End Of The Line

An unconscious figure lies upon one of the seats of an empty train carriage.

A sudden jolt shakes the carriage causing the lights to momentarily glow bright before flickering dim.

The violence of the shake throws the figure of their perch onto the hard metal floor, waking them with a start.

The figure quickly rises, taking in their surrounding. They pause as they see their reflection in the windows, beyond which is dark.

They see short blond hair on a fair skinned masculine face.

They were a he. And he did not recognise himself.

He placed his hands on the red jacket, tracing all the way up to its hood. Beneath the jacket was a black shirt with a name tag emblazoned with THOMAS.

Looking further down, he saw he was wearing jeans but as he went to check his pockets, the carriage was again jolted once more, the lights flaring and dimming once more.

As the lights dimmed, he felt the carriage accelerate under him as he suddenly felt pain in the left side of his face.

The intensity causes him to reach up to his face with both of his hands. He drew them away as the pain subsided and saw blood on his left hand.

He blinked. The blood disappeared. He looked to the window at his reflection. The same face as before.

He took deep breaths as he collected his thoughts.

Who am I and what am I doing on this…… train? He surmised as his hands went through all the pockets upon the clothes he wore, only to turn up empty except for the name tag.

Ok my name is Thomas. Now how and why am I on this train. He looked up and down his surroundings and beyond either doors.

The carriage looked worn and old. One end, the direction of acceleration, he could see at least another carriage if not two. The other end, beyond the windowed door was dark.

He figured he was in the end carriage but as he something drew him to the end door and the darkness beyond. So he made his way there.

To his surprise, he could make out the details of the tunnel, illuminated from the train lights and yellow reflecting from the carriage’s exterior paint, but no more than a metre away as if the following darkness swallowed up what was left behind.

The train and lights once again did its flickering jolting dance causing Thomas to bounce off the wall and fall into the floor.

He spun onto his back quickly as he suddenly heard the echo of a gunshot as he once again felt the pain in his face.

He waiting for his scream and the pain to subside before he tried to get up but as he did so, he spied something under one of the train bench seat.

Crawling towards bench, Thomas realised that under it, was a toy stuffed bear. Grabbing it as he stood up, he turned it over in his hand.

It looked old and well used. The left button eye was missing but appeared to be newly stitched closed.

What drew Thomas attention was the bear’s right forearm covered by what looks like plaster. A wave of familiarity came over him.

As fingers traced over the bear’s arm, he saw in his mind’s eye a photo of a blond haired boy with a plastered right arm holding a teddy bear with a similarly plastered right arm.

He felt rather than knew it was a reward for something the boy had done.

A faint whistling sound drew Thomas away from his reverie as he once again turned towards the rear door of the carriage.

Except parts of the door was now missing as tendrils of black seeped into the carriage, some already creeping onto the roof, walls and floor.

Fearful of the sight, Thomas retreated away and looked to the door of the opposing end, into the lit interior of the carriage beyond.

He hurried over to the door, taking care and handhold as the train shook beneath him.

Opening the door with a turn of the handle, he nearly dove into the next carriage.

Turning around, he looked towards the darkness slowly consuming the other carriage.

As he went to close the door shut, he was rocked around the door jamb as the train violent shook and accelerated even more.

Collecting himself as his eyes adjusted to the changes in the intensity of the lights, he watched the darkness slowly receding away but then saw it stop and come forward once more.

He was unsure if it was now coming faster or what it portend but, with bear in hand, he reached for the door and slammed it closed as he took in the second carriage.

It was a similar make to the previous one but looked newer and fresher, although as he sniffed the air, he thought he could smell a wood fire.

Once more, he was the only one in the carriage.

Well this is definitely strange thought Thomas

The lights here were also dimmer and flickered. He looked around, searching for any clue at to what was happening.

A quick glance around proved fruitless so he decided to get to the next carriage and perhaps get to the front where the driver was.

This spurred Thomas to get to the front end of the carriage quickly causing him to nearly miss a piece of parchment lying face down on one of the front seats.

Spotting it as he was about to open the door, he turned and picked it up. Turning it over, he saw that it had mostly faded but he picked out the faint words “Certificate of Achievement”, “Search and Rescue” and “Thomas”.

Once more, he was treated to view of shaking the hands of someone of importance in front of an auditorium full of people.

As he looked down on the paper, Thomas thought, That is a memory.

The paper, however, was ripped from his hand as a rapidly rising wind came into the carriage. The train felt like it was hurtling along at great speed now judging by the roar of the wind and the noise of the undercarriage. The rear of the carriage was no longer there, the darkness coming towards him, slowly pooling into the aisle, about halfway of the carriage’s original length

Feeling time was now of the essence, he turned to the door and leapt into the next carriage.

He was greeted with the sight of a pristine empty carriage, with everything polished and new. To the other end, he saw a windowed door through which was the front end of the train.

Focused on that door, Thomas ran the length of the carriage, eager to talk to the driver, and placed his hands on the driver cabin door, on to find the door wouldn’t budge.

He pushed harder against the door, causing it to open a gap briefly, letting in a rush of wind, before slamming shut.

Losing his patience, he slammed his full weight into the door, causing it to slam into the adjacent wall.

Thomas found himself hanging on to stay in the driver’s cabin as wind buffeted against him. The left window had shattered and most of the controls on that side had been damaged, wiring everywhere causing sparks. With every jostle of the train, some of the wires came together causing the train to accelerate briefly.

He noted a panel indicated the train’s path and saw that there was perhaps one station left before the end of the line.

Looking down at the destroyed controls, he felt helpless. He came back into the passenger compartment, wrenching the cabin door close, the wind whistling through the now broken door window, and looked at a passenger window to see his reflection in the flickering dim lights.

What he saw instead appeared to be montage of himself fighting a blurry assailant holding a gun.

Each picture alternated down either side window and Thomas followed along, watching the through and fro of the fight until the gun was between the face of the two figures.

Thomas didn’t see what happened next as he budged down to the floor, onto his back. He looked up as a blackened mass pulled itself into the carriage, it’s edges gaining purchase towards him.

Somewhat dazed, his head lolled to the right and saw a pamphlet underneath a seat titled “Facing Life and Death? Your Choices Determines the Outcome.”

Thomas realised now what he was experiencing. He was dying. His life and final moments had flashed before him. Death was drawing near.

He scrabbled backwards just in time to avoid a dark tendril swiping at his feet. He then got up and turned and saw a light ahead in the tunnel.

The last station he realised as he looked towards the carriage passenger door to his right, specifically at the emergency exit door.

Thomas threw himself at the door and watched as the darkness formed into a humanoid silhouette reach out for him. The light in the carriage dimmed to almost nothing.

Seeing the light approaching in the tunnel, Thomas called out. “I’m not done living!” And, with a last look at the silhouette, turned and leapt towards the lit platform.

Spinning in the air, he spun to see the train disappear into the darkness as he rapidly shot onto the platform.

I’m too fast. I’m too fast Thomas thought with alarm, raising his left arm as he rapidly approached the platform wall…..

*************

A figure lay in a hospital bed, the left side of the face and head completely bandaged

A TV was on in the background. A news report spoke of a terrorist attack on a train being thwarted by a train security guard named Thomas Adams, who had been shot in the face and was in critical condition in hospital.

A nurse comes in and looks over the monitors. Content with what she saw, she goes to turn away but stops when she hears a murmur from the patient.

Hurrying, she goes to the bed to check but as she goes to touch the patient, she stops and gasps.

The patient’s left arm rose up.