I am a Russian in my 20s, living in Moscow. My parents live in the nearby city of Tula; I visit them from time to time. I used to take a train, but the… things that started happening recently made me stay the HELL away from railroads for the rest of my life. It all began last November.
One of my visits lasted for a little longer than expected, but I had a busy day ahead, so I couldn’t stay at my parents’ for the night. So, I chose a train instead of a bus to the south of Moscow. It was a clear, rather cold evening, and the carriage was surprisingly empty. I chose a seat near a window. The travel from Tula to Moscow takes about 3 and a half hours - I knew it because I’ve taken the same train before. I put my headphones on, wrapped myself in my coat and started napping. Relaxing rattle of the wheels, warm lighting, evening Russia behind the window and soft melodies were lulling me.
About half an hour later I felt… something. Half-asleep, I opened my eyes. The lighting turned from warm yellow to white. Didn’t pay any attention to that. Just like before I was sitting alone, and there were few passengers around me. Some people were no longer there, but new ones also appeared. I shuffled my playlist and tried to take a nap again.
Later, occasionally waking up a few times, I’ve noticed some scared passengers from Tula leaving the carriage. The sound of slamming doors awakened me a few times, as they were escaping one by one. But the music was playing, and the coat was warming me, so I was snoozing again and again. Until I suddenly woke up an hour later. My sleepiness disappeared in a matter of seconds. It was dark behind the window, the lighting was still cold. And only then I lifted my head and took a look around.
First thing I noticed: none of my original travelmates were there. Only new people. I easily came to that conclusion, because Tula passengers were decently dressed, like all the other big city citizens. People around me, however, all wore dark clothes, without any labels or brand logos. The second thing: they were all smiling. Artificially, not like normal people. A weird, strange smile. Not one after hearing a funny joke, neither one after remembering something good. No. Not even a sly smirk. It looked like everyone in the carriage – I counted 11 people – decided to smile, without a particular reason. Just pretending to be happy. I got nervous. Strange. Very strange. I turned the music off and started staring at the window. Only a dense forest outside, even though there must be some settlements near such a popular rail line. I had been looking outside for 10 minutes. Nothing. Just the forest. When was the last stop? I genuinely couldn’t recall the last time we had stopped. And sure as hell I couldn’t recall when did all those passengers get here. Cold light was hurting my eyes, I wiped my tears.
After turning around, I realized I’m not alone – in front of me, on another seat, was a guy. He was smiling too. Plus, he was looking directly into my eyes. I’m a sceptic, so I thought he simply was a redneck trying to scare me. I chuckled loudly, leant on my seat and started staring back at him. He didn’t react, and soon enough I indeed got frightened. He simply kept staring at me. I tried smirking, wrinkling my brows, winking, snapping my fingers… nothing. At all. He just kept staring and smiling. “The fuck you need?”, I asked. He kept staring. I lifted my head and noticed that all the other passengers started getting closer to us. To me. Notably, they only moved when I couldn’t notice that. Getting distracted by the guy in front of me, I couldn’t watch the crowd. A woman in glasses was 3 rows beside me. Then 2. Then 1. I wiped my tears again, looked around and screamed. All the passengers were now around us. And the guy’s smile got wider. His teeth made me shiver. These were, in fact, fangs. Fangs with a perfect bite. I realized that they were all together. They were on the same side.
Suddenly, with a loud whistle, an inspector entered our carriage. The passengers instantly turned around, narrowing their eyes.
“Hey you, dude! Yes, you, get the hell up and run here!”
Without any hesitation, I obeyed. He was standing in the tambour, holding the door open. The light was blinding me, so I had to run purely by touch. When I was finally safe, I turned around one last time. The whole crowd was glaring at me. The guy wasn’t smiling anymore. He was aggressively moving his jaw, as if biting his own teeth. Everyone behind him seemed angered, their lips were pressed together. The inspector grabbed my hand and dragged me into another carriage. There I instantly felt light-headed, nearly passing out.
“It’s alright, chill. Here, have some water” – my savior told me, helping me get up. Near us were a couple of smokers, all looking at me surprised. The inspector gave me a bottle of water and ordered to follow him. I did so. All the carriages were ordinary. Normal people, small crowds here and there. Little villages near the rail. Warm yellow lighting. Reaching the head of the train, we went into a small room, in which he tried to explain me everything.
“How are you? Some people go completely crazy after we drag them out. Just say something, please! Oh, the questions, always the questions… Oh, and here’s your tea. I’ve been working for 5 years on this line, and once a couple of month some people get stuck, most oftenly those who are asleep and don’t pay attention to… well, everything around. Most of the time people understand that something is wrong… I don’t know man. It just happens. I thought I was being messed with at first, but once I was walking along the train and something seemed… wrong. Almost got caught myself… You can never see this carriage appearing, it’s weird… it exists, but at the same time, it doesn’t. Just out of nowhere. The eighth one… we normally have seven of them… and then it disappears with people like you inside of it. I was too late a year ago. A young guy was sitting with a laptop, probably working… didn’t notice when he got surrounded. They all disappeared instantly, I didn’t manage to get him out… Ask all you want, I have no idea what the fuck is that. Just please don’t tell anybody, we have enough problems already. They started appearing more often lately…”
The inspector ended his semi-monologue. I listened it through, but got no answers… not that he knew too much anyway. When I got home I was terrified to death, but several weeks later decided to look for answers. In my spare time I started taking a train on that line, back and forth. Moscow to Tula, Tula to Moscow. On and on. And later, when I got my first suspicions, on all lines, all the time.
And now, read carefully!
Never sleep in trains.
Never get distracted in trains.
And if the light got pale white, if there’s a deep forest outside, fucking run. Go away if a smiling stranger takes a seat next to you. Go somewhere with people in. They do that every time. Every. Time. Inspectors make mistakes. Sometimes these creatures are left with nothing. But they are always on the hunt. Always. If you ever feel that something is wrong, if a smiling woman is sitting nearby, I BEG YOU – run away and take others with you, save their lives.
I meet them almost every time. Sometimes I make up reasons to get someone out, sometimes I use force and literally drag them. Sometimes I’m too late. But I’m tired, I tried to do something, but nothing works. If you try to shoot them, the carriage gets normal. It’s very hard to explain why you’re standing in a train with a smoking gun in your hands. Prayers don’t work, neither does holy water. I’m tired of travelling back and forth in an attempt to understand what is that. People that are caught are never found again. I tried to take pictures of the carriage, but on them it looks completely normal. I tried to talk to them, but they just keep smiling. I tried waiting, watching them, but despite drinking liters of coffee, the sleepiness almost killed me, just like the first time I met them. Though, that time I managed to escape by myself before they got too close. I can’t keep doing that. I have a job, I should have a personal life, and yet I spend all my spare time riding a fucking train. I tried searching the history of those wagons, of that line, of those places – nothing. Empty. Not a single clue. I just don’t know who they are. And I give up. I’m writing it all so you – yes, YOU – could save your life. I’m tired. I have no idea whether it happens on other lines or not. But the scariest thing of all is that their number is increasing. Recently I’ve seen one of the passengers, a female, having a year-old baby on her hands.
He is yet to learn how to smile.