The road works were nearly complete, but the landslide was causing the job to come to a standstill. Patrick was still giving Buster the cold bumper and the steamroller was fine with it and annoyed Patrick by whistling.
"What a beautiful day, wouldn't you agree?" Buster said cheerfully. Patrick gave him the evils and went back to staring intently at the landslide. Buster laughed in his mind and whistled even louder. Patrick's left eye twitched as the tone-deaf steamroller whistled louder and louder. He was about to break the silence to snap at him when Max and Monty sped around the corner.
"There's been an accident." The two cried as they came to a standstill, tyres screeching.
"What happened?" Patrick asked as he went back to ignoring Buster
"Byron fell down a bank and we rushed here to get help." Max cried.
"Why didn't you stay and pinpoint where he ended up?" Buster asked.
"Um…well… we thought it would be better to get help first." Monty said quickly. Buster sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Ok then, take us to where the accident happened." The steamroller said. Max and Monty turned around and the four headed for the site. Buster was strolling behind the others and Patrick couldn't help but laugh.
"What is so funny?" Buster asked.
"I can't believe how slow you're going." Patrick chuckled.
"Yeah, I am pretty slow." Buster replied. "But if you are looking for something funny, I recommend you look for a picture of when you crashed into your own cement." Max and Monty laughed loudly and Patrick turned and glared at Buster.
"That wasn't funny!" He huffed.
"Hey, if you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?" Buster replied and he continued to roll and left Patrick confused. Soon they arrived at the accident. Byron's heavy body had made a mark in the Earth and the four could easily see where he had gone, mainly due to the small trees he had crushed.
"Max and Monty, go to Ulfstead and contact Miss Jenny to get Kelly and Nelson. Patrick, you go and look for Butch. I'll go and see if anyone is in the area." Buster said. Everyone agreed and they all headed their own way, all four desperate to find him.
Many animals occupied Sodor and they were all cared for and appreciated by the general public. Few buildings were placed near forests and a number of volunteers regularly helped out to keep things nice and tidy. So it was a big surprise for the deer, rabbits and birds living in the Ulfstead forest when a large, yellow machine slid into their midst.
Byron was dazed and confused as he lay on the forest floor. He was covered in mud and had dents in his roof and blade and had a bush on his face. He looked at the animals near him and honked loudly to scare them away before the rescue operation began. The loud horn caused the ground to shake.
"Oh son of a b-" Byron cried as the ground collapsed. Byron turned as he fell and he landed on both caterpillar tracks. He looked around and could see he was in a long, dark mine, though there was a small light ahead of him.
"Hello?" He boomed but only got his echo as a reply. The bulldozer sighed and tried to move. The mud made him slip but his engine wasn't damaged and he began to move slowly into the mine.
Sodor Building Incorporated was a lesser known building company that had been shun to the side after Miss Jenny and her company began.
They mainly do roads, driveways and cark parks, but have a reputation for causing stuff ups. Due to their lack of income, SBI's yard was a brick building with cracks in the roof and broken windows and a large, rusted, corrugated iron warehouse. Jack and Alfie reached the yard quickly and hid behind some nearby trees while they made their plan.
"Let's just drive through the door and scare them!" Jack laughed.
"No, that is too risky." Alfie scolded. "We should take a more subtle approach and don't go in there and scream and yell at them."
"You're no fun anymore." Jack sighed and Alfie chuckled and they slowly approached the warehouse door. Suddenly, the door opened and they rushed back to the safety of the trees. The two watched as a large digger, around Byron's size, rolled slowly out of the warehouse. It was black and had a grey moustache and was wearing glasses. He looked rather sad, and Jack and Alfie understood as George rolled behind him.
"We can't afford to keep you so the boss has decided to scrap you." George boomed.
"I know, you've said that three times already." The old digger croaked.
"Well I'm glad to finally get rid of you Fredrick!" George chuckled. "Now go to the scrap yard, we'll be there to watch you became cutlery tomorrow."
"Can't someone take me?"
"We're too busy for you, old timer! Now bugger off." George hissed. Fredrick turned away and headed towards Jack and Alfie. Once the warehouse doors were closed, Jack and Alfie slowly came out of the bushes.
"Excuse me, but we heard everything." Alfie said.
"Would you like a place to stay tonight?" Jack asked. Fredrick was startled by their appearance.
"No no, I'd best be heading to the scrap yard." He said.
"But-"
"No buts youngings, my time has come." Fredrick said sadly. "It was nice to talk to some friendly folk for once." And Jack and Alfie watched as Fredrick rolled sadly away.
The mine shaft was very long and bumpy and bust kept falling onto Byron, causing the bulldozer to lift his blade up to make sure his path didn't cave in.
