Station 13

Chapter 2 - Where There's a Will...

        Instantly, Mel froze. The barrel of the gun was almost level with her head, staring her in the eyes with a dangerous glint. She felt the color drain from her face and her arms shoot upwards.

        Her mouth ran dry as she opened it to speak, but before she could, Scott's hand shot forward.

        "Stop! Don't shoot! We're not one of them!" He cried, breathing heavy. "We—- we came from the back of the train and—"

        "You what?" The man inside the car hissed, only a sliver of his face and and gleam of a single eye visible behind the muzzle of the gun. Mel felt a cold sweat break out over her forehead, panic rising in her throat. Behind them, the zombies slammed themselves against the car door, rattling the windows, and Miskah's frantic voice rose above the noise desperately.

        "They're gonna break the glass!"

        "P-Please, let us in, man!" Bennie called, fearful eyes trained on the window embedded into the door, shrieks and howls piercing through the air. The glass had nearly caved, a spiderweb of cracks running through its surface, and as the redhead turned around, she immediately heard a deafening roar.

        The zombies charged one last time, ramming into the door with all their might, and the glass shattered, spraying the group with cutting shards. Mel ducked as the train lurched forward, and all of a sudden, she felt a fist close around the front of her shirt. Her legs stumbled dizzily as she was yanked forward into the conductor's cabin, and the man shouted out towards the trio behind her. Zombies poured through the back window, tumbling onto the ground and lunging through the dusty air, screaming and snarling furiously. Sprinting forward, Scott and Bennie grabbed Miskah, hauling him into the cabin before the man slammed the door closed.

        Mel collapsed onto the ground, panting, arms wobbly as she struggled to hold herself upright. The conductor's cabin was silent, the horde sealed outside, and she let out a relieved breath of air. Looking behind her shoulder wearily, she felt her eyes widen as she looked at the man with the gun.

        He was shorter, stockier, with dark skin and a shock of light brown hair. His green eyes glinted dully in the dim light, and the purple bags under them betrayed an exhaustion that she hadn't seen before. He looked to be around 40, with a slightly graying beard, and his lithe hands clutched the pistol at his side in a white knuckled grip. A faded conductor's uniform adorned his shoulders stiffly.

        Turning to Scott, his eyes narrowed and he took a demanding step forward. "How are you all the way up here?! You're supposed to be back there!"

         "Supposed to be?!" Miskah cried, hysterically brushing the loose hair off of his shoulders. "What do you mean, 'supposed to be'?! Did you know we were back there with those things?!"

        "That doesn't matter." The conductor stated firmly, his gun glinting in the light. "Did ANY of you get bitten?"

        The group turned around slowly to look at Miskah, whose eyes went huge as he took a nervous step back. "N-No! No, I wasn't bitten! Those—those things never got their teeth near me!"

        "Hold on, hold on," Scott urged, holding up his palms evenly. "Let's calm down for a second, okay? We're safe now... right? We're alright. Those people are locked outside..?"

        He trailed off, looking to the conductor for affirmation. The shorter man nodded once, and Scott let out a breath of relieved air.

        "...Okay. Okay, good. Thank you for letting us into your cabin, Mister..."

        The conductor raised an eyebrow, fingers relaxing slightly around the pistol. "Will."

        The corner of Scott's lips tugged into a small smile. "Alright, Will it is. These are the, uh... other people who woke up with me." He gestured to the group one at a time, each of them giving a small nod or wave. "Bennie, Miskah... Mel. Now... we have a lot of questions, so—"