There was a heavier atmosphere between us as we walked through the fog-covered railroad. I supposed that it was due to both Jonathan and Ryan might feel the same burden. I also noticed that both of their expressions were more serious, which made me hesitant to start up a conversation to lighten the atmosphere.
I decided to recall my mind about the distances that we had to cover from each station to the others. According to the map that was shown inside the train car earlier, the previous station was approximately a quarter mile apart from the first station. From there, we had to walk almost a half mile to reach the second station. The third station was approximately a half mile apart from the second station.
What I kept in mind however, was the fact that the distance between the third station and the closest station to the museum was more than a mile. When I thought about it, I realized that perhaps both Jonathan and Ryan were saving their energy. Therefore, I kept my intentions of speaking, and focused my eyes back on the railroad ahead of us, as well as to our surroundings.
It did not take us long before the sign of the next station, installed at one of the platform roof edge slowly emerged from our foggy surroundings. Little by little, we could finally see the whole station as we climbed up to the platform.
Compared to the previous station, the current station we were at was definitely newer. I believed it was safe to assume that the station was built no earlier than in the early 1990s, and of course probably with few renovations. If there was one thing that was really different in the station compared to the previous one, was that there were a few destroyed walls, particularly the restroom walls. I could even see the insides of some of the toilet rooms, as their walls were also partially destroyed.
As I did not see any unusual things aside from the destroyed walls at the station, I decided to keep walking to the other end of the platform and get down to the railroad again from there. Suddenly, Ryan rushed to the restroom sink, turning on its water handle, and washed his face with the water that came out from it.
Both Jonathan and I stopped walking while waiting for him to finish, and when he did, he apologized to us for rushing suddenly without saying anything.
"Sorry, I had to. I was getting sleepy since we left the station." he said, sighing.
"Guess all of us need a washing after all we have been through." Jonathan responded, right after he nodded to Ryan.
In the end, I also decided to wash my face at the destroyed restroom, but not before he washed his face first. When it was finally my turn, I could feel the sensation of cold, winter water running through my face again. As I washed my face, I remembered that the last time I really touched water was when I entered the sewers. Recalling the horrors that followed after that, I had to say that I was really relieved to be able to make it safely so far.
I looked back to both Jonathan and Ryan when I finished washing my face, and see that they had a more refreshed look at their face then. If only the restroom had a mirror in front of the sink, then perhaps I would also be able to see my own reflection. After we had our minds refreshed on our heads, we immediately continued on our journey to the next station again.
We got down from the platform to the railroad as careful as we could, to make sure that we did not slip on it and fell down. When I started to walk on the railroad again, I felt like it was less slick than the roads before near the church and in front of the underground tunnel. I assumed that it was due to the presence of gaps between each of the rail bearings, that it did not made the whole surface that we stepped on covered in frozen fog.
I really wanted to walk faster when I realized that it was indeed not as slick as before, but I kept reminding myself that it was best to save energy for our journey back to the previous station later on, and for any worst case scenario such as another unwanted encounter with the aliens. Just when I decided to not increase my walking pace, a faint sight of a partially destroyed building started to get uncovered by my sights.
As we kept walking through the fog, more and more destroyed buildings were getting uncovered before our eyes. If I remembered correctly, we were about to enter the Chicago commercial center zone, and therefore, what we saw at the moment was the remnants of what were used to be commercial buildings.
The fog that kept falling at all around us, the dead railroad activity, the silence that filled the street below us, and the sights of destroyed buildings really made me felt like we were walking in the middle of a dead town. I could also felt the atmosphere around me, Jonathan, and Ryan were getting tense as we ventured deeper into the commercial center zone.
A short while later we saw another train car stopped at one of the railroad tracks. Ryan gestured his finger if we should check inside the train, to which Jonathan responded by shaking his head, indicating that he thought best for us to not to. I did not grasp why we should not at first, until it occurred to me that if the doors were locked from the inside, then attempting to open it might as well proved to not worth the effort in the end.
As we passed through the train car, another sign of the next station slowly began to be seen. Little by little, we could also see the whole station platform as we kept on walking on the railroad. Unlike before however, this time Jonathan suggested that we did not climb up to the platform, as he said that we would be best to save time and stop at the next station. Both Ryan and I did not argue, and so we continued walking until we were beginning to pass through the second station completely.
We must have been walking for some time then, because when I noticed again, there were already fewer buildings that stood between the railroads we were walking on, although the buildings that we could see currently were noticeably taller. Therefore, I assumed that the buildings before had the same heights as the ones we were seeing currently before they were destroyed, and that it seemed we were almost out of the commercial center zone.
All of a sudden, I felt a brief faint vibration from my feet. Spontaneously, I looked back to Jonathan, and Ryan. As I looked in front again, I could feel a strong grip holding my arm, as if telling me to hold my position. It was Jonathan, who started to position himself in front of me and Ryan. Just when he was in front of us, the vibration subsided. We then continued proceeding ahead, with a bit slower pace.
