Previous Chapters Next
Close
Through the MIRoR Looking Glass2,065 words
On the Other Side3,753 words
Pink Midst: Part 1750 words
Pink Midst: Part 23,686 words
Admiral Ackbar Called It2,577 words
The Pain Train Has No Stops1,375 words
reaD the capItalS, for ChaOs' Return Deludes3,406 words
"Pray for the dead...."4,101 words
"....And fight like hell for the living"4,429 words
Limbo Pt.12,824 words
Limbo Pt.21,631 words
"Make your peace with that, and all will be well"962 words
Credits175 words

The Pain Train Has No Stops

Another chapter guys. Enjoy. Also this goes quite well with the tone I'm trying to build, and I recommend listening to it while you read:

USM Valor. 2508.

Aegis VII system. 1147 hours Normal Time

Vent Panel above Central Tram Station

Joon, feeling like he had repeated himself with the same doubting question over and over again, said once more,

"Pinkie, you ready?"

Pinkie Pie replied, "Whenever you are. But didn't you say that we were going to have a plan?"

"Errrr....I decided to take an approach from your book. You know what they say about the best laid plans...."

Pinkie Pie, unfamiliar with the saying, asked, "Well, what DID they say?"

"That they don't work. Just...Let's just get on a train, ok?"

Joon donkey-kicked the vent grating below them and dropped down into the darkness.

He activate the flashlight on his Pulse Rifle, only to find himself surrounded by Necromorphs.

"Uh...Pinkie?"

"Yeah?" Pinkie Pie quietly answered in a shaking whisper. For all her blind innocence, even she knows when the shit hit the fan.

"Stay inside the RIG pack, seal the compartment, and close your eyes. Don't open them until I say so."

Joon readied his weapon against the already groaning and charging horde.

"This is going to get ugly."

USM Valor. 2508.

Aegis VII system. 1201 hours Normal Time

Onboard Tram 46D

Joon lept for the tram's entrance, and forced the doors shut. Limbs and serrated blades shoved themselves through the closing doors, but Joon shot them off with the furious barrage from his nearly-depleted Pulse Rifle.

His back to the closed doors, his relief was torn asunder by a sudden chorus of screams inside the tram.

Inside the compartment were humanoid creatures with bones barely clinging together by strips of flesh, split faces, and glowing pustule sac integrated into its left arms. They were led by a group of Slashers that entered the compartment as well. His RIG database identifying the majority of the group as "Exploders", Joon decided it wise to give them a wide berth into the next compartment before he fired upon them.

He unlatched the breach of his Pulse Rifle, ejected the near-empty mag, and slapped in a fresh one. His last.

Joon, as one of the Exploders were charging him, shot a 2-round burst at one of the sacs, catalyzing an explosive chain reaction on the train compartment that threw him on his ass.

Sometimes, those things just make everything way too easy

As he heard further screeching in the compartments from where the Necromorphs emerged from, Joon recovered himself quickly and headed off towards the front compartment. Joon, conserving his ammunition with short 3-round bursts at Necromorph limbs, pushed forward on his rampage. And when his Pulse Rifle clacked empty on his only magazine, he surpressed the Necromorphs chasing behind him with the Pulse Rifle's secondary fire feature, it's grenade launcher.

He swapped weapons for his Seeker Rifle, and let loose, inflicting damage to Necromorphs both coming in from the front, and struggling to catch up to him from behind. The only pause he gave to firing was to reload and disengage the tram compartments behind him to prevent anymore Necromorphs from following him.

He automatically passed into the next compartment, and the compartment after that, laying down fire until he reached the front compartment, which thankfully had no windows for Necromorphs to enter from, unlike the sections of the tram he left behind. With a finality, Joon weakly stomped on the clasps of the tram, melting them with his boot jets. Fueled by nothing more than the caloric intake of a meal he had eaten more than 13 hours ago and 2 hours of sleep, he watched with fluttering eyelids the last compartment slow down and be left behind in the tunnels.

He slammed close the conductor's compartment door and slumped down onto the floor.

He tiredly sputtered, "Pinkie....Pinkie. It's safe for the time being. You can come out now. Hey you there?"

Joon detached his RIG pack and unbuckled the clasp. Inside was a peacefully sleeping Pinkie Pie, one of her hooves twitching adorably as she entered the REM stage of her sleeping pattern. Inside her ears were a type of inner-ear speaker that became extensively disused in the 22nd century which Joon vaguely remembered to be called "earbuds". Attached to the earbud cord was a white rectangular device with an emblem of a bitten fruit on its back, and a primitive LED screen on the front that displayed Pinkie's song choice.

Joon decided to leave her to sleep, and lay his head on the compartment's walls. He set his Seeker Rifle on the knees of his spread out legs, and began to listen to the rhythmic rumble of the tram. The lullaby took over his senses and began to influence his eyelids to close.

No. Just a few more hours, and then you can get some rest when we reach Cadigan. All kinds of shit could fall on your lap if you go to sleep right now. You have to protect her.

At the thought of Pinkie Pie, Joon urged his eyelids to pitch open. But the attempt was useless, as he was already nodding off. Each time he recovered, his head began to lower until he checked himself again. The endless cycle of keeping one's head up as it constantly nods down was interjected by a voice.

"You really think trusting Cadigan is a good idea?"

Joon muttered, "Better than trusting you."

"Oh please. You know something isn't right about him. He's hiding something."

Anne gazed at Pinkie Pie, and snivelled, "So, found a replacement for me, have you?"

"Shut up."

"Stop lying. You always were an obvious one. You always hated being alone....," she crooned.

"She's only under my care until she gets back home. Jealous much? You are dead after all."

"Ah. Starting to remember I see. My efforts weren't in vain to save your insignificant conscience from hiding the truth from you"

"Some of the memory blackouts are getting clearer. And you know what? I'm glad that I forgot about you. You're not even real. I've been dealing with all the shit you piled up on my plate for the past couple of days, but now I'm used to it. Don't expect any emotional reaction from me or a mental breakdown where I start tearing up. Not like last time. Not like Charybdis."

Joon hissed back at her, "I'm sorry that you had to die. But enough is enough. The more I see of my past.....our past...the more I start to regret how much time I felt guilty for something that I only indirectly caused. It's time to move on, Anne. For both of us. With no regrets."

The hallucination glowered at Joon with a demeanor that could have frozen solid entire gas planets.

"We'll see who will die first with the most regrets, then. A bipolar alien equine that looks like something from children's animation, or a psychotic butcher that doesn't even know what's real anymore."

With a flash of light lasting a nanosecond, Anne disappeared.

Joon rested his head on the wall again, utterly exhausted. He released the seal and pulled off the gloves/gauntlets of his RIG, revealing his exposed hands, pale white from lack of sun exposure popularly afflicted by constant RIG use.

On his left hand, as if he noticed for the first time in his life, Joon inspected the band of silver on his ring finger. He roughly tugged it off, and flung the ring onto the floor.

He recited, "Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living. Sorry Diane, but hopefully the real you will understand. You always told me you hated rings. And to be honest...."

Joon carefully proceeded to retrieve a medkit from inside his RIG pack without waking Pinkie, and got a sleep-stim from the kit. He proceeded to lift down the RIG's suiting around his neck and inject the stim into his jugular artery.

"....I always hated them too."

He tossed the empty hypodermic needle at the same spot where the ring was and shouldered his Seeker Rifle.

Joon decided that sleep could wait. Insomnia wasn't going to be fun to deal with, especially now.

2,913 views

215

Previous Chapters Next