** A young woman sees a walking dead in the open streets of Whitby. A train full of corpses crashes into Kings Cross. In an Asylum, a gruesome nightmare becomes horrible reality.
All this should have been a warning to Kyle and his partner Benjamin...
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The train ride seemed to drag on forever. At first, Dr. Archer had been concerned about Kaylee's strange behaviour, but then he gave up. Often enough, he simply didn't understand the magician. So he blamed it on the adrenaline coursing through her veins after the fight, or on the injuries that were weighing on all of them.
After everything that had happened, however, he didn't want to strain Miss Clarence's nerves any further by using his healing abilities on her or Crowford. Unlike Crowford, he believed in using his abilities only when necessary. These wounds could be treated conventionally. He would take care of them once they were back at the Order.
Over time, a heavy, oppressive silence descended on the compartment, broken only occasionally by hesitant questions from Millicent.
Benjamin had to admit to himself, however, that despite her harsh words, Kaylee was speaking the truth: they couldn't reveal too many details or make plans yet, because in the end, the Order would have to decide how to proceed in this matter.
At some point, Dr. Archer sank into the red upholstery and closed his eyes. It had been an exhausting day. He was exhausted and had slept little. The small flame of the lantern in the compartment provided only dim light, so it didn't take long before the regular rattling and swaying of the train lulled him into a shallow sleep.
A few times, the train rocked and woke him from his sleep. Blinking, it took him a second to get his bearings, and each time he saw the same picture: Crowford sat with his legs crossed on the seat opposite, staring out the window with a grim expression. While the young girl slept on his shoulder next to him, his breathing becoming calmer and his senses drifting off to sleep again, Crowford seemed to watch over them the whole time without sleeping himself.
Suddenly, a shrill whistle jolted him awake. His heart stumbled in fright as sleep fell away from him like a suddenly dropped cloak. The first thing Dr. Archer registered was that the train had stopped. The rattling and clattering of the tracks had fallen silent, the rocking had stopped.
"We... are we stopped?" Dr. Archer muttered to himself in confusion, furrowing his brow in irritation.
"Are we in London already?" Miss Clarence asked wearily beside him, rubbing the remnants of sleep from her eyes with her knuckles.
"Crowford, why is the train..." Ben began, but stopped mid-sentence.
Crowford was gone, his seat empty and abandoned.
Benjamin's heart inevitably stumbled again, and he rose from his seat a little more abruptly than he had intended. His gaze slid to the window, but it was pitch black outside. Only in the distance could he make out a few small, lonely lights—probably the first outskirts of London or one of the suburbs.
Dr. Archer listened tensely, but he wasn't quite sure what he was expecting. Screams? Or rather, an oppressive silence? Some kind of eerie singing and fingernails scratching on the train roof? "What's going on? Why did we stop? And where is Mr. Crowford?" Miss Clarence also stood up and immediately took a step closer to Dr. Archer.
