Runaway Train

Act III - Scene 10

So the plan did work; it did get them to the locomotive. It just only got five of twelve up there.

The moment the door slammed shut behind them all, they were in a different world from the rest of the train. Black, black as nothing, black as the voids of the reapers' eyeholes, and quiet—it would've been silent if everyone who'd gotten through wasn't breathing so heavily. Everyone...

Johnny sobbed. He almost fell to the floor under its weight. Less than half of everyone had made it here. He had seen them all be left behind, ripped away. He had seen them all be lost. They were lost. They all were.

It really is a shame, a voice said in his mind, but you know, there was never a way you all could come together anyway. Really, I'm just glad some of you made it through all that trouble at all! Of course Johnny knew who it was that was talking. He knew it the moment those chills went down his spine and that pit formed in the very core of his body. Even though it was still just in his head, their voice felt closer and stronger than ever now. Now that was worthy of terror.

Slowly, Johnny turned to see the rest of the locomotive. Two things broke the pitch black of the place, only two: a pair of glaring, amber lenses, which outlined nearby shapes in pale yellow light. They were the windows. The windows at the front of the train that Johnny had seen from the outside so long ago, with the beacon's light oozing through them. A form was revealed in the glow. The light dripped down shoulders, near the edge of some vague face, across a brow and massive arms. It was awful. It was evil. It was terrible. It was the Conductor at last.

All was quiet for just a moment, but Johnny couldn't keep it that way. "Why did you bring us here?" the words bled out from deep within his chest, his soul. "Why did you bring us onto this damned train?"

The yellow light glinted off a sharp smile as the being laughed. Why not? they spoke through the passengers' minds, their teeth remaining clenched in a grin. Life for you humans is cruel! You all would've died some time or other.

"WE COULD HAVE LIVED ANYWAY!" Tears spattered from Johnny as he screamed the words.

Another bit of silence went by; the Conductor's smile diminished as they thought something over. Their head cocked to one side, then the other. A humming filled the passengers' brains. You could have, they said, and you did. Your lives before built you into the folks I brought onboard here, and then you all lived out the rest of your little not-lives as well as you could. Boy, did you! Your pain and struggle, that was all I wanted. I watched it all. A pause. More droplets fell from Johnny's face, but the rest of the world was still—waiting on the Conductor's cue. You know, I envy you, my passengers. Oh, to have been a mortal! To have tasted that bitter water and gotten sweet through it. Oh, to have lived once. To have had a chance at it. I wish I... Their admission trailed off into the nothingness that surrounded them.

Johnny couldn't help but sob again, but he didn't really know why. Maybe it was because everything really was lost—he would never see Polly again, never breathe the fresh air, never live. But maybe, instead, it was the things they'd said; maybe it was that chance at life. Maybe if he couldn't fight to live, he could fight for what he had lived already. He swallowed his crying and rose just a little. He could feel the others—the other three mortal passengers—around him now too. "F-fine," Johnny said. "Fine, you've trapped us in death forever. But this wasn't for nothing. This whole thing—it wasn't for nothing. We'll all make sure of that, just you wait!"

The smile returned to the Conductor's face and their laughter boomed anew. Now you're getting it, boy! Give it your best shot, you four!

Suddenly, out from the darkness, from everywhere, a million tiny shining eyes—yellow, red, purple—materialized. Demons, more than had been in the theater, more than Lillian had ever commanded, more even than those that had swarmed the last three cars, came in an apocalyptic barrage from every possible angle. Sally began to sing, and that lessened at least some of the numbers of things trying to rip and tear them all apart.