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The bus was truly enormous, a long metal-grey vehicle well-protected against anything, with weight counterbalance to prevent rolling and a capacity of 30. It was enough to take a whole troop platoon out of the city, and James just happened to have the key from Birnie's corpse. Once they were all ready with their separate supplies, food and bags that each individual had been smart enough to carry in their own escapes, they rode out from the front of the elementary school. One of the survivors, a burly Asian man with rippling swarthy arms, was driving stick upon offering himself up as the main driver, due to his former experience as a truck driver for STAGLA. The rest of the survivors happily talked amongst themselves, speaking with relief about how thankful they were to be rescued by such strange people, the raptors keeping up their circus act as it were of being in costumes. James sat in the middle of the bus, next to Michael while Roy sat up front, the bus chugging away merrily throughout the ruined streets. The bus itself had very little inside of it other than a few ammo cases lying around, handy for the weapons they all picked up previously in order to ready themselves further for any rough times ahead. The sounds of the occasional cracking snap of flesh and bone from the odd unlucky zombie they ran through was faintly heard now and again over the rumbling of the wheels. "So what was Birnie's deal?" asked FG. "Could barely hear what he was saying half the time." "We have families who work for Umbrella," said one woman, "he thought he could hold hostage the family members of employees for ransom, as a means of safe passage out of the city." "What an asshole," said a black-eyed teenager. "Shhh there's kids here with us!" "I think after all the shit Birnie said to us, they know all the big words now." "Why didn't you escape with your families?" asked FG. "Some of us were at work," said a middle-aged man, "some of our families were at work too up at the big hospitals or labs and such. Lots of 'em evacuated with each other, some tried to leave messages to us." "Like my mom and dad did!" said Michael. "We're gonna go find 'em, and we're all gonna get out together!" "Glad to hear kiddo, where we going again?" "Griffin Road! That's where they're gonna be, but we gotta get there by 8pm, or else they're gonna leave without us!" "Heh...I think the buses in this city aren't THAT slow, we'll be fine kiddo." "Hey FG!"

The deep younger voice summoned FG towards the front, as he bent his head between both Roy and the driver. "Whassup?" "David here says we got sumthin' followin' us. You sure we took out all thuh guys back at thuh school?" "...I...think we did." "Speedin' up on us fast," said David, "looks like that armoured van we saw parked outside." "...well, shit. Guess I forgot a few." "What do we do?" "Can this thing go any faster Dave?" "Kinda pushing it at fifty here, the bus is heavy enough without any more strain to it." "Dammit...alright, keep it moving no matter what, you know where Griffin Road is still?" "Sure do." "Alright, jus-" Suddenly a huge crunch from the rear threw everyone forwards, the powerful ramming motion of something from behind the bus sending everyone off their seats. "HOLY SHIT!" "What was that?!" "Stay calm!" said FG. "We got some trouble but we'll handle it! Can you shake them off?!" "You kidding?!" said David. "In a goddamn bus I can barely outrun a Ford! Tires'll be fine long as they don't slam us into any buildings." "Dammit, Roy, come with me!" The two raptors rushed towards the back of the bus, opening the back door to see there was indeed the armoured van coming up on them fast. Several police officers from Birnie's unit were seen at the front window, one driving with determination while another got ready to lean out of the side window, aiming a rifle towards them. "GET DOWN!" Assault rifle fire peppered the inside of the bus, the people screaming and immediately ducking down in their seats, three of whom were wounded by ricochet non-fatally. Michael huddled underneath one of the men, who clutched him tightly to protect him. James and Roy pulled out their handguns and began firing back at the van, trying to blind the bulletproof window with their shots at the very least as well as take out the one rifle shooter at the side. The van occasionally drove forwards hard, ramming right into them and almost causing both FG and MG to fall off. "SH-SHIT!" cried FG. "ANYONE GOOD WITH A GUN HERE!? WE NEED HELP!" "HOLD ON!" A man in his 30s walked up to them with an assault rifle of his own, readying it as he fired towards the other shooter. He managed to wound him in the arm, forcing the police officer to pull back into the vehicle before it rammed them again. The three of them almost fell once again, but the man beside them steadied himself carefully before unloading an entire clip through short rapid bursts straight into the bulletproof window. Then they heard the bus driver shout out a warning to them. "GONNA TURN FAST, HANG ON TO SOMETHING!"

