Vladimir woke up from a knock on the compartment door.

  "I'm closing the toilets in ten minutes," the conductor's voice was heard. "Half an hour until arrival."

  He didn't like the conductor Masha. Yesterday she didn't give him a kettle, saying that everything was taken, she couldn't help him connect to the wi - fi , and it seems that she slipped him stale bedding. And all because Vladimir didn't agree to sell the three seats in the compartment that he had bought in order to travel alone.

  The only passenger in the compartment slowly stretched, stood up and began to change. He didn't like public toilets, so he wasn't going to go there to wash, but he had other natural needs that he couldn't wait until he got home. Taking a towel that would be used for door handles and locks, Vladimir went out into the corridor and stood in a short line. Everyone in it was sleep-deprived, but they were chatting cheerfully among themselves. Arriving at four in the morning was very inconvenient, but there were no other options. Vladimir really wanted to go home after a long business trip.

  He looked out the window into the darkness, trying to see something, but all he could see was his unshaven reflection. "Maybe I should shave?" he thought. "My daughter will try to avoid kisses again, and my wife will look at me with displeasure," but he immediately dismissed the thought. When he got home by taxi, the children would still be asleep, and his wife would understand. Having waited his turn and finished his business, Vladimir walked toward his compartment, squeezing through a line of half-asleep passengers just like him.

  Suddenly the carriage shook as if the engineer had abruptly pressed the brake. There was a screeching of metal and shouts. Vladimir and everyone who was in the corridor at that moment rolled head over heels in the direction of the train's movement. The carriage stopped with a roar and tilted slightly. The light went out.

  “Did someone pull the emergency brake?” flashed through Vladimir’s mind.

  Moans and children's cries could be heard all around . Vladimir stood up, bumping into someone's arms and legs every now and then.

  "Is everyone alive? Are there any casualties?" the conductor's voice was heard in the darkness.

  People began to come to their senses and the groans became more articulate. The hubbub of dozens of voices began to grow.

  - Mommies, what happened?!

  - Help!

  - Okay, everyone shut up! - the conductor's loud voice shouted over everyone else. It was quiet for a moment, even Vladimir froze. - Don't sow panic! There are small children here, don't scare them, behave like adults! - the conductor's voice became closer, now she was about in the middle of the carriage. - Are there any victims with fractures or open injuries?

  Without waiting for an answer, Masha continued:

  - That's good, now everyone freeze in place, I'll shine a flashlight, - a commotion with quiet curses was heard and the corridor was illuminated with a bright light. - Those who have flashlights on their phones, turn them on and shine them at your feet, check your neighbors, is anyone unconscious, - the conductor continued to command.

  Everyone immediately started shining lights and asking about the well-being of their loved ones. Vladimir did the same. No one argued with the conductor. When it became clear that no one was unconscious or passed out, the conductor sent everyone to their places, assuring them that everything would soon be fine.

  As soon as Vladimir had retired and started to collect his things, which were scattered all over the compartment, there was a knock on the door again, Vladimir opened the lock, and a bright light from the flashlight on the conductor’s phone hit his face.

  “Uncle, let me into the compartment, please,” the little girl whined.

  “These ones will sit with you for now,” she practically shoved the two children and their mother into the compartment.

  This time Vladimir didn't even argue, comfort on the road is one thing, trouble is another. Especially children. He himself is going to such people.

  “Our shelf is broken, there’s nowhere to sit,” the mother of two explained on behalf of the conductor.

  - Of course, of course, - Vladimir cleared the bottom shelf of bags, helping to settle the children. - You have beautiful children, your copy, - he tried to make a compliment and defuse the situation a little.

  - Yes, my son, he's my copy, - the woman smiled. - Well, the girl isn't mine, the conductor put her with us, she's a runaway, I think. - She patted the girl on the head and asked her: - Well, at least tell me now where you're from and what your name is?

