The man was staring at the opposite wall with intense fascination. Lisa followed his gaze.
The whole wall was one huge photographic image of a recently-harvested cornfield in soothing hues of yellow and gold. Tyre tracks in the corn stretched into the distance. Lisa's eye was immediately drawn to the orange emergency panel positioned neatly between the tyre tracks. On the panel, was a speaker and another red button, this time with an alarm bell on it.
She lunged for the button, but before she reached it, all three of them were thrown violently forward as the train screeched to a halt. They landed in a tangled heap at the bottom of the cornfield. Outside, a series of heavy thuds indicated that whoever was on the other side of the door had suffered the same fate. There was a brief silence before the shuffling and moaning resumed. The distant screaming had stopped.
Lisa gingerly got to her feet and helped the man, whose cut was bleeding profusely now, to stand up. She pulled some paper towels from the dispenser and pressed them against the bridge of his nose. Taking his hand, she coaxed him to apply pressure to the wound.
"Here, press. Like this."
"Are you okay?" she asked the girl.
"I think so," the girl answered. "What the hell is going on?"
She stood up, unfurling surprisingly long limbs to reveal a tall, athletic physique.
"I think it's an … attack, or something," Lisa replied, shaking her head in disbelief.
"What d'you mean, an attack? What kind of attack?"
"I don't know … I just think …"
"Oh, my god! Oh, my freakin' god! We're so gonna die." There was rising panic in the girl's voice. She moved towards the door. "We've gotta get out of here! We've gotta get away."
"No! Stop!" Lisa gripped the girl's shoulder. "Wait! They're right outside the door."
"Who's right outside the door? Who are they?"
"Some of the other … passengers …"
"But who are they? What's wrong with them? Why are they …? Man!"
The girl put her palms flat against the door. Her head dropped.
"Has anyone got a phone on them?" Lisa asked. "I left my bag in there."
The girl shook her head. "Me too."
They both turned to the man. He fumbled in his coat pocket and pulled out an ancient Nokia. His hand shook as he held it out to Lisa.
"What is that?" the girl hissed.
"Thank you." Lisa shot her a glance. She took the phone, tapped some numbers into the tiny keypad then stopped and stared at the screen. "No service."
"MAN!" The girl kicked the door, triggering a frenzy of banging and crashing outside. The door rattled and shook under the impact.
"Stop it! Calm down!" Lisa grabbed her shoulders. "They can't get in, or they would've by now. Someone stopped the train. Someone else will call for help. We just need to wait in here." She took the girls face in her hands. "Be quiet and wait. Ok?"
She tried to smile, but her mouth struggled to remember how to do it and the result felt more like a grimace, but it seemed to work. Nodding, the girl sat down with her back against the door and crossed her long legs. Lisa sat down beside her and took her hand.
"I'm Lisa! What's your name?" She coughed. Her mouth was dry. Her tongue felt thick and sticky.
"Anita."
"Look, Anita. We're going to be ok. Someone will come," she whispered.
After the first hour, they knew that help was not coming. Silent and still, crouched on the floor, they strained to hear what was going on outside, exchanging occasional brief, whispered reassurances and anxious looks when the activity outside increased. At first, they were expecting, then hoping for, the sounds of sirens, vehicles and voices that would signal their rescue. The man, Brian, sat mostly with his eyes closed. His nose had stopped bleeding, but he was deathly pale and sweaty. He hadn't said a word the whole time, except to croakily reply when Lisa had asked him his name. Anita was more composed now, and, like Lisa, was listening keenly to every sound from outside, trying to understand what was happening and what their options might be.
Again and again, Lisa went over everything that had happened since she'd awoken in her seat, to someone shaking her violently and the sounds of a disturbance. For a moment, she had no idea where she was, before her thumping headache reminded her that she was on a train on the way home from London, nursing a serious hangover and the effects of a very late night. Anita, in the window seat beside her, was standing and staring in horror towards the other end of the carriage. There was screaming and shouting, and other unrecognisable wet and guttural noises. She remembered thinking that a wild animal had got onto the train, and that she must be dreaming, maybe even hallucinating. It had been a really heavy night. Then Anita shook her again, even harder.
"Wake up! Move. Move. Move!" Her tone was quiet but urgent.
On her other side, Brian was standing in the walkway between the seats. The three of them were in the back row of the carriage, next to the entrance. Initially, Brian had looked as though he was moving towards the disturbance, but then he'd turned and begun fumbling with the button that opened the carriage door. Lisa saw the look of sheer terror on his face, and she stood up, instantly wide awake.
"What's wrong? What's happening?" she said.
