Meat Train

[The Director]

After the successful rescue of Mr. B, the group decided to do a quick search of the airport for any supplies before leaving. To speed up their search, they split into small groups, setting the security office as the return point (both because everyone knew where it was and because it had a PA in the event of a Tank attack).

Luigi, Dahlia, and Director, one of the teams, had been exploring one of the wings of the airport when the floor cracked and crumbled beneath their feet, sending them spiraling into the subway system beneath.

Unable to climb back up, they search for another way to return to the surface.

Director awoke on his back, staring at a gaping hole in the ceiling that lead to the very floor he was supposed to be on. There was absolutely no reason the floor should have collapsed. No doubt the tile had held thousands of pounds more on a busy day. Three people should not have broken it.

Nevertheless, he found himself in the bottom of an underground subway tunnel, his suit now in need of a good cleaning, and small rivulets of blood trickled down the back of his skull.

Sitting up and wincing as his back let out a crack (he hoped it was from falling down three floors rather than old age), Director took a glance around to see that he wasn’t alone. Sure enough, both Luigi and Dahlia had shared his fate. Granted, they weren’t the two he would have chosen to travel with, but he’d already expressed that feeling when the groups had been picked. No need to repeat himself.

Brushing some subway-dust off his suit, he decided to get right to business. “Well then,” he announced, glancing between his two companions, “since we can’t go up the same way we got down, let’s try to find the others before something dangerous finds us.”

[Luigi Martin]

“Ugh…oh man my back is killing me!”

The horrible groaning noise came from Luigi. The brown-haired teenager picked himself off the ground. A quick look around showed that he was not in the airport, but instead in an underground subway station. He shivered as he remembered fighting through the subways back when they had to reach Mercy Hospital to get evacuated.

“Well then, since we can’t go up the same way we got down, let’s try to find the others before something dangerous finds us.” A voice literally made him jump out of his skin. He turned his head to see the Director glancing at him.

“Hi there, Director,” Luigi scratched the back of his head. “What a bunch of bad luck huh?”

The survivor then proceeded to look down where he saw Dahlia. Fear coursed through him as he flung himself into a crouching position besides the little girl. He began nudging her and calling her name hoping to god that she would wake up and tell him she was fine.

“Dahlia? Sweetie, are you okay?” Luigi called. The teenager looked at the Director with fear in his bright blue eyes. “Oh man Director, what if the fall really hurt her? What are we going to do?”

[Dahlia Breaker]

“Dahlia? Sweetie, are you okay?”

Was that Luigi? What had happened? The last thing she remembered was walking with Luigi and Mr. Director, looking for stuff, and then the floor suddenly made a loud noise and fell apart.....

Opening her eyes, she noticed that Luigi was looking towards Mr. Director, looking worried. Luigi was, not the grumpy but smart man in the suit.

"L-luigi?" Was the first thing she sputtered out. Her throat was really dry. But that was the least of her worries. She quickly did a self-check. Still had ten toes, ten fingers, nothing was hurting, well, aside from her head that is, and she found she could move. Mr. B was lying atop some of the rubble, still A-okay. And her radio..... Where was her radio?

Looking around the room, she spotted it lying a few feet away from them. It didn't look broken, but there was only one way to be sure.

Turning back to Luigi, she gave him a worried look. "Where..... Where are we?"

It certainly didn't look like the airport, that much was sure. If it was a sewer, it didn't smell like one.

[Luigi Martin]

Luigi’s head immediately whipped around at the sound of his name. Relief swept over him when he saw Dahlia was okay and not hurt like he dreaded immensely. He drew her into a comforting hug when the little girl gave him a worried look.

“We seem to be in some underground subway sweetie.” He looked back at Director. “And with Director with us we’ll be out of here in no time. Right, Director?”

[The Director]

Director merely shrugged, indifferent to Luigi’s panic. “If she can’t walk, you can carry her,” he pointed out. “She’s not even thirteen.”

