Found On The Ex Press

The train had stopped, and it was dark. Almost everyone was on the way home and they waited for some explanation of what was happening. It was twilight to darkness time, and the drizzle and dirty windows meant that the passengers could not see very far over the moor where they were stopped.

The train was heading from Leeds to Manchester so most had left work and were hoping to get home in time for tea and television.

The longer they waited for an announcement, which never came, the more annoyed they became, but like too many people in this modern nuclear world they would not speak to any of the other passengers, they had their mobile phones, and that was the only company they were interested in.

They never noticed that the information screens and the marquee sighns had stopped because they were looking at their phones.

Every passenger sent a message to their destination to say that they had been delayed and would message again once they were on the move. They did not know that their messages had never left their device.

So they waited and waited and waited. They would not do anything until they received the reply that they did not know would never come.

The driver and the crew were the same. There was a red signal, which is why the stopped, but no message had come for the reason for the stoppage. The driver sent a message to find out what had happened but it never left his phone, like with all the passengers. He waited for a response but could make no announcement until he knew the reason for the stoppage.

He was unaware that the red light had been activated by the global signal outage.

So he waited.

The rest of the staff waited.

The passengers waited

The phones waited.

No one left their seats or spoke. Time for them had stopped. The phones had mesmerised and hypnotised everyone on the train. Everyone felt that they could not be the first to move or break the silence.

Eventually all they could see was the unmoving phone screen in their hands.

Eventually, one by one, they began to drift into a sleep from which they would never return, and every phone remained silent.

Outside it was dark, and the drizzle still fell, but no one one the train heard or saw it.

For everyone on that train their phone was their connection to the world, and when that connection died, so did they.

From The Police Notes

Officers boarded the train which had been stationary since Tuesday. Everyone on the train was dead, including the driver and other staff. Everyone had died looking at their mobile phones, apparently waiting for a message that never came.

We are trying to find an explanation for why they did not move from their seats or try to leave the train. The staff could have opened the doors and let people off, but we don;t think any announcement was made, and are also surprised that no one tried to find out what was wrong from the staff.

All the information screens were stock on an advert for Pepsi Cola, and the marquee signs all read "NEXT STOP" but with no destination.

We are aware there was a global outage in digital communications, but that has now been resolved, so this is and exteremely tragic and unusual situation. We checked the phones of the staff and passengers and they are now working, but they will not be replying to any received messages.

This is still being investigated.