I'm standing here at the station on this overcast morning waiting for my usual 6:50 across town to work. It comes. I board. Just a normal day for normal guy. The train will pull out in 5 minutes, precisely at 6:50. I sit down in the seat just behind the door. I sit here everyday. Oh, someone sitting across from me. I tip my hat to them for a simple greeting. He matches my gesture.

    "Morning," he says.

    "Morning," I say politely. I have no idea who he is, but I see him everyday at the same time. The same place. I stand up and walk over and I sit down in the seat next to him. "Hi," I say. "I'm Skylar." He looks at me and he smiles.

    "Ewan," he says with a bit of an accent. I've greeted him every day for a couple years now and I just notice his accent. A few more people board the train and it sets off a minute later just as my watch shows 6:50 a.m.

    6:50 a.m.

    "My name is Skylar Gates," I tell the young man next to me. He's looks about my age. in his early 20's. I go on to tell him about myself and he's really polite.

    "I'm Ewan Buchanan," he says. Turns out, he is my age and he's been going to his job the same way I do. "I come from Scotland and my family came here to America back when I was 14." We continue to talk as the train goes from one stop to the next and slowly, more and more people board the train. I can't believe that we haven't been friends before, even though we've been doing the same thing for a year now. I check my watch now and it's 7:15. 45 more minutes until my stop at work. The train is pretty packed now, full of commuters.

    7:15

    Still 45 minutes from work. I can see the downtown skyline out the window. As we near the city, the passenger number has really started to vary, with many leaving and few boarding. The next stop: few leaving and many boarding. The number fluctuates as we draw nearer downtown. I check my watch again. 7:45. Just 15 more minutes and if I remember correctly, just about 10 more stops. Ewan is still with me.

    "You seem to be checking your watch a lot," he says.

    "I know," I say. For some reason, the air seems different. Like something different will happen. It doesn't feel right. I look around the train.

    "What are looking for?"

    "I don't know," I say. I look at him. "Something just doesn't feel right." I check my watch again. 7:55. Then someone screamed.

    7:55

    I stand up and so do a lot of other people. I look over the heads of people and I can see someone run into the car we're in, the second one, which is also the back one. It's a woman, she's the train driver.

    "What happened?" I hear someone ask her.

    "Somebody's been killed!" she screamed with fear. I can barely see the man who asked her through the scared crowd. It was a police officer. He sits the driver down in an empty seat.

    "Everybody calm down!" he yells over the crowd and the car quiets. I look out the window just to see the train rumble through the station where normally I would get off. I think that this train is not stopping. Another officer is emptying out the first car and she's ushering the passengers to fill up the back. The first officer grabs the radio at the front of the car. "Alright," he says through the speaker system, "A person was has been murdered. Now we ask all passengers to remain calm. We have informed the local authorities and they will join us in 20 minutes. They have also ordered to transportation company to have this train not stop until the killer is found. I repeat, this train will not stop until the killer is found." I hear people exchanging murmurs of both fright and disgust. "If you can give us your full cooperation we can find the killer and we can all continue on with our normal lives." I check my watch. 8:00 a.m.

    8:00

    Alright, so someone was killed and now there's a killer somewhere on this two-car train. They have all of the passengers in the back car and among them is a killer. Maybe not the smartest idea.

    "Alright, is there anyone here who has experience in forensic crime solving?" the male officer asks over the speaker. No one moves. Neither do I.

    "I have experience," I hear Ewan say.

    "You do?" the female officer comes over to us.

    "Yeah, you do?" I ask him.

    "Oh yeah. I would always help my Dad back in Scotland. He was a real expert on this. He taught me everything he knew."

    "Alright then," she says. "Come with us."

    "He comes too," Ewan says pointing at me. "I'll need a few extra hands." I guess I'll have to be his assistant. That's actually alright, because like everyone else, I want to know exactly what happened.

    "Fine," she says. She takes us to the front car. There's a covered body lying in the middle of the floor. It was the male train driver. There was no outright signs of injury, so the killer obviously knew what he or she was doing. I watch as Ewan inspects the man's body. He stopped at the man's outstretched arms.

    "Yep," he says, "A small cut on his hand." He pulls a small magnifying glass form his pocket. He looks at the cut hand. "That appears to be very recent, probably a poisoned blade." The female officer looks at the other officer.

    "Search everyone for a blade of any kind," she says and the man walks back to the other car. She looks back at Ewan. "How much work can you do?"

    "Well a lot," Ewan says, "But without a proper lab, I can't do much testing."

