The fight for the hereafter.

I looked around me, "How did I get here? Where exactly is here?" There is a familiarity that takes my mind a few minutes to decipher.

I seem to be aboard a train, the surprising and confusing thing is, what I see out the windows. The scenery is not what anyone would expect to see from the windows of a moving train.

What I see instead is the night sky filled with distant galaxies and every so often, not-so-distant planets with their moons in tow as they travel past the windows. Suns flash brightly from behind as the planet cruises past between us.

"He has awakened!" I hear a voice not far from me.

"Who are you and where am I?" I ask the attractive female smiling at me.

"You will be alright, we have you well hidden amongst us."

This is an answer that just adds to the confusion that I already feel.

"Can someone please explain how I got here and where I am?"

Looking around, I notice that the passengers, every one of them is well dressed and would be considered very good-looking anywhere else.

"You were in an accident," I am told.

"An accident? I don't remember being in an accident?"

"That happens, it will come back to you in time."

"How did I come to be here? Where are we going?"

"Your accident brought you here."

"I am sorry lady, but you are not making any sense and haven't made any since I woke up. Nothing I see around me is making any sense."

"I apologize, Mr. Cain, I will try to explain."

"Every time you speak, it throws me further into confusion. How come you know my name? As far as I know, this is the first time that we have ever met."

Then a voice with a calming timbre came from a male passenger in the seat directly in front facing me, dressed in a dark pin-stripped suit.

"It's not easy to explain, but if you will allow me to be perfectly blunt. You were in an accident that left you in a coma."

I looked towards my female co-passenger who gave me a sweet smile in agreement with that which I had just been told.

"So what are you saying? Am I still in a coma?"

"What does the view out the windows tell you?" The man in front replied.

No matter how preposterous it sounded I had no choice but to accept what I was being told.

"Then who are you? Or the other passengers aboard this train? Are you all comatose passengers as well?"

He replied, "no most of us are here to stay on this side permanently."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"We won't be going back to the other side."

"What about me?"

"If things go well you will soon be back with your family." The woman beside me explained.

"You mentioned earlier that you were hiding me. From who?"

The woman's eyes glanced up towards the gentleman sitting in front of us before she continued to answer. "You may not believe what you hear and I don't blame you, but please try to have a mind open to listen and maybe consider what I will tell you."

"Okay," I replied. After all how much crazier can things get? I thought to myself.

"When a person passes over to this side, they start to de-age or get younger until finally, they return to that of an embryo ready to be reborn back into the world that you had just come from. There are many who don't go through that metamorphosis and remain ageless. They soon move onto higher levels of existence. But there is another new group who are expecting to return to the other side who also remain ageless and are using that ability to take control over things on this side."

"How are they able to remain ageless?"

The male in front spoke up, "The ancient Egyptians thought that they too could remain ageless and control things on this side. But time proved to be more powerful as it ate away at their mummified remains. So that in the end, there was no way for them to return to the other side to the person that they once were. Then the regenerating process caught up with them eventually."

I had to inquire, "so where has this new group of ageless beings come from?"

"It has been postulated that they have had their bodies placed under cryogenic preservation on the other side," the man answered.

"That is where you will be very helpful to our cause," the lady informed me.

"I am very sorry," the man interjected, "where are our manners? I am known as Walter and the lady beside you was my wife on the other side she was known as Audrey." He smiled when he glanced at her.

"It is my pleasure to meet you, Walter and Audrey."

"Our names would have come to you eventually as yours did to us. But why waste time? Of which we are running out." Audrey added.

"May I ask how you two came to be here, on this side?" I inquired of them.

"Storms at sea can be very unforgiving. Especially to private yachts." Walter smiled.

"Why is time running out? I asked Audrey.

"This train is on its way to a place from which no person can easily return. A gigantic black hole that is situated in the furthermost reaches of the universe. Its speed is picking up the longer we sit. Everyone aboard this train is those who had stood up against those age-less imposters. They spread the message that they are personages who were meant to go on to the higher plane of existence, but have chosen to stay behind to help others to break the cycle of regeneration into lives of hardship."

