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Ten Miles to Austin

By Archangel Vulpine

Chapter Three

Vincent had settled into his sleeping bag but had yet to zip up the side. Staring at the ceiling, his thoughts circled around the lizard and his shortcut home. Without Eli to talk to, the ambiance of the station surrounded him: the wind whistled past the building, the metal canopy creaked, and there was a quiet rumbling noise, like a thunderstorm in the distance. Texas was thousands of miles away, yet somehow Eli had brought the towering sign across the world. If he was capable of that, what else could he do? Maybe his road sign was an anchor and now this shabby station and the great city of Texas were eternally linked, despite the distance. The rumbling was growing louder. Eli was a reptile, not a wizard. He might have been able to transport a sign across the world, but this changed nothing. And yet, Vincent couldn't help but wonder what would happen if he followed the sign. Vincent would set off in the morning, but first he would need to decide which way to go. A shadow crossed over the window and for a moment the room was dark without the moonlight. Vincent hadn't taken in any details through the sliver of glass, but whatever was moving outside was big. His senses rushed back to him. The rumbling he'd ignored was close now. It wasn't thunder. It was guttural, unnatural, a wet, throaty reverberation echoing for miles. Jumping out of his sleeping bag, Vincent got as close to the window as he could with the shelves in the way, but all he could see was the rear area of the station. The bell to the front door rang. It was inside. Taking slow steps, Vincent crossed the storage room without making a sound and flattened his ear against the door. Nothing. His heart thudded in his ears and the station groaned. Vincent was certain he'd heard the bell. Had Eli simply returned from some expedition, and the rumbling was just a fault of the decaying building? A thud made Vincent recoil from the door. With his back against the shelves, he listened as huge, heavy feet stepped towards the storage room. The rumbling rushed in again, louder than ever. Vincent wanted to cover his ears to keep it from tapping into his mind. The thing was just beyond the door. Vincent couldn't blink, his eyes on the wooden shield between him and his hunter. Three knocks sounded against the door. Vincent couldn't move from his spot on the floor, as if his wrists and ankles had been chained down. Three knocks again. It wasn't possible. How could it be knocking? The shadow he'd glimpsed through the window had been colossal, and the constant rumbling was entirely unnatural. And yet it knocked again, but this time it didn't stop. The creature pounded against the door, growing faster, louder, until the sound matched Vincent's racing heart. Finally clamping his ears down with his paws, Vincent squeezed his eyes shut. He was dreaming, or he'd gone mad, either way he wished it would go away, just go away. He stayed there for what felt like an hour, but in reality wasn't even a minute, when the rumbling moved. Suddenly released from his shackles, Vincent darted back to the door and listened. Two heavy footfalls indicated the beast was moving away. A deathly curiosity gripped him and he raised his paw towards the lock. He wanted to see it, to know what had come searching for him in the night. His paw shook a centimetre away from the lock while the rumbling noise receded. The bell at the station entrance sounded again, yet Vincent didn't move. When his paw finally gripped the lock and turned it, the station was empty and there was nothing beyond the tall windows. The only sounds were wind against the station walls and the whining canopy.