Warning: Contains coarse language and scenes of violence

Xia's hurried footsteps echoed hollow through the station's empty passageway. The spastic flicker and buzz of the yellowing fluorescent lights overhead stung her eyes and made her ears hurt.

She grimaced and held her breath again as she passed another vent. The stale, heated air blowing up from the metro tracks through dirt-encrusted grates made the stench of the urine puddled around it even worse. Crinkled pages of old newspaper and candy bar wrappers spun and tumbled past her ankles in the reeking draft.

An all too familiar twinge was starting up behind her right temple.

She hadn't thought to toss her pills into her bag this morning when she left the apartment. Now Xia could only try to rush back home as fast as she could before the migraine set in.

Finally reaching the escalator, she skirted her hand over the sticky rolling handrail as she clambered down the moving steps to get to the platform faster.

What a perfect ending to a perfectly awful afternoon...

The day had started well enough. Rather than bike, she'd walked to work this morning, knowing she had to take public transit from the sandwich shop to get to her 4pm interview. Before leaving her apartment, a once again bundled up Mr. Antoine had kissed her on both cheeks and wished her "Bonne chance, ma petite!". Once outside, Lucy had called down "Good luck, sweetheart!" from her upstairs window.

Maurice, acting unusually affectionate, was the last to see her off to work. Purring and weaving between her legs, he'd nearly tripped her as he rubbed his cheek then brushed the side of his body against her freshly ironed dress pants, leaving bits of black fur. Is this supposed to bring me luck, Maurice? Gee, thanks, Xia had thought. Luckily some wadded lengths of tape they kept in the storeroom of the sandwich shop got the fur off fairly well.

After the regular morning coffee drop-ins and a lunch "rush" of about ten customers, Emma had shooed Xia away from cleaning the counter and had her take off her apron and hairnet and sit instead. Fishing out a hairbrush from her purse, Emma undid Xia's loose ponytail with a tsk-tsk to brush her hair.

"You know, Xia," the older woman's hands deftly gathered and crisscrossed strands to make a French braid, "for someone with such to-die-for, long hair, you're certainly all thumbs when it comes to doing anything with it."

Xia shrugged. "You know I can't be bothered fussing with stuff like that," she told Emma for what must have been the thousandth time since they'd known each other, earning her a hmph from her co-worker. Once the braid was finished, Emma tied it off then straightened out Xia's blouse collar for her. Before Xia could say thanks, Emma's cellphone rang. "Oh, it's the babysitter. I need to take this." The tiny bell hanging above the shop door tinkled as the older waitress walked out of the shop to chat outside.

It was almost time to catch her bus so Xia put on her jacket and slung her bag across her shoulder.

'Good luck,' Emma mouthed over her phone with a warm smile as Xia exited the shop, giving her a thumbs up. The jack o' lantern on the counter gave her a warm smile too through the shop window.

The city bus which would take her to the metro pulled up to the stop at the corner and Xia hurried over.

"If it's anything like when you talk to the foreigners that drop in sometimes," Emma shouted after her, her call done, "you'll ace it!" Xia threw Emma a quizzical look just as the bus doors closed behind her.

Thank goodness she had given herself ample time to arrive to the interview! Once at the metro station, Xia had ridden the northbound line right til its terminus. Then she'd had to wait twenty minutes for the next bus she needed to take.

Showing the bus driver the company's address, he'd let her off at a stop which ended up being some nondescript corner between Nowhere and Someplace with vague directions which way she had to go. There were no shops, no trees, and only the occasional truck or car going by on streets lined by concrete buildings with empty parking lots and freight docks.

Several wrong turns later, Xia ended up hailing down a mail delivery van to ask for directions again. After having to walk an exasperating 10 minutes, she finally found the address, situated smack in the middle of what she finally realized was an industrial park.

BusinessLingua Inc.'s sign was a photocopied sheet of standard letter size paper stuck on the door with masking tape. Xia stood staring at it, a growing sense of unease gnawing at her stomach.

When the cheerful sounding man had called a few days before asking to speak to "Ex-ee-ah Rivers", he'd identified himself as Daniel Vance, BusinessLingua's hiring manager. It was one of the overseas agencies she'd applied to. He wanted to interview her. Would she be available this Friday at 4pm? Xia had been beyond ecstatic as she'd jotted down the unfamiliar address on a napkin.

Since finishing night classes at the local college and getting her foreign language interpreting certificate, Xia had been applying to business centres and schools everywhere but without any luck. They'd all required a minimum Bachelor's degree plus previous relevant employment. Her scant and patchwork-like job history was not something to pad a resume with, and putting down "former youth home kid who'd survived the system" didn't count.

