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Train Ride Part 4 Mk II
By Jason Bourne
Lester was already in the room containing the generators
¡°Alright, Les.¡± Toby said through the radio. ¡°You there?¡±
¡°Yes.¡± Lester said, looking around the dark room. He pointed his flashlight downwards, revealing steps.
¡°Okay,¡± Toby said, ¡°Go down the steps. All the way down.¡±
¡°Okay.¡± Lester said
Lester carefully climbed down the steps, feeling his heart beat. He had done worse things in Iraq before, but then again, there were no monsters that ate people down over there. As he climbed down, he envisioned himself missing four steps and rolling down the staircase, finally reaching the bottom, dead.
This was probably why, when he came down, he felt a great weight come off his shoulders.
¡°You done?¡± Toby asked from the radio.
¡°Yeah.¡± Lester said.
¡°Okay¡do you see a corridor? In front of you.¡±
Yeah, I do.¡± Lester said, moving his flashlight toward the corridor.
¡°Okay, there are these yellow pipes on the ceiling right?¡±
¡°Yellow and red.¡± Lester said, looking at the pipes on the ceiling.¡±
¡°Yeah, well follow the yellow ones, not the red ones.¡± Toby said.
¡°Okay,¡± Lester said, and did as he was told.
*********************
We sat in the control room, listening to the sound of Lester¡¯s footsteps and breathing.
Suddenly, a sharp yell came from the radio. There was the sound of something knocking into metal, then-
-labored breathing sounds came from the radio.
¡°Holy shit.¡± Lester said. We breathed a sigh of relief.
¡°Lester?¡± Toby asked. ¡°You okay?¡±
¡°Yeah.¡± Lester said, sounding dazed.
Gordon took the radio.
¡°What the hell happened, man? You scared the hell out of us!¡± Gordon said into it.
¡°Hell,¡± Lester said. ¡°Tripped over a dead body. God, the thing musta got him bad.¡±
¡°Be careful, Les, the thing can¡¯t be far.¡± Gordon said.
¡°Roger that.¡± Lester said.
He moved on. We could hear the clank clank sounds of the metal floor.
¡°I¡¯ve reached the end.¡± Lester said.
¡°Good.¡± Toby said. ¡°Is there uh¡¡± He leaned over to the computer, checking the map and continued. ¡°¡ a large metal panel that has buttons on them?¡±
¡°Yeah.¡± Lester said.
¡°Press them all.¡±
¡°Sure.¡±
We heard clicking sounds, then, there was a slight hum.
¡°Look!¡± Ace said, pointing to the window.
Outside, the lights were coming on.
*****************************
Lester leaned on the cool metal wall as the lights in the room came on and breathed a sigh of relief. At least he didn¡¯t have to worry about tripping over the stairs anymore.
He climbed up, knowing that pretty soon everything would be over and that he would be able to go back home soon. He could feel a sense of accomplishment, a sense of triumph as he climbed the stairs.
******************************
Toby clapped his hands and said, ¡°Alright, now all we have to do is wait for Lester to come back and we can go.¡±
Those words brought me greater comfort than anything else in the world. For once since this horrible nightmare happened, I felt a glimmer of hope.
¡°I¡¯m going to give Lester one hell of a treat when we get home.¡± Waldo said, smiling for once.
¡°Lester¡¯s back.¡± Lester said, appearing suddenly at the doorway.
¡°Well?¡± Waldo asked. ¡°Do we go now or what?¡±
As if on cue, the lights blinked once and went out.
8
¡°What in-¡± Gordon began ¡°Toby-¡±
¡°Working on it, sir!¡± Toby said, typing like a maniac.
A jingle came on the computer screen. It said:
WARNING! AUX POWER LOW!
Toby turned toward us and said grimly, ¡°That means the generator is charged by auxiliary generators. Since we didn¡¯t turn the auxiliary generators on¡¡±
¡°The main generator can¡¯t charge up.¡± Gordon finished for him.
¡°Yes,¡± Toby said, typing on the keyboard. ¡°Turns out that the first auxiliary generator is on our station.¡±
¡°Where?¡± Gordon asked, picking up his carbine.
