Hell train, p.11
Hell Train, page 11
Gina screamed and threw herself on top of Harley. “Please, stop this. You have to stop this.”
Paul leapt into the fray, but Kyle slashed at him with the knife, drawing blood from the back of his arm that was already ragged from the dog bite. “Get the fuck back.”
Paul looked like a firework about to go off, his angular face turning bright red. “You just took the wrong fucking path, kid. Now there’s no way back.”
Kyle’s fear was gone, replaced by aggression and adrenaline. It was unclear whether he had meant to stab Dan, but it was done now, and like Paul had said, there was no way back. “Yo, shut your mouth, bruv. I’m done hearing you. This is about survival. This is about not dying on this train.”
Mudz grabbed Kyle and pulled him backwards down the aisle. “Man is going into other carriage,” he said. “Any pussy holes who follow is gonna get cheffed up.”
“You won’t get away with this,” said Clip, her hands covered in Xavi’s warm blood. “I won’t let you.”
Mudz blew a kiss to her. “Come get it, blondie. Man will be waiting with his di—”
Jay wrapped an arm around Mudz’s throat from behind and squeezed. Struggling for air and his face bulging, Mudz slashed at the air with his knife, but he couldn’t hit the target. Jay shook him like a rag doll, keeping him off balance. Kyle turned to help his friend, but Jay, a much larger man, kicked out and sent him stumbling back down the aisle.
Paul rushed forward and grabbed Kyle by the arm, spinning the lad around so they were facing. “Consequences, kid. Time to learn a few.”
Kyle tried to bring his knife up, but Paul walloped him with a massive right hook that spun him right around on the spot and sent him flopping face-first onto the seats. At the exact same moment, Jay let go of an unconscious Mudz and let him crumple to the floor with a heavy thud.
Everyone stood still, unsure that the chaos had ended. Then Jay shook his head and huffed. “You lot were right. Man is just a thug.”
Paul nodded at him. “Thanks for the assist.”
Jay stepped over Mudz’s unconscious body and moved further up the carriage. “Don’t mention it.”
“I need help,” Clip cried out to everyone. “Please.”
Xavi was still conscious in her arms, moaning in pain and clutching at his ribs. His T-shirt was sodden with blood, but she didn’t know exactly where it was coming from.
Paul dropped to his knees and moved Xavi’s hands out of the way. “Let me take a look. Okay, okay…”
Clip stared at him. “What? Is he going to be okay?”
“I’m not sure, but… maybe. He took it all on his right side against his ribs. If the knife missed his vital organs, then all we need to do is get the wounds closed up. Dan, can you get me…” His words trailed off as he spotted Dan lying in a pool of his own blood.
“He’s dead,” said Grant, who actually appeared sober at last. His taut skin had taken on an ashen hue, and a layer of sweat glistened on his smooth forehead. “My God, what hell am I in? I thought spending an evening with Louie Spence was my darkest moment. I was wrong.” He put his head in his hands and fell silent.
Gina was sobbing and holding Harley. Even from several feet away, Clip could see the young boy trembling in her arms. Blood covered the floor – Xavi’s, Dan’s, and even Paul’s. Mudz was bleeding, too, from his nose and from his hand where he must have slipped and cut himself on his own knife while stabbing Xavi.
The animal. The goddamn fucking animal.
Paul looked up at Jay. “I saw a first aid kit in the driver’s cabin. I need bandages, plasters, whatever’s in there.”
“Don’t let me die,” said Xavi. “My madre will kill me.”
Clip kissed his forehead. “I’ll kill you. Don’t you leave me alone on this hell train, do you hear me? We got on together, and we’re going to leave together.”
“What… What about the pregnant señorita?”
Clip shrugged. “You’re my man, she can’t have you.”
He smiled and closed his eyes.
“Xavi? Xavi, don’t you fall asleep on me. Xavi?”
He opened his eyes again. “I’m here. The lights are bright.”
Jay arrived with the first aid supplies, mostly bandages and gauze. He gave them to Paul, who started tearing open packets. “Okay, okay,” he said. “Let’s get you closed up before you lose any more of that fiery Spanish blood.”
