The Never Ending Train

5 Introductions

My eyes crack open. I'm sitting in one of the seats on the train. The first thing that catches my eyes is the greens and blues. So many blues in the sky, so many greens in the grass. It's so quiet, and peaceful.

As I stare out the window, I compare the stark contrast between the bright colours of nature and the seemingly jet black mist consuming the world in my dream. The screams of the man dragging behind on the train. The almost lifeless eyes of a guy I called crying man. I shudder. What a horrible dream.

I continue looking, but when I move to make myself more comfortable, I knock into someone to my left. I turn around and find the girl from my dream. She's bandaged up and sleeping next to me. No, not a dream, reality.

Noise suddenly floods my ears like I was subconsciously muffling it to escape from reality. Hushed conversations. Someone barking orders to bring down luggage and organize supplies. I stand up and look around. It really wasn't a dream.

The dark skinned guy who dragged himself on the ground last night is lying on his stomach in the middle of the floor. About half of the seats have been detached and thrown out the window to make space. A makeshift bed of torn off seat cushions lies underneath him.

Bandages cover his entire torso. The doctor who I'm assuming treated him stands barking orders to people. Everyone else goes from compartment to compartment, taking out bags and suitcases and organizing all the supplies we have. My eyes widen as I look at the contents of each one of these bags. They're all filled with survival tools and supplies, just like my duffle bag. The thought of losing such things from mine is suddenly not as heavy on me.

The doctor spots me. He smiles wide and opens up his arms as he walks towards me. "Ah, one of our heroes has awoken." I raise an eyebrow at the nickname.

"Many of us saw what you did back there with Kai back there. As well as these two." He gestures to the man on the floor and the girl next to me.

The compliment flusters me. I stand up and maneuver myself out of the seat, grunting with sudden pain and soreness. I almost fall due to my legs feeling like jello but the doctor rushes forward and catches me. "Thanks. I-I didn't do much. It was them two who did everything." And it's true. The girl pulled me out of that car. The guy threw crying man onto this car, no, Kai. Not crying man, Kai.

"Where is Kai?" I ask. Along with this question, dozens of others swiftly flood my brain. "Are these two okay? Is everyone else okay? What was that black mist outside thats-" I run to the back door and peer out the window. There's nothing there. The train isn't shaking anymore, I didn't even notice.

"None of us know. We seem to have outran the mist for now. We're still disorganized. It's only been 8 hours at least since you fainted. When these two wake up, we'll have a group discussion to figure everything out." The doctor holds out a protein bar for me. I take it, suddenly hungry from the recent events.

"Who knows how long he'll sleep with injuries like that." Another voice talks from behind me.

The doctor only smiles at the person behind me. I turn around. The girl that was sleeping has woken up. Bandages wrap around her head, her arms, and other places. She's stiff in getting up and grimaces.

"You shouldn't move around too much right now." The doctor says. She ignores him.

"Can someone explain to me what in the fuck just happened last night? And why am I on this fucking train? Shit, I was supposed to be going to Lizza's place for her birthday and now I'm on a train going God knows where." She presses her hand into her temple, probably trying to suppress a headache.

"The situation is the same for everyone on this train." The doctor starts. "It seems we were all put here without any recollection of getting on here. Parts of our memories have been wiped as well. A group meeting is about to commence in half an hour. Please, make yourself comfortable while you wait. I will try to wake this one up." The doctor smiles another one of his beaming smiles like we're all not stranded on this train being chased by a black hole.