Death Train

Chapter Three

The ring of the doorbell announced the arrival of a dirty young woman as she walked into the shop. In her grubby hand, she held a five-dollar note which had been doctored with a piece of sticky tape.

She walked over to the counter and asked to buy a bottle of water and a small biscuit wrapped in plastic. The short girl stood there still as a statue, peering over the counter in fear, that if she touched something she would get yelled at because she was so dirty.

'That's four dollars and ninety-five cents' the cashier said as he looked down at her, he snatched the five-dollar note out of her hand in fear that the girl's dirtiness would somehow transfer to him.

In the corner of the neat pristine store was a man dressed all in black. His hood cast a black shadow across his eyes, his mouth set in a hard line.

Although the man in black seemed suspicious, he was as neat and proper as everything else in the store. He attentively watched the girl, his hand twitching around a white cup that was full of a dark steaming liquid.

The girl collected her order whilst peering over her shoulder now and then. She quickly walked out of the store without saying a word causing the bell to chime again in the now quiet shop.

The man in black took a slow deep sip out of his cup, placed it on the table and got out of his chair. He walked swiftly out the door, cracking his neck as he followed her.

The girl was already a few hundred meters in front of the man by the time he had left the store; she could hear the quiet footsteps behind her getting louder and louder.

Panic struck as she realized what was happening. Her heart started racing and flight mode kicked in. She ran as fast as she could, jumping over rubble and other obstacles that got in her way.

She looked behind her, he was gaining on her, and she was running out of energy. The bottle of water and biscuit that she had hungrily ingested as soon as no one was looking, wasn't enough to keep her going. Her legs started to stiffen up.

Coming up behind her he quickly wrapped his hand around her mouth with the grace of an assassin as he dragged her into a dark abandoned alleyway and pushed her up against the wall.

He leaned against the back of her body pinning her against the damp, mouldy bricks. Her breathing was fast, not only from the run but the anger that was now pulsing through her body. There had to be a way out, she thought as he leaned closer to her.

'You should have stayed in the pack, now you're theirs' His raspy voice whispered with confidence into her ear as his tongue licked her ear lobe. She tried to get away, pushing and thrashing her body away from the wall and into him, but he was too strong.

Laughing at her attempt to escape he stuck a long needle in her neck and injected her with a white fluid. She screamed and struggled as the liquid quickly filled her veins pulsing through her whole body.

She tried pushing away one last time, trying to get away from her attacker, but the drug had almost taken its full effect and her movements became sluggish and slow. He moved away from her, letting her fall to the ground with a loud thump.

He picked her up effortlessly and threw her over his shoulder, casually strutting to a van that had just pulled up. Two men wearing the same outfit as the mysterious man got out of the van and opened the back door, helping the first man place the girl into the back of the vehicle.

The girl's eyes started to flicker open, her mouth felt dry, and her head spun with a throbbing headache. A bright light flashed across her eyes making her blink heavily as she tried to focus her blurry eyesight.