Taking his advice, everyone grabbed onto something hard, the bus turning violently to the right as it swung a sharp corner onto the larger main Ennerdale Street directly south of the university college. Then came another hard turn to the left, the back of the bus swinging hugely from side to side as the van easily kept up with them, despite their slight lag in taking corners with them. The bus driver shouted: "CAN YA LOSE THEM YET?!" "NO!" said Roy. "THEY AIN'T GONNA STOP!" "WELL WE GOT PROBLEMS THEN, GRIFFIN ROAD'S NOT TOO FAR AWAY, ONCE WE GET PAST SOUTH RACCOON STREET, WE'RE ON THE HOME STRETCH! NOW'S THE TIME TO GET RID OF 'EM!" "DAMMIT!" said FG. "SOMEONE FIND A BIGGER GUN, WE NEED TO TAKE THIS VAN OUT NOW-FUCK!" The pursuer suddenly rammed harder, picking up speed as James crashed onto the floor, with Roy struggling not to fall out the back along with their fellow survivor human still trying to wield his assault rifle. The bus, while still taking damage well, was not a fun ride for the survivors within. Already two people were suffering headwounds from being banged hard against their seats in the brutal pursuit. The braver civilians tried desperately to find something, looking under seats when not risking having their heads slammed into them, or just trying to look all over inbetween the revving engines of the van behind them. Michael however, whether by desperation or a new sense of bravery, dove quickly under the seats to find one hidden item stashed neatly away in a darkened corner. "FG! I FOUND SOMETHING!" The raptor turned to see Michael lugging something heavy behind him, some sort of well-secured armory case with a padlock on it. James made quick work of the padlock by melting the steel with his burning claws, snapping the weakened clasp before opening it. His eyes lit up as he swiftly grabbed what was inside, calling out to the rear of the bus: "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Roy backed off once he saw what James now wielded. A long tubular object hoisted over one shoulder, complete with aiming reticule halfway down the barrel. A rocket launcher. The moment James had found it, he had desperately been thinking of a good one-liner as his finger readied itself over the fire button. "Game. Over."

It was simple but effective enough for him, as he clicked the button before a tremendous screech came from the front of the launcher. Smoke suddenly appeared, as a thick metal rocket pierced through the air straight towards the armoured van. Spinning towards the wheels, the resulting explosion was big enough to kill an elephant, blasting a searing heatwave of blinding red and orange as the van barely rolled its way through the inferno, before falling onto its side. Then it rolled, further and further until slamming into a large telephone pole. Unfortunately the resulting explosion was one bump too many for the back of the bus, as James found himself losing his balance with one mighty jump of the wheels, the weight of the rocket launcher forcing him to fall out of the bus. "JAMES!" Roy grabbed onto him fast as he could, the brown raptor panicking as he dropped the rocket launcher onto the road. But all Roy could do was fall with him at the unexpected weight, as well as leaning too far. Michael tried in turn to grab onto Roy's tail, struggling to pull him back but to no avail. All three of them fell out onto South Raccoon Street, the bus roaring off towards Ivy Street to the north before stopping at a corner to let them catch up. But yet another obstacle would soon come before them. The telephone pole that the now-charred armoured van had dislodged, was swinging its way down unto the road like the hammer of Thor. Vile sparks of electricity came down with it, crashing down the length of the road to set off a chain reaction of burning electrical infernos, blazing from length to length of the entire street. The fires were only further fed by whatever electricity remained in this sector of the city, sparks shimmering from downed wires only further causing the flames to burn harder. "GOD DAMMIT!" said FG. "WE NEED TO PUT 'EM OUT!" "WE CAN'T!" said MG, "THAT