The quintet shuffled around the room and slammed the door locked. The creature continued to claw the door open as they struggled to find a way out. It could still be heard banging on the door outside, but the door was strong enough the withstand the pounding for at least a few moments for them to think.
They slumped down to the ground to catch their breaths. It wasn't the first time that they had a near-death encounter. However, the combination of exhausting sprinting and inevitable fear quickly made sure that they would all be gasping for air.
Gregory leaned back all the way, squeezing and relaxing his eyes repeatedly in a cycle. He then began groaning painfully and breathing shakily. His lips had gone pale, and his right hand was clutching onto his gunshot wound.
Matthew lowered himself to get a closer look at Gregory's wound. It was still bleeding, just not profusely. He seemed to be suffering from both blood loss and a bacterial infection in his wound, which caused him to appear highly unwell.
"Gregory doesn't seem too well," he notified the group. "We probably have less than an hour before he loses too much blood and loses consciousness. He'll be in critical condition by then."
"That won't be a problem," Megan figured as she brought up a broom from the corner of the room and held it up as if she were an assassin, ready to kill. She then thwacked it onto the ground, breaking off a shard of the broom's tip and instantly sharpening it.
Daniel looked at her, then glanced at the shaking door. "So..."
"We open the door," she said boldly in a deep voice, "and we ram this right into its ugly face."
She got the rest to stand back as she laid her hand on the greasy doorknob. Her heart pounded—owing to both the nervousness and adrenaline building up in her. She then turned the knob slowly, preparing herself to face the creature eye-to-eye.
Finally, she swung the door open swiftly with much force, a shocking contrast to the way that she had turned the doorknob gently earlier on. She then braced herself for a raucous roar that would go right in her face coming from the creature.
However, the creature just stopped pounding and stood stationery as its fierce eyes glared right into her soul. Megan, however, stood rooted to the ground and wielded the sharpened broom.
"Take this right in your face, you ugly-ass scum!" she blared as she pushed the broomstick right into its right eye. She then pulled it out with all her force before plunging it back into the creature's left eye, causing blood to spray all over and instantly blinding it.
The creature shrieked in pain, causing everyone to cup their ears to shield themselves from the deafening scream of defeat coming from the monster. Even Megan herself dropped the broom to protect her ears. She lowered herself and moved back towards the rest of the group.
Meanwhile, blood continued to spurt out of the creature's damaged eyes before it fell right to the ground and went into a violent spasm. It was still alive but immobile for the moment.
Thus, Matthew and Daniel helped Gregory up to his feet again, although he couldn't walk very well. On the other hand, Megan led Jeanne out of the room, stepping over the shaking body of the creature very carefully.
Matthew and Daniel then settled Gregory down on a pillar, letting him rest while the rest sorted things out. Matthew walked around another pillar, thinking of how they could get onto any of the trains. They would have to stop some of the incoming trains somehow, but they didn't know how to.
Until Matthew spotted the technician's room.
Matthew moved over and twisted the doorknob of the door leading into the room. Pushing the door open, he inhaled the stale air that rushed out of the room. He entered the room and looked around it. It was significantly smaller than the janitor's closet but was large enough for two people to stay in. There were a bunch of insulated wiring and electrical boxes all around the room, but one of the boxes especially caught his attention.
On the cover of the box was labelled 'rail'. He didn't exactly know what it was, but he assumed that it was something related to the current powering the railway tracks. He then returned to the group to update them on his findings.
"Guys, I think I know of a way to get onto the next train," Matthew reckoned as he returned to the other four.
"What did you find?" Megan asked, insisting that she knew what he had discovered.
"The technician room is there," he said, pointing to the room. "Beside the janitor's closet. It was unlocked, so I took a look inside. I found a power box labelled 'rail', with a switch in it. I think the switch toggles the power supplied to the tracks around this station on and off."
"So, you're saying..." Daniel added to the conversation, waiting for Matthew to continue his sentence.
"So, I'm saying that we wait for an incoming train to appear before we cut the power. And it would be forced to stop, so we can speak to the operator about our situation before we get someone to turn the power back on so we can get moving again," Matthew elaborated more on his plan.
Meanwhile, Megan moved towards the edge of the platform, listening intently. She could hear a faint whirring noise, which got louder over time. She then looked to the left of the tunnel and got a glimpse of marker lights from what seemed to be a train.
"Matthew!" she called out across the platform. "There's a train approaching. Cut the power!"
Following her instructions, he moved quickly into the technician's room and swung open the cover of the electric box. He then flicked the switch down, supposedly cutting the power from reaching the railway tracks.
Megan watched as the train continued to move. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen to it. It just moved at its normal speed, and the headlights were still on, flashing through the tunnel. However, the lights eventually went out, and the train became noticeably slower.
It approached the station at a relatively slow speed, showing that the power cut did take effect. By the time the front of it moved past the nearer end of the station, it was almost motionless. And just at the right mark at the other end of the station, the train came to a complete halt.