    "And we still have 10 minutes until the authorities join us." I check my watch. 8:10.

    8:10

    The male officer comes back with two people.

    "They both had knives on them," he says. He sits them down on a row of seats. One was a boy just under 20 and the other was a man who I have no idea who he is.

    "Come on, man," the boy says, "I didn't do anything."

    "I never said you did. You're a suspect in this case."

    "But I didn't do anything!"

    "Just be quiet." Then the whole train shook. I wasn't holding onto anything so I fell onto the ground from the violent shake. Something clattered out of my coat pocket. "What's that?"

    "What?" I ask. I look at the object that fell out of my pocket. It was a Swiss Army knife. "That's not mine!"

    "Oh?" I was now a suspect in this case. Someone is trying to frame me! That knife is not mine!

    "I swear, it's not mine!" I look at Ewan. "I-it's not mine." He looks back at me, contemplating on whether or not to believe me. I can see the time on my watch. 8:15.

    8:15

    The officer looks at me. "I swear, that wasn't there before. I've never seen that before in my life." I give the officer my honest face. "That isn't mine. Someone must've slipped it into my pocket." I look at Ewan. "You gotta believe me."

    "Fine," the officer says after a while. He takes the knife and he puts it in his back pocket. "But you're still a suspect."

    "I know. Besides, if I was in the second car the whole time, how could I have killed him?"

    "Wow, he has a point officer," Ewan says. "He was with me the whole time, in the second car."

    "Alright," the officer writes down some notes and he asks us a few more questions.

    "How many people are in the rear car?" Ewan asks. The officer leads him back to the second car where he does a headcount of all the passengers. After he comes back I go up to him.

    "How many people?" I ask.

    "We have the 2 suspects here," he points to the first to that the officer brought, "And we still have a lot of people to narrow down." I check my watch. 8:20. That's when I hear the helicopter.

    8:20

    The authorities are here. I grab a hold of a seat as the train stops on the tracks just outside downtown on the large loop around the city. We must be headline news by now. Some higher jurisdiction officers wearing federal amour come onto the train followed by a man who is the head of them. He approaches the two officers.

    "Hello officers, I am General Knox. I see that there's been a murder and we're here to take the killer away." His voice booming with the sound of thunder.

    "Well sir," Ewan was almost afraid to say, "We haven't figured out who it is yet."

    "Hm, I see." His eyes come onto our two suspects. "Who are they?"

    "The lead suspects, sir," the male officer says. "The murder weapon has been figured as a blade," he said looking at Ewan, who nodded. "And these two had a knife on their person."

    "I see. Now I want you to-" Knox was interrupted by another scream. He ran to the second car. "What's going on?!" I heard his thunderous voice.

    "There's been another murder!" I recognize the female train driver's voice. Ewan and I look at each other and we run to the next car. Now there was two bodies, a young couple. Both in their mid twenties. Ewan looks at them as the remaining passengers try to get as far from the bodies as possible.

    "No cuts on their hands," he says. "But... on their necks." There were small cuts on the necks. They looked similar to the cut on the male conductors hand. Ewan addresses the crowd. "Obviously, whoever is doing this, it is the same person, as these people were killed the same way."

    "Thanks, Specialist," Knox said to Ewan. I guess he's Specialist now. "I do not want to interrogate everyone of you," he addressed to the remaining passengers. "Because if I do, you will afraid to sleep. Now I want this murderer to come forward and confess, NOW!"

    "It was him," someone said. We all look toward the voice. It was the female conductor, and she was pointing at me.

    "What?" I ask. "I was in the front car when you screamed 'murder' and the victims were here in the back car so how could I have done it?" Some other people looked at her. She burst into tears and she ran to the back of the car. I glance at my watch. 8:30.

    "Why would she do that?" Ewan asked. That was a good question.

    "Yeah, why would she blame me?" I asked no one in particular.

    "No, why would she burst into tears like that?" Oh, well, great thanks. I thought we were friends.

    "I thought we were friends, besides, how could I have killed the couple?"

    "I don't know, maybe this was somehow all preplanned out and you somehow set everyone on this bloody train to die off at a certain time."

    "I would never. I am no killer, Ewan."

    "I didn't say you were."

    "Let's stop this argument, where it is," Knox said.

    "Aye, sir," Ewan said. I nodded.

    "Good. Now," he walked back into the back car and he started questioning the passengers. I sigh. Sheesh, we need to find this person. Knox comes back after 10 minutes.

