TW: This is another horror chapter, here's a warning for you before reading.
Congrats to @EpikEnvy for winning this week's art contest! As always, there's another one starting right as this chapter uploads! Thank you all for being so supportive in the discord server <3
Anyway, back to the chapter, I hope this one hurts.
Also, apologies in advance for the scientific innacuracies.
Love you all,
Taco <3
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For once, waking up was easy. Noah's head was resting on your shoulder as you opened your eyes. When he started to move, you got a chance to stretch and rub the sleep from your eyes.
"Morning Noah."
Just saying that made you blush.
"Good morning to you too, doll. Sleep well?"
He made you blush harder; You rolled your eyes and looked away.
"Just fine, love. And don't call me doll."
You teased in an attempt to make a comeback.
"Fine by me, Jet lag. You can keep calling me love if you want though."
He put a finger under your chin and moved your head to face him.
"Dammit..."
You rolled your eyes and hid the red on your cheeks behind your hand.
Sitting up, you excused yourself from the conversation and headed to breakfast, but Noah followed behind you with a smirk on his face.
You and Noah took a step into the cafeteria and smiled at one another. You spotted Gwen, Leshawna and DJ sat at a table, refusing to eat their food by talking to one another.
Suddenly, the three of them turned to look at you. Gwen looked between you and Noah, then gave you a facial expression you could only describe as mortal curiosity and excitement.
You looked Gwen dead in the eyes, smiled and nodded. After that, the three stood up and walked to the confessional, all stepping inside and locking the door behind them.
Noah sat down with a plate of mush that was identical to the one last night.
"What was that about?"
He asked, pretending to eat what was in front of him whenever Chef looked in his direction, to avoid getting thrown across the room.
You replied blankly,
"Gwen, DJ and Leshawna had a bet on whether we were going to hook up or not."
Noah turned to look at you with horror on his face.
"What?"
"Yeah... DJ told me about it. He caves to intimidation really easily. I gave him a hug afterwards to apologise."
You forgot what was on your spoon and put it in your mouth, immediately regretting it when the flavour of dishwater hit the back of your throat.
———RECORDING GWEN AND DJ————
"I called it! I knew they were gonna hook up!"
Gwen jumps up and down, and cheers.
"Take that, Leshawna! It's pay day! Not really though, that first bit was mean."
DJ stands still, with a nervous smile on his face, arms folded.
—————RECORDING LESHAWNA————
"Listen, I knew they were gonna hook up. I mean, come on. I was just betting that they'd hook up after the show was over. God forbid I think Y/N has some standards."
Leshawna breaks into furious laughter.
"Who am I kidding? Those two were built for each other!"
—RECORDING GWEN, DJ AND LESHAWNA-
Lehsawna huffs, then divides the pot of money in two, enviously rolling her eyes.
"HELL. YES!"
Gwen's cheering as she gets handed her cut of the money, and fist bumps DJ.
"That's what I call a profit!"
DJ fist bumps her back, and the two start talking about what they're going to buy.
—————ENDING RECORDING—————
You weren't being recorded when you walked off the plane, clearly Chris was sick of having to look over footage of you and the rest of the cast walking to the challenge site.
Chris shoved the eight of you onto a tour bus and stood at the front, giving a verbal guide to the city you were driving through.
The plane had landed in London; England's miserable capital. You had been to England before and immediately preferred the rural countryside to the miles of sprawling sad terraced buildings at the centre of the country.
But, it was the one place that most international viewers would recognise, so it made sense to land here.
Gwen and Courtney were talking about their knowledge on the history of London's true crime and were giggling in front of you.
You had your face pressed into the window you were sat against, and huffed as the same landscapes flew by one another.
Noah was sat next to you, attempting to tune out Chris' talking as he continued to read his book from earlier today. When he wasn't turning pages, he'd rest his hand on your thigh, which made your stomach feel like it was eating itself from the inside out... In a good way.
"Alright, we're here!"
After being dragged out of your semiconscious state, you stretched and made your way to the front of the bus.
Chris shoved most of you out onto the pavement, but gave you a chance to look at your surroundings before continuing his tour.
"Courtney, look! It's the London bridge! There's so much gory history in there."
Gwen mimicked a hanging with her hands, and Courtney and Leshawna let out a laugh.
Heather rolled her eyes and pretended to gag,
"Don't get me started. This entire city is so obsessed with the grim that there's an entire horror experience for freaks like you."
She pointed to a building advertising a horror venue just down the road. It read 'The London Bridge Horror Experience'.
"Yeah yeah, appreciate the bridge. But, we're actually going down there!"
Chris pointed in the other direction to where everyone else was looking, to a London Underground station. You rolled your eyes, of course you'd be going on the Underground.
Heather audibly complained again.
The buildings surrounding the station were covered in concrete and graffiti, stinking of teenage rebellion and substance abuse; When you stepped inside the station, things were a bit cleaner.