She continued to stand there, doing her best to ignore the niggling doubts rising in her mind.

She owed it to Pete not to give up.

And she had made a promise to Mrs. Chen as well. Had it not been for her former landlady, Xia would never have been able to go to school part-time at night and complete the 15 credit hours she needed. Mrs. Chen had offered her the one and a half room basement apartment at a very reduced rent in exchange for private language lessons and cleaning the building common areas as well as helping out with odd jobs when needed.

Just do it, Xia. She pressed the doorbell button.

"Come in!" It was the cheerful male voice that'd spoken to her on the phone earlier in the week. The door clicked open with a buzz and Xia was greeted by the smile of a blond-haired man who looked to be in his early forties. The man rose from behind a fold-up table.

A quick glance revealed a single room office furnished with table, two plastic chairs, a file cabinet, and a coffee machine perched on a crate by a window whose view was of the adjoining building's cement wall.

"You must be Exeea Rivers!" The man extended his hand. "I'm Daniel Vance, director of BusinessLingua." He was all alone there. There was no sign of any staff.

His handshake was clammy and loose. Why did so many men shake women's hands like a wet noodle? Did they think women liked it?

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Vance," Xia replied, resisting the urge to wipe her palm down the side of her pants. "My first name is actually pronounced 'shee-ah'."

"Have a seat, Exeea," he said, gesturing to one of the plastic chairs.

And things just continued to spiral downwards from there.

Scanning over her resume, Vance started with the generic, "How did you hear of us?", seemingly amused when she said it was from a newspaper ad. He went on with "Why do you want this job?", "What are your strengths? Weaknesses?" but then started asking her about her civil status and her age --questions she knew were illegal to ask-- which he realized she knew given her frown. He waved his hand with a chuckle and a "nevermind, it's fine."

"Tell me a little about yourself," Vance asked, switching gears. Xia gave him her usual generic answer, of course, saying nothing about her childhood.

Not once did he ask questions about her volunteering experience or education.

When Xia tried to ask him questions about the job and its duties, Vance smiled and answered, "Don't worry. We'll train you." He took some papers out of the file cabinet and placed them before her. "Exeea, we'll hire you right away. I think you have what it takes for the job. There's just some paperwork to fill in beforehand. We'll be needing your personal information to open an employee file; your birthday, social insurance number, bank account details for setting up your salary deposits. If you have your credit card, we can place the order now for the training materials you'll need to buy from us before you get your first placement."

Xia immediately stood up and told him she wasn't interested in the position any longer.

With a calm smile, Vance sat back in his chair, eyeing her with a look she was all too familiar with.

"Really? That's too bad. You should think it over. Here's my private cell number." He scribbled on a pad and tore off the sheet to give to her but Xia was already at the door.

"You know, Exeea," Vance drawled, "an attractive woman such as yourself could probably get placed anywhere she wished if she worked for it."

Xia was back on the street in a flash.

Ugh.

She was so furious with herself. How could she have been so stupid and nearly fallen for such a scam? What was that old saying? 'If something sounds too good to be true?' She'd had all her hopes up for this and ignored all of what she recognized now to be early red flags... the quick call after submitting her scant resume, no questions on the phone, the strange location of the "agency" in an industrial park. Her gut had been right telling her something was off when she saw the paper sign on the door, nevermind the "office" inside with no staff.

The walk back to the bus stop did little to cool off her temper. What was she going to say when the others asked how her interview went? Xia's face burned with angry embarrassment.

_____

The grizzled ticket booth attendant behind the glass was donning his coat to leave for the day. He never even glanced at Xia as she dropped her handful of coins into the slot to pay her fare.

Her headache had abated a little, but from experience, Xia knew this could simply be a moment of calm before the storm.

The metro platform was fairly deserted except for a couple of hobos sleeping curled up on benches, and at the opposite end of the platform, a trio of young men wearing ripped jeans with grungy black hoodies, their faces all made up like... Xia's eyes narrowed.... like zombies.

Many costume parties were being held in the city this weekend given it was Halloween. Xia had seen people dressed up in costumes on the bus ride from the sandwich shop. There were also school kids that had been dressed in costumes on their way to school this morning. It'd been cute to see so many little ghosts, aliens, witches, and one rather interesting Spiderman vampire.

While she'd enjoyed the whole vampire then werewolf craze of recent years, there was just something about zombies she could never wrap her head around. Lucy had once tried to get her to watch an episode of "The Walking Dead" on TV. Xia had only been able to watch about 10 minutes before wanting to call it a night. Good thing Lucy's television had decided to act up, its screen winking on and off before going dark. Xia hadn't needed to come up with an excuse then not to watch any longer.

