Chapter 56 Train Cart O' Fun
Made it to the four hundred thousand mark, and there's still much to do...I've received a lot of great pointers, and advise lately, and I shall be implementing them in later chapters, perhaps in another 'The Villains Meet' chapter because I was told the bad guys are extremely underpowered, and they are exactly right. Enjoy!
Inside the second half of the Devil's Pit Mine
"A crowbar just sitting there in that tool box...Well don't mind if I do" Cynthia said grabbing a nearby crowbar.
"Could you pass me one too? This Pickaxe is just a little too heavy for me to swing quickly enough" Christopher asked.
"Anyone else want one? There's seems to be plenty of them" Cynthia said as she handed over a crowbar towards Christoper.
"I could sure use something different" James said.
"I'm done with my old weapon, give me a shiny new crowbar" George said.
Cynthia handed both men a crowbar each.
"Anybody else? There's more where that came from" Cynthia asked.
"I want one!" Laura suddenly declared.
"If she gets one, then I do too!" Alessa complained.
"Stop copying me!" Laura argued.
"I was gonna ask for one from the beginning, you stop copying me!" Alessa argued.
"Now, now don't argue you two, there's plenty of crowbars for everyone, in fact I will take one if you would be so kind" Maria playfully assured.
"Why of course you well mannered young lady" Cynthia said handing another crowbar to Maria, and fishing out two more for Laura, and Alessa.
They quickly had difficulty carrying something a little under two thirds their size, but eventually managed.
"How many more are in there?" Alex asked.
"I wouldn't be surprised if we all end up with one" Cynthia revealed.
"I'd like to test that actually" Elle said.
Several seconds later...
"I can't believe it...there's still some extra crowbars here!" Cynthia discovered.
"I don't believe this..." Alex said dumbfounded.
At this point everyone in the party of over thirty had a crowbar.
"Well...I guess this is okay...I don't want to bang up my steel pipe too badly" Heather said eying her new weapon.
"Honestly, I've never seen a crowbar during my trip through Silent Hill...is this where they have been hiding?" Harry wondered.
"Well it's still a handy tool, I'll make sense of it later" JP said
"...Makes sense to me" Travis dully said now wielding his Tire Iron in his right hand, and a crowbar in his left.
"Of course it would, until you realize this was way before you even had your power, and considering you didn't even touch the thing, then it gets complicated." Heather said.
"This is too big a mystery for me...better call in the Hardy Boys" Douglas said.
"...They're not real" Wheeler reminded.
"You don't know that!" Douglas quickly argued
"*Sigh* Elle could you gives a rundown of the site before we give ourselves a headache" Alex said sounding exhausted.
"According to this map, were are at the second half of the mines. It is also the spot where we'll find the train cart." Elle reported.
"Thank you...you hear that everyone, we're almost there!" Alex exclaimed.
Following the thin, dark cave made into a mine, the continued along their tiresome trek, pausing briefly at yet another fun fact board.
"So this cavern was previously called Diyu's Tusk Cavern?" Alex said.
"That's right! 'Course I don't have to read the thing to tell you that this place contains the largest stalagmite you'll ever see on the North East of this great nation. Even though it was originally discovered by Chinese immigrant workers, but who do you think hired all of them? That's right Americans" JP said.
"That's correct, though it didn't mention that last part. Apparently the Chinese even named it that because it looked like a giant tusk, and it seemed the word 'Diyu' translates to 'Earth prison'" Alex added.
"Yup it also means the land of the dead in their Chinese folklore" JP said.
"It reads as mythology, but I suppose folklore is correct also, and would you look at that, we're nearing the home of the weeping bat which only exist in this particular cave." Alex said.
"You don't suppose those pale dangling thing we just killed a little ways ago was one of them?" Ryan asked.
"...I wouldn't bet on it, but it still seems unlikely." Alex said
"They had to be crying, or secreting their little sticky mucus from their eyes if you need a reminded as to what they do" JP reminded.
"It was secreting something alright...by which I mean blood...when we killed one" George declared.
"I...may need to report that when we return" JP said.
They then focused their attention at the oversized map of the area. A large yellow dot at the center marked their current location.
"There's no way we crossed so much mine that we ended up only half way there" George argued.
"We did take an alternate route which would be this U shaped side path here" Murphy said pointing at a detour that jutted out of the red tourist path, and into the more unstable area they had just crossed.
"On the bright side it looks like a purely straight path from here on out it seems" Tina said.
"That's true, we might not have it so hard after all." Eileen said.
"The train cart is a single ride leading all the way back into town, as I had mentioned earlier" JP reminded.
