End of the line

The Wild West Express through Eden prized itself in its authenticity to the trains described in the Divine Silas's novel. Complimented by exceptional services, its workers dedicated their lives to this and only this like a true Eden's citizens.

The young waitress knocked on the private carriage, she brought refreshments.

Answering the door was someone strange, huge and imposing with a blue uniform of sort. He and the others in this carriage didn't seem like Eden's natives. But the waitress didn't question, her purpose was to serve, not to think.

"Thank you" The man smiled gently, he seemed to be interested in her "I will take over from here" He took the tray.

Before this man, called Douglas, would ask if she wanted some of the refreshments herself, chatting her up. But the waitress refused, this was work and she had no mind for any other activity. Of course, of the guest truly wanted to, she could spend some time with him but the man didn't push. The waitress left, a mental clock ticking down till the time when she could collect the tray.

"Food's here" Douglas announced to his fellow passengers. The tension inside still high.

There are five here including him, all stuck here in this land called Eden. Only one of them over their thirties, this was quite a party. Despite his size, Douglas was still young, fresh out of the police academy straight into this nightmare.

"You didn't stutter for once" The college student, Hannah, jabbed sarcastically.

"I guess I did well" Douglas refused to take the bait.

He had developed quite a crush for that waitress who was called Caron. The time here was horrible, and she was like a ray of sunshine in their desperate situation.

"I wonder what happen if you stick it inside her" Hannah continued "Would she go beep boop" The young girl shuddered, the people here gave her the creeps, always bright and obsessive, they were like programmed robots, uncanny.

"Now now, no need to say that" The clown Barbara chimed in.

From the toilet, exited a young salaryman, Lee, looking around in paranoia "Did anything happen?" He asked their youngest member, a silent boy, couldn't be over 15.

They all used to have a life, but then, were violently plucked away from their world to this land called Eden by a mysterious figure branded as the Shephard. Still confused, they were conscripted to fight, then frozen, then finally thawed out more than a century later. This land was now ruled by their supposed enemies, their enigmatic leader now branded the False Shephard, nowhere to be found.

Directionless, this group was cobbled together since they were close by to be on this train. Their job to intercept and eliminate the 'enemies', people summoned like them, but from the 'other side'.

"Food is here, you want some, Mr. Lee" Douglas asked bringing the tray over.

"Of course, I am starving" Lee exclaimed.

The young police officer tried to ignore Hannah's provocation. The young woman was scared, confused, her reaction to that was to lash out, deflecting those around her. Douglas understood, he once knew someone like that, his ailing father. Thinking of that gave him immense sadness?

"Oh my, this looks amazing" Barbara clapped enthusiastically.

"Isn't this just like the usual" Hannah said, despite the comment she would always finish all of her portion.

Barbara took her tray and went to the boy to accompany him while the rest sat down.

It was daunting, they still didn't know what was what, thrusted into a hit job like this. The boy had shut everyone out completely, remaining mute. As an officer of the law, Douglas felt like he needed to step up, for everyone. But he couldn't, the one to do that was their most senior member, the clown Barbara. She remained chippy, slowly opening everyone up.

They made such progress with the boy, he even showed them his power. To project an image of the Milky Way, it was a wondrous sight, he must loved astronomy.

But everything went downhill.

"There are too much food…" Lee commented, worry showed on his face.

There were three more members in their group, one was supposed to be their leader, Jack Thornton. But the man would just sit with his majestic wolf, saying cryptic lines about nature. But he was a beacon of sort, a senior member of the Shephard's organisation, his mere presence inspired a strange sense of safety.

Then came the argument, one of them wanted to carry out the hit, the rest refused. And so, the three left yesterday and had yet to return, including Jack Thornton and his wolf.

"Ah, what are we going to do!" Lee dropped the spoon and grabbed his head. His mother spent her whole life selling cans to get him into university. He finally got a job, but all of that was gone now "Are we going to die, I don't want to die!"

"Quit your bitching right now" Hannah slammed at the table. She was shaking in fear.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Their 'enemies' didn't know of their presence, that was everyone thought. But after the attack, there was no way they weren't alerted now. Would they realised those three had accomplices? Douglas wondered, should they surrender? Would their lives be spared? Could they return home?

That dread had been hanging over the group head for the whole day.

"It's all right, I am sure we would be fine" Barbara popped up.

Douglas wondered how she could still smile. Here he was going to fall into depression, at least seeing Caron cleared his mind somewhat.

"It's alright" The police officer stood up, he couldn't keep on relying on a civilian "If they come, I will protect us all. My power is strong, you all know that!"

"That boxer guy could predict the future!" Hannah said, she was having some sort of panic attack "And yet they still lost, the enemies must have some crazy power… We don't stand a chance"

The mood in the room plummeted instantly. Everyone was panicking, including Douglas. His power was undoubtedly strong. But was it better than predicting the future, or whatever Jack Thornton had. No, he didn't want to die.

"Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are" Barbara started singing, here it came. "Up above a whole so high, like a diamond in the sky" Lee continued. "Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are" Hannah sang begrudgingly. Then it was Douglas turn.

