Tales of the Bounty 9:00 Part 3

"Why are the trains not running?" the stranger asked. His voice, low and monotone.
Jim was still staring. He caught himself and shook slightly to pay attention.
"I can't say, and even if I could, I really don't know. It's darn odd," Jim found himself honestly saying.
"There are no exceptions to be made, any manager to be talked to?"
Jim began to dislike the man immensely.

"I am the only one here," he replied slightly irritated.
"Of course you are. I apologize for not realizing that, good sir."
Jim was a bit flabbergasted by his change in demeanor.
"I do not mean to sound special or want special treatment. It is just imperative that I leave Farcry tonight."
"I am sorry. There is literally not a single thing I can do. This has never happened before."

"Really?"
"I have worked here for thirty years and we have never shut down the Falls."
The man looked around strangely then stared back at Jim.
"I like the name of this transit station," he said deeply.
"Uh yeah, it is nice I guess."
He looked at the monsters outside circling the metal and glass. A squid was rubbing itself against the glass. Sometimes the squids and sharks would work their way into the canals at night and attack people. Police were armed to kill them.

"Incredible, are they not?" the stranger said.
Jim looked back at them and he shrugged unimpressed.
"I see them every night, its not that interesting anymore. Just a bunch of casual sea monsters."
The stranger sighed slightly.

"They are not monsters, they are far from it actually."
Jim stared at the stranger and he stared back.
"If I were you, Jim, I would not stick around here tonight, I would avoid this place completely."
The man turned and walked toward the edge of the platform. The Falls were divided up by moving stairs and elevated platforms of stone.

There were massive openings where the train tracks ran crisscrossed. He walked to the edge of the empty space and turned back to Jim.
"Leave here immediately."
He falls from the platform noiselessly.

Jim walks out from the counter, onto the platform and to the edge awkwardly . The man is gone, not a sound, not even a brief shadow of movement. Suddenly, someone is walking back along the platform. A child laughs. He looks back toward the nearest moving stairwell where the platform begins. It is his daughter, Jan, walking with his granddaughter, Angela. His daughter was a plain looking girl; short, white, with blond hair.

She had inherited Jim's boring and emotionless persona. There was something strange about his daughter as she approached with Angela. Something silver was hanging next to her head just beyond her ear. It followed her; the closer it got, the harder Jim peered at it. Finally, it became more apparent. It was a metal hand connected to a long thin wire.

Jim screams wildly and in one twirling moment, the hand spun around Jan's throat in a quiet, cutting spin. She is lifted up off her feet and up to the next stair, dropping her daughter and a trail of blood. Jim runs over screaming.

His daughter twists and wrenches herself in the ascent. More blood flows. Not enough to die, but close enough. Angela is wailing. He scoops her in his arm and stares up towards the stairs and the next platform.

Someone starts laughing. Someone starts laughing.