The air in the building was old, smelling of concrete dust and faint cigarette smoke. These tunnels had been around for decades, no wonder they were collecting the infamous 'grim history' smell.
One thing had stood out to you though. The lack of people.
There were camera crew members already present when you entered the building, meaning Chris had managed to isolate part of the subway for filming. Which meant, you were absolutely doing a challenge in the London Underground.
Chris seemed to be ignoring the destination signs, simply walking down the escalator to get to the station floor and nodding to members of the camera crew who were recording your mixed reactions.
"Man, this place needs a deep clean!"
Leshawna looked at the random bits of gum and 'sticky' floor tiles on the underground floor, attempting to walk around them.
You agreed, and walked with her to the station's platform. There were still very few people.
The station was empty.
"If you think this is bad, you should see the inside of the trains."
Chris laughed at Leshawna's comment, then fell silent.
For a split second, everything went quiet.
Something felt wrong.
Whether it was the liminal space you were stood in that had been stripped of all meaning, or the fact that a cold, almost Antarctic chill had begun to fill the air.
"Before the challenge starts, I'm going to need everyone to take a ticket. These are your passes to help you get around the Underground for free."
Chris started handing out another piece of gold-embossed card.
You let the gold in the pass catch the light and smiled at the distraction it gave you.
Realising that everyone else had already put their tickets in a pocket, you followed suit.
Chris sent a smile your way, clearly grateful that his work didn't go unappreciated, then continued.
"Your challenge is to make it through the London Underground, starting here, at the London Bridge station."
"You eight are headed to Victoria station, which is on a completely different line. You won't be given a map, you'll have to rely on your instincts."
Chris made a few of his joints pop, then fixed his posture.
"Your challenge starts when the first train gets here."
McLean checked his watch, then lid his hands into his pockets, keeping a smile on for the cameras while all of his contestants started talking.
You looked to Noah, who nodded in confidence. He put his book away, into a pocket you couldn't see, then prepared himself for once.
—————RECORDING NOAH—————
"Remember who took the navigator position in Australia? I've got this in the bag."
—————ENDING RECORDING—————
Leshawna walked up to you and Gwen,
"Hey girls. Honestly, I don't think we've got this one. Is there any chance our team can go with you?"
You made eye contact with your teammate. Keeping a close connection to DJ and Leshawna was important, especially to backstab Alejandro.
You heard a hollow scream ring down the tracks; a train.
"Sure, as long as you promise to give us the win and let us get off first."
A few thoughts passed Leshawna's mind, but she agreed to the deal and shook your hand. It was going to be good playing with her again, even if you had to deal with Alejandro.
You were going to travel with Courtney and Heather too, so a chance for you all to be together meant a better chance at getting to the Victoria station faster.
The train came from the left and you stood back, to prevent the wind from blowing you off your feet.
Alejandro beckoned DJ and Leshawna closer to the line, so you started to do the same, while keeping a low profile.
By the time you made it to the platform, Alejandro had dragged his teammates onto the barely stopped train, and was slamming the button to close the doors.
"Come on, fair rivals! The doors are about the close!"
He yelled towards you and your team.
Part of you wanted to stick your hand through the door to stop it from closing, but you realised it was a bad idea when you saw how quickly they slammed shut.
Alejandro let a smirk slip from his lips, before he went to join the rest of his team further into the cabin.
They were on a train on their own, meaning you couldn't catch up with them now.
"Seriously?!"
You yelled from the platform.
"Sucks to be you five, looks like you're going to have to wait for the next train."
Chris chuckled to himself, and winked to the cameras.
"Hey, where are Y/N, Gwen and Noah?"
Leshawna asked, taking a seat on one of the tube seats.
"The doors closed before they could get on, I tried to keep them open, but to no avail."
Alejandro faked a sadness in his eyes, and sat next to his allies.
"Crap, that sucks. I invited them to join us so we could navigate better. That, and I miss talking to them properly."
Leshawna sighed, and DJ nodded in agreement.
One of Alejandro's eyes twitched, but he laughed it off, mindlessly agreeing.
—————RECORDING ALEJANDRO—————
"Inviting the other teams? I've been handling challenges almost entirely on my own for the past four episodes! Are my allies stupid?"
"It seems like I may need to remind my teammates why I'm in charge..."
—————ENDING RECORDING—————
Another train could be heard, echoing from the right this time.
It screamed down the rails, before making a stop in front of you and the rest of Ego Trip.
"Ladies first,"
You smiled and looked to Noah, who scoffed and stepped on board.
The rest of you followed, and began to search the train for a map to Victoria station. Surely there had to be at least one on the walls somewhere.
Looking out the window, you spotted Chris talking to the cameras, clearly explaining something you weren't supposed to know about how the challenge worked.
You were tempted to flip one of the cameras off, before realising that the camera crew would have to retake the scene if you did and you didn't want to do that to them.
