Chapter 1

There are always moments of doubt in our lives. The choices are laid out before us and all we simply have to do is choose. But you have to choose. Finally after debating about it you come to your conclusion and what's done is done. Most of the time the choice hardly makes you think twice, no looking back, just shear confidence that even if the choice isn't the best one, or it really didn't seem all that big of a deal when making it that you can deal with the outcome. But sometimes, sometimes you know. A flash of realization that strikes you like lightning that you made the wrong choice.

I had this feeling as a stood on the platform facing the train that I really shouldn't be getting on this contraption. I thought about it, weighing my options. My sister was just back from her honey moon and she lived in a small town up the coast from New York where I lived and she had wanted nothing more than for me to come and visit her and see her new place. And I would have loved nothing more than to go see her, but as I looked at the train I found that I didn't want to get on. I felt like some childish girl from grade school at a summer camp she just didn't want to go to. Who seriously wanted to go on an evening train train up the coast?

This is ridiculous, I told myself. It looks like a perfectly normal train, I shrugged. Why are you scared of getting on this stupid thing? Isn't it like a widely known fact that you have a greater chance of getting in a car crash than a train wreck? I shook my head. Made up statistic or not didn't change the fact that I was a collage student living in New York City with no car and no means of getting up to my sisters' save for this train.

Well, I said pulling up my wavy dark hair into a ponytail and hiking up the black duffel bag hanging off my shoulders, lets get this over with.

The car wasn't too packed. There was a woman with her littler girl who looked to be about five years old sitting by the window, a teenage couple lip locked to one side, and an older couple a few rows down. I found my seat mid-coach, one of those set ups where the two chairs are facing the other two chairs with a table in-between to make it seem intimate and dinner table-ish. I slid all the way across to the window leaning my head against the cool glass. Outside I could just feel the crisp autumn night air just inches away from my clammy forehead.

The black glass acted as a mirror and I studied myself for a bit. I thought about my sister. She wasn't what people called a natural beauty but she knew how to play up her attributes. She always wore make-up and dressed in nice clothing. Me on the other hand. My mother was so proud of me because I did have a good natural look about me (so she said). I had fair skin, pale from spending hour's indoors studying and dark waving hair. I wasn't tall and I wasn't a stick but I was considered "skinny". My eyes, however, were what really set me apart from my sister. They were a deep shade of green while hers where a dark brown. But my mom was never happy with me because I didn't wear pretty dresses all the time, but wore jeans and t-shirts unless I had an occasion to wear something more fancy and I hardly wore lots of make-up, just foundation, eye shadow and mascara, and a neutral lip-gloss.

My eyelids suddenly grew heavy and I could feel sleep closing in on me. I was so tired from having school and then catching this last minute train. I planned on sleeping a very, very, very long time once I got there. My breathing became deep and even and my muscles relaxed and numb. Sleep was more than calling, it was screaming in my ear a nice lullaby.

But my relaxation was disturbed.

Out of nowhere I jumped in surprise as a guy threw down a bag noisily and obnoxiously on the seat opposite me. I was startled out of my mind as I looked up at the intruder, a tall guy a year or so older than myself. He had blond tussled hair, pail skin, and was built muscular, but not in an overbearing kind of way. As he grabbed the bag again and shifted down farther so that he could sit diagonal from me I caught a glimpse of a tattoo twisting up his arms and disappearing underneath his shirt. It was like nothing I had ever seen anyone have tattooed on them. It was weird and wild, primal really. He sat down, just letting his weight pull him to his seat and for a moment glanced over at me. His eyes were black.

"Maria," I said in an attempt of civility.

"Kale" he said shortly without emotion.

I nodded. "Nice to meet you."

He gave me a fake smile and in a completely false voice said coldly "you too" and then he quickly bent down pulling a newspaper out of his bag and buried his face in the writing and leaving me all by myself again.

I shook my head. The nerve of this guy! How dare he act so rude and interrupt someone who was obviously perfectly happy sitting by themselves. There were more than plenty of empty seats around us. In front of us as well as behind us there were whole rows deserted seats that he could have been obnoxious and not bothered a single person let alone me who didn't want to be here in the first place. I was tempted to ask him to move but settled instead for giving him a silent glare while he ignored me and read his paper.

Outside I felt the slight pull as the train started to head out of the station. I watched as notable New York structures moved past slowly at first, then faster and faster. Beyond the city I saw the orange sun setting to the west. I watched its slow progression as long as there was a bit of gold shimmering. I loved sunsets and there was always a different mood to each one. This one, this one was sad. The sun didn't want to go and I didn't either. Another wave of realization struck me. I shouldn't be here.

