Chapter 4 Part 2

"Um... Can I help you?" Erik asked politely. Was she one of the Corporation's Megamen? Was she there to catch him, possibly kill him now that he had fought to escape? Erik's mind continued to spiral with different scenario's playing out what could happen, each ending worse than the last causing the stirring panic to overtake his mind. The girl possibly in her twenties finally turned to him causing him to flinch, and dig into the furthest spot away from her.

"Food?"

"...What?" Erik asked as the intense atmosphere was abruptly shattered with an awkward request. He sat there for a moment dumbfounded as his supposed "assassin" asked for something to eat with unnatural innocent... wait... purple eyes? Those eyes immediately reminded him of his first opponent an unnatural eye color that just dug straight into your very being. Yet unlike the guy he had fought her eyes were much more calming, and tired like she hadn't slept in days. "Uh wait a second I think... oh here!" Erik scavenged about himself before pulling out a Twix bar, and hesitantly stretched his arm out to offer it to her. The girl's left hand immediately shot out snatching the candy quickly and ripping the wrapper off before devouring the snack. A lot less intimidated by his "guest" Erik started to look the girl over, realizing she didn't wear a uniform like the other Corporation Megamen did. In fact her clothes were pretty tattered, and torn. She wore a pair of gray sweat pants torn at the edgings of the feet, and filled with small holes in various places. Her matching gray shirt had a huge tear on the left shoulder while something similar to a cut appeared on the shirts right side in the ribcage area revealing quiet a bit of the girls mocha colored flesh. Now that the situation had calmed down he was able to recognize the girls tattered yet beautiful appearance in full as she started to relax as well, and sit in a more appropriate manner. Her wavy brown hair reached all the way down to her shoulders partly hiding her left eye. Her ruby red lips slowed down as she enjoyed what looked to be her first "meal" in quite a while. Though she did seem to represent a lingering strong lean build like a MMA fighter. Though as said lingering as she had probably lost some of it during whatever hardship she was currently going through. Also if she was a megaman, wouldn't he have been able to sense her...? No, Gaven had mentioned something about a jammer that could ruin that ability.

"Thank you," Erik's ears perked up at the sound of mumbling coming from the girl.

"I am sorry I didn't hear you?!" Erik jumped as the girl suddenly broke into a tearful sight, bawling her eyes out as she started to mumble "thank you" over and over again. Never before being in this kind of situation he just watched as she continue to bawl her eyes out. His brain fried itself trying to think of how to respond until finally "Um... Your welcome." he hesitantly responded as the girl started to calm down once more. As she nibbled on the last Twix bar Erik slowly reached for the window behind him... No luck it was locked. "Of course it is," Erik sarcastically spoke before going wide eyed in realization that he had said it aloud with his still possible attacker right in front of him, now staring at him with unnatural eyes quite confused with a tilt of the head response. "Sorry just... who are you?" Erik asked trying to avoid his slip up.

"My name? Its been a long time since someone asked me my name." She answered softly pausing as if to recall what her name was. After a minute of silence she looked up and spoke. "Sarah...," She spoke with a strange uncertainty in her voice that drove the nail in for Erik that she clearly had no involvement with the people after him. In fact he was starting to be convinced he had just met someone who had possibly just been plagued with amnesia not to long ago... or simply a insane girl who had just recently escaped an asylum... that was always a possibility.

"Its nice to meet you Sarah... My names Erik." The red head responded with a light smile seeming to give the girl a reason to cheer up a bit, and give a weak smile back. With the situation now a bit more calm, Erik started to wonder what was taking Gaven so long, or for that matter the waiter with the food trolley. "Hmm its kinda quiet," Erik thought aloud as it seemed a little to eerily quiet. The loud thunderous roar from outside didn't help him as his nerves started to pick back up.

"It's a really nice train." Sarah said, clearly trying to keep a conversation going possibly out of fear of losing a new friend. Erik nodded in agreement as the second clap of thunder sounded... odd almost... like a gun shot?