Your shoes would tack to the linoleum floor of the train, making a sound almost like tearing paper when you took steps forward.
"Alright, look for a map on one of the train walls."
That weird feeling rushed through you again.
This train was empty.
When the rest of your group were quiet, the only thing you could hear were the doors shutting.
Wait, the doors shutting?
Suddenly, the train shuddered to life, almost causing you to fall over and press your hands against something you didn't want to.
The walls, the floor... Anything.
There was no going back now.
The view of the white and grey station tiles disappeared from your sight, and the windows echoed black. The lights inside the train carriage were the only things stopping you from being engulfed in the darkness of the subway tunnels.
The five of you were alone, almost isolated from the rest of the world, speeding at over a dozen miles per hour down a history ridden set of tracks.
There was a warm chime after the train had settled into a comfortable pace.
"Welcome aboard the London Underground. This is the Northern line, headed to Morden. We will be stopping at..."
You could feel yourself zone out, and continued to look around the train coach for answers.
A few littered pieces of crumpled paper rolled around the floor as the train continued to make unexpected turns. Left to right, moving with the sway of the fabric bound overhead handholds.
Because a train like this is supposed to be full enough to need overhead handholds.
You were wobbling as if you were inebriated, struggling to keep your sense of balance as you moved around the coach.
Then it hit you, almost as bluntly as a brick to the head.
Your sense of direction was gone.
You had no idea which direction you were facing. The only thing you could rely on was this train moving as intended, and a map.
That was, if you'd even manage to find one...
"Everyone, I've found a map."
Noah called out to the four of you, snapping you out of your panic surprisingly quickly, and looked up at one of the walls.
As you approached behind him, you looked at it in shock horror.
It looked almost illegible, unless you knew what you were doing. But by the look on Noah's face, you were in good hands.
"Since when did rainbow spaghetti count as a map?"
Gwen echoed your thoughts.
Noah rolled his eyes and gestured the four of you to look a little closer. He pointed towards two lines; One black, one blue.
"These are the Northern and the Victoria lines."
Noah pointed between the two, moving from blue to black.
"Unsurprisingly, the Victoria station is on the Victoria line. At the moment, we're on the Northern."
"Since we're headed towards Morden, at the end of this black line, our closest station that connects the two lines is Stockwell."
Noah put his finger on the map, and moved down the black line, stopping at black circle labelled 'Stockwell'.
"We get off there, then find a train headed onto the Victoria line, up to the station."
He looked to the four of you, and was impressed with the lack of confusion on your faces.
You turned to look to Noah and let out a smirk.
'Nerd.'
Noah rolled his eyes, but didn't let a smile leave his face.
"So, we just wait until Stockwell?"
Heather asked, already pulling out a nail file, and sitting down.
"Yep. It's as easy as that. It's just two stations down."
Noah sat on the opposite side to her, you took a seat next to him.
Sure, it was easy.
But, you knew Chris now. This was too easy. Maybe you were being paranoid, maybe it was a weird wave of anxiety. But, this surely couldn't be it.
"Stockwell... I swear I've heard that name before."
Gwen wrapped an arm around Courtney while she lost herself in thought.
Your fingers gripped into the cushion on the seat you were sat in, your nails felt raw as you dug them into the fabric, probably picking up all manner of things.
These seats weren't clean, no part of this transport system was.
There was no normal ambient noise to calm yourself down, there was no way to know where you were either.
When the train made it to another station, you and the rest of your crew onboard would sway with the starting and stopping of the train's wheels.
Nobody got on, nobody got off.
Time felt like it was passing fast, but too fast for you to control it.
The intercom would ring before and after the train stopped, slowly worming its way into your head. Slowly digging into your conscience.
Breathe.
You just needed to breathe. It was going to be ok.
You felt yourself slouch into your seat, knowing there was nothing you could do now, but rest, and wait for this to be over.
Besides, you had a challenge to win. Freaking out wasn't going to help.
"How did you know how to do that? When you were reading the map."
You asked Noah, looking for a distraction.
"I live in Toronto, we have a subway there, too."
He noticed your face turning pale when he tried to get lost in your eyes.
"Are you alright?"
He asked, looking at you with concern.
"This feels too simple."
You shuffled around in your seat.
"Tell me about it. It feels like-"
Noah stopped talking for a second, and listened over the intercom that had a nasty habit of repeating itself.
Your dread was making it too hard to hear the words the recording was saying.
"We're nearly there."
Noah spoke softly next to you, you could see the others slowly come alive again.
The windows to the tunnels outside actually started to reflect some light, shining on the brick as they went from black, to dirt brown, to a shade of off yellow.
It wasn't pretty, but it was good to know you were almost there.
Stockwell station was standard, by the looks of it. Mosaic grey tiles on the floor, posters for west end shows, the occasional bin.
You stood up and made your way to the doors, along with the rest of your teammates.
Stockwell was much dirtier though. There was an unsavoury mould that was biting into the grout of the tile. It was black, and unsightly.
