Ali rolled his eyes. “Sure.” He looked at Clara and Phil who laid on the seat. Ali noticed his clothing was damp from either water or his own perspiration. Is his wound infected? I hope he doesn’t have a fever, Ali thought. Clara covered Phil up with her jacket. Ali followed his dad’s orders and went over to the next car and secretly hoped either Marcus or Vic would question Phil’s health while he was gone. Five minutes later, he returned with three cold cans of Sierra Mist in a shopping bag and three Tylenol.
“Here use this,” Ali handed Clara the shopping bag. “And take these.” He dropped the pills in her palm.
“Three?” Clara said. “He’s not that sick.”
“Really?” Ali said.
She put the pills on Phil’s tongue. He stalled. He laid back into the seat and passed out.
Hours passed. Finally, the sun made the terrain outside of the windows viewable. They were a few hours into Nevada according to the conductor. And there was no trace of the creatures. There was a common belief the threat was a localized anomaly. The re-routing east from the creatures looked like a great move. There was nothing but open space, mountains, sand, and cats.
Ali gazed outside of the window. The terrain was so tranquil and the colors so vibrant that they scenery reminded him of the puzzles him and Patrice would put together when they were little with their paternal grandmother. She adored puzzles. And when they would go to visit, they’d often spend an entire afternoon (sometimes a whole day) putting together large puzzles together on the living room floor.
It was always a puzzle of a lake, mountain range, or trees. Patrice was much better at putting together the bigger puzzles. No matter how long it would take, he'd stay there until it was completed. No TV. No music. Nothing. The ice cream truck would come by. He wouldn't flinch. After a few hours, Ali would get bored and beg his grandmother to go outside and play. He'd leave and eventually come back to find Patrice still working on it. He didn't care if his big brother teased that he was a quitter.
"Come on let's get out here," Vic said to Ali.
His words snapped Ali out of his daze.
"What are you doing?" Vic said.
"Just checking out the scenery."
Ali and Vic roamed the train in search of chicks to talk to. They ended up playing the card game Uno with Regina, twenty-five, a nurse from Oakland. The card set belonged to her son. She was on her way to pick him up from her mother's before the earthquake. Much like everyone else, she was edgy, because she couldn't get in contact with him.
"You think I can smoke in here?" Regina asked the both of them.
Vic shrugged.
"Sure, I don't see why not," Ali said. If it was up to him, she could do whatever she wanted.
"Well, it's a train," Regina said. "You know public space."
"But after what we all have been through?" Vic said.
The competition was on. Who could "pull" Regina first. Vic didn't want to be the "Debbie Downer" telling this attractive woman what she couldn't do.
She lit her cigarette. It didn't ease her current anxiety as she still silently fretted over where she was going to end up. She had no clue how she would get back home or if there was still a home to return to.
Ali offered her a place to stay in New York City. She chuckled at his offer. He didn't take her response as an insult, but he thought about how long he should wait before he offered again.
The other passengers shared the same concerns Regina had. Most were frantic, because they couldn't reach family or friends. But since the majority of them weren't witnesses to the terror, they had no idea exactly what was going on or the severity of the situation.
In the last car, Marcus and Glenn checked on the barricade one more time insuring it was unbreachable. It was a long train ride, and any part of the structure could loosen or come undone. And Marcus didn't want the barricade to suddenly collapse like a failed Jenga tower.
"I still think they could get through with enough force," Marcus said.
Glenn eyed the barricade. He didn't want to be there going over the same structure for the fifth and sixth time, but he placated Marcus anyway. He had grown weary of this entire task and Marcus's micro-managing.
"We don't have anything else to use," Glenn said.
Marcus looked around the train. "Can we unhinge the seats?"
Glenn didn't know if he was serious. This guy is some piece of work, he thought. Then, he realized Marcus was waiting for a response. "There aren't any tools."
Marcus nodded, "Right." He tugged at the barricade. It didn't move.
"Look, there's nothing getting through there," Glenn said. "And even better, there's nothing on the other side of this door."
Marcus stared blankly at Glenn. He wanted to chastise him and explain how ignorant he was regarding the strength and ferocity of the monsters, but he realized he would've come off as hostile. So he said nothing.
"Relax," Glenn continued. "We're going to be fine."
"Sure," Marcus said.
Back in the train car with Ali and Vic, the Uno game was over. Regina stood physically across from the two boys, but her mind was nowhere but in Oakland.
Ali and Vic had already run out of things to say to her. None of their teenage boasts and lies struck a chord with the slightly older woman. And the novelty of two young teens vying for her attention had worn off. Despite all of that, Ali still thought he had a chance. On the contrary, Vic anticipated she was ready to walk away and find something or someone else to occupy her time with.
Then, it hit Vic. "Hey, you're a nurse. Maybe you can check out my friend's swollen ankle."
Oh shit, Ali thought.
Regina looked around the train. "Where is he?"
"Um...he might be sleeping in the other car," Vic scanned the train.
A faint scream came from the front of the train. Everybody's head turned in that direction.
"Somebody else got beat in Uno?" Ali joked.
The screams got louder. Ali and Vic stood up but didn't move an inch. Ali eventually took a step towards the front car. Vic held him back.