SHIT'S ELECTRIFIED, PUT WATER ON THAT IT GETS EVEN WORSE! HEY, YOU GUYS, YOU ALRIGH' OVER THERE?" "WE'RE FINE!" said a voice from the bus. "YOU CAN'T GET THROUGH?!" "NAW, THE DAMN FIRE'S TOO BIG, WE CAN'T GET THROUGH AT ALL!" "DAMMIT! WHAT DO WE DO NOW?!" "HOLD ON," said another passenger, "THERE'S A SUBWAY STATION NEAR HERE BACK THE WAY WE CAME! IT SHOULD BYPASS THIS STREET AND HEAD UP NORTH!" "REALLY!?" said FG. "YOU SURE ABOUT THAT?!" "I USED TO DO SPELUNKING, YANNO, URBAN RUNNIN' AND SHIT WITH A FEW BUDDIES OF MINE FROM COLLEGE! THERE SHOULD BE A SERVICE TUNNEL THAT'LL LEAD YOU OUT TO WHERE GRIFFIN ROAD IS! IT'LL COME OUT NEAR THE LAKE!" "IS THERE NO OTHER WAY?!" asked Roy. "NOPE!" "...OKAY, SEE YA THERE! ...dammit." As the bus drove off without its three saviours, James, Michael and Roy began to make their way towards the subway station, which wasn't hard to find. Thankfully the multitude of zombies that had been in this area were now reddened strips of the road itself, after the bus had gone through them. The South Raccoon Street subway station seemed at first intimidating, a dark underground passageway of stairs leading down from the world above. But no one was more nervous about this than Roy. "You sure there ain't no other way?" he asked firmly. "He would have said if there was," replied FG. "We know where to go, long as we keep heading north we should be alright." "How you gonna know if it's north when we're down there?! Place gonna be dark as hell an'...all those twistin' turnin' hallways an'...trains..." "Right...lemme check it out first, you stay with Michael." "Kay."

Heading forwards into the subway station, the brown raptor soon disappeared from view as Roy stood next to Michael. He tried not to be nervous in front of the kid, sighing heavily as they waited. The very sight of the dark subterranean underpassage brought shivers to Roy's head. "You okay?" asked Michael. "Yeah...just...really thought we could get outta here quicker." "Yeah...we'll be okay, w-we're not far now!" "R-righ', righ' we ain't." "Just gotta go through the subway and we're good!" "Sure, just...through thuh subway. An old...abandoned subway that don't got aaaanythin' movin' down there." Eventually someone came up from the subway station, the raptor's familiar face waving them over with eagerness. "It's okay!" said FG. "Place is totally absent! ...of anything undead at least." With noplace else to go, all three of them headed down further into the underground. The sounds of silence echoed harshly throughout the first platform they could see, white tiles with the occasional blue now rotted over with disuse and blood. Bodies lied around the place occasionally, but most of them were in too terrible a state to even become undead. The ones who were complete enough, simply laid dead forevermore. Each click of their claws upon solid platform sent whispers of itself along the tunnel ways. James had made sure the place was absent in itself, at least the first platform and its surrounding area. Roy however found himself sitting down on a bench, calmly trying to contain himself from shaking, his hands barely moving other than the odd twitch if one looked carefully. Michael, ever the navigator, had found the station map on a billboard pointing them on where to go, saying: "Okay, we gotta go allll the way up there along uh...platform two? Looks like there's this small tunnel they mentioned that'll take us right out near Griffin Road." "You're right," said FG, "so is it like some kind of maintenance tunnel or...?" "It's where they store the other trains! We went on a school trip here once to learn all about it, that's where the trains get stored sometimes...HEY, maybe that's why they're all meeting up there, so they can all get out on a big train!" "Hah, yeah that's it! ...damn you're good at these maps you know that Michael?" "Yeah...my dad says I got a real head for these kinda diagrams, like...wiring and stuff?" "Ohhhhh right, I see. Well, glad we got you along with us, so we head out to platform two's tunnel then?" "Yep, then we gotta take a right when it curves a corner and we'll be out of here!" "Awesome."

