Elia & Esther

Based off of this topic, because I was bored. It was not revised or re-checked because I'm lazy. Only posting this here for Ebs.

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Elia shivered in her jacket, but it wasn't from the cold. Walking through the campus that so many people had called home for so long was like walking through a ghost town. The derelict brick buildings looked like they were ready to crumble, windows were smashed, and nature was slowly reclaiming what they had abandoned. Vines crept up the walls, the lawn was a tangle of overgrown grass and shrubbery, and weeds were forcing themselves out through the cracks in the brick walkways. As the twins approached through the missing gates, their footsteps echoing through the eerily still night air, a raccoon glanced up from the long dead fountain with glowing green eyes and scampered away. They found where the gates had gone not far away in a clump of brambles, twisted and rusting.

"Creepy, eh?" Esther said beside her in her usual snake-like hiss of a voice. Despite being twins, they had never been that much alike. Elia was cheery, bubbly, popular, up to date with whatever was cool at that moment in time. Her sister had always been a bit strange, fascinated with the macabre and the occult. They had the same face, but her sister's was paler, gaunter, without make-up. If Elia was wearing a yellow sundress, Esther would be not far behind, all in black and dressed for a cool autumn night. For once she didn't seem out of place. It was dark out now, with the full moon casting a pale silver glow over Beata's forsaken ruins. They were sisters, inseparable and closer than anything, but they were as different as night and day. People always said that Elia took after her father. In that case, she was scared to know what her mother must have been like.

"Your kinda place," Elia muttered back. She cast a glance over her shoulder, toward where a small town had been once. There wasn't much left, just charred, crumbling buildings, the vestiges of a forgotten battle and the happy, carefree life before. They'd destroyed all of it years ago, when the school was attacked. She tried imagining what it must have looked like, a bustling village full of students and townsfolk on a cool spring day, but she could only see the black skeletons of shops and houses in her mind.

"Well, it is pretty cool," Esther admitted, continuing to walk down the old brick road that led to the main office building. How many students walked down this path? Elia frowned and followed. How many died when They broke through the gates? Esther continued to talk, oblivious, running her hand over an old wooden bench that had somehow survived untouched where so much else had been destroyed. There were names engraved into it, but they were weathered beyond recognition. "It's like, seeing a corpse. Corpse of a school, I guess. Makes you wonder what it was like when it was living. Y'know? Walking through the remnants of history."

"I guess. It's just weird. Kind of sad." She half-halfheartedly kicked at a loose brick. "It's all just ruins now."

Esther nodded, but there was still a hint of a grin on her face as her fingers traced the worn plaque where the names had been. "It's sad because it's dead, but that doesn't make it any less cool. I wonder who this bench was dedicated to?"

Elia sighed. "It'd be cooler to see it living." She walked to her side and studied the names for a few moments. "'Rhoden.'"

"Rodan? The pterodactyl?"

"What? No..." Elia pointed. "See? It's hard to make out, but I think it says 'Rhoden.' Maybe it's a last name."

Esther cocked her head and her grin widened. "Ooh. I see. Good spot. We could ask dad later if he knows who that is." She straightened up and glanced over to the big metal doors that marked the entrance to the office buildings on the other side of the courtyard. "Let's go check inside."

She stiffened. "Do we have to?"

"What, are you chickening out?" Her smile faltered and she turned her back to the deserted office building. "What are you scared of? Spiders? We have to check out the whole school anyways. You know what that Moore bitch said. If we don't, Lupo will just show us all up."

"There's nothing here," she protested, glancing around at the overgrown lawn and cracked brick pathways. "You think any of Them are going to hang around a place like this? It's a wreck."

Her sister shot her an incredulous look. "Ellie, you know what this place means to Them. If They aren't here, then whatever. No harm in checking. If They are, though..." Esther's hand instinctively fell to the hilt of one of her knives. "Well, They'll have to be dealt with, won't They? The quicker we get through this, the quicker we can get home."

She opened her mouth to protest, trying to search for some excuse, but finally she caved and let her eyes fall to the ground. "You're right, I guess..."