9
Gordon, with Lester following him, walked down the dark corridor, the flashlights attached to the sides of their carbines cutting bright streaks in the pitch dark. Slightly down, the thin straight red lines of their laser sights were visible.
They came to a fork in the corridor.
¡°You go this way, I¡¯ll go that way.¡± Gordon said. Both corridors, according to Toby, led to the same place. Gordon knew covering both pathways was better than getting ambushed by the back.
Lester nodded simply and started down the right fork.
Gordon went to the left fork, his heart beating. The only sound he could hear was his own breathing and his footsteps.
As the flashlight illuminated the walls, he thought that everything about the environment seemed hell-bent on wrecking his nerve.
As he continued on, he thought, Hell, it¡¯s as dark as a coal pit here. Nice huh, Captain? You thought you¡¯d be spending your life fighting terrorists, fricking idiots who enjoy blowing themselves and others up. You didn¡¯t expect to be looking for an alien in a subway tunnel did you? Why did you even choose this job? The guns? The machismo? The pay? Or-
A voice.
Gordon swung his rifle up to firing position, making a three hundred degree search of his environment. There was no one around.
And yet, the voice continued.
Gordon moved toward the sound of the noise cautiously. The noise continued. Gordon stopped and listened. The voice was muffled, like it came from inside a room, or-
There was a door at the far end of the room. It had a sign that said: ¡®JANITOR¡¯S CLOSET¡¯
Yes. Gordon thought. That was where the voice was coming from.
Should I call out? Or not? Gordon thought. It could be a survivor, yes. A survivor armed with a 12 gauge shotgun from a cabinet somewhere in the station. A survivor whose nerves were strung up higher than Saddam Hussein should be who didn¡¯t like to be surprised, ready to pull the trigger of his or her shotgun if anything surprises him or her enough. A shotgun that could blow off Gordon¡¯s entire head effortlessly. They didn¡¯t call shotguns splatter-guns in the army for nothing.
He had reached the door.
¡°Hello?¡± Gordon asked, realizing his voice had come out weak, scared.
The voice continued on.
Gordon closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened the door.
There was the corpse of a young man inside with two neat holes punched through his neck. The blood had caked around the holes and Gordon could see the drying pool of blood on the floor. The sound which Gordon had heard was the sound of an Ipod playing a rock song hanging around his neck.
As Gordon stared into the boy¡¯s face and thought that despite serving in the Army for thirty years, he had never seen such an expression of horror on a man¡¯s face before.
Just then, a scream came from the other side of the passageway. It was coming from a door marked ¡®Archives Room¡¯.
Oh no, Lester¡ Gordon thought.
************************
Lester tensed, listening to the quiet noises coming from the door nearest to him. It was marked ¡®Archives Room.¡¯
Lester didn¡¯t want to go in there; he didn¡¯t want to know what was going on, so one side of him claimed.
But he did.
He turned the doorknob and the noises stopped. He opened it. The room was silent. Lester found a light switch and pushed it. He was surprised to see that the light did turn on. Apparently, this was, like the ticket booth Toby, Waldo, Ace and the kids were still in, one of the few rooms with power of its own.
The room only had several shelves in it. There nothing there that could make noises.
You¡¯re going nuts, man. Lester thought
He closed the door.
Lester walked down the room, wondering where the door at the other end of the room led to.
Then he heard it. A soft, squelching noise, like someone stepping on mud. He switched on the flashlight attachment on his carbine and swung it to the sound.
What he saw next nearly made him vomit.
A reddish brown, egg-shaped thing supported by a stem of sorts which was in turn supported to the ground with roots of sorts stood in a corner of the room. It was about six feet tall. On the egg-shaped, pulsing part, a small dent of sorts was in the center.
Lester cringed, waiting for it to do something. But a few minutes passed, and still it simply stood there, pulsing and making that disgusting noise. Slowly, cautiously, he walked towards it, but still it did nothing at all. Eventually, he was close enough to touch it. He examined it, an obscene parody of a tree.