  The girl silently stared out the window. Vladimir looked at her carefully, her clothes were clean and tidy, every detail of her clothes, jacket, shirt, skirt and shoes were correct, but somehow did not harmonize with each other. "My daughter would not dress like that," he thought. "It's not my problem, let the police deal with it, I have my own children, I need to keep an eye on them." Vladimir took out his phone and tried to dial his wife. But the call did not go through. To Vladimir's surprise, there was no network. He knew for sure that his operator covered this area. Perhaps there were problems with his phone.

  - Could you let me make a phone call? - Vladimir asked his unexpected neighbor. - Mine doesn't have a network.

  “I have the same thing,” the woman replied, showing the screen of her smartphone.

  Vladimir went out into the corridor and looked in on his neighbors, but they had no connection either. In the service compartment he found Masha and saw her flicking switches on an ancient control panel to no avail. Seeing Vladimir, she said:

  - There is no connection, no electricity. No one's phones are working. I looked out of the vestibule, but the front carriage was gone. I looked into the other vestibule, but our carriage was the last one. It was pitch black there , - she looked Vladimir straight in the eyes and for the first time he clearly understood that there was a woman in front of him, a small, frightened woman. - I'm scared... - she added quietly.

  - And where is your partner?

  - He went to the front carriage before...

  “We need to organize people,” Vladimir estimated how many men he had seen in the carriage. “Suddenly someone outside needs help.”

  - It's quiet there, completely. Like in the forest, - Masha's eyes began to fill with tears.

  - Just don't panic, - Vladimir took her by the shoulders. - You said yourself, there are children here. I'll go gather people.

  Vladimir walked along the corridor along the compartment, looking at everyone and searching for men. A few minutes later , eight men including Vladimir and the conductor Masha were holding a meeting in the working vestibule, it was the largest room in terms of area. The vestibule was ordinary, like any old Soviet-era carriage. Four doors, one into the carriage, one at the end onto the transition platform with another carriage, two on the sides for exiting onto the platform with windows covered with bars.

  - On that side, - Masha pointed to the other end of the carriage. - There should have been carriage number 15. But it's not there. The platform looks like it's been torn out by the roots. I could barely open the end door in that vestibule, it's jammed. There's no carriage that was in front of us, no rails, our carriage looks like it's standing on the edge of a forest. It's dark all around, only some trees can be seen.

  Vladimir and one of the passengers, who introduced himself as Oleg, simultaneously reached for the side door. Oleg grabbed the door handle first and, opening it, as if by accident, pushed Vladimir aside. He was not against it, he never aspired to be a leader, and Oleg clearly had a powerful and firm character and, it seemed, a military bearing.

  “Okay,” Oleg began, carefully examining the area behind the door, using his phone’s flashlight to illuminate the area. “Does anyone have a more powerful flashlight?”

  Everyone shook their heads.

  – Is it the same picture on the other side of the carriage?

  Masha nodded affirmatively.

  - Why are you standing here? We need to get out and see what's going on. We wouldn't have gotten very far on our bellies . There's a piece of iron nearby. - One of the men suggested, his voice creaky and sticky.

  “The trees are not the same,” Oleg suddenly said.

  - What do you mean not those? - asked the same voice.

  The vestibule was cramped for nine people. Almost all of them were tall, and Vladimir, who was not particularly tall, did not see who exactly asked the question.

  - There should be poplars. Along the railway from the siding we passed to the city there were only poplars. And here, it smells of pine needles. - Oleg sighed, apparently making some internal decision and continued: - I am not your commander, you can disobey me, but I strongly recommend that no one leave the carriage until dawn.

  - I'll go out and see what's going on, maybe someone needs a hand. - There was a scuffle, a man with a creaky voice squeezed his way to the door and, grunting, jumped out.

  “What’s there?” asked several heads at once.

  “Wait, I’ll take a look around now ,” came the response from the darkness.

  Vladimir stood at the side door of the vestibule and tried to look out the window.

  - You're right, commander, - came from outside in the distance. - There's a solid wall of spruce here. I'll go around the carriage.

  - Wait, Sergey, I'm with you. No one else should come out. I have a gun, - Oleg added for some reason and jumped out of the carriage. After talking with Sergey, Oleg turned to the others: - Close the doors, we'll go on the right side, I'll shine a light in every window. If we stop shining... sit quietly until dawn, then we'll see what happens.