“I bleed salsa, amigo.”
Paul got to work, cleaning away as much blood as he could. It didn’t jet out like Dan’s had – it was more of an ooze – and once Paul covered the first puckered wounds with cotton dressings and tape, they hardly bled at all.
“Help me roll him so I can get the bandages underneath him.”
Clip helped Paul roll Xavi over, and the ex-soldier pulled the bandages around his torso, tugging them tightly. He used more tape to keep them from slipping. This obviously wasn’t his first attempt at battlefield medicine.
“Is he going to be okay?” asked Clip.
“No. He’s a mess, and if he doesn’t make it to a hospital by the end of the day, he’ll pass out from blood loss or burn up with a fever. We’ve bought him some time, though.”
“I feel fine,” said Xavi. “Help me sit up.”
Clip protested. “Maybe you should just— Oh, okay…”
Xavi pulled himself up against the seats, gritting his teeth in obvious agony. “Ay, my whole body feels sliced up.”
“It is,” said Paul, “so move as if your insides could fall out at any moment. Because they might.”
“I have something to help with the pain,” said Grant, standing up. He offered a limp hand out to Xavi.
Xavi grimaced. “You want me to kiss your ring? You might have been on TV, amigo, but you’re not that famous.”
With a sigh, Grant fidgeted with a thick sovereign ring on his left hand and revealed a secret compartment inside containing a small amount of white powder. “My emergency bump,” he said. “I hate to give it away, but I think it’s time I made myself useful.”
Xavi shied away. “I don’t do that stuff.”
Paul put a meaty hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eye. “Kid, we’re all out of morphine, so my advice is that you take this man up on his kind offer. Once the adrenaline leaves your system and your pain receptors kick in, you’ll be begging him.”
“You won’t get addicted from this amount,” said Grant, “so just take a little ride and enjoy it.”
Xavi looked at Clip. She had never done anything as hard as coke before, but right now, it seemed like the mildest of crimes. “I don’t think you have anything to lose right now, babe. Whatever helps with the pain.”
With a reluctant sigh, Xavi eased himself slowly forward and sniffed up the powder. Half a second was all it took for him to shudder and vibrate. “Ay! What the hell!”
Grant grinned. “Give it a sec, darling. Everything is about to be wonderful.”
Xavi lay back against the seats, his legs spread out in the aisle, and closed his eyes. Nearby, Kyle murmured, coming around from being knocked out cold.
“We need to do something about our prisoners,” said Paul. “Before they wake up for round two.”
Jay nodded. “Yeah. I’m sorry it had to come to this, but they made their own bed.”
Clip studied Mudz with disdain. “You still think we made him what he is?”
“I think there’s a lot we could unpack,” said Jay, “but there’s a line where a person is fully responsible for their actions. These two assholes crossed that line. They’re on their own.”
Clip gave Jay a friendly nod. He may have chosen the wrong side to begin with, but she could see his genuine regret about it.
Paul sorted through the remaining bandages from the first aid kit. “We need to get these hoodlums tied up. Help me get them over to the entrance. I’ll rope their wrists to the support rails.”
“If we keep them in this carriage,” said Gina, “we’ll have to listen to their foul language and threats.”
“You think we should put them somewhere else?” asked Clip. “We should really put them where we can keep an eye on them.”
Gina shrugged. “What are they going to do? They’re outnumbered and you have their knives. Put them in the other carriage so we don’t have to listen to any more of their vileness.”
Paul picked up Mudz’s knife from the floor next to his unconscious body and tucked it into his belt alongside the one he’d taken earlier. “Perhaps you’re right,” he said. “Let’s move them before they wake up.”
Clip, Paul, and Jay worked together, first dragging Mudz, the most dangerous of their prisoners, and depositing him near the first exit inside the middle carriage. Paul used the bandages to bind his wrists behind his back and around the vertical support rail by the doors. The knot he used was complex, and Clip saw little chance of Mudz escaping it.
“Okay, let’s go get Kyle,” said Paul, wiping a bead of sweat off his forehead with the back of his arm.