What was worse, however. Was the dead silence of the platform.
There were no other people. No ticket masters, no security, no rail staff. Nobody else using the railway.
It was like you were watching a film set, or a room in a doll house, that slowly panned into view as you stood deadly still, like you were hiding from an apex predator.
There was a ding when the train finally stopped moving.
Courtney reached over to press the button to open the doors.
They refused to open.
"That's not normal, right?"
Gwen asked, before turning to look to Noah.
"Maybe this door just doesn't open? Try another one."
He replied, and made his way to another door that had visible access to the station.
But, those doors didn't budge either.
There was a slam against glass that caused you to jump.
"Hey, we're in here! Someone open the doors!"
Heather had her fists in balls as she yelled out to anyone who could hear it.
You... were locked in here.
That unnerving dread started to linger again.
"What if the doors refuse to open at any station?"
You asked, picking at your fingers to numb some of the stress.
"Calm down, they opened at the other stations before we got here."
Gwen sent you a smile that forced you to breathe.
"You'd really think for pioneers of railway technology, England would have better public transport."
Courtney scoffed, before pressing the open door buttons again.
"Does someone want to talk to the driver?"
Noah asked.
You sighed,
"I'll do it."
You took a few steps forward the driver's cabin, which was directly attached to the carriage you were currently in.
Taking one step after another, your shoes made hollow clattering noises against the ground.
As you got closer, you noticed a silhouette through the glass; someone else.
You noticed how the smell of damp, sickening mould got slightly stronger as you stood towards the door.
You felt yourself immediately get quieter as you attempted to reach for the door handle.
Then, it heard you.
The silhouette writhed, and shivered, before you heard a scream from outside the train.
You snapped back to the rest of your team, to see them metres away from you, looking at the cabin door, almost as shocked as you were.
A few of them looked up, and around, to find the source of the noise.
Then, for a single second, the lights turned off.
Every light.
The station included.
You could feel your footing lose itself beneath you as the train shuddered to life again.
The wheels were moving, you had missed your stop.
You heard one of your allies yell in frustration, before they were knocked over, their head making a noise as it smacked against the ground.
The LEDs in the ceiling of the carriage fizzled and laughed in electric tones at the state of you and your team scattered across the floor.
They buzzed, and giggled.
Your vision was at a dutch angle when you could finally see again.
The vibration of the wheels beneath the floor pressed against your cheek, your hands tried to push yourself up, pressing into the sticky sheets of linoleum that were put there to stop you from eating metal the second you fell over.
You grunted, noticing everyone else in your group was no longer standing. They were pressed against walls, or wincing in pain after landing uncomfortably.
Peeling yourself off the ground, you gagged when you thought about what your face made unfortunate contact with.
In front of you was Noah, in pangs of discomfort as he held onto one of the chairs to keep himself upright.
You immediately got him to sit up, gaining your footing and had the confidence to rest him down on a chair.
The station was well out of view at this point, you couldn't call the ambulance either, Courtney tried the emergency phone and the line was cut.
The five of you groaned, and attempted to sit back down.
Noah held the back of his head and leaned onto your shoulder for an attempt to support himself with something that was familiar to him.
There was a newly familiar ring through the train's speakers.
"Our next stop, by request, will be-"
The voice over the intercom stopped talking, as if it was waiting for you to all pay attention. But it never spoke again.
You looked up to the LED display above the door to the driver's cabin...
It still said Stockwell.
"I'm sorry, this is ridiculous, there's no way this train is up to code."
Courtney crossed her arms and sat down.
"Guys, Noah's not doing too great."
You commented, your arm over his shoulder to prop him up as he held his head in his hands.
"Of course he's not! We've all fallen over in a moving train, headed further away from the finish line. We're going to lose!"
Heather was seething with rage as she held onto one of the bars by the door to hold her upright.
"That's the least of our worries, we can't even get off the train anymore! Maybe none of these doors open!"
Gwen chipped into the conversation.
"You just said to Y/N that it wasn't going to be a problem!"
Heather yelled.
"But Gwen's right, maybe the doors won't open after the train's malfunctioned this badly!"
Courtney came to her girlfriend's defence but it only made everyone's hysteria worse.
For once on this journey, there was ambient noise. The sound of arguing.
It was loud enough for you to silence your thoughts, and attempt to come up with a plan.
You and Noah sat together, your head was out the window.
There was no reason to be looking outside, everything was black anyway, with the occasional detailing of old brick as a tunnel service light fizzled on.
Maybe, at this next station, if the train does let you off, you could run back to Stockwell on foot, it shouldn't be too far.
Maybe, you could convince Chris to redo the challenge, since this clearly wasn't intended.
Noah shook himself back to his senses, thanking you for keeping him safe, before he was able to sit up normally again.
He attempted to quieten the arguing, but to no avail...