"What sorts of pains are they inflicting upon those that they have convinced?"

"They are stealing their free will away from them. They dupe others into allowing them to draw their energies away from them to make themselves more powerful." Walter replied.

"How are they doing that?" I asked.

"By convincing them that they can be reborn into rich and powerful families if they follow their instructions and do as they say," Audrey answered me.

"They can't move on to the true plane of higher existence, so are doing their best to create a mock-up copy of it on this plane of existence," Walter added.

"What can I do?"

"We need to work on getting you out of your coma and back into your body before this train reaches its destination," Walter replied.

"Am I the only one that's here because I'm in a coma?" I asked.

"No there are others among us here. But you are one of the few that we deem to be able to pull through." Walter added.

"Anyone who has the chance of going back to their lives on the other side like someone in a coma has. Is deemed to be dangerous to these beings. They don't want you going back with the knowledge of what is going on here. That is how you ended up riding this train," Audrey explained.

"We would like you to turn around and meet Ananya."

I turned to see a very attractive person of what looked like Indian descent sitting behind me. Her head was bowed a little as she humbly looked up at me through sparkling brown eyes that spoke of innocent wisdom.

"Hello Ananya, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Ananya nodded and smiled back at me.

"Ananya has a very unique ability that she can use to help get you home," Walter explained.

Everyone looked towards a figure who glided into the cabin and down the aisle. A being of brilliant light and color that impressed all those that looked upon it. Its garments were like the iridescent wings of a butterfly sparkling in the sunlight. Its presence within the cabin lit it up like fireworks.

"Sing a song in your head and don't stop," Audrey whispered.

A children's nursery rhyme was the first thing that came to mind, so I kept repeating it in my head."

"Greetings everyone. Once again I come before you to offer salvation from the never-ending torment that this train is hurtling towards. I offer you the chance to be reborn into a life of unbroken leisure and immeasurable pleasure. All we ask in return is your unmitigated loyalty."

Everyone put their heads down to show their disinterest in what had just been offered.

"So, you show me once again that you are unworthy of the gifts that I offer you."

Then the being glided through to the next cabin without looking back.

"Was that one of the age-less ones that you spoke of?" I asked.

"Yes, that is one of the lesser of the entities," Walter answered.

"They can also read your mind. Which is why I asked you to sing a song in your head, to fill your mind with something other than what we have been talking about." Audrey mentioned.

"I never realized that 'Twinkle, twinkle little star.' would prove to be so important to me," I smiled.

Audrey leaned in towards me, "we need to be aware of those who sit among us that may not be all that they seem to be."

"Spies?" I whispered.

"To that effect," Walter answered.

I spoke in a lower tone after that.

"If you do manage to help me to get back into my body back on the other side, what then?"

Audrey answered my question, "We are hoping that you will do everything within your power to find where these people have their bodies housed on that side and somehow let nature do what nature does to bodies that no longer house its owner."

Then I heard Ananya speak for the first time. her voice sounded as delicate and pretty as the mouth that it came from, "You won't be killing anything that is not already dead. Their bodies are being held in stasis that is all."

"We must hurry the train is picking up speed as we get closer to the black hole that draws us towards it," Walter mentioned.

"How much longer do we have?" I asked.

"Although the universe is a very large space. Even traveling at the speed of light it takes a long time to cross. But time doesn't work the same way on this side. We could have a matter of years but then again we could only have a matter of hours if not sooner." Ananya replied.

"What would you like me to do now?" I asked her.

"I need you to lay back against the back of your seat and close your eyes. I have to take you back into that dark place." Ananya explained.

The whole of my being seemed to relax deeper than I'd ever felt before as I could sense Ananyas hands moving over and around my head. I felt as though I was sinking back into the seat, falling towards empty darkness. The darkness got more profound as not even a dot of light appeared behind my closed eyes. I could hear her calm voice getting more distant as if I was moving away from her. The presence of others around me was also becoming less noticeable as Ananya's voice disappeared into the thick dark silence.

