Book of the Undead

Rail Runner

The railway station looked abandoned. Four years had passed since the first zombie had turned, so the emergency generators had expended their fuel long ago and ceased to function, leaving the tiled walls and concrete floors dark and foreboding. Steps led down into an abyss of the unknown.

Jasmine Carmichael clicked on a flashlight, using the last of her batteries in the process, and directed a beam of light down the steps and discovered an old subway train still sitting on the tracks. Her footsteps echoed softly as she cautiously went down the stairs toward the train. Metal security gates blocked her forward progress, but she found one partially open and turned sideways to squeeze through.

Before trying to open any doors on the train, Jasmine held up her flashlight beside the windows to inspect the interior as she didn't want to let out any zombies possibly trapped inside. Searching the train was dangerous as any number of unseen threats might be lurking around in the dark, but ever since the undead had swept across the world in a unending tide, those who wanted to survive had to take chances if they hoped to gather enough supplies to see the next day.  It was still a gamble as many of those chances had led to infection and undeath.

The train was emptyof anything living or otherwise. It alsodidn't contain any supplies she might need. A thought crossed Jasmine's mind about using the train as a base whereshe could stockpile supplies and hold out against either the relentless hunger of the undead or the savage desperation of the living. The idea seemed desirable at first with thickwalls of concrete, steel security gates, and the reinforced material of thetrain itself all serving as lines of defense.    

But, the more she thought about it, the more Jasmine eyed the train station with growing dread. She could see the problems of being in a confined space with a limited number of exits. If the zombies came at her from the stairs, her only avenue of departure would be through either the arrival or departure tunnels. If the undead had spilled into other stations or through maintenance access doors, the tunnels might be filled with them, leaving her boxed in with nowhere to run.

The train, sitting alone in the dark, was nothing but a metal coffin in a concrete grave. She moved quickly toward the stairs leading out of the subway and back into the city, switching off her flashlight to conserve power the moment she reached the upper level where daylight drove back the darkness. There was nothing for her here, and she had to keep moving.