Final Destination: Bodies On The Line
Chapter 1 – Premonition
The wind was howling as John Goodman stepped onto the platform. It was cold, wet and windy; all he wanted to do was get home after a long night partying with his mates. They'd just been out drinking, rather heavily what with it being his 18th birthday and all. They weren't drunk; although John did feel a bit tipsy so he'd thought he'd play it safe and take the train home. All his mates were anyway so at least he had some company.
"Come on John – the train's here already"
"Just buying a magazine!" He called, holding up a copy of Jugs.
With all the guys cheering wildly, they clambered onto the train and found some seats. He put his feet up on the seat next to his best mate of 15 long years, Bobby Franklin. They'd known each other through primary school, secondary school, college, and now were both going to the same university. It seemed they were almost inseparable, they did everything together. Every birthday party, every special occasion – they wouldn't go if the other wasn't. When Bobby's mum remarried when they were both 8, Bobby kicked up such a fuss because the service was in a registry office, and was family only.
"Wow! Look at the pair on that one!"
"You lot are so immature…" Jess, Bobby's little sister, muttered to another of John's good friends, Laura.
"Yeah, grow up you two."
"There'll be plenty of time for being mature when we die, just try and lighten up and enjoy yourselves, k?" John said, attempting to get them to be a but more light-hearted. After all, it was his birthday, and they'd done nothing but complain.
"It's just that you guys have hardly paid any attention to us, like we're not even here."
"Well you're not really trying to make an effort, are ya?"
"Er…hello? We tried talking to you guys back at the restaurant but you were interested ordering countless amounts of bread and water from that waitress."
"Oh yeah…she was nice."
Laura sighed in disgust and turned away to look out the window. The guys kept ogling the magazine like it was treasure or something.
"Don't worry Laura, they'll get over it soon." Jess said, patting her on the hand reassuringly.
"I hope so Jess, I really do."
"Hurry up Jodie!" Little Harry Patrick called to his older sister, as they took their dog for a walk; not far up from where the late 9:25 train had departed. "We need to get home! Mum'll go ballistic – this is like the 180th time we've been late!"
"Are you sure it's safe to cross here? That tunnel's too dark to see a train coming."
"Trains always whistle in tunnels, we're bound to hear one if it is coming, now hurry up!"
Jodie wheeled her bicycle across the crossing, aided by her brother and their dog, Jasper, who kept getting in the way. Jasper glanced at the tunnel, then started to tug at Harry, who was still helping his sister with her bike.
"Jasper, calm down – we're coming! This bike's heavy!"
Jasper tugged again, this time bringing Harry down, along with the bike and his sister on top of him.
"Stupid dog!" He cried, using the lead to hoist himself back up. Jasper whimpered slightly as Harry pulled him towards him.
Then it hit them. Going at around 70 miles an hour and increasing rapidly in speed, they didn't stand a chance.
In the train, there was an uneasy jolt, nearly knocking Barry Marquette and Jerry Reed out of their seats, two of John's friends who'd nabbed the magazine and were giggling to themselves looking at all the pictures.
"Whoa, what was that?"
"Maybe something's wrong with the train." Bobby joked. No one laughed.
"Dude, don't say that." John told him "It's not funny."
"Whoa, sorry dude, I was just joking."
"Well don't. Anyway, it's probably just something on the track."
It was something on the track alright, something that was still on the track and being pushed along by the speeding train. Jodie's bicycle was the only thing that had managed to somehow survive the onslaught of the train, and it had somehow got wedged in-between the bottom of the train and part of the wheel. It was only a matter of time before it came loose and went under the wheel itself.
They felt another jerk.
"Look, it's just like on an aeroplane, it's just train turbulence."
"Train turbulence?"
"Yeah, what else could it be?"
The bicycle suddenly ricocheted off the front wheel, and was propelled into the distance. It hit a tree, before coming back to rest on the tracks, just as the trains' wheels slid over it. The train jolted off the tracks, and veered off to the side.
"What's happening?" Jess screamed.
The first carriage swerved around to be stopped by two trees next to each side of the track. The second carriage ploughed into it, slowing down dramatically and eventually coming to a stop, having smashed its way through most of the first carriage and its ex-riders. The third carriage, the carriage the party were on, swerved off to the side, smashing into a tree. This caused Barry and Jerry to both smack their heads against the window, cracking both it slightly, and also their skulls, causing them to fall to the floor, along with the others who were jolted out of their seats.
