Chapter 25

Carl learns that Hekla's team has arrived at his personal space seeking help rescuing a thousand trapped crawlers at station 101 on the Vermillion line, including people Carl knows. Hekla proposes using a subway train to evacuate them, requesting that Katia—a living shapeshifter—be positioned at the train's front as a protective barrier against the ghoul hordes on the tracks. Carl reluctantly agrees after learning this was Katia's own idea.

Hekla's team arrives at Carl's personal space through a portal Katia's whitelist access enables. Hekla explains they came via the employee portal and hiked from substation H to station 60, discovering they can use Station 60 to access any of the 12 Homeward Bound platforms. Carl immediately broadcasts this information to his allies. Hekla reveals a rescue mission: a thousand crawlers are trapped at station 101 on the Vermillion line, including Li Jun and possibly his sister and friends whom Carl encountered before. The Vermillion line trains are stationary while mobs swarm from the other two platforms; a massive herd approaches from the tracks themselves, making escape on foot impossible. Hekla proposes using a stolen subway train with a second engine attached to reverse back and reach a defensible stairwell station. Carl notices Eva, a four-armed cobra-headed woman serving as Hekla's enforcer, displaying thirteen skulls over her head—indicating thirteen kills. He suspects Hekla and Eva are plotting something and warns Donut to be cautious, though he agrees to help. When Carl asks about a cowcatcher for the train, Hekla reveals their solution: using Katia, who has modified her shapeshifter abilities by adding layered rubber and metal to her backpack to absorb impacts. Despite Carl's objections, Katia insists this was her own idea and that Hekla's team coming for her means more than anyone has ever done. Carl negotiates for Katia to remain in his team until after the mission. As they depart on the Nightmare train toward Station 60, Carl learns that Eva is an economics professor and Hekla was her psychiatrist in their hometown of Reykjavik. At Station 60, they pass Madison being harassed and encounter a distraught dwarf conductor named Tizquick, who reveals he believed his daughter was real but now understands she never was. Carl briefly comforts him before boarding the train for the Vermillion line.