"Chill," Vic said to Ali. "That doesn't sound right."
The screams came from the direction of the bathroom. They were too deafening to ignore and passengers surrounded the door to the bathroom. Growling sounds now drowned out the screams.
A wide-eyed man cautiously knocked on the door. “Is everything okay in there?”
Each light knock was greeted with a series of returned thumps up against the door. The man looked at the rest of the onlookers and shrugged.
As he turned back to look at the door, the bathroom door blasted open. The impact knocked all of the air out of his lungs as he fell to the ground. He was now pinned up against the floor of the train. On top of the door crushing the man was Clara’s bloodied body, and a mutated Phil gnawing on her legs as she wailed in terror. The sounds of her screams were now joined by the yells of the onlookers. Her screams stopped as she began to cough up blood.
Once the man gained his breath he joined the chorus of screams before he shouted, “Get me the fuck outta here!” towards the onlookers.
Nobody stepped forward. The passengers, the few who were not cemented to the floor retreated.
Phil looked at the passengers as Clara’s eyes stopped blinking. She began banging her body against the door which caused the door to bang against the man’s head underneath. He almost lost consciousness. Phil sprung from his perch on the bathroom door and backed up. It looked as if he was as scared of the passengers as they were of him. He sniffed around at his sister’s body. The man underneath the door saw this moment as an opportunity to slowly try to slither away and put some distance between Phil and himself.
Phil’s green eyes shot to the man as he tried to escape. The man attempted to get up and crawl away, but it was too late. Phil grabbed him and bit his leg off at the thighs. The man agonized in pain, but was still alive. Phil left him alone as he made his way onto the rest of the train.
The passen
gers who were still paralyzed with fear were the first to turn into Phil’s food. They were quickly followed by the passengers who unwisely hid underneath the train’s seats. The smarter passengers sprinted out of the train car into the next car.
“We gotta get out of here,” Ali said to Vic.
Regina grabbed her pocketbook and took off in the other direction.
Marcus made his way to the boys with a frantic look on his face, “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” Ali said.
“Clara? Phil?” Marcus said.
“We don’t know,” Vic said.
More people fled towards them.
“The boy,” a woman said to Marcus.
He stopped her. “What about him?”
“He’s one of them,” she said. She brushed his hand away and kept running.
Marcus looked at Ali and Vic. He wanted to ask them, “How?” but he decided it was best that they start moving. The woman ran out of their train car and Marcus, Ali, and Vic joined the mass exodus into the last train car.
“What about—” Ali said.
“Forget them,” Marcus said.
Back in the front of the train, Phil had already slaughtered a total of eight passengers. The man who was under the door was still alive despite having half of a leg. He hoped to go unnoticed until help came. One by one Phil’s victims transformed into the same creatures. The change was swift and not gradual like Phil’s was due to the severity of their injuries. The man closed his eyes once he saw the odds change. He hoped either playing dead would save him or that he would eventually bleed out and his torture would be over. He felt the warm blood, either his own or Clara’s, soak his clothes as he silently prayed it would be over soon.
The pack of creatures surrounded him. They sniffed around his body. It looked as if they were all confused as to why he had not been converted into one of them yet. Then, they all jumped on him like a pride of lions fighting over the last wildebeest’s carcass. His eyes opened as he could feel each one of them tear at his flesh. He screamed. His death could not happen quick enough for him. Then, it was over. The monsters who could not get to him fast enough sopped up his remains.
I gotta do something, Tate thought as he stepped into the first car just in time to witness the man’s death. He immediately reversed course as the pack turned their attention toward him. They all charged at him at the same time. Tate pulled out his taser. It sent Phil to the ground. Tate backed up some more waiting for the next one to lunge at him. He slipped on a pool of blood. He lost his grip on the taser, and it flew out of his hand. One of the creature’s jaws locked in on his right arm. The bone pretty much shattered with one bite. He used his other arm to reach for his nightstick.
“Help,” Tate said. Just like the man before him, there was no human within earshot of his plea. The rest of the beasts mauled him.
Seventeen surviving passengers were on the last secured train car. “We need to barricade this door,” Marcus said to Glenn. He didn’t move let alone show even the slightest physical response.
“Now!” Marcus shouted.
Glenn looked around, “With what?”
“Take everything from that door,” Marcus pointed at the backdoor barricade. “And move it to this door.”
Only Ali and Vic followed his orders.
Marcus stood up on one of the seats. “Listen!” he yelled. “Move the barricade to the front door.”
The other passengers followed. Piece by piece they moved every suitcase, box, or bag to the front train door in assembly line fashion.
The zombies charged the door as the men and women used their body weight to reinforce the semi-completed barricade. With each thrust from the zombies the men and women pushed harder.
“Just hold it until it’s finished,” Marcus shouted. He didn’t believe they could do it. Who knew how many beasts were on the other side of the door? he thought.
As Marcus pushed, he thought about plans B and C for getting him and his boys off of the train. He gauged how fast the train was going and the likelihood they would be able to survive jumping off of it. Chances were slim to none.