Walking further along the path, ducking under some rubble they made it to the Cave of Tears, confirmed by an intercom with a feminine voice.
"Welcome to the Cave of Tears! The grandest collection of natural limestone formations in the Devil's Pit cave system" the intercom spoke.
"Wow...how un-scary is that?" George mocked.
"This magnificent chamber was carved out of Silent Hill's bedrock over three million years ago by the underground streams that lend the cave it's name." The intercom continued.
"I hear growling all around us, prepare your crowbars it's gonna be one of those frustrating fights again" Douglas said.
"The dazzling array of stalactites, and stalagmite you see around you was created over tens of thousands of years ago-" The intercom continued.
"Seriously are we really gonna wait for this thing to shut up before we take on whatever is out there? What's the difference" George asked.
"We? Oh I see, well then looks like we found our first volunteer to fight" Alex said.
"Wait me? N-no way, I-" George began.
"Way to grow a pair George, we'll be right behind you when you get mauled" Murphy said.
"Incidentally, no one will miss you when you die" Alessa said.
"Sh! This is the good part!" JP silenced.
"Over the years, a wealth of archaeological artifacts has been discovered in, and around the Cave of Tears." The intercom added.
"So?" George said.
Hang, just be a little patient, or are you itching to fight whatever is growling over there...it sure sounds big" JP said.
"-Devil's Cauldron, contained the bones, and personal effects of over a dozen individuals-" The intercom continued.
"Helpful..." George muttered
"-May have been used for burial ceremonies, or as some anthropologist have speculated, human sacrifice." The intercom finished.
"It's over, George whenever you want to be the hero, now's the time" Captain Lake said.
"I'd start with that round clearing next to the stairs, just walk around for a couple of seconds until something jumps at you" Angela encouraged.
"A little help will be appreciated you know!" George complained.
"Alright, fine there's no helping it, I guess I can help you out" Maria said
"I'm in too" James said
"If James is going then so will I" Angela said.
"The rest of us will rush in if it's not enough" Lisa assured.
George, James, Maria, and Angela step towards the center of the light, illuminating the staircase leading to a higher level of the cave. Almost as if hitting an invisible trigger, a Weeping Bat fell from the ceiling several feet away, and stomped towards them. George foolishly swung his Crowbar wildly as he ran blindly at the Weeping Bat, and although he may have had the first strike hitting it just under the armpit, it did little damage. Soon after a second mad attempt, the Weeping Bat easily blocked such a predictable move with it's right claw, and swung his left claw sideways striking George across his right shoulder blade. At this point James stepped in, and delivered a thrust to it's anorexic stomach during it's mid swing. It lurched backwards from the pain, but only for a second before focusing it's attention to James now. James tried a second strike, but was immediately blocked by quick moving arms. The Weeping bat clasped it's fist together, lifting them high over his head, and like an overweight ball he swung it down. James recognizing instant fatal swings like that before intermediately retreated a safe distance, and narrowly avoiding brain damage to himself. Then Maria, and Angela took to the offensive, and struck out at Weeping bat with arcing strikes to the chest, both successfully breaking the skin, and tearing small portions of muscle. The stinging pain caused it to jump back to the ceiling where for the time being it was safe to plan a new strategy. James rushed towards George for assistance, but he picked himself up assuring James he was still okay. The weeping bat crawl several feet away until it suddenly dropped itself back to ground level, and stomping his way towards Angela, and Maria.
"Screw it I'm going in" Elle said.
"Me too!" Heather said
With reckless abandon both Elle, and Heather charged into the field just as the Weeping Bat was within attack distance of Angela, and Maria who stood their grounds. As he attempted the first swing, Elle swooped in from between Angela, and Maria, and struck at it's stomach. As it lurched forward his lowered head was struck by a passing Heather, and following her came Maria, and Angela who swung at it repeatedly until it shielded itself with both it's arms, and jumped back into the ceiling bloodied, and beaten, but alive.
"This thing better not regenerate while it's up there!" Heather said.
The Weeping Bat crawled rapidly across the rocky ceiling leaving a trail of dust, and small pebbles falling behind him.
"Wait a minute...crap! Everyone move he's right below us!" Alex called out.
The band of over twenty quickly disbanded, and spread out as predicted by Alex, once it was on top of them it dropped while swinging it's long arms madly striking Mason, and Douglas. In response both men retaliated with their swings, hitting both sides of it's arms before it leaped back onto the roof.
"Damn thing's annoying!" Douglas complained.
With the team spread out the Weeping Bat could land on any land beneath it, and still have a chance to hit something which Alex had also realized.