The detailing of old tile on the opposite windows started to get more obvious. There was a noticeable glow of yellow light slowly creeping through the gaps in the bricks, that only grew more bright as the train kept moving forward.
The voice over the train intercom finally started to talk again.
"Nineteen. Twenty three."
For those two numbers, the train's voice was broken. It was gravelly and low, almost unintelligible to the human ear.
But its deep, bass filled growl brought the entire train to a haunting silence.
Then its voice was back to normal.
"You have arrived at, Stockwell. Please bring your belongings with you if you are departing at this platform. Thank you for using the London Underground."
This was wrong, it had to be.
You could feel the train slowing down, but the outside wasn't getting any brighter.
A dull yellow hum of lights, over cracked, neglected white and green subway tiles.
All you could see was a wall, but Gwen and Courtney were looking behind you as their eyes slowly widened.
But, it didn't matter. You could hear the doors opening.
You picked yourself up and made a dash for the platform, followed by everyone else. You had no idea how long they were going to be shut for, so you almost sprinted outside.
You jumped onto the concrete, and landed, before being hit by the smell of ancient curses and old musk that had swarmed into a cloud around you pressed the soles of your shoes onto the ground.
Mould. So much Mould.
Enough to easily kill a man if you were here for too long.
It stung in your nose like the smell of ash. But the air was thick enough with spores to make you cough it all up in heaps of bile.
You could feel your eyes starting to water, before finally being able to see where you had landed.
Then, you wished you never took a step off the train.
Stockwell...
But not the Stockwell you knew.
This Stockwell was a tunnel that stretched backwards. An arch that blocked the sky, covering a series of tracks that went endlessly into a thick yellow haze...
The yellow fog was the mould spores, you could tell by the way they burned your lungs and caught the light so thickly.
It was so hard to breathe, you could feel the spores sticking to you, wanting to bury themselves into your skin.
To grow into new flesh in a place so, so old...
To claim you as their next meal.
In front of you was another set of tracks, as tiles and posters lay loosely on the ground, or shattered into millions of pieces.
Dust would fly into the air with every step you took forward, The mould had been eating the water that fell from the ceiling, growing upwards in an attempt to grasp for more.
You looked up to hundreds of stalactites, their brittle fingers of calcified rock growing closer to the ground, trying to grab at you from above.
You were going to be sick.
"Ninteen twenty three..."
Gwen hummed, mimicking the numbers that train had said.
"That must be when this line shut down. I've seen an abandoned station website before, this must have been on here."
Gwen looked around at the dates on all of the station's promotional material, almost disappearing into a cloud of upturned toxigenic dust.
"Guys..."
Noah spoke up from behind your group.
"But, surely the trains shouldn't stop here anymore? I don't even know how the trains would be able to consistently break next to such a small platform-"
Courtney took a step forward, then looked down into the depths of the platform on the other side.
"Guys!"
Noah yelled again, finally catching everyone's attention.
You turned to look his way...
Then spotted the train was gone.
It was completely silent.
How could a train just disappear?
You could feel your heart rate increasing. Keeling over, you could feel yourself hyperventilating. Every breath you wasted, you breathed in more and more spores.
You would splutter and cough, heaving in air that was tainted by the age of an abandoned underground station.
You coughed until it hurt, struggling to regain your composure, as you could feel your lungs itching, and your eyes growing more and more red.
This was a panic attack, you could feel it.
How, did you lose your only way out of this station?!
Was what you would have said, if there wasn't another train on the other side of the tracks.
You made the awful decision to step inside again for any second of respite against the unbreathable air, refusing to listen to your thoughts to stay.
This was the second time today that you had been supplied with immediate answers. Like there was only so much time for everything to happen.
But, you couldn't know.
It was always dark here.
You didn't even know where you were anymore.
It took seconds for you to shatter into coughing up clouds of parasitic life, but for anyone else, it could have been much longer. You could have been waiting for a train for hours, you didn't know.
A slow cough before stepping onto the train. A fit or two on the way there that got worse when you finally found the home of thousands of species that fed on death.
Was time real...?
Was this... The spores?
It didn't matter. At least not now.
Because you gagged and gasped for fresh air when you stepped onto the linoleum again. But, that sweet relief of oxygen didn't come.
This train stunk like the carriage you came here on. The layout was identical.
This could have been the same train.
But when you looked around, you knew it wasn't.
There was a man sat at the far end of the carriage.
Your vision distorted when you looked at him. The mould grew from his feet.
But, there it was.
A sign of other life. An outside witness to everything you had just seen.
Before you could think about turning back, and walking onto the abandoned platform again, the doors were closed.
The train was in motion, but you knew not to wobble now.
There was a familiar voice over the intercom.
"Welcome aboard the London Underground. This is the Victoria line, headed to Victoria station. We will be stopping at..."
You had done it.
You were on a different line.
But, it felt hollow.