I don't know how long I had laid there in the dark peaceful silence before I could hear voices in the distance getting nearer.

"Did you see that?" I could hear. "I saw his eyes move."

I recognized the voice but couldn't yet put a name to it. This was followed by a wave of pain. the discomfort of something down my throat as well as my nose. Every joint in my body ached as I tried to move. The discomfort that I felt was overwhelming.

"He's coming out of it."

I forced my eyes to open. The brightness through blurry vision caused me to repeatedly blink to try to clear them. I found myself in a hospital bed. My accident was still an unknown memory but the vision of Audrey, Walter, Ananya and especially the being of light was still fresh in my head.

"Bob! Bob!" the unmistakable sound of my wife's voice broke through the confusion. As my eyes moved to look towards my wife whose eyes were filled with tears of joy, she fell over me to hug me. "Thank god." I kept hearing her whispering over and over as she tried to hug me tighter, but a groan of pain escaped my lips which caused her to loosen her hold.

Nurses and Doctors soon replaced the vision of my wife in my eyes as she was ushered aside to allow them to do whatever they do. Pulling on my arm to take my blood pressure and digging into my veins to collect blood.

That was over two months ago. I had to learn to eat again, walk again, and even talk again. But I never forgot the mission that I was set on. I also never forgot the urgency of the task that I was set to get right. It felt as if the whole of humanity depended on me getting this mission complete.

There were times when I thought that I might be just crazy and that the whole thing was just a hallucination brought on by the trauma of the accident. But deep down inside there was something that told me that there was at least a thread of truth in what I had come to believe.

Four months later I am able to do physical exercise, training every day to continue building up my strength, and when I am not doing that doing research into cryogenics, how it is done, who is doing it, and where.

My wife questions my sudden interest in going to the gun range and my sudden interest in explosives. I didn't know how much until a Dr of Psychiatry showed up at my house to interview me about my well-being.

Now I work covertly not even allowing my family to know my thoughts let alone any plans that I have been working on. The faces and words of the people I had met whilst in a coma are still fresher than the accident that put me there.

I bribed for blueprints, I bought a drone to get an overview of the biggest cryogenic installation in the country. I got a job as a delivery driver inside the place, which allowed me access to some of the inner buildings without causing any suspicion. I had come to know the place inside and out. I learned its strengths as well as its weaknesses.

A haven for the rich who had hoped to return sometime in the future to continue on with the opulent life that they had put on hold.

I joined protest groups that rallied against the rich who wasted their wealth on places like this. But my reason for joining was to deter as many protests as I could. I didn't need their over-enthusiasm to cause these installations to step up their security and make my job even harder.

My family noticed my distancing from them but put it down to the accident which might have caused some brain damage. I let them think what they wanted, at the end of the day it all worked to my advantage. I had become very introverted towards them.

Now the day has come. I left a gift of love for my long-suffering wife. For my children and their families, I left enough to help make their futures a little easier. One day when their time comes they will all know what I did for them. But now the mission I was sent to do must be done.

The explosives were set at as many installations as I could plant without suspicion. My objective was not to harm the living but to shut down the power that kept the cryogenic tanks cold. I set the explosives to go off at 1 am when there should be no one around other than just a security guard. Unfortunately, I was spotted trying to leave one installation. I shot aiming to just scare the security guard. But he shot back with the intent to kill. I fell into a pool of my own blood as the darkness once again enveloped me.

When I awoke I was back aboard the train. I looked around. Walter was there and so were Audrey and Ananya.

"Did I fail?" I asked them.

"No, you did well, the age-less ones have started to regenerate." Audrey smiled.

"Then why are we still on the train?" I asked.

"It's a pity that you killed that security guard. It's now heading towards hell."

With that, they faded away leaving me to face my demons alone.