Chapter 6: Vigilance

"W-what?" Zoe gasped. "B-b-blood?" she asked once again, terrified by the fact that I could even smell the blood.

It wasn't surprising that she was shocked, as all the bodies we had encountered so far were bruised at most. The fact that there was a distinct smell of blood in air meant that the corpses weren't going to be pretty.

"I don't even smell anything," Jake said, contradictory to my statement. "Maybe you are mistaken?" he thought.

"No. I'm confident that it is blood," I said.

As such, Jake shook his head, letting go of the matter and continued to walk down the walkway to the fare gates. Zoe and I then rushed over to catch up on him.

I wanted to bring out my card to gain access into the station, but I realised that the power probably wasn't working for the gate at the moment. Hence, I attempted pushing the turnstile, and it worked. This allowed me to get into the station more conveniently. Then again, the lights in the compound were still working for some reason, although most of them never ceased to flicker.

"B-bodies..." Zoe stuttered as she stopped and stared down at the corpses laying on the no longer functioning escalator. The bruise marks and lack of blood on them hinted that they were trampled on by the aliens without fighting back.

More bodies lay around the station platform, and the silence of the area became more eerie than calming over time. I tried my best to look away from the dead, but they were just everywhere, and there was no way to I could fix my gaze on empty ground unless I walked out of the station and left.

The three of us walked down the stairs quietly, avoiding the bodies by going around them. The lack of blood on them made me wonder where that distinct smell of blood was coming from. And what was stranger was the fact that my friends couldn't sense it.

As soon as we set foot at the bottom of the stairway, I could see things more clearly. And I could already guess where the source of blood was coming from.

"Jake? Zoe? You see what I'm seeing, right?" I asked, staring at the one corpse that stood out from the others.

"What?" Jake questioned.

Before answering, I walked over to get closer to the corpse to make sure that I was indeed seeing what I thought it to be. And then I noticed the pool of blood that surrounded it. The smell was so strong that it made me felt some sort of fear and tension in my heart, but I didn't know why. It was a very unexplainable feeling.

Following behind me were Jake and Zoe, who joined me in looking at the dead alien figure. Zoe gasped, stepping away immediately and not mutteringly a word, while Jake pinched his nose tightly and gagged, sticking his tongue out.

"That... it's... disgusting," he panted heavily as he began to struggle to breathe.

I didn't understand why the two had reacted to the stench so strongly, as if it were the most unpleasant scent in the world. However, that didn't matter. I followed my friends and walked away from it.

"I think I'm going to puke now," Jake said as he got far away from the corpse of the alien, breathing heavily to take in some fresh air.

"Try not to think about that for now. We need to get back to the apartment as soon as possible," I told him, keeping his mind on track with our task.

"Well, there's a train here, but..." Zoe said as she glanced at the motionless set of train cars at the side of the platform. We turned to look at her, waiting for her to finish her sentence. "How are we going to operate it?" she asked.

The train's doors were opened, but it didn't seem operational. Its lights were on, but it seemed like somebody had used the brakes on it before everyone had evacuated out of it. There weren't any bodies in the train itself, which was a bit relieving for us, as we didn't want our escape vehicle to have dead persons in it. However, that didn't change the fact that we needed to get it moving to make it useful.

Thus, Jake and I stared at each other, as if that were going to help us get a train moving. I looked at him with motionless eyes, as if it were all hopeless. On the other hand, a grin suddenly emerged from his lips. In fact, he was beaming, with didn't fit the atmosphere and mood of the situation at all. I just wondered why he could be so happy when we had no hope of escaping. Plus, there were just too many bodies around us.

"I bet you're wondering why I'm so mirthful," he said, noticing how I seemed rather shocked by his behaviour. "My father worked as a rail operator in the late '90s to the early '00s. He taught me a couple of things about operating them," he said, shuffling around in his spot. "I'm not an expert, but I'm confident I can do something with this vehicle."

Zoe turned to look at him, while I just continued staring at him. I nodded, signalling to him that he should try whatever he could to take us back to the apartment tower.

Jake rubbed his hands together, before walking over to the front of the train and stepped into the train conductor room. Zoe and I stepped into the train cabin, taking a seat after much walking and wandering around the place.