Neil and Dominic, who had stayed pretty quiet up until now, were both wailing in pain as they were thrown against the side of the train, which although not as hard as Barry and Jerry's hit had been, it still knocked them to the ground. They lay there for a while, groaning and moaning; wondering just what it was that had just happened. Bodies lay everywhere, limp and helpless. John staggered up to try and get his bearings. Out of the window he saw that the first two carriages had made a "T" shape where the second carriage had smacked into the first one, although the first carriage was slightly bent at the sides where the trees had bent the carriage around. John wondered how many people had been injured, or even worse, killed. He expected a lot. It didn't look pretty.
The trains were now at a standstill, and miraculously, he wasn't hurt. None of them were, or so he thought, until he looked down and saw Barry and Jerry, lying in a pool of a mix of their bloods. He brought his hand up to his mouth. No doubt about it, they were dead. He could handle death pretty well, just not this close. Never this close. He'd always been queasy when it came to blood and stuff like that.
Suddenly something shifted. The first carriage had been propped up by a couple of logs and branches it had collected from the side when it had ploughed through there. They were starting to come loose and roll back down the bank. The entire first carriage fell onto its side, and the second carriage smacked down on the rails, having been propped up by the first. The third, and final carriage of the train started to tilt away from the other two carriages. John and the ones who still somehow had strength tried to make it to the other side to stop it tipping but it fell, with a deafening crash. John groaned as blood splattered onto his face. Not his blood, this was someone else's, he wasn't sure whose. It didn't matter. What mattered was getting the few of them out of there before anything else happened.
What he didn't know though was that the crash of both the second and third carriages had created an oil leak, and they were both spraying it into the middle of the tracks and onto the surrounding trees. What's more there were sparks everywhere. John clambered up the now horizontal seats and managed to smash the window that Barry and Jerry's heads had managed to crack. John peered out of the hole he'd made and immediately wished he hadn't. He saw the carnage of the first two carriages, people had been thrown from the tracks. He swore he saw people moving, but something told him they wouldn't be for much longer. He heard the sound of sparking and looked to his left. The far end of the train was sparking. That was when he saw the oil. He had to get them out of there quick, before it was too late. He looked around to the other side to see if there was any danger there, and suddenly heard a loud crackling sound. He swivelled back round and saw that one of the oil-soaked trees was on fire, and that it would only be a matter of time before it reached the big oil patch, or even worse, any of the carriages. The flames danced from tree to tree, John powerless to stop them. The remaining others that were capable consisted only of himself, Dominic and Bobby. It was going to be difficult hauling Jess, Laura and Neil up to the hole, but they knew they had to give it a try.
John went first, hauling Laura out, followed by Bobby with Jess. The flames were getting ever closer to the other carriages. Dominic was just hauling Neil out as they reached the edge of the first carriage. There was a massive explosion that sent the first carriage over the tracks to the other side. Metal flew everywhere, not that John and the other three could see it as they were behind the third carriage, hobbling away as quickly as they could. It was Dominic and Neil that managed to see it. Well, Neil was still only half-conscious so he only groaned slightly. Dominic checked to see if he was okay, then started to haul him out again. There was another explosion, this time a large pipe came straight for Dominic, and through him. He knelt there, stunned, before falling back off the carriage.
The others felt a noise behind, and thinking it was Dominic and Neil, turned around to check they were okay. It was Dominic, but not as they expected. He was lying there with the pipe still through his chest, surrounded by his own blood. Neil was nowhere to be seen.
"Dominic! No!" Laura started for him, but John stopped her.
"Laura…it's too late for him. We have to get out of here while-"
Another explosion cut him off, the third carriage shifted slightly. Neil in his still half-conscious state slid off the side of the train, which had now become the roof onto the ground below. He stuttered and gasped for breath, when another explosion occurred, this time it was the second carriage. The force of the blast caused the third carriage to sweep to the side, smushing Neil against a tree, while the gust of air from the carriages movement knocked the others down. They could now see the full effect of the carnage, there was now a very large fire, that had almost completely destroyed the first carriage, and was working its way to the second. John saw a man in a business suit trying to help an old lady out of the carriage, but the flames got to him before he could get her out. John didn't want to look, he turned away but it was no good. He could still hear their screams.
"Let's get outta here." He said between tears. "Before it's too late."
Parts of debris lay everywhere, fire crackled around them, but they were alive.
"What do you think-"
Another explosion cut Bobby off. He turned around to see a sheet of metal coming straight for him. He tried to run but it was too late. He was sliced clean in half. The train was now exploding wildly, shooting different parts of it in all directions.
"Run for it!" John cried to the two girls, who were now so dishevelled and in tears that they could barely move. "Quick – we have to get out of here!"
