dollpocalypse | An Abandoned 9 Line Subway Tunnel | Some New York | Thursday

Topher's parents wanted him dead. That was the only explanation.

Well, there could be others. Maybe they just wanted him attacked by something big and scary that made chittering noises. Or they just wanted him to be hit by a train and live.

But he was guessing dead for now. Because that portal that was supposed to take him and Kenzi first-class, direct to LA? Had taken him here. Where it was dark. And cold. And wet. And there were chittering noises and train tracks and he had rat fear, okay? And the dark freaked him out. Which was why he was clinging to Kenzi's shirt and making tiny, high-pitched noises.

"I don't like this," he whimpered. "I don't like this I don't like this I don't like this..."

Kenzi	The only reason Kenzi had agreed to this after Portalocity started screwing up was that it was supposed to be direct. How could they mess up a one-stop trip?! Kenzi had her phone out and was demanding of the guy on the other end, "When does it get here? We're in the dark! There are noises! And not just from my terrified friend!" She would have pushed Topher away, but. Chittering. Chittering!
Topher	"What'd he say?! What'd he say?!" His phone refused to get service here. Plus, calling for a portal would mean not clinging to her anymore, and he couldn't have that.
Kenzi	"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW? DON'T-- Oh my god he put me on hold with emo boy band music!" Kenzi hit the OFF button, and pulled out her knife. "Okay. Okay. We just. Gotta find our way out of here. Without getting bitten by anything carrying horrible disfiguring diseases."
Topher	There was a very loud, very shrill chittering noise. As if something was advancing. This made Topher just cling harder. Like, possibly bruise-forming harder. Sorry, Kenzi. Under his breath, he started chanting, "I wanna get out I wanna get out I wanna get out..."
Kenzi	"Shut up! They can hear you!" Kenzi hissed, suddenly realizing this. She tugged on her arm, ow, taking a step away from the chittering noises. "Exit sign. We need an exit sign," she whispered, eyes searching the dark for anything like a light bulb. Topher's hyperventilating was not helping her maintain any semblance of cool.
Topher Brink	"There's no exit signs in the subway!" Topher hissed. Like he and his spoiled, non-public-transportation-inclined self would have any idea about whether that was true. He was basing his intel on movies here. "Once you're in... you never come out!" Well. Movies and his own overly active imagination, of course.
Kenzi	"Service corridors! For maintenance guys!" Kenzi insisted. She didn't care if she wasn't right, she wanted them to be real, damnit. "Just keep moving, keep moving, oh god don't trip me, we're gonna get out of this, God don't let it be rats, don't let it be rats...."
Topher	That was the worst thing she possibly could've said. Because Topher shrieked, in a high-pitched yelp sure to rival ~~Dawn Summers~~ teenage girls all over the world, "DO NOT MENTION RATS!" And that set off the shrillest bout of chittering yet. The shrill, terrifying chittering that was sure to mean imminent death.
Kenzi	"RUN!" Kenzi started running, handicapped by Topher's grip on her and her grip on him and her grip on the knife and she heard little clawed feet now and how many of them were there?!
Topher	"I can't run!" Topher shrieked, scrambling after her in what was indeed a very poor attempt at running. "They'll catch me and EAT MY HAIR!" In his haste to hurry after her, he inadvertently knocked his backpack off his shoulder and it splashed into a puddle on the ground. That wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the sparks that flew up (damn those electrified tracks!), and Topher darted away as fast as he could to avoid catching fire or being electrocuted or whatever happened when electrified tracks and dirty subway water and his makeshift laptop all joined together like that. Naturally, he tripped. And suddenly the little clawed feet coming after him didn't sound so little anymore.