  - Don't give them such a nightmare. Everything will be fine, - Sergey's creaky voice was heard from outside. Vladimir had a bad memory for names and he didn't remember anyone except Oleg, but he apparently remembered everyone, or at least those he considered necessary. Masha closed the door and locked it. Everyone immediately began to squeeze towards the window where Vladimir was standing.

  Vladimir saw the silhouettes of two men through the massive metal bars on the window and was almost blinded when one of them shone a flashlight into the window. Rubbing his eyes and pressing himself as close to the window as the bars allowed, he saw them moving away along the carriage. Masha and the other men rushed along the corridor. Vladimir continued to watch, pressing himself against the window, until they were out of sight. Looking out into the corridor, he saw Masha and the others walking along the carriage corridor, peering into the windows, carefully watching what was happening outside. Every window flashed from time to time from the light of the flashlight from outside.

  Oleg and Sergey reached the other end of the carriage without incident. Masha and several men went out into another vestibule, the corridor became empty.

  Several minutes passed, none of them showed up from the opposite vestibule, and Vladimir was about to go to them when he suddenly heard a sound outside. Something lightly knocked on the end door from the outside. Pressing himself against it and holding his breath, he listened. And almost immediately he heard the roar of some large animal. And clearly not a herbivore, Vladimir's instincts, driven into his genes by all his primitive ancestors, told him so. Vladimir listened in horror to the silence behind the door for a couple more minutes... The sound was not repeated.

  "It must have been my imagination," he thought, but at the same moment he saw the handle of the end door go down, as if someone was trying to open it from the other side. Vladimir jumped up, almost screaming. His whole body was shaking in horror, and his brain was feverishly trying to remember whether Masha had locked the door. The end door was never locked, so that passengers could walk freely between the cars. The handle turned all the way, the door was gently pried open from the other side, but it did not open. "Well, yes, there was no car on that side, the door was locked!" Vladimir rejoiced.

  Looking out into the corridor, he saw that Masha and half the carriage, including women and children, were moving in the opposite direction, looking into each compartment, and he realized that Oleg and Sergey had decided to continue their tour of the carriage from the other side. Vladimir did not know what to do, he clearly heard the sound of a large predatory animal. But animals do not know how to open doors. What if there was someone wounded from another carriage? That is why he was breathing heavily. After hesitating, he came close to the end door, listened and asked:

  - Who's there?

  He clearly heard breathing, heavy, deep and... angry? But whoever it was, did not want to answer. Vladimir immediately ran down the corridor towards the people who were just entering the compartment in the middle of the car. He did not break into the same compartment, but entered the compartment in front of him, squeezed his way to the window, ignoring the screams of the passengers in the compartment, pulled the window down as low as possible and stuck his head out. Oleg and Sergey were walking two or three meters from the car. Vladimir looked to the left, towards the end of the car where he heard the sound, trying to see at least something, and when the men drew level with him, in a whisper, enough for them to hear him, he called out:

  - Oleg, Sergey!

  Sergey responded:

  - What do you want ?

  Vladimir felt the others pressing against him from behind.

  - There is something ahead. I was in the vestibule and heard something like an animal snorting, and then someone tried to open the door, but when I asked "who is it?" he did not answer, - Vladimir also warned the men in a whisper.

  Oleg and Sergey immediately stopped and exchanged glances. Vladimir did not hear their conversation, but he clearly heard how the other passengers and Masha began to chatter:

  - What's happened?

  - Why did you stop?

  - What did you tell them?

  Then Oleg turned to him and said:

  - Maybe someone is wounded, we'll see.