"Bloody Max, bloody Monty." Byron cursed. "We'd be better off without them." Slowly he rolled forwards, his eyes fixed on the slowly glowing light up in front of him. Byron was hot and wanted to get hosed off and get fixed up, but the more he thought about getting out, the slower he seemed to go.
"This is ridiculous." He groaned. Byron decided to go a bit faster, and then he went a bit faster, and a bit more. Soon Byron was speeding through the mine shaft and the light was getting bigger. Byron could smell fresh air and was glad that he was nearly out when his blade suddenly hit a large rock in the shaft's roof. Byron came to a halt and looked up. The rock had been knocked out and had rolled away. The bulldozer thought it was the last of it, but more dust fell on him and he heard a rumbling sound behind him.
"Oh bugger." He sighed and charged forwards as the roof gave in behind him. Byron yelled out as rocks and dirt fell his back and he could hear more rumbling and crashing. When his blade moved away from one part of the roof, it caved in. There was more light and Byron could hear birds chirping and saw grass. But the weight of the rocks and dirt was holding Byron back and he began to slow down.
"NOT NOW!" He yelled. Rocks hit his cab roof and he winced in pain but pushed forwards. The light was brighter than ever and Byron could make out trees as well.
"COME ON, COME ON!" He shouted and with a roar he sped out of the shaft in a cloud of dust. Byron stopped and skidded and looked at the shaft and gasped. The whole thing had now caved in and rocks poured out. Byron coughed and shielded himself with his blade.
"Glad that's finally over." He said. He turned to look where he was when he suddenly saw Max, Buster and Butch screaming and heading straight for him…
Several minutes earlier…
Butch the Tow Truck had been dealing with some issues near Ulfstead when Patrick arrived and said he needed help. Miss Jenny had been contacted and was coming over with Kelly, Nelson and a dozen workmen. Buster couldn't find anyone around except for an old couple who yelled at him for crushing their rose bush. The four met up around the crash site.
"I don't think anyone is down there anymore." Buster said.
"Don't worry, I know how to check." Butch smiled. He raised his arm up and then threw his hook into the bushes. He did this several times and got nothing, until the hook caught on something.
"Hmm… this doesn't seem to be a machine of any sort, seems more like a hole." Butch explained. Just then, they heard a rumbling sound coming from around them.
"What's that?" Max gasped.
"LANDSLIDE!" Monty yelled.
"It's not a landslide, the noise is coming from beneath us." Patrick sighed. Buster suddenly smiled.
"It's a mine shaft! Byron's weight must have caused him to fall into one and looked for a way out… and now could be crushed." The four exchanged shocked looks before charged towards the source of the noise. The ground rumbled more and more and they could feel it moving. As they reached the site of Miss Jenny's accident, the road cracked
"We're right on top of it now!" Patrick cried. Just as Byron came out of the mine shaft, the ground caved. Patrick and Monty fell into the shaft while Max, Buster and Butch landed on the rubble and moved forwards, straight towards Byron.
"Bloody hell!" Byron gasped and he quickly raised his blade up to protect himself. The three smashed into him and they all rolled backwards and smashed into a tree.
"At least you found me." Byron chuckled.
The rescue operation soon began. Kelly and Nelson arrived but additional tow trucks came to help. Kelly lifted Patrick and Max out of the rubble before Oliver and Ned came to clear away as much as possible before a temporary steel platform was placed to allow light vehicles to cross. The tow trucks and Kelly then got Butch out who helped with bringing Buster and Monty back up. Finally, Kelly started to lift up Byron.
"Jeepers you're heavy!" Kelly gasped as he started to lift.
"Sorry, comes with the job description." Byron laughed.
"I don't think you'll be able to handle this." Miss Jenny said, pondering. "The tow trucks could help with some of the weight."
"We can take the weights of any vehicle." Butch beamed. Workmen attached the tow trucks hooks onto Byron and Butch and his team helped Kelly by pulling on Byron, taking the weight of Kelly. Byron enjoyed being up high and looked down at the forest floor as he rose slowly upwards. He smiled as he saw birds flying, deer running, a bloody human hand.
"What the-" Byron gasped. He looked backed and could see an arm and the human hair.
"Finally!" Kelly said and Byron looked around as Kelly lifted Byron over to Nelson, nearly dragging some of the tow trucks off the cliff.
"I am taking you straight to the repair shed!" Nelson beamed and he started off as soon as the hooks were taken off. Byron just smiled but his mind was racing.
What was the body doing there?
How long had it been there?
How did it get there?
Byron planned to find out, and gave Nelson's cab the evils as they moved further away from the scene, further away from confirming his suspicions: murder.
