The Gallows

Chapter 1: Metro 32

Metro 32 was littered with the distinct purple lights it was known for. People of all shapes and sizes came through that day, and all of them had just one thing in common: they were grieving the dead.

This particular Metro system lead to The Gallows, the only place to bury the dead. If a body was not buried properly in the gallows with the aid of a MAGE (Manual / Automatic Ghoul Eliminator), the body would turn into the deformed monster known as a ghoul. Unfortunately, due to the collapse of Metro 31, the Metro right above 32, there was a large amount of ghouls prowling the gallows right now.

"We've got to get going, James. Mom's gonna become a ghoul if we keep going at this pace," Addison said, holding the urn the remains of her mother was in. This was a dangerous bet. Ash ghouls are far more dangerous than your average ghoul.

"We'll be fine, Addison. We've got at least another day until she ghouls," James said, holding the bag they had brought with various items to ward off any ghouls in a worst case scenario.

The siblings approached the ticket desk, seeing a well-dressed man sitting down in an expensive chair.

"Welcome to Metro 32! What can I get you?" The man asked, a businessman's smile spread across his face.

"We both need round trip tickets to The Gallows with MAGE assistance," Addison said, confident as ever. This made James groan internally. She had always been so confident, she never had any issues whatsoever. She barely bat an eye when Mom died, for crying out loud. She always dealt with things so much better than James. The man handed them their tickets then pointed them to the right of the desk.

"Go over to Train 43, and they'll take your tickets. Sorry for your loss. It's hard to lose someone, especially at such a young age like yourselves."

He didn't know the half of it. They thanked the man, and headed towards Train 43. When they reached the door of the car, a woman dressed in an outfit suitable for a flight attendant greeted them.

"Welcome to Metro 32! What can I get you?" The woman said, in the same uniform smile as the man.

"We've got tickets to The Gallows, round trip with a MAGE," Addison said. She did most of the talking.

The woman took their tickets and scanned them on her Wristband, blue lasers reading the plastic cards.

"Your car is right over there. Your personal MAGE will be with you shortly," The woman pointed to her right, revealing a luxurious train car, decorated beautiful and clean. It was bright with beige mock-leather in direct contrast with the poorly-lit blue mess of the other parts of the metro system.

The two sat down on the comfy seats, directly opposite to each other. They sat in silence for a short while, until a man entered the car.He was dressed in a cloak that just almost touches the floor, and his entire suit was pure black, aside from the mask he wore, which was white. The mask was perfectly clean, with small crevices creating a dark outline of the shape of the mask. He was carrying a dagger that was pulsing electricity in his hand, as well as a black staff on his back, which forked at the end into an electric pulse as well.

"Hello, travellers," the man said, rather well spoken, "I am your personal MAGE. Call me Jack. As you hopefully can tell, I am a manual MAGE, specifically a human MAGE. In all honesty, the android MAGE's just don't work as well. Anyways, over the next hour or so, I will be your guard on your journey to give your deceased a proper burial. Any questions?"

The two looked at each other, then back at the mage.

"Nope," Addison said, and they both turned their attention away from Jack and towards their HoloBands. The HoloBands connected directly to the users minds, and could emit sounds and simulate tactile feedback on almost anything you could dream of. Addison began watching a vintage movie from hundreds of years ago (Titanic), and James put on some calming music to ease the stress of the last few days. As the train began trekking across the tracks, James fell into a relaxing sleep.