Hell Express: The Survival Games

Chapter 5-The Cakeland Kingdom

A registration page popped up when Corinne tried to navigate through the Hell Express app.

Please enter your traveller name.

Corinne tapped on the screen.

Sailor Moon.

-Name has been taken.

Superman.

-Name has been taken, you may try Superman12345.

“...”

Corinne stole a glance at Claire and saw that she had the same identical expression as her; she must be going through the same thing.

Cutie Pie Princess.

-Name has been taken.

‘Are you kidding me?’ Corinne thought.

Fudge You Traveller Name.

-Please refrain from using profanity words. Warning #1.

“...”

King of The World.

-Registration Successful.

“Corinne, what name did you use?” Claire asked, “I’m Doll Queen1113.”

“...King of The World,” Corinne said, eyes twitching.

Luckily, nobody will know that that was her name, it was so embarrassing. It was definitely better than Cutie Pie Princess... right?

The app was fairly simple.

There were a couple of functions: Profile, Shop, Forum, Customer Service, and Wallet.

Both the ‘Profile’ and ‘Shop’ icons were grey, whereas the other icons looked normal.

The reason they downloaded this app was to find out more about Hell Travel Agency and Hell Express.

So, Corinne instantly clicked ‘Forum.’

There were a couple of posts that were pinned on top. Corinne clicked on the post that said, ‘Newbie Traveller’s Guide: All You Need to Know + FAQ.’ and started to read through it.

I’m Superman012, I wrote this post to clear the confusion of newbie travellers.

I will cover some of the basics and if you want to know more about Hell Express, you can dive deeper into the forum, there are many travellers here who are willing to share their experiences.

Everyone who boarded Hell Express will be called ‘Traveller.’ After you finish registering your profile in the app, you will get a passport.

Nobody knows how one is selected to become a traveller, maybe it is random, and nobody knows how to leave the train and go home.

There is only one thing we need to do here and that is to survive!

All travellers will have to go through stations. Once your next station is confirmed, when the time comes, you’ll be teleported to the station. Be prepared ahead of time.

You all must have played games before, right? Basically, Station = Dungeon.

There are two main types of stations, Wit and Slay.

Wit: Mysteries, puzzles.

Wit type stations require you to search for clues to piece the puzzles together in order to solve some sort of mystery.

Slay: Kill monsters.

For this one, you use more brawn than brains. You’ll need to kill your way through the slay stations. It may be monsters, zombies, ghosts, spirits; anything that tries to kill you, you kill them first.

Don’t take this lightly, there are no save and load, no bonus lives, if you die in a station, you are dead for good!

There is also another way to leave that station. You will need to find the ‘Return Stamp.’

The Return Stamp is basically like a ticket to go back to your train. Once you find it, you just need to stamp it on your passport.

But bear in mind that using the stamp to leave will lead you to earn only a bare minimum of points and points are crucial.

Points are the currency among travellers and trains. It is important because you need points to buy food and different things in the shop.

The shop is just like the shop when you play games. You can buy weapons, skills, potions, and things of that nature. You can also pay a rental fee to open your own shop.

You earn points by completing missions at each station.

The higher the rank of performance upon completion of missions, the higher the points you get.

You can also earn points by getting titles, titles are gained based on your performance at a station.

This post definitely shed some light into the situation for Corinne and Claire.

If there was a Return Stamp, Corinne wondered if there was a Home Stamp, one where you can return home.

Seeing the two grey icons, Corinne tried to tap on ‘Profile’ and…

Access Denied.

She tapped on ‘Shop.’

Access Denied.

“...”

Corinne looked up from her phone screen and saw that Claire was still looking at the forum, probably reading some other posts.

Knock Knock Knock Knock

“Hell Post! Delivery for King of the World and Doll Queen 1113!”

Bellina went to get the door and came back with two brown envelopes.

Within the envelopes were the passports that were mentioned in the forum post.

They had red covers with ‘Hell Travel Agency’ printed on them in golden font. Corinne saw her photo ID on the first page along with her name.

It said: Traveller Name: King of The World Hell Express: Six

Bzzz

The same static sound appeared before an announcement.

“Attention all Hell Express Six travellers, we will be stopping at Cakeland Kingdom tomorrow at 10AM, breakfast will be served starting from 8AM.

To ensure all travellers are on time to leave the train, lights will be out at 9PM.

It is compulsory for all travellers to be on schedule at all destinations in order to avoid any inconveniences between all parties. On a side note, to celebrate the opening of Hell Express Six, Hell Travel Agency will be providing a welcome package for our new travellers. Have a good night and be safe.”

The announcement ended in an eerie tone.

‘Be safe?’ Corinne’s gut feeling was telling her that something would happen at night. With how evil the train and the travel agency were, Corinne doubted that they would let them have a good night.

“Corinne, look!” Claire said, pointing to the passport.

A new page had magically appeared in their passports.

It said: Station: Cakeland Kingdom Time: 10AM

Knock Knock Knock Knock

“Hell Post! Package for King of the World and Doll Queen 1113!”

Claire went over to the door with Bellina on her shoulder just to be safe. It should have been the welcome package from the travel agency.

“What is it?” Corinne asked.

The announcer said that it was a welcome package, but Claire came back holding two white envelopes.

“Lucky Draw Coupon?” Claire looked at the piece of paper in the envelope.

There was a QR code for them to scan on the coupon.

When Corinne scanned it, a lucky draw wheel appeared on the screen.