Giant Freaking Rat	That was because they weren't so little. Actually? The rodent advancing toward them was about Topher's size. It lumbered toward him, rat-teeth bared, its ravenous expression indicating exactly how long it had been since it had last found two teenagers in a tunnel around feeding time. Too long.
Kenzi	Kenzi screamed. Look. That thing was big enough to deserve a really good scream. "We're gonna die!"
Topher	"IT'S GONNA EAT US!" Topher screamed from the ground, aiming an appallingly bad kick up toward the giant rat.
Kenzi	Kenzi grabbed at Topher's arm, trying to drag him up, while slashing in the direction of the giant rat with her (way too small, why didn't she have a sword?!) knife. "Get up get up get up get up--"
Giant Freaking Rat	The rat seethed, lumbering the necessary few feet forward toward the sopping wet sneaker that had just been foolishly brandished in its direction. When said sneaker retracted another few feet thanks to Kenzi dragging its owner, the rat advanced still further -- -- its foot lodging in the coil of a backpack strap in the process.
Topher	That bought Topher enough time to scramble to his feet and hurtle in the opposite direction as fast as he could. Which was -- surprisingly fast. If not all that coordinated.
Kenzi	Kenzi was right after him, knife still out, eyes huge, saving all breath for running. Running like the wind. How fast could that thing run? Oh god oh god oh god where was an exit when you needed one!?
Topher	Topher still didn't see an exit -- actually, he couldn't see much of anything at all, what with it being a fucking subway tunnel -- but after turning a corner, he was winded and needed to stop. And then a horrifying thought occured to him. "Kenzi," he panted. "Backpack. Has -- ID." Or, well, his ID, anyway. Also known as the thing that would allow him to take that portal, whenever that moron at Portalocity got around to booking it.
Kenzi	"What?" Wait. "You want to go back there?! ARE YOU CRAZY?"
Topher	"NO!" Topher yelled, now that his breath was (mostly) caught and he could manage more effective use of his vocal chords. "But I kinda wanna get out of here! You know, with the portal? The one they'll need to see ID for?!"
Kenzi	"SHIT. ID! Goes in pockets!!" Kenzi started swearing in Russian, breaking into, "Bad bad bad okay think okay, uh. Okay. Need bag. Need to... get around huge terrifying rat with teeth. You. Me. One knife. Uh." Shit. Oh god why hadn't she paid more attention in Make Weapons Out of Stuff Class?!
Topher	Topher glanced around him. Yeah, there wasn't a ton of stuff to really use as weapons, and neither he nor Kenzi was really tough enough to make an especially good battering ram. Other than that, it was... a subway tunnel. Graffiti on the walls, three rails... Wait. "Hang on," he said, crouching down to examine the tracks. "Gimme your coat."
Kenzi	Kenzi was already shedding it, then asking worriedly, "Why do you need my coat? What are you going to do? Please be a genius right now, Topher."
Topher	"Shush," Topher said, looping the coat twice over his hand. Okay. Okay, there were three rails. Two running down the center of the tunnel, and one off to the side, covered by a grimy white awning. On a hunch, he sucked in a breath and very lightly grazed one of the middle rails with his protected hand, then wasn't surprised when nothing happened. Same went for the second one. So then the third one had to be the one with the current. Made sense. That had to be why it was covered, right? A few minutes of careful scrutiny later, Topher had a plan. "Okay," he said, straightening up. He unraveled the coat from his hand and held it back to Kenzi. "Your knife. Could you throw it?"
Kenzi	"Sure, but if you think I can hit the eye of a giant rat while it's charging us, you're dreaming." Kenzi was studying the rail now though, and looking hopefully back at Topher. "Where am I aiming?"
Topher	Of course she couldn't. "See that?" he asked, pointing to the little awning protecting the third rail. "Could you pin something to it? And throw it hard enough to crack the wood?"
Kenzi	"Yeah, sure," Kenzi said, looking less scared and more intrigued now. "What are we doing?"
Topher	"Using science." He was so smug. So smug and filled with science.
Kenzi	"Which... helps us how?" Kenzi demanded. "You don't have a secret remote to the subway in your pants, do you?"