The two walked over towards the large tunnel, which for some reason had been locked by some sort of large shutter with a keycode panel on the right. The two looked at each other oddly, having never seen such a bizarre device, which laid beneath some sort of highlighted iron tablet explaining a part of the station's history. "Why the hell would they need this?" asked FG. "I dunno...stop people goin' in?" "I...guess that's a way to stop it but...dammit, we have to open this. ...you think this thing above it is a clue? We need to put in four numbers it looks like." "Maybe? Whussit say?" "... 20 years have passed since this line opened in Raccoon City in 1969. In that time, it has enjoyed the patronage and support of all of Raccoon's citizens. When the Kite brothers first started this line, it ran only 1 mile and had 3 stops. Thanks to the city's economic rejuvenation by the Umbrella corporation, it now has 8 stations and stretches 8.5 miles. The only way we can walk forwards is to sum up the years that have passed for when we come apart, count our progress of how far we've come, and expand beyond our stops and stations." "...what does that even mean?" asked Michael. "I dunno, feels like a riddle of somethi-awwwwwww nooooo is this a math puzzle?" "Whaaaat?" "Awww come oooooooon what is this crap, god dammit...okay...let's see. We can do this, you got a calculator?" "...um...nnnnoooo?" "...yeah fair enough, why would you in this situation okay, think. 1969 plus 20 equals 1989, that's okay." "Right." "Now...count our progress...do we add all the miles and stops?" "I guess?" "Okay so...one plus three is four, eight plus eight-point-five is-" "Sixteen-point-five!" "Great! So...add them together?" "Uhhhhh-TWENTY...point-five." "Awesome. So...the answer iiiiis...2009...point-five." Inputting the four-number digit, excluding the point-five, the sound of an almighty buzzer denied them access, a mental whack on the head for their terrible math. For the next five minutes, they struggled to think up what the answer could be, turning the solution as best as they could within their heads all while Roy sat by himself. His feet tapped nervously so as he murmured to himself, lost in a reverie. "Don't step too close son..." His mind had begun playing back old memories, ones he thought he had been able to keep shut away since the past few years. He could hear the subway train come running through his head, the rushing of carriages as the wind buffeted through each one, an almost rhythmic pairing with the clacking of wheels upon the fine dual railway lines. Voices came to his lips, the first one being: "Not safe past thuh yellow line..." "Roy!" "Huh?"

He looked up to see James' face looking down on him oddly, the black raptor's eyes slightly zoned out before refocusing. "Whut's up?" "We can't open the way out of here, there's some stupid-ass door puzzle." "...whut you want me to do about it?" "I dunno, me and Michael can't figure it out, it's some kind of math bullshit, I-" "Hold up...math?" Roy stood up with his curiosity piqued, walking over towards the keycode next to the tunnel while staying on the platform. "We tried addin' it all up," said Michael, "but that don't work at all! We tried subtractin', multiplyin', nothing works!" "Hmmmm...lemme see. Numbers all highlighted so you got 20 plus 1969-" "That don't work though!" "Righ', okay...one mile, three stops....eight stations, eight-point-five miles...ahhhh. Ah hear ya." "Huh?" "This last part is thuh key kiddo. Sum up thuh years that have passed for when we come apart-" "Right! But that doesn't-" "When we come apart. Yer not addin' it, yer dividin' it. ...that makes...1969 divided by 20...more or less 98.5." "Huh?" "Now we gotta count how far we've come, meanin' we gotta add these all up. That eight-point-five there's a big clue on that. ...how far we've come, that mean thuh-wait...7.5 which makes that 105...well more like 106 really." "Aw christ," said FG. "Now expand beyond our stations, expand sounds like multiplyin' don' it, cuz that be wider than addin' sumthin'. So we gotta multiply by thuh stops an' stations, makin' 11. Sooooo 106 multiplied by 11...makes...1166." As he inputted the code into the panel, the chirrup of success was like a hallelujah to all three of them as the shutter began to roll back up, revealing the tunnel beyond. "YOU DID IT!" cried out Michael. "Haha daaaamn nice work man!" said FG. "How the hell'd you do that?!" "Whut, ah studied," said Roy humbly. "You just gotta use yer head a li'l." With a patronising tap of his head towards FG, he felt better about himself after solving such a brain teaser before facing the long dark tunnel. The moment he saw the underground passage of platform two fully reveal itself, Roy's eyes began to widen. Almost unconsciously, his hands began to shake, followed by his breath turning ragged with a faster-beating heart.