There were different items on it: a toothpick, a lock of hair, sunshades, key ring, etc.

The wheel started to spin and then it stopped.

Better luck next time!

“...”

Corinne had reason to believe that Hell Travel Agency had something against her.

“What did you get? It says here that I got a potato lightbulb,” Claire said, showing her cellphone screen to Corinne.

Corinne pouted and showed Claire her screen, “I got nothing.”

She felt disappointed, but at the same time she was happy for Claire because she got something from the lucky draw.

Claire silently patted Corinne on the head, comforting her.

When Claire’s package came, they exchanged a glance, staring at the item in front of them.

It was literally a potato with a lightbulb sticking on it.

The lightbulb came with a card stating the function of the item.

[Potato Lightbulb Experiment Invention 008 (made by Scientist Alfred, distributed by Hell Travel Agency) Protective barrier. Can be used as a shield or as a light source.

Barrier activation count: 3

Due to this being an experimental item, the functionality is not guaranteed, maybe it can be used as an ordinary lightbulb?

Barrier functionality not guaranteed, Scientist Alfred and Hell Travel Agency will not be responsible for any consequences.

Life is precious, use it at your own risk.]

‘Such a fraud!’ Corinne’s eyes twitched after reading the card in Claire’s hand.

Even the items they provide are defective! Shitty travel agency.

When Claire finished reading the description on the card, she already treated it as an ordinary lightbulb.

Just imagine what could happen if a ghost dashed forward, attacking you, and you whipped out this potato lightbulb. It lit up, but the barrier didn’t appear.

Corinne waved the potato lightbulb at Claire, “This is a flawed item, it’s better to make our own weapons than rely on this.”

Claire nodded; her eyes went over to the wall clock.

“We better get ready for bed, don’t forget, lights out at 9pm.”

 

***

 

 

Dong

Dong

Dong

.

.

.

When the clock struck nine, the lights went out instantly.

The entire train went silent for a time, and then the sound of high heels clicking on the floor came from the other end of the hallway and it grew louder as it approached Corinne and Claire’s cabin.

“It’s 9pm! It’s 9pm! Time to make rounds to see who is not asleep! Who is the naughty one?” The train crew member who was making rounds said in a sing-song voice as she skipped down the hallway.

“Teehee! Someone is not sleeping; I can sense it. Someone is not sleeping!”

The train crew member slowly opened the door, went in, and then…

And then…

She froze.

Inside the room, she saw a brunette lying flat on her stomach on the bed, her legs were swinging back and forth as she was engrossed in her cellphone.

Hearing the door being opened, she glanced up and their eyes locked.

The brunette was Corinne, she couldn’t sleep, so she was playing games using her cellphone.

The entire room was dark, the only light came from Corinne’s cellphone. Seeing a stranger standing by the door, Corinne’s eyes did not move away from that intruder, her hand went over to the table lamp to turn it on.

Corinne raised a brow; her eyes went down to the name tag on the train crew member’s uniform.

“Maddie?”

Under the dim lighting, Corinne could see that Maddie was just like the dining crew member from earlier in the day, a walking corpse.

Corinne recalled the announcement from the train conductor earlier about lights out at 9PM, how she wished them to have a good night and be safe.

With the way those beings from the travel agency and the train had been acting ever since she got on the train, she knew they wouldn’t let them have it easy.

Maddie blinked, surprised to see someone being so calm when they faced her.

Corinne put up a finger and pointed to Claire who was sleeping on the other bed.

“Shhhh, she is sleeping.” Corinne said with a smile.

Maddie blinked a couple more times as if her brain were stuck on loading.

Then, she took a step forward, planning to pounce at Corinne.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Corinne said, pointing to the floor.

Maddie glanced down and that was when she saw it, Corinne’s bed was surrounded by her lightning tempest talismans.

Corinne’s lips curled up as she put down her cellphone and took out a stack of talismans from under her pillow.

She spread them out like a folding fan and slowly waved it, looking at Maddie innocently.

She just knew that they would do something, which was why she had prepared everything before bedtime. The reason that she could not sleep was because she was excited to see how those paranormal beings would react once they saw her preparation.

“...”

Maddie felt like she was being challenged.

She was sure that if she went forward, she would be struck by lightning and maybe vanish into thin air.

So, she changed her target and suddenly lunged at Claire. Her movements were halted when she saw a whole line of animal plushies staring at her.

All of them had button eyes except for Bellina, but Maddie felt like they were looking at her like predators.

“I think these two are your colleagues maybe?” Corinne suddenly said and held up two dolls with horrified expressions.

Those two dolls were the ones that Claire turned into double dolls. One of them was the one who attacked Claire at the hallway and the other one was the one who tried to trick Corinne into giving her entry.

Maddie looked and her eyes widened, her whole body was trembling. She recognized those two dolls, she was wondering why they went missing.

She looked at Corinne, who was smiling brightly at her; except to her, Corinne looked like a she-devil who held her colleagues hostage.

The ghost dolls seemed to be looking at her, begging her to rescue them. But Maddie couldn’t move from the spot that she was standing on.

“Oh, look. They look like they wanted you to join them. What do you say?” Corinne asked, smiling even wider.

In the end, Maddie hurried out the door with one thought screaming in her mind.

‘They are such bullies!’ Maddie thought as she stormed down the hallway.

Corinne merely looked at Maddie’s direction and went back to scrolling on her phone.