"At least the lights are back," Ollie said, taking a deep breath through the nose he hadn't used in a while. "Lily, move up further."
Lily did as she was told. She moved ahead of them, both deagles in her hands ready to snap their aim at anything. Rachel walked beside her, dialing back the light that came from her hands.
Pulling out his phone, Ollie checked the time. It had been almost an hour since they had left the Core Chamber. They had spent an hour crawling through the vent ducts, walking through darkness, and holding their breaths under the stench of the flesh sac embryo area.
"How much further, you think?" Clyde asked from behind him.
"No idea. Erin said this leads to a civilian transit hub," Ollie said.
They continued in silence for another ten minutes. The corridor branched three ways, left and right. Erin had told them to keep going straight, so they did. This happened a total of four times. Without Erin's guidance, they probably would have been lost for days.
Lily stopped suddenly, raising her hand. "Door ahead."
Ollie looked past Lily. About 50 feet ahead, the corridor ended at a familiar metal door. However, this one was a bit different. It had no etchings on it, no patterns. It was just a sliding metal door.
"Approach with caution," he said. "Could be a trap."
The group moved forward slowly. Kyle glanced back behind them at least 3 times in the span of the 50 feet. When Lily neared the door, it slid open automatically with a soft hiss, revealing a vast lobby beyond.
Ollie signalled for Lily to check it out.
She edged forward. After a quick sweep while aiming down her deagles, she said, "Clear."
The group filed into the lobby. High ceilings and polished metal floor that was almost reflective. The far wall was entirely glass, offering a view down to the civilian transit hub. Below, multiple trains docked at various platforms, sleek and silver against the dark metal of the station. The columns and rows of platforms stretched out as far as the eye could see from left to right and on to the horizon. Beside each platform featured a pillar that contained an electronic display that had the number of the platform, ranging from 0 to 50, which was the furthest that Ollie could see.
"Would you look at that," Kyle pressed his face against the glass. "It's like Grand Central on steroids."
"And a hell of a lot cleaner," Clyde said.
Ollie pulled out his phone and pressed the push to talk on the walkie app. "Erin, we've reached the transit hub. Which train are we looking for?"
Erin's voice came through. "Find Column 9, Platform 34. The train is already powered and awaiting your arrival. Once aboard, I shall direct it to Protection Sector."
"Column 9, Platform 34," Ollie said. "Got it."
"Your extraction window is limited," Erin continued. "Surveillance indicates movement patterns consistent with pursuit. Make haste."
The line went dead.
"That's neat," Lily said, a small smile playing at her lips. "Platform 9 and 34."
"What's neat about it?" Kyle asked.
"It's from a movie. Something you wouldn't know since you only watch trash."
"I watch quality cinema, thank you very much."
"Yeah, if you consider Slumber Party Massacre 7 quality cinema."
"Hey, that was a masterpiece of the genre."
Ollie ignored them. He looked below, looking left to see Column 3 on the display. On the platform to the right, it showed Column 4.
"We're going right," he said, pointing. "Let's move."
The group moved down the right. Moving through the wide hallway, the place looked like an airport. Below to their left through the floor to ceiling glass, they could see the columns pass them by. On their right, empty rows and rows of seats sat as they continued their walk. The whole place was eerily quiet. Not even the hum of any kind of air conditioning mechanism could be heard. Only their muffled steps echoed along the vast empty lobby. Everything looked pristine, as if the station had been sealed off from the rest of the Tomb.
"How has this place stayed so clean?" Rachel asked.
"Don't jinx it," Kyle said. "I'm enjoying not walking on meat floors."
They moved past Column 4… then 5… then 6, following the numbered pillars below the station.
It took them nearly fifteen minutes to reach Column 9. The pillar stood at a junction where several walkway bridges converged. The group changed directions, turning left to the walkway bridge.
"Platform 34 should be down this way," Ollie said as he checked the nearest platform which was platform 27.
They started walking down the bridge, passing platform 28, then 29. Each platform held a train of identical silver carriages. Somehow, the place felt frozen in time. All the trains were at their docks, not seeming to be missing any. Ollie wasn't exactly sure why they needed to go to this specific one that Erin told them to go to. Best to question it later than now.
A sound stopped Ollie in his tracks. From behind, a low metallic shriek crescendoed.
Everyone froze. Guns aimed down pointed behind them.
