Hell Express: The Survival Games

Chapter 1-The Cakeland Kingdom

“Don’t worry, I’ll call you guys when we reach there,” Corinne said, “plus, Claire is with me, if you’re not confident with me, there’s still Claire right?”

The Lin family stood on the platform of the train station. Corinne had her brown locks tied in a loose bun with a daisy hair tie, a bright smile spread across her small round face and her eyes beamed with excitement.

In comparison with the young brunette who was obviously in a good mood, her elderly grandparents were smiling as well, however their smiles seemed strained.

Concern painted both her grandparents’ eyes, and Corinne felt odd about that. But she thought that they might just be worried about her.

She was already a twenty-year-old young adult, but she had never left her grandparents’ side before. They were the ones who raised her, and she’d never known her parents. Grandpa George and Grandma Jane said that they died when she was just a baby.

She spent her whole life learning Taoist magic from her grandpa and martial arts from her grandma. This was the same with her childhood bestie, Claire. She called Claire’s mother Aunt Amy, and Corinne learned about voodoo dolls from her.

They were strict with their teachings. Corinne remembered when they were young, she and Claire were tired from training and just wanted to play with their dolls. They threw a huge tantrum.

Corinne’s grandparents disciplined her, and Aunt Amy had a mental breakdown. The three of them made it look like if they didn’t take this seriously, it would be life or death.

“Yeah, don’t worry, I’ll be sure to take good care of this foodie,” Claire said, jokingly.

Normally, the Lin grandparents and Aunt Amy would have laughed, but now they showed them those strained smiles.

Corinne and Claire exchanged a confused gaze, they both felt odd.

When a lavish-looking train stopped in front of them, Corinne grabbed her suitcase, and bid her family goodbye.

Aunt Amy suddenly ran a few steps towards the girls and pulled them into a tight hug. Tears welled in her eyes.

When she let go, her lips quivered, and she looked at them as though she had a million words to say, but in the end, she didn’t say anything because if she would have opened her mouth, she was sure that she would burst out crying.

Aunt Amy knew that this day would come, she thought she was mentally prepared for her daughter to leave her and go to face those dangers. But now that the time had come, her emotions overwhelmed her.

She pulled Claire into a tight hug and suppressed her sobs.

Claire shot Corinne a worried gaze and saw that Corinne was giving her the same look as she was held in her grandparents’ tight embrace.

Corinne returned her grandparents’ hug and gently patted their backs. She could feel that they were trembling and the wetness of their tears on her shoulder.

When they let go, Grandma Jane grasped her hand tightly, “Corinne… please be careful.”

Corinne nodded, “I will.”

When Corinne stepped onto the train, Grandpa George and Grandma Jane came forward. Grandma’s hands were outstretched as though she wanted to grab Corinne and pull her back to them.

“Please be safe and return home.”

These words that her grandpa said kept ringing in her mind.

Suddenly, the train ticket in her hand became ten times heavier.

She couldn’t get the odd feeling out from her mind. The looks on the faces of her grandparents’ and Aunt Amy, all of them crying like they were…

“...Dead.”

“What?” Corinne looked at her best friend.

“I’m talking about our family, they looked like we’re off to die,” Claire said with furrowed brows, “I’m worried about them.”

Corinne couldn’t agree more with her best friend.

Their families had been acting strange ever since Corinne and Claire came back with tickets to a free five-star luxury trip they won from Wilmart.

Back at the train station, Grandpa George stared at the departing train until it was out of sight. When he turned around, he saw Grandma Jane and Aunt Amy’s despaired expressions.

“We all knew that both of them would eventually board Hell Express and become a traveller. We just need to trust them,” the elder said, sighing.

We just need to trust them.

Grandpa George repeated this in his heart as if doing so could add some reassurance. After all, that was all they could do at this point.

They were travellers once and they managed to leave Hell Express.

However, the odd thing was that they had memories about all the danger they went through, but they couldn’t remember how they escaped the train.