The survivors completed the new barricade. The zombies’ attempt to breach the door stopped. The passengers congratulated one another on a job well done.
Marcus took a seat on the floor and wiped the sweat from his drenched brown.
“You were right,” Glenn said to Marcus. “They’re a lot worse than I thought.”
Marcus’s face tightened as he looked at him. He said nothing as he was in no mood for Glenn’s ass-kissing or to issue an “I told you so”.
“Poor Phil and Clara,” Vic said to Ali. “I knew that wasn’t a sprained ankle.”
“I wish there was something I…we could’ve done,” Ali said.
“Like what?” Vic said.
Ali shrugged, “I don’t know. I could’ve done something. Got him help.”
“How? You didn’t know,” Vic said.
Ali said nothing.
The conductor came over the intercom, “Is everything okay out there?”
In the Conductor’s Control Room, the man in his late forties heard the rampage that went on outside his door. He wished he could hear a response from the passengers. For all he knew, he could’ve been guiding a train full of those same beasts they were hoping to evade.
The beasts began to ram his door. The noise made him jump in his seat. He turned around and looked at the secured door. The combination of the steel door and the lock kept the creatures at bay.
The conductor got on the intercom again, “I hope you guys are safe. They’re not getting in here. I’m holding strong. We should reach Arizona in the next three—”
One of the creatures broke the side window in the control room and grabbed the conductor’s face. He felt the intense crushing sensation on his face.
“Ahhh…” he shouted. He punched the creature as it climbed into the control room. He broke free from the beast and fell backwards onto the floor before quickly getting back to his feet. He patted his face to make sure it was still there. He contemplated exiting the control room, but that would mean going back into the thick of the action where all of the other mutants were.
“Help,” he said. “Please, help me.”
The surviving passengers listened to the intercom.
“We gotta do something,” a woman said.
“What?” Marcus shot her a look. “What do you want us to do?”
Tears streamed down her face.
Glenn marched over to the barricade.
“You touch that fucking thing, and I’ll break both of your arms,” Marcus yelled.
Glenn stopped cold in his tracks and looked as if he might’ve shit himself.
Marcus lowered his tone, “That’s the only thing keeping us alive.”
More roars were heard on the intercom as three other creatures climbed on the roof of the train and made their way into the control room through the same window. They circled the conductor. He had no choice. He reached for the lock on the door and unlocked it rather quickly. He fumbled the latch to the door, but opened it as two of the beasts lunged at his side. They smacked his bloodied body across the control room. The door swung open and more of the beasts entered. They smashed up the control panel as the survivors listened. With each loud noise and scream they all winced with fright.
“He’s a goner,” Ali said.
In an instant the passengers were whipped around the train car. They all screamed as they bounced around. The derailed train resembled a model train being smacked off the tracks by an impulsive toddler. The pieces from the barricade crashed down as each train car rolled over repeatedly into the desert sand.
The train cars were strewn about the desert landscape like litter in the street after a ticker tape parade. Screams and moans echoed through the train cars.
Ali’s eyelids fluttered like a hummingbird’s wings. Did I black out again? he thought. Another earthquake? What is going on with the world?
Luck
ily Ali was still conscious although pinned under a suitcase. He shimmied horizontally until he freed himself and crawled around the train car looking for his father and Vic as some of the other survivors came to. There was an assortment of injuries of various degrees and each move shifted the train car as it was up against a hill at a tenuous forty-five degree angle.
“Dad?” Ali shouted.
Nothing.
“Dad?” Ali repeated. “Vic?”
“Here,” Marcus muttered.
Ali tracked his father’s voice and discovered him under a seat. Marcus grabbed Ali’s wrist. Ali tugged and hoisted Marcus into an upright position.
“You see Vic?” Marcus said.
“No,” Ali said.
A rumble sounded from outside of the train car. The beasts probed the accident site. It appeared none of them had sustained injuries. They clawed at the outside of the train and jumped on top of all of the cars.
“You see anything we can use as weapons?” Marcus said.
“No,” Ali said as he searched for Vic.
“He has to be around here,” Marcus said.
“There,” Ali shouted. He pointed to a window. He identified him by his Grape V Jordans as Vic’s right leg peaked out from underneath an unconscious Glenn. “That’s him.”
Ali and Marcus made their way over to him. Marcus pushed Glenn off of him. Vic’s forehead was buried.
“Is he?” Ali asked Marcus.
Marcus checked Vic’s pulse. “He’s alive.”
Ali gasped.
“There’s not much time,” Marcus said.
One of the creatures made its way into the train car. It landed on top of an unconscious man and chomped down on his abdomen.
Marcus contemplated telling Ali not to look, but he realized it was better he saw what the consequences of a mistake would be. Ali and Vic knew exactly what they were up against. The visual reinforced nothing.
“What about him?” Ali said looking at Glenn.
Marcus shook his head. “We have to carry Vic. There’s no time. And I need your help.”
Ali looked at Glenn and saw the friendly guy who offered him food and a place to rest. He didn’t see the guy who raised cautious pessimism due to his extreme kindness. Sure he only knew him for fourteen hours or so, but he thought he owed him more.
Scattered Screams: (The Disruption, Book One) Page 5