They went back inside the front carriage to find Gina calling for help. Kyle was back on his feet, the side of his jaw hideously swollen. He seemed confused. “W-What is happening?”
“I knocked your ass out,” said Paul. “Don’t make me do it again.”
“You… you knocked me… oh God.” He rushed down the aisle towards the operator’s cabin, leaping over Dan’s dead body. He dashed inside and tried to close the door, but Paul got there in time to shove his foot in the way.
Kyle searched desperately for a weapon, opening compartments and tiny drawers. He couldn’t find anything, so he turned and begged. “Please. Please, I didn’t mean to—”
“Hands above your head,” Paul barked at him. “One wrong move and I’ll crack your skull.”
Kyle put his hands above his head. “Please.”
“We have no more bandages,” said Jay, backing Paul up. “How are we going to secure him?”
Paul tilted his head and looked past Kyle, a smile creeping onto his face. “The kid just solved that problem for us.” He glared at Kyle and told him to turn against the wall and put his hands behind his back. Then he reached into a small drawer and pulled out a bunch of cable ties. “Maybe these are here to restrain unruly passengers. I think you qualify.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Save the begging for Dan’s wife. Poor cow has to go through cancer all on her own now, thanks to you.”
“I didn’t mean it. I…”
“You chose the thug life, kid. Man up and take responsibility for it.” Paul cable-tied the lad’s wrists behind his back and frogmarched him down the aisle. As he did so, Harley stood up and followed them.
Gina called after him. “What are you doing, Harley?”
“I want to walk about. My legs are aching.”
“I can take him,” said Clip. “If it’s okay that he stretches his legs.”
Gina did not look happy at the prospect, but despite that, she nodded. “Just for a few minutes,” she said. “I’ll stay here and watch out for Xavi.”
Clip glanced at her boyfriend, glad to see him still conscious and alert. The coke was clearly in his system from the peaceful look on his pasty face. “Thanks, Gina. I’ll be right back.”
“Don’t let anything happen to Harley.”
“I promise.”
They bundled Kyle into the other carriage. Mudz had woken up, but he was quiet. Soon, he would probably start making a racket, but for now, he seemed in a daze. They secured Kyle against the railing opposite him on the other side of the exit doors. Kyle begged them not to, fearful of the woman that might try to get him, but the truth was nobody gave a shit. Dan and Eric were both dead, so Kyle and Mudz deserved whatever they got.
“Please, man,” said Kyle, still begging. “I promise I’ll sit and behave. I didn’t mean to stab the guy. I’ve been smoking weed. I just lashed out.”
“Tell it to someone who’ll listen,” said Paul, and he gave the kid a slap across the cheek. “If this was the army, we’d drown you in a barrel.”
Jay sighed and shook his head. “I’m gonna head back up front.”
“Yeah, me too,” said Clip.
“I want to stretch my legs,” said Harley. “Can we just walk up and down a couple of times? I feel a bit sick because of all the blood in the other carriage.”
“Um… yeah, I understand. Come on, then, just a couple of minutes.” She reached out and took his hand, and the two of them strolled down the aisle. It did indeed feel good to just walk casually for a few minutes, and it helped fight the claustrophobic feeling that had been gradually rising in her since this whole thing had started.
Whatever this thing is.
When they reached the end of the aisle, Clip peered through the window in the connecting door. She wanted to check for the woman, worried she might be hiding. She still couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched.
“Do you see anything?” Paul asked her from further down the carriage.
“Not sure.” She turned to Harley and nudged him back a step. “Stay here. I’ll just open the door a little and make sure everything is okay. You good with that, Paul?”
“It’s probably a bad idea, but sure, go ahead.”
“I’m sure it’s fine. I just feel like that woman is here somewhere, watching us.”
“Yeah, I feel that too. It’s like the air is… polluted.”
Clip’s hand was trembling as she pressed the door release, but she stood her ground as it slid open. She asked Harley to put his foot in the way to keep it from closing again and shutting her in the airlock, and once he was in place, she pressed the button for the door into the next carriage. It opened with a hiss.
If Clip had known what she was looking at right away, she might have screamed, but for several seconds, all she could do was stare in confusion.
