A short story by O.J. Richards
16 July 2024
© O.J. Richards 2024
The bell above the subway car door pinged loudly, and before anyone could blink there was a burst of thick red blood as the man’s body split in two. From his calves to his crown, his entire body was sliced into two equal parts; of which one part now lay on the subway platform, and the other remained in the subway car. The section of the man’s body that remained on the train flopped down into a pool of blood as the train began to move again. The man’s girlfriend broke down in hysterics and she wailed loudly.
“That’s what you get when you’re a damn idiot on the X-Line.” Said a drunk man on the other end of the subway car. He laughed to himself and continued drinking from the beer can he had concealed in a brown bag.
“I didn’t think it was true!” she cried as she shook heavily.
The drunk man laughed again, “Welcome to the Chop-Chop Train, sweetheart.” he said and held his can up into the air.
The Chop-Chop Train was the nickname used for the X-Line of New York’s subway system. It was a line that ran only from upper to lower Manhattan, and people avoided it like the plague. This train had caused the deaths of countless people due to its steel doors that slammed shut so quickly, literally within a split-second, that if you were in the way of them you would get sliced into pieces. It was so quick you wouldn’t even know what happened. Dead instantly.
The X-Line’s notoriety had entered the city’s folklore. No-one knew quite when or why it even existed, but it was given the name the X-Line because X best symbolised a skull and crossbones. The only people who rode the train were drunks and teenagers who would test the door by jumping on and off the train before the doors would slam shut. There were warning signs above the X-Line’s station entrance’s that there would be no police investigation or compensation should your trip on the Chop-Chop Train be unsuccessful. It didn’t stop the ambitious TikToker’s though, and although fatalities were rare, every now and again mistakes were made. A victim of the train’s doors would be in such an unrecognisable condition that entire carcasses were just pushed out onto the tracks and never recovered.
Marco Rivera was a New Yorker and had grown up hearing stories of the Chop-Chop Train, but he never dared to ride it. It’s why he felt no sympathy for the train’s most recent victim when it hit the news. He watched the interview with the victim’s sobbing girlfriend saying how they had ‘flown all the way from California’ and they ‘didn’t think that the Chop-Chop Train was real.’
Marco scoffed at the interview and then put his phone away. He had just left the office at the same time a powerful storm had hit Manhattan. The city was manic, people rushing everywhere in the thunderous rain, pushing into each other and poking each other with their umbrellas.
Marco was near his subway station and there were lines of people waiting to get in. Marco waited patiently and eventually got to the entrance. However, just when he was about to descend the stairs everybody began coming back up.
“Go back, the whole station’s flooded!” one man yelled.
There was a huge groan from the crowd and people began to filter back out into the street. Marco enquired with a nearby cop who confirmed that many stations were now dangerously flooded, and they were closing several lines. These subway lines were the busiest transport artery in the whole of the city and now they had been shut down in the middle of a storm.
“What are we supposed to do?” He barked at the police officer.
“The X is still operational.” The officer said.
“The X-Line? You serious?”
The officer just shrugged and walked away. Marco could hear whispers all around him of people talking about going to the X-Line. The entrance to the line was not far away and Marco could see a huge crowd of people heading in that direction. Marco checked his phone again and read warnings of major flooding in Manhattan. He worked in the financial district and there were over one-hundred and fifty blocks between himself and his apartment, and the only subway line open was the X-Line. He looked around at the chaos in the street, and with the weather closing in he went against his better judgement and headed for the X-Line.
The interior of the station looked like any other, except the place was packed. There was water dripping from the roof, but at least wasn’t flooded. People were squeezed right up to the platform edge and the dimly lit screen above them said that a train was due in one minute.
The train arrived and it was already full. The door opened slowly and people rushed to get in and they piled up against one other. Many people knew of this train and knew what would happen if they were in the way of the doors. There was a crush of people getting on, and those already on the train pushed back. There was one woman who was squeezed off the train but there was no room for her to stand back on to the platform. People shouted at her to get out of the way of the doors, but she began panicking and begged people to make space for her. Then, there was a loud ping and a split-second later the doors slammed shut on her. The doors cut right through her and her body exploded into two halves. Blood was sprayed all over the interior and exterior of the train. People were stunned and there was fear everywhere, but without delay the train simply began moving and the woman’s body dropped loosely onto the tracks below. There was sobbing and gasping all around, and many people were covered in her blood, but with no time to dwell on it, people turned their attention to the arrival of the next train.
Within a minute the next one came arrived. Again, it was full, but this time no-one died. However, there was still the mad panic of people getting on and the doors slammed shut within an inch of those on the platform edge. Marco was now at the front of the line and he would be able to get onto the next train, hopefully. People around Marco were visibly scared as they anticipated the arrival of the next train. The train came and Marco jumped on successfully. This time there was only one injury. Someone one the platform had their arm held too far out in front of them and the train doors slammed shut and took off four of his fingers. The man’s fingers remained in the train, and it pulled away with him screaming on the platform as he bled out.
Now there was a huge pool of blood in the train car and people kept sliding on it. The sight of what remained of the woman, and the man’s fingers, was sickening. Marco spent the entire ride thinking about them both.
The train made many stops all the way up to Manhattan. There were no more deaths as the people on the train refused to let new passengers on, but now it was approaching Marco’s stop. Marco was relieved when he heard the speaker announce that his station was next, but then he realised that he was not close to the door at all. There were many people standing in front of him, but he needed to be able to immediately exit the train when the doors opened. As much as he tried to make space and get past people there was no room and he couldn’t get closer to the door. The train pulled up to his stop and the doors opened.
“I got to get off!” Marco cried and began to barge past people and in his way. The other passengers didn’t seem to care, and no-one would make any space for him to pass.
But he could see the platform and guessed that he had only a few seconds before the doors shut. As he moved closer his foot twisted on someone’s shoe and he stumbled. He had lost a couple of seconds but was determined to make it.
“Don’t do it!” Someone near to him shouted.
“Wait for the next stop.” Someone else cried.
People on the platform in front of him had their hands out and signalled for him to stay on the train, but in his desperation and panic he found that he couldn’t stop moving forward. He shoved people aside and pushed his way through and could then feel the air around him change as he began to exit the subway car. The stench of blood faded, and he began breathing a sigh of relief as he took in the cool air on the platform, and above him the bell pinged loudly.
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