"What the fuck was that?" Kyle whispered.
Before anyone could answer, the shriek came again, closer this time. Whatever it was, it was better to not find out. Rule #1 of raiding rifts, avoid unnecessary fights.
"GO!" Ollie shouted, breaking into a run. "Platform 34! NOW!"
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
They sprinted down the walkway bridge. Feet clapped against the metal floor. Platform 30 to 32 passed in a blur. The shriek came again, now joined by different low guttural electronic roars that probably came from the throat speakers of those things.
Ollie spotted the sign for Platform 34 up ahead. A silver train waited at the dock, its doors already open. On the glass wall to their left, a staircase led down to the platform level.
"Down those stairs!"
Before they reached the stairwell, from behind where they came from, a horde of winged flesh humans poured out onto the walkway bridge. Behind those winged humans, flesh pounds charged forward with their blades whirring and whistling against the air. The creatures had already spotted them and were now in full blown sprints towards them.
"MOVE! NOW!" Ollie screamed, grabbing Rachel's arm and shoving her toward the stairs.
The group flew down the steps, jumping to each landing and skipping the stairs entirely. Lily led the charge. Clyde shot a couple of rounds into the horde but was pulled back by Kyle down the steps.
The shockwave bullet caused a few to topple over at the front of the horde, slowing it down a bit. But the rest didn't relent. The flesh pounds even stepped on their fallen comrades.
The train's open doors beckoned just twenty feet away across the platform. Lily reached it first, diving through the open doors. Rachel followed, then Kyle. Clyde paused at the threshold, firing back at the approaching horde.
Ollie backed toward the train, Prudence barked twice as he aimed out the door of the train. Each shot dropped a creature, but it barely slowed the tide. He reached the doors just as the first flesh pound reached the bottom of the stairs.
Once Ollie was fully in, the doors slid shut immediately. Through the windows, Ollie watched the first flesh pound slam into the side of the train, denting the metal but failing to break through.
The train shuddered beneath them, then lurched forward, picking up speed rapidly and began ascending on a designated lit up pathway. Ollie steadied himself against a seat as the station began to rush past the windows.
"We made it," Lily gasped.
A heavy thud from above killed that thought.
"What was that?" Rachel asked, looking up at the ceiling.
Another thud, then the sound of metal being torn. Looking out the windows, Ollie saw two winged humans had already landed on the roof, their claws digging into the metal. Below them, the carriage shook violently. With how heavy those were, they were most likely flesh pounds that had latched on to the undercarriage.
Erin's voice came through Ollie's phone.
"The abominations are destroying critical components of the transport vessel. If the structural integrity is compromised while traversing the connecting tubes, you shall perish. You must exit the car through the emergency hatch above your position and eliminate the threats."
"You mean kill the shitters on the roof while the train is moving?" Kyle asked.
"They are targeting the guidance systems and power couplings," Erin said. "Failure to remove them will result in derailment and death."
The line went dead.
"FUCK!" Ollie slammed his fist against the wall. He looked at the others. None of them here were equipped for a fight that focused on mobility other than Kyle, and that asshole wasn't about to risk his life. They were ill-equipped for a moving train battle.
"I'll do it myself," he said, stepping toward the centre of the car where an emergency hatch was built into the ceiling. He jumped up, grabbing the metal handle of the hatch and yanking it down. The panel swung open, revealing the roof of the speeding train. Wind rushed into the car, deafening them.
Ollie pulled himself up through the hatch. He clung to the edge of the opening, surveying the situation.
Numerous winged humans crouched on the roof. Their metal wings flexed against the wind as they tore at something near the front of the car. Control wires, power couplings, whatever Erin said was important, these winged humans were just going ham at it.
Ollie stretched out his hand, focusing on the nearest creature. A thin blue outline flickered around it as he tried to grip it with telekinesis. The outline wavered, then broke apart with an audible electric static noise as it fizzled out.
"Fuck." Ollie knew this was about to happen sooner or later. Dust withdrawal was about to mess with his abilities. He could take another shot of dust and rid this whole train of the creatures at the cost of having the next withdrawal symptoms come faster.
No. Not now. Not yet anyways.
He stuck his head back down through the hatch. "Clyde! Get up here and start shooting these bastards with me!"
Clyde didn't argue. He slung Trebuchet over his shoulder and hauled himself up through the hatch, joining Ollie on the roof.