“What do you see?” Paul shouted from the middle of the other carriage.
“I… I… see nothing.” Clip swallowed a hard lump in her throat. “Nothing.”
The rear of the third carriage had disappeared, dissolving into the endless void behind it. While the middle and front parts of the carriage were still intact, the final third had melted away into nothingness – like a pencil sketch being scrubbed away by an invisible rubber. The void was swallowing them up.
And standing right on the precipice between nothingness and existence was the pregnant woman. She glared at Clip through the rusty bars of her cage and hissed. All will die.
CHAPTER 9
“What do you want?” Clip demanded. “What have we done to you?”
The woman hissed through her bloodstained, jagged teeth. “Two shall live. All will die.”
“What does that mean? Why are you doing this?”
The woman took a step forward, the void swirling behind her and eating up the train. Her clamped ankles shifted left and right, bloody footprints staining the aisle behind her. “Regret haunts you. Guilt tears you asunder.”
Clip wanted to run away screaming, but she held onto the edge of the open door and planted her feet, imagining they were two heavy lumps of cement. “What guilt? I’ve done nothing.”
“I see your guilt,” the woman hissed. “It blooms inside you. Give it to me and you shall be free.”
“I… I’m not guilty of anything.”
“Lies!” The woman rushed forward, screeching like a hungry vulture. “All are to blame,” she wailed. “All are to die. All are to die. All are to die.”
“Get back.” Paul grabbed Clip by her belt and yanked her into the other carriage. The connecting door slid shut just as the rushing woman reached the end of the aisle and snatched at her.
Harley cowered nearby, and he threw himself against Clip, squealing in terror. “I want to go home. I want my mum.”
She wrapped an arm around him. “I-I know, honey. I know.”
“Guess you shouldn’t have opened that door,” said Paul. He had both of Mudz’s knives out, one in each hand, and he watched the connecting door like a hawk.
But the woman didn’t appear.
Was she still in the other carriage? Or had she disappeared?
“We’re all going to die,” Kyle moaned from further down the carriage. “She’s going to kill us all.”
“Quiet,” said Paul. “I might kill you first.”
Clip put her hands over Harley’s ears and nodded to get Paul’s attention. When he looked at her, she told him, “The train is disappearing. It looked like it was dissolving out of existence.”
Paul chewed his lip for a moment, stretching out the scar that ran down his chin. “Time is running out, then. We need to find a way to fight back, or we won’t make it out of this alive.”
Hearing him talk pessimistically was difficult, as Clip had started relying on Paul to keep her calm, but now he was losing hope. Who could blame him? He looked at Clip and sighed. “The woman was shouting something at you. What was it?”
Clip shook her head, unsure that she had actually absorbed any of it. Fortunately, it came back to her. “She was talking about regret and guilt. It sounded like she blamed us for something.”
“Like what? Her death? We don’t even know who she is.”
“Jay said the manner of her death might be important. Is she angry at whoever killed her and put her in a cage?”
Paul nodded. “And she’s projecting her anger onto us?”
“She said she saw my guilt. That it bloomed.”
“And does it? Anything you want to get off your chest, kid?”
Clip shook her head. “No. Nothing.”
Paul smirked at her. “You’re not a very good liar.”
“Well, okay, how about you, then? What are you guilty of?”
“How long you got.”
Clip leant back against the seats, hugging Harley. It reminded her of when Richard was little. “We’ve got as long as it takes for the void to swallow up this train, so perhaps you should just tell me the worst thing.”
Paul glanced at Harley, probably checking the boy’s ears were still covered, and then he frowned at Clip. His regrets were clearly none of her business – she barely knew the man – yet he seemed to mull over whether or not to tell her. “I killed a little girl,” he eventually said. “Younger than this one.” He nodded at Harley. “She was in a room with half a dozen insurgents when I threw a grenade in. I knew she was in there, but I did it anyway. The risk of those insurgents picking up their weapons and firing on my men was too great, so I made a soldier’s decision. After the dust settled, and I found the girl’s body, there was barely anything left of her face. A child doesn’t recognise a grenade, you see? When it bounces on the ground, they stare right at it.”
