Press. Release. Wait.

Thirst

It seemed as though a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. The throbbing headache I had turned into a dull, nudging ache.

Relief. Sweet relief.

Not for long though. I knew that. I hadn't even been thinking about but as things had begun to slow down dehydration had set in. I couldn't quite remember the last time I had water. It had been a while. A while could have been two hours. It could've been eight for all I knew.

I looked down the aisle.

It was a bit of a mess. Maybe that was a slight understatement. The roof at the other end of the train had caved in completely. Huge mounds of dirt and rocks had fallen into the car. Good thing I hadn't been there. I tried to remember if there had been anyone else in the car besides that woman and the dog.

I don't think I was paying any attention to the other end of the car.

I got my bearings with the dried, red-stained pole that I had previously hit my head on. I looked across to where the two should have been. Still no sign of them. Except for a small purse lying on the ground a few feet away.

I looked back to the wall of ground a the other end.

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe she was farther down than I thought.

Or maybe she had panicked and ran across the car to the other end.

It certainly did feel like it was the end of the world on this side. It didn't really make sense though still.

I tried not to think about it.

Instead I made my away across and down the aisle to where the purse had been lying on the ground. I picked it up.

It was a small, red bag. Really only for the essentials. I rummaged inside of it. There was a pack of mints, some kind of tiny travel makeup case, dog treats, what else...?"

I felt something cylindrical take up the right side of the purse. I took it out with caution.

Water!

It was one of those tiny bottles that I would never buy because there was no point. It held like eight ounces at the most. The kind that I could drink in one big gulp.

It was small and silver. With a screw-on cap and handle to carry it. It had no markings on it. None of that mattered though. What mattered was that it was full. Or at least almost full.

I unscrewed it carefully, trying to still my shaking hands. I shone the light inside. It was almost entirely full of clear, cold water.

I sucked it down greedily, feeling the cool liquid swish in my mouth.

I stopped.

"FUCK!" I screamed and as I did I spit it all out across the car of the train.

Fucking vodka...

That woman had straight vodka in her purse.

Idiot.

Idiot. Idiot. Idiot. Idiot. IDIOT!

I dropped the bottle to the ground, it began to spill onto the ground before I came to my senses. Disinfectant. Alcohol was perfect disinfectant.I grabbed it greedily and rescrewed the cap. There was still about a third of the bottle left.

I placed my hands on my head and wretched a bit, trying to keep everything down. Puking would be... ill-advised.

I had drunk plenty of hard alcohol in my life but it was the surprise that really got me. It seemed to suck all the moisture from my mouth as soon as it touched it. I don't think I could have swallowed it even if I tried.