Thanks once more to reviewing persons. Replies are where they usually are.
Chapter 23: A Shiny Hell
It was remarkably clean for a subway.
Usually when I'm in one of these things, the floors are strewn with urine, blood, a smattering of turds and the filth of many a person that was too lazy to find a bin.
Curiously however, the most I could find in this station was the occasional cigarette remnants on the platform, and an empty packet of crisps that lay peacefully below a PowerAde™ advert.
We walked along the platform, catching the occasional glare from nearby persons. Since the Matrix had become common knowledge, black, leather attire had become a trend almost overnight. People who wore such garments usually received stares from onlookers who usually spend about three seconds trying to decide if you're a fashion following fellow or an un-plugged human. After these three seconds they usually realise that they have better things to think about.
Anyway, it didn't take long for the train to arrive. It emerged from the darkness of the tunnel with a high pitched hiss that was painful to hear.
"Ready?" Manticore asked.
Again, I couldn't help but feel an involuntary stab of pity. I knew that the trainman was responsible for uploading demons and who knows what into machines that then descended upon Zion. He was undoubtedly responsible for numerous deaths there, and I kept telling myself that he deserved what was coming to him. Still, it was hard not to think of him as an unfortunate homeless guy who we were going to shoot to pieces.
I locked the guilt down as the train rolled to a stop. Conveniently, one of the doors found itself in front of where we were standing; I inhaled before climbing onto the train after the others.
The train was also surprisingly clean, and surprisingly empty. I remember grinning at the fact that my luck with public transportation had improved somewhat in recent months, granted I'd only used it twice but still.
Anyway, we made our way down the various carriages, seeing no one but the occasional wearisome looking passenger. It was something of a bumpy ride, very few meters there would be a sudden jolt which would come annoyingly close to sending one of us to the floor.
Despite this however, we were able to advance across the pestiferous corridor of carriages at a reasonably quick pace.
Three carriages from the end, we found him.
The train man's photo was surprisingly accurate. The figure before us was identical to the image in the photo, from the long, tattered grey hair to the teeth which suggested a diet of glass.
He didn't notice us at first; he simply looked at the floor with a look of detached depression on his face. The guilt struck again but was quickly subdued. I made a mental note to look into getting my guilt removed when we got back to the Destiny.
When he did notice us, he sprung to life majestically. Without so much as a 'hello', he shot to his feet, drew a gun and started firing at us.
The edge of one bullet grazed Hydra's arm, another buried itself in Dragon's shoulder. Both of them hissed in pain and moved to either end of the carriage, thereby allowing myself, Manticore and Hawk to respond to his friendly greeting with a few gunshots of our own.
He was quicker then I expected. By the time we fired, he was already closing the door to the cabin. Hawk and Manticore took off after him. I was almost sent to the floor by a panicky passenger. As he took off in the opposite direction, I examined the bleeding figures of Hydra and Dragon.
"Are you alright?" I asked hastily whilst moving towards Dragon, who appeared to be the most injured.
"You fucking idiot," I heard Dragon whisper through his teeth, "we don't damage as easily as humans, haven't…"
Deciding that he'd live, I clapped Dragon on his damaged shoulder and grinned in devious satisfaction as he yelped in pain, (I don't take kindly to insults,) and took off down the corridor after Manticore and Hawk.
I had to fight my way through more panicky, screaming passengers. The narrow space between the seats didn't allow me to get out of their way easily. This lead to people charging at me as if I wasn't there, getting pushed aside, and one woman who swung her handbag in my face. I considered pointing my gun at her and seeing what kind of reaction it got, but decided against the idea.
In the distance, I could hear more gunshots. This resulted in my pace increasing. Behind me, I noticed that Hydra and Dragon had healed sufficiently to join the chase.
I at last came to the final cabin; it was devoid of any annoying passengers, which was helpful. In the distance, I noticed that the train man was using one of the seats for cover. He seemed to be more interested with filling the air with bullets then with actually hitting anything.
I dived behind a chair of my own before he had time to send any bullets my way. To my left, I noticed Hawk who seemed to be reloading her weapon with reassuring calm. Manticore was hidden behind a seat in front of me.
I lifted myself over the seat and fired. The target hastily ducked and , the bullets I tried to fire through the seat bounced off harmlessly, thereby confirming my nagging belief that this was no ordinary train.
As I stopped firing, (in the hopes of coaxing him out and putting a bullet in his forehead,) I noticed that the train had arrived at its new destination. It was another station, also disturbingly clean, with hundreds of passengers presumably waiting to board the fast moving battle zone. All of them were Demons.
The train man stood up with an equally disturbing grin on his face. All of us, Dragon and Hydra included unleashed a shower of bullets on the guy, all of which seemed to vanish upon contact.
"Down here, I make the rules." The voice was a fusion of triumph, smugness and cigarette usage, "Down here, I'm God."
To be continued
Right, now for replying:
Agent Josie/guests: Your mind makes it real, which is what I learned today after I had curry for breakfast. Anyway, thanks for reviewing.
Tai Wilson: So do I, which is annoying because it can lead to plot holes, anyway, thanks for reviewing.
Yar Kramer: I think I fixed the paragraph problem for the last chapter. Thanks for reviewing, it's nice to see reviewers at this late stage.
