Red Herrings

Memories Lost

Darkness.

Kieran was trapped, trapped behind the walls of his own mind. Inky smoke flowed around him, covering his eyelids and filling up his lungs, making them expand and contract like a rusty engine.
There was something probing in his head and around him, it felt as if something important was being taken from his body.
He wasn't sure what.
Suddenly, the dull probing transformed into pain, like molten snakes weaving around his forearms and waist. Kieran cried out, agony laced tight in his throat, but no sound escaped him. He fell to his knees, attempting to ignore the flaming whips as they curled through his being once more. The darkness left him blind, black shadows covered his wounds, but he knew they were there. Red curving streaks like the stings from a box jellyfish, some wrapping around his neck like a macabre necklace.
Kieran shut his eyes, but his view wasn't any different. He was still floating in an endless dark mass, with nothing accompanying him but agony. The lashes rendered his body useless, his nerves so frayed they couldn't move any muscles. Kieran's consciousness was slipping away, his mind trying to power down and shut off the pain. The muscles and tendons in his body stiffened, and the darkness finally overtook him.

When Kieran awoke, he was in a different place altogether. There weren't anything to torture him, just a soft mellow glow that shone slightly through his eyelids. It hurt to open his eyes, but Kieran managed.
The light was welcoming, like a blanket on a chilly evening. Studying his surroundings, Kieran realized that he was in a subway, of sorts. There weren't any seats or handrails, Kieran himself was just lying on the floor, his hands crossed over his chest.
Light came from plastic strip lights strung around the ceiling, which was peculiar for a subway. The windows stared out to total darkness, which painfully reminded Kieran of his time unconscious. Some windows where covered in a sheet of thin ice, which reflected the strip lights like a chandelier.
Kieran tried to stand up, but a sudden slash of pain across his body forced him to stop. Crimson trails of blood, both wet and partially dry, covered most of his body. Most were concealed beneath his cotton shirt, but some partially peeked out of the fabric and curled around his neck and forearms. Wincing in slight pain, he traced a wound all the way to his left eye. He stood up, better prepared for the pain now. The ceramic tiling that covered the subway floor had some degrading patches, shaped peculiarly like footprints. The room was chilling.

Tap, tap tap.

Something scuttled on the roof, making Kieran jerked his head upwards. All he saw was the same strip lights he glanced at earlier.
The door leading to the next cabin was also covered in ice, but the substance was a lot thicker now, with thick blue fingers of frost curling around the handle. Kieran tried his hand on the door, but it only moved an inch before encountering some sort of blockage. Soggy newspapers fastened from the other side covered the windows, covering Kieran's face with alphabetical shadows.

"Ice," Kieran peered into the hinges of the door, "Frozen hinges."

Raising his foot, Kieran slammed the door, making it give way after a series of forceful kicks. The newspapers detached themselves, falling to the floor to form a paper carpet. The cabin was devoid of handrails, but seat cushions were spread across the tiled floor, what was left of them anyway. It seemed like a big cat, a lion of sorts, tore though the seat covers and left them in messy tatters.
Some tiles were cracked, others completely removed from their positions like an incomplete jigsaw puzzle. A loud scratching noise pierced the steel above him, accompanied by the same taps on the roof. Something was up there, Kieran was not alone. Like the previous cabin, frost covered the windows, but this time it was much more visible. No longer could you see the outside of the subway, just a thick blue-black curtain of frozen water. The strip lights, under closer examination, seemed to be covered with the carcasses of dead insects, mostly flies. Kieran peered into the plastic wondering how the little creatures got there in the first place. He spotted one, barely alive, squirming in it's death throes.

Knock, knock.