Esther's smile bounced back immediately. "Of course I am. Wright's my last name."

Elia groaned and rubbed at her temples. You went there. You are the worst. "How long have you been waiting to use that one?" she asked, exasperated. Esther broke into a low cackle.

"Came up with it on the spot. Clever, eh? I should write sitcoms." She spun on her heel and started towards the doors. "Come on then, scaredy cat. Don't want to be here all night, do you?" Elia sighed and hurried to follow, eyeing the imposing brick facade with a sudden pang of fright in her heart. Was that her imagination, or did a shadow stir behind one of those yawning black squares where a window had been an eternity ago? They were coming closer to the plain stone steps that led up to the double doors. Was that her heart beating, or could she hear footsteps just behind those crumbling brick walls? Each shadow cast by the old oaks lining the walkways seemed to hide enemies, one of Them, and Elia kept glancing behind her every few seconds just in case someone was trailing her.

She forced herself to stare forward and sighed again. Don't be stupid. There's no one here. You're just being paranoid. Elia buried her hands deeper into her coat and stopped at the foot of the steps. Esther was struggling with the door handle. "Stupid... Thing... Won't... Budge..." She kicked the door in frustration and muttered a curse under her breath. "Locked. Or barricaded. Think we might have to crawl through a window." Her eyes ran over the walls. About five feet off the ground, above a rose bush that hadn't felt a landscaper's shears in years, was a window that must have been connected to the main hall. "You could boost me through there and I could pull you up. Those thorns, though... Hey Ellie, do you th... Ellie?"

Elia had glanced behind her again, but this time there was someone standing behind her.

Ten yards away, right in front of the fountain, was a girl who might have been around their age. A sheet of raven black hair fell down her back, and two icy blue eyes shone in a pale, gaunt face. She was clad all in black, and in one hand was a long, curved, slender sword that seemed to absorb the silver moonlight. The girl watched them, unblinking, silent as the grave, with no hint of expression on her face. Fear leaped up in Elia's throat and her heart was threatening to burst from her chest. "Est... Esther... R-R-Rivers..." she whispered, finally taking back control of her voice.

"Ohoho..." A wide, almost manic, grin appeared on Esther's face as she turned on her heel. Her sister casually sauntered down the stairs, and in one fluid motion, crossed her arms and unsheathed two silver knives. She began to twirl them in her fingers, making them flash menacingly in the moonlight. Elia backed up the steps and against the door, but Esther had seemingly forgotten all about her. "Eris!" she called. "What's Argona's whelp doing so far from home?"

Eris did not answer. She raised her sword in front of her.

"A fine little blade," Esther hissed. "Maybe I'll give it to Ellie when I'm done with you. Are any of your little friends around here? Is mommy around to hide behind?" Eris didn't reply. Her expression remained completely neutral and unreadable. "Oh, I forgot. You're too stupid to string two words together. Well, what's idle prattle for, anyways..."

Still as soundless as ever, the girl dashed forward. Esther ran forward to meet her.

They came together in a rush of steel and shadow, and the steel sang as their blades crossed. Esther's free knife darted out, but Eris ducked aside, and the knife flew harmlessly past her ear. Rivers backstepped and Wright spun away, breaking their fleeting contact, but a moment later they were rushing at each other again. Her sister jabbed out at her foe's eye, but Eris swiped the knife aside. The other flew out like a silver dart, and the mute dodged, stirring herself forward and slamming into Esther with all her weight thrown behind her.

Wright reeled and swung her arm in a wild slash, scraching a bright red cut across Eris' pale cheek as she charged again. Regaining her balance, Esther sidestepped, avoiding Rivers' lancing thrust. Eris whirled and dashed again, her sword flashing in the moonlight. Esther leaped backwards, only an inch away from the blade's cruel bite. A single black button went flying and clattered quietly on the cracked bricks. "Tsh... This coat cost a lot, y'know," she muttered. Metal screamed on metal as she caught Eris' next downward swing on her knife. She jabbed with the other, and Eris snatched backwards.