Outside the city started lighting up in all it's metropolitan glory. It really seamed as if it never slept. Eventually the lights of the city faded away and were replaced with a darker, more natural setting of forest and the few towns and small cities. It was soothing almost.

I leaned back and tried to calm down again. I could still manage to fall asleep if I really concentrated. So I closed my eyes and rested my head against the window and the back of my chair and concentrated only on my breathing. But I soon found out that the more I tried to sleep and ignore the man sitting across from me the more I was irked and irritated about the whole thing. I fidgeted and shifted uncomfortably again and again until I could no longer stand it.

In a bad mood I jumped up and stormed into the isle and down towards the bathrooms. As I passed his seat I childishly bumped up against him and then moved on as if nothing had happened. I wouldn't tell that guy to move but that sure as hell didn't mean I wasn't going to give clear body language that he should move and leave me the hell alone.

In the bathroom I stood for a moment pacing from one small side to the other. I looked in the mirror and just prayed to God we would get there safely and I could forget all about this little trip in the middle of the night. I was going from a bad mood to an even worse mood. I unzipped the hoodie I had been wearing and was left in a nice tank-top. I breathed in and out calming myself down slowly and then went back out into the car.

I was just thinking about the fact that I should probably be doing my homework while I had nothing to do when suddenly…the train stopped.

It jerked around a bit before giving one final jolt and becoming still. The passengers in their seats began to wake up and look around confusedly. I glanced out the window and saw no lights around us. All I could make out was the moon. A strange silver orb that looked too big. No towns and no roads, and weirdest of all no stars. Just deep pitch black. Was that normal?

In front of me I saw the guy who had been sitting with me hurriedly grab a sweater, pulling it quickly over his head. There was something in the way he moved, his facial expression I didn't like. He started walking down the isle heading to the car in front of us which was where the conductor should be, his pace was determined and stern.

"Where are you going?" I asked him as he walked by.

He barely gave me a second look. "To check on the conductor. See what's wrong."

"Wouldn't it be better if we all just stayed put?" I yelled after him but he was already out the door and on his way.

Great I though, now he really has me paranoid that something is wrong. I sighed and thought logically to myself. It's probably nothing. Something might be on the tracks up ahead or we were waiting for another train to move, but it can't be anything serious.
I started walking back to my seat again. The other people in the car looked just as alarmed as I was. No one wanted to be stuck on a train in the middle of nowhere in the dead of night.

I froze in momentary panic as above me the lights started flickering on and off slowly at first then rapidly as if they were possesed until suddenly we were plunged into complete darkness.

"What the hell!" I cried out in the darkness. Something was wrong. The conductor wouldn't turn the lights out for no apparent reason. And now that I thought about it, shouldn't he have come on over the intercom to tell us what was going on?

My heart started beating faster. Around me I heard the little girl crying to her mother while she tried to calm her down. The old couple in the back where complaining silently to themselves. And the lovers were yelling at each other.

"Something's not right!" I heard her yell at her boyfriend.

"Will you just calm down! I'm sure they're working on the problem," he replied.

That's it, I told myself firmly. I'm going to figure this out myself.

I made my way through the darkness down the isle. In front of me I heard the door open back up and before I knew it the guy was standing right next to me whispering in my ear.

"Listen to me very quickly and don't ask questions" he said so low that only I had even the slightest chance of hearing him. "The conductor is dead."

My heart stopped.

I jerked my head up to have the dark outline of his face. "What!" I whispered loudly.

"Shh!" he yelled grabbing my arm hard and yanking me closer to him. "We need to get these people off this train." In the dark my heart pounded against my rib cage and my legs were shaking beneath me. "I'm going to go back and see if anyone is in the other cars. I need you to get everyone in here to the front of the car and then find a way off the train. There has to be a way to open those doors. They are electric but you might be able to pry them open with someone else's help. Do you understand me?"

"What the hell is going on?" I asked him forcefully.

I heard him sigh in the dark. "We don't have time for that! Just do it ok?"

I wanted to argue, to get some kind of answer but I nodded. Just as quickly as he was there he was gone again. I heard the other door being forced open and then closed. Slowly I took a deep breath and then stood straight up allowing the fear and adrenaline run through me to help me sound more authoritative than I actually was.

"Alright everybody I need you all to slowly head to the front of the car!" I yelled load and clear even though I was shacking from head to toe. "We're going to open one of the doors and get off the train while it's down." I lied. I found I couldn't even begin to tell them the conductor was dead.