Fortunately, Dahlia proved herself more than capable of movement. Director watched her run through the quick check-up of herself, then Mr. B (who was currently atop a small stack of floor, unharmed), and then a nearby radio. The last thing on their checklist was finding out where she was, which consisted of turning to Luigi and asking him.

Of course, Ever-So-Helpful-Boy was happy to assist. Better yet, he actually knew where they’d fallen. (The metal tracks running along the floor were a big hint, but the businessman didn’t quite trust his group’s intelligence yet. That would take more time.)

“I’m flattered that you value my skills so much,” he said in response to the notion of ‘with Director here, we’ll be out in no time flat’, “but I’m afraid all I have to go on is instinct and common sense. I don’t live here.

“For now, we should probably just follow the tracks and find a station. Then we can take the stairs up and travel above-ground.” He pointed into the tunnel, where the tracks rolled down and faded into the darkness.

[Dahlia Breaker]

The tunnels were, well, dark, to say the least. Really, really dark. And not just dim dark, we're looking at seriously dark. Scary dark, even! But she had to be brave! Besides, she had Mr.B and Luigi and Mr. Director with her. She'd be fine!

She boldly went next to the tracks, peering down both ways. Surprisingly, there were no scary people to be seen, although they were probably hiding in the dark like monsters, waiting for her to walk by so they could grab her and eat her! But then again, maybe they couldn't see her either......

"Ummmmm.....Are you sure we should go on the tracks? It might be kinda unsafe......."

[Luigi Martin]

Luigi listened to Director and Dahlia talk silently. He rolled his bright blue eyes to the Director’s comment to his ‘with Director here; we’ll be out in no time flat’ statement. Gathering up some courage he set off down the railroad tracks and disappeared in the darkness.

1 minute later…

“OMF DOUBLE G!!!!!!!!!” Luigi came running back the way he had come. His eyes were bulged like he had just seen a ghost and he was running like his life depended on it. A furious roar sounded and a mass of muscle could be seen chasing after the retreating teenager. “TANK! THERE WAS A FREAKIN TANK DOWN THERE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!”

[Dahlia Breaker]

Before Mr. Director had a chance to respond to her question, Luigi was up on his feet and going down the tunnel. In the dark. Alone. That act on its own made Dahlia uneasy, and she would have pursued him had he not come running back out as if he'd seen something scary!

However, a loud roar completely justified those fears, and down the tunnel came one of the really big scary people, and did it look mad! But then again, all of the scary people looked mad. That, or they looked sick.

Now, it didn't seem that it was interested in anybody but Luigi, but that was enough to get Dahlia to cower in fear. How the ground shook! On the flipside though, there weren't any other scary people with him. They didn't seem to get along very well.

"M-Mr. Director, what will we do?! It's gonna Luigi!" She squeked, hoping that the adult would be able to save the day somehow. It was times like this that made the nine year-old feel so incredibly helpless.

[The Director]

At Dahlia’s expressed worry, Director shrugged. “Honestly, Miss Dahlia, there aren’t that many places that are safe,” he said, assuming her fear to be a mere product of a childish fear of the dark. Unfortunately, most of the subway’s lights were broken. Though they could see very well from under their ‘skylight’, there was a possibility that, down the tracks, there might not even be enough light to allow their eyes to adjust.

Luigi, once again proving his desire for attention, strolled out down the tracks with the bravery of an overconfident sidekick in a colorful cartoon. Having a bad feeling in his gut, Director wordlessly motioned for Dahlia to stay. A short time later, Director swore he heard heavy, ape-like breathing. As though answering this suspicion, the sound of rushed footsteps pounded down the tracks, approaching the two survivors.

“OMF DOUBLE G!!!!!!!!!”

Director would have grimaced at the translation of ‘chat-speak’ to actual speaking had there not been a slightly more important matter at hand. The object of Luigi’s screaming terror happened to be a Tank, stomping down the tracks and shaking the very ground underneath its feet. Reacting quickly, the businessman tugged Dahlia back and set himself next to the wall, allowing both the teen and the Tank to pass by quickly.

