Jared got up and brushed himself off, noting that it did nothing to remove the small bits of metal and glass that were clinging to him. Looking at the roasted ogre, he could confidently say that this case involved the Shadow Kind. He took out his camera and took some pictures of the corpse. He sent this off to his boss with a flag that Shadow Kind presence was confirmed on site. He also sent it to the cleaners along with a tag indicating the location. Someone was going to have to come clean this up.

Since he was already down here, he decided to have a look around. It was about 10 feet lower that the platforms. It had seemed like it had been higher when he fell from it. There were two tracks that ran east and west, each with three rails. The derailed train had three cars with the first one up on the platform. The other two were still down here, but no longer aligned with the tracks. All three cars were crushed and crumpled dramatically, but that was probably more related to how there were designed rather then the speed of the train. 

These two cars were still up right and it was easy to get on board the second car through a broken door. Twisted metal and broken safety glass littered the interior. Personal items were scattered about. A pink umbrella with yellow rubber ducks. Shopping bags that spilled out a jug of milk and boxes of pasta. A raincoat was caught on an edge of metal as if it had been hung there as the person departed. Jared ran his fingers down the edge of the coat. A pair of sunglasses spun away from him as he shuffled through the debris. An empty purse perched on a bench.

Such a strange collection of items. 

He looked in the pockets of the coat and the purse. Nothing. There was nothing of value left behind. No wallets. No phones. No devices. Nothing. 

He moved to the control cab that was mostly intact. The control panel was dark. Everything switched off. There was a gap in the panel. Loose wires hung out with quick-release connectors plainly visible. He assumed that the accident investigators had removed the computer that monitored the train. Too bad. He'd have liked to see what was on it. 

He stepped back out onto the tracks, heading east. This was the direction the train was coming from. He walked along one of the outer rails that carried the trains, avoiding the center rail that carried power. Everything should be powered down, but he didn't like the idea of touching it to find out. 

Everything that he was seeing here matched the official story of what happened. The train's emergency brakes were clamped tight with scorch marks that indicated that they had been slammed on while there was still power to the wheels. This fact supported the theory that the derailment was caused by a failure of the automatic braking system. 

So why had there been an ogre?

He stumbled, catching his balance on the tunnel wall. There was a large hole that he had almost walked into. Jared knelt at the edge of the yawning pit, his flashlight beam cutting through the humid darkness. The smell of mildew and stagnant water rose up to meet him, thick and sour, and the echo of faint, shivering voices reverberated against the smooth concrete walls.

“Hey!” he called, voice carrying down the sixty-foot drop. “It’s alright — you’re safe now! Hold tight down there; we’ll get you out.”

The response was immediate, frantic, and layered — numerous voices, some hoarse, some sobbing, some calling up in broken thanks. “We’re down here! Please—please help us!” “We’re cold!” “There’s water down here!”

“I see you,” Jared said, steadying his tone, firm but warm. “You’re not alone anymore. I’ve got a team coming; we’re going to get ropes and a lift ready. No one’s getting left behind, you understand? Just breathe. Stay calm.”

He touched his ear and engaged his communicator.  “Jared to Command — I found them. Looks like fifteen survivors in a hole. Alive but probably hypothermic. Going to make contact until we’ve got extraction ready.” The static reply was quick — affirmation, movement. Good.

Jared turned his attention back to the hole. He adjusted his light downward and could just make out faces reflecting pale in the beam — some coated in grime, others wrapped in bits of torn clothing. Water lapped around their waists.

“Alright,” he said, voice steady but carrying. “While we wait, I need to know what happened. Start from the top — who’s the train crew down there?”

A man lifted his hand, shivering. “Station crew,” he called up weakly. “We were in the maintenance office. Lights went dead, then this… thing showed up. Big, with tentacles. It— it looked at us, and then we just dropped.”

Jared’s stomach sank slightly. Another Shadow Kind.

“What about the derailment?” he asked. “Passengers — anyone remember anything before you blacked out?”

A woman’s voice answered next, thin but sharp with memory. “We were coming into the station. It was slowing down, normal at first, then the lights flickered. The brakes slammed — hard. I hit the seat in front of me. Then… metal screaming, the car twisted, and we were— gods, we were sliding. It felt like being inside a blender. When I got out, people were bleeding. Someone came through the smoke, and then I couldn’t move. Couldn’t even blink.”

Another voice broke in, a man’s. “They dropped us down here after that. I remember flying, or floating maybe. Then a splash. Been cold ever since.”

Jared leaned a little closer to the edge. “You’ve all done good staying calm down there,” he said. “You’re going to feel lightheaded, maybe sore when we pull you out, but we’ve got medics coming. Nobody’s dying in this hole today, you hear me?”

A few of them managed faint laughter, a fragile sound in the echoing dark. One of the station workers even called back, “If you’re joking, it’s working, pal.”

“Good,” Jared said, lips twitching into a small, tired smile. “Hold onto that. We’ll have you topside soon.”

Behind him, he could already hear the distant movement of the rescue team hurrying down the tunnel. But his eyes stayed fixed on the faces below, and for just a moment, he let himself breathe out the tension that had been knotting his chest.

At least, there were survivors to save.