Judgment by Tom Reinhart Read Free Book Online Page B

of tripping and stumbling on the tracks.
     
                  Fifteen minutes or so further into the tunnel, we heard someone up ahead. Just one voice, a mixture of mumbling and whimpering, like someone hurt or scared. We continued forward, peering into the darkness for whatever was ahead of us. Drawing nearer to the voice, a stench grew in the air. The smell of body odor, mixed with defecation and death. “Jeez,” blurted Jennifer, “what is that?”
     
                  A few yards further we saw the dark silhouette of a man leaning against the wall of the tunnel. He was sort of standing, mostly hunched over, mumbling to himself. As soon as he saw us, he moved to the middle of the tunnel, facing us, and called out. “Hey! Hey! Over here!”
     
                  “Shhhh!” Joe yelled back. “Shut up. Be quiet.”
     
                  “I’m hurt. Can you help me get out of here?”
     
                  When we were very close, Joe lit up his cell phone and shined it towards the man. Jennifer gasped loudly while Steve blurted out a “Holy crap…” In the dim light of the cell phone, we could see the man was indeed injured. He was covered in blood; his head split wide open, cracked grotesquely in half. On the left side pieces of his skull were protruding out through his scalp, and I swear I could see parts of his brain. One arm appeared to be broken near the shoulder, swinging unnaturally as he moved, as if it were disconnected. He stank badly. He was no longer bleeding; globs of coagulated blood caked into his clothes and hair. His skin was ashen gray, like a dead man’s.
     
                  “Help me, please,” he cried through badly broken teeth and strangely blue lips.
     
                  “What the hell happened to you, man?” Joe asked.
     
                  The man seemed to struggle with his thoughts for a moment, confused, as if he couldn’t remember. “A bus. No…a…the train. I was in the tunnel… and a train hit me.”
     
                  “The train hit you? Yeah, it looks like the train freaking hit you, pal.”
     
                  The man took a couple more steps toward us, and stepped onto the third rail. His body jolted violently as if in the midst of a powerful seizure. Sparks flew from around his ankles as the smell of burning flesh filled the air. We all took a few steps back. “Jesus Christ….” I heard Steve exclaim. When the man finally stumbled off the rail, we all expected him to fall dead. His knees buckled a bit and he almost went down, but he caught himself and stood again, still alive. He stood there for a moment dazed, smoke easing off what was left of his head. He just stared at us, as if he was just now seeing us for the first time.
     
                  “What the fuck,” yelled Joe. “Dude, you alright?”
     
                  It took a moment, but the man answered. “Hey! Can you help me get out of here?” His words were strangely slurred, and he wobbled like a drunk, but he stood.
     
                  Joe turned to us. “There’s something not fucking right here. This guy should be dead.”
     
                  Behind Joe I saw the man take another step, then hit the third rail again. More sparks flew from his feet, smoke flowed from his torn pants, and this time he screamed in pain. He fell in a spasm onto the ground, lost contact with the rail, and just lay there motionless. No one spoke for several moments until Joe moved a little closer, shining the cell light on him. “He’s gotta be dead now.”
     
                  Suddenly the man moaned and turned over on his back, the gap in his skull having grown wider. Now I could clearly see his brain exposed, almost like it was going to fall out of his head. Jennifer turned away.
     
                  “You’ve got to be fucking