Zachy - Entry #17

We picked ourselves up cautiously; I rubbed at my bruised elbow. Outside, the light show had stopped, leaving behind a shadowy stillness. For some reason, I found it way more creepy than the kaleidoscope/aurora borealis/fireworks display-thingy that we'd been traveling through only moments ago. Mr. Smith - or was it Loki? -, who'd been slipping out of my mind every time I looked away from him, had gone hurtling into the wall, and was rubbing his nose. This amused me, before I forgot about him again.

I heard Chuck groan behind me. "Would it be completely stupid of me to ask what just happened?"

"No," said Eira, "but it would be stupid to expect any kind of sane answer."

The conductor's voice rang once more through the train car. "Sorry about that, but we had to make a bit of a pit-stop. We'll be taking on some passengers, and then continuing on our way."

"Passengers?" Chuck asked, just as I shushed him - the train doors were hissing open, and the whispering voices I'd heard from before had come back. We backed toward the far end of the train car, just as a small group of people entered the train. Though I was rather busy staring at them, I'm certain beyond any shadow of a doubt that both Chuck's and Eira's jaws had dropped, just like mine.

The people were not people, per se. Only two of what I quickly counted to be a group of six still had faces; the other four had grinning skulls with varying degrees of flesh still left on them. Their clothes were ripped and torn and, from what I could tell, charred black, some of them still smoking. They chatted companionably, gesturing emphatically with fingers that had become clicking bones, setting themselves down carefully. Two of them were small children, and another was a female - with long, black tresses that had become tangled and knotted, and the rest were probably male. I say probably not because I couldn't distinguish their gender, but because at this point, I don't think I was really sure of anything.

"Hmm, that's curious," said Loki, "just ignore them." I promptly forgot about him again.

Chuck opened his mouth to point out how creepy as fuck these passengers were, and Eira and I quickly gave him identical looks, clearly saying, "Don't even say it. We know."

We didn't talk much as the train began to move again, and the light show outside resumed. The zombie-people talked among themselves, and the adults didn't seem to have noticed us yet. What I assumed was the older child, however, with a grinning skull of a face beneath blond pigtails, pointed at me, jumping up and down. "Look Mummy!" she cried, "Live 'uns, live 'uns!"

"Just ignore them, sweety ... " said the woman-zombie.

"But Mummy!"

"I said just ignore them."

"Fine," the child-zombie said, crossing her arms and sitting down next to her mother. She continued to stare at us.

Chuck tapped his fingers anxiously, and Eira was giving the zombies an icy look. So Chuck was a prophet of Christian theology ... I wondered which of the angels - if, indeed, it were angels - had contacted him, and if we'd be meeting up with any of the horsemen. I hoped it'd be Pestilence. At least, as a doctor, I might have some chance against him ... and we'd figured out that Eira was Norse mythology, too. I was a little envious that her pantheon was something I knew rather well, whereas I'd gotten stuck with someone I'd never heard of. And then, there was that mysterious man, who'd given me no clues as to his identity at all ...

What was it that Loki had said though? (This time, I remembered him for a full ten seconds before he drifted out of my memory.) Lifthsrasir ... essentially, an Eve. She'd be one of the last women alive - I assumed there'd be more, though, because if there was an Lif, and she found him, and they had children, there'd have to be other children from other families involved to continue the line, right? And did that mean me or Chuck was the Lif, in this case? I looked at Chuck ... he wasn't exactly a model, but if he lost a bit of weight, I didn't think any girl would think he was so bad. I mean, clearly, it'd have to be him, right? I was old and already starting to go grey. She was cute, but I couldn't possibly date someone like her - or endanger her life, as I reminded myself of the madman inhabiting my brainspace. Okay, technically speaking, it was up to her (if, I told myself, she was really this person, and if, I again told myself, either Chuck or I was this other person). Not exactly a hard choice, though I didn't imagine I'd be seeing girls choosing between Team Chuck or Team Rufus any time soon -

Of course you won't, my friend, said the all-too-familiar voice of Kalki within my head. They will be dead, after all.

Go away, I thought at him.

I couldn't see him, but I knew, somehow, that he was grinning broadly. Of course, of course, he said in my head. We shall catch up later, when you are not so busy.

Fine, then.