"Why should we listen to you?" I heard the boy yell up at me. "You don't work on the train."

"No but the guy who just came through here does work on a train like this, he's helping them out and he told us to get to the front of the car," I lied again. "That's all I know."

"Dan I agree with her. I'm not staying on this train like this!" I heard his girlfriend reproach him. There was some rustling as she got out of her seat and made her way down to where I was standing.

"Alright darling," the mom said to her daughter. "Just hold my hand and then keep the other on the seats so that you don't trip ok?"

"Thank you" I told them. "It won't take us long" I told everybody. "Once we're outside we can just wait for them to give us word that it's safe" I said through gritted teeth.

It took a couple of moments before we had everyone in the front of the car. The older couple needed some help finding their way down the isle since they had been sitting all the way in the back but rather quickly we were ready to get the door open.

But stopped quit suddenly and what happened next was indescribable.

It came out of no where. We all ceased what we were doing and held our breath. There was a sound like things being thrown around in the car behind us. Then, suddenly loud piercing scream. Something I had never heard before. My heart skipped a beat, my stomach rotted inside, and my hands turned clammy and shaky. It was the sound of someone dying.

We all jumped in fear as the door at the end of the car was forced open quickly. More people streamed in with us. It was like a fever and before I knew it everything was in complete chaos. People where yelling and crying hysterically or trying to get through us to get at the door, fear rippling through the mob, their civility, their ability to reason just gone out of their minds. They were crazed animals!

"Get out the way!" they yelled in desperation. I heard someone fall to the ground as they were tripped or hit, which one I couldn't tell. "Let us out! Let us out!" someone cried. And behind them I recognized the shape of Kale closing the door and trying to lock it or barricade it with something. Through the dark I could barely tell his sweater was shredded to pieces. Even though I couldn't see it, I just knew he was bleeding, badly. This was not good.

Beside me someone yelled in a voice that shook me more than anything else anyone was saying.

"They're coming!"

The door in the front of the cabin was suddenly pulled clean off its hinges with a grinding metallic tare. I heard people scream. Everyone who had been trying so desperately to get to the front of the car were now scrambling to get to the back. We were trapped!

Around me everything was lost. People were going mad and running, trying everything to get away from the black whole. I, on the other hand, couldn't move. I was rooted to the ground in shear panic and terror and I watched in complete horror as someone came through the dark whole in the side of the train.

He was tall, his skin almost pure white and he seemed to glow in the complete darkness of the car. His thick, curling dark hair blew in the incoming wind from outside while his blue shocking eyes maliciously watching the people in front of him in amusement. His mouth curled up in an evil sneer. Behind him two more men, just as pale, came in and my head jerked around at the sound of the door at the opposite end busted through allowing another three to trap us in the car.

I heard the tall guy in the back yell out sadisticly "this is going to be too fun!" Before he and his comrades closed in on the group of innocent people.

Kale, the guy who I didn't know, who had sat down across from me, who had tried to help save these peoples lives, rushed at the three men. He didn't stand a chance. They grabbed him and threw him around laughing the whole time.

"Come on! You can do better than that!" one of them yelled before tossing him down the length of the car.

I turned my head away quickly trying to avoid watching the scene unfold. But it was only in time to watch something far worse.

One of the men in the front reached out and grabbed somebody. Through the dark I couldn't make out who it was but I suddenly heard a young soft voice yell out "Mommy!"

I watched in horror as the man bent down and…bit into the woman's neck.

Oh my God!

Somehow when I saw the blood and heard the woman scream my body moved on its own. I pushed my way through the crowed of panicking people. Once I had a clear shot of the man holding the woman I ran and threw all my weight into his side.

It felt like I had run into nothing short of concrete. My shoulder screamed in pain and I was sure the attack didn't even make him flinch, but I saw the woman fall to the ground released before I felt a cold hand wrap around my throat. I looked into the cold blue eyes of the man you had led the way into the car, the man I suddenly realized as the leader. He smiled at me and I couldn't stop myself from looking at his teeth, his canines were fangs and his little eye teeth, even though they weren't as long, looked sharper and more deadly. He smelled of blood.

There was a moment that seemed as if time had stopped. We looked into each others eyes suspended, reading each others emotions. It was terrifying. I knew his power and what he was going to do. So when he swopped down and bit into my neck I lashed and kicked out with all my energy. I fought him every step of the way until darkness enveloped me.