Zodiac's toy by John Jones (best free ereader .TXT) 📖

looked again to see if Lee was imminent, but could not see him, and walked onto the platform. There were several people waiting, and he hoped he could hide amongst them.

'Ray' came around the road until he came to the train station, and mounted steps on the metal bridge. He stopped and gestured to Lee.

"Come on dick-head," he said, and each insult only served to put more fuel in Lee's fire, but his tank was nearing on empty, and when he reached the bottom of the steps, the doppelganger stepped away out of reach.

"Ray for fucks sake what..!"

"You've always been a cunt haven't you Lee?" who found an extra burst and mounted the steps. 'Ray' though, jogged to the other end of the bridge, turned and gestured for him to come, and walked down the steps.

Lee followed, and made his way down and onto the platform. Several passengers waited for the train which was one minute away.

"Ray!" he shouted. "Ray what the fuck?" Everybody on both platforms looked at him, and then he spotted him on the other platform, trying to secrete himself behind a man with a large ruck-sack, but Ray knew he had been spotted, and eyed Lee with absolute fear.

Lee stepped to the edge of the platform and pointed at him.

"Ray you fucking cunt, you’re dead, then I'll go the wedding and fuck up your Carol and Wayne. I'll shoot the cunts," then he felt a tap on his shoulder and glared around.

To see 'Ray' smiling at him. The train was further down the track, heading their way.

"What the fu..?"

“He’s our toy,” then was shoved onto the tracks, and found out that the rails were live as he screamed and writhed as 750 volts of electricity surged through him. He was still screaming as he was ripped beneath the train.

The driver had slammed on the air-brakes but the train still slid by as it came to a halt. People milled around in a kind of panic, not really knowing what to do, and the doppelganger Ray simply stood on the station as they came to realise he was responsible. Only a few people saw him push the man, but he simply stood there as the train glided by slower and slower, watching Ray through the windows flashing by, who watched him also. The doppelganger simply grinned, and Ray just stared at him, his brain scrambling with questions.

The real Ray left and mustered enough energy to cross the bridge. He had to confront him. Had to know who he was, and when he reached the other platform, found the doppelganger nowhere to be seen. People still milled and fussed around, no-one brave enough to confront him, giving him stern looks, instead hoping somebody else would accost him. The train had stopped, and he came back out and stood on a pavement, still breathing heavily, looking around.

Then somebody called from a taxi outside.

"Oi, mate, get in. I'll take you to the wedding". Ray just looked confused at him, but the driver gestured him across. He wasn't the doppelganger, but an over-weight man in a lumberjack shirt.

"Hurry, I can get you there when everyone starts arriving". Ray went across.

"How do you kn..?"

"Get in," and Ray did, collapsing on the back seat, the taxi pulling away, the door slamming closed.

"Who are you and how do y..?"

The driver came away from the train station and maneuvered out onto the main road, but said nothing.

"Tell me!" Ray shouted. The driver just looked at him through the rear-view mirror and sped along an A-road where he joined a motorway.

Then the man spoke:

"Just to let you know. Your mate Shane. He actually did become a personal trainer up in the Lake district. Did quite well for himself".

"What who...how?” and guessed all his asking of questions wouldn't muster any answers. Instead would be told them, if at all. He sat there forlorn, hand on his head.

“This is not the way to the wedding,” he said, looking around, and tried again with his inquisition, but the man was silent for the four miles he took to come off the motorway, and drive further and further out into the countryside. He tried one final burst, and banged on the plastic partition.

"Fucking telling me who you are!" but he guessed exactly who he was but didn't want to admit it, didn't want it to be true, because if his beliefs cracked any further, then what? he would come to wonder.

If the zodiac is real, then what were the implications? They would be different for everybody. There would be plenty of non-believers out there who would steadfast fold their arms and shake their heads, with evidence waved under their noses who were even more disbelieving than Ray used to be, and there would be plenty of people who would nod with satisfaction 'Yes, see, told you astrology was real', and everything in between.

The taxi drove along a country lane, until it could either turn left or continue. It came to a halt at the junction. The driver got out, then opened the passenger door.

