Metal Thunder (Karl Heisenberg - Resident Evil)

Chapter 1 - Crash and Burn

The train was headed Northeast zipping down the track like a bullet out of a rifle. Emily sat in one of the private cabins alone gazing out the window that was across from her in the corridor as she was taken through the beautiful winter scenery of evergreen trees and mountains. Every sight she saw was one church on top of that hill and another stone castle with its own personal moat of snow. The snowflakes seemed to rush in horizontal directions as the train moved and it made Emily smile.

She had never been a fan of winter as a season when she was a child, spring was truly her favourite, but over the years she had come to appreciate winter a little more like the world was covered in a large protective white blanket.

Several stops were made at a couple of stations, where more castles and churches were positioned. No big cities with rushing cars were out here, it was the perfect place to be. Emily paid no attention to the boarding passengers and kept her gaze out the window with her hood still up, it was still too soon to trust her gut to unveil herself a little, those BSAA agents looking for her could have established bases in any part of the world to track her down. She tried not to contemplate the idea that they saw her as a bioweapon now, and she stuck her earbuds in and set her iPod to play her favourite band, Lordi.

Gazing at the passing mountains and cloudy sky full of descending snowflakes, Emily let the music absorb her. The riffs and vocals were enough to make her swing her head to make her hair fly; it was called headbanging but Emily hadn't attended a single concert because of the experiments and later being on the run for her life. As the music continued to play, Emily began to wonder what stop she should exit at, as the train went deeper into the mountains, something strange was beginning to alert her and she turned off her iPod after the seventh song concluded.

The train had passed six stops since she had boarded, and outside the snow became dense like nothing could be seen outside her window, other than the mountain peaks jutting towards the sky. It was an eerie sight and the sun was already descending, turning the snowy sky a creamy yellow. Why would I have to worry if I have no plan? But I still have to get off at some point, she thought. However, with each stop the train made, fewer people were boarding and even with her music on earlier, it did not block out the sound of their entrances and exits from nearby. Emily sat up and went to the cabin door, wondering how long she had been on the train, wherever she was, they were ascending one of the mountains, and maybe now was the time to exit at the next stop when they arrived. Emily sat back down and waited.

Five minutes later there was no announcement of the next stop and Emily grew suspicious. What if this train is a trap, taking me to those soldiers?  Panic ensued inside her and she felt the tingle of lightning bolts manifesting in her body. Breathe, it'll only make it worse, she exhaled deeply and for a moment the sparks seemed to leave her, then when one of the locomotive's employees passed by, she quickly rose and stopped them. It was a gentleman in his fifties with a rather smug face.

"Excuse me, where are we?"

The attendant looked at her astonished as if he had never seen passengers approach him before? "Oh, I didn't think anyone would still be on the train by the time we made it this far,"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

The employee sighed, "Apologies miss, I am just not used to seeing anyone after we go this deep into the mountains, many passengers usually get off where Castle Hector is,"

"I'm guessing we passed that already?" Emily inquired,

"Ten minutes ago yes," he replied informingly,

"Why doesn't anyone like to go beyond that?"

The man gazed out the window next to her, "Fear of what's out there, beyond Castle Hector, the places that lie there have been a lot of disappearances. A friend of mine lived out in one of the villages this far out from Transylvania's central station, then one day he was gone."