Fiction logo

Friends In The Dark

Blind Leading the Blind

By Mihwa LeePublished 2 years ago 12 min read
4

Sebastien was sure he was in the belly of a monster. His head pounded. The vibration and noise reverberating through his ear drums knocked around his brain. He groaned and opened his eyes slowly. A face came into focus in the dim light. Molly, his wife, was lying on her stomach across the seats opposite him. Her face was mashed up against the plastic seat, much like his he guessed. He peeled his face off and raised his head.

“Molly,” he whispered. His vocal cords protested as if he’d been shouting all night. He desperately wanted water. He sat up with a moan as thousands of little hammers pounded away in his head and his stomach felt like it was going to lurch out of his body.

Chris, Lorelei, and Ben were each sprawled on different rows of seats. Chris’ head was hanging upside down and Ben was sitting up with his head against the window. His belt and fly were open. “What the hell,” Sebastien murmured.

Lorelei was curled up in a fetal position and was sucking on her thumb. He grimaced at the sight.

Sebastien rubbed his face and checked his fly just in case. All good there. He cleared his throat and swallowed to lubricate his vocal cord.

“Molly,” he called out. When she didn’t stir, he scooted over and shook her.

“Molly!”

“What?” She responded groggily.

“Get up. Do you know where we are?”

She opened her eyes then bolted upright.

“Where are we? Is this a train?”

“It must be,” Sebastien said.

“I don’t remember getting on a train,” his wife said.

“Shut up you two. I’m trying to sleep,” Ben spat in his stupor.

“Ben, do you know how we got on this train?” Molly asked.

Ben sat upright slowly and looked around him. His usual coiffured hair resembled the head of Medusa thanks to all of the hair product caked in.

“Why are we on a train?” He asked then stood up and patted his jean pockets for his phone.

“What the hell? Why are my pants wide open?” After making himself decent, he walked over to Lorelei and Chris, and shook them awake.

“Anybody know where we are or where we’re going?” Sebastien asked.

“Um, we walked over to the club so we should have walked back to our hostel,” Molly said.

“I don’t remember anything about last night,” Chris said running his fingers through his thick locks of light brown curls.

“I remember hugging a bouncer on the street. He pushed me away like I was about to barf on him,” Lorelei chimed in, stretching out in her seat and yawning.

“You did puke on him, I think,” Molly said, “and Sebastien stole this.” She looked down at the stem of wilting rose on her lap.

“Shit. There’s no cell signal here,” Ben said tapping on his screen.

“Why is it so dark out there?” Sebastien echoed as he pressed his forehead against the window. “It’s pitch black out there. We must be in a tunnel. Shouldn’t there be lights or something?”

“Not much better in here either and I’m legally blind,” Chris said.

“How do you know it’s dark in here?” Lorelei asked lazily, stretching out once more but in opposite direction.

“For the twentieth time Lorelei, I can see the light,” Chris said impatiently.

“Geez, touchy, touchy,” Lorelei complained.

Ben was tapping his phone against his lap as if that would help. Molly pulled out her phone.

“Damn it! I have no battery left.”

“Neither do I,” Lorelei said.

“We did party long and hard yesterday,” Chris said helpfully.

“Mine was already dead when we got to the club,” Sebastien said mournfully.

“Where are we? Does anyone have a train ticket? I seem to have lost mine.” Molly rummaged through her purse. Sebastien dipped his hands into his jean pockets repeatedly which Molly watched in annoyance.

“Are you looking for a ticket or your dick?” She snapped.

“I’m just making sure. Leave me alone,” Sebastien snapped back.

“I don’t have mine either. Does anybody else?” Chris asked.

“Nope,” Ben and Lorelei replied at the same time.

“I gotta take a leak. Is that it?” Ben got up and disappeared into the men’s lavatory a few feet away.

“I’m shocked he doesn’t just go in his pants.”

“He can still take his phone with him in the loo. If he couldn’t, that would be a different story.”

“I can hear you!” Ben yelled from the lavatory in a muffled voice.

“So far none of us has a ticket, nobody knows how and why we’re on this train, and it’s unusually dark in here and out there,” Molly summated. She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. She jutted out her lower lip and began to blow on her jet-black bangs.

“Oh, oh. Molly has her thinking face on,” Sebastien said mockingly.

“Shut up, Sebastien. Let the woman think. It’s more than what you’re doing,” Chris said.

“Does anybody think it’s strange that the train hasn’t stopped at all?” Molly asked.

“Not really. It’s only been a couple of minutes, hasn’t it?” offered Lorelei, who was twirling her curly red hair between her fingers.