    "Still no obvious sign who the killer is," he said. "There are some people who stick out more than others but I think that-"

    "Excuse me!" a man says coming into the front in a Middle-Eastern accent. "Some people 'stick out' is that what you said? What, sure, blame the guy who looks like a terrorist!"

    "I was not blaming you sir, now please sit back down in the back," Knox commanded.

    "Not until we find this person. I have an important job to get to, and I need off this train!"

    "Sit down!" Knox puts him in the seat. I look at my watch, 8:45. Someone screams again. Who died this time?

    Oh great. Another murder. This time three people. I look at Ewan.

    "Yep," he says reading my face. He and I both know. The killer is killing one more person each time. First one, then two, now three. Four next.  Soon, all of us will be dead, unless the killer is caught.

    "We have to catch this person," I say. The latest three victims are covered over and the people try their best to move as far from the bodies as possible. This train still has not stopped yet, and I can tell that the people are starting to get angry. Just like the guy who blew up earlier. But that still hasn't lowered my suspicions. Not because he's from Saudi Arabia, because I am not a racist person, but it's people with a acting manner like his that you want to watch out for. He walks back up to Ewan.

    "Three more!" he says. "Are you going to find this person before he kills four more?" He figured it out... unless...

    "How do you know four more will die next?" I ask him.

    "I can see the obvious pattern here," he sternly defends himself. "Four will be next then five then six, until we are all... dead!" He's putting the rest of people in a state of uneasiness.

    "Calm down sir," Knox commands.

    "I am not the killer! I want off this train before I get killed!"

    "If you remain here sir, I can guarantee you will not be killed."

    "You better hope so." This is getting nowhere. Knox goes through the remaining people in the back. We are down to 22 people remaining. Hold on a moment. 4 next then 5, that's 9. Plus 6 which is 15. Add 7 and that's 21. Plus the killer. 22. Not counting Ewan, Knox or I or the two police officers. This man here, his name Omar, he is part of the 22. That also includes the female conductor who for some weird reason is trying to frame me. Wait a second.

    "Knox, find the female conductor," I tell him.

    "Why?" he asks.

    "We need to question why she'd trying to frame me."

    "Alright," he walks off. Later, he brings the woman back to the front. I glance at my watch. 9 a.m.

    Knox comes back with the woman. She looks as if she's been crying. No that I get a good look at her, she can't be more than 30 years old. She's in her mid-twenties at least.

    "Why are you trying to frame me?" I ask her.

    "I'm sorry," she says, her voice broken with sadness, "I'm just upset that someone would murder my husband." She pointed to the male train conductors body. Ewan looked at the mans wallet. He pulls out the I.D.

    "Jared Thompson?" he asks her and she nods.

    "I'm his wife, Serena Thompson," she wipes her eyes. "I'm sorry, this is just too much." She breaks down crying a moment later.

    "Well, Serena, can I see your I.D.?" Ewan asks her. She hands him her wallet before sitting down in a seat, crying into her hands. Ewan hands me the womans license. She was not lying. Serena R. Thompson. Age 25. Her husband was 29. Something just wasn't adding up, though. Of all the people on the train to kill first, why the conductor? Why would he die first? I was pacing while I contemplated answers and my pondering was interrupted by someone yelling out "Now there's five!" Oh, for God's sake, who died this time? Before Ewan and I walk to the second car, I steal another look at my watch. 9:05.

    Now five people are dead. If I remember my math correctly, that leaves 17 people left. We have to find this killer before anyone else gets killed. Ewan and I walk into the second car and we cover up the five more bodies. I see that Omar is in shock.

    "What did I tell you?" he asks. "I want off this death train, before I get killed!" He grabs me by the shoulders. "Get me off of this train, right now!" I have to push him off.

    "Settle down," Knox says.

    "Not until we find the murderer."

    "We will find the killer, and we'll do it with your full cooperation."

    "I will not be one of the next six!"

    "What?" A woman asks.

    "What did he say?" some guy asks.

    "I think he said that six people will die next!" another lady says. Great, he's thrown the people into a panic.

    "Everybody, calm down!" Ewan says over the terror. It fails. That's when I hear the gunshot. The car goes quiet. I look from where the shot came. Serena had grabbed Knox's gun and she fired into the air. Knox quickly grabs his gun back.

    "Everybody, calm down!" she yells. "I want to find out who murdered my husband!"

    "Are you crazy?" Omar asks her, "firing a gun in a train. You could've killed somebody!" Wow, that came out really weird. "Or somebody could've been hurt!" Knox keeps control while I check my watch again. 9:15.

