Approaching Sole Station is a mission in itself. The blood that soaks the walls is so thick that you can smell it from 30ft away. The malice that oozes from it makes it hard to walk towards it.
However, we will find no better answers from anywhere else.
Here is the place we unravel the threads that tie us to June 7th.
We enter the station one-by-one, torches (flashlights) equipped in at least one of our hands. Raphael first, followed by the bravest - Maryanne, Marc, Ariel (accompanied by Shun and the man known as The Crowbar) and Locke. Followed by Uncle Deus, William, Violet and myself, with God speaking to us from outside using telepathy.
Guiding us.
Shun keeps his hand on his hip, but upon actually entering the station at the bottom of the stairs leading in, he draws his weapon. A single handgun.
The Crowbar takes up more than half the hallway with his arms alone, and forcefully takes the lead, pushing Raphael behind him in his stride. As we move forward, the more sensory acclaimed holding their noses from the smell of dried, yet somehow wet blood, The Crowbar's strides start to lessen until we reach an ultimate halt. Shun cocks his gun, Raphael place a hand on his coat, revealing a gadget that appears to be some sort of weapon. Ariel assumes a defensive stance with Maryanne.
Yet, somehow, no-one expected the following events to play along.
The Crowbar starts to sway, shifting forward and backwards in an almost drunken facade, before falling backwards. Maryanne and Ariel do their best to keep him standing upright so his sheer size doesn't crush them both, but Maryanne eventually grabs and throws him to her side.
His body - which was once perfectly clear with no marks nor dust on his pristine white shirt - was covered in stab wounds and blood.
Ariel gasped, clutching her chest as if a locket with his face in it lay there.
William was the last to notice. His eyes started to well up before completely erupting in waterfalls of tears.
His older brother.
The boy who practically raised him from birth.
I couldn't imagine the pain he's going through.
If the world is saved today, he will remain dead.
William's tears don't stop. We all knew the consequences we would face coming here. We knew our lives were on the line, yet he insisted on being there for his mistress.
I place a hand of affirmation on William's back, but it is immediately slapped away.
"Don't fucking touch me!" William snaps.
I take a step back.
"No-one… fucking… touch me…" He whimpers through tears. "Just GO!!!" He snaps once more.
Violet places a bandaged hand on my shoulder and assists me away from William.
Raphael gives me a look in which to tell me it'll be okay.
"He will be alright, he should understand as much as anyone the burden we all hold today." God reaffirms me.
I pick my pride off the floor and continue with the team, officially lead by Shun, with Marc backing him up. Maryanne and Ariel follow shortly behind them. Shun maintains a cover stance, keeping his back to the wall and ushering everyone through the hallways when he's confirmed everything is safe. The more we proceed, the more concerned I am for William reuniting with us, assuming he will.
Shun stops us all abruptly as we get closer to the train platform, taking one look around the corner and immediately hiding himself. We all crawl to a complete silence as we hear the faint sounds of squelching and stabbing, slowly accompanied by the sickening smell of blood. Shun insists we stay as quiet as possible. The girls hold their mouths with their hands. The boys hold their breaths as much as they can. Shun and Marc stay vigilant, with Marc right behind Shun as he prepares to move in.
After a while, Shun gains the confidence to make the first move. He holds his handgun tight in both hands and rushes towards the sounds of death and murder, shooting calculated bullets that each hit something, and Marc trailing slowly behind, shooting over his shoulder the brings Shun isn't aiming for. A calculated duo dealing calculated shots. Ten shots are fired by both men (their guns are different, the explosive shots sounded differently from Marc's gun) and silence is manifested somehow… followed by the sounds of stabbing and squelching.
Shun was the next to go, being too far for any of us to grieve his death. It was from here on that Ariel gave me the feeling she didn't mind dying again, so she can be with them one more time.
Marc runs back to the team completely covered in stab wounds. Specifically twenty-two stab wounds. As he reconvenes with he, he continues to run in the direction of a hallway we hadn't gone down yet, assumedly to recoup himself.
Even though he's close to death, he still has determination.
Marc leads us into a hallway he assumes is empty, and to our glorious luck, is.
He leans his back to a wall and falls to the floor, slowly succumbing to his wounds.
"You can't do this without me… I've known you all for some time now, I know you're all… hopeless..." Marc whispers through shallow breaths.