  Everyone rushed to the next compartment, while Vladimir, gathering his courage, ran to the vestibule. He peered into it cautiously and without closing the door between the vestibule and the corridor, began to listen to the silence outside, but the noise from the carriage drowned out all the sounds. Having made up his mind, Vladimir closed the door and immediately heard the snore again. But this time the sound came from the side door, opposite the one from which Oleg and Sergey were walking. He turned off the only source of light - his flashlight on his phone and looked out the window on the door. At first he couldn't see anything, but after a couple of seconds, out of the corner of his eye he noticed the movement of some massive creature in the darkness, which disappeared around the corner of the carriage. The snore was heard again behind the end door. Looking out the window of the door from Oleg and Sergey's side, he saw them slowly approaching, flashlights pointed forward. People started to crowd into the vestibule, again there was a hubbub and questions that Vladimir ignored. Oleg and Sergey drew level with the window. Masha unlocked the lock and opened the side door, Vladimir shouted over the voices of the others, raising his voice a little:

  - Get in quickly, I heard something from the end, he’s there!

  Sergey snorted and walked towards the end of the carriage. Oleg wanted to stop him, but apparently it is not customary for the military to abandon a civilian in trouble, and he followed him. When both were out of sight, Masha asked:

  - What sounds did you hear?

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Vladimir didn't have time to answer. A terrible roar and scream were heard:

  - Shoot!

  Shots rang out.

  Masha, who had already started to open the end door, slammed it shut with a bang, and Vladimir tried to see what was happening around the corner from the open side door.

  - Get out , you fool! Get out! - a shrill scream was heard.

  It was impossible to tell which of the men was screaming. Vladimir counted the shots, peering into the darkness: five, six, seven, another scream was heard, but it was fading, and suddenly all the sounds stopped at once. Masha jerked it away, closed the side door and locked it.

  There was silence in the vestibule; only the sound of children crying and wailing could be heard from the compartment.

  “What was that?” asked one of the men.

  Nobody answered him.

  - N-n-need to close all the windows and m-m-make sure all the doors are closed. - Masha came to her senses again before the others.

  The men rushed to carry out her instructions. Only Masha and Vladimir remained in the vestibule.

  “Who’s there?” Masha asked Vladimir. “What did you warn them about?”

  - I told them that I heard some sounds. But they either didn't believe me, or they thought that the gun would help them.

  At that moment, a knock was heard on the roof of the carriage, as if someone heavy had climbed up there and was trying to find an entrance to the carriage.

  Masha screamed shrilly, clutching Vladimir's hands. Vladimir seemed to scream too, but not as loudly as Masha.

  Two men immediately rushed into the vestibule, one young, the other grey-haired.

  - What's happened?

  - S-s-someone is on the r-r-roof! - Masha howled hysterically.

  Everyone immediately looked up at the ceiling, as if they wanted to see through the plastic and metal who was there. At that moment, they heard blows on the roof, as if someone was desperately pounding on it. Wheezing and other incomprehensible, eerie sounds were heard. Everyone immediately sat down, and one of the men, a young man, ran out of the vestibule.

  The knocking began to weaken. The wheezing became quieter and quieter. And at some point, everything stopped.

  “He left?” Masha asked with a howl.

  “I don’t know,” Vladimir answered for the umpteenth time. “But whoever it is, he can’t get into the carriage.”

  “I’ll check the windows and doors,” said the gray-haired man and left.

  Masha and Vladimir sat hugging each other on the floor. Masha was shaking nervously and sobbing. Vladimir tried his best not to shiver. But either the cold, which was getting worse towards dawn, or fear made his knees and hands tremble. And Vladimir kept hearing crunching and chomping sounds, as if someone was eating something outside.

  Masha didn’t hear these sounds or didn’t want to hear them.

  A couple of minutes later, a gray-haired man ran into the vestibule and said in a frightened whisper:

  - The door on that side doesn't close.

  Masha immediately jumped up and ran with him. Vladimir stood up, brushed off his trousers, hoping to stop the treacherous trembling in his legs and followed them, but then he heard a scraping sound. As if someone was scraping something metal along the iron side, slowly moving along it to the opposite end of the carriage.

  "Don't piss yourself," a creaky voice was clearly heard from outside. "I'll get everyone. I won't leave anyone alive."

  The hair on Vladimir's head stood on end. He slowly stood up, realizing one thing - he recognized Sergei's manner of speaking and his voice, but... it was not him speaking. Vladimir had perfect pitch and felt that the creature speaking was not human, it spoke as if tasting the words .