She guessed this part of the metro line wasn't very used outside business hours. Who would commute all the way to this northernmost part of the city except workers in the industrial park? At least she'd be sure to get a seat for herself, Xia thought, wincing as the pulse throbbed in her head with renewed vigour.

The metro train arrived.

Not only did she get a seat to herself, she ended up getting the whole car, empty as it was. Finding the first seat she could without any gum stuck to it, Xia sank down and squeezed her eyes shut, pressing her temple against the train window to try and counteract the throbbing that was growing worse. The hum of the train as it pulled out of the station and into the tunnel provided a bit of a soothing lull.

Whoosh came the sound of the car's access door being opened. Xia turned to look. The three men who'd been at the opposite end of the platform were now entering the car she was in. They would have had to have been running through the cars to make it to hers so fast.

The trio of zombies approached her, the smell of liquor wafting ahead of them.

"Hey baby," the scrawny one said with a crooked grin. "My buddies and I couldn't help but notice you on the platform before. We're heading to a Halloween party downtown... obviously." He swept his hands from the top of his head down, his palms lingering over his crotch. One of the other two zombies, a fat one, snickered whereas the other, who was short but quite broad-chested, remained utterly silent as he stared at her without blinking.

Xia eyed the emergency call button across the aisle. Catching the direction of her gaze, Fat Zombie sauntered over to it and leaned his back against the wall beneath it with his arms crossed, cocking his head at her.

"What do you say, babe? Wanna have a good time with us?" Fat Zombie asked with a bit of a slur.

Clutching the strap of her bag, Xia went to stand up, only to get shoved back onto the seat by the silent third zombie who dropped into the seat beside her. His hard muscled arms and thick neck were inked with vulgar tattoos.

"Get off of me!" Xia hissed, trying to strike the tattooed zombie's hand away but without success. Tattoo Zombie's eyes drilled right into hers.

The stations along this part of the metro line were quite distanced apart. It would still be another few minutes before the train pulled into the next one.

"Come on, babe, don't be like that," Scrawny Zombie who remained standing said. "It's Halloween weekend! You can be the beautiful piece of meat that gets eaten by 3 zombies."

Fat Zombie snickered even more loudly than before.

Xia's heart was pounding and bile rose in her throat as the now knife-like jabs of her migraine stabbed through her temple. Tattoo Zombie leaned over close and finally spoke. "C'mon babe," he leered with a raspy voice, "be our bitch for tonight. Me and the boys are into three-on-ones, you know." He grabbed her breast.

The metro train jolted violently. Both Scrawny and Fat Zombie tumbled forward to the floor.

"What the fu--" Tattoo Zombie spun his head to look at them and Xia seized her chance. With fist clenched tight, she punched him in the throat and he fell back gagging. Xia was on her feet and dashing for the emergency button the next second but she stumbled badly when something grabbed her ankle. Fat Zombie who'd landed on his backside had caught it in his beefy grasp.

Managing to stay upright by catching a pole, Xia kicked out at him with her other foot, her short heel sinking with a satisfying squelch into his eye.

"Ahhh! You fucking bitch!!" Fat Zombie howled, letting go of her to clamp both his hands over his eye.

Xia cried out when her braid was grabbed from behind and she was viciously yanked backwards and spun round by Scrawny Zombie who tried to wrap his arms around her waist, earning him an elbow to the ribs from her. Meanwhile Tattoo Zombie was gagging a little less, struggling to rise from his knees. The look in his bloodshot eyes as he glared at Xia. She knew if he got a hold of her...

When would the damn train arrive at the next station?

She tried lunging for the emergency button again. That was when Tattoo Zombie exploded upwards, grabbing her by the shoulder and slapping her hard across the face. The explosion of pain and dizziness that shot through her skull coincided exactly with the metro car lights exploding overhead. Scorched shards of plastic shrapnel flew everywhere...

...except at her.

The three zombies howled as they got cut and burned. Then the brakes of the train engaged with such force, it sent all four of them careening onto the car floor in a thrashing huddle.

The train screeched to a halt with a stench of burnt rubber, halfway in and out of the tunnel of the next station.

What happened immediately after was a blank for Xia.

The next thing she knew, she dislodged herself from the men just as a single door of the metro car opened, the one right beside her. She made it to her feet and out onto the platform, her bag still slung across her shoulder. She spun around to check behind. Of the three zombies, only Tattoo had made it back to his feet, looking stunned with his black hoodie covered with blood and what looked like tufts of white fur clinging to it. His face was criss-crossed with bleeding gashes.

