Hellbound Express: Chapter 1

With a poking on my left shoulder, I woke up, jumping out of my skin after having slept in a chair that was somewhere that I didn't recognize. I couldn’t help but notice that the room I was in was rocking about, and that there were windows two seats away from my chair. The people responsible for this place made the seats from such new upholstery that really seemed out of place with the rest of the room. The wood in the room looked to be oak or something similar. It seemed like there were trees flying back behind me while I was sitting in this room.

*Clickety-clack*

*Clickety-clack*

*Clickety-clack*

Wait, this looked to be inside of a train… and it had to be a new train at that. What in the world was I doing inside of a train to begin with? Hold on, why did it smell like sulfur, and what does that say about my nose?

"Ticket, please," the person who poked my shoulder, dressed up as if he were the conductor, said.

Ticket? Why would I give someone a ticket when I didn't remember boarding this train?

Hey, just one second… is it just me, or is the train about to pass a station?

*Clickety-clack*

*Clickety-clack*

*Clickety-clack*

"Ticket, please," the conductor (or so I’ll address him as) said again.

"Sir, is it possible to have the train stop here?" I asked. "I need to get off, see if I can find my way home from here."

The conductor shook his head. "Sorry, but no."

"Why not?"

"This train doesn't let passengers off if they don't have tickets to their name."

I balked when I heard that. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"I'm afraid not, my good man." The conductor gave me a creepy look. "Does this mean you don't have a ticket?"

I groaned, desperate to find a way off this train that did not involve a ticket that I didn't carry.

*Clickety-clack*

*Clickety-clack*

*Clickety-clack*

Eventually, the conductor seemed to conclude something on his own. "Very well," he said. "Enjoy your trip on the Hellbound Express."

Wait, the what Express?!

Before I could ask him what he meant by that, we had passed under a bridge suddenly, and the conductor vanished upon light returning.

I had to be dreaming, right? There's no way that I was on a train ride to Hell, right?

C'mon, think for a second. How did I get here, exactly? What was the last thing I remember doing before waking up on this blasted train?

Er…

Well…

Uh…

I got nothing.

*Clickety-clack*

*Clickety-clack*

*Clickety-clack*

Before I could go back to sleep on the train, however, I saw a strange box appear in front of my face… what gives?!

[Welcome to the Hellbound Express RPG, Benjamin Parker!]

The Hellbound Express RPG? Is this supposed to be a video game? Am I trapped in a VRMMORPG?

As if prompted by the questions in my head, the notification box expanded to say the following information.

[Welcome to the Hellbound Express RPG, Benjamin Parker!]

[This real-life Gamer System came into existence because of something that you did when you were drunk one night rather recently. No Virtual or Augmented Reality gimmicks here.]

Hold on a bit… what did I do when I was drunk? I don't drink ever, and not because of how much alcohol affects the human body, but because it makes me forget entire days at a time. That is a valid reason for me to not drink a single drop of alcohol.

Then again, the only way I would know that is because I'd drunk a single can of beer one day, and the rest of the month was me not knowing what I was doing at all. I somehow got into my crush's bed by the end, and I woke up with a splitting hangover headache… and she told me how the night before was the best thing that happened to her. I don't know what all happened then, but I ‌wish ‌I could stop myself from getting drunk back when it happened.

The day back when I drank a single can of beer was July 19th, 2031, and, last I checked, it's now August 31st, 2034. I thought I'd stopped drinking forever, but I guess not.

[Would you like to proceed with the tutorial of this RPG?]

[Y/N]

Wait… why was the N grayed out? Does this have to do with why I remember nothing about the night before?

With a shrug, I poked the Y option with my right index finger. Better get some answers out of this.

[Welcome to the tutorial! Please get up off your seat.]

Blinking, I did so.

[Good, you are on the right track. Please move to the back of the train car you're standing in.]

Good thing I was standing next to the walkway between the seats. I turned my head to see the back of the train car. So far, no sign of anything that would hinder this little tutorial. I walked to the back of the train car.

[Good, you are still on the right track. Before you can go back to your seat, please do the following quest objectives for me:

- Find the treasure chest full of gear.

- Access your Inventory Menu.

- Equip your starting weapon of choice.

- Access your Skills Menu.

- Fight a group of monsters.

After that, you're allowed to sit down to catch a breather.]

I couldn't help but audibly gulp. There were monsters on this train?! What in the world was I supposed to even do?!

Still, I had to keep my head clear of anxiety, mainly to keep from losing it by something like a monster attack… ugh. Why did I jinx myself? I’m such an idiot.

*Clickety-clack*

*Clickety-clack*

*Clickety-clack*

As if that wasn’t bad enough, I still need to get off the train before it reached its destination. How do I do that at the rate I'm going? I need to find a way out of this mess and fast... let's hope I can pull that one off swiftly. I'd rather not go to Hell, thank you very much, considering the negative things I've heard of it.

With all that said, here's to me getting out of this train... somehow, anyway.