《The Island》


 Where am I?

    *Bing* [The next train is Clarview on track one. Please stand back from the edge of the platform as the train arrives.]


    Dylon Philips looked up from his phone to see the incoming L.R.T. pulling up to a packed station. It was 6:03 pm and the platform was filled with commuters returning home from their jobs mingled with students who, like him, were finally done with their classes. Dylon had gotten off the southbound Metro Line train at this station to transfer to the northbound Capital Line train that headed towards Clareview station because he lives in NorthEast Edmonton, AB. As inconvenient as it was to have to transfer trains multiple times every day to get to school, he always felt it was better than having to survive living downtown.


    Dylon was the third year at MacEwan University in the department of Arts and Science, majoring in Biology with a minor in Physics. He didn''t know what he wanted to do with his degree in these subjects yet, as he only chose them because they were his best subjects and he found them tolerably tedious to study. That isn''t to say he''s some kind of genius to which studying was unnecessary, in fact, he was just a lazy student. He considered himself a quick learner but still had to spend hours studying to remain in the uppermost ranks among his peers. Instead of doing that, he chose to do as little work as possible to maintain an above average grade and spend the rest of his time binging light novels and manga.


    The L.R.T. came to a stop, the doors opened and people crowded into the five cars. Dylon was of large stature and slightly obese, being 202cm and 120kg, so he was feeling rather mobbed as he moved in all the way to the door opposite the one he entered. ''Damn, it''s really packed today.


    * sigh* At least it''s only a 20-minute ride.'' With that thought, he returned to reading a light novel he had found last night about an MC that travels a fantasy world and gains a cheat ability that lets him learn any skill without class restrictions.


    [Please stand back to allow the doors to close. Next stop Stadium station.]


    With a small teeter the train began moving through the tunnel towards its destination, and after it passed the end of the platform it accelerated to it''s cruising speed. As it moved through the tunnel, the car would occasionally jostle and the wheels would make a screech but these were all familiar to the frequent passengers. However, after a few moments of traveling the automated announcement started playing again on a loop.


    [Next stop Stadium station. Next stop Sta....]


    Confused Dylon looked up from his phone again, ''Is something malfunctioning? Well whatever it is, I hope it doesn''t mean the train has to stop. I wanna get home quickly and...''


    As if on cue the train lurched forward as it began accelerating again which elicited shouts from the startled passengers. The lights on the tunnel walls were passing by outside the windows so fast that they started to look like a solid line of light.


    [...m station. Next stop Stadium station. Next st...]


    "What''s happening?!" a middle-aged woman yelled.


    "Everyone relax! The conductor is probably just going faster then normal because the train is behind schedule and will affect the schedule of other trains if it doesn''t catch up" The words from a young man in a suit was followed by murmurs of agreement.


    [...ium station. Next stop Stadium stat...]


    Despite the conversation that has erupted among the passengers, Dylon couldn''t take his eyes off the window, ''This is wrong, we should have left the tunnel already even if we didn''t speed up, where are we going and why so fast? Wait!? Is the light getting bigger?'' He watched as the line of light started expanding covering more of the darkness outside the train. The phenomenon slowly drew the attention of the other passengers who were focused on their conversation and they all watch in shocked silence as the light kept expanding until it was all they could see outside the window.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    [...xt stop Stadium station. Next stop Stadium station. Next stop Stadi...*bzzt*]


    All at once everything turned dark and the looping automated announcement cut out. Screams erupted everywhere as people panicked in the absolute darkness, and they could feel the train getting faster once more. Dylon grabbed onto the safety bar harder and felt the weight of the people around him pressing against his body as they struggled to resist the inertia of the accelerating train.


    The cacophony of screaming people, howling wind, and screeching wheels came to an abrupt halt and everyone was thrown forward. The lights flickered on and, while groaning, people started to get up followed by a wave of crying and yelling.


    "What happened?"


    "Did we crash?!"


    "My-MY ARM!!!"


    "HELP!! I''m bleeding"


    "CALM DOWN! Anyone with first aid training helps the wounded, and some of you start calling 911. Don''t all start calling at once or you''ll just clog up the line." The young man in the suit took charge as soon as he stood upright and most people calmed down with the appearance of someone to tell them what to do. Two people announced their first aid skills and started squeezing through the crowd towards people with injuries while several dozens started using their phones.


    "Hey! My phone isn''t working!"


    "Mine too! I''ve got no service."


    "Dammit, we must still be too far in the tunnel to get reception." the man in the suit said as he pulled the emergency help alarm and the intercom between all cars came on,


    [Ow... Yeah? This is the conductor, is everyone okay?]