"Tell me, Marc, what did you see down there?" Raphael pleads as he gets down to Marc's level.
"Blood red, boss. We never stood a chance."
"Marc, you have to stay with us!" Ariel chimes. "We've lost two of our best bets to make it through this! We can't lose you too!" She says through tears that start welling up as her feelings about the death of Shun and The Crowbar release.
"It was… The woman…" Marc breathes.
"Which woman?! Come on, Marc, now is not the time for being vague!" Raphael begs as he holds Marc in his arms, white lab coat slowly dying red from the blood.
"She was never one of us…" Marc faintly whispers as he runs out of breath. He succumbs to his wounds, and the light leaves Marc's eyes. His body goes limp. Raphael's eyes go glassy from the tears.
We each stand in silence at the loss of our fallen allies. Ariel and Raphael stand with their eyes still welling with water. After a few minutes of none of us knowing where to go next, Raphael rubs his eyes with his coat sleeve, replacing the tears with a faint tinge of red from Marc's blood. He finds his resolve, and picks up Marc's gun.
"Let's keep moving." Raphael orders, officially becoming the leader in our gang of eight. Locks accompanies Raphael by watching his back the way Marc would. We all follow suit. Maryanne and Ariel follow behind the two with guns. The rest of us await God's guidance as we try to stay calm in a train station stained in the blood of children.
As we continue through this new hallway, we are greeted not by enemies, but bodies lying cold on the floor. Clothes glistening in the torchlights from the blood that coats them. The further we get into it, the more bodies we find. Deus nudges me.
"Nephew, I know you don't have anything, so I made this for you." As he holds out his hand and produces a dagger. I take the dagger and grip it tight in my right hand.
"Thanks, uncle." I whisper. He fist bumps my shoulder and moves on to the gang ahead to make them something also. Violet already brought a katana with her, so she declined any additional assistance. Everyone else eagerly accepted. At least this way, at least everyone is armed. Raphael and Locke put their new weapons in their pockets, continuing their path forward, as Deus makes his way to the back again.
Raphael and Locke start to slow to a crawl as we move past the twelfth cold body. I look ahead to find that we are at a crossroads.
"We have to split up." Locke announces.
"That is the dumbest idea I've ever heard." Ariel combats.
"We can cover more ground that way." Locks rationalises.
"Can you hear yourself right now? What if we don't cover more ground because half of us die due to half of us being weaker than the other half?" Ariel explains.
In that moment, God speaks.
"Don't even think about splitting up. The moment you do, you all die."
And says nothing more.
"You heard the girl, we are sticking together no matter what." Ariel gloats.
In hearing that the moment we split up, we all die; what will come of William? I want to check back on him but I also need to believe in him. I move forward with the team as we take the right hallway, slowly pressing further away from where Shun and The Crowbar lay. At this point, this is less of a train station and more of a tunnel system. The tunnel we currently reside still resembles a train station, but somehow feels murkier than it should.
We hear the sound of dripping the further we proceed, coming across a booth on the left that appeared to be some kind of contained break room. Locke opens the door to reveal a body slouched on a chair covered in wounds and red.
Maryanne holds her breath as she appears to gag at the sight.
Locke keeps moving slightly ahead of Raphael, taking the lead as he points his gun and torch around the first corner on the left.
I thought we would be safe if we stuck together, but…
Locke's eyes widened in grave horror as he fires three shots ahead. It happened in a split second between the second and third shot.
A tendril whooshes forward and impales him directly through his left lung, just missing his heart, and immediately retracts.
"RUN!" He screams, aiming his gun once more as two more tendrils pierce his chest once more. He fires twice, the tendrils retract. Suddenly as if it was always just around the corner, the being shows itself.
The shadow alien being that's killed me forever.
I am filled with rage and vengeance for my fallen friend.
I grip the dagger in my hand and run towards it, screaming all the while.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH"
Then silence.
No noise escapes my mouth.
I try to scream but I cannot.
My eyes glance down.
My stride is halted.
A tendril is fired.
My neck is pierced.
Blood fills my mouth as the tendril retracts and pierces me again, and again.
I hear a sound.
It's my sister.
She's crying.
It's okay, sis.
You'll see me tomorrow.
It looks like today's mission…
Has failed.
…
...…
...….
Somehow… through all the blood in my lungs, my conscience stays.
I am sitting in a shallow pool of my own thoughts.
It had to be shallow, didn't it.