You and the rest of your team looked at one another. The eye bags and broken expressions on each other's faces became more visible as the relief that you were on your way home washed over you.
Slowly, the itching in your lungs ceased, then you were able to catch your breath.
Breathe. Just breathe.
It was all going to be ok.
You weren't alone anymore.
Then, like comedic genius, everything went black.
At this point, you were just tired. Attempting to take steps forward to the seats, you could feel yourself making slow progress, You bumped into someone as you walked past your teammates, but it didn't matter.
The seats were bearable, you even dare to call them plush after losing your ability to breathe in a station that had been abandoned for over a century.
You were pathetic enough to let all of this get to you.
But, you were almost home. Almost to the plane, to the end of the challenge; To the million.
But you knew that God, or Chris, or both... Wouldn't make it that easy.
As the lights flickered on, you noticed the rest of Ego Trip weren't sat next to you.
You noticed the man wasn't either.
Because the second you turned to look for everyone else, you stared into the jaws of death.
The only other person on board.
From that moment on, his face remains indescribable.
You used he, as if you could even attach something that human to the husk that stood before you.
He squirmed and sloshed with the sway of the train. A husk of dry, melting skin, as chunks of it hit the floor in wet splats as he turned to look at you.
His eyes were hollow. But not the hollow you, or anyone else in the world knew. The pits in his eyes were nothing.
Looking into them felt like being blind, but no part of you could look away.
It wasn't an absence of colour, like a black or a white. It was an absence of existence. As if you weren't awake...
It took a step forward. The bones inside of it snapped and crunched. Brittle...
...Face. You stood up. ...almost sighed. Spluttered.
Black bile connected with the walls, falling out of... Growing.
...took a step forward.
You could feel every part of you seize up, knowing your back was about to press against a wall.
There was no running from death.
You thought you'd live longer than this.
Something collided with your foot. You braced for the pain, but noticed it wasn't coming.
A bottle rolled from underneath the seats, pressing against you as the train kept moving.
You stared into death once again, slowly lowering your stance to get a better chance at picking it up.
Slow, steady movements. Prove you were in control.
It refused to break contact with your eyes. Moving its head like a security camera, tracking you with mechanical precision.
Then finally, you ducked.
It lunged forward, tendrils of flesh and vein making a secondary motion, but you were able to avoid one of its fists.
A slab of meat hit the wall behind you, rotted and furry, but made enough of an impact to leave a monstrous dent.
Grabbing the bottle by its neck, you shattered it into the thing's arm.
It winced in pain, as glass fractured and broke into the wounds covering its body, new and old.
You felt splinters of glass cut through your cheeks, deep enough to sting and hard to pull out.
Black ooze fell from the monster's arm and permanently stained your clothes with death and ancient wounds.
It wheezed and screamed, releasing a cloud of thick, relentless spores that attempted to cloud your vision.
You weren't as visible anymore, you had a change to strike.
You took the new crown of broken glass that the neck of the bottle had become, and thrust it into his side.
He screamed, jittered and writhed like an animal. But the voice that fell out of him was hauntingly human. It echoed through the train, just like the ungodly scream you heard before.
With the force you used, a getaway was made, you could see the silhouettes of your team ahead of you, and you dove for safety...
Pain, is sometimes an indescribable feeling.
It's a burning, an ache, a consequence.
When you ran forward, he caught your leg. He was sharp, and brittle. All of his bones were broken and the splinters in the marrow crafted blades that cut him from the inside out.
The bones in his fingers tore through the skin of your leg, digging deep as it grabbed hard and attempted to drag you back into its reach.
You let out a scream. One you hadn't heard before. As if your parents could just appear in that very moment and pulls you back into safety.
As if begging like that would work.
It was guttural, and it came from you. Not the man dragging you closer. Not the man who was going to kill you...
But a ring quickly filled the air, and you could stop moving forward. Because you weren't being pulled back.
Something collapsed and wheezed its final breath, as dappled spots of black blood rained from behind you.
Oil...
"Y/N, are you ok?"
Your nails were raw from digging into the floor, trying to give you a chance at surviving.
You hadn't felt this weak in a while.
Noah picked you up, with the help of Gwen.
You let out a painful sob when someone attempted to remove shards of his detached fingers from your wounds.
As they collected in a pile, you picked up on the metal shine on the pieces of his bones.
Noah sat you down on a seat, a baton in the other hand, covered in blood, with its incredible black sheen.
He look content. Fine, even. Worried about you, of course. But not the slightest bit distraught over the man he just killed.
"Noah, you killed someone..."
Turning to look up at him, knowing he was the one to cave the man's skull in. The splatter of his silhouette painted the slightly less dirty carriage walls.
"No... Y/N, no I didn't."
He looked almost scared for you, confused.
"Look at it again."
Then, you got a better look...
A robot.
Metal. No flesh. No dead eyes, no bile.
What?
No. He was made of flesh. Of bone.
This wasn't the right thing, the man was still here. You needed to keep panicking, he was nearby.