"W-we...goin' through there?" "That's where we're headed," said James, "Michael found that there's a service tunnel connecting through that way." "B-but...um...th-there's another way through here righ' Michael? Maybe sum kinda back door or maintenance area?" "Nope," said Michael. "Only way is down there." "But...that...that don't make sense, why wouldn't you have a maintenance area connected outside of thuh damn tunnel, that's bullshit!" "Hey!" "Ah don' need to go down no nasty-ass tunnel just so we can get outta here, there has to be another way, sumthin' you missed!" "I didn't miss anything!" "Check again!" "ROY!" FG raised his voice to make his blue-ringed eyes snap back to him. "WHUT?!" "...do you have some kind of problem with this place?" "Whu-whut you mean, ah don't wanna go down some dark creepy-ass tunnel come on!" "We've been through a lot worse than that, you know that. You've been acting real jumpy ever since we fell off that bus, your head alright?" "Mah head ain't messed up, sure screwed on a lot tighter than yours FG!" "I'm serious, the last time I've seen you so scared is back in Silent Hill when...when.......wait." "...don't you dare-" "Wait...you were like this back on that rollercoaster." "Don't you even THINK of sayin-" "You...you have a problem with...trains?" "...no." "Really? What's wrong with this place then?" "Ah don't like it. It's cold, it's dark, probably full o' dead bodies." "So was everywhere else, what's the difference?" "A-a-ah just don't like it here, okay?!" "Then are you gonna come with us down that tunnel or not?!" "Only if ah have to, if you can't find any other damn way outta this shithole then fine!" "Fine, go do it then, you go out in front then mister mathlete!" "Why me?!" "You're big, you're strong, you're not afraid of a little choo-choo are ya?! Go on then!" "FINE! Fine ah will!" Standing up with furious insult, the black raptor marched onto platform two before hopping off and walking towards the dark tunnel, barely illuminated within the half-dim fluorescent light. He stopped and turned right in front of it, taunting FG who walked up to him in turn with arms crossed. "You wanna walk behind me like pussies, well fine! Walk behind me, ahma go take you for a ride, righ' through this big-ass tunnel, no matter how far it goes!" "Fine, go on then, you wanna be the big leader, do it!" "...fine." He turned back towards the tunnel entrance. The sounds of an ill breeze flowed through to greet him, creaking metal lightly caught within its clutches echoing further from within to create the sound of a faint howling whimper from further within. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could almost make out the smaller details as he stood waiting. Waiting for his body to take the first steps into darkness. First he could see the old railway track itself, heading off into oblivion. Then he could see the white-and-red walls of sturdy brick and mortar.

Then he saw even further the two small circles, almost like eyes kept rigidly still. Something large and metallic in a half-circular shape encompassed it within. Roy pushed one foot forwards, scraping the gravel beneath his foot in order for it to come forwards, stones scattering minutely onto the metal track to clack echoes forever into the abyss. The moment his foot went into darkness, his breaths turned heavy with heartache, struggling to hold back tears in his eyes as he walked further with agonising steps. The tunnel was not dark enough to be completely pitch black, but dark enough to bring plenty to one's imagination. For the young Roy, seeing the discarded train carriage come looming ever closer to him was all he needed to concoct horrifying images briefly throughout his mind. He stared at it dead-on, intent on facing it to the point of recognising every single little scratch upon its metal carapace. His focus upon it was so great, that he didn't pay attention to where he was going and tripped over one of the railway segments. Falling down hard, the sudden sight of the huge screeching wheels in front of him made him scream to the point of his voice cracking, his shriek channelling through the tunnel itself as he scrambled back out towards the fluorescent light, clambering back onto the platform as if something monstrous had been chasing him. He breathed hard as he clutched onto one of the platform's pillars, eyes wide open with horror as Michael asked fearfully: "Wh-what happened?! Was there zombies?!" "Hhhh...hhhhh....I...I can't...I can't do it...I can't do this..." He slid down onto the floor, huddling to his knees as he broke down completely, choking with sobs as he put one hand to his face, while the other pounded against the pillar. James walked up to him softly, feeling some slight empathy once again for his enemy. "God DAMMIT! D-DAMMIT I CAN'T DO IT! I