Chapter 23: A Shiny Hell
It was remarkably clean for a subway.
Usually when I'm in one of these things, the floors are strewn with urine, blood, a smattering of turds and the filth of many a person that was too lazy to find a bin.
Curiously however, the most I could find in this station was the occasional cigarette remnants on the platform, and an empty packet of crisps that lay peacefully below a PowerAde™ advert.
We walked along the platform, catching the occasional glare from nearby persons. Since the Matrix had become common knowledge, black, leather attire had become a trend almost overnight. People who wore such garments usually received stares from onlookers who usually spend about three seconds trying to decide if you're a fashion following fellow or an un-plugged human. After these three seconds they usually realise that they have better things to think about.
Anyway, it didn't take long for the train to arrive. It emerged from the darkness of the tunnel with a high pitched hiss that was painful to hear.
"Ready?" Manticore asked.
Again, I couldn't help but feel an involuntary stab of pity. I knew that the trainman was responsible for uploading demons and who knows what into machines that then descended upon Zion. He was undoubtedly responsible for numerous deaths there, and I kept telling myself that he deserved what was coming to him. Still, it was hard not to think of him as an unfortunate homeless guy who we were going to shoot to pieces.
I locked the guilt down as the train rolled to a stop. Conveniently, one of the doors found itself in front of where we were standing; I inhaled before climbing onto the train after the others.
The train was also surprisingly clean, and surprisingly empty. I remember grinning at the fact that my luck with public transportation had improved somewhat in recent months, granted I'd only used it twice but still.
Anyway, we made our way down the various carriages, seeing no one but the occasional wearisome looking passenger. It was something of a bumpy ride, very few meters there would be a sudden jolt which would come annoyingly close to sending one of us to the floor.
Despite this however, we were able to advance across the pestiferous corridor of carriages at a reasonably quick pace.
Three carriages from the end, we found him.
The train man's photo was surprisingly accurate. The figure before us was identical to the image in the photo, from the long, tattered grey hair to the teeth which suggested a diet of glass.
He didn't notice us at first; he simply looked at the floor with a look of detached depression on his face. The guilt struck again but was quickly subdued. I made a mental note to look into getting my guilt removed when we got back to the Destiny.
When he did notice us, he sprung to life majestically. Without so much as a 'hello', he shot to his feet, drew a gun and started firing at us.
The edge of one bullet grazed Hydra's arm, another buried itself in Dragon's shoulder. Both of them hissed in pain and moved to either end of the carriage, thereby allowing myself, Manticore and Hawk to respond to his friendly greeting with a few gunshots of our own.
He was quicker then I expected. By the time we fired, he was already closing the door to the cabin. Hawk and Manticore took off after him. I was almost sent to the floor by a panicky passenger. As he took off in the opposite direction, I examined the bleeding figures of Hydra and Dragon.
"Are you alright?" I asked hastily whilst moving towards Dragon, who appeared to be the most injured.
"You fucking idiot," I heard Dragon whisper through his teeth, "we don't damage as easily as humans, haven't…"
Deciding that he'd live, I clapped Dragon on his damaged shoulder and grinned in devious satisfaction as he yelped in pain, (I don't take kindly to insults,) and took off down the corridor after Manticore and Hawk.
I had to fight my way through more panicky, screaming passengers. The narrow space between the seats didn't allow me to get out of their way easily. This lead to people charging at me as if I wasn't there, getting pushed aside, and one woman who swung her handbag in my face. I considered pointing my gun at her and seeing what kind of reaction it got, but decided against the idea.
In the distance, I could hear more gunshots. This resulted in my pace increasing. Behind me, I noticed that Hydra and Dragon had healed sufficiently to join the chase.
I at last came to the final cabin; it was devoid of any annoying passengers, which was helpful. In the distance, I noticed that the train man was using one of the seats for cover. He seemed to be more interested with filling the air with bullets then with actually hitting anything.
I dived behind a chair of my own before he had time to send any bullets my way. To my left, I noticed Hawk who seemed to be reloading her weapon with reassuring calm. Manticore was hidden behind a seat in front of me.
I lifted myself over the seat and fired. The target hastily ducked and , the bullets I tried to fire through the seat bounced off harmlessly, thereby confirming my nagging belief that this was no ordinary train.
As I stopped firing, (in the hopes of coaxing him out and putting a bullet in his forehead,) I noticed that the train had arrived at its new destination. It was another station, also disturbingly clean, with hundreds of passengers presumably waiting to board the fast moving battle zone. All of them were Demons.
The train man stood up with an equally disturbing grin on his face. All of us, Dragon and Hydra included unleashed a shower of bullets on the guy, all of which seemed to vanish upon contact.
"Down here, I make the rules." The voice was a fusion of triumph, smugness and cigarette usage, "Down here, I'm God."
To be continued
Right, now for replying:
Agent Josie/guests: Your mind makes it real, which is what I learned today after I had curry for breakfast. Anyway, thanks for reviewing.
Tai Wilson: So do I, which is annoying because it can lead to plot holes, anyway, thanks for reviewing.
Yar Kramer: I think I fixed the paragraph problem for the last chapter. Thanks for reviewing, it's nice to see reviewers at this late stage.