The Age Of The Dead

Chapter 1: First Contact

A man sits in one of the seats of a train, the murmurs of the passengers and the movement of the train are closing his eyes. He slept with his head leaning against the window until a certain smell woke him up.

Puckering his nose, he looks and smells around. A woman, sitting in front of him, carries a handkerchief to her mouth while she coughs. The train continues to advance, "Next station, Belgrano C "announces the recording on the loudspeakers.

The smell intensifies, looking to his left he can see a tramp fighting with his wife. As he watches them, his cell phone vibrates. It was a message from Valentina, his girlfriend. " Iña I'm coming home a little later, gonna stop by the greengrocery."

While Iñaki was putting his phone away, he hears another cough.

He turns his neck and discovers a man who, occupying the two seats, carries the collar of his shirt to his mouth. Drops of sweat fall down his forehead. "Next station, Nuñez." The doors open and Iñaki lazily leaves the train.

Iñaki climbs the stairs two by two to leave the train station as soon as possible. The morning air refreshes his senses and quickly walks the two streets separating the station from his office.

"Good morning." The greeting of his boss is barely audible.

"Good morning Gonzalo. How are you?"  Iñaki asks as he hangs his jacket on the coat rack. "You look tired."

"I am," he replies as he glances at some papers on his desk. "Martin had to come in this morning to open the office, but, as you can see, he's not here."

"He must have gotten sick?"

  "I suppose so. The HR client had a meeting with him today at 8:00, but he called me at 8:30 telling me there was no one in the office. I called Martin right away but he didn't answer his cell phone or landline." Gonzalo pauses a little while he looks Iñaki in the eye "Do you know anything?"

"No, I don't know anything."

"Well, being 9 and...5 minutes, I still couldn't communicate with him."

The rest of the day goes by as usual.  A few minutes before closing Gonzalo approaches Iñaki's desk.

"Something's wrong. Martin is clueless, but he never misses work. I'm going to his house," he says as he grabs his coat," please call him before closing the office. Maybe you're lucky."

"Okay, I'll let you know if I can communicate with him. It's probably nothing."

Gonzalo turns around and, before leaving the office, gives Iñaki a look that seems to predict the opposite.

Gonzalo's gaze remains in Iñaki's mind. Alone and a little more nervous, he grabs his cell phone and touches Martin's name. Gives a tone, that "U" lengthens keeping him waiting. Suddenly the sound is cut off by silence and his cell phone starts counting the duration of the call.

Iñaki seems to make out something on the other side of the line...grazing the phone.

He swallows saliva and sharpens his ear. The sound changes again. He hears a constant sound, a grunt, a cough, a grunt. All that is transformed suddenly into a roar. Steps. Yelling. More roars. The call is cut off.

The road to the train seems to lengthen under Iñaki's feet. A breath of cold air creeps into his clothes.

Already on the platform, the train slows down in front of Iñaki until it squeaks and stops. He gets on the third wagon. Iñaki is reliving the call to Martin when his cell phone starts to vibrate, it's a call from Valentina.

"Hi honey, how was your day?"  Valentina asked.

  "Good, what about yours?"

"Always so eloquent. It's all a bit chaotic around here, we were commissioned a project...week that was...difficult..."

"Hello? Valentina?" Iñaki says and then looks at the cell phone screen and checks that he has no signal.

He Puts the cell phone away and raises his head just in time to see a figure disappear in the next wagon. Her silhouette faded behind the door dividing the two wagons.

The other wagon moves in front of Iñaki from left to right and from top to bottom. Iñaki tries to locate the figure. Something foreign to the train moves quickly in that wagon.  The train advances full of people. Iñaki swings back and forth and fails to focus his eyes. He shakes his head.

Iñaki meets the face of a woman. She takes a hand to her mouth and directs her gaze to the ground.

A tingle runs through every nerve in Iñaki's body. His legs get heavy. Still, he takes a step forward. The woman opens her eyes more and more and the rest of the passengers begin to look at her. Curiosity urges Iñaki to find out what is happening and, without even realizing it, takes another step forward...Iñaki stops, inhales, and decides to continue walking toward the other wagon.

He walks dodging the passengers that accumulate in his path. When he is about 5 meters from the door that divides both wagons, the train lights flash twice...Iñaki feels the adrenaline rushing through his blood and rubs his sweaty hands, stops, and watches the scene. the woman opens her mouth. At that moment the train lights flash once, twice, three times... until they extinguish.

Phosphorescent patches suddenly light up at the same time that a blow shatters the glass of the door that separates both wagons.  Fragments of glass fall under different shoes. At that moment the train accelerates furiously and Iñaki is thrown in the opposite direction. He slams against the door.

A scream rumbles in the wagon. The train keeps accelerating. The tiny lights in the tunnel appear and fade in less than a second consumed by the speed.

Suddenly, the white light from the platform floods the vehicle, and then the train breaks with a metallic whimper. Iñaki ends up losing his balance and hits his face against someone's back. The doors open and a soldier enters the train pointing his assault rifle in the direction of the door with the glass shattered.