Step by step, buildings by buildings, I still had not felt another vibration. I should not have been expecting another one though, as I really got my expectations fulfilled really soon after that. A stronger vibration was then suddenly felt by the three of us. Not only that, the vibration was also almost immediately followed by an explosion from the tallest building on our left side.
That was not the thing that made us surprised. It was the sudden emerging of a T-shaped aircraft from the hole caused by the explosion. It flew out from the hole slowly, and was descending to the lower levels while giving out a small jet-like sound. We immediately took cover behind the concrete railroad fence on our left side. We carefully looked at the aircraft, and Jonathan immediately identified it as the T-shaped aircraft that he had mentioned before.
"That was the aircraft that attacked me and him." Jonathan said with a low voice, "I am sure that it was the same type that attacked Captain Quentin."
When I looked at it more thoroughly, the aircraft indeed had a T shape. If I were to think of any living creature that the aircraft shared a resemblance with, it would be a dragonfly, but with only four legs instead of six, two wings instead of four, and a turbine engine-like tail tip. It also had a couple of turbine engine-like component below each of its wings.
We hid behind the fence again once we already saw what caused the explosion. A little moment later following that, a violent quake occurred. I mustered up my courage to look at the same direction again, only to see that the whole building started to fell rather smoothly and tidily until the whole building was completely razed to the ground. Seeing that, I suggested that we had to take cover behind the fence as we proceeded ahead. Jonathan and Ryan agreed, and we started to move ahead again behind the concrete fence.
We kept on walking, while there were few other vibrations felt on my feet. Nevertheless, we just had to ignore it and move along. Eventually, I began to get a faint sight of the sign of the third station, with its platform also slowly began to get uncovered before my eyes. There were also two train cars stopped at each of the railroad track, which forced us to climb up to the platform.
Suddenly, another faint jet engine sound was heard, and it was shortly followed by a glass breaking sound and a couple of thudding sounds from the direction of our front. We did not proceed again, as we thought that it might be the sound of a few aliens landed from the T-shaped aircraft. It turned out that we were more or less correct, as an alien shadow figure was seen on the platform.
"Wha- Duck!" I said with a low voice, as I spontaneously ducked once I saw the shadow.
Jonathan did not say anything, but he gestured to me and Ryan to continue proceeding by crawling beneath the train. Of course, I was extremely hesitant about it. But then again, I thought to myself that it seemed that we did not have any other option after all. And so, the three of started to crawl slowly beneath the train.
As I crawled, I could feel my back was drenched by my sweat, even though the weather was already cold since it was in the winter, not to mention that my skins also felt numb from the cold that I had to endure from crawling on a solid frozen metal. I also felt a brief smell of oil when I reached one end of the train car, which probably came from its braking component.
It would be very relieving if the train cars were only two or three at the very most. However, I assumed that the train that I crawled beneath, must had no less than five cars since I could still see another car as I reached one end of the fourth car. I looked behind for a bit, and saw that both Jonathan and Ryan were also crawling right behind me.
I stopped moving just when I reached the fifth car, as a sudden loud thud was heard right on top of us. It must be coming from the aliens who were inside the car, or on top of the fifth train car roof. I signaled both Jonathan and Ryan to stop moving, while I crawled ahead a bit more before stopping again. Just then, another loud thud was heard from the direction right in front of me.
I breathed heavily, and felt my heart pounding faster as I realized that it came from an alien got off from the train car, proved by the sudden presence of a pair of slender feet right in front of my eyes. I tried my best to take a deep breath, as I did not want the alien to notice my presence from my breath. Instead, I just became more restless and frightened as the feet's direction seemed to face my direction.
I did not realize how long I have been staring its feet, and I kept holding my breath until the alien somehow decided to rush elsewhere, as the pair of legs suddenly pulled back and disappeared from my sights, followed by a quick thudding sound that quickly faded away. I waited for some time, and after there were no more thudding sound or any vibration and quake felt, I decided to crawl out from the fifth, and the final train car.
I gave out a loud sigh, and panting heavily just as I finally crawled out and stood up again. Shortly thereafter, Jonathan also crawled out and followed by Ryan, who took out the water bottle from his medical kit pouch and offered it to me. I refused with a hand gesture, as I was still catching my breath. Jonathan however, told me that they would wait until I regained my breath and drank at least a sip from the water bottle.
Since the two of them seemed rather insistent in offering me to drink, I let myself breathed deeply until I could finally regain my composure again, and drank a couple of sip from the water bottle. When I finished, I noticed that the bottle still had about roughly three quarters of portions left inside it, and gave it back to Ryan.
I took another deep breath, before taking a look again to our current surroundings. Apparently, the third station that was just behind us was also somehow acted as a purpose for exiting the commercial center zone, because I no longer saw any tall buildings around us.
Somehow, I also felt like there was a less modern ambience on our surroundings, suggesting that we were probably on the older part of the town. I soon readied myself to take another step again, but not before looking at my watch again. It showed the time 01.34 p.m., as if to remind me to start proceeding again. Jonathan also reminded both me and Ryan to hide behind the concrete fence immediately should any signs of imminent threat were to occur, before we started walking again.