Topher	Kenzi, please. Never discuss a man's pants when science was on the line. "No," he said, rolling his eyes. He squatted down and pointed. "Three tracks," he explained. "Those two? Not electrified. That's what the train runs on." Then he pointed to the covered one. "That? Yes electrified. If something touches it..." Fill in the blank, Kenzi.
Kenzi	"Crispy critter. Oh my god you are a genius!" Kenzi beamed at him and handed over her jacket again. "Now?" The knife was out and twirling in her hand.
Topher	Topher was so, so proud right now. "Not here," he decided. "Closer. So we can get my stuff." He headed back down in the tunnel toward where they'd come from, smirking.
Kenzi	"Remind me to punch you for dropping stuff later," Kenzi said, following him, then swallowing. "Hate rats."
Topher	"Like I don't!?" he exclaimed. "They're gross and twitchy and they make weird noises and UGH I HATE THEM SO MUCH!" There was spazflailing to go along with that declaration. Topher got tetchy about rats.
Kenzi	He was really good at that. Enough to set off Kenzi into babbling. "This one time, I was sleeping under a park bench, and this giant rat-- no, a normal rat because I KNOW what a giant rat looks like-- anyway it bit my ankle and I swatted it and it bit my fingers and oh god if I think about that I'm going to keep spazzing out let's get moving, moving, heeeere ratty ratty, come to our nice sweeeeet trap, you stupid furry freak..."
Topher	"Tony says you shouldn't call people stupid," Topher informed Kenzi. Because he personally was such a shining example of manners and everything.
Kenzi	"Tony might be right but does that thing look like a people to you?" Kenzi could hear the chittering again. "Oh God oh God oh..." And more cursing in Russian.
Topher	Topher stopped in his tracks. He did not care for the chittering one bit. "See if it's still stuck," he hissed, clinging again.
Kenzi	"Do I look like Bitterwoman?!" Kenzi hissed. "And how'm I supposed to see if you're doing your remora impression?!"
Topher	"Well, I'm not doing it!" he pointed out reasonably. "Go! Shoo! Check!" He offered her an encouraging little shove that did nothing to detatch his clinging, clinging hand from her upper arm.
Kenzi	Kenzi groaned, and shook her arm free, then took a couple more steps-- "Okay not so stuck!" she said, turning around to hurry back. "Following!"
Topher	"Well, then, hurry!" Topher exclaimed, scrambling back in the opposite direction. "Knife! Hurry! Go!"
Kenzi	"Coat!" Flopped down. "Knife!" Out and waiting. "Heeeere, you Rodent of Unusual Size, c'meeere, chicky boo!"
Giant Freaking Rat	The rat did indeed follow, beady eyes fixating on what was sure to be a yummy, yummy snack.
Kenzi	Kenzi was backing away, backing away, then had to stop because she wouldn't be within throwing range-- "Ohhhh craaaap--" Then threw the knife, aiming for the huge honking rat--
Giant Freaking Rat	-- and suddenly the rat felt a sharp pain, and let out an annoyed chittering noise that lasted for all of a second, before suddenly it was silent. Due to the whole 'being electrocuted' thing.
Kenzi	"Holy shit. I can't believe that worked."
Topher	Topher just nodded, wide-eyed. "Okay. Um. Maybe we should go."
Kenzi	"Get your bag!" Kenzi reminded him. Not getting any closer to the fried eau de Gigantic Rat. She had other knives. Other coats! Whatever!
Topher	Not needing to be told twice, Topher headed back down the tunnel to grab the backpack. "Portalocity called you back yet?" he called, his voice echoing eerily through the tunnel.
Kenzi	Kenzi checked her phone, and whooped. "Yes! And -- hoshit we have to haul ass to get there it's leaving in eight minutes!"
Topher	Damnit, Kenzi. Make him run. Evil. "Direct to Fandom?" he asked hopefully, slinging the (slightly wet) bag over his shoulder and hurrying back to her.
Kenzi	"Yes! COME ON! There's a staircase--" She was running, stopped, doubled back, found a door nearly hidden in the wall, and yanked on it.
Topher	Later, Topher would ponder how weird it was that she knew that. But for now he was just going to jog after her. And really, really hope they got to where they needed to go in time. Really.