A perfect stop.
The operator, who was thoroughly confused by the fact that power was cut, stepped out of his room and opened the train doors. Matthew inspected the train from outside and noticed there were probably only four or five passengers in it. Meanwhile, the operator approached him, even more puzzled to see people in the station.
"Hey, what are you people doing here?" he questioned them. "I was informed to skip this station because the hospital is being quarantined. The entrances to the station were sealed, so how did you get in here?"
Matthew shook his head as he approached the operator. He then brought out his police badge. "It doesn't matter how we got in here," he said as he held the badge to the operator's face. "We're NYPD, and we're here to investigate something," he lied to ensure that the operator didn't know they were part of the quarantine.
"What are you guys investigating?" the operator inquired. "And what are you guys doing here in Edison?"
Matthew shook his head once again. "That also doesn't matter," he put off the operator's question. "The point is, we have an injured man here, and we'll need to transport him back to a hospital in New York."
The operator scratched his beard for a moment. It was genuinely puzzling that some NYPD detectives and civilians would show up in a sealed station coincidentally when the railway power had gone out. Either way, he knew he still had to comply with them, for they were police officers, after all.
"Oh, darn it. Just get on the train," the operator said as he paved the way for the detectives to carry Gregory into the train.
And so, Matthew and Daniel moved him onto two adjacent seats in the train, placing him in a lying position. Daniel stayed by his side to make sure that everything was fine while Matthew moved out of the train towards the technician's room.
Just as he was about to turn the power switch back on, a familiar voice over what seemed to be a megaphone was relayed through the station. The voice seemed to be coming from a distance, but it wasn't that far.
Matthew paused for a moment while Megan decided that she should head towards the source of the sound to see what exactly she was hearing, which wasn't quite wise to do.
She moved up the stairs, back up to the underpass that linked to the other train line above. She made sure that her footsteps were quiet, such that the approaching person wouldn't hear her. She then peeped her head beside the turn in the underpass to get a glimpse of what was happening.
And she saw a cloaked woman speaking through a megaphone.
"I know you all are here," the familiar voice echoed. "Why don't you all show up so I can make you an offer?"
Megan hid her head back behind the wall, breathing heavily. "God, please save us all," she began muttering a prayer before making her way back to the rest of the group.
She moved back through the underpass nimbly but silently. This time, she made sure that her footsteps weren't even audible. Her legs shuffled down the stairway leading back down to the platform where the rest were.
"Everyone, she's coming!" Megan warned everyone as she reached the bottom of the staircase.
"The chairwoman?" Daniel gasped, making an intelligent guess.
"Yes," Megan answered. "She still has her gun, and if we don't get out of here, she'll shoot us without hesitating."
Jeanne raised an eyebrow. She was just as confused as the train operator was, as they were the only ones who didn't know about Yael. This excluded Gregory, however, who was trying to calm himself down such that his blood pressure wouldn't be raised and thus the bleeding wouldn't be so intense.
"Who's the 'chairwoman'?" Jeanne then asked.
"I don't have time to explain," Megan said as she rushed back to Matthew, who was still in the technician's room. He was waiting for Megan to return, and now she did, but with bad news. "Bring the power back on. We need to get out of here, now!"
And so, Matthew flicked the switch back on. A whirring sound came from the generator inside the room, but it increased in pitch very slowly. This also meant that the power would take some time to come back on.
"This isn't good," Matthew muttered. "By the time the power comes on, the chairwoman would have had us killed already."
Megan pulled her hair, sighing. She tried to think of a plan, but she couldn't. There was only one way they could go about it, and it wasn't really a plan. "We need to get someone to stall her in that case. Like attack her or something, but I can't guarantee that that person will walk out alive."
Matthew exhaled deeply. He wasn't willing to let anyone be sacrificed, but it was probably inevitable. Someone would have to stop her and battle her physically.
Suddenly, Jeanne appeared to them in the room. She sighed tiredly before opening her mouth to speak. "I didn't mean to overhear your conversation, but I'll do it."
"D-do what?" Megan stuttered, fearing that Jeanne was volunteering to do the very thing that might endanger her life.
"I'll stall that person," Jeanne responded. "Earlier in the hospital, you announced to everyone that someone was coming after the three of you. Since you saved my life earlier, it's my turn to repay you guys."
Megan gasped, her jaw shaking once again. It had become a habit for her to do so when she was nervous or fearful. "No, no! We can't let you do that. You're a civilian, and we're supposed to protect you—"
"Well, it isn't against the law to protect police officers, is it?" Jeanne made her last question clear to them.
Just then, the footsteps of the approaching chairwoman of Yael could be heard. The three stepped out of the room to see that it was really her. Meanwhile, Daniel peeped through the blurry train windows to see the chairwoman approaching the other three.
He had the urge to get out of the train and run to his friends, but Matthew eyed him with a glare, signalling to him not to expose his and Gregory's positions.
