I stood at the worn and rusted tracks that marked the impenetrable boundary of my world. Beyond it, the land is distorted by the field that keeps us trapped from the poisoned earth beyond it. My chest heaved as I tried to catch my breath. I glanced over my shoulder, not sure where else I could run. A year of hiding, staying safe in a near-empty city all ruined by one chance encounter.
A bell chimed, echoing down the streets. I ignored it, listening for footsteps instead and hoping to hear none. Another chime, and as it fades a low rumble catches my attention. It was a sound that more reverberated in my bones than was heard.
As yet another bell tolls, the rumble grows. Small pebbles dance across cracked cement. A metallic whine joins the chorus growing to a screech that almost drowns out as the clock continues to ring out the hour another two times.
A ghostly shape, large and blocky, wavers before me. A remnant from a time long gone and something I never thought I'd see. By the sixth chime, there is no denying what I am seeing.
A train. Just a single car in sleek black and red. Lights glowed warmly from inside, but it appeared otherwise empty. Doors opened as the sixth bell faded and the seventh rang out.
The soft huffing of the waiting engine filled the quiet between the bells along with a rhythmic pounding coming from the other direction. Footsteps. My stomach churned and I glanced back over my shoulder into the darkness.
There was nowhere else to go. I ran through the doors, not sure what would happen. This could simply be my brain breaking, a hallucination of the desperate. A soft chime sounded as I stumbled inside.
Empty seats, shining chrome, polished floors. It looked like this train was brand new which had to be impossible. Anything like this had long ago turned to rusted, ruined remnants of the past.
Another bell tolled and a musical tone sounded overhead before a neutral, feminine voice spoke "Please state your destination."
Movement from outside the train distracts me. It's him. He's found me. Even at this distance, I can see his eyes widen at the sight of the unexpected train.
"Where can I go?" I shout hurriedly, my words tripping over each other as the ninth bell tolls. I watch my pursuer as he speeds up, heading directly toward the still-open doors.
"Anywhere."
Anywhere? I consider the possibilities. Where was there to go? I knew of no other last vestiges of civilization and, even if I did, there would be no guarantee that it would be any better than here. Where could I go? Could my request be more abstract than specific?
Another bell echos out over the city. "Take me to safety. Can you do that?"
There is a pause as another bell marks the time. Moonlight glints on the knife the man holds. He's so close that I can hear his ragged breathing and see the evil grin that splits his filthy face. Not close enough to smell his rotting teeth--thankfully.
"Destination determined," came the robotic reply followed by another musical tone as the doors slid closed. I breathed a sigh of relief as the man stopped short. His knife drops from his hand and his mouth falls open. I can hear the last bell, the twelfth bell of midnight echoing somewhere far away.
Everything fades away, there is only silence. I feel nothing, not even my own beating heart. I try to hug myself, but I cannot. There is no me to touch.
A musical tone chimes from the darkness. "Welcome to your destination."
I want to respond to the voice, to ask where I am, but my voice has disappeared with my body. With everything.
I suppose I am safe where there is nothing.