He grabbed Laura's hand and they made a start for it. Jess just stood there, gazing at the horror that was in front of her.
"Jess!"
Another explosion drowned out their calls, as part of the train came straight for her. John ran to push her out of the way, and they collapsed on the floor as the piece of metal flew, now harmless, to the ground. They lay there for a couple of seconds, just to get their breath. There was a loud creaking sound, and John looked behind him.
"Oh hell no…" He muttered as he stared at the tall flaming oak tree they were directly in front of. He rolled to the side and grabbed Jess's arms, pulling her out of the way as the tree came crashing down.
"It's ok Jess. It's ok." John said, hugging her. He felt a warm sensation on his hands, and looked down. He hadn't made it in time. The oak tree had smashed Jess's bottom half clean off – he was only holding her top half. He dropped her in a motion of both disgust and shock. He got up and started running back to his sister who was now sitting there, once again in tears. He grabbed her hand, and they started running down the track again. The next explosion was the loudest, and John looked back to see what it had thrown up this time. He saw something, the train door, coming straight for him. He tried to run, but he wasn't quick enough. And then, it all went black.
"John? Hey, John!"
John looked around. He was still at the ticket barriers, with all his mates. They were alive. It had just been a dream. A crazy, messed-up dream. Still, he thought about it for a moment. Exactly two years ago, flight 180 had exploded, and, due to some school-kid having some sort of a premonition, him and his friends had escaped. Also, exactly one year ago, a massive pile up, had caused several deaths on the highway, due to a girl's premonition, and thanks to her, two lives were saved, as the survivors seemed to die shortly after. He'd heard about these stories quite a lot on all the paranormal channels, but he didn't believe in all that stuff. But it seemed so real, he thought. Better to be safe than sorry, he decided.
"We can't go on this train."
"What, why not? We've gotta get this train, or else our parents will be pissed off at us for breaking curfew! It takes like two hours to get home dude and the next train isn't for another hour after this one, what gives?"
"If we get on that train, we'll die."
"What? That's stupid. Look, just because it's your birthday, doesn't mean we're missing curfew. We're getting on that train dude."
"Listen to me," he told the
ticket clerk, "this train's going to crash! You've got to
cancel it!"
"I'm sorry sir, but I'm afraid I can't do
that. Now unless you want to buy a ticket, I'm afraid I can't let
you through."
John realised it was hopeless
trying to get the ticket clerk to do anything, so he might be able to
get some sense into the driver. Buying a ticket, he grabbed an
umbrella off a woman, and rammed it into the ticket barriers,
breaking them upon impact, preventing anyone else from getting down
to the train in time. He ran down, and went to the front of the
train, to talk to the driver, continuously hassled by his friends,
asking him what the hell was going on.
He opened the driver's
door and looked in. The driver wasn't there.
"Where the
hell's the driver?" He cried.
"Pardon me, coming
through." An old man called to him. "If you want to get on,
you'll have to get on down there."
He pointed to the front
door of the train.
"Listen to me, you've got to stop the
train! It's going to crash!"
"Look, either get on the
train, or stay here. Now what do you want to do, laddy?"
John
stared at him in shocked silence.
"Fine, have it your way."
The train started off, and disappeared shortly after into a tunnel
about 400 metres away. The others came rushing down the stairs, and
saw that they'd just missed it.
"What the hell was that
for, John? We missed the train, thanks to you!"
"But the
train's going to crash! I saw it!"
"Well, if you saw it,
then it can't have been that train then, can it?"
"No, it
was that train, I saw it in a vision!"
"Thanks a lot –
now we have to wait a whole hour! Hope you're having a happy
birthday, cos right now for us – this sucks-"
He was cut off by a loud
explosion, causing them all to dive to the ground, fire shot out of
the tunnel, and onto the track. They looked up in horror to see the
remains of a train, coming for them, at an alarming speed. They
stumbled backwards, just as the remainder of the 9:25 pulled into the
platform.
"Oh God..."
"John, what's going on?"
"I...I don't know..." John stuttered.
"There's the
guy!"
John looked round to see a police officer running
towards him, brandishing his baton. He was knocked out, as soon as
the policeman got there. The last thing he saw was the officer's
nametag. Officer Thomas Burke.
THERE THAT WAS THE PREMONITION RE-WRITTEN WITH MORE DETAIL – SOME PARTS ARE THE SAME, BUT THE ENTIRE PREMONITION IS PRACTICALLY COMPLETELY DIFFERENT – HOPE YOU LIKE IT – CHAPTER 2 COMING SOON!
