Hell train, p.8
Hell Train, page 8
“It’s not like that,” said Clip.
“Maybe not,” said Jay. “But I see two sides to this train, and all the white faces are standing over there.”
“Man is talking sense,” said Mudz. “You is all a bunch of racists.”
Xavi put a hand to his forehead. “Ay!”
“We’re not racist,” said Clip. “You acting an asshole has nothing to do with you being black.”
Mudz sneered. “You think you’re better than me, Blondie, huh? With your easy little life and your designer jeans? Did your old lady have to work three jobs just to put food in your mouth and shoes on your feet as a kid? Did you grow up in a tower block full of druggies and skanks? Fuck you all. Judging me. Calling my moms a bitch and thinking you know shit about me. My old lady is stronger than any of you. Kept me and my sisters alive.”
Xavi sighed. “I’m sorry, but you insulted my madre first. No one wanted trouble except you.”
“Yeah, well you’ve got trouble coming, Pedro.”
Paul put a hand up. “Look. Whatever anybody thinks about each other, we have to figure this out. Can we at least agree on that?”
Jay loosened his tie and pulled it off, stuffing it into his trouser pocket. “I’m ready and willing to help, bro.”
“Me too,” said Kyle, who had now completely quit with the accent. “Whatever gets me off this train.”
Mudz said nothing. He just glared.
“My body is yours,” said Grant, winking at Jay.
Jay winced. “Do I know you or something, bro?”
“Quite possibly, darling.”
“He’s a reality TV star,” said Clip, shaking her head.
“I’m a performer,” Grant corrected. “A world-class one, at that.” He did a little tap dance and ended it in a wide-armed pose. “Grant Toledo. Your pleasure.”
Jay chuckled. “Oh shit, you’re that dude from that shed thing.”
“Love in a Hut,” said Clip, chuckling.
Mudz punched the back of the seat. “Man told you this was bare jokes. This pussy hole is filming us for some shitty TV show.”
Grant gasped as Mudz leapt up and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. “You’re being a little too rough there, darling, even for me.”
“Allow it. Man better get us off this train, right now.”
The lights went out.
“Oh shit,” said Kyle. “Not again.”
Harley whimpered. Gina soothed him in the dark.
The old man, Eric, spoke up. “Dan, can’t you do something about the lights? Someone is going to break their leg.”
“The emergency lights are supposed to switch on during an electrical outage,” Dan explained. “I don’t know why they haven’t.”
“It’s okay,” said Paul. “We’re all adults. The dark can’t hurt us. Everyone just stay where they are.”
“You can let me go now, darling,” Grant told Mudz. “Or things might get very intimate.”
Mudz sucked at his teeth. “Allow it.”
“We’re in no danger,” said Dan. “But perhaps we should all take a seat.”
Kyle tutted. “Yeah, man, it feels totally safe. I might even put my feet up and chill.”
“There’s no need for sarcasm, young man,” said Eric.
There was a strange scratching sound. Quiet, yet it got everyone’s attention. Clip examined the darkness until she spotted a spark. That spark suddenly became a tiny flame, lighting a cone around Kyle’s face. There was something in his mouth, which Clip didn’t recognise until a small orange circle floated in midair. “Are you lighting up a cigarette?” she asked.
“That’s no cigarette,” said Xavi from close by. “La marijuana.”
“No smoking on the train,” Dan chided.
Kyle grunted. “I’m doing what you told me to do, innit? I’m relaxing, bruv.”
“We don’t want to breathe in your smoke,” said Gina, “so do you mind?”
“I do mind.”
Clip groped her way forward in the darkness, her nose following the oily stench of weed. Kyle obviously sensed her movement because he grunted. “Who’s that?”
“It’s me,” she said. “Hand it over.”
“Fuck that.”
“No, I mean I want a drag.”
“Oh.”
Xavi gasped. “Clip, what are you doing?”
“I’ve been on the edge of panic for almost an hour. A little mellow is exactly what I need to keep me from losing my mind.”
“Girl’s right,” said Kyle. “This shit is too heavy. Here, take a hit.”
