The Switch

The gunshot cracked through the hollow cavern of the station, the sound bouncing off the concrete pillars in a series of sharp echoes.

The bullet didn't hit Cynthia. It struck the main electronic coupling box mounted on the side of the transit car's track line. A massive shower of blue sparks erupted from the metal box, followed by a loud grinding screech from the vehicle's automated brake system.

"What did you do?" Thorne’s voice shrieked from inside the car, his panicked face appearing at the window. "Cynthia! The primary power line just shorted out!"

Cynthia didn't answer him. Her head snapped toward our position behind the iron pillar, her nostrils flaring as she caught the scent of our wet clothes. She let out a low, vibrating growl that rattled the fillings in my teeth.

"Garrison," she whispered, her voice carrying across the fifty yards of empty platform with terrifying clarity. "You just don't know when to die, do you?"

"Run, Valerie!" Garrison shouted, grabbing my arm and pulling me back toward a low maintenance tunnel marked Manual Operations. "She can't follow us into the tight gears!"

Cynthia didn't run. She launched herself across the platform. She cleared twenty feet in a single bound, her boots cracking the concrete tiles where she landed. She was moving with that horrific, blurred speed again, her pale hands reaching out to tear the iron pillar from its base as she pivoted around it.

We scrambled into the narrow manual tunnel, Garrison slamming the iron grate door shut behind us. He didn't have a lock, so he jammed the barrel of his empty rifle through the handles, wedging it tightly into the concrete frame.

A split second later, Cynthia’s body slammed against the outside of the grate.

The thick iron bars buckled inward with a terrifying screech. Her pale, blue-tinted face appeared against the metal, her eyes staring straight into mine through the gaps. She reached through the bars, her fingers clawing just inches from my nose.

"You can't hide in there forever, Valerie!" she screamed, her voice splitting into that layered, monstrous echo. "The automated car has a backup battery! Thorne will have the line bypassed in five minutes! You are going to watch us leave!"

"Let's go," Garrison said, ignoring her as he dragged me deeper into the low-ceilinged tunnel.

The tunnel was filled with massive iron levers and heavy, grease-stained gears. This was the manual override center for the station's track switches. A small, rusty inspection cart sat on a secondary set of narrow rails right in the center of the room.

"Can we use this?" I asked, pointing at the manual lever on the cart.

"It feeds into the high-voltage bypass track," Garrison said, leaping onto the wooden platform of the cart and grabbing the central pump handle. "It skips the main platform entirely and merges with the express line two miles down the mountain core. If we can get ahead of Thorne's car, we can derail him at the gorge switch."

"Help me with the lever!" I yelled, throwing my weight against the massive iron track switch on the wall. The old metal was caked in black grease, refusing to move as the sound of Cynthia tearing through the iron grate echoed from the tunnel entrance.

"Together!" Garrison dropped from the cart, his massive hands wrapping over mine on the iron lever.

We threw our combined weight against the handle, our boots slipping on the greasy floor. With a loud, echoing clunk, the tracks outside shifted, locking our inspection cart into the bypass line.

"Get on!" Garrison hauled me up onto the wooden platform just as the iron grate door at the end of the tunnel shattered completely, sending metal shards flying through the air.

Cynthia burst into the room, her jumpsuit torn, her face twisted in pure, animalistic rage.

Garrison grabbed the pump handle, slamming it down with immense force. The old inspection cart jolted forward, the steel wheels squealing against the rusted rails as we plunged into the dark, steep incline of the bypass tunnel.

Behind us, Cynthia didn't follow the tracks. She looked up at the massive overhead power lines running along the ceiling, her long fingers reaching up to grab the high-voltage cables.

"Thorne!" she screamed into the dark. "Release the line!”