PART I: Something very strange is going on
As I sat there in silence I contemplated what my next steps should be. Just then the lights in the house started flickering violently before dimming down completely and a quiet but steady humming sound engulfed the silence. I stood up and tried turning the lights off then switching em back on but in vain. The lights remained dim.
I walked back in defeat. As I was about to sit I staggered face first into the couch. I struggled back up and quickly realized what was happening. The entire building had started shaking terribly as if I were in the midst of a level 7 earthquake. I had trouble just keeping myself from falling down. I made my way towards the door pulling it open just as the floor tilted downwards. I toppled down. I tried to crawl my way to the staircase but that was collapsing too. I realized what I should’ve done. I remembered The Disasters 101 class. “In case of an earthquake try seeking shelter underneath a sturdy table to protect yourself from the collapsing debris”. But it was too late. It wouldn’t have helped anyway. The floors were collapsing rapidly so unless the table was going to hold me up like some sort of parachute, I was in a dangerous situation with or without the table. I ran down the stairs but they were caving in pretty quickly. I took a step and fell down two floors and landed on my knees. The pain shot through my legs and I screamed in pain before falling sideways with my head facing up. That was a bad move. I saw the entire floor above collapse entirely and plummet down, about to flatten my entire body….
I woke up to the sound of a train whirring past making a continuous cling clang sound for about half a minute. I shot to my feet and looked around. I was apparently in some sort of a subway station. Except it was the cleanest subway I had ever seen. The lights were bright and the floors were spotless. Some tiles even shone. Oh and one thing! There was absolutely NO ONE THERE. Not a single soul in sight. ”Gee so unexpected.” I frowned in annoyance. After the train had completely left the station I was met with the same familiar silence. The same sort of suffocating vacuum like silence. But how could that be. Someone must’ve been driving the train. And there has to be someone in it. But there was no point wondering about the train as it was long gone.
There was only the platform which extended into walls running along the tracks on either side. I couldn’t see a staircase leading up but I did see one leading down to a brightly lit corridor. Having no other options I descended down. I kept walking hoping to see a turn or exit of some sort. But the corridor seemed to last forever. I decided to turn back. As I was walking back I heard the sound of a train arriving. I started running towards the platform. I was in the grip of pure adrenaline rush as I whizzed past the corridor not wanting to miss what might be my only chance of getting out of this place. I ascended up and towards the train as its doors were just about to close. I jumped and put myself between the closing doors and they re opened. I heaved a sigh of relief and sat on one of the emerald green seats. The walls of the trains were pastel yellow in colour and the lights were bright. For a long time all I could see were the black walls of the tunnel that seemed to last forever. I peered out impatiently waiting for the tunnel to end. And it did. In MID AIR! The tunnel suddenly opened to a bright view with the wide blue sky above and absolutely nothing for several thousand feet below. I tried to peer at from where the train had emerged and could see that the tunnel was built in the side of a mountain. For a spilt second I thought the train was going to dive down towards the void but it didn’t. It kept moving along on tracks that were built in mid air. There were no bridges or columns supporting the tracks. Absolutely nothing. I was terrified. Up ahead I could see the tracks extending forever with no other mountains or plains for that matter in sight.
I got up and walked towards the doors to the other compartment of the train and entered inside. I don’t know what I had expected. I had given up the hope of being able to see another living being long time back. I kept on walking hoping to reach the front of the train to see who the hell was driving this I-don’t-give-a-fuck-about-physics machine. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to meet the person or creature. But I had to get some sort of explanation.
As I was heading towards another compartment I heard a voice. A human voice. I stopped in my tracks.
“Why me!!!!!!!” Followed by a whole lot of cursing and panting.
I carefully got down and crawled towards the door. The door was solid metal from hallway down and glass hallway up so I could hide myself pretty well. I slowly peaked over and to my surprise saw a man. Wait a minute…
He was the exact same man I had seen a while ago in the building of my apartment. The same guy that was being hunted down by a nightmare of a creature. Except he was in a better condition than before. He wasn’t bleeding that was certain. His clothes were ripped but not as much as they were before. I looked down at my own clothes. My jeans were ripped at my knees and my shirt was covered with dirt. My hands arms had few cuts but other than that I wasn’t much harmed.
I looked back up and screamed. He was right there by the glass on the other side staring back at me wide eyed. I scuttled back.
“No wait!” he yelled and opened the door. I was petrified. I had no idea what would happen now. He slowly approached me and started speaking quickly.
“Don’t be scared. I wont hurt you. In fact I’m the victim and I’m pretty sure you are too. “
“Who are you?!”
“How the fuck does that matter?! You gonna run a background check on me?”
I did feel kinda stupid when he commented that. So I asked a question more appropriate for the situation.
“Where are we?”
He sat down on the train floor cross legged in front of me and said,” Now that I CAN answer….”