“How long do you think it’s been since we woke up? Five minutes? Ten minutes?” Sebastien asked. He then strolled to a side door and pressed a red button frantically.

“Help! Help!” He yelled.

“What do you think you are doing?” Chris asked.

“What if this is a runaway train? What if the train is being hijacked?” Sebastien said, his dark eyes growing as big as marbles.

“I doubt that very much,” Chris pushed up his thick glasses.

“Why? It’s possible,” Lorelei said while trying to fix her eye makeup.

“If I were to hijack a train, I wouldn’t do it when the cars were practically empty. It must be the middle of the night,” Chris reasoned.

“Hey, maybe it’s not empty,” Molly said and walked toward the next car. Sebastien and Lorelei watched her walk to the other end of the car and lean in to look through the square glass of the door. Molly watched for about five seconds then took a few steps backwards. Slowly. She then turned around and hurried toward the group. She sat next to Chris and buried her face between her knees.

“What is wrong? I can hear your breathing’s changed. You’re in a full panic mode,” Chris observed using his almost supernatural sense of hearing.

“She is? Molly, say something,” Sebastien urged.

“Oh no. I've seen that before. She stayed like that for hours when she found her ex-boyfriend in bed with her sister,” Lorelei whispered to Sebastien. Everyone stared at Molly expectantly, but she didn’t utter a word. Sebastien stood up and looked at Ben.

“Ben! Come on. Let’s see what’s in that car.”

Ben was still holding up his phone this way and that to check for signals.

“Why me?” He asked absentmindedly.

“Because you’re the only one left. Chris can’t see, remember?”

“Why don’t you ask me? I can see fine,” Lorelei griped.

“Because you’re busy with your makeup. Come if you want to. I’m not going to stop you,” Sebastien said.

“I don’t think you need three people to go see. How is that going to help?” Lorelei said. Sebastien rolled his eyes.

“But you asked to come! And for moral support! That’s what friends do!” Ben shouted.

“Fine,” Lorelei stood up and followed Ben and Sebastien.

There was minimal light in the other car as well. The three friends stood close to the glass on the door and peered through. They waited for their eyes to adjust and focus on the faint movements in the other car. It was Sebastien who spoke first.

“Fuckin’ hell,” he whispered.

“Yeah,” Lorelei agreed.

“What? I don’t see anything,” Ben said and pressed his nose against the glass. He detected some movements but wasn’t sure what he was looking at. He squinted and eventually registered what he was seeing.

“Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit,” he muttered as he backed away from the door. A delayed high-pitched wail came out of Lorelei. The three hurried back to their group.

“Keep your voices down,” Molly whisper shouted, finding her voice. “Don’t you know they’re attracted to noise?”

“Is somebody going to tell me what the hell’s going on?” Chris asked with a note of impatience.

“Shit! My heart almost stopped. Zombies, Chris, zombies,” Ben said.

“Bullshit. It’s getting old, man. I’ve been through it all; feeling up a turkey breast instead of a girl’s, wearing my mom’s coat, going on a date with a mute girl, but this zombie shit is the lamest.”

“Chris, he’s not pranking you. This is real,” Molly said.

Chris turned his head side to side like he does when he wants to fake looking at people’s faces.

“What? You gotta be shitting me. You believe in zombies?”

The group was quiet. Their minds tumbled around trying to make sense of what they saw.

“They are not real. They can’t be,” Chris continued.

“I would normally agree with you, but they seem pretty real right now. A dozen of them are in the next car, roaming around and bumping into stuff,” Molly said.

“Jesus. Zombies…fuck…” Chris shook his head.

“I wouldn’t worry too much,” Lorelei said maintaining her laissez-faire demeanour. “They can’t get in here. They don’t have the brains or the strength.”

“Are you sure they’re real? They can’t be,” Chris repeated. Then, “Wait. Listen.”

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The five friends turned their heads sharply towards the door. Four of them wordlessly gathered in one corner. Ben sat alone, frowning at his phone.

Bam! Bam!

“Isn’t there something we can do?” Molly asked with her eyes fixated on the door.

“Relax. They can’t get in. They’re not strong enough,” Lorelei repeated while putting on her lipstick. Molly looked at Lorelei in disbelief.

"How can you worry about your makeup at a time like this?" She asked. Lorelei shrugged.

“Maybe we can all push against the door so they can’t get in,” Sebastien suggested.

“And be closer to them when they attack?” Molly said.

“You have a better idea then?” Sebastien retorted.

“They can’t be real. How can there be zombies?” Chris repeated.

“You don’t believe it because you can’t see them. They look pretty darn real,” Lorelei said.