Wait.
"The spores..."
You were the only one who broke down in Stockwell, you were the only one to inhale enough of them.
You let out a sick laugh, that made you stagger again.
Oh my God.
You could feel yourself on the verge of fainting as your vision flickered in and out.
You could hear your laughing get worse as Noah wrapped his arms around you.
Then you heard another ring over the intercom.
"You have arrived at, Victoria Station. Please bring your belongings with you if you are departing at this platform. Thank you for using the London Underground."
It was over...
You tried to step up on your own, but Gwen and Noah threw your arms over their shoulders and insisted on carrying you off the platform.
The crew turned to look at you, cameras pointing and flashing as you almost fell limp in your team's arms.
Chris looked to you and smiled,
"With that, Noah, Gwen and Y/N win today's challenge!"
Noah and Gwen seemed more focussed on holding you upright than celebrating the win.
"Chris, this girl needs medical attention."
You saw Chef looking at you before walking up with two other interns.
Chris rolled his eyes, but your vision was too blurry to pick up on it.
"Fine, you three can leave early since Y/N's pretty messed up."
"Pretty messed up? What even was that challenge!?"
You heard Noah yell at Chris, moments away from slapping him for you.
"That robot came from the horror experience just down the road from the station we started at, they're working on a London Underground themed horror attraction!"
Chris didn't seem to see the problem in his actions. If he did, he wasn't admitting to it, at least.
"You filled her lungs with hallucinogenic spores, then forced her to fight a robot that she perceived as a decomposed human! She can't form full sentences!"
Noah's anger was palpable as he seethed with rage. You felt yourself smile, but by the looks on your peers faces, it wasn't.
You giggled again, and some crew members turned to look at you with serious concern on their faces.
"The robot got a bit out of control, I will admit. But there's no permanent damage. Those wounds are minor."
McLean turned to look at a few members of the crew with a control in their hands.
"Shut up, Chris! Think about her head, her mental health! If you give her insomnia, I'll hurt you way more than that robot ever hurt her."
You could hear knuckles clicking once Gwen finished her sentence.
"Sheesh, touchy. Chef, get her on the plane, we can talk about this later."
Chris waved you and the rest of your team away, Chef effortlessly picked you up and carried you up the steps of the subway onto the plane again.
After that, you completely lost your vision, and your consciousness...
—————RECORDING ALEJANDRO—————
"Last, again?! What's happening to my team??"
"The leftovers of Team Chris is really really Hot... They've obviously got something to do with this."
"Noah. Y/N. I'm winning this. I refuse to lose to either of you."
—————RECORDING NOAH—————
Noah's sat on his own in the confessional, restlessly tapping his legs and fiddling with the hem of his shirt.
While he looks like he has something important to say, the best he can mutter is...
"Never mind."
Noah exits the confessional.
—————ENDING RECORDING—————
Heather, Gwen, Courtney and Noah were looking through the door into the elimination room.
Heather almost had her face pressed against the glass, looking to the other contestants.
"You like him, don't you?"
Noah smirked, trying to hide his own stress through his sarcasm.
"Who? Alejandro?! No, no I don't!"
Heather made an incredible fuss for something she cared so little about.
"Now shut up, we've got an elimination to spy on."
She hissed, turning back to look at the door after casting Noah a murderous glare.
Chris was flicking a flash card through his fingers, clearly his way of remembering the votes.
"Right, I can tell you've all had a rough day. So, let's make this quick."
Chef held a bag of peanuts in his hands.
"Alejandro, you're safe."
The charmer held up his hand and grabbed the bag with little effort.
Heather punched the air and smiled, causing the rest of Ego Trip, to look her way.
"The two of you have both received at least one vote."
Chris began to eat up the tension as he watched the expressions on both DJ and Leshawna's faces.
—————RECORDING ALEJANDRO—————
"This vote was incredibly difficult. I knew neither of my teammates were going to vote for me. So, my vote was the only one that mattered."
"I was forced to vote out one of my closest allies either way. But, when push comes to shove, I needed to pick the player that was the easiest to scare into loyalty. Because, no matter how this vote finishes, I'm going to look bad no matter what."
"Well played, Nerds. Well played."
—————ENDING RECORDING—————
"Leshawna..."
The girl in question looked to Chris and smiled, both her fingers crossed.
"You're going home."
The entire plane's faces went pale. McLean threw DJ his bag of peanuts. Gwen screamed, blowing Ego Trip's cover.
Alejandro turned to look towards the door, seeing the four that weren't in the elimination room staring through the door's window.
He had to plan his next conversation very carefully.
"Wait, what?!"
Leshawna stood up, turning to look at Alejandro, the man who had seduced her.
"Oh, that's such a shame."
Alejandro mimicked a sad face, but not very well. He clearly wasn't trying.
He couldn't care less anymore.
"I shall win, Leshawna. For us."