"We can't stay in this one spot like this, we'll all become a target, take a few of you upstairs, and another couple more to the right side path over there. The rest of us will finish it off.
Alessa, Alessa (holding Kattina), Moon, Tina, Eileen, Henry, Murphy, Wheeler, Harry, and Little Walter went up the wooden staircase as team 2.
Eric, Hanna, Captain Lake, Jessie, Ryan, Emilie, JP, Mason, George, Sharon, Christopher, Rose, and Travis left towards a small trail to the right acting as team 3.
Alex, Maria, James, Cynthia, Heather, Elle, Lisa, Douglas, and Cybil stood their grounds as team 1.
Team 1
Once most of the group had left, the rest staying behind had much more mobility to get out of the way once the Weeping Bat came down on them. Going according to plan, the Weeping Bat attempted to stomp down on Alex, but his quick reflexes had saved him once again from certain agonizing pain. Once back on the ground the rest of the team rushed towards it, and planted blow after blow as they surrounded it. Unable to endure anymore the Weeping Bat jumped back towards the ceiling, but now on it's last legs, it was determined to stay in it's single spot at the ceiling much to the annoyance of everyone else. Then as if it was calling out to him, Alex saw it...a rock that he could chuck with a fierce force despite it being so high up. He grabbed it, encasing the entire thing with his hand, but unable to completely wrapped his fingers around it. He measured the weight as well as the distance the Weeping Bat was between him, and it, and flung his rock. The rock hit home, smacking it just below the head, hitting the back of the neck, and causing it to fall back first. Instead of hitting the flat floor with a *thud*, the Weeping Bat was impaled in several areas from the stalagmites below it eventually turning into ash, and disappearing.
"Let's meet up with the others, I can hear them going at it on both directions" Alex said.
"Not surprised, this is where those weeping bats are suppose to be located, but the things we're fighting look nothing like any bat I've ever seen." Douglas said.
"We should meet back upstairs" Heather said.
"Sounds like a plan" Cybil said
Team 2
They entered inside what appeared to be a small exhibit, contained in glass cases where several instruments used primarily for mining.
"Hey you guys think it's possible any of these rock drills still work?" Harry asked.
"Even if they did I bet they would be very cumbersome to carry around with you?" Tina asked.
"I think I can spare some room" Harry said.
"Just take it already! Who's gonna stop you!" Alessa argued.
"B-but it's not nice to take something without permission" Alessa said.
"Well I own this place so I say go ahead, and take it. Here I'll even make it easier for you" Alessa said
Using her crowbar she broke the display glass poorly securing the rock drill on display.
"I...I kind of wanted the rock drill over there" Harry said pointing at a second, much newer looking rock drill next to the first one.
"...You should have said something from the beginning!" Alessa complained.
"W-well I was gonna-" Harry began.
"No you weren't I have to do everything here!" Alessa grumpily responded as she trudged towards the second display case dragging the crowbar behind her.
"Something feels off, doesn't it seem like we're drawing attention to ourselves by making such a ruckus?" Murphy wondered.
"More like a fracas if ask me..." Little Walker muttered.
"...The more I think about it, them more accurate fracas defines this" Eileen said.
Alessa broke the second display case.
"Careful there, you can cut yourself" Murphy warned.
"I-I can take care of myself! I don't need any of you to break stuff" Alessa argued
A sudden blaring from Murphy's pocket was suddenly heard. A combination of arguing adults speaking in code, and heavy static.
"Damn this walkie talkie get's annoying fast, it only works on some occasions" Murphy said.
"So it's a walkie talkie for you...and even when it's turned on, nothing happens, but then it suddenly turns itself on?" Harry asked.
"That pretty much covers it" Murphy said.
"Aren't you going to take this with you?" Alessa asked from further ahead.
"Ever notice that when it turns on a monster is just around the corner?" Harry asked
"Now that you mention...yeah it does...aw crap. Hey kid get back here!" Murphy called out
"You jerk you forgot my name already!" Alessa complained stamping her foot on the ground.
The loud stomp on the wooden board had finally awoken a nearby Weeping Bat. At first a loud shattering of glass had almost disturbed it's slumber, the second loud noise of glass shattering had woken it up, but not enough to call it into action. Then the third strike came with the loud knock on wood which meant that if it was gonna get any sleep today, it would have to dispose of the loud intruders so it swoop down ready to strike at whatever was closest. Unfortunately Alessa was looking at the complete opposite side of it.