  “Close it faster, faster!” Vladimir yelled, losing control of his body again.

  There was no need to hurry the conductor and the gray-haired man, even though they had not heard what Vladimir had heard, they were running as fast as they could. The gray-haired man ran, clearing the corridor of curious people, practically knocking anyone back into the compartment or slamming them into the wall. They disappeared into the opposite vestibule, and Vladimir followed as if tied, practically keeping pace with the one who was outside. He continued to scratch the wall of the carriage, slowly moving towards the unlocked door. Masha jumped out of the vestibule, she ran in the opposite direction, almost knocking down Vladimir and disappeared into the service compartment muttering: "Crowbar, crowbar, we need a crowbar." Vladimir continued to walk on stiff, trembling legs following the grinding sound, as if tied, as if the slower Vladimir walked, the slower the creature behind the wall of the carriage would walk. He peered into the large glass windows, so fragile, so thin, not covered with bars... Why were there bars on the windows in the vestibule, but not on the compartment windows and the windows in the corridor? Why? When there were only a couple of meters left to the vestibule, Vladimir was almost knocked down again by the conductor, running in with a screwdriver in her hand. He stopped, stepping on a bunch of keys. Picking them up, Vladimir clearly thought: - "Masha dropped the keys to the doors? How will she close the doors now." All the passengers locked themselves in their compartments, the corridor was eerily dark, through the slowly closing vestibule door one could see Masha and the gray-haired man trying to do something with the lock of the outer door. The grinding noise continued along the car, and Vladimir stood there, holding the keys in his hand. The door between the vestibule and the corridor closed, separating Vladimir from the only source of light, Masha's flashlight.

  Vladimir was shaking. Now he understood it clearly. And he also understood that he was slowly but gradually, step by step, accelerating, moving backwards. Towards the vestibule, where all the doors were locked and the windows had bars. And then he turned around and ran, shouting something loudly, losing himself in horror when he heard a strange voice, which said in Oleg's manner:

  – A screwdriver won’t help you, Masha, you need a crowbar here.

  The conductor's shrill scream caught up with Vladimir as he was already running into the vestibule. How the gray-haired man screamed, or whether he screamed at all, he did not know. Vladimir slammed the door and locked it. Then he sat with his back to the door and covered his ears with his hands. But the screams in the carriage were still audible. He clearly heard each scream and immediately remembered the person who uttered it. He knew that it was difficult to distinguish people by their screams, they scream from pain and horror, all alone, it was not always possible to distinguish a man's scream from a woman's scream. Vladimir had a bad memory for names, but he distinguished and remembered faces and voices very well. And now, his ability to distinguish voices had increased even more. He clearly understood: this was a man screaming from the last compartment, he, his wife and three children were traveling to visit his parents. Vladimir heard this while standing in line for the toilet. These were the screams of his children, a girl of about seven and twin boys a little older. His wife was no longer screaming. Here comes the family howling in the next compartment. They understand that they are next. The monster, the monster, not an animal, Vladimir knew that for sure, animals cannot speak with the voices of those who had just been killed, moved along the carriage systematically, very clearly following the order of the compartments. In each compartment where he penetrated, tearing down the flimsy compartment doors, they first screamed, then wheezed, and then fell silent forever. And yes, before tearing down the door, the monster knocked and said in Masha's voice: "Open up, your station."

  Here the monster reached his compartment. Vladimir always chose the compartment in the middle of the carriage. He heard and recognized the shriek of the young mother and the angry and desperate cry of the boy, apparently trying to protect his mother and the girl. For some reason the girl did not make a sound, or Vladimir did not distinguish her voice in the standing scream.

  Then more screams, children's, adults', desperate, frightened, hysterical. Vladimir covered his ears with his hands, squeezing his head harder and harder. At some point the screams stopped. And the chomping too. Only sobs and a quiet howl from someone in the compartment closest to Vladimir could be heard.

  "I'll just be a minute, don't go anywhere," the creature said, in the voice of a grumpy woman trying to get to the toilet without waiting in line. There were no footsteps, but a few seconds later a quiet, creaking voice could be heard from the opposite end of the corridor: "Where else would they go?"

