Read The Extant Express :: -Reality- Part 2/3

"Well-" Bang! the sound of something collapsing in the adjacent carriage echoed throughout the train.

“What was that?” Said the stranger. He put the doll away and closed his bag. He pulled out a combination lock that he passed through 3 sets of zips, efficiently locking all 3 bags at the same time.

“I was just in there earlier and I didn’t see anyone. Maybe someone heard us talking and tried to come over to say hi.” He said taking his giga-backpack off.

“Yeah.”

“Come on let's go see if they’re ok, they might have hurt themselves!” He said as he pulled out a bike lock and slotted it through every bag handle including the suitcase.

“Hurry up now!” Aiming for the door he left his bags and went to press the “Open” button.

The train was slowly going through a bend making its rattling more noticeable.

“Uhg,” said the boy putting his slippers on. The rain crawled down the sides of the train like it was being engulfed into a different world. The sharp strike of lightning revealed two silhouettes on the other side of the door.

The carriage door slid open to reveal two bony figures. Their skin crawled back onto their bones and peeled away as they crawled leaving a small trail of dead skin. They struggled to hold themselves up as they persisted towards the door.

The stranger’s eyes widened as a drop of sweat slid down his face. “E-Elaidya!?” His face scrunched up in a mixture of emotions. Confusion seemed like the main feeling but in truth he was angry.

He slammed himself onto the ground next to the child and gave her a gentle kiss on the head. The bony child groaned in pain and reached out for him.

“Ela! Ela. It’s alright! It’s alright. I’m here now! I’m here now.” The kind father caught her hand and gave her a quick hug then placed her back first on the ground. The kind husband looked at the bony woman crawling towards him. His eyes sharpened in both fear and rage. A tear escaped him. He clenched his fist in hatred of himself.

He bolted back, just in time to catch the sliding door from automatically closing. Grabbing the bike lock with one hand he rushed back into the other carriage using all his strength to drag the bags behind him.

He sat down next to Ela and ripped open one of his bags causing a bunch of canned food to fall out. Undoing the lock seemed to take too long for him so he opted to tear open the side of the bag instead. He pulled out a box with cow drawings on it and a couple of bottles of water.

Ripping off the lid he lifted the girl’s head a bit and poured some water in her mouth in small amounts. He then went to the weak woman and did the same. It seems he didn’t even realise that he was repeating the words “It'll be alright” the entire time.

He took out the doll from the bag and whispered “Don’t worry you’ll be fine” and placed it in Ela’s hand.

He then opened the box and put a bunch of white powder into the half-empty water bottle and added a bit more since some of the powder went next to the bottle. He smashed the lid back on and shook it like a mad man.

“Open the front pocket of the backpack. There should be a packet of oats, can you give it to me?” He asked as he noticed the boy watching the scenario.

“Alright.”

The stranger left the white-ish water to set and continued to give the two starving humans more water.

“Here. It's expensive mineral water! It's very good for you! You’ll be fine!” His voice trembled as much as his hands. His tears fell on Ela’s face as she drank the water in weak sips.

“So, who are they?” asked the boy as he tightened his dressing gown knot again.

“This is Elaidya, my daughter and that's Aya, my wife.” His voice trembled through his brief words.

“...”

The boy struggled to open the bag pocket but when he succeeded the pocket gave out causing the oversized packets of oats to fall to the ground. He grabbed one and passed it to the stranger who poured water into the bag before feeding it to the child one oat at a time.

The weak girl slowly chewed each piece before swallowing.

“Why are you doing that?” asked the boy.

“I read somewhere that eating too much after being starved will kill you. The best thing to do is slowly give the patient food that's easy to swallow and digest. The best thing you can give them is milk.”

The stranger stopped after giving the thin girl a few more oats and proceeded to give the oats to the woman, giving her more at a time than with the child.

Rain and thunder echoed throughout the carriage. And the train’s rattle made it more difficult to nurse the two ghost-like humans.

He then turned back to the bottle he had left alone and went back to shaking it. When it seemed somewhat well mixed he started giving the milk to the crumbling girl.

“Damn, you know what you’re doing.”

“Well, I had more than enough time in my Boss’ waiting room to gather some knowledge… Could you do me a favour and prepare some more milk?”

“Sure.”

As he fed Ela, a rotting hand grabbed his shoulder. The stranger lost all strength in his body causing him to let go of the bottle. The father fell to his side unable to support himself with his arm.

The child continued to drink milk “Dady, you’ve been eating well without us, haven’t you? You’re so plump and selfish now. Why did you leave us behind?” She finished the rest of the milk and threw the empty bottle behind her. Small hands reached out and touched him as pieces of her skin fell onto his.

Eyes sunken. Skin cracked. Muscles shrinked. His breathing grew weaker as his body slowly withered. The stranger’s eyes slowly slid shut for the last time.

Meanwhile, the boy finally looked up from his intense milk bottle shaking.

“Oh.” He said noticing the situation. He proceeded to brutally rip the stranger out of the clutches of the two corpses. He then dropped him back on the floor.

“Outch!” said the poor man weakly.

With the button pressed the door slid open. The boy picked the skinny father back up and dragged him through to the next carriage.

