The train lurched into motion, the most important thing in our lives at this time, and yet, the creatures were still coming at us. God knows how many of these beasts had got aboard the carriages in the last few minutes, it could be a hundred easily. All of our guns were now empty, with a mass of bodies in front of us and further enemies trying to clamber over their dead.
“Back to the next car, we must sever the link between the cars!” shouted Holmes.
It was a fine idea, as perhaps the only solution to our survival, as we would quickly run out of space with our backs to the engine. Whether we had enough ammunition was not the just the issue, whether we could reload and keep up the firing in the short spaces we had was. Quickly turning and fleeing to the next car, we shut the door behind us and Holmes took up a shovel from the outer of the carriage and wedged it against the door.
“Cover me!” he shouted.
Quickly reloading our weapons as the horde came ever closer to the door we had just left, Holmes got down onto the carriage linkage, he was evidently struggling to get it loose. Only Cyril and I could fit in the doorway to the carriage to give assistance to Holmes. Lifting our rifles, one creature was at the doorway, putting its fist immediately through the glass. We both fired, two shots into the head of the lead zombi, it went immediately limp against the doorway, slumping over the now broken window, giving us clear shots to the next creatures.
The bolts of our rifles racked in time and we fired until our rifles were dry, but could not really see the extent of the damage we had caused, because for every creature we killed another would fill its place, desperately trying to push through the door, a perfect bottleneck. Below us Holmes was still struggling, he took up his shotgun and began striking the pinion with the stock, desperately attempting to loosen it. Cyril and I drew our pistols and simply fired though the window continually, our only aim here was to give Holmes the time he needed. My Adams revolvers were now empty, but Holmes had his hand on the pinion and was in the last stages of pulling it out. The door in front of us burst open and a creature broke through just as the pinion was released. Holmes rolled over to our side as the creature leapt at him, but with his shotgun at his hip he fired directly at the chest, knocking it back just enough to stop it from reaching our carriage, its head being obliterating by the oncoming carriage it had come from.
We were free and clear, the line of carriages behind us was losing speed at quite a rate and we were well on our way to Interlaken, just one carriage and the locomotive. However, what really concerned us at this stage in our journey was that the attacks were getting more common and more vicious, rather implying that Moriarty was pinning down our location and gaining in strength.
“Based on the current events it would rather seem likely that Moriarty will try to end us finally in Interlaken. He evidently has some fairly accurate information on where we are and will know that our ammunition quantity dwindles upon each engagement. Additionally, our foe would not let us get close enough to his home and base without confronting us with everything he had, of which he has not done yet, though that platform was perhaps a precursor to.”
At this stage, we were perhaps winging our way to our deaths, but none of us gave it too much thought. Finally, we sat comfortably and safely, attributes which were pure luxury in these horrid days. Everyone took stock of their weapons, reloading everything they had. We still had a good deal of ammunition in our packs thanks to Cyril, but it would likely be needed in its entirety if this next battle would be Moriarty’s big push.
We were now getting ever closer to our final destination and Moriarty was clearly all too aware of that fact, trying desperately to stop us at every turn. However, he clearly still did not understand the exact co-ordinates of our location, which was never allowing him to funnel all his strength into one place, a fortunate fact for us. It was quite clear though that the closer we got to threatening his presence in Switzerland, the easier it would be to pin point us.
CHAPTER SEVEN
I awoke from a short but appreciated sleep to see that we were firmly in the daylight of the next day. Still trundling on down the tracks towards Interlaken, we must have been just minutes away. Holmes was sat upright and fully alert, gazing out of the window in deep thought, whilst the other four men were still asleep. I wondered if Holmes had gotten any sleep at all, or been in this state of alertness for the entire journey. Perhaps this is why he always looked so gaunt and fatigued, as he never slept more than the minimum required to operate.
Interlaken would be an important hub for us, as it was for many, and it therefore only seemed logical that our enemy would have set some plan in motion involving the town. Sadly, we could do nothing now but head directly towards the place and hope for the best.
The platform came into view and it was a sight to see, the most people we had seen in one place since we began this journey, all busy at work of some sort, it seemed overly busy for a small town.
Nearing the platform we could see people on stretchers, with various civilians and policeman carrying an assortment of small arms. This was a familiar sight to me, from long before this latest adventure, the aftermath of a battle. Switzerland was not at war with anybody, and civil dispute was just not a possibility, and therefore, they must have been fighting the same creatures that had continually hounded us. Here was a dilemma, a town full of civilians, with a number of infected survivors among them. No authority would believe our story, and therefore, we could only attempt to leave this town as quickly as we entered it.
Clearly Moriarty had set in place some plan for this town, but the hardy folk had resisted quite effectively. Unfortunately, as they would be soon to discover, the real fight was yet to begin. Fortunately our abundance of weapons would not stand out in this place, allowing us to move without question by authorities. The train came to a halt at what was another disaster waiting to happen, something we were all too familiar with now. Stepping out onto the platform we took a quick look around before Holmes strode on.
“Should we not help these people?” asked Cyril. Holmes did not even slow down, but answered in mid stride.
“There is nothing we can do for them, they will learn soon enough the true extent of the enemy they face, and they could well be the end of us if we stayed.”
It was a harsh reality, but in an open space with people that were already infected, and many more potential victims, a group of civilians could quickly become an army of zombis. These people must have fought the creatures within the last twenty or thirty minutes, we had to be quick. Holmes led the way off the platform eastwards towards Brienzer See, the easterly lake of the town.
“You are walking with intent Holmes, do you know which direction to head or are you merely getting out of this place?” I asked.
“In my research over the previous weeks I had seen some mention of the town of Meirengen, and my gut tells me that it is a place of importance,” Holmes replied.
We were making good distance through the streets, with a few people giving us odd looks, clearly looking like foreigners, and yet unusually well armed, but all were too busy or concerned to say a word to us. Now half way through the town, a hundred yards down the street, we could see a couple of dozen school children being herded by their teacher. This was a sight which we knew immediately would lead to a serious dilemma. It became quickly apparent that the children were being moved at quite a speed and urgency. This did not bode well.