The Pine City Station passed by, the figure of the stationmaster falling to his face in the snow fixed in John’s mind. Despite the scant time allowed for the image to set as the train sped by the failing humanity, John saw it.

The train’s speed was problematic; John could feel the train slowing as a shift of his weight to the front of the train. Something was wrong up front; the falling station master a hint of the fact.

The snow flowing from the front of the train was getting harder, affecting the windows with the sound of sleet and ice; pellets ringing against the glass in increasing number and volume. Light from the locomotive wavered, then cleared; the ice in the air giving small rainbow reflections, like millions of miniature fireflies swirling in the wind.

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For a few minutes, it stayed this way while John simply watched, knowing this was death’s display. There was nothing else he could do but endure until death stepped from the cloud of smoke and snow. The light of the locomotive flaring bright and surrounding the creature in a faux halo.

In his last act of defiance, John hung the green lantern from the peg by his window and waited for death to finish its walk to the caboose.

His grip on the crucifix tightened, but John’s gaze did not break from the demon that walked on his train.