    "What the hell happened!? How did we crash? People are hurt back here and we can''t call 911!"


    [I don''t know either, the controls stopped responding after we left Churchill station, I couldn''t even turn on the intercom until now...]


    <hr>


    Dylon had already gotten up by now and was looking around for his cell phone which he had dropped when he was thrown forward. He decided to give up as he couldn''t see it in the immediate surrounding and there were too many people around him to look properly. Looking up at the window, Dylon paused once again because it was covered in a layer of dust or dirt so thick that he couldn''t see anything through it. ''No... it''s not just this window, it''s all of them.'' He thought as he looked around at the other windows on the car.


    [...look, like I''ve been saying, I can''t reach anybody on the radio either. Hell! I can''t even see out the windshield!]


    "huh?" The man in the suit looked around at the windows for the first time, as did most of the surrounding passengers before they started whispering.


    "What do we do?" someone finally asked the man in the suite.


    After staying silent for a moment, he spoke towards the intercom "We should open the doors and see how far away the end of the tunnel is, maybe we can get out and call for help."


    [...uhh... It''s probably dangerous move around if we did crash, besides even if we can''t call for help directly when the control center sees that the train isn''t moving and isn''t responding they''ll send emergency personnel to investigate. We should just sit tight and wait for them to get here."


    "Wait? How long would it take? Minutes? Hours? We''re packed in here like sardines and we can''t even properly help the injured because of how crowded it is in here. We should at least open the doors to have a look at the situation outside before we make a decision.


    [but...uhh...fine, but the automatic doors are down so you''ll have to manually release the hydraulic locks using the emergency door lock release above the doors.]


    "You heard him." The man in the suit swept his eyes across the crowd and met Dylons eyes "Hey, Big Guy, there''s a lever right by your head, open the door behind you."


    Dylon was startled to be called out all of a sudden but fumbled with the lever as he was told anyway. He turns it and heard the hiss of the hydraulic locks releasing. He pulled the door open and took his first look outside, then froze.


    Cold sweat began to run down his back as he took in the sight of a thick, primordial forest laying about 100 meters from the open door of the L.R.T. In his shock, he whispered, "Where am I?"

 Dont Poke Bushes, They Poke Back

    "What are you waiting for? Are we still in the tunnel?"


    The questions brought Dylon back to reality as he slowly turned around to look at the crowd, "No, we''re not in the tunnel anymore but...I also don''t think we''re in Edmonton anymore either..."


    Whispers of confusion spread through the crowd before a young man, who looked like he was in his early twenties, wearing a dark blue hoodie lifted his head and said: "What kind of stupid shit are you talking about?"


    "YEAH! How the fuck would we leave the city in a five-minute train ride?"


    "If you are too scared to get off the train than move aside and stop blocking the door so the rest of us can leave, FATASS!" The duo beside the man in the blue hoodie chimed in after their friend spoke.


    ''Wannabe gangsta bitches. Take a look outside before you open your stupid mouthes'' Dylon thought to himself. Dylon had always been "The Big Kid" throughout his school years, which meant every wannabe tough kid would come kicking his heels whenever they felt that they had something to prove. Having such an experience growing up wasn''t all bad though, it actually let him learn a couple things earlier than most. He had never been bad at fighting, so whenever some punk came barking at him he would answer with his fist and let that be the end of it, at least he did before one of them pulled out a pocket knife and stabbed him in the arm. Gaining a healthy fear of fighting was the first lesson he got, he learned his second as he was trying to avoid fighting after being stabbed. The stabbing incident had resulted in the expulsion of the other kid while he, despite breaking the kid''s arm, nose and three of his ribs, was let off with a cautious warning about fighting. However, his parents still insisted on transferring him to a "safer" school, a school where no one knew him as "The kid who hospitalized the last person to pull a knife on him" anymore and everyone knew him as "The Big Kid" once more. He became far more cautious in his new school by avoiding any challenges to fight to him the threw at him. He knew better than to risk being stabbed again offer such meaningless quarrels, but they saw it as weakness. One nasty boy, in particular, took to bullying him as a show of power and Dylon just put up with itas it wasn''t worth the risk that accompanied the fight. The boy, feeling unrestrained, kept escalating his act of torment until one day he lit Dylon''s backpack on fire as he was walking through the hallway. That was when Dylon learned the second lesson, that if you don''t show that you''re willing to fight for anything then they''ll take everything. Upon realizing this, Dylon set forth to prove he wasn''t anyone''s bitch and proceeded to beat the boy, and his three cronies, until they were little more than bloody, whimpering sacks on the ground. When the school investigated, they found out about the bullying and watchedthe security tape of the backpack being lit on fire so the four perpetrators were expelled and Dylon was, fortunately, let off with a warning not to fight again. These lessons taught Dylon to avoid as many fights as possible without rolling over and barking whenever someone growls at him. So, with a firm face, Dylon stared at the trio and responded "As far as I know, there are any forests in the middle of Edmonton but if you lot don''t believe me then go ahead and have a look yourself. There''s more than one door on this train so you don''t have to wait on my behalf if you wanna get off."