When his gaze focused upon Xia on the platform though, a murderous glint sparked in his eyes and with a yell he dove forward... only for his nose to smash against the glass of the car door as it whooshed shut right in his face. The emergency siren of the train began blaring with the zombies remaining trapped inside.

Numb and shaking, a panicked Xia ran down the platform to the stairs, never stopping once as she raced out the unfamiliar station it and into the night.

_____

Why was her foot cold?

Looking down, Xia saw she'd lost a shoe. It must have come off when she'd kicked the fat zombie in the eye.

I want to go home... no... should I go to a police station...? Xia couldn't think clearly. Her lip stung. Her body ached. Her fingertips were bloodied...

Oh god, her head hurt.

At a trash bin she leaned over and vomited, sending more sickening stabs of pain through her skull.

Xia braced herself against a wire fence a moment. She needed to get to a main street. She had no idea where she was. An alley?

She needed to find her way home.

She needed to find help.

A strong gust of wind blew past, scattering litter and dust in all directions. Xia felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise when a hush fell right after.

The clap of thunder that shattered the sudden silence caused her to cry out. She clamped her hands over her ears which kept her from hearing at first the distant roaring that was growing louder.

A flash made Xia look up, and she squinted her tearing eyes against a tiny glowing ball of light which had appeared out of nowhere and hovered now just ahead. The ball began to spin, sending out sparks which made her wince from their brightness. Faster and faster the ball spun, swelling in size until it filled the entire width of the alley. Stumbling backwards, Xia threw her arms up to shield her eyes, the glowing ball flared and a dark twisting shape took form within it.

Then with another clap of thunder, the glowing ball collapsed upon itself to disappear.

Lowering her shaking arms, Xia wiped her wet cheeks with her hands and blinked.

Where the ball of light had been now stood a tall man dressed in a costume, staring right at her with eyes blazing like torches.

Another Halloween creep, this one with fancy contacts, Xia managed to think. He was dressed in some sort of warrior outfit? His wig was a mess, tousled and dripping wet. Its long strands of hair clung to his shoulders and chest. The man's gloved hands were clenching open and shut as he advanced towards her.

"You--"

He never got to finish what he'd been about to say when in a final burst of adrenaline, a shrieking Xia dropped him like a sandbag with a knee to the groin before taking off again as fast as she could down the alley.

_____

Wanfeng groaned as he staggered to his feet.

The wild-looking fox woman had caught him completely off guard when she'd struck him with her knee. Had her aim not been slightly off, he'd be retching on the ground, his dress uniform not affording certain parts of him the same protection of his battle armour.

Where was he? One moment he was fighting off the demon curse at the Jade River and now he was...

Wanfeng's gaze narrowed at the sky. When had day become night?

He was on some kind of dark pathway in a... town? But what manner of town had building structures such as those on either side of him? What magic was it that made the few lights he could see glow without fire? The scents and feel of the air here seemed very wrong to him. Reaching for his sword, Wanfeng remembered now that he'd dropped it back on shore to dive into the river. He stretched his arm out to the side to summon it with his magic.

Nothing happened.

Not only did his sword not appear, Wanfeng could no longer feel his magic at all.

"Guan Ren?!" Wanfeng called out, already sensing it was futile.

None of his men or the Spirit Tribe group were there. He was alone.

Looking back up at the night sky, Wanfeng went still. None of the constellations he could observe were familiar.

His uniform and hair were soaked. He could smell the river water on him.

What happened? He'd lost consciousness underwater, but not before having felt an immense power pulling upon him, pulling upon his dragon tail. He dropped his gaze to his hands. When had he shifted back to his human form? Wanfeng tried to shift back into his dragon. Again, nothing happened.

A light rain began to fall.

The fox woman. Did he know her? His first reaction when he'd regained his senses and saw her standing there was to go to her instantly. No, not a reaction... an instinct.

The Dragon Prince's expression hardened as he bolted in the direction the fox woman had gone. Time for answers.

He had only to run a short distance before catching up to her. She was standing in the middle of the pathway with her back to him... swaying.

Wanfeng dove forward to catch the fox before she struck the ground when her knees gave way. And as her head fell upon his shoulder, a strange yet soothing warmth bloomed throughout his chest. Wanfeng frowned. This warmth... it was something he'd felt before, he was sure of it.

The rain began to fall in earnest as Wanfeng lifted the unconscious woman into his arms.

_____

metro: underground rail transit
bonne chance: good luck
The Walking Dead: an American TV series about zombies