"Damn it kid watch out!" Murphy said quickly taking action
"I have a-" Alessa was saying until Murphy swooped her off her feet, moving her out of harms way just as the Weeping bat hammered it's fist down. Instead of hitting an angry little girl he hit mostly dust particles, and the wood floor.
"That's our cue" Henry said.
"Let's make a scene!" Wheeler exclaimed.
Henry, and Wheeler charged at it, barely squeezing through the narrow hallway in vain as the Weeping Bat had jumped out of their reach, and back to the ceiling where it crawled out of sight.
"Fan out, watch the hole up there, and out in the caves, it'll come down eventually. Also stay under the roof, I don't know yet if they can crash through them, but it's better than no cover" Murphy said as he helped Alessa up.
"I could have taken it" Alessa argued.
"No you wouldn't, and stay with the team next time okay?" Murphy scolded
"I could have handled myself, and turned that thing into a shish kabob already" Alessa grumbled
"I don't know where you get that assumption, but it's really dangerous here, and you got people trying to protect you here, don't make it harder on us!" Murphy continued scolding.
"I can do whatever I want! I don't owe anyone!" Alessa angrily retaliated.
"It came back!" Harry said.
The Weeping Bat jumped down on the other side of the small exhibit, the entrance to be exact. Murphy, and Harry we're ready for it.
"I don't believe you, you know. I'm sure you owe someone somewhere, we all do eventually, and I know you feel it too, and so do they!" Murphy quickly said before going into action.
Meanwhile on an empty road heading towards Silent Hill
Following the new report he answered, officer Thomas Gucci decided to go for extra credit by being the first to respond to yet another disaster. Although he was already started to regret it, for one thing he was going after several possibly escaped inmates armed with only his single firearm, and several hand cuffs he would be outnumbered, and alone until reinforcements arrive much later. Then there's the strange occurrences, his radio keeping him connected to a nearby police station had suddenly malfunctioned emitting only loud static. a sudden light fog that only stroked his wheels began to grow in height slowly, but surely reaching just below the windshield. Then came the sudden nerves...
"(It's gotta be my assignment, just some pre-action jitters is all, nothing new...but it's feels familiar for some reason)" Thomas thought
Then he passed a familiar sign.
"(Welcome to...Silent Hill, again with this place? I guess an abandoned town would be a good place for escapees to hide in. I just wish-)" Thomas thought before he was interrupted.
A sudden loud thunder boomed across the entire field, and heavy rainfall began to hit, followed by occasional lightning. It didn't help matters when he knew that he heading towards a mountainous road with sharp turns, hard to see curves, and very little guardrails.
"(This is getting dangerous, but I have to be first on the scene don't I-)" Thomas thought before he was interrupted yet again, not by the downpour, but by himself when he suddenly sneezed.
"What was that saying I heard a while back? When you sneeze someone talks about you, or something? Oh well" Thomas said as he continued to drive towards the scene of the accident.
Back to the Cave of Tears
Murphy blocked a right clawed strike while Harry came in from behind, and swung his crowbar in an arc hitting the spine. The Weeping Bat swung it's massive arms behind it, but Harry was already too far gone to be even touched. Murphy took the distraction, and struck it several time, performing a three hit combination until it blocked the fourth hit. It walked backwards away from Murphy until it was out of the exhibit, and jumped back onto the ceiling.
"I'm not done talking to you" Alessa argued.
"You picked the worst time to argue with me, and I'm not gonna argue with a little girl okay. Let's deal with that thing first" Murphy implored.
"It's back!" Moon called out.
The Weeping fell down through the hole in the ceiling again.
"It's ours now, come on!" Wheeler exclaimed.
"Time to put it in it's place" Henry dully said.
Wheeler charged ahead, and swung his crowbar into the Weeping Bat's stomach, then swerved to it's right side to give Henry a chance to swing without endangering any friendlies. He swung with an arc, and managed to reach up to it's chest, but did it with enough force to break the skin. The Weeping feeling the pressure was ready to jump back to the ceiling yet again, but Wheeler put a stop to it. In mid jump, by some freak of nature luck, Wheeler had been able to grab at it's left ankle, and yanked it back to the floor. It faceplanted itself onto the splintered wood, and was viciously beaten by four grown men until it was nothing, but ash, and even that ended up vanishing.
"Great teamwork you four" Alex was heard saying.
"How long were you watching?" Moon asked surprised
"We got here soon after I saw Wheeler yank that sucker before it escaped onto the ceiling, that was pretty damn awesome" Elle said.
"Well I wish I could give myself credit, but I was sure as hell expecting to grab air, and look like an idiot" Wheeler admitted.
