Dakota Middleton
"Oh... thanks..." Dakota spoke in a somewhat dazed voice as the well-dressed boy shifted her bag away from the window. He had just volunteered to pick up the shrapnel she had indicated, but apparently changed course upon seeing that she was hurt. This wouldn't do at all. Her head was still spinning, partly from the pain of her wounds and partly from the shock of the whole situation. Dakota had never been the calmest of people, and at the moment she was struggling to keep her brain from entering full-on panic mode. Still, the terrible feeling that she was dragging these people back overpowered every other emotion that was swirling around inside of her. Most of these people seemed so calm, so logical... Even though none of them had any clue what was going on, they seemed to be handling it a lot better than she was. All she had managed to do was get herself hurt. This guy should have been arming himself or finding an exit, but here he was, going out of his way to help her. She couldn't let that happen.
"I'm okay!" She forced a smile in response to his expression of concern, stepping away from the windows as instructed.
"Just a few scrapes here and there. That's what I get for standing in front of an exploding window!" She laughed, trying to assure the others that she was alright. There was no need to worry about her- they could focus on saving themselves. She only hoped that the terror in her voice wasn't too apparent. It seemed to work well enough, as he shifted his focus away from her and back to the situation at hand. He suggested they look for an emergency switch, which she had to admit sounded better than her idea. But from the looks of it, the seat-switching guy at the front of the car had been doing that for a while now with no success. There were the obvious red levers that could operate the outside doors, but unless they planned on falling to their death, those seemed pretty useless at the moment. Either the helpful boy realized this as well, or he simply wished to arm himself, because he still dove toward the pile and managed to get his hands on a large piece of metal.
As she watched him run toward the door, she heard another voice come in from behind her. Its sudden appearance startled her, and she clenched her fists as she spun around. In her head, she was prepared for the worst. But as it turned out, the voice came from the disheveled boy who had stepped over her earlier. She laughed a little, slightly embarrassed at her reaction. Here she stood, looking as though she were ready to fight for her life, when all he was trying to do was offer her painkillers for her wounds. For better or worse though, it seemed the boy could not see her reaction. Although he was speaking to her, he had his eyes shut and his head turned away. He also appeared to be trembling, and his breathing was erratic. If he was anywhere near as scared as she was though, that was entirely understandable.
Dakota smiled at the boy as she took the pills from his hand, though he could not have seen it through closed eyes. Here was another person going out of his way to help her, even though he was obviously just as (if not more) terrified of the situation than she herself was.
"Are you alri-" she started to ask, but was interrupted by a loud
CLANG from the front of the car.
Mr. Stylish had managed to open the door! The nervous boy immediately disengaged from the conversation and ran toward the door, and Dakota followed suit immediately afterwards. After a few steps though, she halted in her tracks. Something had brushed against her foot. The sight of the object nearly sent her into shock. It was a smartphone- her smartphone- an object she had seen every day for the past three or four years. The sight of it now... the screen was shattered, and a couple drops of blood had fallen on it. Just moments before, she had been eagerly offering that very phone to Jason. She had been looking forward to classes, stressing about her new life, trying to make friends... all of that, everything normal, had been shattered along with that screen. For the first time in all of this insanity, it struck her that Jason was dead. The boy she'd been talking to less than five minutes ago was gone. Forever.
While the others examined the newly-opened doorway, Dakota knelt and picked up the device. There was no signal, of course. As she touched it, the screen flashed on, revealing a half-typed message to an unknown number. Jason must have begun to text someone before the world had shifted.
Mike! This is Jason- you're never gonna believe this. This weird girl on the train g
That was all it said. The cursor still blinked, as if it expected an end to the sentence that would never be finished.
"Seems clear." Seat-switcher's voice brought her back to reality. If this even was reality. She stood quickly, shoving the phone in her pocket and pacing over to the door. Everyone was here now, except for Mr. Stoic at the back of the train. The next car looked identical to the one they found themselves in now, save for the lack of bloodstains and broken glass. Same eerie red glow and cobwebs everywhere.
Dammit. How many more cars would they have to pry open? And even if they reached the control room, she highly doubted anyone here knew how to drive a train. Even that was assuming the vehicle would start up again. Something had caused it to break down, after all. What if it was irreparable? Swallowing her panic, she stepped past the others into the next car. She'd been pretty useless so far, but perhaps she could at least scout ahead...
“Don’t run. She will find you. Don’t fight. Or I will kill you.”The voice was chilling. Dakota spun in circles, looking frantically around the empty car for its source.
Nothing. Perhaps it was back in the other car? The deep, gravelly noise seemed to be coming from every direction at once. She scanned the car once more before turning back to join the others.