Clip fumbled in the darkness until she found Kyle’s hand and then carefully took the spliff from him. She took a deep drag and resisted the urge to cough and splutter. She wasn’t a particularly big drug taker, but if ever there was a time to get buzzed, it was now. Almost immediately, she felt better. Her nerve endings tingled and her muscles liquified. The rising terror in her stomach quelled.
“Getting high won’t help anything, will it?” said Xavi. “I can’t believe you, Clip.”
“Oh, chill out. I’m only taking a couple of drags. I need my heart to stop beating out of my chest for a minute so I can think.”
“I still have a little nose candy left if anybody is interested,” said Grant.
“For real?” said Mudz. “Hand it over, fam. My nose is bare painful. Need some relief, you get me?”
Grant edged his way over to where Kyle and Mudz were sitting. He offered Clip a bump, too, but she declined. That was a line she wasn’t about to cross – or snort up her nose.
“This is ridiculous,” said Gina. “This isn’t a rave. We’re in real trouble here.”
“I agree,” said Pat. “This is outrageous.”
“Ignore them,” said Paul. “Let them zone out and stay out the way. The rest of us will figure this thing out.”
“I’m still going to help,” said Clip testily. “Let’s not be so judgey.”
“I don’t like the dark,” said Harley. “And I don’t like that smell.”
“That’s what drugs smell like,” said Gina. “That’s the kind of pollution some people put into their bodies.”
“Like my mum.”
Gina sighed, but said nothing back.
Clip felt a pang of sympathy for the kid, and suddenly felt guilty about how she viewed her own life. It could have been worse. She should appreciate it more.
Although right now, my life sucks pretty hard.
Don’t overreact. Other than the man who had the heart attack, nobody has been seriously hurt. This could all end up being okay.
“Pat? Pat, where are you, sweetheart?” Eric suddenly sounded frantic. “Pat?”
Clip was taking a second drag on the spliff, but she gave it back to Kyle and squinted in the darkness. “Eric? Is everything all right?”
“It’s Pat. She was sitting right next to me, but now she’s gone. Pat? Patricia, where are you, my love?”
“Hold on,” said Paul. “She must be here. She was sitting right next to you before the lights went out. I saw her.”
“Patricia?”
“Be careful,” Dan warned. “Last thing we need is a twisted ankle.”
But Eric was already up on his feet. Clip could hear him shuffling behind the seats and frantically patting at the cushions. “Patricia?”
“She can’t just be gone,” said Jay, standing somewhere near the back with Kyle, Mudz, and Clip. His aftershave was even stronger than the weed smell. “Maybe she’s fallen asleep.”
“No. She was right next to me,” said Eric. “Where has she gone?”
“Is she a magician?” asked Grant. “I know a fantastic agent I can put her in touch with.”
Kyle shushed everyone. “Hey, can anyone hear that?”
“I hear it,” said Harley. He sounded afraid. “It sounds like nails.”
“Yeah,” said Kyle. “Nails.”
Clip tilted her head and heard it too. A pattering sound against the floor, like tapping fingernails. It was close, coming from the very rear of the carriage. “W-What is that?”
The lights came on.
Everyone gasped at once.
“Fuck me!” shouted Kyle, and he, Grant, and Jay clambered desperately down the aisle towards the operator’s cabin, leaving Clip alone with Mudz, who was sitting in a nearby window seat, halfway through snorting coke off the back of his hand. With the lights back on, he blinked and glanced around. “The hell?”
Clip backed away slowly, utterly confused by what she was seeing. Pat was half-conscious, slumped up against the carriage’s rear door, moaning and muttering while a large dog wagged its tail – a golden retriever or Labrador, its yellow coat shining. Its jaws were clamped around Pat’s wrist as if it were a pork chop. Brittle bones snapped and splintered.
Eric saw what was happening and bellowed in horror. “Patricia!” He tried to rush down the aisle, but Paul grabbed him and pulled him back.
“Hold on a second, mate.”
“She needs me!”
