TICKETS, PLEASE

[egghead]

Nobody told Rachel, universal criminal and owner of the most bloodsoaked bar in existence, what to do. She stampeded at the chained door, too blinded by anger to see the ominous red glow, and slammed her fists against it.

"I can't wait to get in there!" she shouted between several violent knocks. "You messed up my face, I'm gonna return the favour!"

Then she tried to break down the door, but it just gave her bruised knuckles and bloody toes. It didn't matter how hard she hit or kicked, nothing budged.

 

[Dingus]

After listening to the conductor drone on about sitting down, Gertrude did exactly what he wanted. The only problem he was concerned about was the amount of blood Rae's face was spewing. She soon started going to town on the door and chain combo like a madman. Her anger and fighting spirit intrigued Gertrude.

After watching Rae go at it for a for a solid five minutes, Gertrude decided that he had to do something to give her a semblance of satisfaction. He rose from his seat and began swinging at the chains with hard and solid strikes. Almost as if he were angry. But he wasn't, he simply knew how to break stuff.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem to do anything.

 

[Atom]

The two idiots now banging at the door only made him regret everything all the more. Declan didn't wanna stick around to see what was gonna happen so instead he forgot about trying to make sense of anything and headed for the door out. He made sure to avoid the holes they made on the way in.

Once outside the previous car, he took a seat and stared out the window again, listening to the distant yelling of the two.

-
The dust covering the door began to fall due to the banging from the outside, creating a few clouds of it inside the room he was in. The conductor groaned quietly and grabbed the mic with strength enough to smash it.

"I thought I told you to sit down?" The words forced themselves out through grinding teeth.
He swung a large silver axe through the door out of anger where they were banging as a warning, uncomfortably close to hitting one of them. Who knew how many weapons he had in there. It was stuck in the rusty metal door now just as the train whistle blew and the brakes turned on.
"Looks like we've reached our destination early than expected.." A clunk of the mic dropping and turning off came through the speakers before the screeching of the brakes became too loud. "It's been...a pleasure..."

After an extremely abrupt stop, the train was quiet and still. The red glow that was on the chains ceased and the conductor was no longer there.

-
Declan raised his head after holding on during the stop but quickly got to his feet and found the nearest exit, hopping onto the wet ground outside. The fog had not gone away yet but instead it seemed a lot worse. Mixing with the mist was a cold and dampening air that crawled into your bones creating shivers. It didn't look day or night where it stopped, you could describe it as an overly dark rainy day.

While taking in the eerie surroundings, Declan completely forgot about the other two that might have still been on the train at that point.

 

[egghead]

After her face was nearly split open by an axe, the entire world came screeching to a halt sharp enough that it almost sent her flying forward. The chains that blocked them from the last car crumbled into rust and the door finally opened...but there was nobody inside.

"Are you kidding me?!"

Rachel felt her hands itch harder with the urge to strangle. Hocking a loogie at the floor, she stuffed her shaking fists into her jacket pockets and stalked towards the exit. There was no point in staying on board anymore.

"You coming or what?" she called to Gertrude right before disappearing into the fog.

 

[Dingus]

While staring right into the yellowish-green splat on the door, Gertrude knew he wasn't going to his teacher convention anytime soon. He followed the redhead out of the train to find Declan already standing out in the fog.

"Thanks for waiting for us, Declan."

As Gertrude stared into the little bastard's only visible eye he hoped that the two-hundred dollars he paid for this ride didn't go towards the conductor's paycheck.

"Well, I don't need to be back home until next week. Let's go see what's around this place,"

Gertrude said as he strode past Declan.

"perhaps we can find somewhere to have a drink..."

 

[Atom]

Before the two had found him he swore that he seen something white in the corner of his eyes through the fog. It looked like hair...or maybe it was his imagination.

The two approached, slightly making him jump.
"Yeah, whatever..." Declan watched with a glare as Gertrude passed by, he was sure there'd be a smirk on his face if he fucking had one. With a hefty groan while he pulled his coat closed, he followed the teacher. He didn't really have a choice right now, being alone would probably be the worst idea.

 

[egghead]

"Hah, now you're talking!"

Rachel whipped out her flask and took a good long pull from it. "If we find a bar in this shithole, you can bet'cher ass I'm parking there for a few hours," turning the flask upside down, she shook out the last few drops. "Damn...empty."

Before she could complain more, something shut her up.

At the end of the road, a figure loomed in the fog. At first she thought it could be the conductor, while another, less mushy part of her brain knew it was something entirely different...something not human.

"Hey..." her voice was low and severe. "You guys see that?"

 

[Dingus]

Gertrude did in fact see it. Gesturing everybody to move back, he began to swivel the knobs beneath his TV frame. Zooming in and out and adjusting his vision, he finally caught a better glimpse of the silhouette in the foggy distance. Though the fog obscured his vision, Gertrude could still make out some prominent features of the figure. It's legs were bent in an unnatural state akin to a deer. Accompanying the creature's grotesque visage, the lower regions of it's leg appendages seemed metallic in nature. Almost as if it were standing on the tips of blades.