    "Tch...let the fatass stay inside if he wants. Open that door, and let''s go." The man in the hoodie spoke to his friends and together they opened the door closest to them and climbed out. As if theflood barricade had been broken when the first people got off, the rest of the crowd started opening doors and pouring outside until there were only ones left in the carwas Dylon, the man in the suit, a handful of elderly passengers, a teenager with a small cut on his head, a middle-aged man with his arm bent the wrong way, and the two passengers who claimed to know first aid trying to help the two injured people.


    "*sigh* I didn''t really mean for everyone to rush out as soon as the door was open before we even know what''s outside, I guess everyone really was feeling cramped." The man in the suit walked towards the open door next to Dylon and looked outside at the treeline, "Do you recognize those trees?"


    Dylon followed suit and looked outside at the forest as well. "No, but I can still see that they''re huge. The bigger trees must be at least30m in circumference, not to mentions hundreds of meters tall. Even some of the shrubs between the trees and taller than a person. If there were trees that big anywhere near Edmonton then it would be a famous attraction but I''ve never heard anything about it. You?"This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    "No." The man in the suit leaned his head out the door and looked towards the front and back of the train, "No tracks too, or at least none that I see. How in the hell did the train get to the middle of a forest? And where did all of this dirt come from?" He asked as he ran his finger along the outside of the train.


    "No clue. What do we do now?"


    "I don''t hear any screaming so I guess there''s nothing outside eating everybody, well not right now anyway." he laughed heartily at his own joke "Might as well go have a look around. Micheal."


    "Dylon. Somehow I don''t find that too reassuring, you first."


    "You really that scared?"


    "Cautious. I''m really that cautious. In every good light novel, it''s the cautious ones that live long enough to become badass main characters. Everyone else usually dies so I prefer the odds that come with being cautious."


    "Hahaha, makes sense, follow me then." the still laughing Micheal climbed out and Dylon followed him while looking around.


    <hr>


    "Where the hell have you taken us!"


    "This is kidnapping! I''m SO going to sue you for this! Just wait until my daddy finds out."


    Outside, most of the passengers had climbed off the train; some were taking pictures of themselves, the train, the surroundings, or a combination of them; while others wereexploring their strange new environment. A crowd had formed near the front of the train around a man in an ETS uniform and the people were hurling questions, threats, and insults at the pooroperator who didn''t seem to know how to pacify the situation.


    ''Damn! There must be around a thousand people here. No wonder the train felt so packed.'' Dylon thought to himself as he looked around outside.


    Seeing the man in trouble, Micheal walked over, "EVERYONE LISTEN UP!" When he saw that the crowd had focused on him he continued "I''m sure everyone is feeling a little confused, scared and frustrated. We all are but taking out your fear and frustration on the ETS operator won''t help any of us"


    Seeing a lifeline the operator grabbed onto it, "Yeah! The system stopped responding, so I had no control over bringing the train here to the middle of nowhe...", seeing the pointed stares of the crowd the operator stopped mid-sentence.


    "*Ahem* As I was saying, the most important thing to do now is to try and find out where we are and also ensure we can survive long enough to be rescued."


    "What do you mean ''survive''? Are you saying we''re gonna die?"


    "No, I''m not! What I am saying is that we don''t know where we are. If we are a 5-minute walk back to town then great, but if we''re somewhere that''s going to take days to be reached by our rescuers than we''ll need to find food, water, and shelter so they have someone to rescue when they find."


    "He''s right! We have to figure out our situation and take precautions until we''re rescued" someone echoed Micheal and the crowd began to murmur their agreements.


    ''Wow, he must be one of those naturally born leaders, first, he took charge on the train and now heretoo. Note to self, don''t run against him for office,hehe''. Dylon, who had followed Micheal over, laughed to himself while watchedMicheal rally the people.


    "Now, I''m not sure how we can figure out our location yet-"


    "We could check the star constellations!" an eager female university student interrupted Micheal


    "...uh...yes but we would need stars for that and the sun hasn''t set yet so we''ll put that on the back burner for now..."


    Giggles came from the crowd and the student blushed beet red while looking down.


    "So where was I? Oh yeah! Until we figure out where we are, we''re gonna need to secure our living essentials and priority number one should be water. First things first, we should take inventory of-"


    "Danny, where are you going!?" Micheal stopped once more when he heard a woman''s shout.