I hear a voice echo in my mind.
"You're a real piece of work, you know that?"
God?
"Since you're so useless, I'll give you some 'guidance', but this is the last time, alright?"
I reach my hand out and grasp at the golden light that manifests in front of me.
The light burns my eyes.
I shield them with my free hand.
I open my eyes to find a shadow monster back in front of me.
Round two.
I clutch the dagger in my hand, immediately rushing forward in a zig-zag fashion to avoid getting stabbed in the neck once more.
The first tendril misses upon my first fast reaction.
The second just about nicks at my cheek as it pierces for a headshot.
The third shot hits my foot and forces me to tumble and fall, as the dagger in my hand somehow transforms into a sword, slicing the shadow in half.
…
What?
My tea-manipulation towers have somehow moved to swords now?
I succumb to my wounds and grab hold of my leg, which now came equipped with a brand new hole.
Implying legs have holes in the first place.
The pain is unimaginable.
Every move I make forces the wound to move, irritating it more.
I groan and roll in agony until I find a comfortable place where the wound doesn't move as much.
Deus rushes towards me.
"I don't know if this works but I'll do my best, nephew." As he holds his hand out and manifests a roll of bandages. His eyes open as he almost can't believe them, but he promptly puts away his surprise and starts to wrap my leg. "What the hell was that, nephew? That dagger I gave you don't look a thing like it did before!"
"I don't know, uncle," I breathe through gritted teeth, "I guess it got a little guidance." I smile as I grip the newfound sword in my hand.
Deus manifests a crutch for me, helps me up and equips it to my person, and we all proceed through the hallway that recently held my killer.
Pressing onward, Ariel slows down to keep my pace and walks along side a limping me.
"Hey, uh. What you did back there, was probably the coolest thing I've ever seen you do. Aside from changing tea, of course." She compliments, although mildly backhanded.
"Thanks. If it's any surprise, it was the coolest thing I've ever done." I joke.
Ariel chuckles and places an arm around me to hold me up as I limp behind everyone.
A few steps down the line and I start to feel like a burden. I try to pick up my pace when I trip over my crutch and fall to my knees, opening my wound once more. I start to shout but catch myself in the process.
"GAAAHH-" Ariel places a hand over my mouth, ceasing my guttural scream.
Suddenly, her hands start to grow warmer. A comforting warmth. The warmth fills my whole body, relieving me of all pain and anxiety. I pick myself up.
I look down at my mangled leg.
The pain vanishes.
I kick my feet on the ground one at a time.
Somehow, some way, I'm okay again.
Physically, I mean.
Ariel's eyes open wide in beautiful revelation as she lets me go as she rejoins the others.
"I think… I have healing hands. I'm gonna go back to get Marc." She blurts, and promptly runs back to our fallen ally.
"Do not fret, I am watching over her." God insures us all at once, as Ariel slowly fades into the murky black tunnels.
Raphael glances at me and looks towards Locke, who approaches me to check on my leg. Locke undoes the bandages to find dried blood with no wound whatsoever. Violet chimes in.
"When the hell am I gonna get something to fight, huh? It's all the guys so far."
"You're so right." Maryanne agrees, linking arms with her as they trail behind Raphael and newly-rejoined-at-the-frontlines Locke.
Deus stays at my side, taking the now useless crutch and turning it into a sunlamp. He then side-eyes me as he whispers.
"Watch this, neph, I'm taking a page out of your book." As he forcefully manipulates the sunlamp into his torch, creating a torch that beams sunlight. "I'm just theorising, but-"
"We didn't see that shadow thing in sunlight." Interrupts Raphael, stealing a monologue. "In all this time, we've been incapable of exposing them to sunlight, this may be your smartest idea so far, Amadeus." Raphael backhandedly compliments as he continues to move forward.
After some paces, we reach a new crossroads. Locke stops the group.
"I don't hear anything I can hit." Violet blurts.
"Shh." Locke silences. "Focus your hearing."
We all maintain as much silence as possible, until Locke's stomach rumbles. A loud echo is heard through the tunnels. Not his stomach, something hard. A pipe hitting the walls. A thunderous trail of stomps.
"Now that sounds like something I can hit!" Violet expresses, getting ready to run towards the echoes, but Maryanne continues to stay linked to her arm. She refuses to let the gang split up more than it has.