“Can’t we just move to another car?” Chris asked.

The three friends looked at each other, embarrassed that they had not thought of it. Their hopes were immediately quashed.

“I think that’s an engine room next to us,” Sebastien said.

“Most definitely,” Molly said.

“Maybe there’s an emergency exit,” Chris suggested. The three friends looked up and agreed that there was indeed an emergency exit overhead.

“Some good that’s gonna do. This train must be going 200 kilometres an hour,” Molly said.

“What the heck are we going to do?” Sebastien asked hopelessly.

“Yes!”

The four friends turned towards Ben who jumped up excitedly.

“I have a cell signal!” He announced. The rest of the group yelped with glee. Before they could say anything, Ben was dialing. They held their breaths while he listened intently.

“Hey Stew, I need your help. Yup, yup, really? Okay. I think that’s best. What? No. Never. Okay, do it.”

“Tell them we are stuck in a train and there are zombies in the next car!” Sebastien whisper shouted.

“Ask them to track your cell signal!” Molly said.

Chris shook his head in disbelief, being the only one who could hear the guy on the other line.

“Fuckin’ moron,” he muttered.

Ben hung up the phone decisively and looked up at his friends, grinning.

“So?” The friends asked in unison.

“He said my stocks are doing fantastic. I’m going to sell off Shopify while it’s up. He suggested I sell my JPX stock, but that’s crazy.”

The friends stared at Ben stunned. After a long pause, Chris spoke up.

“So, if I understand correctly, you got a cell signal, there are supposedly zombies trying to get into this car, and you make a call to your stockbroker?”

“That about sums it up,” Ben said cheerfully.

“You idiot!” Sebastien lunged at Ben followed by Lorelei and Molly.

“How could you be so selfish?”

“And stupid!”

“I should’ve never slept with you!”

“What? What did I do?” Ben looked wounded.

“Never mind! Can you make another call? The emergency number perhaps?” Chris growled.

“I think so.”

Ben dialed the number and held the phone to his ear. He then lowered the phone and looked at the screen. He looked up at his friends with a guilty smile.

“Um, it’s dead now.”

The three friends piled on top of him.

“That’s it. If we get attacked, we’re giving you up!” Sebastien announced.

“I’m sorry!” Ben shouted.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The five friends stopped and gawked at the door. There were dark and disfigured faces staring back at them.

“They sound angry and there’s more of them trying to open the door. We have to do something,” Chris said. The friends huddled closer together. They could sense each other’s hearts thumping away.

“Maybe we should all sit in front of the door so we can hold them back,” Molly suggested.

“I agree,” Ben said.

“Hey! I said the same thing before, and you all said no!” Sebastien exclaimed.

“That was then, this is now,” Chris said.

The friends edged hesitantly toward the door with Chris leading the way cautiously. Then they heard a crack. The friends froze in fear and held their breaths. Blood drained from their faces. The door slid open, and a tall zombie lurched towards them.

“Ahhhh!” The four friends screamed.

“Get out of my way, dickheads! I’m gonna burst!” The tall zombie barked as he squeezed past them and disappeared into the lavatory.

“What the hell?” Sebastien asked.

“Tickets please,” came a deep voice from behind. The group spun around to find a man in uniform. They stared.

“Tickets please. We are about to arrive at the station. I need your tickets,” the man said with a thick German accent.

“Could you please tell me where we are, sir?” Molly asked. The man regarded her suspiciously.

“We are about to arrive in Airolo.”

“What country is that in sir?” She persisted. The ticket man narrowed his eyes.

“Switzerland.”

“What?” The friends gasped.

“Excuse me, sir. Are those zombies in the next car?” Chris asked.

“Zombies? They certainly are. They are all on their way to the comic con.”

“I knew they were fakes all along,” Sebastien said sheepishly.

“Pretty realistic costumes,” Molly grumbled.

“You’re all morons and I’m embarrassed for humanity.”

“See? I knew it would all work out.”

“Where can I charge my phone?”

"Tickets please!”

Humor
4

About the Creator

Mihwa Lee

Writer of erotic romance novels (Rogues Worth Saving Series). I lived in 4 countries, moved over 40 times, travelled to over 20 countries, owned successful businesses, & had hot sex on 5 continents. I have shit to say.

www.mihwawrites.com

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments (2)

Sign in to comment
  • Alffedo del Arenal2 years ago

    You definitely have the talent to tell a good story!

  • Brad Ford2 years ago

    Great take on the challenge, fun characters and twist!

Find us on social media

Miscellaneous links

  • Explore
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Support

© 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.