The train was late. Dawn checked her wristwatch again to make sure she had not just left the house too early, but the arms of her watch showed 10:50 just as the heavy iron clock in the center of the station. She checked the time table on the platform a sixth time. She couldn't possibly have missed it, she had intentionally showed up half an hour early just to be on the safe side. A little delay would normally not have bothered her but forty minutes late seemed like a long time. What was even more strange was that save for an elderly lady and a bearded fellow with a grey baseball cap, she was alone on the platform. The Saturday train to the city was usually rather crowded. Upon arrival, hopefully in a few hours, Dawn's cousin had promised to come and pick her up at the station. It would be his first car ride after getting out of jail and Dawn had promised to cook him a royal meal to celebrate his new found freedom.
Sage was sitting next to Dawn's sparingly packed luggage, staring off into space. He didn't have much to worry about; he was just a dog, Dawn thought to herself. He could not grasp the concept of right and wrong and he wasn't capable of wondering about the train being too late. Her reluctance of talking to strangers was soon overcome by her annoyance of the transportational delay. When the long arm of the clock pointed straight up resulting in a single ringing sound that made Sage lazily lift his head with a soft grunt, Dawn had built up the confidence to approach the elderly lady sitting on a bench at the far end of the platform. "Excuse me, m--" she didn't get any further with her sentence before she noticed that the lady had her eyes closed. A cigarette butt was resting between her hook-like fingers and had long since burned out. Somewhat bewildered over how one could fall asleep at a train station and slightly taken by surprise, Dawn backed up. Wanting to get back to her luggage, she turned around and almost walked straight into the bearded man who had silently come up behind her.
"I was, I.. do you know why the train is late?" she stuttered, perplexed to have the man surprisingly and suddenly close to her. He stood in silence for what felt to Dawn like minutes before a tiny smile seemed to move beneath his beard.
"Haven't you heard?" he asked "The outbreak. It's finally come." Dawn's eyes flickered between the man's brownish teeth and the shadow of his cap that made it impossible to see his eyes.
"I'm not quite sure I follow, what do you mean 'outbreak'?" she asked hesitantly, confused, still trying to catch a look of his eyes but without luck.
"Take care" he suddenly muttered and turned his head towards the railway where the train was finally coming towards the platform. The loud shriek of the old breaks on the trail forced Dawn cover her ears with both her hands. Sage threw his head back and let out a howl, requesting Dawn to protect him from the monster that was the train. The loud noise ended as the train stopped. Dawn looked back up at bearded man but he was nowhere to be seen, like had he disappeared into thin air. She took a second to look around her back for him but when she could not locate him anywhere on the platform, she grabbed her bag in one hand and Sage's leash in the other and boarded the train. As she stared out of the window as the train slowly left the station, she could have sworn that the old lady slid lifelessly down the bench.
