Lee's Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends

Stories

The Ogre of Sodor

Part 2

The anxiety of the possible truth of the Ogre of Sodor was beginning to haunt many on the island especially the likes of engines such as Percy.
"If the Ogre exists…" he wailed. "Please make sure it won't gobble me up!"
"It won't…" said Thomas calmly.
"How can you be so sure?" Percy then asked. Thomas didn't reply as he wasn't too sure himself. It was supposedly a story, one told by Edward but even he looked unsure of its fictional origins now and this made everyone else just as uneasy.
"We'll be safe…" Thomas eventually replied. "I hope we will…" he then muttered under his breath.

When night came, everyone seemed to take even extra than normal but engines like Gordon didn't want to show their fears at all.
"Midnight Express….off we go!" he declared pompously even though he knew he'd have to pass over the viaduct on the way. Gordon soon set off as normal but the Fat Controller who was watching the departure seemed concerned.
"First a ghost engine on the Skarloey railway, then those evil Diesels and now an Ogre on this wonderful island…" he sighed. "Why is life here never easy anymore?"

Elsewhere, Duck and Oliver were happily enjoying their work on the Little Western line but the stories of the Ogre were also taking effect on them.
"If this story has come from Edward…" Duck said cautiously. "Then it's more than likely to be true…" Oliver didn't seem as convinced. Like Duck, he knew Edward ever so well and knew that the majority of his stories did have atleast some truth in them, but this story just seemed so wrong. There couldn't possibly be any truth in it at all, surely not?
"Come on Duck!" then called his driver. "You can gossip when you're done with your shift!" and soon Duck set off with empty carriages to take back to the hold. The night atleast wasn't foggy and there was only a light sprinkling of rain this time, but the eeriness of the dark even gets the better of the braver engines.
"Best be quick…" Duck murmured to himself as he hurried on. The carriages clicked and clacked along the track which atleast helped Duck keep his mind on work and not on the Ogre. Soon, he came across a bridge – it was only a short bridge, but it was very narrow. Duck knew this is when the Ogre could appear and he and his crew agreed to go slowly across.
"If we hear anything…" said Duck's fireman. "…we will stop. We need to know what's causing this." Duck agreed and as they proceeded along the bridge, there began the slightest cackles and laughs. They echoed loudly and then there was the grumbling of some voices.
"Is anyone there?" Duck called out as his voice echoed all around. There was no immediate reply and then suddenly there was a loud growl from under the bridge. Duck's crew immediately stopped him and got out. They went to the edge of the bridge and peered over. They couldn't see anything there but they heard something rush across the ground and rustle into the bushes.
"Most likely to be a fox then…" smiled Duck's driver.
"A laughing fox?" quizzed Duck.
"Well I can't be certain…" confessed his driver as he and the fireman got back aboard. Then, as they were about to set off again, the cackles and laughs resumed. And then so did the growls and rumbles of activity. A breeze then picked up and then there was a howl - a long, deep howl. It was very spooky now and Duck and his crew agreed to move on. As they steamed off, the cackles and laughs started again as if it was mocking Duck, but what would do such a thing? No-one could still be sure…

The night was also proving to be a problem for those not even working. Even though he had the night off, Edward just kept on staring out into the night sky thinking through the impossible reality that the Ogre did exist. His crew were just the same and neither of them dared to think it was possible. Edward's staring into middle distance was soon cut short with the arrival of Cordelia the coach by his side.
"I imagine were no further to knowing the full truth…" she said as she was still visibly distressed after what had happened to her and her driver.
"No…" Edward replied simply. "I don't want to believe it's true, but I've heard Duck had an encounter earlier on. If we hear Duke has an encounter soon, we all will know it's real."
"How old is this story?" Cordelia then asked.
"As old as Duke….possibly even older than him…" Edward replied. "It's had more than enough time to become reality then." The pair of them just fell silent for some time before Cordelia eventually had to leave. She hated these late night drives now, but she had to do them as no-one else could cope with the passengers she takes. As she left, Edward just wished her good luck and she knew she would need it.
"There's nothing to worry about…" she said to herself as she entered the winding roads of Sodor, but Cordelia was wrong. There was plenty to worry about…

Branches creaked and the winds began to rattle everything around them. These nights were certainly not for the faint-hearted.
"You're fine…" Cordelia reassured herself once more. "It's just you and the driver." but whatever she did, it didn't help her at all. She got more worried by the minute and things weren't helped at all when her engine seemed to cut out. Thankfully, she wasn't on a bridge but she hadn't long just passed one by.
"Hmmm…." sighed Cordelia's driver as he inspected her engine. "It's overheated!" Cordelia knew this was bad as she'd have to stay here until it cooled down sufficiently. It would take a while and her driver knew this so as he climbed back onboard, he got out a spare newspaper at hand to read so it would pass the time. For Cordelia, she'd just have to look out and wait.
"I don't like this…" she said angrily.
"Don't get yourself worked up!" called out her driver. "You'll blow a fuse or something next! You most definitely don't want that to happen…" Cordelia didn't seem to care however as the panic began to return. She could hear nearby bushes rustling loudly and then suddenly she felt something brush by her rear bumper. She gasped loudly and her driver looked around but couldn't see a thing. Both of them heard laughing aswell and this began to worry them a lot.
"It's the Ogre….again!" Cordelia cried loudly.
"It obviously likes you a lot!" her driver called back. He immediately got out of his seat once more and got a torch at hand. He looked all around and couldn't spot a thing, but he could hear loud rumblings everywhere. Then, Cordelia began to hear a hissing noise and soon her driver did too.
"What is that?" Cordelia wondered before she began to realise.
"Someone or something has punctured your rear right tyre…." her driver said. "They were very quiet about that."
"This is more than just an Ogre…" Cordelia then said. "Edward's got to know!" and her driver agreed. Her engines had sufficiently cooled and even with the slow puncture to her tyre, both Cordelia and her driver decided to turn back round and head back to Edward. As they slowly got back to a reasonable speed, the pair of them then heard marching and soon figures began to appear in the distance. Cordelia came to a stop as all she and her driver could see was fast approaching figures in big numbers and with them were the growling, cackling and laughing noises that had all been heard before.
"Oh my…" Cordelia gasped. Whatever was in front of her now was most certainly more than just an Ogre…