Safety in numbers, right? Just as she reached the doorway though, all hopes of attaining "safety" were immediately discarded. The awful, screeching sound of tearing of metal reverberated throughout the car, and she found herself staring up into the beady eyes of the ugliest, most ridiculously gigantic spider she had ever seen. The sight of it flooded her with terror- stronger and deeper than any of the preceding events. She began trembling, choking back the uncontrollable laughter that was attempting to escape from inside of her. It was Dakota's equivalent to a scream of fear. This was how her brain had always coped with such emotions, and while it was impossible to make light of a situation such as this, she had to brace herself against the door frame to keep the laughing fit from taking over.
It would be so much easier to give in, to fall to the ground and die reveling in the ridiculousness of the situation. It
was ridiculous after all. Impossible even. The whole thing felt like a scene out of a video game. Except in a video game, the screen would have blurred the second she saw that spider. Then she would have found herself up on the roof, weapon in hand, ready to kill this thing or die several times trying. But this was real... Dakota had no weapon, no magical powers, and no "Retry" button. Although from the looks of it, she was about to have a "Game Over." Right after the soft-spoken girl it had just snatched in its claws... It had all happened so fast. And there was nothing she could do to stop it. Her bandaged hands were completely useless against the enemy atop the train. Even if she could climb to the roof while avoiding the lightning-fast movements of this spider-creature, AND land a successful blow with her fists somehow, there was no way it would not have already consumed the girl.
I'm sorry... The thought rang through her head. She turned away and shut her eyes, unwilling to watch the carnage about to take place.
I'm so sorry...Here was one more person she'd failed. Another life she could not save. That girl, Jason, the others... she couldn't help any of them now. The disheveled boy's voice met her ears, seeming to echo her own feelings.
"Couldn't you have taken me instead!?" At least he'd done something useful... Dakota should be the one to become spider food. Not that that wouldn't have happened in a moment anyway, but the impending doom did not help to ease her conscience. At least each of the others had contributed something. Heck, the boy who was now screaming that the spider should have taken him had gone out of his way to bring her medicine. She hadn't even had the chance to thank him. All she'd done was get herself injured and distracted. Tears began to form behind her still-closed eyelids.
All of you... I'm sorry...A sudden gust of wind nearly blew the purple-haired girl out of the doorway. Dakota's eyes flew open, only to be met by a blinding blue light. Her guilty thoughts fell away as she stared at it with amazement. Both the chestnut-haired girl and the spider had been completely consumed by it, to the point where Dakota could barely make out their figures. She found herself frozen in awe, overcome by this power before her. It lasted only a few moments, but it felt like an eternity. This girl... the shy, innocent young woman who had seemed so uneasy on the train ride before all of this even happened... Somehow she was fighting back. It was impossible, and yet it was happening. This girl had quite literally looked into the face of death, and had remained unresigned to the obvious fate before her. Had she always had this power? Why hadn't she used it before? No... that couldn't be it. If she could have done this the entire time, there would have been no reason to offer up her kitchen utensils as weapons. And if the power was hers, she wouldn't have had to cry out to someone else. Whoever this "Adam" was, he must have been beyond powerful. Was he the one causing this weird glow?
But when she saw the creature that appeared, she began to doubt that particular theory. Whoever this fox-person was, she certainly didn't look like an "Adam."
Way too pretty. The nine-tailed woman was dressed entirely in white, with gold accents that only added to her ethereal beauty. Everyone, including the girl in the monster's claws, seemed shocked by whatever had just occurred. Still, she seemed to find her resolve, driving her knife into the monster's claw as the fox-girl began her assault. Dakota managed to tear her eyes away from the scene, scanning the room again for some kind of weapon. She might not have magical animal-summoning powers like that girl, but she had been given the same second chance. And this time, she would not let these people down.
The sight she was met with, however, was nothing as promising as a potential weapon. In fact, it was quite the opposite. A grotesque, fly-like creature had appeared in the shattered window, and was making its way inside to join the battle. Dakota grinned, eyeing this new foe as it made its way into the train. This was a bit like a video game... and with "Adam" the fox-girl on their side, it struck her that they may even have a chance of winning. This time, she would not hesitate. All the pain and guilt faded to the back of her mind as her legs propelled down the hallway, dodging to avoid a collision with the disheveled boy.
"Help me out!" she called to him as she passed. As soon as Dakota got close enough, she lunged toward the monster. She was aiming for its back, hoping to grapple it so the others could strike. At least if it couldn't fly around, it would be a much easier target for fox-lady.
Even dead weight is good for something.
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