Suddenly, the dent on the center of the thing curved inwards and before Lester could do anything, it curved outwards again, spitting out something at him. It was a bug of some sorts, about a foot long. Its body was shaped like a worm¡¯s, and it had a fly¡¯s wings. Its head was round and featureless, with a mouth festooned with long, curving teeth.
It looked at him and gave out a bloodcurdling howl. Lester screamed. He thought he heard a crashing noise, but couldn¡¯t turn his head. His eyes were fixed onto the huge worm, which launched itself towards him, screaming with horrid delight. It opened its jaws and the pain shot up his chest so hard and so fast he screamed again. He looked down and saw the thing chewing happily into his chest, blood and gore spraying into his face. A piece of something cold and red stung his left eye and he cried out.
He looked down again and saw the bug chewing away beside a fist-sized lump of flesh that was throbbing away, like the obscene tree in front of him.
Then the bug squirmed and chewed into the throbbing thing, and Lester had a final realization.
Dear God, that¡¯s my heart¡
Another dose of burning pain, and then blackness, nothing.
******
Gordon kicked the door open, panting, and saw something eating into Lester¡¯s kevlar vest, spraying blood and gore everywhere, painting the walls with red. Lester screamed and fell to the ground.
¡°NO!¡± Gordon cried. He raised his carbine just as Lester fell. The worm-like thing that had killed him had burrowed itself into his chest. Gordon stood there, transfixed with horror.
¡°No,¡± he said again. Lester stared back with his dead, glassy eyes.
Gordon stepped forwards, toward his man¡¯s body. The thing that had buried itself into Lester didn¡¯t come out.
There was a shriek beside him and Gordon turned, his carbine ready. An eyeless head with an open mouth festooned with teeth launched towards him and Gordon heard the buzzing of wings, like a giant mosquito. He raised his carbine and fired the shotgun attachment. Screaming like a child, the thing exploded, splattering Gordon with its gore. There was a second shriek, then another, and another¡
Gordon spat out a piece of bug and raised the carbine as a second grub flew towards him, screaming. Gordon blew it away and pumped the shotgun. The empty shell clattered on the floor. Gordon spun and shot another. More shrieks came from a corner.
¡°What the fuck?!¡± Gordon swore as another barrage of the killer grubs flew towards him. He blew five away with a single shot from the shotgun. He spun his carbine toward the source of the shrieks and spotted yet another swarm of the things and something else. What appeared to be a giant meatball on a stalk was spitting the grubs rapidly towards him like an obscene, alien machine gun.
Gordon gave out a battle cry of sorts as he raised the carbine with one arm. He raced toward the meatball, batting grubs out of the way with his carbine. Screams of resentment echoed in the air. As he did so, he loaded a single shell into the now empty shotgun attachment.
He reached the meatball. The dent in the center that was shooting out the grubs pulsed inwards, preparing to shoot another in his face. Gordon stuffed the barrel of the shotgun into it.
¡°Eat lead, motherfucking alien scum.¡±
He pulled the trigger and the meatball exploded, splattering Gordon with runny yellow pus.
He lowered the carbine, panting, and turned around. Dozens of the little worms hovered behind him.
¡°Fuck you all.¡±
They wheeled towards him, screaming. Gordon fired the carbine, blowing grubs apart with bursts of fire.
In five minutes, it was all over. Almost. Amid smoke and splattering bug guts, a single flying bug hovered in front of him. Gordon smiled grimly and aimed. ¡°Sayo Nara, asshole.¡±
Click.
The bug paused, confused. Gordon¡¯s heart sank rapidly. ¡°Fuck.¡±
The bug opened its jaws and shrieked, flying towards Gordon. It was inches from his face when it exploded suddenly, screaming.
Gordon turned around and saw a pale-faced young man carrying a .12 gauge Winchester shotgun in his hands. The opposite door had been blown to pieces.
10
Gordon ran with the man, sizing him up. Gordon thought he was the quiet type, normally keeping to himself, kind of like Ace, except quieter. Considering that he had just saved his life, Gordon did not have a bad impression of him.
Suddenly, the man stopped and turned around. He squinted at Gordon.
¡°Are you a soldier?¡± The man asked in a soft, whispery, tired voice.
¡°Yes,¡± Gordon said simply.