"Oh no." Erik shuddered as his mind put two and two together. The worst part, however, was now having a innocent bystander in the compartment with him. For the moment a fight broke out, there would be no way to guarantee her safety. Erik looked at her again his fears now back in full swing at the chance he could get someone killed if he didn't respond correctly to the situation at hand. He needed to get away from her, and find Gaven quickly. Yet before he could attempt to get past the woman there was a knock at the door.

"Hello? Is anyone in here? Its the trolley, would you like anything to eat?" The moment the voice spoke of food Sarah's eyes went wide with excitement as she eagerly leapt up to answer the door before releasing a sudden squeaky noise as she was pulled back with her mouth covered by Erik. She looked back to Erik who brought a finger to his lips to motion her to be quiet in a pleading look. Confusion was shown on Sarah's face but gave a slight nod, and did as she was instructed. Erik waited for the man to pass by yet the sound of a trolley wheeling away never came as once more a fist knocked against the door. "Hello? I know I heard something. Is everything alright in there?" Slowly, and as quietly as possible Erik raised his hand, and locked the door as the man spoke thankfully over the light click of the lock. Shortly following with the knocking Erik could here the door knob jitter as the man on the other side tried to open the door. Hopefully that would make him go away, and then Erik would only have to wait a few minutes before he could safely exit the room without being seen. Unfortunately the sound of a cocked gun shattered all sense of safe exiting as three bullet went through the locking mechanism of the door. At this point Erik's mind rushed as time slowed down with the door opening... What could he do... How could he make sure Sarah didn't get involved... how could he protect someone when he was so weak... What would Gaven do? In one instance many people had decided how they wanted to go out in life with a big bang, or a moment of courage yet Erik... wasn't ready to go out so early in life. With a lunge Erik moved upward as the door opened wide thankfully outwards from the room as he latched onto the gun arm of the attacker, and bit down as hard as possible. "SON OF A...!" With all of his strength Erik pushed forward getting the man out of the room and away from Sarah, as the thud of the gun dropping at least he wasn't about to get shot . It was about halfway from the door into the hallway that Erik felt a sharp elbow dig into back causing him to let go. It was then a knee to the stomach knocking the wind out of Erik before his attacker grabbed the front of his shirt before flinging him to the left.

Well that fight didn't last long Erik mumbled painfully in his head as he fought for air as well as to look up at his attacker. Tanned flesh, and brown eyes... this was the guy Gaven had fought four days ago. So that meant this was squad Echo they were dealing with. A seven man team from what Gaven had told him. Which meant there was also a jammer active... hence why Erik couldn't sense this guy at the door. Erik could feel himself being flipped to his back as a knife threatened to slit his throat. The fourteen year old's eyes went wide at the frightening sight of the blood lusting man above him.

"I am only going to ask once. Where is Gaven Esitmer?"

"Wait... *cough*... his last name is Esitmer?" Erik cockily responded with a desperate smile.

"This is clearly a waste of my time." The man froze completely as he felt the lightly warm barrel of his own gun at the back of his neck. Dropping the knife the man slowly raised his hands as the pressure of the gun pulling on his shirt motioned him to stand up. "Should have known you would be willing to use your own allies as bait you sick bast... Who the hell are you?" the man responded with bewilderment as the person behind him wasn't Gavin, but Sarah with a rather sinisterly curved smile slowly forming on her lips. Catching his breath with the rather confusing update to this situation Erik looked toward Sarah's currently fixated eyes that kept on the attacker clearly looking for any sudden movements as if she wanted a reason to pull the trigger.

"Um... Sarah?"

"Yes... Erik?" She responded slowly with a weirdly twisted melodic chime that rung with a haunting echo in the hallway. Nothing like the innocently scared girl who Erik had given a candy bar to. With his breathing returning to normal the fourteen year old got back up on his feet making sure not to move to fast in fear of possibly getting shot at.