Ollie materialized Prudence from the storage box, the rifle appearing in his hands. He braced himself against the wind, raising the rifle to his shoulder.
"Four wings, three pounds below," Ollie said.
"Roger that," Clyde replied.
Aiming at one of the winged humans, trigger squeezed. A quiet twhip passed through the air, hitting the first winged human on the shoulder and causing it to dislodge its claws from the train. It fell off into the abyss just as Ollie pulled on the lever, ejecting the spent casing.
Trebuchet roared. The nearest winged human disintegrated mid-air as chunks of flesh and metal splattered.
Ollie tracked the third with Prudence's sights. The rifle kicked against his shoulder, but the bullet flew true. The winged human's head snapped backward, its body tumbling off the side of the train.
Clyde fired once more, dropping the fourth.
Below them, the flesh pound continued its crawl up to the rooftop. Ollie shifted his aim downwards.
The first flesh pound reached the edge of the room. Blade arms whirred and were used as a sickle to keep it from falling off.
Prudence barked twice. Shoulder and head. Its body slid back down the side of the train.
Only thing good about this situation was that the enemy would just fall off from being hit.
Clyde swung Trebuchet toward the second pound. The flesh pound's chest cavity exploded outward, exposing the metal spine beneath before it too fell away.
"Where's the third one?" Ollie shouted, swinging his head left and right to look for the third.
Clyde spun in place, Trebuchet sweeping across the train's rooftop. "Don't see it!"
Kyle's head popped through the emergency hatch. "It's at the back! Way back on the last car!"
Ollie carefully crawled to the edge of the roof while Clyde held his feet. The final flesh pound had positioned itself underneath the rearmost carriage. He could hear the blade arms cutting through metal and other parts that were probably somehow important. Crawling back to the hatch, he looked at both the twins. "I've got nothing to get in there."
Kyle climbed fully onto the roof. "I can take it."
Clyde grabbed his brother's arm. "Leave it! It's too far back."
Erin's voice came through the phone again.
"The final abomination is severing the secondary control cables. Should it succeed, I shall lose the ability to direct this vessel to the Protection Sector. You must eliminate this threat with utmost haste."
The line went dead.
"You heard her. That thing's cutting the control wires," Kyle said, hands already moving to his hip, drawing his blink dagger. His arm snapped forward. The dagger flew through the air and embedded itself into the edge of the rearmost car.
Before anyone could react, Kyle's body flashed blue. He vanished.
Gunshots rang out from the back of the train. Five loud barks of Kyle's new pistol, then silence.
Ollie and Clyde froze, eyes fixed on the spot where Kyle had disappeared. Seconds stretched into a minute. Nothing.
"Fuck," Clyde muttered. "COME ON KYLE!"
Finally, movement. Kyle appeared at the edge of the last car, pulling himself up onto the roof. Even from this distance, Ollie could see the damage. A deep gash ran across Kyle's torso, his armour torn open and dark with blood.
Kyle staggered to his feet. His arm moved backward, preparing to throw his dagger back to them. The throw was weak. The dagger flew through the air but lost momentum halfway, starting to fall.
"Shit," Ollie stretched out his hand, focusing everything he had left on the falling dagger.
Pain lanced behind his left eye. Sweat broke out across his forehead. His teeth ground together as he fought to maintain control. A faint blue outline flickered around the dagger, unstable and too light.
Stay with me.
The dagger shuddered in midair, then began to move toward them. Slowly, painfully slowly, Ollie pulled it across the gap between cars. Each inch felt like a mile, the effort draining him faster than he could afford.
When the dagger finally reached them, Ollie slammed it down into the train's roof with more force than necessary.
Kyle's body flashed blue again. He appeared beside his dagger, collapsing onto the roof.
Ollie pulled Kyle's body back into the train, laying him down on the floor. A gun syringe materialized on his right hand. He immediately stabbed the syringe into Kyle's neck.
With a hiss, the gun syringe emptied its contents and a dim green glow enveloped the gash that ran across his chest. However, it only closed halfway.
Ollie materialized another gun syringe and applied it to Kyle again. This time, the wound fully closed, leaving an angry red scar on the surface of where the gash had been.
Kyle opened his eyes with a grin, "See that? Not even the rookie could've gotten back from that."
The next chapter will be Gale's POV again.