Team 3
"There's large debris blocking our path" Eric pointed out
"There's explosives very close to it that could solve that issue" JP noticed
"Also those stairs over there should lead us back upstairs with the rest of them" Captain Lake said.
Suddenly out of nowhere, a Weeping Bat fell right in front of them.
"Crap! Another one!" George shrieked.
"We have to expel it!" Captain Lake exclaimed
"Right with you" Eric said.
"I'm in too" Christoper assured.
"...Now I'm really curious as to what would happen if I smacked it with this" Travis dully said looking at his Tire Iron
"Captain Lake took charge like any good captain by swinging horizontally to his left side with his crowbar, which the Weeping Bat blocked. It retaliated with right arm swing, but Eric was there to intercept it with his crowbar. Christoper took advantage of this, and jabbed his crowbar right in it's jaw by jumping, and swinging with a high arc. It lurched back, but Captain Lake continued with several quick pummels with one end of his Crowbar just before it blocked, and jumped towards the ceiling.
"Back up everyone don't get withing range!" Captain Lake instructed.
"How? That whole ceiling area is his attack range!" George said.
As if to prove him wrong the Weeping Bat had crawled only forward, and back in a single line, Ryan took notice of this.
"Like dudes! It's not like-moving around, and stuff...just going up, and down like lava in a lava lamp" Ryan realized
"Uh~ what was that...whole part?" Captain Lake asked.
"Too late to translate it's back down again!" Eric said.
The Weeping Bat returning for round 2 marched towards the three men, but Travis moved in between them before they charged towards it.
"Sorry, too curious" Travis said.
He casually walked towards it with drooping almost tired looking eyes as it swung it's claws at him. Travis stood his grounds, and the claws swiped uninterrupted, and yet it did not hit him. The Weeping Bat tried again, and failed, then as it tried to get closer it appeared as if it was marching in place.
"Oh look, I can manipulate space nearby without my tire iron to have direct contact to said space...or dimension whatever you wish to call it" Travis dully said.
The Weeping Bat stood back, and jumped onto the ceiling yet again.
"At this point I wish I had control of gravity...let's set up a trap" Travis muttered.
"Travis tossed his Tire Iron on the floor as he does whenever the group needed him to stretch out the area to fit everyone inside. This time however he planned on doing the opposite.
"If my prediction is correct those rocks should reach just above his pelvis if he keeps slanting his legs when he walks" Travis assumed.
Eventually the Weeping Bat descended yet again, but was a few feet behind the Tire Iron. Once it stomped onto it, Travis gave a subconscious signal, and space around the creature shrunk almost instantly causing the pillars of rocks to come crashing together pulverizing exactly up the pelvis as Travis predicted. It howled, and screeched in pain as he flailed madly at the air, eventually tiring itself out, finally dying, and turning to ash.
"I wanted to wait for it to turn to dust before I returned space back to it's original width, we have children on board after all" Travis dully said.
"That was pretty brutal though" George confessed.
"Could have been worst...could have smashed it continuously. Back in forth, bang, bang, bang" Travis dully said.
"Guys how did it go?" Elle was heard shouting.
"We got attacked by another monster, and the path's blocked" Rose explained.
"Nothing we can do on this end, but there's a wire trail that leads to somewhere upstairs where the rest of the group was headed" Christoper said.
"Let's meet with them. I can hear them causing some sort of fracas over there" James said.
"Wouldn't ruckus better define that?" George asked.
"We can debate that once we get over there now come on" Alex said.
Back to the present
Then we saw you kill that thing, while following the wire trail here" Alex explained.
"Interesting, now that you mentioned it, I do see a strange cable that leads to that poorly barricaded room over there" Mason said.
"I'll break it open!" Wheeler volunteered as he quickly went to work before anyone else had a say about it.
"What the hell were those things! They aren't any bats I've ever seen!" JP cried out.
"I thought they were indigenous to only this cave?" Eric asked.
"Those can't be the bats mentioned in the brochure, t-they don't like any animal that should be here!" JP said.
"Are you saying you didn't see anything like this during your whole trip here?" Harry asked.
"What the hell was I suppose to see? I was all alone, then I go with you guys, and then there's these things popping up everywhere. Did you guys do all this?" JP asked.
"Why would we send these things after us if we had anything to do with them? They're just slowing us down" Murphy said.
"They can't be all in my head, you guys see it too, and they can hurt too...this is making no sense here!" JP said.
"That's why we gave you a crowbar, don't make sense of it now, fight, then look back at it all when you're not trying to survive" Douglas said.
