Blazes

Alaina had been on the train for a while by now. She had gone through almost everything she had to entertain herself. Barely any time had passed while she read her book and played with her hair until her arms were tired. Even trying to nap only achieved a state of drowsiness. The only thing left was to talk to the old, sweet couple that was in the same cart as her, but the idea made her nervous.

    They looked to be in their late 60s, with curly gray hair, wrinkled skin, and sweet smiles. Both had chosen to hold their luggage in their lap instead of storing the bags on the rack above their heads. They talked amongst themselves about how beautiful the trees looked through the window as the train blurred past them. They noted the snow that danced in the wind, beautiful like a fresh start.

    After giving up on finding something else to do, Alaina started to talk to the old couple. All she mumbled said was "Hi," before a comment was made about the train starting to feel really hot by the old woman. Her husband murmured an agreement before several blaring alarms went off all at once.

    The old couple exchanged a steeled looked before they turned to Alaina who had jolted up out of her seat at the head-splitting alarms. The elderly woman clung to her black bag as the man reached for the door. They ran out of the cart with much more speed then what should have been possible for people of their age and the made it a long way down the hallway that connected the carts before others rushed into the same space.

    Alaina tried to follow, but the hallways had become too crowded from the people who had taken to rushing out of their carts. She was pushed around like a punching bag, from here to there; a step forward before two steps back.

    Alaina saw them before she heard them, but before she could comprehend any of it, she fell to her knees at the sound of a loud BOOM! Screams surrounded her as panic flooded the air, making it hard to breathe. The guns started mowing the people around her down.

    Calm and collected, you need to be calm and collected. She reminded herself.

    Alaina watched the people around her fell and she quickly moved to lay alongside them. The teenage boy beside her was bleeding through his shirt from the bullet wound. When he collapsed, Alaina bent down and watched the boy gasped for air as blood pooled in his mouth. She watched as he stopped struggling. Alaina watched as he went still.

The world seemed to get quiet after that, after people stopped struggling.

    "No..." She breathed out before reaching out and shaking the boy as if he could be woken up.

"Check them." The man who looked to be in charge ordered. "Look for the old couple. The score is in the suitcases."

    Alaina watched as one of the only people left standing tried to fight back. He was shot at by three different people at once. The loud thump echoed as the full-grown man hit the floor. Less than a second later, a little girl started to scream.

    Alaina laid down while the men were distracted by the little girl and rubbed some of the blood from the teenage boy's wound on her shirt and forehead when she was sure that no one was looking. It wasn't very much, but it would have to do.

    There was a sickening crack before the wailing stopped.

    She heard footsteps disperse.

    The train felt as if it were on fire. It just kept getting hotter and hotter.

    She stayed perfectly still as the people looked through the train's cars and all of the passenger's bags and she didn't cry out when someone kicked her foot as they walked by. She was used to being still.

    Alaina knew she wasn't strong enough to fight back. She saw what had happened to the person who tried before her. Instead, she laid like she was a statue.

    Am I the only one still alive? She questioned herself right before a giant black boot planted itself so close to Alaina's face that she felt it rub against her nose. Alaina managed not to gasp, but she definitely tensed.

    She heard a low voice growl, "That one's still breathing."

    Someone cried out and there was another gunshot.

    "We need to leave, now!" The door slammed open and someone crashed to the floor as the smell of smoke wafted in. More screams filled the air. Alaina dared cut her eyes to see the commotion. One of the men with the guns was on fire and dropped to roll on all of the corpses

Soon the fire was raging. The bodies acted like torches as it spread. The train was on fire.

When the flames got close enough to touch her foot, Alaina couldn't hold it in anymore and she scrambled until she was grabbed by one of the guys.

A gun that had been thrown over his shoulder butted Alaina in her head and everything went fuzzy until she was flying. The guy had thrown her out of the train and before she passed out, Alaina saw another body hit the dirt. She heard another scream. The train carried it far away through the trees along with the flames that swished like a flag of death reflected by the snow.

Alaina fought to keep her eyes open, but what was the point? She was as good as dead anyway. No, she would survive and start over. A new life. Alaina pondered, Maybe somewhere with snow. It's so pretty. It's so cold.

That was the last thing that crossed Alaina's mind before she let her eyes close and surrendered to the cold.