11 June 2012
Sonny wasn't like other children.
While everyone else enjoyed the safety of their campfires, Sonny wanted nothing more than to escape the camp. To him, the station was the bane of his life. An utterly boring place; his version of Hell. To him, it was too safe, too quiet. He wanted to go up to the surface and see the sun his mother had named him after. He wanted to go past the security gates and explore the subway tunnels. He wanted danger and excitement. In camp, that was forbidden.
Everyone is scared of the outside world. There are monsters out there, poisonous gas, deadly radiation and thousands of other dangers. Sonny understood their fears, understood why going up there wasn't allowed.
What he didn't understand, was why leaving the station and exploring the tunnels was forbidden. There was no gas in them and the only monsters he had ever seen were Ratmoles, which he had never been scared of and had never had trouble helping the grown-ups exterminate.
That didn't matter to them. Whenever he asked his mother, or a Guard if he could go out, they all gave the same response. "No, it's too dangerous out there." This, he would always scoff at. He just didn't understand the danger. All he wanted to do was explore the tunnels. He wanted freedom from the camp.
There was another reason why he wanted to explore so badly. It wasn't for the excitement or anything like that. It was because of all the legends and myths surrounding the tunnels. All the stories children enjoyed making up to add to the mystery of the subways.
There was the myth of the Crimson Lady, a woman drenched in blood who would visit people in their dreams if they slept in the tunnels. She would wail in anguish and torment, blaming the person for her death, blaming them for killing her family. That one had scared him a little, but he had yet to be visited in his dreams.
Another, was the tale of the three-headed dog, affectionately called Cerberus. It was said that a giant mutated dog stood guard in a secret tunnel, blocked off by a wall of bones, that lead to a military base. Some people liked to exaggerate it further by saying the dog also breathed fire. Sonny liked this story, but he knew it was false.
His favourite tale was of The Haunted Train. It was about a train that got trapped in the tunnels after the disaster struck. It was filled to the brim with people, young and old. They never escaped. Some died from starvation, others from illness. Some people even say that they turned to cannibalism, and that when their remains were found, several bones were layered in teeth marks. The most fascinating part to this story though, was not the cannibalism.
Every night at three in the morning, the train would glow with a dazzling light. People say the light filled the entire train, lighting up all the carriageways at once. Others say that it was a small sphere of light that patrolled up and down the compartments.
What they all agreed on, was that when that light is shining, the bodies of the dead rise. Some said as ghosts, some as reanimated corpses. No one actually knew for sure.
The tunnel that the train sat in had been blocked for nearly a decade. The only possible way in was through a small shaft, but no one had ever been stupid enough to try. The shaft was most likely a nest for vermin, or filled with radioactive sludge. Plus there was never anyone small enough to fit, the only people to ever visit the tunnel all being adults.
Sonny spotted a few inaccuracies with this story. If the tunnel had been blocked for nearly a decade, how did people know about the train? How did people know if the bones had been gnawed on, having never been close enough to look? How did people know about the glow? Did it shine through the shaft? Or maybe the light leaked through the debris that blocked the tunnel?
Sonny didn't know, but he was about to find out.
___________
Campfire Tales -> The Hunt -> Interlude 1 -> The Haunted Train
For anyone who gets lost on what to read first.
You don't have to read The Hunt to understand what's going on, they're separate short stories set in the same universe.
KBAI <3
Campfire Tales: The Haunted Train Pt. 1 • Opuss № I