He didn't reply.

The world was really ending. I kept forgetting. Chuck and Eira were still total strangers, and yet they were really all I had left. Nellie, of course, was dead. My parents were most likely dead, or going to be dead very soon, as were most of my good friends, which I didn't have many of in the first place. There was going to be no more society, no more late-night calls at the hospital, no more McDonald's - which was okay, since their food was terrible, but it was always a fascinating place to study people - and no more movie theaters or book stores -

Damn it all.

I looked over at the zombies. The little girl had broken off, and was walking toward us, glancing over her shoulder to make sure that her mother was not looking. I thought her expression looked vaguely curious, but I wouldn't put my money on that. It was hard to tell, without the face.

"Hello," she said, staring at us.

"Er ... hello," I replied, leaning toward her. I'd always been good with kids. "Who are you?"

"Oh, we're the recently departed," she said cheerily.

"Sounds like a really bad band name," muttered Chuck behind me. "Opening tonight - Recently Departed!" Eira snickered, then shushed him.

"Oh," I said, a bit nonplussed. "Well, that's interesting ... "

"Vivian, really! What did I tell you? Get back here!" shouted the zombie-woman from across the train.

"I'm coming, Mummy!"

Vivian frowned and shrugged at us apologetically, then turned around and raced back to her mother, heel bones snapping against the train car's floor like tap shoes. Chuck pulled himself up and began to follow her. Eira grabbed him roughly by the arm.

"What are you doing?"

"I was just going to ask them where we're going. I mean ... they could know." He looked to me for support.

"Maybe," I said, and Eira hesitantly let go.

"But they're ... you know, zombies," she said awkwardly, like the word didn't feel right on her tongue.

"True," I replied. "But they don't seem like the brain-eating type." I turned to Chuck. "Just be careful, okay?"

"Yeah, sure thing."

He walked over, and began trying to ask the zombies questions. They studiously ignored him, turning their backs as he walked between and around them. Eira and I looked awkwardly back and forth at him and each other, occasionally meeting eyes, at which point we would both very quickly look down. I tried to smooth out my hair, which felt grimy beneath my fingers. I must have looked like shit. Eira looked slightly ruffled, but very pretty, and was I really, actually thinking that when my girlfriend had just been savagely murdered? What was wrong with me?

I kept my eyes focused on Chuck, who walked back to us five minutes later, shaking his head. "No dice."

I smirked at the choice of words, as did Eira.

"Shut up," said Chuck, though he smiled as he said it, and very soon, we were all laughing. The zombies looked at us as though we were mad.

I sighed. "Well, I'm out of ideas."

"Hey, wait!" said Eira, her eyes glinting in a way I rather liked, but would not admit to myself. "Why can't we ask the train-lady thing?"

"I ask that you please refer to me as 'the conductor'," said the intercom-voice, sounding agitated. "Not, the 'train-lady thing'."

I jumped, slamming my knee into one of the poles. Chuck and Eira had both been startled, as well, Chuck having jumped backwards at least two or three feet, and Eira muttering a variety of colorful curse words.

"Oh, we just wanted to know ... " I began, rubbing my kneecap.

"Where the hell are we going?" asked Eira.

"I thought I told you," said the voice, "A place of safety."

"You did," said Eira, "but where exactly is that?"

"Why, the Underworld, of course. The pit-stop was not originally planned, but I figured if we were going that way ... "

"The ... the Underworld?" Eira asked, flustered.

"Yes, indeed. No safer place."

"Wait, why?" asked Eira, a panicky edge to her voice.

"Orders."

"But won't that mean ... that will mean that we're ... " Chuck fumbled for words.

"That we'll be dead?" I finished for him.

"I should imagine so, young man." She sounded snippy. "Rather difficult to endanger your life if you're dead, wouldn't you say?"

"But we'll be dead!" Chuck shouted. The zombies gave him dirty looks.

"Yes," said the intercom-voice. "But the important thing is, you'll be safe." The intercom clicked off.

Eira's eyes had gone as wide as saucers, and Chuck was shaking his head, muttering, "You've got be be shitting me" under his breath. I looked back and forth between them and the zombies at the train's other end. This was bad. This was very, very bad. I turned to Chuck and Eira.

"We need to get off the train."