Joseph took in a deep breath of mountain air as soon as they'd reached the top of the sloped walking path. The lodge was there, small and natural-looking with its log walls and forest green door. A nondescript truck had been parked outside. Although it lacked the typical Speedwagon Foundation logo, Joseph had seen enough of their vehicles to know it was one of them. He looked back to watch the old man himself trail after him.
"Need a rest?" he teased.
Speedwagon gestured ahead.
"Just head inside."
Joseph shrugged and headed up the three wooden stairs that led to the deck before peeking inside through the large window facing the valley. He grinned when he spotted a rather beautiful woman in a red scarf and sunglasses talking to a group of men. As if she could sense him watching, she turned to face him and cocked an eyebrow. Joseph waved and proceeded inside.
"Mom," he greeted her with a cheeky smile, opening his arms for a hug he knew wasn't going to come.
Lisa Lisa nodded at him.
"Hello, JoJo," she replied, "you seem well for someone who just destroyed a bit of Swiss history."
Joseph crossed his arms over his chest.
"It was an eye sore." He came to meet her and the men he assumed were from the Foundation in the center of the room. "But I didn't expect you to show up," he continued, "Caesar was your student, sure, but it doesn't seem like you to come all this way to find his body."
"This isn't just about Caesar," Lisa Lisa told him matter-of-factly, "it seemed very clear to me that Major Von Stroheim traveled all the way to London to give you a very serious warning. If someone as loyal as him waves a red flag on his own country, the situation must be dire."
Joseph shook his head.
"How do you know he was waving anything?" he asked critically, "what if he was just being nice?"
"You were the one insisting we had to come here a few days ago," she reminded him, "I hope you're not just concerned this mess with the Nazis will distract us from searching for Caesar's grave. It could be much more important than that."
Joseph opened his mouth, shut it again, and grunted indignantly.
"Tch. No."
Lisa Lisa cocked her eyebrow again.
"Alright, then." With that, she proceeded past him to approach Speedwagon, who handed her the telegram they'd taken from the men in the castle. "We found a small train station a few hours from here," she informed him, "it looked like it might've been abandoned once, but there are clearly marked soldiers guarding it now. I can only assume these two events are connected somehow."
"Hopefully, their orders will give us a hint," Speedwagon agreed.
She looked back, extending the telegram to one of the Foundation men, who took it and pursed his lips thoughtfully as he read it.
"Roughly?" he began, "it says 'send last samples' and 'destroy source'. Then, it mentions a train that's meant to leave tonight at eighteen hundred hours."
"Let me guess: we head there next?" Joseph asked lightly.
Speedwagon reached into his jacket pocket to pull out a watch and flipped it open.
"We don't have much time," he informed them, "if they keep to their schedule, the train will leave in just over three hours."
Lisa Lisa nodded.
"Let's go."
[Next]
Joseph and his mother quickly hopped off the back of the Speedwagon truck, allowing it to speed off. They'd agreed to have the Foundation members watch the train from a safe distance, while the two Joestars got a closer look.
Joseph followed Lisa Lisa closely as they left the road behind and crossed a field of tall grass to climb up a hill on the far side. From the top, they could see the train station a few meters from where they were crouched. The tall grass and dying light kept them from attracting the attentions of the uniformed German soldiers patrolling around the station and the short train on its track. The train itself was unmarked and its cars were clearly for cargo alone, lacking any windows that might've given them a hint at what might be aboard.
After waiting for a two-man patrol to pass them, the pair rushed across the short clearing between the hill and the station. They reached the back wall and slipped behind a stack of decaying wooden crates leftover from the station's heyday. Joseph hunkered low to hide his abnormal height from any watchful eyes while his mother plotted their way to the train. She looked back at him and pointed to one of the cars a short distance away, its door wide open. He nodded. Once another patrol had passed them, they ran to the car and climbed in through the open door.
The Joestars kept away from the opening while looking over the cargo. There was very little inside, including two small crates stacked atop each other and one very large one toward the back. They hid behind the large one when the sound of feet falling in the gravel outside started to get closer. Someone stopped by the open car door and placed another box inside, followed by someone else with another box of the same size. Their arms unloaded, they slid the car door shut and conversed in German as they walked away.
"Was going for a train ride part of the plan?" Joseph whispered.
"What plan?" Lisa Lisa replied, leaving the cover of the crate.
Joseph shrugged.
"Fair enough."
He proceeded to the stack of two crates and lifted the lid of the topmost, which hadn't been nailed down like he thought it might've been. He got a book of matches from his coat pocket and lit one to get a better look at its contents while his mother inspected the larger box.
Joseph's chosen crate was packed carefully, full of small glass bottles containing some kind of red liquid tucked between layers of soft cloth. He plucked one out and shook it, but it didn't do anything interesting. Frowning, he held it up to the match's light. Its color was deep crimson, like that of blood. A lot of blood. He held it in Lisa Lisa's direction.
"What do you think this is?" he asked.