Something tapped against the window just to the left of Kieran. It didn't sound like a human knock, more like a knife against concrete. A shadow briefly passed over the ice-covered glass, then nothing.
Not enthusiastic about staying in the carriage, Kieran hurried over to the door to the next cabin. It was more protected this time, rusted iron bars in addition to ice. The ice seemed to act like glue, a blue hunk holding the bars in place. Some bars came off easily, but others were fastened more securely. Kieran hacked away at the ice, using a discarded bar as an ice pick. The ice gave way with tedious speed, chips of frost melting into minuscule puddles on the floor. At last, he shrunk the chunk down and ripped off all remaining blockages. The door felt cold to the touch as he opened it.
The smell hit him before he entered the room. A pungent odor, one that smelled of rotting flesh and decay. The cabin was dead, the strip lights powered down, the chairs covered in black fungus and the handrails covered in a skin of rust. Kieran couldn't see a door, assuming there was one. Most of the strip lights lay on the floor like dead transparent snakes.

Tap, tap. Tap, tap. Tap... tap.

The creature that lurked above followed him once more, making the metal ceiling ring with scratches. The noise startled Kieran and he stumbled, gashing his knee against a shard of concrete that protruded from the ground. He swore under his breath as thick red liquid made a small pool around his feet. The blood started to produce ripples, tiny waves that disturbed the red ocean. Without warning, the subway turned up into a forty-five degree angle, heading upwards.
Kieran's blood started to spread, tendrils of red fluid seeped into the concrete cracks. Whatever animal rested atop the subway roared, an alien, otherworldly noise that struck deep into Kieran's heart. The tilt of the train sent it tumbling backwards, sending it back to the first cabin. A tearing sound echoed throughout the cabins, talons against steel. Through the doors and beyond the torn newspapers, Kieran glimpsed a large cut that slashed across the roof of the first cabin. The alien roar sounded again and something dropped into the carriage.

A monster.

Kieran ducked out of sight, but not before catching a glimpse of its details. It was tall, too tall to be human. It had to stoop to fit in the room. It walked without feet, instead balancing on two stumps that ended in bone. The creatures face was expressionless, literally. It lacked eyes and had no mouth, but two tiny holes were positioned in the middle of its forehead like tiny shark pupils. They expanded slightly as the creature took in air, nostrils. The most morbid part of the creature was its hands, they were long and slender, with twin spires of bone that jutted out from where its hands should be. The subway tilted even more, its angle shifting to the sixties.
The wheels groaned in strain as it burst out of the darkness and the subway windows finally displayed a view. The landscape beyond the vehicle shone in vivid, bright detail, partially because of the full moon that hung in the sky, but mostly because a powerful searchlight, one that was attached to a vast cargo ship, pierced through the shadows. Kieran was on a wide cliff, one that displayed a beach covered in dark sand that looked similar to volcanic ash.

Lush vegetation grew in patches along the beach below, tree roots emerging from the sand like octopus arms.
Tiny shapes roosted within the dappled leaves, birds and some small mammals. Wooden debris formed a ring around the seashore, the remains of sunken ships from oceans miles away.
On the eastern side, the sand gave way to towering boulders, some nearly five meters large. The rocks ended in sharp points that spike upwards like the spines of a durian, a fruit that came from the southern parts of Asia. Bits of wood were stuck there too, which reminded Kieran of meat stuck in a tiger's fangs.
A scream jerked him back to reality, the monster was pounding on the door to the second cabin, its nostrils flowing with black blood. The subway began to slow, the wheels making a cacophony of screeching sound. It came to a stop, and the subway doors opened, all of them. The monstrous being, free from any obstacle, rushed towards Kieran, making thudding sounds as bones met the floor.
A yelp of terror came from Kieran and he rushed to the exit. He burst out of the door, his shoulder grazing against the bone claws of the terror behind him. Blood flowed from the cut in his arm and he thundered along the cliff, his heart hammering inside his chest, like a bird desperate for freedom. Kieran stopped at the edge of the cliff, trapped between to dangers.

He turned to look...

Nothing.