c-c-can't do it..." "What's wrong?" "I...I-i-i just...I-" "You afraid of something?" He nodded simply in response, weeping moreso as he struggled to contain himself. "What's he afraid of?" asked Michael. "...are you...scared of...trains?" "NO!" Roy stood up at the accusation, tears glistening from his eyes. "Ahm not afraid of 'em! A-a-ahm not!" "Then what the hell is scaring you about this?! Is it the dark?" "Y-you wouldn't understand, you don't understand anything!" "I saved your ass back in Silent Hill when I dragged you screaming from that rollercoaster, and you were screaming like a BITCH! Don't lie to me, not when we're so close to the end, we don't need any of this Roy!" "SHUT UP, YOU DON' GET TO SAY MAH NAME, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHUT-" "Roy?" Michael's soft voice broke through his thoughts, his young human hand upon the black scaled claws making him look down upon the boy. "It's okay to be afraid sometimes. We're all afraid of something...aren't we?" "...ah...a-a-ah dunno." "You can tell me, it's okay. I'm scared of things too. Like...birds." "Really?" "Y-yeah...I don't like birds. They freak me out, all with those big big eyes and, the way they move their heads all-" He briefly mimicked the motions of a bird, suddenly snapping his head in all directions as if focusing intensely on a fly. "Like that? Really creeps me out, and the noises they make too, some of 'em sound EVIL!" "Birds are total jerks," said FG. "Like, seagulls? God, haaaaate them so much." "Right...so...I'm scared of birds. ...are you scared of anything FG?" "....well...okay...if I tell you guys, will you promise never to tell anyone? And only if you tell us yours after I say it." "Pinkie promise!" "Roy?" "...ah don' fuggin' care, sure, promise." James rolled his eyes but went on regardless. He wasn't as concerned since he had no plans on seeing either of them again once their escape was over with. "...I am scared of limes. ...yes." "...r-really?" asked Michael. "Yes. The smell, the sight, the way they just ooze their juices out, uuuugh, makes me sick as hell, I just freeze up and can't do anything, practically vomit even." "Wow...I knew someone who was like that with grapes, he was weird." "Heh, yeah it's...it's weird." "Okay, so...can I ask you now Roy? We told you what we're scared of, so you gotta tell us yours now!" "...nnngh...look, ah appreciate you tryin' to help me but-" "We're all in this together! We help each other out when we got problems right?! Now you got a problem, so we're gonna fix it, and the only way we're gonna fix it, is if you admit it, like my friend's mom said! The first step is admitting you have a problem." "It's not a damn problem!" argued Roy. "It is if it's stopping you," said FG. "So come on, tell us." "...I...I-i-i...ahm scared of 'em."

He admitted it with a deepening shame, sitting down against the pillar as he sighed once again. James struggled not to smirk, trying to be civil for once. "Ah can't stand trains...ah hate 'em. Horrible monstrous things, screamin' down dark tunnels outta nowhere, screamin' like they come outta hell, not stoppin' fer no one. ...they terrify me." "Why you so afraid of them?" said FG. "Cuz ah seen whut they can do...ah don't have to explain it." "If this is going to be a problem on our last leg of escaping out of here, you do. All the trains here are dead, none of them are moving at all." "Whut about thuh ones in service? Thuh ones that might be how we all gettin' outta here?" "...I'm sure they're not coming back INTO the subway man." "Still not enough..." "You wanna talk about it?" asked Michael. "Might make ya feel better, so we know how to fix it." "Can't fix sumthin' that two years of therapy can't even fix..." "But...I don't have two years! I gotta find my mom and dad in three hours! Please...please Roy, I wanna help you so we can all get outta here soon." "...alrigh'...a-alrigh' then." Roy sat back down with his hands palmed together, huddling up his knees before explaining. "When ah wuz about eight, me an' mah dad were goin' on a trip, sumthin' nice fer thuh holiday, Coney Island or sumthin'...we went down to thuh subway station, nuthin' new, sum homeless guy playin' guitar fer money, people comin' to an' fro, thuh usual traffic an' shit...sorry." "It's okay." "So we're waitin' fer thuh train, me an' mah dad, an' ah saw this guy a little ways down of us, standin' real close to thuh yellow line. He wuz waitin' too. Ah wondered whut he wuz wantin', or whut he looked like until he turned back an' saw me starin' at him. Sum ol' human guy in his...fifties ah dunno...but he smiled at me. An' ah smiled back. ...ah didn' even see thuh train comin' when he walked right out in front of it. Next thin' ah know, all ah could see wuz blood...everywhere...ah couldn't stop screamin'...c-couldn't stop..."