Meanwhile, Jake continued familiarising himself with the train controls, trying to recall what his father had taught him before. We continued waiting for a few minutes, but the train still wasn't moving, and neither did the doors seem to close.

"Hey, Jake? You okay there?" I shouted over, wanting an update on the situation.

"Give me a little time. I need to remember how to make this thing move," Jake yelled back. Only then did I realise that we sort of broke the rule of not making too much noise. Then again, I didn't think that sound was a strong aspect of the alien's anatomy.

Or at least I thought so.

"Take your time. We'll just wait a while for now and stay vigilant on the lookout for more of those aliens," I said. "If you really can't get it started, then we'll just find another way back to the apartment."

"Oh, no, no. This is the only way we're getting back. And I'm confident that I'll be able to recall what my old man told me about this," Jake said, refusing to give up.

"All right. Whatever you say," I chuckled, before I went back into a state of silence and boredom.

I turned to look at Zoe for a moment. She wasn't panting nervously or anything, but the look on her face and the action she did with her hands gave away the fact that she was feeling uncomfortable and uneasy at the moment.

"You want to talk?" I asked, focusing on her swollen eyes and drooped cheeks. She just seemed so... sad.

"Not really," she admitted, pressing her hands together tightly. "But I'll do it if it makes me feel better," she added.

"Go ahead," I said.

"You probably don't how happy I was to get that apartment right in downtown Chicago," she began. "One Amethyst North. The most popular condominium in development in 2023. I was ready to move from my small little apartment into a new one, start a family and live a happy life. I managed to get the unit, but I was short on money. That was when Jake chipped in some money to get me the house. I never thought that he would eventually end up living with me. Or at least I thought so."

Zoe stopped for a moment and started rummaging through her bag again. She grabbed out a tissue and began blowing her nose, before wiping it clean and slipping the used tissue into her pocket.

"Sorry about that," she said, wiping a tear off. "The wedding is in a month, and Jake was going to move in after that. I'm sure you knew. But with this unbelievable incident of aliens attacking us, I don't think that's ever going to happen anymore," she continued. "The years of work I had done to get enough money to buy this dream house, the relationship I have with Jake, and my wish of having kids someday are all shattered and forgotten now. And I don't know who to be angry at," she sobbed.

She looked up at the top of the train cabin, as if she were trying to choose what words to say next. She looked back down, and faced me again, lifting her lips to continue.

"I don't know who to be angry at right now—the selfish aliens for attacking we innocent Earthlings, the government for using us as bait, or myself for even holding this party and causing the deaths of four dear friends," she sniffled. "I... I just can't take this anymore. People around us are dying and being forgotten right now as if they are ants being stomped on. Their lives—our lives just seem so... insignificant."

She broke down into a loud cry this time, wailing and bawling uncontrollably. Tears streamed down her cheeks slowly, but she didn't bother to wipe them off. She just cried it all out. And I got her. Her life was probably more miserable than mine, and her losses were graver than the ones I ever had.

Zoe told me her story multiple times before. She came to Chicago as an orphan, after her parents were both killed in a car accident. She was only five, so the experience must have been traumatising for her even up to this day. She was then moved from Naperville to an orphanage here in Chicago. After a few months, she was adopted by a woman. I remembered her name.

Sandra. She was a very nice and kind woman, and she always spoke words of encouragement and positivity. I knew because I visited Zoe's house back when we were in high school. I had some family problems back then, and I wasn't always on good terms with my parents. But Sandra always talked with me about it, and gave me hope for a better relationship with my parents. And I eventually restored it.

But a few years later, she departed. She had lost the battle against cancer, and eventually succumbed to it. Zoe and I never knew about it until her last days, because she always seemed so optimistic. She never would have let her bad moments ruin someone else's life. In that case, it was Zoe's life. She didn't want Zoe to be pained by her sickness, so she never told her until she ended up in hospital.

And the day that she died, Zoe thought that she had become an orphan again.

Other than the loss of her parents, she also lost her money. She worked so hard to save up money, even in high school, when she did different part-time jobs over the years. She eventually invested that into the apartment in downtown. She had never thought that the apartment would lose its use on June 3, 2030.