“Keep running!” he advised, using an ‘indoor voice’ and allowing the hollow tunnel to carry the sound. “The average human on an unobstructed path was able to outrun a Tank. Simply follow the tracks and shoot back at it when possible.”

In the meantime, Director quickly took a check of the situation. There was a Tank, he still had a few clips in the assault rifle (he’d scavenged a box or two, despite Missi’s inability to store ammo), and he had plenty of magnum ammo. Tanks often traveled alone, meaning Dahlia would probably be safer staying back than following along. Granted, he shouldn’t leave her completely helpless...

Accustomed to on-the-fly decision making, Director swiftly readied his assault rifle before snatching a lead pipe from the ground and handing it to Dahlia. “For emergencies,” he explained. “Stay here. Stick close to the wall. Try not to draw attention to yourself. If you hear anything odd, scream for help.”

At that, he jogged (professionals didn’t sprint; you don’t sprint in classy work shoes) through the tunnel after Luigi and his pursuer. Staying back enough so that the Tank wouldn’t be inclined to switch targets, Director kept his aim as steady as possible and poured bullets into the hulking creature’s back.

[Dahlia Breaker]

Dahlia didn't question Mr. Director's orders, especially when he told her to stay put. But why had he given her a pipe? What was she supposed to do with it, play baseball? This wouldn't protect her from the scary hooded man! Or the really big scary man...... In fact, it wouldn't protect her from much!

However, when the Director ran off to save Luigi, she felt that she wasn't as alone as they had thought. As soon as the Director dissapeared into the tunnel, laughing filled her ears. And not nice laughing, but the kind of laughing you hear from crazy people.

And sure enough, from the tunnel the big scary man came out of, came a hunched laughing man. He was skinny, short, and was smiling in a way that was not really friendly. More like the "Come here kid, you look tasty!" kind of smiling.

It seemed to have already spotted her, considering it was running straight at her. With a cackle, it leapt towards her, arms outstreached. Her only response was to shriek and and swing the pipe with all her might.

With a dull *CLUNK!*, the pipe connected with the Jockey's head. It stiffened and comically fell over, as if a statue, but was soon on it's feet, laughing again. So she swung again. And again. And again. And again. By now, she was wearing out. It had been a long and rather exciting day, and this was not helping!

She stopped, however, when she noticed that the laughing stopped. Realizing that her eyes were shut, she opened them, and lo and behold, the scary laughing man was beaten! By her! And were she not so exhausted, she would have celebrated. But the adrenaline was wearing off, and all she could do was slump against the wall, panting.

[Luigi Martin]

Huff. Huff. Huff.

The teenager ran as if his life depended on it. He had no idea where he was going, but as long as he distanced himself from the abomination behind him it was worth it. Behind him was the voice of Director issuing instructions to him, echoing off the hollow tunnel of the train tracks. The survivor couldn’t help but curl his lip in disgust when he heard a certain piece of the instructions.

“…and shoot back at it when possible.”

Luigi should have punched the Director in the face. He didn’t have a gun with him anymore! He had lost the damned thing when the floor gave way underneath the three. What did the man want him to do? Pick up random rubble from the ground and toss it at tank right on his heels?!

However when he heard the bullets being shot, he couldn’t help but thank god that the Director was there. Soon the tank gave a loud cry and he looked back to see it fall to the ground dead. Sighing and wiping sweat off his forehead, the boy stumbled back over to the man.

“Thanks a lot. I owe you.” Luigi breathed heavily and smiled in appreciation.

[The Director]

Luigi’s lack of effort grated on the Director’s nerves a bit, before he recalled that Luigi had been taking aim at a hallway, the source of an odd sound, when they floor had fallen out. It would have been more surprising if he had actually held on to his weapon through the fall.

Fortunately, the Tank’s back was already riddled with bullet holes, hinting to a previous attack. Two clips from the assault rifle caused it to stumble. Taking a risk, Director dropped his rifle in exchange for his magnum and planted eight shots into its back. In a stroke of luck, the creature oozed disgusting blood and collapsed with a final groan.