A deadly waltz began between the two, with a steel song accompanying their dance. The blades were three silver blurs as they spun round and round in spirals, cutting and stabbing at each other, all in sullen silence. Esther's expression kept flickering between some kind of manic glee and a fierce determination as she circled, jabbed, and darted aside to avoid Eris' savage swings. It was graceful, beautiful in a way, and Elia couldn't tear her eyes away. Her sister had always been an artist with a knife, but Eris was something else entirely. I should call for help, she thought, but she dared not take her gaze off Esther in case it was the last look she ever got.

Esther leaned back, narrowly avoiding a looping cut that would have taken off her head, and then stirred herself forward with a grunt. Eris was knocked back bodily as she slammed an elbow into her foe's neck, and Elia thought she could hear a choked gasp of pain. Wright hacked down, but Eris ducked aside and slashed out blindly, spinning. Esther dodged backwards. Rivers regained her bearings and then came on, inexorable. Esther began to edge backwards, twin knives held out like a snake poised to strike. Her foe stopped where she was, watching with unreadable frosty eyes, blood trickling from the cut on her cheek like scarlet tears. Esther continued to inch backwards, towards the foreboding ghost of a building.

Eris charged again, sword flashing, and Esther ducked. The sword went sailing over her head with a whoosh, and finally she had her opening. Esther slashed low. Rivers' face contorted in silent pain, and she stumbled backwards, clutching where she had been cut. Beneath a long rip in her jacket and shirt was a bright red gash, and a dark stain was spreading throughout her black drab. Her sister smiled. "That's for ruining my coat, bitch." Elia breathed a quiet sigh of relief. She can do this.

But suddenly, quick as lightning, Eris was running at her again. Caught off guard, Esther began to retreat backwards to avoid the wild cuts at head, chest, arm, and leg, only inches ahead of death with each slash and thrust that Eris aimed at her. Eris swung wildly, and Esther's retreat became a headlong flight. She skipped aside, the sword a silver blur dangerously close to her face. Rivers slashed down, and Wright was forced to slide to the right. Another cut, diagonal now, and she stumbled left, barely avoiding it. Esther lurched backwards to avoid another slash and backed into a bench. Elia screamed as Eris hacked downwards, but her sister had thrown herself aside and was rolling across the bricks. The sword sliced through wood and weak aging metal, burying itself deep into the planking.

Esther had found her feet. "I thought you were supposed to be good," she said, twirling her knives. Eris whirled and rushed at her again, but this time Esther was ready. In one fluid motion she spun on the sole of her foot, swung her right foot in front of the other, flicked her wrist, and let a blade fly. It whirled end over end and buried itself into her shoulder. She stumbled, off-balance, and this time it was her sister who was rushing. Wright ran, leaped, and for a moment she had wings. Rivers raised her sword, but too slow and too late, as Esther tackled her from above and brought both of them to the ground. Her other knife had been dug into Eris' left breast, and she let opened her mouth in a silent scream of pain as Esther twisted and yanked it free. Blood sprayed up like a fountain, spattering them both in blood.

She was straddling her now, pinning both of Eris' hands to the ground. Esther stabbed her remaining knife into a pale wrist as the girl tried to stab upwards, and Rivers let her sword fall from her hand and clatter on the bricks. A wicked smile was spreading across her sister's face now. "Sayonara," she hissed. Elia could see Eris' eyes widen as Esther raised her knife in the air and brought it down in a hard stab into her heart, burying it to the hilt. The mute convulsed, twitched, struggled vainly under Esther's weight, and then finally went still as blood began to pool beneath her.

Esther stood, smiled broader, and wiped her sticky, bloodied hands on the hem of her skirt. "Hey, Ellie!" she called, waving cheerily as she began to walk over. "Was that cool or what?" Elia gave a loud cheer and leaped down the small flight of stairs to run over. They came together in an embrace by the pool of water where the fountain had been. "Let's go home, yeah? This place kinda blows."

Elia pulled away, beaming, holding her sister's hands in her own, but that was the last smile to come across her face.