  Vladimir quietly got up and looked out first one window, then another. What if it decided to break in from the outside? Would the bars hold it back? But he couldn't see anything in the darkness. Where was the sun? Why wasn't it dawning?

  “Uncle, let me in,” came a quiet whisper from the corridor, as if someone was speaking with their lips pressed to the keyhole.

  Vladimir fell to the floor as if he had been mown down. He recognized the voice, of course. And the voice was childish, human. Or did it only seem human? What to do? If it was that same girl, he hadn't heard her screams, maybe she had run away before the monster had broken into their compartment? And what if it was some kind of trick? After all, the terrible creature could imitate voices... For the first time, Vladimir regretted that there was no window on the door between the vestibule and the corridor.

  “Uncle, please...” the whisper was heard again.

  Vladimir covered his ears with his hands again, curled up on the floor in a fetal position. He had already decided what he would do, decided when he found the keys dropped by the conductor, when he ran to the vestibule, which, unlike the compartment, had four massive doors and windows covered with strong bars. He ran without trying to save anyone else, without even warning that the monster was already in the car. Now he needed only one thing - to find an excuse for himself.

  “But I’m not sure there’s a girl in there! And how could she have escaped? Run away earlier? Nooo , no! It’s a monster! He’s being cunning, trying to lure me out! He understands that I’ll never open the door after he kills everyone. That’s why he stopped in the middle of the car. And he decided to lure me out! Trick me! No way! I’m not a fool! I won’t give in so easily!” Vladimir’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a window breaking. He stared in horror at something trying to break through the bars on the window, something dark, inhuman was beating against the metal, trying to squeeze through, grab, hook Vladimir.

  Vladimir screamed, prayed, cried. He didn't know how long it lasted, a second? Ten? The horror disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. Vladimir stared at the window, not taking his eyes off, as if afraid to miss the moment when the monster would reappear. And only then did it dawn on him that the girl behind the door was real, he rushed to open the door, but his hands were shaking and the key kept slipping and not getting into the keyhole.

  - Girl, girl, I'll open it now, now... - Vladimir's voice trembled as much as his hands. Finally, he managed to deal with the lock and swung the door open.

  The corridor was plunged into darkness, but Vladimir’s eyes had already become accustomed to the darkness, and he saw that it was empty.

  - Girl, - Vladimir called a little louder. - Where are you? Come here quickly.

  For a few seconds there was absolute silence in the corridor, but then the door of the third compartment opened slightly and some man, an adult, looked out.

  “What’s going on?” the man asked in a whisper. “Is it over?”

  “Come here quickly,” Vladimir waved his hand as if this should instill confidence in his words. “It’s safer here.”

  The man had already started to leave, pulling someone out of the compartment with him, but at that moment the creature again tried to break into Vladimir's shelter, this time through the window from the other door. There was a blow, a crack and an angry roar. The creature beat against the bars, breaking the remains of the glass, Vladimir habitually fell to the floor and shouted at the man, who was backing away into his compartment:

  - Here, here! There are bars, you fool! You will die there! Everyone come here quickly, I will not open this door again! Faster! - he shouted, covering his head with his palms from the crumbling glass.

  Vladimir saw how the doors of the remaining two compartments, the first and the second, began to open. People looked out from there, but no one was in a hurry to leave their flimsy shelter.

  - Come on! Faster! He won't be able to get through here! - Vladimir saw how someone pushed the man from the third compartment from behind, and he started walking forward again.

  - Girl, girl! Where are you? - Vladimir shouted even louder. - Run here!

  At that moment the banging on the window stopped. It became eerily quiet again.

  “Faster,” Vladimir whispered, looking at the man.

  He quickened his pace and when there were only a few steps left to the vestibule, the window in the corridor opposite the man sprayed with fragments as if from an explosion, and something flew into the carriage, instantly crushing the screaming man under itself. Vladimir slammed the door and locked it. This time his hands did not tremble. They trembled a little later, when Vladimir began to realize what he saw... Black, with curved limbs that were not human, the upper ones of which ended in claws, and the lower ones bent in the opposite direction like a grasshopper. Vladimir did not make out the muzzle, since he saw the creature from the back, but the head on the top, back and sides was covered with several growths in the center of each of which was an eye. Each of them moved independently, as if living its own life. And each eye was human. Ordinary, with a white apple and a dark pupil. Brown, black, grayish eyes darted along the corridor, looking for a threat or, rather, a victim...

