So I was out drinking with friends and ended up at Berlin.  I looked at my phone and saw that it was 2:28, so I said goodbye and left quickly, knowing that there was a train scheduled to arrive at 2:33, which would get me with under 10 minutes to wait for an N9 Ashland to get me home from North/Clybourn (corrected--originally I typed Clark/Division, but the N9 doesn't terminate there).
 
I was on the Belmont platform at 2:31 and, while the train is usually there right on time (or one or two minutes late), I could see a train was already past Fullerton heading into the Subway.  I stood on the platform, and waited for the next one, planning to just get off at Chicago and get a bus home that way, or a cab, whatever came first.
 
As the train headed through the State Street Subway we started to get to the interlocking before Division/Clybourn, when the train slowed and stopped pretty hard.  I was in the second car of this eight-car train, alone, save for a guy who was swearing to himself.
 
Suddenly the lights went out (not even the backup lights by the doors in the 2600-series cars stayed on) in the car I was in, and I saw that they were out in the front car, ahead of me, as well.  Immediately, I jumped out of my seat and went toward the door, out of fear of being in this car alone with this guy.  As I tried to open the door, he came up behind me, and started yelling at me, asking what I was doing.  I yelled "I'm going into the front car to see what the f___ is going on!"  He said he wanted to do the same, so I pulled the door back and let him go ahead of me. 
 
I went up near the cab, hearing the operator in a panic on the radio, yelling about how he didn't know WHAT was going on.  I smelled smoke, it was dark, and there were about ten other people in the car with me.  Adrenalin, naturally, started pumping through my veins.
 
The operator got on the P.A. and said, frantically, "PASSENGERS, DO NOT PANIC.  PLEASE STAY WHERE YOU ARE!"
 
The operator popped the cab door open, yelling at people to get up and leave the car.  He led us through the train, in a panic, yelling for other people to get up and get out.  I was much more calm than he was, having seen quite clearly myself that the tube in front of us was clear. 

When we got back to the third car, he popped a side door open, stepped out with his flashlight, and looked around, I, for a moment, thought it was a four-car train, and told him there's still another car, he said he was just looking, closed the doors, and we continued through.
 
By the end of the fourth car, I saw a couple people who wouldn't leave the train, and others who were in a panic.  I tried to tell people they had to get up and follow the group and get out of the train.  Letting some people pass me while I tried to persuade a couple of people that they HAD to leave the train, I ended up well behind the operator leading the group.
 
One of the car doors in front of us closed, and a person couldn't figure out how to open it.  I opened it and started leading the group behind me through the train, as the operator was already moving into the car ahead of the one we were entering.  I noticed the HVAC systems were still blowing, which I know means there was still power to the third rail.
 
He was on his radio telling them to cut power immediately, as I finally got out of the eighth car onto the catwalk in the subway tunnel, with about ten people still ahead of me.  We were being led south, back toward the front of the train, and I was trying to tell people to hold onto the railing, since the train was on the curve toward Division, and there was a huge gap between the cars and the catwalk.
 
The operator apparently determined the nearest exit was back north--he yelled for everyone to stop, and people in the tunnels relayed the message.  The entire crowd turned north and started walking along the catwalk.  As we passed the end of the train, since the operator was more afraid of what this could be than I was (I stayed really calm, despite the adrenaline rush), I started yelling back for people to hold onto the handrail, just as you heard the motors finally stop when power to the third rail was cut.
 
As we headed north, we still had about a city block to go through the tunnels before the next emergency exit, and I looked down and saw that the third rail was right along side us through the interlocking.  I was sure third rail power was off, but still thought it would have been wise to tell people to hold on and be careful, just-in-case this section of third rail was still charged, so I yelled back "The third rail is on this side of the tracks over here.  BE CAREFUL!  The power is off, but you still should be very careful!" 
 
Just as I got to the end of the third rail alongside me, someone a couple dozen feet behind me fell onto the tracks.  He hurt his knee pretty badly and was going to try to climb back up.  I started yelling "Hey, don't try to climb up over there!  Walk this way past the end of the third rail!"  I waited for him to limp his way over until he was several feet past the end of the third rail, and others helped him back onto the catwalk.
 
The operator was ahead of us, guiding other people into the emergency exit stairwell, and I kept myself between the group ahead and the group behind, so I could warn of obstructions (there were breaks in the railing in extreme darkness from air vents, a fire extinguisher in the middle of the catwalk, and signals hanging from the tube wall both for the interlocking and the beginning and end of WA zones).
 
Meanwhile, I looked back and could clearly see there were flames about four feet high coming from the inside part of the northbound tube just south of the interlocking.  My estimate was that it was nothing more than a fire from a third rail chair, but it was significant enough for the operator to be legitimately concerned about what was there, and what might be in the tube ahead.
 
Finally I caught up with the operator as the group caught up to me (and I was slowed down by a really drunk guy), as he was yelling for people to hurry up.  I tried to explain to him why they were slowed down, as someone toward the front of the rest of the people was injured, and he yelled at me to go up the steps.  I yelled back at him because I was trying to explain why people were slowed down and someone was hurt.  He basically shrugged me off.  (I understand that he was anxious, but he didn't need to be an ass about it.)
 
I went up the steps, and there were people just standing in the stairwell.  I asked if anyone had opened the escape hatch, or even tried, and people told me nobody had.
 
I went up the steps, couldn't see anything, and could only feel a couple pieces of metal and a long piece of chain with a handle on the end of it.  I opened up my handheld computer for some extra light and started messing with pieces to try and figure out what could be moved so I can open it.  There was a horizontal, cylindrical bar about six inches below the hatch, and I pushed up on it and was able to open the hatch right up.
 
I stepped out onto the sidewalk, looked around for police (assuming some would already be on the way), and saw a squad car go by.  The location was Clybourn and Goethe or Schick (not sure which one, I'm just looking at a map now to see what street was intersecting there), just a block north of Division.  I tried to wave at the police car, but it was obviously on its way somewhere else.  Just as I saw another one coming up Clybourn, and started to wave toward it, and another one coming from the north, a car pulled up. 
 
First person on the scene?  Media.  lol  Actually, the guy was really cool and it turns out he likes transit on his own.  He interviewed me on camera, and I was also interviewed by someone working for WLS-AM.
 
As people filed out of the Subway exit, I told one of the cops that I'd seen a couple of people who didn't seem to be willing to leave the train, and encouraged them to get down there and inspect the train.
 
Then, I sent text messages from my cell to Graham Garfield, called Irwin (I really shouldn't have tried to wake either of them, but this was really exciting at the time), and hung out, waiting for the shuttle bus to get us out of Cabrini.
 
On the shuttle, we sat there for over a half-hour, police took everyone's names, addresses, and phone numbers, and then the bus took us to Clark/Division. 
 
We were compensated with, get this: A transfer good for one hour and fifty minutes.
 
This, of course, was really helpful, since as a monthly rider, a transfer saves me...  Well, nothing at all.  Ha!