Her sister coughed, and Elia felt blood spray across her face. Confusion lit up in both their eyes, but as Esther opened her mouth to say something, there was only a terrible choking sound. Blood dribbled from the corner of her mouth and trickled down her jaw. Elia stepped back and watched in horror, petrified. Protruding out from her chest was a blood-slicked blade, long, curved, slender. Esther stumbled forward, eyes suddenly blank, and then slid off the sword and collapsed in a limp heap at Elia's feet. She stared where her sister had been standing moments before but only saw Eris, specked in blood, with Esther's knives still buried into her shoulder and chest. Two cold, blue, icy eyes met hers, neutral and unfeeling, and they didn't break eye contact as Eris reached over with her free hand and yanked the long silver knife from her heart.

"How?" she asked faintly, but Eris didn't answer. Esther's knife was suddenly pushed pushed through Elia's throat. She blinked. A fiery pain, like nothing on earth, worse than hell's flames, filled her as she began to choke on her own blood, gargling hideously as a scarlet sheet ran down her neck and stained her clothes. Every thought was driven from her mind as she raised a shaking hand, maybe to try and pull the blade out, maybe to grab at her murderer, but her arm fell limply to her side as Eris pulled the knife in her shoulder free, reached back, and stabbed through her eye. Half the world went dark. She staggered forward, Eris stepped aside, and Elia fell face first into the stagnant, icy water.

I have no idea why I did this. Again, I didn't bother revising this because I'm lazy and don't really expect people to read.

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The train rattled as it rumbled along through forest, through plain, through mountain, over rivers and past lakes. It all moved in a blur past Elia's window, dark and bathed in silver moonlight. They were speeding through woods now, and between the trunks of silhouetted trees she could see a glassy lake as black as tar, shimmering under the stars. She watched, with her jacket draped over her like a blanket, head leaning against the cold glass, and her feet propped up on the seat in front of her. Her twin was sitting in the seat opposite, busily running a rag over a knife. The regular rhythm of the train moving was like a lullaby, easing her into sleep, making her eyelids droop...

"Don't want to fall asleep, Ellie."

Elia's eyes shot back open. Esther's gaze flicked up from the blade for a moment and then back down again, not pausing her polishing. She gave a piteous groan and shut her eyes close again, exhaustion weighing down on her. "Why the hell not? We've been sitting here all day. I'm tired."

"Do you wanna miss getting to Beata?" Esther asked, not looking up this time. "Open your eyes, Ellie." Elia groaned again, her eyes fluttering back open, as a sharp kick hit her in the back of her outstretched legs. She shot her sister a mutinous glare.

"Don't look at me like that." She gave the knife one last wipe down with the rag and held it up to the window, so it flashed ominously in the silver light. With a satisfied smile, she twirled it in her fingers and slid it back into its sheath. Esther tossed the rag in Elia's direction, so it flew through the air and landed unceremoniously onto her face. Elia shrugged the jacket off and ripped the rag away, muttering curses under her breath. "Trust me, you don't want to be sleeping when we finally get there."

"Why does it matter? We've been on this train for hours." She threw the rag back, but Esther's hand shot out and snatched it out of the air. "Pretty boring, y'know. I know you've been having fun cleaning your little toy and all, but there's not much to do here for me. And I've been up since five."

"So have I. You're just bitching. Now move your feet up, I wanna lay down."

"Ugh, fine, hypocrite." She lifted her feet and Esther flopped down on the seat, stretching out her legs. Elia brought her feet down to rest on her sister's stomach. Esther glowered at her.

"I'll tickle you if you don't move your feet, Ellie," Esther warned.

"I'll blind you," she replied with a yawn, stretching out her arms. "So get comfy."

"Bluffer."

"That's what you said last time."

"And then I beat you up, if you recall." Even still, Esther just rested her hands on Elia's legs and stared up at the metal ceiling. "While blind. I literally beat you up without being able to see. How does that make you feel?"

"I feel like I got the last laugh."

"You were grounded for a month," Esther reminded her.

