Chapter 5

The rest of K.K.'s companions got up from the chaos they've witnessed. The white dog turned to face Rover and viciously swiped him across the face exposing three long and deep gashes of blood as they started oozing out from the wounds. His left eye was completely inoperable due to the internal bleeding. Enraged, the Jack Russell grabbed the feline by the collar and forcefully pushed him onto the seats. Out of his mouth, he let out an aggressive lecture out of his mouth. "YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" growled K.K.. "Why did you do that, man? HUH!? We could've saved them, and yet still, you left us to DIE!?" Rover started to convulse in fear and hesitation. K.K. continued his rage-filled rant, "You know what, if it weren't for you, we could've saved them back there and our friend. But still, YOU LEFT US TO DIE! WHY!?" he angrily screamed as he shook the cat vigorously.

Instead of answering his question, in an act of cowardice, he shook him off from his firm grip and pointed at K.K.. "W-wait! He's one of them! Look at him, infected!" he boldly accused at the Jack Russell. His fur has been partially covered with light red stains of blood and his teeth saturated in zombie juices. Rover continued, "Guys, look at him! Deranged! Zombified! Get out of here before you cause any trouble!" At this point, the remaining civilians were beginning to side with the egotistical cat. "Hey you, tell him and the others to leave now!" Rover demanded Kapp'n. The green kappa complied with hesitation. "I'm sorry, but yer must go now, matey. We all think yer a bit dangerous," he said. The animals started to bombard K.K. and his allies with orders.

"Get out of here!"

"It's for your own good!"

"You're not welcome here!"

They continued to shout at the conflicted K.K. as he was left with no choice but to take himself and his friends out of harm's way by leaving the locomotive.

"It's for your own safety!"

"Leave now before you cause any trouble!"

"Get out of here, now!"

"GET OUT!"

Redd was the first one to go as he walked slowly out the door. The alpaca couple slowly followed. "It's going to be OK, you'll be safer with me." Cyrus reassured his wife. Reese suddenly felt a sense of insecurity. "I-I don't k-know," she stuttered. "I don't feel safe here…" In pity, Cyrus embraced Reese as he escorted her out the door. K.K. was the next one to depart alongside with a petrified Isabelle and Lottie. As the dog strutted through the angry bunch, he stopped by Rover and gazed at him with a shrewd frown. "No matter who this ends, there is no light at the end of the tunnel," Rover whispered in K.K.'s ear. Those words gave him a mixture of discouragement and anger. It seems that K.K. have been blamed and have been backstabbed by their own kinds as he and his friends left the train car.

All, but one.

"Why? Why did it have to be her?" uttered Mabel as she saw her re-animated sister through the bloodied glass pane alongside with the other monsters. "Sabe wasn't like the others. Why was she the one that had to suffer?" The blue hedgehog gazed at the booming passengers in which they continued to shout demandingly. "Damn you all, I'll teach you." Mabel slowly got up and walked towards the bloodied stained door where the bloodthirsty zombies awaited her. Rover turned around as he witnessed the hedgehog approaching closer to the fallen, his eyes widened in sudden realisation and shock as he quickly assumed that danger was nearing.

"Sabe," Mabel uttered tearfully. "I'll put you out of your misery." She grasped both of her paws onto the handle. A mixed feeling of fear and surprise spreaded across Rover's face. "Oi! Stop her! She's going to kill us all!" he yelled. His warning comes too late. The hedgehog yanks the door open as her final action before she is eventually consumed by the tidal wave. By doing this, she reunited with her fallen sister in the afterlife. Chaos erupted in the train car as the train was soon engulfed in darkness and the atmosphere echoed with the pained cries of the survivors which is now known as food to the reckless zombies in the darkened tunnel. Everyone tried to evade the attack but the transmission was working its way fast through each of them in their bloodstreams. Within seconds, their petrified screams were suppressed permanently as they gradually turned into vicious, bloodthirsty snarls. On the other side, K.K. sighted the horror in front of him and his friends. They exhaled a sigh of relief. Even though they were seperated from the transformed crowd, they have a long way to go from their refuge.

30 minutes later, the train swiftly exited the tunnel like a falcon on a run. Inside the cockpit, Tom Nook turned on his mic on his dashboard with haste.

"This is Conductor Nook speaking, do you copy?"

"Yes, Mr. Nook."
"Are there any open routes to Haven, sir?"

"We're not certain yet, conductor. We're still picking irrational signals on our navigation systems."

"Try to reboot everything. That should fix your problem, hm?"

"Hold on, let me go to-, hey! What are you… Get back! NOOOOO! AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!- *static*."

From the startled expression, it was clear that Nook coherently heard the muffled scream. With frustration, he hung up and took a deep but shaky breath. Alarmed, he continued to persevere as he sent the locomotive to a full throttle. Meanwhile, the remaining survivors were currently in the state of vacillation and total bereavement. Reese began to lament softly as her husband cuddled her in pity as a sign of his passionate love and safety. Redd started to curl up like a ball crying tears of fear while Lottie continuously bawled as she mourned the loss of her favourite associate and best friend, Digby. Isabelle and K.K. sat together feeling insecure about their current prominence.

