Chapter Five

Father Anderson pried open the door in between the two cars that led to the outside of the train. The trains emergency lights had kicked on, filling the small space he occupied with Torhu an eerie red tint. Anderson frowned when he saw concrete ten feet from where they were standing. They were in a tunnel.

He put his hand on Torhu's back and ushered her out the door. "Step careful." He said as she hoped down onto the gravel. He could hear the ghouls in the other cars begin to moan loudly and bang on the door to the car they were exiting. Anderson jumped down next to Torhu and looked to his left and to his right. He couldn't see openings in either direction but decided to head to his left so they would be trapped if the ghouls escaped the cars. "Come on now." He said to Torhu as he grabbed her by the arm and led her down the train tracks past the engine.

Both of them turned back to look when they heard the sounds of shattering glass. Through the dim red light coming from the inside of the train they could see bodies crawling out of the windows, wormlike, and flopping onto the ground. Torhu's eyes went wide and she grabbed Anderson's coat. "S-sir…" she stammered. "I don't like this dream."

Anderson snarled. The little heathen girl was becoming a pest. The ghouls had escaped the train; they could not be allowed to leave the tunnel. He had to resist the temptation to rush the ghouls and destroy them as they crawled through the windows. But that would mean he would have to leave her unprotected and with the ghouls being unusually vicious he didn't want to risk losing her. Everyone on this train is dead save for the heathen girl. I should've have known better than to have let this happen. There is no way I'll be letting the freaks get one hundred percent of the points, he thought. He turned to Torhu, "Just stay behind me and pay attention. Don't let them get between me and you." He grabbed Torhu and shoved her forward down the tunnel. "Run, I'll be right behind you."

Torhu began running down the tunnel towards the engine car. The red glow from the train's emergency lights only served to illuminate the tunnel walls, plus a few dull yellow lights inside the tunnel were on too. Still, she was having trouble seeing the lose gravel of the ground and it was all she could do not to fall. She cast a quick glance behind her and saw that the monsters had gotten to their feet and gained ground. Father Anderson had been right behind her but he had stopped and let the creatures catch up to him. She became afraid and stopped as well.

He was still holding those two odd looking swords and standing in that awkward fighting posture when three of the creatures got close to him. She saw him move once and decapitate all three. He spun around and was running back towards her before she could react.

He nearly ran her over as he shouted "Run!" She began running but couldn't keep up with him. They had nearly run past the train when her ankle dug deeply into the gravel and she lost her balance. Her body twisted but her ankle stayed put. She heard a loud popping sound as pain shot up through her foot. She screamed as she fell and could faintly hear Anderson cursing as he nearly tripped over her.

Anderson could see that the girl had hurt her foot severely. She was screaming in pain and clutching it. He looked back behind him and saw through the gloom that more ghouls had poured out of the train and were making haste toward them. Since when do they run like that? He thought. He began to wonder if maybe he could take them all on and if the heathen girl was really worth protecting. He grinned and started forward but stopped. Torhu was clutching her foot and whimpering loudly. She was also beginning to scoot herself away from the ghouls. Still trying to run. He thought. He could defeat the ghouls, he was certain of it. But some might slip past him or go around the other side. If that happened the little heathen girl was done for.

Torhu looked up from her wounded ankle at Father Anderson. He was looking at her with the expression someone holds for an abandoned animal they don't really want to take care of but don't want to bother to feed. She then looked past him at the advancing mob of zombies. He ankle throbbed with pain. Pain. Can you feel pain in a dream? I thought you couldn't.

She thought she heard Anderson mutter something. Her comprehension of English was deteriorating but it sounded like "clumsy heathen". He slipped one of his swords into his coat and scooped her up like she weighed nothing in his free arm by the waist and began running down the train tunnel away from the zombies.

I'll just set her down over yonder a ways and come back to finish them off. Maybe I won't need the rest of Iscariot after all… Anderson thought as he ran with Torhu down the tunnel.

End Chapter Five