Chapter 5

Instinctively, Ray reached for her scythe.

Damn it, she cursed.

The blood-curdling screams of passengers interrupted her thoughts, there was no time to waste. In the train car ahead of her, the lights flickered as an elongated dark creature tossed a poor body like a toy. Blood and limbs splattered the window separating the cars.

Ray crouched down, using the seat in front of her for cover. The neighboring passengers had done the same, crying and whimpering. The reaper looked back, her heart pounding in her ears, and motioned for the others to move.

“Get to the next car,” she whispered harshly. Only some of the passengers complied. “Go, now!” She spat.

She reached into her pouch and took out a soul trinket. It was the only one she had filled, she couldn’t use it just yet. And it would be too risky to move ahead and fill another. She put the trinket back in her pouch, and hauled herself to the back of the train car. Just as she slid the door closed, the terrible nightcrawler burst into the train car before her. Ray could see the decrepit body of an old man lying behind the feathery creature.

The next car was filled with passengers, all of them huddled at the back as they struggled to pry open the door.

One woman clung to the window, trying to look out in desperation. Ray saw with absolute horror as the window broke, glass shattering everywhere, and the woman was grabbed ruthlessly from the window. Her scream ensnared everyone's fearful attention.

Anyone who was previously near a window jumped away, not taking any risks as they cried out.

The nightcrawler was now at the door, clawing its way through. Its hollow face looked through the window, straight into Ray’s heart. She turned and hightailed it to the back of the car and pushed her way through the crowd.

“Open the damn door!” She yelled, receiving shrill screams in response.

The front door burst open right as Ray opened the back, and the passengers flooded the next car. Ray tried to pull as many people in as she could, but the last person was snatched away from the monster. She looked right into his eyes. He twisted and cried, his body contorting as the nightcrawler opened its gaping mouth and tore the man apart. Ray closed the door with a hard slam.

She looked forward, everyone horrified. At the back was the man who took her scythe from earlier. She shoved herself towards him without a moment's thought.

“Where is it?” She asked, grabbing the steward by the collar. “Where are all the weapons being held?”

The man cried. “I- it’s, they’re, the back car, they’re all in the back!” He stuttered, whimpering down at Ray’s feet as she threw him down. “But it’s locked! I don’t, I don’t have the key, it's not mine!”

Of course, Ray thought, shoving the poor man aside with her foot.

"Then get to the next car,” she barked, moving forward. She jostled the handle, but the door didn’t budge. She yanked it hard, more desperately.

“He locked it-“ the steward cried, “he has the key and he locked it.”

“What?” Ray snarled, looking through the window.

At the back of the next car she could see another train steward, horrifically being pulled apart by a second nightcrawler. The creature’s feathers were stained with blood and fluids. It’s mask-like face filled with grime and musk as its teeth ravaged away. The car was littered with the limp bodies of the rest of the passengers.

The reaper looked back to see that the first nightcrawler had finished its snack. It was tearing at the door, its sharp large claws poking through.

A man cried out, opening a window. “I’m jumping!” It’s impossible!” His hands shook as he lifted the glass. Just as he poked his head out though, his body was yanked away. Snatched just like before. The others heard his scream cut off, and blood splattered the following windows.

“Stay away from the damn windows!” Ray yelled, everyone cowering before her.

It was near impossible to think, with all the crying around her. The first nightcrawler was getting closer and closer to opening the door, while the second one was just about ready to join in.

Ray peered through the door in front of her again.

A butterfly.

She picked out the filled soul trinket, and absorbed its contents. Her body flared up as the phantasia entered, and she punched the door’s window open, along with the second door right after it. She reached in and pulled the handle, and jerked the doors open with full force. The passengers screamed at her to stop.

She went through, and closed the doors behind her. Ray was met in a standoff with the nightcrawler. She eyed the man it was eating, his insides pouring out and his face petrified in fear, and saw the glimmer of the key ring under the broken lights. Next to the body was a bright blue butterfly, sitting prettily, unbothered by the events unfolding before it.

Ray had one shot. She took out an empty soul trinket, opening it for the ready. She dashed forward, her body sweeping across the floor like a wraith, and crashed into the nightcrawler as it sprang out in retaliation. The two bounded and fell. Quickly rising, Ray reached out, trinket in hand, and the soul of the steward merged inside. The butterfly flew off.

The beast leaped out at her, but her now enhanced senses alerted her just in time. She rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the nightcrawler’s elongated arms swiping at her. The creature spat at her in frustration, blocking the key ring.

Ray kicked it in the face, and shot her hand out for the ring. The nightcrawler snapped at her feet just before she grabbed it, and in a single swift moment, she rolled and jumped to the back of the car. She jammed every single key into the lock until one finally clicked.

Just as the key finally inserted, the nightcrawler stood up, its horns scraping the roof of the car. It opened its cruel mouth and hissed at the reaper, overpowering her in size. Ray kicked the door open just as the other door from the front side of the train slid open, and what remained of the passengers stumbled through. The nightcrawler looked back, now distracted.

Ignoring them, Ray pushed through into the next car. The light was broken but it was no bother to the haunted reaper. She easily and quickly navigated the car until she found her prize, her scythe neatly folded up and waiting ever so patiently for her. She grabbed it and swiftly turned back, unfolding the scythe into its true form.

A man fell forward and was about to be sliced by the monster when Ray skewered her scythe straight into the nightcrawler’s head. She grunted and pulled it downward,  cutting the nightcrawler’s back straight open. It screamed in horror as a black cloud of smoke puffed out from the wound. Blood poured out from the eye holes of its mask-face, and it bore its teeth, spitting out more blood.

Not wanting to waste another second, Ray gripped her scythe, bringing it back to her, and swung hard to slice at the monster’s captivating neck. She yanked it towards her, and the head flew off, spraying blood everywhere.

She could feel the phantasia wearing off already.

Exasperated, she leapt forward, phasing through the horror-stricken passengers in front of her like a ghost, and sliced at the remaining nightcrawler fighting its way through the door behind them. She nicked its shoulder, readjusted herself, then sliced its head off.

Ray took a deep, long breath. Her shoulders hunched and her heart beat her chest like a manic drum. Everyone was silent.

She could barely speak. “Take… the head…” she muttered, slowly turning to look at the others. “Throw it off, now.”

It took a moment for them to understand, but finally they rushed to throw the disgusting decapitated heads of the grueling monsters out of the broken windows. They tried to be careful so as not to be snatched from whatever horror was above.

Ray was just about ready to pass out, but her work wasn’t over yet. Said horror was waiting for her. She took out the newly filled soul trinket, and consumed its contents, once again her body flaring up. The phantasia coursed through her, and she was rejuvenated. She stepped between the train cars and hauled herself up the ladder to the roof. She hopped on to the top, and was met with the train’s dastardly adversary.