“No! Noooooo! Let me stay with them! Please! Don’t take me away! Leave me here I’d rather die than leave them! PLEASE!” He pleaded while unsuccessfully trying to break out of the red one’s grasp. His voice was painfully loud like a siren. The boy rolled his eyes as the sliding door slid shut.

Thunder came back with a vengeance, rumbling louder than usual.

The stranger’s eyes were closing again. He seemed even weaker than before and his skin had started to peel.

“Hey. Hey! Stay with me! Come one stay awake… hum… what was your name again?”

“I-It’s Ibrahim”

“Wow, what a painfully common name.” He said, lifting the stranger’s head.

“I’ve been holding back from saying this for a while but... You’re really an assho-” The boy shoved the bottle of milk into Ibrahim’s mouth.

“As much as I’d love to watch you crackle and pop, I still need you alive.”

Ibrahim answered with a “Hmph” of disdain.

“Ibrahim those things that just attacked you, they’re not your family. They are the representation of your worst fears coming to life,” said the boy matter-of-factly. “The only way for you to get out of this is to accept your fear and get over it. So hurry up already.” Ibrahim choked on his milk and shoved it away.

He entered a coughing fit and rolled onto his hands and knees. “S-so… this is all in my h-head?” he asked between his choking sounds. Tears streamed down his face partly of relief but they couldn’t stop his hands from shaking. He let out a weird creepy laugh.

“Yep. Don’t get too happy about it though. Those two can still kill you. If you want to get home to your real family you better suck it up and get this over with.” The boy walked over and sat on Ibrahim’s back.

“Who are you? How do you know all this? Why is this happening?” He said barely able to breathe under the annoying kid’s weight.

“...”

“Come on! If you’re going to sit on me, at least answer my questions!” his malnourished body was struggling to function but his body seemed to retain a part of his originally well-toned muscles.

The corpse’s body slam made the carriage door tremble. The door struggled to stay together faced by the nails and knuckles of the creatures on the other side.

“How the hell am I supposed to calm down if I don’t even know what’s going on!?? Get off me already! I’m an injured man! Show some respect!” Coughed up Ibrahim, clearly about to collapse.

“Zuma.” said the one in red. He got up causing Ibrahim to fall over.

“Zoom what?”

“My name’s Zuma. I know a lot about this train because I’ve been here for a while and this is happening because of the train. This is a weird old garbage train that brings out the worst of its passengers by making them experience their worst fears.”

“The train is trying to kill us? What the hell kind of stupid story is that?”

“No, it’s trying to cripple you mentally to the point where you might as well be dead.”

“Then why the hell is it still in service?” He paused for a moment and covered his face with his hands. “My head hurts so much… uhhhg. There’s got to be more! You’ve been so calm this entire time how are you involved in all this?” Said Ibrahim in frustration.

“Ibrahim. Focus you’re deflecting.”

“What?” He said getting up.

“You’re turning your fear into anger as a coping mechanism, and now you’re deflecting all of that anger onto me. That’s not how you get over the fear, that’s how you hide from it,” said Zuma from underneath his visor.

“I just saw my wife and child starving to death and try to kill me! And you want me to be calm!? What!? Y-You’re clearly involved!” He clenched his teeth to prevent himself from roaring profanities.

Zuma didn’t answer.

Ibrahim looked at the pitch-black window next to him. His reflection was barely visible but good enough to show a coward’s smile. His entire being felt like it was melting.

Zuma readjusted his hat and made his way to the door.
“There is no way out, there is only through.” He said, turning back to Ibrahim.

“... just tell me what I need to do.” he recognised the importance of the current situation and wasn’t immature enough to continue arguing despite his extremely anxious state.

“From what I can tell you’re scared of your family dying from starvation while you are gone. The girl, your daughter, said some intriguing things. Could you tell me a bit more about it?”

The crumbling woman on the other side scratched at the door “Help me! Please! I’m so hungry… Please, honey, help! We can’t last much longer”

“Cut the crap, just tell me how to get out of here!”

“I’m telling you the only way out is to face your fears!” Zuma raised his voice.

“What kind of stupid answer is that! What do you want me to believe really hard? Right! Belief! That’s it I haven’t prayed to god at all! You’re just a demon making illusions to trick me, it’s so obvious! I’ve never seen anyone with evil eyes like yours!” He spoke zealously as if he had just cracked an age-old mystery.

“Look at yourself,” said Zuma with a sharp tone. “There’s no use praying since God would never lower himself to help you anyway, you must rise and meet him. It’s fine to think with religion as your basis but don’t you dare use it to run from reality!” Said Zuma in an upset tone. His visor hid his face but it was clear that he wasn’t happy.

The rain trickled down the outside of the windows. The thunder illuminated their faces. For a moment they simply stare at each other.

This proved to be too much for Ibrahim.

Ibrahim slowly turned to the window. A broken amalgamation of terror and fear smiled back from the reflection, its moist cheeks lifted toward its ears. Its eyes seemed to be hanging onto a single thread of sanity. A being that would be willing to believe any random lie just to escape its current reality.

Reality dawned on him to the sounds of his begging wife. He wanted to stop thinking. He wanted nothing more than to roll over and die.

“H-hey Zuma I… I didn’t-”

“GUWAAA!” roared a creature from the other side of the carriage.