  Vladimir vomited bile, he heard the screams and groans dying down, until there was a thunderous silence again, in which, distinctly, as if right under his ear, someone was eating. Ate, chomping, crunching small bones, as if you were eating chicken wings. Ate, sucking blood through clenched jaws, like apple juice when you bite into it with your teeth. Ate greedily, as if this was the first food in many years of hunger. The sound of tearing clothes, as if the monster was looking for something sweeter, more meaty, occasionally drowned out the chomping sounds, the sounds of tearing flesh and blood. Vladimir covered his ears again, trying to shut out the sounds, just as he had shut out what was happening in the corridor with the door. He rocked on his knees, repeating incessantly:

  - I see nothing, I hear nothing. I see nothing, I hear nothing. I see nothing, I hear nothing.

  He rocked like this until he realized that the sounds in the carriage had stopped. There were no more screams, crunches, or chomping sounds. Vladimir removed his hands and listened. Almost immediately he heard someone else's breathing behind the door. The breathing was deep, strong, and unhurried. As if someone was resting, knowing that there was no need to hurry. Vladimir glanced at the windows again; he no longer remembered which side the sun was supposed to rise from. How much time had passed since he woke up? Half an hour? An hour? Or ten minutes? Dawn should have broken anyway. But it was dark outside the windows, almost darker than in the vestibule.

  “Give me the girl,” Vladimir suddenly heard a female voice, he had never heard it before. “Give it to me and I won’t touch you.”

  Vladimir listened, straining all his senses. He heard distinct breathing behind the door, and at some point he realized that he heard something else, another breath. More frequent, shallow, and a little frightened. There, behind the door, somewhere in the conductors' compartment or the toilet, sat a little girl, desperately trying to calm her breathing so as not to give herself away, and also praying that Vladimir would not give her away.

  Vladimir, who up until this point had also been trying to breathe more quietly, jumped up and began to move actively, accelerating his lungs and actively moving his feet.

  - Well, monster, - Vladimir was surprised at his own determination. - You didn't get us. So now you'll go back to where you came from, without having tasted our flesh! Soon the sun will rise, they'll start looking for us, and whoever you are, you won't get us! Get lost in your stinking, worthless life! You lived as an outcast, and you'll die as an outcast!

  Vladimir walked along the vestibule, shuffling his feet, afraid that if he stopped for even a second, the monster would hear her breathing.

  - You won't live! How many people have you killed! For what? - Vladimir yelled. - You wanted to eat? So why kill everyone? Even animals don't do that! You're a bitch! You're a bitch! I hope you die , you creature!

  Vladimir burst into tears, now he didn't care how he looked, and in front of whom? He sobbed hysterically, like a child, sobbing and howling. He was incredibly ashamed, in front of Masha, in front of the gray-haired man, in front of Oleg and even Sergey, in front of the girl who was somehow still alive.

  “I just want to go home…” Vladimir said through tears. “To my wife, to my children, I don’t want to die…”

  “Well then, give the girl back,” he heard a gentle voice. “And live…”

  “Good ,” Vladimir thought. “After all, it’s none of my business.” Vladimir was about to open his mouth, but suddenly he heard Masha’s voice again:

  - Knock-knock, come out of the toilet, girl, the sanitary zone is coming soon. - The monster knocked on the toilet door: - Come out ...

  "It wasn't me, it wasn't my fault, he found her himself, I did everything I could!" flashed through Vladimir's head. He heard the monster start knocking on the toilet door harder. The door started to crunch .

  - Mom! - the girl's shrill scream was heard. - A-a-a-a!

  - Get away from her! - Vladimir pressed himself against the door as if the monster was beating against his door. - Get away, creature!

  The wooden door of the toilet could be heard giving way under the pressure of the creature.