Clip glanced to her side, sensing movement, and she cried out in shock when a second golden retriever leapt out at her from the seats. She ducked out of the way just in time, falling onto her hands and knees in the aisle. Xavi raced to help her, while the retriever landed in the aisle ahead of her and immediately turned to Pat. It snarled viciously, then lunged at her, biting into her throat. Pat gargled and spasmed as the dog tore at her windpipe.
Eric screamed louder.
“Fuck me,” said Mudz. “Where did they come from?” He actually sounded normal as he leapt out of his seat and landed in the aisle. It looked like he was about to rush to join the others, but then he turned towards Pat and instead unleashed a brutal kick that struck one of the dogs in its flank. The animal yelped, and then turned, snarling, with Pat’s windpipe dangling from its jaws. Mudz backed up, hands out defensively. “Back up, Marley and Me. Man will put you down.”
Clip was on her feet again and backing away, closer to the front of the carriage than the back. Paul was restraining Eric nearby, but he shoved the sobbing old man over into Dan’s care. “Keep him back,” he said. “Okay?”
Dan nodded.
Paul took off down the aisle, knocking Clip against the seats as he rushed by. Mudz was running the other way, with the snarling golden retriever right on his heels. Its bloody jaws were far too ferocious for such a friendly breed of dog. Likewise, its eyes were a deep, unholy red as it leapt into the air to attack.
Pat’s windpipe splatted on the floor.
Paul shoved Mudz sideways across the seats and blocked the canine’s attack with an upraised left arm. The animal’s ferocious jaws clamped around his wrist, and the weight and impact forced him down to the floor, where he cursed in pain and struggled to fight the dog off.
Everyone stood frozen in horror.
Mudz skidded to a halt, then turned and raced back down the aisle, yelling at the dog as it mauled Paul on the floor. “Allow it, Fido. Man ain’t got time for this hero bullshit.”
The lights blinked out.
All sound ceased except for Eric’s inconsolable sobbing.
Clip panicked, feeling hunted in the dark. The demonic hounds would be able to see her and smell her, while she was completely blind. They could be right in front of her, about to lunge for her throat.
The lights came back on.
Both dogs were gone.
And so was Pat.
Eric crumpled to the floor, slipping through Dan’s grasp. “Pat…” he wailed. “Patricia…”
“Impossible,” said Dan, his mouth falling open. “What… What did we see?”
Clip found herself standing next to Xavi, which was good because she collapsed backwards into his arms, glad for once to be held by him.
Paul rolled on the floor, clutching his bloody wrist and hissing, while Mudz lay half on top of him, looking confused. “Where the dogs at?” he yelled. “Yo, where they go?”
“They disappeared,” said Harley. “Like magic.”
“Quite a trick,” said Grant. His taut face was expressionless. “Not quite Britain’s Got Talent level, but close.”
“Maybe I do believe in juju,” said Jay, shaking his head over by the operator’s cabin door. “Because this is some messed-up shit.”
CHAPTER 7
“I think we should all sit down and take a moment,” said Dan. He had taken off his blazer and dumped it over the back of a seat. His left shirt cuff was bloody and unbuttoned, and both his hands were trembling. “There’s obviously more than enough reason to panic and run riot, but let’s try to avoid that. Let’s try to stay calm long enough that we can talk this through and try to make sense of it. We have to make sense of it.”
“Make sense of what?” Eric bellowed at him. “My wife is gone! They ate her alive, like something out of one of her nightmares. They… They ate her!”
Dan tried to shush the man, but Clip seized upon something he had said. “One of her nightmares? What do you mean?”
Eric’s face was a mess of snot and tears, and he answered her only by blubbering at first. Once he caught his breath, he tried to answer. “Sh-She had a phobia of dogs. Ever since… Ever since she ran over the neighbour’s pet in her early twenties. She never forgave herself for it, and she’s always had a recurring nightmare of a pack of dogs coming to get revenge.”
“Why would they want revenge?” asked Kyle. “Wasn’t it an accident?”
Eric looked away, apparently unwilling to answer.
Paul was clutching his bleeding wrist and grimacing, but he stopped a moment to look Eric’s way. “She’d been on the pop, huh?”