Murphy not interested in seeing someone break down a barrier that wasn't in any sort magical, or out of the ordinary focused primarily on a portable stereo. He casually turned the knob on it, activating it, expecting to hear music at first, but was caught a little off guard...
"Is...Is anybody out there?" A whisper was heard through the radio. Shortly after 'Willows Song' by Doves began to play.
"(Was that the same DJ?)" Murphy thought to himself.
"Music? There's a working radio station here?" Heather asked.
"I saw your portable radios, they make an awful noise, but have you ever thought of changing the frequencies a bit?" Murphy asked.
Harry, James, Heather, Travis, and Alex fumbled with their radios. After a few twists, and calibrations they were each able to have the song play in their own radios.
"Hey you're right it actually functioning the way it's suppose to now" Heather said.
"Nothing like a bit of music to liven the mood" James said.
"Could be more exciting though" Alex commented.
"Guys I got the planks cleared, and there's a detonator right here...who wants to do the honors?" Wheeler asked.
"Me, me, me!" Alessa shouted.
"No way, I'm doing it!" Laura argued.
"Let's not fight with each other again" Emilie implored.
"Maybe you both could push it?" Hanna suggested.
"That's a great idea!" Sharon added.
"I'm not sharing with you!" Alessa said.
"Well I'm not-hey!" Laura was saying until she was shoved my Alessa as she rushed towards the lever.
"Too bad looks like I'm-" Alessa began as she gripped the bar until Laura attempted to shove her out of the way as she too gripped the bar.
The two girls frantically shouldered each other, rubbing their cheeks together as violently as possible with little success, as they refused to let go of the detonator they did very little to one another, but get into each other personal bubbles. Both girls pressed as hard as they could on the detonator, but their combined strength was not enough to even budge it. Murphy unable to describe the situation into words, or even feelings as did everyone else decided a quick end on equal terms was best.
"Excuse me" Murphy said as he moved through the crowd, and between the fighting girls.
With one hand he pressed the detonator, the physical force to drop the bar was finally achieved, and the end result was a loud explosion that shook the cave ever so slightly.
"I'm guessing the path is clear now" George said.
"Or we created a large hole in the middle of the cave, both seem pretty plausible scenarios" Murphy said.
"Well it's obvious something different happened let's go investigate it" Moon said.
"Moving" Alex motioned the group.
Moving through the cave they passed at a circular, rocky tub containing water with a faint glowing green hue.
"What's the green light here?" Cynthia asked.
"There's several lamps installed underneath the water. We tinted them green to give it the sort of witches' brew kind of look" JP answered
"How much do you want to bet those lamps are gone" Heather asked.
"That can't be right, otherwise what will light the water up?" JP said skeptically
"I'm just telling you, there's no way electricity is making that water glow" Heather said.
"It's not hard to find out, someone give me a boost, and I'll confirm the lamps in there" JP said.
"Here I got you" Wheeler said clasping his hands together to support JP.
After giving a helpful boost from Wheeler JP was able to take a closer look at the water, and it's contents. After careful observation JP motioned for Wheeler to help him down.
"So what's the situation?" Harry asked.
"...I don't know..." JP admitted.
"Saw it coming, still freaks me out, let's get out of here" Heather said.
After that they left the Cave of Tears, following a recently cleared path through a narrow clearing that was surprisingly well lit compared to the rest of the mine.
"Well this is a nice change of scenery, it's clear, I can still hear the nice song, and-oh come on! Another elevator!" Maria said.
"Well this is a mine, they were suppose to be digging deeper for minerals" Angela explained
"Up, or down where will it go nobody knows!" George ranted.
"It goes down" JP answered.
"Spoiler alert much?" Heather said.
"I didn't know you guys wanted it to be surprised" JP admitted.
"Might as well get started..." Travis dully said.
"I don't like this new Travis he's kind of dull" Henry dully said.
"...I see you point?" Lisa tried to agree to Henry's dull comment.
"Alright it's done everyone get in" Travis said.
Whoa, whoa there what in the Sam hell are you guys doing? You'll overwork the poor thing" JP complained.
"It could take it" George said.
"Over ten times it's usual weight load?" JP said.
"You have a good point, but what else can we do, we're sort of a large crowd here" Moon said.
"Don't tell me you've done the same to the other two?" JP said.
"You mean other one...we sort of wrecked the first one" James admitted.
"There's was no proof that we had anything to do with that" George argued.
"There's no proof to say we didn't either" James added.
"Alright enough you two. JP this is how we've ridden the elevators, and I know it's very confusing, and makes absolutely no sense, but we'll explain everything later okay?" Alex said.
"Yeah that was my second question...how do you all fit in that tiny elevator together. You're not carnival clowns" JP said.
