Sam Fraser
So this was what a cross country trip was like. All things considered it wasn't so bad. Having to get all those changes was a drag but every time Sam felt like he was gunna start griping he'd just have to check out the view from his window as the trains engines kicked in and it leaped from the grav gate and into the sky. He was seeing the width of the country from a birds eye view and it only took in a day! He remembered in his history lessons they talked about just a few decades ago trains were stuck on tracks of just metal and wood and a trip like the one he was taking would have lasted, like, a few days.
He was on the last leg now and had gotten into a real rhythm for it. Casper had shelled out for some swish seating too so no way was Sam not going to enjoy that. He could stretch out, face under the air con flow and headphones on as he kicked back to some tunes. Now and then he'd lazily drag his gaze over the cabin and see the folks with AR implants looking like they were having epileptic fits. It was something he'd grown up around but there was always something about that distant eyed looks that weirded Sam out. Plus he heard that those things really damaged your eyes. How did they do anything with all that screen stuff in front of them anyway?
There were a few cute girls around who looked like they were students too. One in particular standing out to him. Sam was just dozing again when he got the ping from his phone telling him they were almost there. He waved it off. Other people were looking stuff up like facts about the city or routes to the school and though Sam knew he should have done the same he wasn't feeling like he was in any rush.
Then something changed. It wasn't immediate to Sam with his eyes closed, more like something instinctive. A noticeable change in the air. Sam opened his eyes and... yeah... yeah this wasn't right.
“The hell?” He muttered to himself, pulling his headphones off.
The place looked like it'd turned into some kind of haunted mansion. And almost, like, everybody had gone! For a second Jeff wondered if they were being pranked, except no way could someone do all these changes without him noticing unless he was drugged and that'd too many kinds of illegal to be worth it.
SMASH! Then all hell was breaking loose! There were screams, maybe some of them Sam's and one of the few guys left standing just got yanked out the window! Not out it... through it!
It all happened so fast Sam almost didn't register it but the thing that grabbed the fella was just too big to miss. Like a hook or a spear but it moved like, like something Sam's mind refused to comprehend. All while a little part of his brain screamed out, danger, RUN! To him. Except there was nowhere to run. It was pitch black outside and as far as Sam could tell they were stuck in the middle of the air!
“Holy shit!” Sam yelped, nearly jumping out of skin and totally jumping back onto his chair. This was freakin' metal!
So this was a dream, right? Right? When did Sam's dream's start feeling so real?!
Some little guy was going nuts and trying to smash the door in so hard Sam was starting to think he was as big a threat as the thing outside the window! Everyone else looked like they were looking for a way out too with talks of crowbars and stuff. That was bringing Sam back to the present at least. He wasn't any less panicked or freaked out but he was getting to a point where he could at least handle the situation a little.
Then some guy with white hair (probably dyed) started talking way too calm for the situation. Like he was freakin' bored after watching someone die! Either this guy was the world's best actor trying to act calm or he was a heartless asshole.
'Freakin' punk! What the hell is wrong with him?!'
Yeah that was good! Get angry! If Sam was getting angry then he wasn't getting scared! That didn't mean he had any idea as to what to do though. So with nothing better to do Sam went along with the team effort.
"No crowbars, but the chairs by the window got pretty busted up. Maybe there's a piece of metal or something we could use. Of course, that means getting closer to the window..."
“I'll get it!” Sam said, leaping in. He moved over to where the purple haired chick that'd just come up with the idea. He was so high on adrenaline right now it was easy to get him to just run along with things.
That quickly changed when Sam laid eyes on Ol' Purple hair. She hurt! Cut up like something had just used her as a scratching post. In his daze Sam had stupidly not done naything while the world went crazy around him but right now he couldn’t let himself do nothing while other people were hurt.
“Jesus!” He gasped. “You gotta get away from the windows, Lady.” He said to the girl he'd later learn was called Dakota. He even gently tried to move her bags away from the danger zone while the two of them were scrambling around without even thinking.
What were they even doing? This was all so insane, this had to be a dream. How else could Sam explain being trapped on a train with monsters and trying to crowbar is way through a door. That was some dream logic right there. And it was that thought that forced the idiot to stop and think!
“Hey!” Sam called to the people at the door. His brain coming back to a place of logic and reason. “This thing's gotta have emergency buttons right? An emergency stop or- or a sprinkler thingy! That door's gotta have an emergency open switch or something!” Just how did people prepare for an emergency on a flying train anyway?
Sam still wanted that big piece of metal though. He was already cursing himself for not bringing his baseball bat but he trusted something big and heavy to fend that thing off over a knife. “Here goes nothing.” He gulped, lunging to grab the piece of metal and trying to yank it free fast enough to get clear of where that monster had just been.
'Oh god... what did it do to that guy?'