"Get out," he said to Ray, hooking a thumb over his shoulder. Then he turned and strode along the lane. Ray just looked at him, and looked at himself.

The man had morphed into the doppelganger, and in a burst of energy, Ray left the taxi and tried to hurry after him.

"Wait, who are..?" but 'Ray' simply walked on, as that was quicker than Ray was jogging. He was still exhausted, and tried to run faster but only managed about twenty metres before having to walk, the doppelganger keeping to around thirty metres ahead, looking back occasionally.

Further up was a metal gate, beyond which was ‘Mendel Farm’.

The doppelganger hurried, putting more distance between them and stopped at the gate, turning and leaning against it, waiting for the out of breath Ray to stagger near. He then opened the gate, walking into the farm.

Up ahead were several vehicles outside a negligent farmhouse, and besides that was an open garage with a car with its wheels off and bonnet open, tools and parts scattered around it. There was nobody to be seen. Further down to the right, a group of geese wandered around. 'Ray' walked to the left, past a few chickens and stables which seemed empty. They could both hear sheep, and sometimes goats would chime in from the area behind the farmhouse, but 'Ray' wasn't heading there. He walked past a vegetable garden beyond a wooden decrepit fence into a small open weed-ridden concreted area with a rusting truck trailer against a wall which looked like it would never be used again, next to which was a stack of four well-worn tyres besides broken palettes. Near a wall at the back with a wide entrance out onto the fields was a parked up tractor that had seen better days and needed a good hosing down. Beyond that were people seeding out in a pasture and were not looking in the direction of the vaulted roof cowshed, where Ray's doppelganger entered and turned beyond a tall pile of haybales.

"Stop...who?" With another surge of energy, Ray ran into the cowshed, but stopped, too exhausted, and fell to his hands and knees, breathing heavily. The shed was large and had six square pens. The two furthest away had four cows in each, and in the one nearest him there was a bull.

The doppelganger had gone, and there were no workers. The cows sometimes bellowed. He barely had any energy to stand, so he crawled across to the gate-pen and tried to drag himself up. When he was three-quarters up, the latch keeping the bull in unlocked and the gate swung open, causing Ray to fall forward on to the freshly laid straw. He was still breathing heavily, and sat back on his haunches.

Towards the back of the pen the bull looked at him with curiosity. Ray crawled back and leaned against the iron fence beside the gate. He was too exhausted to go anywhere, and as he looked at the bull he saw how big it was. It was normal size for a fully grown male adult, but still a large powerful beast, sleek black with vicious looking horns.

He realised what it was, and accepted the fact that nothing and coincidence had fallen through the ice. He believed. One-hundred percent.

"Alright," he muttered. "Alright!" he said, louder. "Alright! I believe," he screamed. "I believe. I believe. I fucking believe..." and within his mind, all his disbelief had switched into believing in the zodiac, in astrology, and the Taurus bull knew this, slowly walking towards him.

Even despite the cushioning of the straw, the weight of the animal made Ray feel a slight vibration when each hoof hit the ground.

It came beside him and breathed out through its nostrils in his face. Ray winced. Then from deep within its diaphragm, its strong lungs formed words from its mouth:

"I win," it said, and then took a few steps back. Ray could only stare at it, and it stopped and watched him.

He then felt pain. A splitting pain in both his hands which formed into fists. He raised them before his eyes and saw they were not hands.

They were hooves.

His bones cracked, skin ripped, clothes tore. His forearms were black fur, His skull split and became bigger, horns emerging. He was thrust forward onto the straw, on his hoofs and knees, his lower legs morphing into the backs of his thighs and black fur forming as his knees turned into feet. Muscles and tendons split and ripped apart, blood splashing onto the straw, but only the amount that was necessary to transform. His ribs and stomach were elongated, new skin forming, his head and body becoming furry, his teeth and jaw cracking forward, his face ripping.

Ray twisted and split and became a bull. Not a calf, but one that was older. Not as big as Taurus, but one of a substantial size.

His brain however, stayed the same. It was still Ray, who was well aware of what was happening, and the Taurus bull began to laugh, a deep, booming laugh that resonated for almost a mile in all directions.

The Ray-bull screamed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Publication Date: 01-12-2022

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