"And you were blind for a day," Elia shot back. "I won."

"Whatever, loser. I got revenge."

Memories of being tickled nearly to death while paralyzed flooded her brain. She grimaced. It was the worst form of torture. The very worst. "A different battle," she grumbled.

"Are you calling this war, then?" Esther raised an eyebrow with a dangerous glint in her eye and a hint of a smirk on her face.

"We'll call it a draw," she said stiffly. Esther snickered under her breath. "Can I go to sleep now?"

"No," she said. "Stay up. It's part of the experience. You'll ruin your first trip to Beata if you're sleeping when we get there."

"I'm tired," Elia protested, rubbing her eyes. "And bored. This 'experience' sucks."

"Look out the window, then." Esther made a lazy gesture towards the glass and Elia glanced out. More lakes, more trees, more stars, more wilderness. Mountains rose in the distance, great black mounds, covered in pines and conifers.

"Very pretty. Can I sleep now?"

"No." Esther flicked at Elia's ankle and she let out a sharp cry of pain.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"To wake you up. And because you're being annoying. This train ride is cool and your complaining is spoiling it."

"Cool? How?"

Esther shot her an incredulous look. "Look how pretty this all is! And it's really peaceful, too, and cool. Nobody travels like this anymore, it's ridiculous. Who wouldn't want to just go through the countryside like this instead of in some stupid cramped car? We drive in cars all the time. Cars are dull."

"Because planes exist, grandma. This is way too slow and boring. It's not the seventeenth century anymore, sorry to break it to you."

"Eighteenth century, Ellie," she corrected, exasperated. "Eighteenth century would be the 1600s. Steam power was invented in ―"

"Shit, fuck, sorry!" Elia waved a hand. "Eighteenth century, Professor. Fuck, I swear, if you get yourself landed in Winter..."

"Eh?" Esther began playing absentmindedly with Elia's feet as she stared up at the train's roof. "What's wrong with Winter?"

"Bunch of smart-asses and goody-two-shoes. And no way I'm getting in there." Elia glanced out the window. The lake had disappeared, and now rocky cliffs rose on either side of the train as it rumbled on and on. She  wondered how soon they'd be at Beata ― she was sick and tired of this stupid train and beyond exhausted. "Hope we're in Autumn. You'll have to cheat so we get in there together. If you get stuck in Spring or something you'll go crazy in a week."

"Why Autumn?" Esther asked, gently knocking Elia's feet together.

"Orange is my color. And because dad was in Autumn." Elia let out a shuddering yawn. "Now, if you'd let me sleep..."

"Maybe I don't wanna be in Autumn," Esther cut in, smirking. "Maybe I'd like to be shut of your fat face for once."

"Oh, please," Elia shot back. "You'd die without me."

"Whaaatever. Just because you're too dumb to get into Winter..."

"You're not exactly top of the class either."

"Only because you're always getting me in trouble."

"You get yourself in trouble just fine," Elia said. "Hey, do you think the snack car's still open?"

"Probably. Go get me something."

Elia frowned. "Come with me," she said.

"Too lazy," Esther said, moving on to Elia's toes now.

"Oh, fuck you."

After a few minutes of arguing Elia returned with a bag of chocolate pretzels. At first she'd been unwilling to share, but eventually she relented, and both sisters had eaten through a quarter of the bag. The cliffs had turned back into forest, but these woods were thicker, and there was no shining lake on the other side. They both made small talk, talking about everything and anything, when the lights flickered. Elia cast a nervous glance upwards, withdrawing her hand from the bag, and then to the dark forest outside. Across the aisle in the seats opposite to them, a girl with long brown hair and reddish-brown eyes was humming an eerie tune.

"And you remember how he screamed when he saw the... Ellie? Hey, what's up? Ellie."

She blinked and shook herself out of her stupor. "Huh? What?"

Esther frowned and sat up. "Something wrong?"

"Oh. No... I just got distracted, sorry..." She sighed and stretched back. "The lights went off for a sec. Just spooked me a bit."

