Oh fuck.

***

[i]clang. clang. clang.

"Come away from the windows, Coleman."

clang. clang. clang.

"But my friend's out there!"

clang. clang. clang.

"That's not Jerry."

And then Gramps ushered him off to the sleeping car. But Coleman never forgot the look on Jerry's face--it had to be Jerry--as he sprinted across the platform, waving his hands, eyes locked on Coleman's and mouthing 'please' over and over.[/i]

***

Ooooooh fuck. Priority number one is to get Sasha off the tracks. A train could come barreling through here any second now--any engineer worth their salt will avoid this place like the plague, but sometimes things don't line up the way you want and a diversion through [i]here[/i] is the only way through. 

Priority two: no eye contact. Nobody really knows what the things that live here are, and believe me, every crew has their own version. Are they a doomed sacrifice by the first layers of rail? Is that what needs to happen, is that all the misfortunes somehow aren't real if there aren't passengers to witness it? Are they a damned crew who sinned against some primordial train and have been condemned to wander the platforms for all time? No matter the story, there's a common thread to the stories--you can never meet their eyes. Or... or what? Or your soul will be stolen, and the Not-A-You will ride away in your skin and leave you there? Or your train will lack the energy it needs to escape?

Personally, Coleman's explanation is if you meet their eyes, and see the desperation there, the only way to live with yourself is to stop the train.

Priority three: Find the rest of his team and pray the other rumors about Wormwood aren't true.

[7 on Look Closely.
-Tell me about the other people on the platform. How could they hurt me? How could they help me?
-Tell me about my friends. What are they doing? What will they do next?]