Pink Elephant

Appears in both Chunnel Surfer II and Greenwood Depot.



Something came forward, and she could not make out what it was. A thin sliver of burn-scar pink showed in the light, then grew as the thing in the shadows came forward into the light. Anne tried to scream, but was in the middle of an inhale when she first spotted the thing, so only managed a strangled inward gasp.

The thing kept coming forward, and she could make out a great, thick head, face down like an animal, presenting a forehead like an old mountain range. The eyes, just before they came out of the shadow, glinted a dismal red, and faded to darkness as they came into the light.

Anne backed up, unable to take her eyes from the thing taking shape before her. Shoulders came into view, and great, plodding feet like tree trunks. It was slow, but moved with the steady and impersonal patience of a glacier.

"It's ... dear god, what?" Anne could now place the beast. As it swung its head from side to side with each step, she could see a stubby trunk waving under it, passing in and out of the head's shadow. It was an elephant. A diseased, misshapen elephant oozing with sores and with skin peeling in great red strips down its sides, but an elephant nonetheless.

Anne laughed. The elephant kept coming, and it got almost close enough to touch before Anne could convince herself it was real, or real enough, and she had to ''Move! Move! Move!''