Writhing snake-like in mid-air, the subway train banged against the tunnel walls, tossing helpless pieces of human flesh inside itself, flailing repeatedly against the ceiling and metal rails below. Through flickering window light, I could see an orgy of arms, legs and torsos sailing weightless into unforgiving metal doors, basting the train’s insides in a juicy paste of blood, beer and hair.
I heard myself scream.
In panic, I leapt to my feet and began to run towards the stairway. Unaware of the dangling electric cables that had twisted free and were now spitting sparks, I ran towards the stairs, stepping on one.
Instantly, the living brightness of 220 volts punched me; it kicked me hard in my stomach and before I could feel my body flying backwards, the back of my head struck unmoving, cold stone and everything dissolved into darkness.
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I woke up to the sound of a barking dog.
But where was it and where was I?
Wiping away a film of silt from my face, I brushed away the dust stinging my eyes, coughing, hurting my head. As thick smoke noosed around my neck, I felt a sharp pain piercing my right armpit; perhaps a broken rib?
Craning in darkness toward flickering lights, I could see small fires burning in the cavernous tunnel and through heavy haze, I suddenly remembered where I was.
The dog barked again in the distance. Trying to locate my legs to stand, a jolt of liquid pain scalded the back of my left knee. Instead of moaning, I could only cough, my head pounding in unbearable anguish. Wanting to holler, my throat, raw from dust, rebelled. Warm tears silently crawled over my cheeks, dripping down cold onto my neck and I thought, “So this is how I die. Scheisse!”
Slowly tilting towards the tiled surface at my back, I realized I had been sitting next to an announcement cubicle in the middle of the station. I remembered there was an escalator nearby. I decided even if I couldn’t walk, I could drag myself along the platform to reach it. Pushing away from the cracked, brittle tiles, I reached for the wall which would lead me to the escalator.
I found it quickly. Pausing to catch my breath, I heard a muffled whimper to my right, coming from inside the train. Survivors!! Perhaps someone had actually managed to make it through...what?...just what was that? What had happened?? I shut my eyes, remembering how the train had swung itself angrily in the air, up against ceiling beams, crashing over and over again deep in the tunnel’s bowels and I shook my head in disbelief: there was no way it could have happened.
Its cars crouched, lying sideways in silvery shards, resting between what was left of the tracks like a silent, slain dragon. Twisted sheets of metal bearing razor sharp edges rested at odd angles against bent metal railings. Smoke poured through
shattered windows. The train’s outer shell was covered in clumps of glass, mortar and slick, dark oil. Blood. Closing my eyes, I shook my head again and the back of my skull protested from the pain brazed to my brain.
The shuffling sound of feet crunching gravel rang out as I peered into a dark door of the train and heard what was definitely a human moan. Crawling forward about a meter from the track, I heard another crackling sound, followed by the echo of a dull thud.
Frozen at the edge of the platform and squinting in the darkness, I saw them.
What I had mistaken for wisps of smoke only seconds before had become translucent, human shapes, shuffling past me along the tunnel floor. The dreary procession was a death march of doomed souls, chained together, half-dressed in rags, carrying shovels and picks. Soldiers unmercifully shoved prisoners along an invisible beaten path. The sound of clinking iron links made my skin itch and I saw one frail figure fall to the ground, struck repeatedly by a large brute: the cracking sound I heard earlier was bone breaking against wood, each blow delivered by the handle of an axe. The prisoner on the ground had defecated on himself. The soldier, gesturing wildly above him, forced the helpless man lying on the ground to pick up his own faeces and smear it into his own face. The soldier in uniform made him eat it.
Turning away in revulsion, I gagged and stumbled back towards the wall, cutting my hands and knees on glass splinters. When I looked again, they were gone.
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