"No we're not we are using...I don't know exactly, but just come on already, it'll hold us." Douglas said.
"Still can't help, but scratch my head at this...Oh well. Alright let's go" JP agreed.
Once everyone was inside Rose pressed the button, the grated doors closed, and they began their descent.
"I-It's going awfully fast don't you think?" Eileen asked.
"Nah, this is actually fairly normal" JP said.
"Fairly?" Elle asked.
"Well, it might be overdoing it just a bit" JP admitted.
It suddenly stopped causing everyone to stumble into eachother.
"Crap, crap, crap this is it we're not gonna make it this time!" George exclaimed.
"Stop that! You're scaring the kids!" Rose scolded.
Eventually though the elevator came back to life, and descended in a controlled speed again.
"Nothing to worry about" Jessie said.
"Yup, won't be long now" JP assured.
"Wish I had elevators that took me down places instead of just one..." James muttered.
"...Why? We're the stairs really long? Or perhaps you took rickety ladders downward?" Tina asked.
"...Neither...well one staircase" James said.
Suddenly Murphy found himself so bored of their conversation that he began to hear voices giving him life lesson advices again.
"Never let go of hope Murph. One day you'll see that it's all come together. You'll look back, and laugh at what's passed, and you'll ask yourself, 'how the hell did I get through all that'?" The voice said to him.
"Murphy? Mu~rphy, the elevator stopped, and the doors are open!" Alessa called out.
"...We made it? Sorry I was lost in my thoughts for a moment, everyone move" Murphy said realizing the conversation was quickly spiraling into one of those awkward pauses.
"Just in time" Heather said realizing the same thing.
Once everyone left the elevator they were given a welcome banner in the shape of a dead man hanging from several previously electrically charged wires, and then a Screamer running up the stairs to claw their flesh off.
Lisa, Eileen, Rose, and Tina we're on the it.
Tina attacked first with a over the head swing, but the Screamer suddenly jumped back dodging the first strike.
"Aw come on! They dodge too!" Heather cried out.
"You just got to be quicker" Lisa assured.
She stepped in front to swing her Crowbar at the enemy, but the Screamer during a mid-attack of it's own quickly switched to a defensive stance, and blocked. It then forced the Crowbar out of the way to move in for an attack, but Lisa quickly retreated before it had the chance.
"In my defense I'm use to a lighter weapon! That's why my swing was so slow!" Lisa quickly called out tossing the crowbar, and switching to her Katana. Rose took charge yet again, and clobbered the Screamer just as it was inhaling for a shriek, however upon trying to go for a second attack she was immediately blocked.
"Frustrating!" Rose exclaimed
"Coming through!" Lisa called out
"She moved swiftly towards Rose right side, and stabbed through the Screamer' gut, then came Eileen to blindly striker the monster across the face. It pulled itself off the blade, and retreated further, but was intercepted by Rose who jabbed at the Screamer's open wound. It finally collapsed to the ground, and stayed there occasionally trying to get up again all while occasional hissing at them.
"Close enough" Rose said walking away.
"This isn't...recent is it?" Jessie asked.
"Holy crap I think it looks a lot like Murphy" George said.
"Don't even joke about something like that" Murphy said.
"Someone left a note on this corpse" Douglas said.
"You don't suppose the wiring is still electrically charged?" George asked.
"I doubt you will grab it regardless" Murphy said snatching the note, and adding it to his journal.
"What does it say?" Ryan asked.
"It's a poem, or a report...either way it was right in our face so it must be important somehow." Murphy said.
"Passed those stairs is the 'Devil's Train'..." JP said.
"And they have been well maintained right?" George asked.
"...It's been a while actually" JP admitted
"Ain't that swell" George muttered.
"We could always just walk the track" JP said.
"Not happening!" Heather quickly refused.
"Can we just see this train already?" Alex impatiently asked
Murphy wordlessly lead the team towards the train ride.
"Aren't you gonna finish that?" Elle asked pointing at the downed Screamer.
"Isn't close enough, close enough? Rose asked.
"Okay..." Elle simply said.
At last they made it to the end of the mine, the Devil's Train
"One, two...six seats, I knew it we're too big" Eric said.
"I can try to fix this, but it might take me a while to get things set up" Travis dully said.
"I'm not touching the controls" JP said flat out.
"I was gonna say the same thing. Just tell me what buttons to push, you do remember right?"
"They're the same as they ever were. Gray button first, then yellow, red, and blue in that order" JP said.
Murphy pressed the buttons in said order, but the machine gave a horrid beep, the lights flashed rapidly, and nothing happened.
