"Apocalypse…" Cold realization washed over Damon like a cold wave.
He watched as the world around him turned into hell on earth.
For a little while, Damon simply stood there, unsure what to do next, but then he realized something else. The train—it's not slowing down.
'Could it be…? Did the conductor turn into one of these things?'
He looked at the board of stops above the cart seats. Studying it for a few seconds, he realized that there were around four more platforms before the track ends. If the train doesn't stop by then, he's as good as dead.
'I need to get to the front.'
Damon turned toward the doors leading into the next cart. He approached it with cautious steps and peeked inside.
'Of course,' he murmured.
The image was no different than the one from his own cart. Dozens of bodies lined the floor while the rest, two dozen or so, were turned into undead humans, bumping mindlessly into one another.
Realizing he was going to have to fight them, he turned around one last time, looking for anything he could use as a weapon.
There were a few briefcases and backpacks but nothing that could be of real use.
'Fuck it,' he thought, opening the door and snapping the attention of all the mindless undead humans toward him. He stayed in the small opening of the doors, letting the monsters come one by one, and he struck each of them with his fist.
It took a good few minutes of swinging his fist again and again until all the undead humans were dead. Only when he confirmed the cart was safe did he step through, suddenly remembering that he'd been stuck on level 5 for a while now.
'Do I no longer get EXP from these monsters?' It sounded like the only explanation. He managed to reach level 5 killing all the level 1 monsters in his cart, but killing a few dozen more in the next didn't even get him to level 6.
Peeking over to the next cart, he saw the very same image. More Undead Humans waiting for him. He cursed picking the middle cart.
The next cart was the exact same thing. One by one he would have to kill the Undead Humans before moving forward. His knuckles were already raw, blood fixing with dried foam on his hands. But despite the pain, he couldn't stop, same way the train wouldn't unless he stops it.
By the third cart, his breathing turned ragged. He had to switch from using mostly his right hand to using his left, not able to form his fist properly anymore.
'How many damn carts are there on this train?!'
It was only when he reached the second-to-last cart that he paused for a moment. Inside, there were no undead humans. Burned corpses filled the floor and near the end of the cart, sitting pressed against the door, was a girl around his age.
Damon's brow raised in surprise.
'Did she burn all these monsters?' He looked around looking for something the girl could've used to burn them before realizing something far simpler.
'Magic… she probably has some fire ability.'
Damon opened the door slowly, raising his arms high to show he's not a threat.
The girl sprang to her feet.
She had long crimson hair and red eyes to match it. She was wearing a white shirt, or rather, a shirt that used to be white and was now mostly covered by blood. A black tie still hung from her neck, followed by a black jacket that she wore on top.
"I'm human," Damon said, unsure what else he should say in this situation.
"I can tell," she replied coldly.
"If we don't stop the train, we'll die."
"The doors are locked. I tried everything to get it open until my mana ran out and I felt dizzy."
Only now did Damon notice the scorched marks on the metal door behind the girl. Burning undead humans was one thing, but burning metal was probably not something the girl could do at her current level.
'Running out of mana makes you dizzy? That's good to remember,' Damon thought before taking a step forward. 'Good thing I put those points into strength.'
"Mind if I take a look?" he asked.
The girl nodded and stepped aside.
Without a second wasted, Damon's fist crashed against the metal. He felt a painful tremble reverberate through his whole arm, but with the clock ticking he swung his fist again, then again. Blood started to leak from his fist, and when it couldn't take it anymore he switched hands. Then began kicking.
"Why is it so damn tough?!" he cursed inwardly, taking a couple of steps backwards.
He took a deep breath and with a long runup, he dashed straight into the door, kicking it in with all the strength he had left.
A loud screech echoed through the cart as the metal hinges gave way, the metal door falling into the cabin.
But without even giving Damon a second to regain his composure, an Undead Human lunged from the cabin, still wearing conductor's hat and uniform.
'Shit!' Damon shifted all his weight to the side in an attempt at evading, but in that moment, a roar of fire came to life.
The undead human fell before it could reach Damon, its corpse scorching from the fire attack. Damon's gaze lifted toward the girl who swayed on her feet, using her free arm to hold herself up against the wall, just as flames dancing around her other hand dispersed.
"You okay?" Damon asked.
The girl's crimson eyes lingered on Damon for only a moment before her heels clicked across the bloodied floor. "I'm fine," she replied just as she entered the cabin.
'Maybe if my luck was higher I'd shoot fire too,' Damon thought as he got to his feet. He didn't waste time getting into the cabin, where the girl sat on the conductor's seat, trying to make sense of the buttons.
'Any idea how to stop it?' she asked, looking around with a careful expression.
Damon shrugged. "Not sure."
Then, he began clicking and pulling all the levers he could.
"What are you—!?" The girl barely had a chance to finish the sentence as the train began to suddenly brake, both their bodies thrown forward, hitting the small cockpit before dropping to the ground.
Damon grimaced slightly at the deafening screeching sound of the train slowing down. His shoulder throbbed from where he hit the cockpit while the blood dripped from his injuried knuckled.
The girl next to him gave him a cold glance before forcing herself upright.
As he stood up, Damon saw that the train had stopped in the middle of a track, far from any platform. Looking through the window he could see the sight of the apocalyptic city in the distance. The smoke from fires still there, along with the monsters that flew high above, reaching the skyscrapers.
"Any idea where we stopped?" Damon asked, unsure of where exactly were they.
The girl lingered for a moment, looking outside the window in the cabin, before speaking.
"About three miles from the city's outskirts."
'Three miles, not the worst,' Damon thought. His home was in the city's outskirts, but was there any point in going back there? He had no family. Born and raised as an orphan, all he had back there were bills and debts to pay.
Debts…
His lips curved into a smile.
'Does that mean I don't need to pay the loan back to the bank? I mean, they're not gonna collect payments in the apocalypse, are they?'
He felt a sudden exhilaration at the idea, but before he could soak in that pleasant feeling, he noticed that the girl was already walking away toward one of the doors in the middle of the cart.
"I'm Damon, by the way—" he began to say, but at that moment, a sudden shadow fell over him.
He turned toward the window behind him and there, the last thing he saw was rows of countless enormous teeth curving around the front of the train until his vision went dark.