This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/Mad_Scientist_II on 2023-08-05 19:52:43.

Part 10

It's been a few days since we've taken the deal of the Operator, and so, with the remaining 5% of my battery life, I will tell you what has happened since.

We've woken up in a regular cart, all seven of us. To be honest, it seems like we got the better end of the deal. Its looks reminisce more of a library card than a regular subway card. Our full name, written in a speckled purple font, was sitting next to a photo of us on it.

Anthony Carter, it read... I wonder when was the last time I've heard someone calling me that...

On the back, there was a list of "privileges" we were to receive for the rest of our lives. No longer having to collect tickets, the pass being enough to present to the Conductor to leave us be. Food and water will be delivered to us daily by "The Waiter" as it is called. It also says we will no longer have to worry about any kind of interference from other people or creatures, as "The Guard" will protect us. The Waiter and Guard are surprisingly normal looking in appearance, both having a regular human proportions with no added features, dressed in what you'd expect a high-end restaurant waiter and a body guard to be dressed like. The only thing preventing us to see them as fully human are the usual faceless heads that speak in ethereal voices, but compared to everything else, it's as normal as it gets.

Overall, I am not complaining... it's just odd. For all the talking and emphasizing on equivalence, he didn't ask anything of us. He just... Let us go, life-time passes in hand.

Helen was quite excited that we had all our amenities on hand. She said she never knew how to cook, having never had the patience nor the reasons to cook for other people, so seeing that we had food at discretion was quite pleasing. I never knew how we survived with no cooked food for the last months since we ended up here.

The twins, Michael and Gabriel, were also quite happy. I am glad for them, seeing that they never had parents to take care of them. It must've been terrifying to grow up in this place before being found by Gertrude. They deserve to have some happiness in their lives, all of us wanting to take care of them.

Two of us didn't have a pass, those being Nick and Gertrude. Why exactly the Operator didn't give them a pass, I couldn't tell you. We still had to search for tickets after all...

Gertrude was lucky. Not even a day after we were sent back, she died in her sleep due to her old age. We held a funeral for her and, just like Ramirez and Matt before her, turned into a mistling, her form being barely visible in the otherwise formless black mist that hovered over her body. She didn't follow us however, choosing to remain with the other two clouds in that cart. Who knows, maybe one day, when we all become mist in this subway, we may find each other again.

Nick wasn't as lucky. He should've been, seeing that now we only had to search for one ticket.

We tried really hard to look for another ticket. Now with the pass we had free reign to separate and search in multiple places at once without worrying about food or ticket supplies. I was with Nick when it happened.

The whistle of the Conductor was heard in the distance. Nick began running, me trying to follow closely behind. Maybe we could've found at least one. Luck, it seems, wasn't on Nick's side.

"Don't worry!" he yelled back as he continued to run. "I'll find a ticket and return! You can return to the others!"

I stopped and presented the pass to the Conductor, buying some time for Nick, hoping he put enough distance between us and himself. He hasn't returned since.

Hours turned to days and eventually, we had to deal with the fact that he most likely was caught by the monster. Why didn't he have the pass...?

There was another thing. She helped us both with Gertrude's funeral and finding a ticket for Nick, yet she seemed the least connected one to the group. One person that stood out from the rest. She said that her name was Marie Stewart when we first met a few months ago. A fellow survivor, she was as nice as she was beautiful, yet, whenever I looked at her, something always felt off, as if I should've known something. I chalked this feeling I had as a random coincidence, but what I couldn't just chalk up to coincidences were some aspects related to her.

For one, I noticed that despite calling herself Marie Stewart, reading her pass revealed the name "Marie Carter". Did she lie about it? She said she never went by Carter, so who knows. Another thing was that me and her were wearing a matching set of rings. They had an old feeling about them, as if they were worn for years already. That, coupled with the name, made her joke that we were married or something. I laughed, thinking that surely I'd remember if that happened. I am too young to be married, after all, and especially to someone like her. She also mentioned that it's weird that this past week, she didn't have her period, considering the date that appeared on my phone. I just pray that she's okay.

I hope that in time, I'll become more content with the idea that we're never going to get out. The rest seems to have arrived at that conclusion by now. Despite that, I think we all harbor a secret wish that we might beat the odds and finally escape. But if we don't, who knows, maybe we will meet other people in the future. Now that we are free from its horror, the endless nature of this place may provide us with endless potential.

My battery is now at 1%. Since we are most likely never going to find electricity again, I'll take the rest of my journal notes in whatever paper I can find in this place from now on.

Farewell and good luck to whoever steps foot in the infinite subway.