A train station.

The train eventually slows and comes to halt. The women brushed the tears from her eyes, smearing the caked blood and dirt on her face. She stood up. “Come on, this is our stop.”

David’s head was throbbing with pain and he didn’t try to argue or ask questions, he just followed her off the train.

They stepped out into what looked like a version of a train station that somebody had built from an incomplete description. People seemed to milling about with no real purpose or destination. Benches sat on benches. Tracks crossed over one another without any apparent thought of design or safety. A large ticker counter showed schedules that had trains leaving before they even arrived.

David sat down on one of the benches. “I think I have a concussion. I’m seeing a lot of stuff that doesn’t make any sense.”

The woman sat next to him. She put a hand on his head. He winced as she felt over the swelling. “You did take quite a blow there. I told you to watch out.”

David looked at her strangely, “How in the world was I supposed to expect something like that coming out of the blue?”

She sighed, “I guess I’m responsible for you now. Follow me, there should be a hospital a few blocks away.”

David got unsteadily to his feet and they walked out of the station. His eyes opened wide in shock. It was a perfectly clean, perfectly calm, perfectly empty city. There was no one walking the sidewalks, no vehicles in the streets, he couldn’t didn’t even feel a slight breeze.

The woman said, “This way.”

David didn’t move. He just stood rooted to the ground. The woman looked back at him, “I thought you said you were hurt. The hospital is down the street, you should be able to manage to make it.” She took his hand. “Come on.”

She guided David down the street. She would stop at the crosswalks and wait until the lights changed, despite the fact that there clearly wasn’t any traffic. They came up to an ATM machine with a red cross on it. She stood David in front of it and he instantly felt better.

“There,” she said, “good as new.”

He looked over at her. “wha…I don’t understand.”

She threw her arms around him and burst into tears, “Thank you!” She cried. “Thank you! I’ve been waiting so long for someone to say that!”