Disclaimer: I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I don't profit from them.
Author'sNote: This story was somewhat inspired by my commute by train and the opportunity it provides to watch Bones DVDs on my laptop.
Prologue
Whitman Brown crouched low in the brush as he tried to make his way towards the train tracks. He could hear a low hum in the distance and he could tell that the northbound Southern Pacific was getting closer. He knew that he had to time things just right as the train came around the bend. A big miss and all he'd lose was his pride, a near miss and he might just lose an arm or a leg - a thought he didn't want to entertain for more than a second. Of course missing at all just wouldn't do either. He had one shot and he wasn't going to mess it up. The rumble came louder now and a steady whistle meant that it was just crossing the intersection near the rail crossing at Delancy Creek. He could almost imagine the clackity clack clack of the wheels as it traveled onto the wooden trestle and on it's way towards him. Just a few more minutes and he'd catch his ride out of this one trick pony town and make his way on to bigger and better things. He wasn't exactly sure where this train was headed, but going north meant places like Philadelphia, Washington DC, or even Boston. A guy like him was meant for places like that and he wasn't going to let anything stand in the way of reaching his destiny.
The leaves crunched underfoot as he made his way closer to the tracks. Twigs dug into his knees and he swatted away a couple of spiders that seemed intent on catching him in their web. It was clear that no one but the squirrels and the occasional coyote had been through this part of the woods in quite some time as he picked his way through some prickly overgrowth. His calves were starting to burn a little from having to crawl through like a woodland critter and he rocked forward onto his hands, his palms lying flat on the cold hard ground as he straightened his legs out one at a time to help stretch them out a bit. He couldn't afford to get a cramp if he was going to make it to the train - he was going to have to be quick, the train only slowed a bit here to comply with a speed zone as it blinked once or twice passing through Cutter's Bluff.
The noise from the train was louder now and he could feel the earthy vibrating under his fingers where he'd taken a runner's stance. He kept his head down so no one on the train could spot him until the last possible second, he readied himself as the massive steel beast slithered around the corner with a ferocious growl, it's wheels gnashing at the rails with a steady squeal.
He was just about to make a run for it and instead lost his footing as a stray briar caught his foot and sent him sprawling into the brush. He cursed and tried to right himself so he'd still have a chance of catching the train, and then as his eyes focused he let out a scream worthy of a six year old girl as he realized he was looking right at what he supposed used to be a human face. He started to scramble backwards and ran right into a tree making him panic even further. He wasn't sure whether to run or scream again, and then as the train came into range, his opportunity clearly gone, he watched as someone who'd already had the fortune to catch a ride on the Southern Pacific pitched what seemed to him to be a full grown dead guy right out of the side of one of those boxcars he had planned to jump into.
He leaned further back into the tree, wishing for it to swallow him up, make him invisible or maybe have it's limbs come to life so they could pick him up and toss him away from the macabre situation he'd found himself in.
The body landed with the sound of crackling brush, broken twigs and a soft thud very near where he'd been crouching just moments before. He sunk lower into the bushes and hoped to hell that no one had seen him sitting there, especially the guy that had dumped the body off the train. He sat frozen for a few minutes and then thought better of it as the train headed around the bend.
As soon as the train was out of view, he launched himself like a bat out of hell and ran for all he was worth back through the prickly underbrush, not even caring that it was scratching him up something fierce. All of his earlier bravado about jumping a train and riding the rails to prove he was a grown man vanished. All he cared about was getting out of these woods. Whatever reason he had before for running away, was completely forgotten as he ran home to find his mama.