¡°Can you get me out of here?¡± The man asked.
Gordon stared. He felt like he was talking to a child.
¡°Well?¡± The man asked tiredly.
¡°Well¡¡± Gordon started, and then told the man his story.
*****************
The man, whose name was Benjamin Jernigan, insisted on taking Gordon to his hideout. It was the ¡®VIDEO ROOM¡¯.
Inside, Gordon saw two more shotguns, both .12 gauge. One was another Winchester, the other a Remington. There were numerous video screens on the wall.
¡°Sit down, please.¡± Mr. Jernigan drawled.
Gordon found a swivel chair and sat down.
¡°Judging by the look on your face, I guess you don¡¯t know about something.¡± Jernigan said.
Gordon blinked. Jernigan dismissed this and continued talking.
¡°When you told me what you knew, I realized that there was something you didn¡¯t know about.¡± Jernigan said. He slid over to the left, where Gordon saw a television.
¡°There are television aerials on the top of the subway, so I was able to get this.¡± He said, switching on the television.
The screen flickered, and then showed a news report. A thin, smart looking newscaster looked at them from the screen.
¡°Now for the news at four. The top story today is about the so-called ¡°terrorist attack¡± in the Greenwater subway. Four teams of marines have been sent to counter-attack the terrorists but have yet to neither return nor contact the surface. However, it is confirmed that several soldiers are still alive as GPS confirms.¡±
Gordon tapped the small device on him lightly.
¡°However, we are wondering if the government¡¯s story is true.¡± The reporter said grimly.
Gordon leaned forward.
¡°At about three o¡¯clock this afternoon, a blue light suddenly appeared from the sky. The light was directed at a certain part of the subway tunnel.¡± Gordon¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°The light shone for about six minutes before vanishing.¡±
¡°Here is a video shot by a civilian.¡± The reporter said, before the scene changed to a shaky video.
Gordon could see rather unclearly, as a blue light, straight as an arrow, dropped from the sky and toward a road, leaving it untouched however. As the camera swung up to the sky, Gordon could hear murmurs from the crowd assembling there. What he saw next chilled him.
A shape, dark and hidden by clouds was in the sky. The blue light was coming from it.
The scene paused and a box appeared on the bottom of the screen. The reporter was in it. ¡°Apparently, the Army is sending reinforcements to the tunnel.¡± The scene paused.
¡°End of tape.¡± Jernigan said, pulling a video tape out from a video recorder Gordon didn¡¯t notice earlier.
¡°There are reinforcements coming here?!¡± Gordon asked, half astonished, half euphoric. You came here to do rescuing and you can¡¯t wait to be rescued yourself. Ironic huh, Gordon?
¡°Patience, my dear friend.¡± Jernigan said as he inserted a new tape.
A reporter, this one older, appeared onscreen. In a clipped, neat, slightly British accent, he said. ¡°We return to news at nine,¡± (Nine? How long has it been? Gordon thought.) the Army¡¯s plan to send in reinforcements has been thwarted by a truly paranormal event.¡±
The scene switched to one near the entrance of the subway station. Several young marines (Gordon recognized a few of them) were knocking at nothing but the empty space of a doorway, before they went away in frustration. A reporter stood near them.
The reporter picked a paper cup from the ground and tossed it at the empty space of the doorway. The camera zoomed in.
The paper cup bounced off the empty space like it had hit a door.
¡°As you can see, the doorway appears to have been shielded by an invisible wall, what suspiciously seems like a force field. The Army has tried several means of breaking through for four hours, but to no avail. This, and the unidentified flying object that is still above the station,¡± The camera swiveled upwards to the sky where the dark, hidden shape was still visible. The fear that had been in Gordon¡¯s heart when he first saw the UFO returned and he gulped. ¡°¡show proof that this is not a terrorist attack like the government claimed,¡± The reporter paused for effect. ¡°but a scenario that has been celebrated countless times in art and literature, the first of extraterrestrial contact.¡± The scene stopped.
Jernigan removed the tape.
¡°Jesus,¡± Gordon muttered. ¡°Jesus Christ.¡±
12/6/2005 12:56:49 AM
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