In the 1800s, it was common for travelers to encounter strange phenomena. Arthur Morgan was no exception One day, Arthur decided he was feeling lucky and attempted to rob a train. But what Arthur didn't realize was that the train would take something of his too. As he walked around the train, Arthur felt strange feelings; strange compulsions. You see, the train saw into Arthur's past. It saw all of the blood he had spilled, all the lives he had willingly ruined. Up until now, the train had not found an appropriate servent to carry out its bidding. None of the hatred of the drivers, passengers, guards or even other train robbers could compare to what was whirling inside of Arthur.
It started by compelling Arthur to do things he was already familiar with. It told him to arrive at the nearest station and keep driving back and forth, making sure to hit as many people as possible. Arthur went along with a grin on his face. Even when the lawmen started to chase and shoot at him, Arthur didn't stop the onslaught. Sometimes, he would even leave the train temporarily to shoot at the attackers, which the train was most pleased at.
But the train knew the lawmen would take its servant away if they stayed much longer, so it ordered him to drive away. After a while, even the police horses couldn't keep up. For the next few days, Arthur and the train traveled as fugitives. With all that time together, the train had a vice-like grip on Arthur's mind. Each day would consist of Arthur stopping the train near populated areas to kill the inhabitants and bring the corpses inside the carriages for the train to consume. Sometimes, the body count of a single day would exceed a dozen. Arthur would feed off of the raw carcasses of the animals he found lurking near the body piles. During that time, all living things they came across quickly joined the ranks of 'passengers'. All except one.
One day, Arthur found a silver-furred fox sleeping outside the second carriage. Seeing as it was not technically inside the carriage, he decided to let it live. After some time, Arthur decided to adopt the fox and named it Francis. In exchange for being his friend, Francis was given a portion of the food Arthur gathered.
After the train was ambushed by police forces, Arthur came back to find that Francis had entered one of the carriages. The train demanded Francis' death for such a transgression, but Arthur had grown too attached and refused. The train's grip on him was slipping and Francis was taking its place. It had no power over non-humans, so it couldn't compel Francis to kill itself.
It tried again and again to take Arthur back, but he had wised up. Thanks to Francis, he was beginning to remember what life was like before the train and he wanted back in. One day, he started organising all the unconsumed bodies into one large pile and prepared to light them on fire, hoping to burn the carriage along with them. The train pleaded with Arthur, but he was not listening. He threw a firebomb at the pile and it was done. Unfortunately, the corpses' collective gasses burned well and some of the flames reached Arthur. He managed to escape, sustaining a few 3rd-degree burns and blacking out shortly after.
When he woke up, he was back at the train station. Fortunately, his facial hair had grown enough for no one to recognize him as the one who terrorized them a few days back. Arthur was ready to go back to how it was before. He arrived back at one of the towns he had frequented before, happy to see that living people would live again. Morgan hadn't sat down on a proper seat in days, so he was happy to take a seat that was occupied by another man. They both sat there, content to not speak to each other.
After a few minutes, the man stood up and started walking. Arthur wanted to continue sitting, but that's not what his body did. Arthur started following the man close behind against his will. He had little-to-no control over his own body. Then, he started to feel it again. Arthur felt the compulsion to obey - to kill. He knew what that meant. He tried to warn the man, but the train wouldn't let him. All he could manage was 'stay safe', which the man calmly thanked him for.
Arthur fought as hard as he could. He felt his body tense and the sound of train whistles and chugging filled his ears. But Arthur wouldn't let the train take him again, so he summoned all of his strength to walk away from the man. As he walked away, he looked away. And as he looked away, he felt the urge to kill gradually subside. Soon, he had full control. The train had left. He was truly free at last. If only Francis was there to enjoy it with him.
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