Eric straightened up and faced him. “She was just a kid. She made a mistake, and it’s haunted her ever since.”
Clip nodded. The past was the past. Especially when it was ancient history. “No one is judging her, Eric. Answer me one more thing, though. What breed of dog did she run over?”
Eric swallowed. “It-It was a golden retriever.”
Mudz whistled. “Dog came back for bare vengeance, bruv. Took your woman down with extreme prejudice. For real.”
Eric glared at the youth, but he didn’t say anything. While insensitive, Mudz had at least tried to help Pat during the attack. That had surprised Clip, but it still didn’t make her particularly fond of the youth. He probably just enjoyed kicking animals.
“Her biggest fear killed her,” said Jay, shaking his head. “That’s harsh.”
“Like the type of thing a curse might do, huh?” said Paul. He chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment and then took a few steps back and forth. Finally, he faced the group. “Is that why we’re all here, to be punished?”
Gina tutted. She folded her arms but didn’t seem comfy in her seat. “I have nothing to be punished for – and Harley certainly doesn’t. He’s just a boy.”
“P-Patricia was a good woman,” said Eric. “One mistake, decades ago, doesn’t mean she deserved to die. She’s been a good wife. A good mother. Oh, God, what am I going to tell our Lucy?”
Clip groaned. “You have a daughter?”
Eric nodded, tears streaming down both cheeks. “And grandchildren. Why did this happen? How?”
Kyle moaned. “It’s like Jay said. Her biggest fear attacked her.”
“I just want to apologise in advance,” said Grant, face still expressionless. “I’m afraid of wasps, so if anyone gets stung, that’s on me. Buzz-buzz.”
Paul rolled up the sleeves of his green jumper and glared at Grant. “You think this is a joke, mate?”
“Not at all, darling. I really am deathly afraid of wasps. Although Schofield once told me that bee sting treatments can do wonders for one’s forehead wrinkles, so perhaps it’s something I should try to get over.”
“You’re a psychopath,” said Paul. “People are dying.”
Grant shrugged. “Nobody I know.”
“Psychopath!”
“Labels hurt, darling.”
“What’s everyone else afraid of?” asked Clip, trying to keep the conversation moving in a helpful direction. She was inclined to agree with Paul’s assessment of Grant, but it did nothing to help the situation. “It might help us know what to expect.”
Gina shrugged. “Being alone, I guess. Although, I was in a bad marriage once, and that was worse. Much worse.”
“I’m scared of lots of things,” said Dan unashamedly. “Flying. Public speaking. Snakes. Can…” He cleared his throat. “Lots of things.”
Clip frowned. “What were you going to say? Cancer?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
“Hell,” said Mudz. “Everyone’s afraid of that shit. Cancer don’t mess around.”
“Well, I’m really afraid of it,” said Dan, “because my wife has it.”
Xavi groaned. “Ay! I’m sorry, my friend. My tia Mariana had breast cancer two years ago. It was rough on her. Has your wife started chemo?”
Dan shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“She hasn’t told me about it yet. The only reason I found out is because I accidentally opened her post a few weeks ago. It was an appointment from the oncology department. She has cancer of the oesophagus. It’s… bad.”
“Why wouldn’t she tell you?” asked Clip, then chided herself for being intrusive. He clearly didn’t want to talk about it.
Dan sat down and rested his head against the seat, staring up at the ceiling. “I don’t know, but I assume she doesn’t want it to affect us both. We have a big holiday to France coming up, so maybe she plans on telling me after we get back. Anyway, cancer is currently the thing of which I am most afraid, for the reasons I just explained.”
Clip nodded. “I think we’re all afraid of something.”
“Man ain’t scared of nothing,” said Mudz.
“Good for you,” said Xavi.
Clip nodded to Dan’s bloody shirt cuff. “What happened?”
Dan frowned and then realised what she meant. He rolled up his sleeve to reveal a plaster. “I have no idea. My colleague, Bradley, pointed it out to me before he got off the train. Whatever happened, I never even felt it.”