    Everyone looked over to see a teenager walking towards the forest, "Fuck off! I''m just going to look around the trees a bit, chill the fuck out for once!"


    "Come back here! We don''t know how dangerous it is here yet." The boy''s mother called out as she walked over to her son who was already several dozen meters ahead.


    The teenage stopped in front of shrub that dwarfed him by more than twice his height, picked up a rock that was by his feet and hurled it into the bush. Seeing no reaction the boy turned back to look at his mom, " What did I tell you, it''s just a stupid fucking bus-"


    *CHOMP*

 Primal Fear

    *Crunch* *Squelch* *Chew*


    *Plop*


    I watched in horror as the boy''s foot fell down from the jaws of the creature. I continued to watch as the beast rose into sight from behind the bush, a monstrosity standing at roughly 8m tall with powerfully thick legs that each ended in a three-toed foot, each toe capped with a glossy black claw bigger than a hand. It had leathery greenish-brown skin, which would make it all but invisible once it stepped back into the forest, and it had a head longer than most people are tall. Its maw was still messy from its kill. I could see chunks of flesh and clothing between its teeth and blood dripping off its jaw. Worst of all was its eyes, black and glassy little beads that seemed to swallow my soul as I gazed into them and I saw death.


    It''s hard to describe the terror I felt, I imagine it would be similar to how a gazelle feels while it slowly bleeds while it lies inside the jaws of a lioness. The longer it bleeds, the colder its body becomes, the more it relaxes into its role as prey and accepts its impending doom.


    As I looked into its eyes, my blood froze and my heart pounded trying to circulate the blood in my frosted veins. I gasped for air, unable to satisfy my need to breathe, never quite being able to fill my lungs. My body shook and my soul trembled. I knew that I had seen death at this moment, and I had seen the reality of what I have always been.


    I am Prey.


    *ROOOOOOAAAARRRRR*


    "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!"


    it gave a mighty roar that made the earth tremble, and I answered with a howl of own from my very core. Time seemed to slow down. I could feel my throat tearing open as I screamed, pulling from a source buried deep within myself, so desperate to escape as if it had been trapped there for eons. I followed the burning pain in my throat, traced it back to its source in my core and found a kindling flame. For a moment I had found a new reality beyond my fear, and as I looked into the tiny flame I heard a whisper.


    ''%!^&''


    There was a voice deep within the flame, slowly rising to the surface. I leaned in closer to the flame to hear it.


    ''L!V&''


    I was so close to reaching it, so I stretched out my hand towards the flame and as my fingers touched I  I it explode throughout my very being like a supernova.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    ''LIVE''


    All at once, the kindling flame burst into a roaring inferno and the frost my veins retreated as my blood began to boil. I woke up from my fear, the erratic beating of my heart had changed into the steady pounding of war drums and time resumed. I saw the beast lunge forward, arriving first at the mother who was only a few steps further for the beast.  The beast opened its jaw wide and tilted its head sideways as it charged towards the mother.


    As she stared vacantly ahead, no one was close enough to hear her whisper " ...Dan...ial?..."


    *Snap*


    This was the moment when I first noticed the other people screaming, I looked around and saw people all around me panicking, screaming, and running.


    ''running? Right! RUNNING! I should be running!''


    I turned and saw Micheal beside me also frozen. Shaking his shoulders I yelled "Come on! We have to go!"


    He looked over at me, made eye contact and I watched his pupils, that were wide and glossy from adrenaline, constrict before he nodded. I turned back towards the train and started moving before Micheal pulled my arm to the left. "This way, trust me." He started running away from the train not giving me a chance to argue, so I followed him.


    I looked back to see hundreds of people fighting to get back inside the train; clawing, kicking and punching to claim whatever protection the sheet metal and glass would provide.


    ''How had I not noticed before?'' I wondered as I watched the beast charge into the middle of the first car where the largest crowd had been. Several people disappeared into its maw as others were crushed under its talons and more were sent flying by a whip from its 3m tail.


    The metal screamed in protest and was torn apart as it pushed its massive head into the body of the car, shifting the entire train as it did.


    I looked back towards where we were running, not wanting to see any more of that carnage but I could still hear it. Even as we reached the trees and entered the densely populated treeline, I could still hear the screams of people dying, the screeching of metal tearing and roars of the beast as it proclaimed the triumph of its hunt.


    I tried to focus on Micheals back as we ran and tune out the nightmarish sounds still drifting between the trees, it didn''t work but I still tried and we never stopped running. The sounds gradually grew more distant until they disappeared completely but still we never stopped running.