"We go together, and come back together." Maryanne iterates. "Got it?"
Violet nods.
Raphael nods.
Locke allows them through.
Violet unwraps her hand bandages to reveal an evil purple flame from underneath, which starts small, and then engulfs her and Maryanne's whole bodies as they sprint into the blackness. The last thing we see before nothing being the slight glow of their fire.
And then?
Silence.
We stay in the same place waiting for them as the seconds go by. Locke stays trained with his back to the wall, peering around the corner where our allies made a head start.
After five minutes of silent deliberation, the four of us make our way after them. Locke and Raphael with their guns aimed in front, Deus and I with our weapons drawn. As we continue down the tunnel, we find additional dead bodies sprawled out among the floors, and even some hung up on the walls as some sort of fear tactic (that worked). For a moment, I lose hope, until in the distance, two figures come into view.
Familiar figures.
It's William, his personalised green uniform glistening in crimson blood, accompanied by what looks like Shun, but something is extremely off.
The closer they get, the more I see that Shun's eyes still have no light in them. They're glossy and stained with blood splatters, and his clothes remain tattered and wrecked with stab wounds and blood.
"Yo." William introduces nonchalantly.
Locke lowers his weapon. "Did you see Violet and Maryanne as you came down here?"
"Between where I was and where I am, I saw absolutely nothing." William ensures, shrugging his shoulders comically. Though something isn't right at all.
Unless there's some kind of secret hallway they passed through, there's absolutely no way he wouldn't have seen them, especially since they were covered in flames.
"You really didn't see a couple of sprinting girls surrounded by purple fire?" Locke interrogates.
"If I saw them, wouldn't I be with them right now?"
"Give me your hand." Locke insists.
"What?" William(?) rears back slightly.
"We haven't been properly introduced. Let me give you a handshake." Locke pushes, putting his gun away and taking his leather glove off his right hand.
"I'm left-handed." William(?) insists, which is definitely not true. William is ambidextrous.
Locke removes the glove on his left hand and approaches William.
A split second passes. William(?)'s face does its best impression of a human. Its smile contorts to a wide grin that spans his entire cheek area. I run and tackle Locke to the ground.
"What the hell, kid?!" Locke struggles.
"That's not William!" I plead, as William(?)'s body begins to melt off of his bones, revealing another shadow with a tendril peering from behind, piercing Shun's cold lifeless body - puppeteering it.
A laugh is heard from behind.
A menacing laugh, that distorts at random intervals before her voice is heard from the shadows. As the laugh progresses in volume, a third figure is seen fading into sight. A figure with long curled hair and a red flowing dress.
"I wish I was surprised, darlings," the voice begins in sarcastic monologue, "but we've done this dance time and time again." She continues. The figure appears unfamiliar for a brief minute before her stature and posture brings a torrent of memories flooding back to me.
Rioca Antonella, our substitute art teacher.
"Make this easy for me, will you?" She sings. "Die quickly." As she rushes towards us in a tornado of tendrils.
The figure formerly known as Rioca Antonella, now a typhoon of blades and tentacles that ripped through all they pass.
Locke pushes me off him and takes the first hit, slicing his left arm off from the elbow. He screams a guttural scream that could be heard by the heavens. However, somehow through sheer determination, he grips his handgun with his right hand and fires his entire magazine in front of him, hitting every mark to no avail.
The figures still stand.
I contemplate rushing forward with my newfound sword that currently has one kill on record.
Deus stops me before I can try.
He aims his sunlight torch at the shadows ahead, manifests a power dial onto it, and shifts it to maximum, blasting the shadows with as much sunlight as it could muster.
To our surprise, it worked.
For a moment.
The shadows hissed as the sunlight burned their beings, forcing them to retreat before damage was made.
I attempt to make for the shadows so I can attempt to bring them down, but Deus continues to hold me in place.
"It's not over yet, nephew." Deus insists. "Check on him." As he pushed me towards Locke, who is now sitting against a wall with half an arm bleeding out.
I rush to my comrade, who sits defeated. No backup plan, no way out.
"It's gonna be alright, man, we're gonna make it out of here." I insist in comforting lies.
"No. I don't think I will, personally." He pushes as he coughs blood onto his right sleeve. "It's been a privilege to work with you." He says, holding out his only hand.
I grab hold of it as if receiving the highest award and my head pulses, as a flood of memories that belong to Locke flow into my mind.