Stepping forward, intrigued by the monster and not caring about his safety one bit, Gertrude began to make out more features. Adding to the inhuman nature of the being, it seemed to be missing arms. As if there were no shoulders. Protruding from the top of the head, or where a head should be, were four or five tentacle like appendages swaying amidst the foggy air. The one thing that stood out to Gertrude was the most was what truly made his stomach turn, it's moist grey flesh.

Gertrude took another step forward. Unfortunately this is what triggered the creature to take off in another direction.

Gertrude turned towards Rae and Declan, not knowing what to say now.

 

[egghead]

"What the hell was that?" This came from a woman who had literally seen and done everything in existence. "We should scram, there might be more of em--" and the moment she said that, the thick blanket of fog suddenly dispersed enough to reveal several shapes surrounding them.

There was a sound like low gurgling emanating from the creatures as they closed in. Their crooked metal legs made tick-tick sounds against the pavement, like clocks counting down to zero, and their tendrils reached out greedily for their prey. Worst of all was the smell, pungent and rotten, seeping from their sunken flesh. It was the stench of death, and it was coming for them.

 

[Atom]

Declan could only freeze up while looking around them, it got worse by the second. He had no idea what to do and was afraid to make any sudden movements. One thing for sure was that he knew he'd probably never try to help his uncle again.

"....What now...?" His voice came out in a low whisper as he shuffled closer to them by unknown reflex. Declan wasn't particularly afraid of dying but rather he was scared of what came after it, they say you meet up with already lost loved ones. Being previously around religious people made the thought seem more possible.

In this moment he didn't want to admit that he was quite scared but the two next to him seemed to somehow be more used to situations like this and it only made him think about what kind of people they were. Declan closed his eyes and tried to ignore the noise they made while waiting for one of the others to do something. He felt pathetic, as usual.

 

[egghead]

Around the group of idiots, the creature's grew into a bigger swarm. One of them lunged forward, tendrils flailing in the wind...and Rachel gave a feral grin as she unleashed a bullwhip from the inside of her jacket.

There was a thunderous crack as the whip sliced through the fog and wrapped around her victim's "neck". She yanked hard and sent it barreling into several other uglies, knocking them over.

"Take that, you bastards!" she hooted, obviously having the time of her life. "I'm just getting started!"

Several more cracks filled the open air as she went ham on the creatures, but while she was distracted by flinging bodies around, one of them snuck up behind her...

 

[Dingus]

As one of the mangled horrors lunged toward Gertrude, he kicked it right back with with his left boot in the stomach. The creature tumbled to the ground right before Gertrude began to stomp on it with harsh power equivalent to a jackhammer. It wasn't anger or lust for pay that made him feel this way. It was pure fear that powered his engine. Gertrude never usually feels this scared. Most of the time he knows exactly what he's doing. But now, he felt like he could actually die here.

Once his boots were coated in grey and black mush, he caught a glimpse of what could be his undoing. Another hellish being was creeping up right to his back while it made a sickening hissing sound. Not thinking, Gertrude took his hammer and tried to stab through its abdomen with the blunt tool. Strangely, the hammer and Gertrude's right arm swooced right through the creature's stomach to the other side. Absolutely disgusted, Gertrude clenched his muscles and swung his arm up, tearing right through the upper body of the monster. Now covered in a soup of fluids that did not belong to him, he noticed one of the many demonic beings creeping up on the redhead not too far from him. Again in fear, Gertrude threw his hammer akin to a tomahawk axe. Completely missing the mark and almost hitting Rae in the process, Gertrude knew only one way to save her.

Tackle it and beat it to death.

Gertrude began his charge using his right shoulder, still covered in dark blood, and rammed his target into the pavement. The hissing creature almost didn't seem phased by the attack as it tried to get up. Tried. Gertrude almost went for it's ankles from reflex and hesitated for a moment realizing what he could potentially do to himself. Getting back on his feet, Gertrude kicked over the best with left boot.

"OH NO YOU DON'T."

The monster fell on to it's stomach and Gertrude followed by sitting on it's back. As it's tendrils thrashed around Gertrude attempted to grasp on to the appendages. As the creature's body shook and vibrated underneath Gertrude, he finally clenched one of the tentacles and began to yank it out of it's respective body. The grotesque enemy began shrieking and making that
god awful hissing sound as he continued ripping out each of it's appendages.

The sounds intensified as he glanced up, noticing more enclosing him...

"This is where I die, huh?"

 

[Atom]

As Gertrude went wild on the abominations, Declan stepped back just as some blood and other unknown substance splattered onto his face. He quickly swiped some of it off while glancing around at more coming his way. It was act now or die and he did not wanna die, he....doesn't wanna die at all!

As much as he didn't want to touch it, he grabbed the nearest blade from one of the dead amalgamations legs and ripped it off with just enough flesh and mush to hold it. Gritting his teeth, he thrusted it into the abdomen of the monster closest to him and stumbled backward as it only seemed to stall it.

"L-Little help?!" He yelled out, his voice almost cracking in the process. With amazing timing, he tripped over his laces and fell backward.
"Sorry, mom.." Declan whispered to himself and closed his eyes, waiting for it.

