The wagon jerked beneath me, old motors whining as it crawled deeper into the abyss. The tracks stretched endlessly ahead, vanishing into thick black, my only guide the dim, flickering light of the dashboard.
The sound came.
Low at first, barely more than a distant whisper of metal against metal.
Then again.
Louder.
My spine went rigid. My pulse spiked. I clenched my jaw, gripping the rusted controls harder.
I told myself it was the wagon. The old tracks, the rusted wheels catching in the bends.
But the sound kept growing.
A scream of metal on metal, warping through the tunnel, bouncing off the curved walls.
Too loud.
I turned sharply, eyes darting over my shoulder. Nothing there.
Only the black swallowing my path.
I twisted back forward. Still nothing. No lights. No shape.
But something was coming.
Fast.
I hit the control panel, fingers slamming into rusted buttons. The wagon screeched to a halt.
The sound swallowed everything.
The first impact.
WHAM!