Roy wept softly into his knees, shivering as he tried to control himself. James kneeled down beside him, trying to pet his shoulder before he slapped it away fiercely. "H-hey...I'm-" "Don't touch me. Don't you dare touch me." "A-alright, fine." "Ah just kept on screamin'," he continued, "beggin' to get away from it...all ah could see wuz red an' that ol' man's face just smilin'...smilin' at me forever, burned into mah skull. He looked so happy...so peaceful...right before he killed himself in front of a goddamn train. Ah never wanted to see another train again....couldn't even sleep thuh first two months. Couldn't handle school thuh next two years when mah grades got shot to hell...dunno how ah recovered." "How did you...cope?" "Mah dad did everythin' he could to make mah life easier. We never went near trains, never watched any movies with 'em, took all mah train toys away since ah had like one or two around...everytime ah had a nightmare, he sat up with me an' made sure ah fell asleep safe...he always kept me safe...always." As he said this, he slowly turned towards FG. Fear and sorrow slowly burned into a deep hatred, piercing from his tear-stained eyes with such intensity, that James could not even look at him. He softly averted his gaze as Michael said: "I'm sorry Roy...that sounds real bad." "Yeah...well, don't matter anymore, it's stupid, it's pointless, an' ah shouldn't be afraid of sum goddamn thing that happened in thuh past but it won't LEAVE me everytime ah think about a goddamn...place like this." "No no it does, it does matter! You know you can't be afraid of somethin' forever, then you'll never get anywhere! So that's why you gotta fight it!" "Whuh?" "Remember what you told me back at the zoo? When you're gonna fight every single monster that's out there, you gotta take 'em head on with everything ya got, right?!" "...hah, righ'." "So we gotta take this on too! You musta fought a lotta monsters to say somethin' like that to me, right Roy!?" "Yeah...yeah ah sure did, but-" "Hold on, I got an idea!" He went into his backpack and pulled out a scarf of solid yellow fibres. "Why dontcha wear this like a blindfold, and we take ya through the tunnel together?!" "Whut?! ...wait...you wanna blindfold me...so you can take me through...there?" "Yeah! My dad once said that, because my mom's real scared of spiders, he put a blindfold on her and took her through the insect house at the zoo, because the tour guide always makes ya go through eeeeevery place in there. So he put a blindfold on her and she went through it and wasn't scared anymore!" "...that...a-ah guess that's a...an idea but-" "Could you...try it for me?" Michael offered up the scarf to Roy, who was admittedly rather nervous to allow himself to become blinded within a place that to him embodied a nightmare he had always known. The blood-stained decor briefly seen upon flickering walls, the faint lights above casting grand shadows for but a moment across grim seedy tiles, the cold merciless tracks on either side of the clinically pale platform. Yet he knew that there was no other way, knowing he had to face his fear properly in order for them to survive. "...alrigh'. Gimme it. But on one condition." "Ah huh?" "You guide me, not FG. Ah trust you." He took the scarf and carefully binded it to his head, wrapping around his eyes and knotting it firmly at the back so it would not slip. He looked towards the light as he did so, trying to imagine he was in somewhere else, a hospital maybe, or someplace else that was more inviting. Michael cautiously held his hand, the black raptor's claws dwarfing Michael's own frail palm as he lead them towards the tunnel. James walked out alongside them, guarding them against any potential threats that would exist. One last walk before the end was in sight.