"Do you mind not killing him?" Erik asked with a panicking stutter in his voice

"Hm I sort of do. Why should I let him live? He was aiming to kill us, why not have some fun, and return the courtesy?" She spoke clearly getting excited off the idea of killing the man.

"Go to hell you freaking Necronite!" The man hissed violently at the woman as he ducked, and rolled past Erik avoiding two shots as he retrieved his knife and turning around. With knife at the ready in his left hand as Erik immediately backed away not wanting to get caught again before fumbling the gun that was sudden tossed to him. Sarah giggled deviously, walking past the now even more confused redhead with a sway that could make even the most hardboiled men become nervous.

"Come back over here, Little Bo Peep. So I can use that knife to shear some sheep." She demonically rhymed causing both Erik, and the Echo Squad member to mentally twitch at this rather chaotically versed woman. Once she was in range the man tightened his footing before lunging forward with the intent to stab her in the face. Yet as Erik watched a sudden sense of time seemed to disappear as second by second started to turn into minutes for Erik as he watched Sarah just stand there as the knife was mere inches away from her nose before she was suddenly underneath the knife with her knee's, looking up at her opponent with an open smile of a predator that had just easily caught its pathetic prey. Neither Erik nor the attacker were able to register what happened next as her left hand shot up catching the attackers forearm before pulling it down diagonally leaving his left shoulder socket wide open. The loud popping sound of an arm being dislocated was immediately drowned out by the attackers scream as he was shoved to the ground. Dropping the useless limb Sarah slowly started to hum aloud as she retrieved the knife before getting on top of her prey. "Little Po Beep lost her sheep," The Echo squad member was flipped over with eye wide in panic as he realized she wasn't done with him. "...And doesn't know where to find them," The knife was lightly pushing against his neck as she looked down with him with lightly opened eyes as she seemed to be lost in the rhyme. "Leave them alone, And they'll come home," She started to lift the knife upwards until it was above her head. The man's eye's started to dilate wildly out of control as fear he had never known before, completely took over causing his body to start convulsing with foam starting to form at his lips. "Wagging their tails behind them...," Erik couldn't move. His body wouldn't respond to any of the commands his brain gave... The words he wanted to scream wouldn't come out as the knife swung down. The sound of metal digging into metal caused his heart to skip a beat as Erik closed his eyes. At first there was no sound, and then there was the soft sound of breathing not coming from him, or Sarah. Opening his eyes Erik would see that the knife hadn't impaled the attacker, but instead the flooring right next to the unconscious man's face. It was then he realized Sarah was looking right at him with a hypnotic like stupor. "The little sheep hasn't cultivated enough wool to be worth shearing." She smiled as she stood up, causing all of Erik's motor function to come back to full swing as a cold chill went throughout his whole body.

"Uh... ya... that... sounds right." He nervously chuckled causing her to giggle sheepishly in response. It was then that the tram door ahead burst open with both Gaven and Vanessa flying through, fighting over the gun currently in Vanessa's control. They rolled about violently kicking and punching each other as clothing tore apart. Upon the sight of his ally Erik regained his senses, pointing the gun upward before pulling the trigger causing a loud bang to resound inside the passenger car as the two fighting adult paused looking at Erik as he hesitantly pointed the gun at Vanessa. "Give him the gun... NOW!" He hesitantly shouted, and while Vanessa was pretty sure he wouldn't shoot the sight of a unconscious ally near him along with a woman she didn't recognize. It didn't give much hope of her winning in this situation.

"Thank you very much, and I apologize for my earlier comment." Gaven chimed, taking the gun from the reluctant Vanessa before aggressively knocking her out with a mean right hook. "And that too... psycho maid... Shooting like a fury of hornets were chasing after you." Gaven continued to mumble as he pocketed the gun after switching the safety back on. It was then he was able to register the new girl along with the unconscious megaman. "Okay then, I'll bite. What the hell happened to you?"

"Oh? Has a new sheep come to play?"