"What, you got spooked by that?" Esther flopped back down. "Jeez, Ellie, I knew you were a scaredy-cat, but..." The lights flickered again, more noticeably this time. People began to mutter loudly, pointing up and watching the lamps. "Huh. Piece of junk. Whatever, they're just lights."

A loud, terrible, groaning filled the whole train and Esther shot bolt upright, eyes wide. Elia pulled in her feet and looked wildly around as they slowly, surely, began to rattle and rumble to a stop. Their was a high pitched screech of metal on metal, the sounds of the pistons died off, and the mutterings and hushed whispers rose into a loud clamor. There was a sudden jolt, and Elia's suitcase slid off the luggage rack and onto the floor, and the train stopped moving. "Eh? What's the big deal?" She sounded annoyed as she popped another pretzel into her mouth. "We're still in the middle of nowhere. Why are we stopping?"

"Mechanical failure?" Elia suggested, but she couldn't keep the uneasiness out of her voice.

"Could be..." Footsteps sounded down the corridor and their cousin popped his head around the corner, yellow, wolfish eyes shining with concern.

"Hey, guys, did you..."

"Beat it, Lupo," the girls said in unison. Jack growled and stalked off past their seats, muttering foul words under his breath. "And clean your mouth out!" Esther added.

They shared a laugh after that, but then suddenly, without warning, the lights flickered off, and they were plunged into darkness. Elia gave a surprised little shriek and looked out the window again, but this time, she couldn't see any trees, only inky blackness. It's a full moon. All the stars are out. The hairs on her neck began to rise. Fear rising in her chest, she quickly dug through her pocket and pulled out her phone, flipping it on. A dim blue light washed over the two of them, but Elia could still hardly see. "What now?"

"I dunno," Esther admitted. Elia thought she could hear the conductor screaming obscenities far up ahead, his voice muffled and indistinct. "I suppose somebody fucked up pretty bad..."

There was a bang, a shout, and then the obscenities turned into a terrible shrill scream of agony. Elia pressed herself hard up against the seat, and the din of the train car trailed into a deafening silence. "What was that?" she hissed, but Esther didn't respond. Two knives were shining in the darkness. The eerie song of the girl on the other side of the aisle had stopped as well, and now she was speaking.

"Please calm down..."

Esther and Elia exchanged a look.

"I know it must be hard... What was it? Oh, that's terrible... Absolutely terrible. Who did it, though?" The girl sighed. "Well, you need to be more specific than that..."

"Who is she talking to?" Elia whispered. There was only one voice, and no one speaking back.

"Cut it out, will ya?" Esther called across the aisle. The voice paused, and then suddenly she was standing in the fringes of the phone's dim light.

"I'm talking to Jim. It's important."

Esther narrowed her eyes. "Who the hell's Jim? There's no one talking but you."

"Oh, you can't hear him. He's the conductor."

The sisters exchanged another look. "Are you some kind of loony? The conductor's up front."

"Loony? Oh, no, no, no..." She smiled. "My name's not Loony. It's Liz. L-I-Z. For Elizabeth. You're not the first person to make that mistake." They both gaped on her, but she continued on obliviously. "And he's not up there anymore. He's here with me. I called him."

"Liz, get back here," a male voice whispered. A pale hand reached for her wrist, but Elizabeth smacked it away. Elia scooted closer up against the window while Esther stared up at her, incredulous.

"Those are pretty knives," she carried on, cocking her head and leaning in to examine them. Esther leaned back, hissing like a cobra. "Are you any good with them?"

"I think you're about to find out," Esther shot back, baring her teeth.

"Oh, yes," Elizabeth said, looking completely unperturbed. "I think I will. They're coming to this aisle soon, Jim says."

Esther narrowed her eyes. "Who's coming?"

"Can I ask what your gift is?" Elia might have told her to buzz off before Esther lost her patience and stabbed her in the throat, but fear was clasping a cold hand around her throat, and she couldn't speak. She cast another glance out the inky black window.

"I asked you a question," Esther said.