    There's tension in the air. Now that the death toll is up to 15, we are down to the final 10 people. A total of 25 people on the train. The boy and the man from the first killing have been let go back into the second car. We need to find this killer and we need to find them now.

    "You might as well fess up now," I say to everybody. "Who is the killer?" The remaining people exchanged glances. "Come on, now. give your self up."

    "You are out numbered," Knox says, "Surrender to the Federal Law, now!" No one does anything. Knox points his gun at a man. The man ducks behind the seats.

    "It wasn't me!" he says. Knox does the same thing to a lady in a red shirt, and she holds her hands up, and she shakes her head rapidly. This is just not going to work. Knox points the weapon at Omar.

    "You still blame me?" he asks.

    "You're still a suspect," Ewan says. "I know you want off this train as much as everybody else, which is why, when the killer gives him or herself up, we can all go home."

    "I can't take it anymore!" the lady in red yells. She tries to pry open the door. I run and stop her just to have her faint in my arms. Ewan and Knox look at me. I lay her down in a seat and Knox cuffs one of her wrists to the pole.

    "She is not the killer," Omar says. "At least, I don't think she is, I mean she doesn't look like one."

    "You may be right," Ewan says. "Psychological meltdown due to stressful situations." Ewan and Omar may have a point. I glance at my watch. 9:20.

    I check on the lady in the red shirt. She has no pulse. I tell Ewan.

    "Does a psychological meltdown kill anybody?"

    "What?"

    "Can it kill someone?" He looks at me and he knows why I ask this question. He feels the womans neck and finds no signs of life.

    "Yes, she is dead. It mentally broke her."

    "Or a blood vessel rupture from stress," Omar says.

    "Aye, that too."

    "What now?" he asks. At that moment, I see something I will never forget. I see Knox fall and four more people fall. I check the man. Dead. Now General Knox is dead. This is not good. God help us. That makes the total death toll this time: six. I breath shakily. The next round of murders will include us. I know it. One of the remaining people asks me:

    "What will we do now?" It was the boy. This train may be possessed. That is the only logical reason that I can think of right now. A demon train. It may seem highly illogical, but that's my only rational explanation I have at the moment. I see Serena burst into tears. I walk over to her.

    "What wrong, Serena?" I ask her.

    "I'll never find the person who killed my husband!" she cried.

    "Don't worry, we will find them," Omar tells her.

    "No!" she yells and she looks at him in the eyes. "If you could've found them, then you would've found them by now!"

    "Please, Miss, we're doing everything we can."

    "No, you're not!" she yells. She puts her hand behind her and she pulls her hand back, revealing Knox's pistol. She squeezes the trigger putting a bullet in Omars heart. I grab her arm before she fires another shot. Ewan comes in and helps. Ewan grabs the handcuff keys off Knox and he uncuffs the lady in reds body and he cuffs Serena. She kicks him off of her before he can tighten them. I dive under the seats and I hear several more shots. I carefully look up to see that everybody else on the train was shot. I think I found our murderer. I stand up.

    "It was you!" I yell at her. She laughs.

    "Way to go, Skylar Gates, you figured it out." She laughs sinisterly. I look at Ewan, he's holding his hand over his shoulder, blood seeping from between his fingers. She shot him too.

    "But why?" I ask her.

    "He cheated on me! So I arranged for him to die on this day. Unfortunately, you wouldn't take the blame like you were supposed to!"

    "But why me?"

    "Your older sister." I think about Susana. "My husband was having an affair with your sister. Susana Gates. I knew that Skylar Gates was a regular commuter on my train, so I figured that my husband would die, and you would take the blame!"

    "Oh, please," Ewan says, "That was your master plan?" Serena looks at him. She levels the gun and I can't do anything. The bullet hit him before I have the chance to save him. He dies before he hits the floor. I level my eyes at her.

    "You will die in prison," I vow.

    "Nope!" she says with a maniacal grin. "I killed him, I loved the feeling. I have never been so high! I couldn't stop. Killing one person after another. I'll finish today with you." She points the pistol at my chest. I look out the windows. Then, I know. The train is approaching the end of the rail line. I know I will die, so I take a deep breath.

    "No, Serena," I tell her. She gasps and looks at me with angered confusion. "You've killed yourself." I quickly glance at my watch one final time. 9:30. The train hit the stopper. It was going 121 miles per hour. The front car gets incinerated on the stopper and the entire train explodes.