Just like both Corinne and Claire, their normal train tickets turned into a ticket to Hell Express, any train tickets can be changed, no matter if it was a bullet train ticket, the subway…

If you were chosen to become a traveller, no matter what, a ticket would be sent to you, just like how Corinne and Claire got free tickets from Wilmart.

The memories of the numerous dangers he went through came back into Grandpa George’s mind; like how he was attacked by ghosts and monsters. Luckily for him, he was a shaman that practiced Taoist magic, so he had ways to defend himself.

Grandpa George didn’t know why he was so sure, but he knew that one day Corinne would be selected by Hell Express. Which was why, ever since she was small, he and Corinne’s grandmother taught her everything they knew.

That was also the reason why they packed some tools for her, so that Corinne could have a higher chance of surviving the danger that was to come and could battle those monsters.

Staring at the train that ran down the railway, Grandpa George could only hope for Corinne and Claire to be safe.

And to come back home one day.

***

Corinne and Claire walked down the train aisle; doors were lined up on both sides.

The whole place was quiet, the only sound that could be heard were their footsteps and the soft rumbling of their luggage wheels.

It was as if they were the only ones who boarded the train.

Their cabin was more spacious than what they expected.

It looked exactly like a hotel room. There were two single beds next to each other with a table and a lamp in the middle.

Opposite to their beds, a flat screen tv was hanging on the wall. A coffee table was placed in front of it along with a small couch, and on top of the table was a remote control.

In the corner of the room there was a door that led to the bathroom. There was a shower and a bathtub. Corinne took a quick glance into the bathroom and saw two sets of toiletries as well as a small basket of freshly picked rose petals.

What Corinne felt most satisfied with was the comfy bed; she felt like she could doze off any second just lying on this soft mattress.

“Corinne, what are you doing? Come and unpack your stuff,” Claire said.

Ever since they got to their cabin, Corinne had been lying on the bed lazily.

When they saw their cabin, Corinne’s eyes were beaming, and after that she laid on the bed, she had not moved a finger.

Corinne stirred, still with her eyes closed, but she gave Claire a wave. That was her signal for, “Okay, I’ll do it later.” Claire rolled her eyes and decided to unpack her own suitcase.

Corinne sat up and grabbed her cellphone from the bedside table.

She took some photos and selfies before departing, and she wanted to upload those to her social media. That was when she noticed that there were no wifi signals, mobile data wasn’t working, and there were no bars either.

It stated that she was out of service area. Her brows furrowed at this.

“Omg!” Claire gasped.

“What’s wrong?” Corinne asked, walking over to her best friend.

Claire was sitting on the floor with her suitcase open, but instead of the clothes she put in last night, it was filled with the voodoo dolls she made and some that were made by her mother.

The contents of her carry-on had been replaced by tools to make voodoo doll.

Seeing this, Corinne quickly unzipped her own suitcase.

Corinne felt speechless when she looked at the stacks of talisman papers, bottles of cinnabar powder, and brushes in her suitcase.

The girls exchanged a dumbstruck glance before Corinne spoke.

“I love how my grandparents think that I don’t need a change of clothing or even underwear.”

Even though Corinne said that, she still thought that her grandparents might be on to something when they packed all of these in.

Claire was thinking the same thing, especially with how their family reacted. Her eyes went over both her best friend’s suitcase and her own.

“Don’t you think they—I mean our families—had been acting strange ever since we came back from Wilmart with these tickets? The way they looked at us when we boarded the train and now this!”

Claire pointed to their baggage.

“...”

She ran a hand through her hair, all the thoughts in her mind made her feel slightly agitated.

Claire took a deep breath and pulled out her cellphone. She wanted to get to the bottom of this now. If not, she doubted that she could get a good sleep tonight.

“Chill, you’re overthinking this,” Corinne said.

Corinne grabbed Claire’s cellphone, throwing it to the bed. Claire glared at Corinne, demanding an explanation.

“Maybe our families are just being overprotective. Remember how they refused to let us participate in any school field trips just because they wanted us to use the time for training,” Corinne said.