She looked back to see what he was holding, then came to meet him, her eyebrows raised in interest. She took the bottle from him and rolled it around in her hand, watching the liquid flow with the motion. It was clearly thicker than water, another hint that made Joseph think "blood". But if it was blood and all the small crates were full of the same bottles, it would mean the Nazis had drained several people to collect it all.
"It's not blood, right?" he asked, unnerved by the notion.
"It has the same properties," Lisa Lisa murmured in reply, "but we wouldn't know for sure unless we were to test it."
SLAM!
Startled, Lisa Lisa gasped, dropped the bottle, and spun around to face the large crate. Joseph watched it, too. Nothing appeared to have changed about it, but it sounded as if something had banged on it. Another slam, definitely from the direction of the crate. In fact, it sounded like it was coming from inside it. Lisa Lisa and Joseph exchanged wary glances, then started toward it.
They were but a step from making contact with the crate when its side blasted outward, pelting them both with splinters and larger bits of wooden shrapnel. A hand protruded from the opening, its knuckles bloodied. The Joestars watched as the hand planted itself on the crate's side and the elbow its arm was attached to bent as someone pried themselves out of the box at a creeping, painful-looking rate. A head emerged, that of a young woman with curly black hair.
Joseph hissed in pain when the flame of his match met his fingertips and he dropped it. He lit a second one as quickly as he could. The renewed light showed the woman already halfway out of the box, both her hands palm-down on the train car's floor and her long hair draped over her head, caressing the planks as she continued to pull herself out. Suddenly, her face whipped around to look at them, her neck twisting unnaturally in a way that left her head completely backwards on her body.
Joseph's hand slapped to his cheek in alarm.
"Holy shit!" he exclaimed.
The woman's lips parted in a wide smile, revealing her sharp fangs. A vampire! Before either of the Joestars could react, another pair of hands appeared at the edges of the hole in the crate's side, followed by the pale face of an undead child whose eyes stared at them from drooping sockets. He hissed at them through his clenched teeth. Hungry vampires.
The floor underneath them jolted as the train began to roll down the tracks. Joseph touched the lit match to the rest of the book and dropped it on the floor, freeing his hands just as the child leapt over the woman. He launched himself in Joseph's direction. The young man dodged while exhaling deliberately, feeling the touch of his Hamon and directing it into his fists. The tiny vampire dashed at him and he smacked it hard in the jaw, releasing his energy into its body. The young vampire went down easily. Despite himself, he felt sorry for the child.
Joseph glanced back toward his mother just as she gracefully avoided a swipe from the lady vampire's sharpened fingernails with an effortless pivot. Lisa Lisa quickly turned the pivot into a spin with her arm extended to chop the woman in the back of the neck. The vampire screeched as the Hamon master's energy began to eat away at her body.
Nonetheless, she was able to turn around and attempted to bite her shoulder. Lisa Lisa allowed the woman's teeth to make contact with her scarf. Too late to save herself, the woman realized it'd been charged with Hamon. The vampire's face began to disintegrate, and as soon as the decay met her cranium, her body collapsed.
Joseph let out a tense breath, amazed by the idea of Nazis carelessly keeping undead monsters in a simple wooden crate. The light being produced by the ignited matchbook quickly began to die. As if the dark wasn't a problem enough, Joseph heard more rustling in the direction of the crate.
"How many did they stuff in that thing!?" he cried incredulously.
Lisa Lisa looked up, then pointed toward the ceiling. Joseph looked as well and saw a hatch leading outside. Although it was dim, there were still hints of light filtering through the crack between the hatch and its frame. Joseph leapt up and caught the lip of the frame. Holding himself up with one hand, he used the other to undo the latch and push the hatch open. The orange light of the setting sun poured through. He held his free hand out for his mother to grab. Once her grip was secure, he threw her up to the hatch so she could grab the edge and climb out onto the top of the train car.
Joseph yelped when someone grabbed his leg. He looked down to see a male vampire with a firm hand on his boot and grimaced. He flung his legs upward to slam the creature into the ceiling and quickly slung his arm over the hatch's opening once it'd released his foot. He climbed his way out into the open and closed the hatch behind him, letting out a sigh.
"These Nazis have weird tastes in pets," he grumbled over the sound of wind rushing past the speeding train.
Lisa Lisa nodded and pointed toward the front.
"We need to get back inside one of the cars," she told him, "if we can remain undetected, they might take us straight to their commander."
"What about Uncle Speedwagon and the others?" Joseph asked.
"If they're smart, they'll keep their distance," she replied, "but I have a feeling they might try to follow us." She edged past him and walked to the end of the car. "Come on."
Joseph nodded and followed her when she leapt from their car to the next, then to the next. She stopped and looked back.
"This should be far enough from the vampires for now," she said, "make sure there aren't any large crates in this one."
Joseph proceeded to the car's hatch while his mother kept an eye on the one they'd emerged from. He yanked it open, breaking the latch in the process, and stuck his head inside to see more of the small crates, but none large enough to hold a human body. He pulled his head out again.
"This one's clear."
Lisa Lisa turned around and came to meet him. He helped her down, then slipped inside, allowing the hatch to close after him.