"NO, NO, HE'S MY FRIEND, HE'S A FRIEND!" Erik yelled at the top of his lungs as he got between the two causing Gaven to raise a brow before he noticed the girls eye's as she pouted a bit; disappointed as this sheep appeared to be more of a wolf.

"Oh holy undead you're a Necronite!" Gaven said quite surprised as Erik gave him a strange look as that was the second time he had heard someone call Sarah that. "Well then that explains this guy." Gaven spoke as he kneeled over poking the unconscious man with the face of nightmarish fear still plastered on.

"What makes you think I couldn't take him?" Erik responded a bit flustered that Gaven didn't believe he couldn't handle himself.

"Cause you wouldn't have the mental capacity, nor the disturbing appearance to chill someone to the brink of their soul like she clearly can and did." Gaven pointed to the still eerily appearing woman. "Hopefully the other personality takes over soon." Gaven added reminding Erik that Sarah had indeed been completely different before the fighting had started.

"Ahhh, am I not to your liking? I promise you I can be much more fun than Sarah." She wispily replied.

"Yaaa how about we save that fun for the remaining four people hunting us down." Gaven chuckled.

"Don't you mean five?" Erik asked.

"Nope."

"What happen to the third then?"

"He didn't have a ticket. That, and apparently he didn't like the view of things." Gaven shrugged taking away the gun Erik had. "Good thing this is a deadzone, or this train would have been torn apart by now." Gaven mumbled.

"Deadzone?"

"Basically an area we can't turn into megaman. It's why I chose this route just in case my pursuers caught up. I could force them into a uncomfortable situation since they can't use the cover of usual means."

"And when were you gonna tell me I was in a zone of danger that would cause me to be incapable of defending myself?" Erik huffed, even more upset with this new information being brought to light. It was then Erik winced as "Sarah's" haunting giggle filled the air. Her eyes were more alert, and she was currently looking straight into Gaven's eyes.

"So we have four little lost sheep. Shall we find them?" She asked with a twisted plea in her eyes for them to apparently allow her. Gaven, and Erik exchanged looks for a moment with neither really sure how to respond to this strange new addition to their group that had slithered her way in without a care of what they were fighting against.

"No need, they'll find their way to us most likely knowing are luck so far on this train." Gaven responded as he looked around wondering which end of the train would currently be safer. Most likely knowing Simon's logic, they would immediately take over the trains controls as well as the cargo section, which meant really the middle was the best bet. However that also meant they were currently pinned. So the problem now was guessing what end Simon was on to avoid him, or if the behemoth was even on the train. "Oh... you clever bastard Gaven." Gaven smiled deviously, running to the back end of the passenger car, and opening the door letting the wind rush past him as he looked down at the connector that held the two passenger cars together. Being a older model it meant all he had to do was remove the pin holding them together. Positioning himself as best he could Gaven removed the safety mechanism, and pull up immediately dropping the connector pin as he jump back, closing the door as he watched the back end of the train started to disappear into the distance.

"What are you doing?"

"Using the element of surprise while we still can at this time. You know, divide and conquer style." Gaven smiled at Erik before raising a eyebrow. "Hey where did sheep slayer go?" Gaven, and Erik without warning felt a violent wave shake the passenger car as they fought to keep their bearing's as they looked toward the front end of the passenger car where a awkwardly hustling about Sarah held tightly to the connector pin she had just removed. Once the initial shockwave calmed down Sarah ran to Gaven with a heartwarmingly eager smile.

"SURPRISE!" She sung happily offering Gaven the pin. As he took said pin he blankly stared at it, not saying a word as he was introduced to the more kindred personality that Erik had first met. As the passenger car came to a complete stop Gaven continued to look at the pin as Sarah swayed back and forth waiting for praise. Finally looking away from the pin Gaven gave Erik a simple look as if he was putting all blame of this current event on him.

"... I'll... go grab our stuff." Erik nervously chuckled, sidestepping away from Gaven who continued to watched the redhead until he was out of sight.

"You, and I need to talk." Gaven sighed, turning to Sarah with tired look.

...