Episode 11: First Stop

I expected the car to be buffeted by wind, the sheets and hair of the people within blowing about like they were possessed. There was no change in the air, though--at least, not to its movement.

A rank smell enveloped the small room, causing all of us to cover our mouths and noses. It was a sickly sweet smell, like rotting flowers. It was overwhelming. I could imagine it oozing through the room, orange tendrils wrapping around us, reaching inside of us and infecting us from within. Hardly what any of us had expected to happen.

This was the first external sensation that I had felt since I had been on the train, and I assumed by the looks on the faces of my comrades that this was the case for them, too. I coughed, and suddenly the train shook back and forth as if in response. There was a screeching as we slowed down, and I crossed the room to lean out the window. Just ahead of us was a train station. There was no one on the platform, no one waiting to board. The fog seemed to subside a little bit as we ground to a halt, revealing the grim light of the lamp posts on the station.

We exchanged a look within train car 139. We had caused this, somehow. There had never been a train station before. The train had never made any stops at all, in fact. Now, moments after the window was broken, we were at a stand still. There was a commotion down the hall, and we could hear shouting as people were drawn from their rooms. I returned to the door, placing my ear against it.

The thundering of many pairs of boots, the footfalls heavy enough to produce a clear sound on the thick carpets, echoed through the hall. They stopped on the other side of the door, one by one. The bald man came to stand next to me, a terrified look in his eyes. I held my breath.

We waited.