"...That wasn't it" Murphy said.
"Of course it's it! It has to be it, they never changed it" JP said
"Well it's changed now" Murphy said
"Then there's nothing we can do about it" JP said.
"Now what?" Murphy said frustrated.
"...It's definitely a puzzle" Heather said.
"A what? You mean like the one we went through a while back?" Murphy asked.
"That's it exactly" Heather said.
"*Sigh* are we suppose to just...push random button combinations until one of them works?" George said.
"Of course not, that will take too long, we need to use a clue given to us...like that note you just grabbed" Harry said.
"You mean this?" Murphy said.
"Yeah read the first bit out loud, and maybe we can decipher it to one of the buttons here" Douglas said.
"Alright then, here's the first part..." Murphy began "Beneath the slate burns wicked ash, and the children cry for blood
"Okay random, what does it have to do with colored buttons?" George asked.
"It's actually more of what color the words are I think...slate burns wicked ash. Ash is grayish isn't it? Blood is red...so gray button, then red button" Murphy started as he pressed the buttons.
"Read the next part" Douglas urged.
"...Outside, fir trees grow. In a wind that knows not what happened here...anything?" Murphy said after he read the passage out loud.
"Tree's are green? Maybe the green button?" Moon said.
Murphy pressed the green button third.
"Or that Toluca's subterranean claws seek blood. Always blood." Murphy read.
"Toluca lake...water is blue, try blue?" Alessa advised.
"Murphy did so, and the sudden blast of an engine starting was heard, and the Devil's Train was back in commission.
"Well alright we did it! That wasn't so hard" Murphy said.
"I also found out how to give each of us a little more space in these seats." Travis dully announced.
"Explain" Eric said.
"Well so long as this tire iron has contact with the cart which are also connected towards each other, I can manipulate the spacing of the seats into something I like to call dimensional pockets. So it's not an entire space being manipulated as I have done before, but separate areas of the train cart, primarily seats. Again though you have to be inside to notice it." Travis dully explained as if he was lecturing a history lesson.
"Well everyone pick your seat, and get this over with...I feel I've been saying that a lot lately"Alex said.
Murphy, James, Heather, Harry, Travis, Henry, and Alex sat in the back seat to test Travis' explaination. Surprisingly they were all sitting comfortably instead of being bunched up together, and although they didn't have enough seat belts, they figured the bar they can lower to their waists will be enough. Maria, Elle, Eileen, Cynthia, Tina, and Angela sat in the seat ahead of the back. Third row sat Ryan, George, Jessie, Moon, Eric, and Captain Lake. Sitting on the fourth row were Alessa, Alessa, Sharon, Hanna, Emilie, Laura, and Little Walter. On the fifth row were Wheeler, Douglas, Mason, Christopher, and Rose, and JP.
"Is this alright? I mean if any of us are too bundled up there's the first row seats still empty" Tina called out.
"We're okay, besides I don't trust the front row, never had, never will" Harry said.
"Great work with the seats Travis, It's like we're a perfect fit." Murphy said.
"Why do I have to sit with the other kids? Why can't I have a seat with tolerable people like Murphy?" Alessa whined.
"You're the one that's intolerable! Don't make me tackle you" Laura warned.
"Don't you threaten me! You should be begging me to spare your life!" Alessa threatened.
"C-can't we have a nice quiet ride through the mine?" Alessa pleaded.
"She's right let's not fight here, something bad might happen" Hanna said.
"You two should really get a long better" Emilie said.
"I hear that the more two people fight, the more they like each other." Sharon said.
"That's for boys, and girls, not girl, and girl" Laura corrected.
"...That's not what she meant..." Little Walter muttered.
"Why are you so grumpy dude?" Ryan asked.
"You could have picked me a better seat" George said turning around to see the second row girls behind Murphy, and the rest.
"We were doing you a favor dude, you're eardrums won't be able to endure high pitch screaming...then again...how am I going to endure you're high pitch screaming?" Ryan said
"...Shouldn't it be starting by now?" Murphy asked.
As if on command the train cart suddenly shook, and then slowly took off forward. The team looked on with either nervous, or excited glances at the upcoming scenery, or each other.
End of Chapter
Sorry for the huge delay, I had a family trip to go to during the Weekend that didn't end until late Tuesday, and no functioning wifi that I could gain access to. I did spend time proofreading my work during the time, but there's still bound to be mistakes. It's also that time in the story again...filler chapters as they explore a new random location, but expect a 'villains meet' chapter soon. Thanks for the reviews, support, advice, and most importantly your patience.