Today.

As such, I told her what I thought about the situation. I told her my thoughts, to make known to her that she wasn't the only one who thought that the situation was so hopeless. It was the best thing that I could do.

"You know... I kind of thought the same too. At the party," I began speaking. "When I stared out of the window, all I could see was... people being trapped in their houses, which were being burnt down. Everyone was being killed so quickly and I didn't know what I had to say about it. It was just completely hopeless."

I paused for a moment, thinking about how I should phrase my next sentence. Afterwards, I continued promptly. "When you broke down and cried, I wanted to do the same too. I thought it would be better to be the ones suffering rather than the ones watching others die. But by now, I've learnt to have hope. Hope that we'll be that one percent—or even less, of people that survive this. So, don't give up too soon, all right?"

Zoe didn't respond to my speech. She was still rubbing the tears off her face, and her lips were shaking, as if she were trying to say something but couldn't. So, I took over once again.

"I know you have lost your dreams and hard work in this city, but don't give up just yet. That's the only way that we can start another life in another place. By getting out of here," I encouraged her.

Only then did she finally make a reaction. By simply nodding. And that was more than enough to make me satisfied. I was just contented that she was fine.

I looked over at the operator room. I could see Jake still attempting to set up the train. He was flicking some random switches and pressing buttons that I didn't think was helping to make any progress. He scratched his head, obviously confused and struggling to make the train even move.

At this rate, we weren't going to get out any time soon. I rested my chin against my fist, staring forward at the cabin window. I could see the reflection of bodies shining on the glass, so I looked away for a moment. It was just very uncomfortable to look at them.

Then, I turned to look at Jake again. "Jake? You need some help there? I may be able to help you!" I exclaimed, seeing that he seemed desperate to learn to move the motionless vehicle.

"No, no! I can figure this out on my own. I think I almost got it!" he told me. "Just give me about... three minutes!" he added.

"All right, then!"

I turned back again, and for some reason. I instinctively stared at the glass again. I clearly knew that I would see the reflection of bodies again, but I couldn't move my gaze away from it. I just focused intently on the lifeless rags, the lack of blood around them unusual.

I turned and looked and Zoe again. She seemed much better now. She wasn't crying anymore, and she tried putting on a more positive face. I could tell she still wasn't straight-up happy, but she wasn't sad either. It seemed that she had finally realised that this wasn't the end for her, as long as she was hopeful and not helpless.

All of a sudden, I began hearing a distant shriek. I didn't know where it was coming from, but it sure sounded far away, and there was only one. I told myself not to panic. The odds of it annihilating all of us were definitely low.

Firstly, it was almost impossible for a sole creature to wipe us out. Secondly, we were obviously too far for it to locate us easily. Thirdly, Jake was almost ready to get us out of the hellhole of a station.

I was wrong, however.

The constant pattern of shrieks from the alien became faster. Only then did I realise that it had become a wave of noises, which meant that there wasn't one.

There was an army of them.

I looked forward again, and from the reflection on the glass, I could see at least a dozen of them pouring into the station, running down the stairway erratically. They seemed so soulless yet violent, as if they would completely eradicate anyone that stood in their way. And that was exactly what had happened to those who couldn't escape the station. Those who lay as lifeless corpses for "display."

I just couldn't imagine that we were about to join them in death.

I turned my head and peeped out of the train window, inspecting the train platform. The first alien was already at the foot of the stairway, although it had fallen over. The rest began prancing over it, eyeing us and leaping over. And I knew only one thing that I could tell Jake to do that would determine our fate.

"Jake! They're coming!" I screamed over, frightened and fearful.

"Who?" Jake asked.

"Them! T-t-the aliens!" I responded instantly. "C-close the doors!" I commanded, stammering nervously.

"How many of them are there?" he questioned further.

I looked out of the window once again. They were sixty—or even just fifty feet away from us. And we had a few seconds before our impending doom would take over.

"Just close the doors!" I squeaked, hoping that Jake wouldn't waste any more time with his questions.

"Where are they?" he made his final query.

I hyperventilated. He wasn't listening, but I made it clear that it was our last chance to survive.

"Close the doors!"