"Jim won't tell me. He seemed pretty distraught though," Liz admitted, deflating. Elia had to kick Esther sharply in the shin when she saw her draw back her knife, poised to strike. "Now, what's your power?"

"Immobilization induced by song. Wanna know how it feels?"

"By song?" Elizabeth delightedly clapped her hands together with a small squeal of excitement, as if she had not heard the threat. "My gift is induced by song too! My mom says it's from my dad. He impregnated her and left without calling back and she doesn't like to talk about it. Maybe we're sisters." Elizabeth leaned in, as if trying to discern if they indeed were sisters, and Esther leaned back again, looking more uncomfortable than irritated now.

"What's your gift, then?" she asked, holding one blade in between them and the other ready in her hand.

"Oh, me?" She smiled broader. "I can talk to the dead."

BOOM. CRACK. BANG. A hundred screams rose up in a united, deathly, shrill wail in the next car over. People in their car were screaming too, scrambling to their feet and pushing and shoving to get away. A stampede of students stormed past their seats, with Jack leading the way. Liz turned her gaze on Elia now, oblivious to the horror behind her. "Are you her sister? Do you guys have the same gift?"

Esther shoved Liz roughly to the floor and bounded over her, knives twirling. CRACK. BANG. BOOM. BANG. A boy, in his panic, was rushing at her to get away and follow the group of students clambering to the back, but quick as a snake, she jabbed an elbow into his throat and he collapsed to the ground in a heap beside Elizabeth, clutching at his neck and gasping for air. "Idiot! I could have stabbed your eye out there!" she hissed, kicking him in the shoulder. He let out a sharp cry of pain, but Esther ignored it. "C'mon, Ellie, we're breaking a window."

Elia ran out after her, phone forgotten, unintentionally stepping on the boy's fingers along the way. "A-A w-w-window? Why don't w-we..."

Her sister finished her sentence for her, as if reading her thoughts. "Follow them? Because the exit off the train is two cars over, and all those idiots will be bottle-necked trying to all squeeze through. It'll be too slow. C'mon, now..." Elia followed her as she strode over to the seats on the opposite side of the aisle. A blue-eyed boy pushed past them and fell to his knees on the floor beside Elizabeth. "Can I get your jacket? This is gonna hurt..."

BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.

The metal door flew off its hinges and skid down the aisle with a screech. Through it strode a line of figures, all in black except for the spatters of blood and gore on their clothes. Some had hidden their faces behind balaclavas, others in ski masks, but the leader kept her head held high for everyone to see. Long raven hair cascaded down her back and two icy blue eyes shone out of a pale face. In each of their hands, they held blades; swords, axes, daggers, polearms. One woman with fiery red hair held a bow with an arrow drawn back, another great big troll of a man held a bloodied club with what looked like brains spattered across his wide, muscled chest.

"Oh! I get it now!" Elizabeth pushed herself to her feet and smiled. "'They're' coming down the aisle." The redheaded woman let the arrow loose. It zipped through the air and stuck Liz through the eye. There was a spurt of blood, the girl staggered backwards, and she fell into the blue eyed boy's arms again as he let out a horrible scream. Elia stared at her, numb, as the blood began to well up and pour from the ruin of her eye like crimson tears, over her face and through long brown hair.

Esther did not wait for a jacket then. She climbed onto the seat and kicked, and the window shattered instantly, letting in a flood of cold air. The unnatural darkness lifted, as if it was never there. Once again, she could see the moon-bathed trees, springy grass, and train tracks. "Hurry up, Ellie." Elia, tearing her eyes away from Elizabeth's body, turned and threw herself out the window with a running start. Shards of glass cut at her as she hurtled through the gap, but she could hardly feel them. The fall she did feel. She flipped through the air and landed with a painful thud in the grass, white hot pain flashing before her eyes as she hit the back of her head down hard on the ground. Elia blinked away tears and clambered to her feet. A million years ago she had felt exhausted, but now she could have run all the way to Beata without stopping.

Elia looked up, but her sister had disappeared. Sounds of chaos, of screams and bumps and fighting filled the train. Her head was thundering... "Esther?!" she called. "Hurry up, get down here!"