 

[egghead]

A hand reached out from what seemed like the heavens, grabbing the boy by the collar of his shirt before hoisting him back up. "What the hell are you doing?!" His angel shouted in his face. "Move your ass, we gotta get outta here!"

Dragging him along behind her, Rachel mowed down whatever was in front of them using his blade. Thick, dark blood splattered all over her face and clothes, painting her in morbid colours.

There was no sign of Gertrude, all she seen was a sea of ugly grey monstrosities that she gladly put down one by one. It wouldn't be long before they were outnumbered, so she headed for the nearest building, with or without the TV head.

 

[Dingus]

​

Gertrude seen them run away from the mob but he didn't take offence to it at all. What offended him was that these creatures think they could best him in numbers over power. Remembering how easy they were to kill, Gertrude's almost swung into his pocket before he remembered that it was at least fifteen feet away from where he was.

Knowing it had been awhile since he had done such a thing, Gertrude balled his fingers into a fist and wound up punch for the first monstrosity in front of him. His right fist went flying through the thick fog, cutting it like a butcher's cleaver, creating an impact at the the ghoul's stomach. His arm drilled right through it's grey tinted organs as the monster's "head" vomited the same bloody soup that Gertrude was already coated in. Once it ceased to move, Gertrude moved his left hand towards the monochrome torso and reached deep inside. Arm-to-arm, Gertrude clenched his fingers and tore them opposite to each other, tearing the monster's torso vertically.

His eyes met another set of tendrils. With no regard to his safety Gertrude swiped his right leg across the blades of it's respective owner. Thankful hitting the flush sides of the giant cleavers, the demon hit the ground with a thud. Gertrude slammed his left boot down on the spine of the beast. A loud crunch echoed through the area as he got down on his right knee and grabbed all the tendrils protruding from it's neck and in one harsh yank tore them out as a spray of dark blood poured from the newly formed gap. Turning around, he witnessed at least a dozen more. Throwing the severed appendages at the crowd in a rage he was somehow glad the other two weren't here to see him like this.

Gertrude continued to brutalize every last one of them within the next hour.​

 

[Atom]

Declans breath was taken away when Rae grabbed him. With an awkward stumble, he got to his feet and ran with her, barely batting an eye behind him. At this point he was too disoriented to do anything while watching her take the monsters down.

Once the red head dragged him into a building, he was able to catch his breath....somewhat. Taking a seat on the ground after separating from Rae, he threw his jacket down and tried wiping the blood off his face the best he could. He looked up at her with a mixture of apology, fear and thanks. It was very unlike him.

The fact that they had to leave Gertrude behind pissed him off. He didn't feel bad but rather that that asshole was risking his life for him. In his eyes, he should have died long ago too, no one should waste their time on someone like him.
"Geez..." A small exasperated sigh came from him as he then looked away, trying to grasp his composure. If only he had done more but that was his life right? Making mistakes and leaving people behind.

 

[egghead]

While her sidekick sat around feeling sorry for himself, Rachel searched for something they could use to barricade the doors with. The windows were boarded up, so it was impossible to tell if Gertrude made it. He was already a goner in her mind, which was too bad since she was starting to like him.

"Looks like we're stuck here..." she glanced around to see where "here" was. It looked like...a hotel lobby, complete with the fancy carpet and chandelier. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust and grime, the decay making it evident that there hasn't been a living soul in this building for a long time.

Still trying to catch her breath, she plopped down on the floor next to Declan. Even she needed to rest after what happened out there.

 

[Atom]

"I guess we are, huh?" There was a hint of sarcasm in his voice, though not enough for him to get cocky again just yet. The cold air crawled under his skin without his jacket on and he pulled his sweater sleeves over his hands. All he could smell was rotting wood and blood, making him more sick and miserable than he already was.

But while Rae sat next to him he kept his face looking the opposite way, obvious he was not wanting to look at her. While doing so, he checked his cell phone for the time, it read 10:43pm and a dying battery sign, unfortunately he left his bag on the train and going back out right now felt like an option long gone in the wind. It didn't seem like there was power in this town anyways...

"So..." Declan leaned his head back and dared to speak. He hated when he did that.
"Thanks."

 

[egghead]

Rachel felt her face twitch with a grin. "Good thing I got to you in time, eh?" she teased as she wiped the slick sweat from her forehead. "You owe me one, kiddo."

Leaning her back against the wall, she kicked out her legs and relaxed as best she could on a crusty hotel floor in a town full of monsters.

"Damn," she had to vocalize her frustration. The events of the day were finally catching up to her. "I need a drink."

 

[Atom]

Declan couldn't help but close his eyes and chuckle a bit at her response, he was expecting something a lot more bitter. Most people he knew would have already gotten angry at him or better yet been yelling about someone they just met possibly being dead. "Hah, you're right...I do.."

Rae was probably the strangest person out there, it gave her a charm that Declan felt better around. She wasn't so uptight.

A quiet laugh of his covered up her frustration. "What's your favourite drink anyway?"

It probably hadn't kicked in that Gertrude could be dead right then.