Alejandro stepped towards her, walking down the rows of benches in the elimination room, sarcasm leaking through every gap in his words.
The two looked between one another. Alejandro was the only one to smile. It made his ex-lover step back.
"You. YOU!"
Leshawna's face slowly started glowing red with rage.
"I was loyal to you all season, even when we were on separate teams, and you vote me off?!"
She screamed, grabbing her former ally by the collar of his off-colour, red shirt.
Balling up her other fist, she pulled her hand back, ready to punch.
"I thought you loved me, or at least liked me!"
"Not really... No."
He kept a calm voice, and put his hand around her fist, holding it in place.
DJ shivered in the corner, hiding behind Chris as he tried to process what was happening.
"You mean, I've been spending all my time fawning over you, when you never cared?!"
Leshawna's voice managed to keep getting louder.
Alejandro smiled. He had this girl hook, line and sinker.
"I came here to win, not to find love. Even if I was, my heart is somewhere else."
"You mean, Heather was right?!"
Suddenly her stature fell. Someone had been telling her about this the whole time. Not just Heather; You and Gwen were trying to calm her down too.
She'd been played.
"Yes. She tried to warn you, a few times actually. She was planning to bring you into an alliance, but I to you first. Which turned out great, for me."
Alejandro laughed, rubbing salt in the wound as he managed to get Leshawna's grip off of his shirt, letting him stand up straight again.
"You snake! I regret ever wanting to talk with you! I hope you realise how damaged your reputation is going to be when you get off this plane."
She screamed, running out of words to explain the verbal knife that had just been stabbed into her back.
But, she fell quiet.
If this was her time to go, she could at least say one thing.
"I... I need to tell the others!"
Her posture changed, Leshawna got ready to sprint towards the elimination room door.
"GUYS!-"
Chris handed Leshawna a backpack, and shoved her out of the plane.
For a while afterwards, the plane was silent.
But a cold kind of silence.
Not the warmth Noah or you knew, or the peace Courtney and Gwen felt.
Cold, dead silence.
"Hey, you four. She's awake."
Chef took a few steps into the centre of the plane, the cafeteria, to spot Heather, Noah, Gwen and Courtney still looking into the elimination room.
"She's awake?!"
Noah yelled and started to run past Chef hatchet, followed by Gwen and Courtney. Heather begrudgingly tagged along.
Alejandro turned to look to the door, then to Chris, who was leaving the room.
It was just him and DJ.
"Remember that alliance we made on the train, just the two of us?"
DJ nodded. The 'mans pact' that the two had made. To have each other's backs.
It was made in solidarity and respect at the time.
"Good. Now, don't even think about defecting to the rest of the plane."
DJ fell silent, almost shuddering. But finally decided to step up for himself.
"Why? You're awful."
Alejandro walked towards his ally and stood in front of him. DJ sat with his head in his hands, making this Alejandro's one chance to tower above him.
"Because they made an alliance against me, against us. They didn't invite you. So, either you stick with me, and I bring you to the final two, or you go solo."
The mastermind of this alliance grabbed DJ by the chin, forcing his ally to stare him in the eyes.
"Why can't I just join the other alliance?"
DJ's brow furrowed and a smirk fell onto his face, he wasn't going to go down without a fight. At least, he was going to make sure he looked like he wasn't.
"You think they'd let you? You've helped me eliminate Leshawna. There's just as much blood on your hands as mine."
DJ went silent.
His stature collapsed as his shoulders fell loose. He pushed Alejandro away from him, pulling his face from his hands.
But, Alejandro was right. He voted for Leshawna, they both did. Was he really just as bad as Alejandro Burro-Muerto?
What would his mother think?
Then, a few things began to fall into place.
"I bet you're the reason Bridgette passed out in Ecuador, and the reason Harold sacrificed himself in Antarctica!"
"Realising how awful I am isn't going to bring them back."
Alejandro laughed, and finally, the fear settled into DJ's face.
"Stick by my side, or prepare to be the next one going home. Capiche?"
Alejandro set one last look of unbridled grit and control into DJ's face, before he left the elimination room, closing the door behind him.
DJ sunk into his own frame again, sighing as a single tear fell down his cheek.
He couldn't go home.
He had to stick to Alejandro.
Nobody else was going to, not anymore.
His tour bus was gone. He needed the million to buy his mother a home. Alejandro had even promised him a cut if he won.
But, it felt so wrong...
Momma...
——————————
"Wow, one person in intensive care, and another stuck between what's good and what's best as Leshawna makes history for one of the most bombastic eliminations ever!"
"Will we get a chance to beat that? I highly doubt it. But you're too far into the season to tune out now!"
"There's only seven kids left! Hey, that's the same as the number of chapters left too!"
Chris cheered, and chef turned to look at him in confusion again.
"I'm Chris McLean and I'll see you all, next time on TOTAL DRAMA WOOOORLD TOOOOURRRRRR!"