"Yo, Issy," the white canine said softly. "You wanted to tell me something, right?" Isabelle merely nodded. "Y-yes. I d-did," she faltered. "I w-wanted to tell you something, but I-I didn't have the courage. I also wanted to sing a song to you, but I felt uncertain about myself due to the current situation." Tears escaped from her eyes as she wrapped around her bosom acquaintance. "You don't understand how this f-feels for me! Help me, K.K.." Isabelle wept softly. Being the sympathetic that he is, K.K. sincerely accepted the warm hug. "There, there now," he said in a mild, gentle tone. "Everything will be fine. It's gonna be OK." The poor shih tzu sadly agreed to his kind heartedness as she continued to weep pitifully. Afterwards, the Jack Russell strutted to the bathroom. His phone was ringing as it was vibrating in his pocket. He picked up the call. "Who's this?" he asked. "Um, hey Mr. K.K. Slider, I'm just a fan of your talents," the voice replied.

"What do ya want? Can't you see we're on the verge of dying here?"

"Erm, I know but, as a scientist in medical purposes, I think I discovered the source of the outbreak."

"R-really? What?"

"So, I was taking a stroll by a lumberjack's field when all of a sudden, I saw this man who was behaving viciously. He was standing underneath a tree with some discolored fruit. And then the next thing I saw made me run for the hills, the man started to lash out on the others by digging his nails deep into their flesh and chomping into others. Then, the people became wild and insane and attacked! Luckily, I dodged that bullet."

"Wait, so you're telling me the source of all this is from a fruit!?"

"Yep. Can you imagine it? A fruit so vile that it can drive others batshit crazy! Even I was-, wait! No! Hands off me! STAY AWAY! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

The phone line was immediately disconnected. With frustration, K.K. rushed to the sink and attempted to rinse his grisly, furry arms. No matter how hard he washed and scrubbed, the bloodstains wouldn't fade away. With utter realization, the white dog slowly began to let loose the water works from his eyes in great guilt and despair. The tears were just too much for him.
"Why…" he thought to himself.

A couple of minutes passed and the train began to lose speed. The brakes squealed at an alarming pitch as it made rough contact along the rails. Thanks to the effort, the train came to a complete halt. Nook saw the sight in front of him. A complete and desolate wasteland of a town burning up in flames like hell on Earth. Flawed train cars were scattered throughout. Blocking the upcoming tunnel was a mountainful of toppled builders. Even a bulldozer couldn't clear the rubble. The tanuki racoon shakily turned on the PA and started speaking in a deliberate tone that warned the living. The message also reached Rover and Kapp'n who were seeking shelter in the bathroom, feeling cramped.

"Attention all survivors, it appears that we have stopped midway through the Happytown Station. Right now, all locomotives and train routes are now on ground zero. If you can hear this transmission, if you're still alive, please evacuate this train immediately and if possible, seek some shelter or refuge as soon as possible. I repeat, if you're still alive, please transfer now. May God be with you all."

With that, Nook hung up and groggily hopped out of the cockpit. He aimlessly wandered around the total wreckage in hopes of any method of safe transport. Meanwhile at the back, the rest of K.K.'s occupants exited the car and began inquiring for any type of automobile if possible. They observed the train behind them as zombies frantically scratched and smashed the windows in a contentious manner. To Tom's surprise, he found a nearby sea port to the right of his view as he made haste.

Back in the zombie-infested train, Rover peeped out of the bathroom door for any signs of a clear route. In his sights, the path seemed to be clear. "Are ye all good?" Kapp'n merely questioned. The blue feline nodded with a firm intent. "Yes. The coast is clear," he spoke discreetly. The kappa seemed to agree with Rover's call. He carefully but surely, crept towards the sudden light in front of his sight. He thought he sought his chance of his possible escape, but death was nearly touching his green skin as a carnivorous husk was thirsting for his blood. His eyes widened with horror. With Kapp'n distracted from the revolting sight, Rover pushed him with great force causing the turtle to collapse onto the blood-quenching zombie. The feline darted out through the open door as Kapp'n, the train's captain, was left to perish in the hands of the dangerous, ruthless clump of walking corpses. His yell of pain and betrayal gradually transformed into a squelching cry for hunger as his eyes clouded up in a white snowy colour and his skin was rapidly ravaged by the teeth and claws of the mindless zombies.

Meanwhile, the racoon was just a few metres away from the port. He sprinted as fast as he could like a leopard chasing its prey through the arid environments of the African plains. Tom stopped halfway as he was interrupted by a bewildering sight that literally caught him off guard. He cowered shakily, his pupils shrunk, and his jaw was left hanging open. "Oh my Bells," he silently mouthed as he caught gigantic boulders tumbling down the sheer precipice as well as a large quantity of undead animals like young children rolling down the slippery surface of snow. K.K. also caught a glimpse of the ruckus above him.

He and his comrades abruptly scampered apart and away from the potential landing site. In no time at all, the boulders made an imminent contact with the ground as thick clouds of dust emerged and laid waste to the railways causing the trains to lay semi-flat, nearly crumpled to oblivion. The impact caused the Jack Russell to remain unconscious for a lengthy amount of time. Ten seconds have passed and the alpaca couple was the first one to regain their senses. Their sight unclouded to see their chance of regrouping with the others blocked by a huge mound of boulders. Above them, the zombies were flying down the cliff with immense speed as their options of survival were becoming more and more limited.

"Oh, my God," Cyrus muttered in awe. Reese began to cower in pure dismay. "We're going to die, are we!?" she cried.

CHAPTER 5 - END