur. Don't know how many days of traveling had passed behind me by the time we were rocketing across the flat, featureless landscape of the Western plains. Days and days of grasslands and nights and nights of darkness, it seemed like. The night sky wasn't visible enough from the tiny window of my cabin.

I hadn't packed enough books. I missed the fantasy lands of my novels a great deal. Especially at night, when I didn't sleep. I would stare out at that darkness, looking past my own haunted reflection, my mind full of the things I was leaving behind, in that former life I now ran from.

I often imagined myself standing on my room's balcony, the cold air of the autumn night blowing my hair, watching as the line of torches wound up the mountain. These images followed me, no matter how far I traveled. But I had been running for so long, it was the only thing I knew. I couldn't stop.

The dragging days were spent holed up in my cabin aboard the train, shade pulled against the daylight, the time punctuated by lurching stops at some dusty, crowded settlement, where a few of my fellow travelers departed and were replaced by new strangers. Eventually I was one of the few passengers left, and the train was relegated to hauling mostly freight. 

The night my past found me there had been a light rain, and the stop was sudden. Most of the passengers were asleep, and I heard the shouts at the end of the car as people were jostled from their bunks, the sound of luggage falling. One of the porters rushed from the only other passenger car, which was more full than the one that carried me.

He stopped at my open berth, where I stood halfway in the passageway, and began to quickly mime a door-closing motion before hurrying on. When he had passed I walked to the end of the car and opened the door between the cars. Outside there was more shouting from the porters and the conductor, who were up front of the engine, a couple of cars ahead.

There was the lowing of cattle, and the dark, gamey scent of their blood mingled with the dry night air. Then there was a gunshot. Someone had put a heifer out of its misery. A motion caught my eye in the opposite direction, dark shapes creeping up close to the cars sitting on the tracks. Two men, crouched low, moving slowly up the line of cars.

I ducked back inside, and stood for a moment, planning. One of the other passengers, an older gentleman who ran a grocery back East, ran up to me, exclaiming "What's happening? Why have we stopped?" I shook my head and took his elbow, turning him back toward the rear of the train car.

"I suggest we all just remain calm and move to the second passenger car," I said as firmly as I dared, being a young woman of no social standing, and being careful not to alarm the other travelers.

"I heard a shot. Are there bandits?"

The matronly lady who had got on at the last stop was fanning herself enthusiastically. Just then a porter came through from the previous car, and the group was quickly clamoring for information. I took the opportunity to walk back to my cabin, extinguishing the lamps along the way, as my fellows were escorted to the next car by the porter.

I was left in the half dark, to wait. It was only a moment before I heard the train car door open, and the sound of boots echo down the passageway. A bright full moon shone in from the windows. I waited until the man had gone through the cabins ahead before I stepped out of the shadows. From his curses and muttering, the pickings in the displaced luggage were slim.

To ensure that I caught his attention I unbuttoned the high collar of my dress, letting the jewels at my throat reflect the moonlight. I stepped out into the passageway at the same time he did, and at the sight of me his face lit up in an ugly monkey grin. At his approach I retreated into the shadows of my cabin, where he followed.

As he pursued me I caught stale sweat and whiskey in the closeness of the space. Not a hint of fear. It was like a dance. I withdrew, and he moved forward, until I couldn't move any further. He cornered me next to the window, the light washing his features in such a way as to make his face a death mask.

He touched the ruby in my necklace, and murmured a sound, before moving his hand down my bodice. He leaned in, and at that moment I met him, my teeth bearing down on his neck. His blood was rich and sharp in my mouth. I fed until his body went slack, holding him against me to get every drop. As I let the empty shell that was the man's body fall his partner stepped into my car, and I moved fast, eager to feast again, because I didn't know how long it would be until I would next get the chance.