>>8564767A few years back, I decided to take the train from Chicago west. Being a broke college student, it was the cheapest way to see my girlfriend without having to fly over.
The trip was set to take about 3 days. I had neglected this fact when buying tickets, so I was stuck sleeping in the dining car.
On the second night of this now unpleasant trip, I woke up to find a young conductor sitting across from me in the booth.
I literally jumped out of the booth in surprise.
He just smiled, like he was expecting it.
After my heart stopped racing, I sat back down, apologized, and introduced myself.
We chatted for a while, keeping each other up telling ghost stories.
"Though I don't look it, I've been on quite a few trains. And I have a story that I'm sure you've never heard."
"Ok, shoot"
"Well this is the story of the Rail Tracer.
People say it's like this huge monster that comes chasing after trains. Shrouded in darkness, the entity can change shape into any thing. Little by little it inches closer to the train till it finally catches up."
"Well what happens when it reaches the train?"
"Well, people start to disappear.
It starts at the back of the train. One by one, people turn up missing, till every soul on the train is gone. And as the empty cars are still rolling down the track, the train vanishes.
But you know what's even more frightening than that?"
"What?"
"Whenever you tell the story to someone on a train...that's the train that gets taken next!"
I laughed it off. It was a good ghost story, but I'd heard plenty that night.
"I'm not finished yet. You still don't know how to survive it."
That's when I noticed his smile.
"Now, the only way to survive the Rail Tracer, is to stay alive till sunlight."
That impossible smile that couldn't...shouldn't be that wide.
"Just stay alive till sunlight..."