That was Barbara power, she infected others with a strange drive. They would have to do what she was doing at that time. Using that power, she would force the group to sing. The method worked, everyone started to calm down. If she wasn't here, they would have all broken down in despair a long time ago.

The clown never used her power on the boy, however. He required a method that wasn't brute force. But she was getting there.

Night fall and the group went to sleep, all exhausted from stress.

There was suddenly a sound of explosion. Little Douglas opened his eyes to find the world around him engulfed in fire. There was mother, reaching out only swallowed, reduced to crisp. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" The boy screamed out as the fire consumed him whole.

Douglas woke up from the violent nightmare. Even now it haunted him, the incident that took his mother away. But the dreams were getting more and more horrifying.

The police officer could see Lee, who was supposed to be on guard, sleeping soundly.

Putting a blanket over the salaryman, Douglas went into the bathroom to wash his face. His mind muddled, he didn't realise there was someone already in there.

"Oh my" Said Barbara, at least she wasn't doing anything, just standing in front of the mirror. There was no trace of the cheerful clown, only a middle age woman remained.

"Sorry!" Douglas said but then, something caught his eyes "Wait those are… white hair" They were all over the sink "Do you need help with that?"

"I would be delighted" The clown replied softly.

There was so much white hair, but she wasn't that old. Douglas understood why though, he hung his head low in shame. Removing one strand at a time, it took a while.

"It's done" He announced after a thorough job, it was the most he could do.

"Thank you… Are you alright there?" Barbara noticed his shame.

Douglas sighed "I… I relied so much on you. Even though I am supposed to protect everyone" It was his job, and yet he failed so spectacularly.

To his surprise, Barbara gave him a pat on the head "You did well, I could see you try so hard to appear strong, I appreciate it. We need someone we could rely on" She reminded him of his mother "You said you would protect us all, I know you would do it, that's enough. Don't worry, I will try to help out as well"

"How are you going to do that?" Asked Douglas.

"Like this" Barbara tilted her head to the side and so did the police officer, his skull approaching the sink. He couldn't stop, however, of course she stopped just before the impact. On the clown side, her head wasn't near anything at all.

"Wow" Douglas said in amazement, this ability could be used like this. It was stronger than he thought, now he understood why the guy who led the attack group wanted Barbara to join them. The woman wanted to take a bath now, however, so Douglas excused himself.

He exited the bathroom, having forgotten about washing his face.

"What were you two doing in there" Hannah said, having awaken some time earlier.

"Practicing some clown routine" Douglas made a joke.

The young woman turned away, acting like she was back to sleep. The police officer looked outside, it was still late. For her to be awake, the reason probably not too far from his own. Putting his hand on her shoulder, Douglas said.

"I swear, I will protect you, all of you no matter what"

"… You promise" Hannah said meekly, her face still turned away.

"I promise" Douglas answer. He sat down near the college student and stood guard till morning. Barbara exited the bathroom sometimes after sunrise, the clown makeup back on.

Everyone woke up and wait for the food to arrive.

Soon enough, just like clockwork, Caron arrived with the tray of goodies. This was a cleaning day, however, so the waitress would take care of the bathroom while they dine. Douglas felt rather bad about it but he couldn't stop her at all.

The food was as great as ever, everyone seemed to be feeling better. There was still tension in the air, but it was clearer than yesterday.

Douglas sat watching Barbara eating with the boy. Before he wouldn't let anyone near, but now the little astronomer seemed rather comfortable.

The police officer relaxed, he would have to call a meeting after this. They shouldn't just wait around, it would only cause more stress. No, the group would have to take their fate into their own hands, plans will be made.

"Ugh" Suddenly, the boy went pale, veins appearing on his skin.

Douglas stood up to go to him only to fall down. He was becoming weaker and weaker, the other also collapsed. Next to him, Lee was convulsing violently. Hannah followed, a horrified expression etched on her face.

They were attacked, Douglas tried to stand up, he needed to protect them. His powe…

'Caron' exited the bathroom and surveyed the carriage, everyone was nice and dead. Still just to be sure, the waitress drew a knife and slit their throats one by one. She wondered what their powers were, but that didn't matter. Strength didn't matter if one couldn't even get the chance to use it. A powerful ability could be wasted with an inept user. Even a power like predicting an enemy's every move was irrelevant.

The waitress didn't pause at all when she dug her blade into the boy's neck. It was a shame someone so young had to die, but he could be a threat, or not. But she didn't like to take chances at all. 'Caron' had sacrificed her empathy a long time ago.

Last one to be finished was the big man. She knew of his crush on her. It didn't matter at all, the waitress slit his throat just like the other.

It was over, every potential threat on this train nipped from its bud. She looked down, none of the blood was on her dress at all. But she still entered the bathroom to clean herself anyway.

After the train reached its destination, 'Caron' would sneak back and replace her doppelganger. Who would have thought the doctor's three headed mutt could shape shift. The waitress was worried that its mannerism could be off, it would be alright if the thing didn't draw attention to itself. Talking about the doctor, she would have to tell him to clean this up later.

The waitress 'Caron' exited the carriage, all freshen up. She entered the staff quarter. From there, emerged the youth with red right hand Malcolm Burgess.