Story 1262: Railroad to Madness

The wind howled off the sea cliffs, carrying with it a bitter, metallic scent. Somewhere in the distance, the muffled echo of an old train horn drifted through the air like a warning long forgotten.

Juno stood on the edge of the overgrown embankment, the others resting behind her. The figure she’d seen in the tunnel—the other her—was gone. But the feeling hadn’t faded. Part of her was still down there. Trapped, or worse—split.

Below the cliffside, an abandoned railway snaked across the coastline, half-swallowed by earth and fog. This was their next path. The old VIREX emergency rail line, codenamed: Line M-0: Madness Route.

H-13 frowned at the rusted tracks.

“This line was shut before the outbreak even began. Not because it was unstable—but because test subjects who used it either vanished… or returned screaming.”

Shade reloaded his rifle. “Screaming I can handle. Vanishing, not so much.”

They descended toward the tracks.