More soldiers enter the vehicle in the middle of the shouting, and the movement of the passengers leads Iñaki to the platform.

  "Get down the stairs to my right!" Shouts a uniform above the rest.

"Leave the station right now!"

Steps like hammers rumble in all directions. Iñaki looks back to check that the length of the train is covered by soldiers, their green uniforms hide the colors of the wagons. Among the multitude of voices, Iñaki begins to feel observed...He remembers the figure, remembers the woman. <

"Were they both the same person?"He wonders.

"Young man, leave the platform right now." A soldier's words drag him back to the present.

Iñaki had been watching the train, losing track of time. The military warns him again. He turns around and walks obediently toward the stairs.

He starts to climb and sees as the last of the passengers  - a man in jeans and a black sweatshirt - climbs the last step and turns left. The stairs are deserted. Iñaki lightens the pace as the voices of the military behind him, and the steps ahead, give way to silence.

As if it were a synchronized dance, the moment Iñaki arrives at the next floor << Black sweatshirt >> turns right and disappears behind the corner that connects with the escalators about 40 meters from his location.

Alone in the Buenos Aires subway facilities. Suddenly he hears footsteps behind him. He sharpens the ear: the sounds are spaced, slow, and heavy. He can no longer hear the passengers or the military.

The footsteps get closer. Iñaki turns around but does not distinguish anything, the light on his head does not offer any shadow. Silence. The sound disappears and he gazes at the corner without being able to see the stairs. Holds his breath with his eyes fixed on that blessed corner.

With clenched fists, Iñaki sees the bodily sensations that arise in him like a waterfall and remains rigid.

The mystery fades when the figure of a soldier - the one who had told him to leave the platform - appears at the end of the stairs. The soldier's gaze lands on Iñaki.

"What about the rest of the passengers?"Asks the soldier after wiping the sweat from his face.

Armed with courage, Iñaki asks him:

"What is going on?"

But the soldier ignores what Iñaki asked and takes another step towards him.

"I'm going to go up with you and make sure that everyone has evacuated the facilities," he says ignoring Iñaki's question.

"You alone?" Iñaki asks looking over his shoulder.

"Yes."

"Something happened in the wagon where the glass exploded, didn't it?"

"Please follow me."

The soldier heads for the escalators. His boots hit the ground at the same time that his rifle grazes his uniform composing a monotonous symphony. Iñaki is forced to increase speed so as not to fall behind.

In a matter of seconds, they are climbing the stairs and glimpsing the lights of the Buenos Aires night. They pass through the lathes at the entrance and reach the surface.

Where the stairs become a sidewalk Iñaki meets << Black sweatshirt >> once again.

"Very well." The soldier breaks in silence. "Continue to the exit, please."

Iñaki nods and begins to climb the stairs while the soldier stays behind blocking the entrance to the subway. The silhouette of << Black sweatshirt>> captures the reflection of a traffic light and changes color: green, yellow, red...Iñaki climbs the first step. The dry sound of the sole of his shoe against the concrete staircase seems to wake him up.

He turns around as he looks at his hands. It is now Iñaki who has stood motionless watching a swollen, blackened wound on << Black sweatshirt >> 's right hand, as the man gazes at his outstretched fingers with equal interest. The passenger lifts his head a little and nails his eyes to Iñaki...they are empty. There are no pupils, no cornea or iris... the white sclera covers the entirety of his eyes. He lets out an inhuman roar and begins to descend the stairs.

The movement takes Iñaki by surprise and before he can react Black sweatshirt is upon him. The man extends his arms by grabbing him by the shoulders. He opens his jaw like a shark and shows him his blackened teeth. Iñaki reacts by placing his hands on his attacker's chest and tries to push him away as he feels his feet begin to hesitate on the ground.

"Move away right now!"The soldier shouts.

Man exerts more and more force as he throws bites into the air. With his feet on different steps, Iñaki feels that he is about to lose his balance.

"Last warning!"

The pressure on Iñaki's shoulders is unbearable. His face is inches from the teeth of black sweatshirt and a rancid smell enters his nose.

A sound explodes around him and dies instantly. A white glow blinds Iñaki for a second followed by a high-pitched beep in his ears. Then he turns around to meet black sweatshirt on the floor next to the entrance door.

The man has fallen downstairs and lies inches from the soldier. His legs were dislocated at a grotesque angle. The tibia pierced the skin of his right leg.

Black sweatshirt begins to moan and roar once more. He has lost control of his neck since only those eyes move in his face...he knows that Iñaki is still there.

The creature defies everything Iñaki had learned about the human body.

"We have one at the entrance." Communicates the military through the microphone in his helmet.

  "A what?" Iñaki asks agitatedly.

"Please go back to your house." The soldier replies, still pointing at the man on the ground.

Iñaki feels his lips moving, but does not hear the sound of his voice.

The creature crawls resting the weight of his body on his elbows. The soldier doesn't take his eyes off him.

"Go back to your house!" His voice is magnified on the stairs making Iñaki regain his auditory sense.

Without thinking twice, he finally leaves the subway.