“My mom did let me join mathletes and science fairs even if they required us to travel,” Claire said.

Corinne rolled her eyes and went behind Claire, rubbing her shoulders to make her relax.

“That’s not the point. Your mom was with you for the whole trip and this time it’s just the two of us. No matter how old we are, we’re always their little babies. So, they are just being overly protective and worried.”

“Then, what about these?” Claire signaled to the voodoo dolls and talismans.

“Protection gear? Weapons? I mean, we don’t have guns, so these are replacements. Relax, Claire. We’re on a vacation! We should enjoy ourselves; we can think about all of those later. Besides, you can’t even call them. There’re no bars,” Corinne said, jumping back to the bed.

Looking at how happy-go-lucky Corinne acted, Claire let out a sigh. At this point, Corinne was swaying her head left and right, humming to her favorite tune.

“Fine, I’m going to the dining car to get something to eat,” Claire said, heading to the door.

Corinne perked up, “Get me something!”

When Claire opened the door, she felt a gush of icy wind blow against her, which was when she noticed how dimly lit the hallway was. The lights were a dull orange, and they could barely light up the corridor.

Feeling bizarre, Claire gripped onto her cellphone tightly. When her eyes landed on the small voodoo doll, Bellina, that was used as a cellphone keychain, she felt at ease.

Bellina met Claire’s eyes and blinked at her, giving Claire reassurance.

As soon as Claire was out the door, the door slammed shut with a loud bang.

The cloudy lights started to flicker as though they were about to go off any second and she could feel that it was getting chillier.

As soon as she stepped out from the cabin, she had been feeling cold. Was the air-conditioner supposed to be this strong in the train?

Bellina felt irritated by the sudden drop of temperature and she swung around agitatedly.

“Bellina, what’s wrong?” Claire asked.

Bellina just looked at Claire and her whole body was quivering. That was when something clicked in Claire’s mind: Bellina was not looking at her. She was looking behind her!

Bellina was Claire’s first voodoo doll, and she knew her really well. Bellina wasn’t shaking out of fear, she was twitching in excitement!

And there was only one thing that could make her this excited.

As the wind that had been blowing at her neck got stronger, Claire instantly ducked and rolled to the front, while Bellina swung forward, separating herself from the cellphone string.

When Claire glanced up after she got to a safe distance, her eyes widened at the sight in front of her.

Right on the ceiling was a ghost that was standing upside down, with her feet stuck on the ceiling. Her nails were exceptionally long, and her long hair was dangling down. When she saw Claire looking at her, she stretched a smile, revealing her vampire-like fangs.

The wind that Claire had been feeling all this time was from the ghost blowing on her neck.

Claire trembled only for a second because in the next minute, Bellina, who looked like a princess doll with her curly hair and puffy, frilly dress, transformed into a normal sized doll, and she lunged at the ghost.

The ghost sneered at the cute doll that pounced at her and stretched her long neck towards Bellina like a snake, her mouth opening wide as if she could swallow Bellina in one bite.

Bellina dodged and jumped onto the ghost’s head, then she grabbed the ghost by the neck and slapped it against the wall at full strength. When the ghost got dizzy, she saw Bellina blinking at her innocently before Bellina’s head became huge.

Before the ghost could process what happened, Bellina swallowed her. The ghost did not know how this could have happened, she was supposed to be the one who ate the doll and that human, but she ended up being eaten.

Bellina burped, tapping on her little tummy before she went back to Claire and jumped into Claire’s arms like a toddler.

“Have I not told you not to simply eat things? What if that dirty ghost gave you a tummy ache?” Claire said with a smile.

Bellina pouted, staring at Claire as if she were asking her if she shouldn’t eat the ghost, how could they get rid of it?

A smile spread across Claire’s flawless features as she said, “Easy, we tear them into pieces.”

Bellina’s eyes twinkled as a similar smile curled up on her face.

“Claire, are you mad?”

Corinne’s voice that should have been coming from the other side of the door, echoed through the entire hallway instead.