  - Mommy, please!

  Vladimir took out the key and inserted it into the keyhole. But then he grabbed his head with his hands and muttered:

  - I see nothing, I hear nothing, I see nothing, I hear nothing... - no, he will not open the door... And before that he heard cries for help, but he did not help anyone. He wanted to live too much.

  The toilet door gave way under the monster's blows.

  - Dad! - the girl squealed.

  Vladimir jumped up, opened the lock, swung the door open, flew into the corridor, embracing and knocking down the monster, who was tearing out pieces of the door through the broken crack, and fell with him onto the floor of the corridor, shouting to the girl: “To the vestibule!”

  How long does it take a girl to lock herself in a vestibule? Does she know what a vestibule is at five or six years old? Will she have enough strength to lock the lock with the key that Vladimir left in the keyhole? It didn't matter anymore, he had grabbed the creature's fur tightly, entangling the monster's lower limbs with his legs, preventing it from jumping up, feeling how sharp claws were tearing his back, side, feeling how the mouth was closing on his shoulder, how teeth were tearing muscles and skin, he desperately squeezed his eyes, afraid to see the creature, not wanting to see before death that abomination that was tearing him apart and eating him alive. In his weakening embrace, with the last of his strength, overcoming pain and horror, he squeezed the monster as if he was squeezing and crushing all his demons: fears, cowardice and meanness that he had ever committed in his life. The monster stuck one of its lower limbs between itself and Vladimir and, having stuck its claws into his chest, yanked him down to the groin, bit through his collarbone and shoulder blade, breaking bones, twisted his lower jaw, tearing off the skin of his face. The man, immobilized, deprived of the ability to breathe and scream, eaten alive, torn apart by hellish pain, took one last look into the vestibule. His eyes, deprived of eyelids, were filled with blood and he could no longer see anything. But his ears were still intact and his dying brain, through the sounds of torn flesh, tearing skin, contented rumbling and disgusting chomping, recorded how the lock on the closing door quietly clicked and the key turned. He did not know what would happen next. He did not know what had happened before. Who this girl was and why the monster was hunting her. But here and now, dying, he believed that he had finally done everything right, had done everything he could.

  ***

  Vladimir was hungry. And although there was plenty of meat around, the cold and coagulated blood gave him an unpleasant aftertaste. He didn't want to eat such meat when there was delicious, appetizing, and most importantly, warm food nearby, behind the door. Oleg offered to break down the door, Sergey offered to lure her out, Masha said that her colleague would come soon, and he had spare keys. Vladimir vaguely remembered that the colleague was in the missing part of the train or that they were in the missing part of the train? It was irritating that Vladimir had only one eye, and for some reason it was on the top of his head. He groped around the ceiling with it, looking for a way to get to where the food was. He was also a little irritated by the other voices in his head. They wanted to eat. And he was terribly hungry.

  Vladimir listened to the distant, barely perceptible, growing hum and relayed the sound to Oleg. Oleg confirmed his guess. Soon there would be helicopters and soldiers here.

  "We're leaving," he suddenly heard a commanding voice in his head. The voice was very strong, stronger than all the others.

  "I can move the helicopter a couple of hundred kilometers, like I did with the wagon. I've already gained strength, but only one helicopter," he heard another new voice.

  “We’re leaving,” the strong one repeated.

  "And the girl? I want to eat!" Masha demanded.

  Vladimir heard the sound of a door being torn open and a thin voice:

  - Are you done?

  - Yes, my dear , it's time for us to go... - Vladimir heard the Strong One's voice again, but this time not in his head. - Don't worry, we'll meet again soon, Mom sends you her regards.

  “I want to eat!” Masha repeated more quietly; even she understood everything.

  “There will be plenty of food,” the Strong One reassured her.

  They jumped out the window and in a few jumps reached the dense spruce forest, Vladimir desperately tried to look back, but saw only a black sky covered with clouds. Well, at least he had excellent hearing. Vladimir concentrated on his hearing. And they heard every animal in the forest, how branches crunched under careless boots, the barking of dogs and the clanking of bolts. There was so much food around, come and take it…