All traces, not only of the monster but the subway too, was gone. No tracks laid on the ground, no lumbering creature out to get him.
"What the hell was that!" Kieran paced around, his mind struggling to comprehend what happened, "Did it hide? No, it would have to carry the subway. Am I— I'm dreaming!"

But Kieran knew this wasn't the case, the gash on his elbow could testify that. The adrenaline rush was starting to wear off, his muscles ached and the wound was starting to burn. He rested on a tree trunk, neatly cut in half. No natural cause could fell a tree so perfectly, someone else was on, or had been on, the island.
The wide cut that disfigured his elbow sent a sudden jolt of pain up his nerves, making Kieran choke with pain. With shaking hands, Kieran tore strips of cloth off his shirt and wrapped it around his wound to slow the flow of blood. The red liquid spilled into the grass, making it reflect the shining glare of the searchlight. The bright lighting also made Kieran notice a dark coil that was wound in circles a few feet away from him.

Snake! Kieran threw himself his seat in panic, taking a stance and not letting the creature out from his vision.

But the 'snake' seemed to ignore him. In fact, it seemed to be dead. Kieran slowly inched closer, his muscled tensed for actions. The creature had multiple cords of muscle wrapping around its body, something that reminded Kieran of a—

"A rope!" Kieran laughed, appalled at his earlier reaction, "Hold on, a rope... I can climb down the cliff with that. But I'd need a strong anchor to tie it 'round."

His eyes rested on the tree stump which had kindly provided him a place to rest, it would serve another purpose now. The gears and cogs in Kieran's head started to whirl as he fastened a secure knot around the stump.

Kieran's original plan was to throw the whole length of rope off the cliff and slide down with that, but his body wasn't built for such exertions. His biceps burned as he strained to keep himself hanging, but the task was so exhausting he ended up tying the rope around his waist and just started looking for handholds. That lessened the climb to something bearable.

Bearable, not easy.

By the time he was halfway, past all the noisy seabirds that nested in the crags of the cliff, his shirt was damp with sweat and bird droppings. The lower Kieran descended, the less nests he found, birds preferred a higher altitude. At last, Kieran reached the end of the rope, which dangled three meters from the ground. He jumped and executed a not-so-perfect roll to soften his landing. He sighed out loud, thankful to be on solid ground again, but his relief was short lived.
A silhouette of a girl sat on a rock near the water, she faced in the direction of the cargo ship, with her back turned against Kieran. He ran up to her, avoiding the clusters of roots and plants that covered the shore. She looked about his age, although shorter. Wariness flooded Kieran, after all, it's not everyday you see a girl sitting on a remote island. But Kieran just departed from an invisible subway with something from his nightmares at his tail, so his levels of crazy were quite high.

"Uh," Kieran said, unsure of what to say, "Hi?"

The girl turned, and Kieran was shocked. Yes, she was beautiful, with dark brown hair flowing like a waterfall around her yellow sundress, but what surprised Kieran was that her skin was flawless.
Not, 'shiny and lustrous' flawless, but flawless.
Her skin didn't have any pores, no scars marred her skin, no freckles filled her face, flawless. She was like a doll.

"Uh," Kieran said again, his voice thick and stupid.

"Hi, you're Kieran, right?" She said with a smile that revealed her perfect teeth. Her hands were covered in silk gloves and were crossed against her left leg. "My name's Arella."

"Um, Arella what?" Kieran asked, not caring how this pretty girl knew his name.

"Just Arella." "What are you doing here?"

Arella raised a fingers and pointed it at the cargo ship, "I'm stuck here, just like you. That ship can get us out."

Kieran's wariness increased tenfold, she knew his name and her dress was not soiled. She was clean, despite the breeze that picked up and flung sand around them.

But she's right, I'm trapped here, Kieran thought, his mind debating on whether to trust her. Were both trapped here, after all. It's not like I can avoid her.

"Out of curiosity, how do we get up there?" Kieran asked slowly, still unsure.

"Come, I'll show you!"