The businessman took a moment to stare, pleased with the result of his small wager. Better yet, it seemed he now had a debt owed to him. “Indeed you do,” Director stated calmly, relaxing his shoulders when the topic switched. Being a business professional, he knew plenty about taking and giving favors. “I’ll inform you when we’re equal.”

That said, he pivoted back towards where they’d left Dahlia, pausing only to lean over and scoop his rifle off the ground. When he finally returned to their makeshift skylight, he found Dahlia, safe and sound, albeit exhausted. The nearby Jockey corpse was a rather telling sign.

Content that the girl had been able to survive (despite the short time they’d been gone), he walked over and gave her a pat on the head and a curt “Good girl” before glancing around.

“Luigi,” Director announced, going so far as to drop the formality of ‘Mister’ for the reckless child. “I assume that your lack of effort towards the Tank’s defeat means you’ve misplaced your weapon. Find it.”

[Dahlia Breaker]

A pat on the head from Mr. Director was the last thing Dahlia ever expected from him, and a compliment to go with it? Maybe he wasn't so scary...... No, no he was still pretty intimidating, but much less so now.

While the two men were looking for Luigi's gun, Dahlia's nine-year old curiousity got the better of her. And as such, she began wandering around, talking to Mr. B. She looked at the tracks, the hole they fell through, the various posters on the walls, and finally, peering down the dark tunnel.

She didn't expect what happened next. There was a series of violent coughing, followed by what sounded like muttering. And then, just barely, she heard a voice. At first, it sounded strange and unfamilier, but as she listened, she concluded that it actually sounded rather familier.

[glow=red,2,300]Da.....hliaaa.....[/glow]

The poor child was frozen to the spot in fear. Something was after her!

She stood there, trembling, until the coughing and hacking finally went away, at which point she tore herself away from there and ran to Luigi, trembling horribly.

[Luigi Martin]

Huffing sassily when The Director ordered him to find his submachine gun, Luigi took off. Finding his gun was pretty hard since he had no flashlight. He probably had lost that too when the floor gave way.

“Okay, I don’t see how this is going to work.” the teenager called over to The Director. “I don’t know about you, but Weegee can’t see for crap!”

Suddenly Dahlia was running over to him trembling horribly as if she had
seen or heard something scary. Immediately Luigi drew the young girl into an embrace and started rubbing her back comfortingly. His bright blue eyes scanned the area carefully to find the thing that had scared Dahlia so badly.

“Dahlia, sweetie, what’s wrong?” questioned Luigi.

[The Director]

Director stared at the boy, his expression very clearly chastising the kid for losing pretty much everything from a short fall. He knew for a fact that Luigi had been the one holding the team flashlight.

Taking a deep breath, a professional equivalent of a sigh, the businessman dug through his pockets for a small light. It was one of the squeezable plastic penlights commonly given out at events, a blue plastic oval, approximately thumb-sized and stamped with ‘CEDA’ on one side. It was the equivalent of a match in a dark cave, but it was something. Wordlessly, he held the device out to Luigi.

However, before he could pass the light on to the one who was going to be doing the search-work, Dahlia came dashing over, latching on to the ever-protective Hero-boy and shivering. Director, having heard the wheezing coughs that he suspected to be the source of her fear, turned the small light down the tunnel.

“‘What’s wrong’,” the businessman said, lowering his voice further, “is that there is a Smoker around.” Director frowned, realizing that he was currently the only one armed. Reluctantly, he nodded towards the assault rifle slung around his back. “Borrow the rifle for now. Also, make sure Dahlia still has that pipe. Best that we all have some matter of defense.”

After a few tense moments, the coughing simply vanished; no attack, no nothing. Relaxing a bit in the silence, Director released his grip on the light, letting the glow shut off. With another deep breath, he passed the light back to Luigi, though he still kept his grip on the magnum.

“Anyway,” he said, still watching the tunnel. “Keep your ears open in case it comes back. Now, Mr. Luigi, I believe you have a gun to look for.”