To Be A Warrior

Chapter 39: Train To New Oban Part 1

"Man in the loo. Lady here thinks he's got the flu," Halima answers. "You know. The flu."

Her eyes widen. "We should tell the train staff."

"He doesn't sound well," The woman says, looking over to the bathroom. The growls and snarls are getting louder, and the door is rattling. I suck in a sharp breath in my teeth when she takes a step towards it, then another. "Can you hear him? Sounds like he's growling-"

She shrieks when the door bursts open, revealing a man, probably in his mid-forties, snarling with eyes glazed over in death. His skin has that gray undertone I've grown to recognize, although this woman only shrieks in shrill confusion.

"Oh my God! What has happened to him?" She yells in horror. "His face has turned all gray and he's-ah!"

He lunges for her, grabbing her and sinking his teeth into her arm.

People start screaming.

"We need to go, now!" I yell, and Halima nods frantically.

"Yeah. I've been checkin' online. Graham from the ObanHeads, the one that got the flu-I got a message from his mum, says he'd died. That flu kills."

"Everyone, out of the carriage!" Ellie shouts. "Everyone, please! Run!"

Most of them don't try to argue, and those that do are ignored and passed by. I weave through the others that are scrambling to get away from the snarling, biting man and the now coughing woman. Halima and Ellie stay close to me, pushing people ahead of them to make sure they get through. Andreas is up ahead, doing the same.

He makes eye contact with me, and the utter terror and confusion in his eyes hits me like a truck. All of these people are so scared, so confused as to what's happening. I wish I could tell them, but I can't, because Catherine is supposed to be just as confused and scared as they are. Twelve-year-old Callista in America will be just as confused and scared as they are when it gets there.

This isn't for me to change the past but learn about hers so I can know how to go about things in the present, even though in all honesty Catherine is the least of my worries right now.

I can hear the shouts and cries as more people sprint ahead of us, and those behind us who ran the opposite way are met with growls and snarls and coughs. The more people that push forward, the less of them I see until it is just me, Ellie, Halima and Andreas running this way. Even when we get to the next smaller carriage, there's no one there.

Halima's phone buzzes, and surprisingly she doesn't ignore it.

"What is it?" She asks.

"Halima? Ellie? Uh... Catherine, was it? C-Can you hear me? It's MorningTownRide from ObanHeads. Uh, but you can call me Sam. You're run one kilometer along the train. Probably a good time for me to let you know what I can see."

Andreas frowns. "Who's this? Some ObanHead? How did he-"

"Listen. I've got cam access along the whole train. It's a special thing they did for the inaugural journey. I can tell you what I can see. Do you want to know or not?"

I resist the urge to smile at teenage Sam's sass and very low tolerance for bullshit.

"We need to know," Ellie says, and he huffs.

"Okay. Oh, it's not great. The bloke in the toilet's bit that one woman, obviously. About five minutes later she was biting other people. The bites make them go like, rabid or something. The good news is no one farther along the train looks like they have it, so if you keep moving towards the front of the train, you should be safe. The other people who escaped your carriage are already moving ahead of you just like you told them."