"You go ahead, Ellie. Run into the woods." There was something strange about the way she spoke. It was flat, unnatural, and laced with venom.

"What the hell do you mean?!" Elia yelled, panic flooding through her. "I'm not leaving without you! Get down!"

"I'll catch up."

THRUM. BANG. BANG. BOOM. A reverberating clang of metal filled the air. Next, a limp body dropped out the window and Elia's heart leaped into her throat, but it wasn't her sister. This girl had fiery red hair, and a smiling red cut across her throat. SMASH. BANG. CRACK. An earsplitting scream of terror pierced the night. There was a crash. Another window had shattered, and a blonde head came flying out and tumbling into the grass. The decapitated body of a girl slumped out not long after. Elia swallowed the bile rising in her throat and looked back up. "Esther! Come on!" Snarls, like that of a wolf, a shriek, the ripping of flesh and muscle, the cracking of bones, a yelp, a mournful howl. CRACK. The howling stopped.

Another body tumbled to the ground on top of the redhead, this one a boy maybe only a couple years older than her. He was all in black too, spattered with red and dark stains, but she could not say where the top half of his head had gone. Only his lower jaw remained, and it was a mushy horror of blood, brains, and skull fragments. The most recognizable part left was his lolling tongue. There was a slash across his stomach, and his intestines were spilling out of the gash and filling the air with a foul scent. She took a step backwards. BOOM. BOOM. BANG.

An inhuman roar, a blast like a small explosion. The windows all suddenly lit up orange, and Elia could see a column of flame  fill the corridor. Vines, too, were cracking out like whips. Two caught a man in black by both legs, and he was screaming horribly as he was ripped cleanly down the middle. Blood and gore sprayed out everywhere. A woman, the one with the long raven hair, dashed forward, sword flashing, and the vines began to write and swing around wildly, as if they had been beheaded. Yellow flames leaped and danced as the seats caught fire, licking up hungrily at beams of wood, lapping at the metal ceiling. The woman leaped backwards as a third vine darted out like a lance, jabbing and thrusting, searching for something, someone, to wrap its deadly grip around. "ESTHER!" Elia screamed.

Esther finally answered her summons.

She tumbled out the window and Elia rushed to her side. Blood was spattered across her face, with an arrow embedded in her waist, a wide cut across her stomach, and singed hair, but otherwise she was alive. That was enough. Her breathing was shallow, light, and her eyes were closed shut. "Let's go..." she whispered. With a strength she didn't know she possessed, she dragged Esther to her feet and draped one arm over her shoulder and began to walk her, step by step, away into the woods.

Faintly, so quiet that Elia wasn't sure if she had really heard it, Esther mumbled something. "What, Esther? What?"

"Knife," she breathed.

"Damn it, we can worry about your stupid knives later... We've got to hide... I have to get that thing out of you too..."

"Mute," she muttered, feverishly, deliriously. "Mute."

CRASH. BANG. BOOM. SMASH. CRACK. Elia did not look behind her. "What does that even mean?"

"Riv..." They were pushing through shrubbery now and past the trees. Skeletal branches reached out and scratched at them, grasping like hands.

"What?" she snapped.

If she ever finished the word, Elia did not hear her. A searing pain like nothing else filled her, her chest contracted, her breathing stopped, and fire coursed through her veins... She looked down. A long, curved, slender blade stuck out from her stomach, slicked in blood. It twisted and Elia screamed. Esther pulled her arm away and staggered for whoever who was behind her, but then the sword was suddenly pulled free. There was a whoosh, and Elia could hear her sister collapse. Dead, was the only thought she could manage through all the pain. Elia clutched at the gaping wound as blood poured out in a river over her fingers, and turned.

Close enough to kiss, inches away, were the two cold blue eyes of death. Elia stumbled backwards. Half of Eris' clothes had been burned away, and everywhere there were stab wounds, cuts, and bruises. Blood leaked out from a hole in her neck. She blinked, and Eris rushed forward, her sword arcing downwards.