"Long time no see!" the chairwoman continued to speak through the microphone sarcastically, waving to them with a gun in her hand. "Or was it really that long? Actually, it really isn't. The trial was just a couple of months ago. A couple of months since you failed to get me prosecuted. What a shame."
"Look, what do you want?" Matthew asked simply. She just wanted the chairwoman to snap to her point.
"What do I want?" the chairwoman reiterated the question back to herself. "Well, I've come to make an offer. I'm requesting for you to join Yael."
Matthew and Megan frowned and gasped while Daniel kept his reactions to himself. They couldn't understand why the chairwoman wouldn't want to kill them immediately, but soon, it was made clear to them.
"Well, you three detectives—actually two, now that I see that Daniel is missing, are my enemies," the chairwoman started. "But if you take up the offer, you will no longer be."
Matthew and Megan, however, didn't respond to her statement. Their faces went expressionless, and their lips were kept shut. On the other hand, Jeanne was making all sorts of expressions on her face—confusion, disgust, misery and much more, just that none of them were positive.
"So, will you join us?" the chairwoman questioned them as if they would be convinced to go over to the enemy's side so easily. "If not, I can just kill you right here," she threatened as she wielded her gun.
Matthew knew he didn't have enough time to bring out his gun. He would get shot by the chairwoman before he could even cock it. So, he and Megan placed their hands up, "surrendering".
All of a sudden, a bullet went right at the side of the chairwoman, causing her to collapse to the ground. The trio turned to look at where the shot came from. And they were all beaming as they watched who had saved them.
"Never will we join forces with you," Daniel muttered as he stood over the chairwoman, who was wincing in pain.
Coincidentally, the train lights came back on, and the train managed to get started again. The detectives and Jeanne turned to see the operator signalling to them. "Come on, get on!" they could hear him through the doors.
Just as they were moving into the train, a very unfortunate thing happened. For a reason initially unknown to them, the chairwoman got back up with the gun in her hand and released a bullet right into Jeanne.
Jeanne, who received the bullet instantly, groaned in pain and fell to the floor. Now Gregory was no longer the only one that was injured. The chairwoman, being as vicious as she was, tried to pull the trigger more times, but she had run out of ammunition.
"Looks like I shouldn't have wasted so many bullets on you fools while we were on the hospital roof," she muttered under her breath.
Nevertheless, Jeanne didn't stop just there. Despite the excruciating pain from her wound, she got up, cupped her injury, and charged at the chairwoman. The chairwoman, who was defenceless, was knocked over by Jeanne, who smashed into her without a second thought.
The detectives ran over to help her, but the chairwoman had already brought a dagger out from her thick pocket. Jeanne herself had noticed this and shook her head, crying, as she looked at them for the last time.
"Go!" she yelled to them, hoping they wouldn't spend time trying to save her while Gregory was about to go in critical condition. Matthew moved backwards into the train carriage while Megan just stood there. She couldn't help but feel sorry for the fact that a civilian had to sacrifice herself to save them.
And just then, the chairwoman plunged the dagger right into Jeanne's abdomen twice, causing her to choke blood out of her mouth. As she gagged and fell to the floor, she whispered the word once again. "G-go..." she murmured, proving to be her last word soon enough.
The operator fumbled his hands across the train control board, rushing to shut the doors. Meanwhile, the detectives and other passengers watched in horror, looking out of the windows at what the chairwoman was doing outside. She decided to violently finish off Jeanne. To end her in a way that would be horrifyingly etched in the detectives' minds for eternity.
The unruly chairwoman yanked Jeanne up by her hair, some even falling out from the pulling force. Holding her victim up by the back of her neck, the chairwoman brought the dagger up, positioning it below her chin. The detectives covered their mouths in unison as the chairwoman moved her knife across Jeanne's throat. Just before the vicious killer dropped her victim, Jeanne, she shed one final tear as she stared at the detectives longingly.
A final tear that meant goodbye.
"No... no!" Megan cried out as Matthew dragged her into the train cabin. She was reluctant to move, but in her heart, she knew that Jeanne had sacrificed herself for a good cause.
Meanwhile, the chairwoman, still determined to capture them, grabbed out extra ammunition and began reloading her gun. As such, Matthew rushed over and made orders to the train operator.
"Get the train moving!" Matthew hurried the operator as he ran back to check what the chairwoman was doing.
Just as the doors closed, the chairwoman had finished loading her gun with a new set of ammo. She then cocked her weapon as the train began moving away from the station.
"Accelerate as fast as possible!" Matthew added to the set of instructions given to the operator.
The train began moving rapidly, but the chairwoman managed to shoot through two of the train windows. Fortunately for them, the train was moving too fast by the time she tried to cling onto the frames of the broken windowpanes.
A final shriek from the chairwoman was then heard through the tunnel, marking her temporary defeat.
But not for long.