Chapter Twenty: Stowaways Again

"This is crazy! I swear that lizard's outrageous, dumb ideas for travelling have rubbed off on all of you." Becca whispered as she followed the others.

"Hey, you were the one who brought up the train idea," Suzie reminded.

"Not intentionally! I was joking around!"

The four of them were making their way through a train yard. This place was still in Ohio, not too far outside of the Amish county. Bernard made a few lucky guesses as to which way to walk in order to get here; some of the maps had train track markings on them. Deducing where the yard actually was required pinpointing where all the track markings intersected. The entire previous day had been spent walking through the woods. By the time night had fallen, the troupe had reached their destination.

The yard was a confusing maze of tracks and freight cars. It was a full moon tonight, which cast huge shadows and made this place all the more eerie. Even the tiniest noise seemed to echo off the big, metal boxes. A single building rose up at one end of the lot, where all the windows were lit up. That meant some people were still up at this hour. Any moment, some worker may come outside in inspect the late shipments, and so the group of monsters had to be wary. The crunchy, loose gravel ground did nothing to keep their footsteps quiet.

Bernard was leading the way, trying to be inconspicuous.

"How exactly do you plan on finding us a ride to exactly where we want to go?" Becca asked in a mid-yawn.

"By finding the schedules of these trains, somehow." Bernard was tired, too. None of them had had much rest from all the walking that day. "Stay in the shadows as much as possible. Odds are some workers are wandering around here."

"This late at night? C'mon, there's no way anyone could still be up," said Suzie.

"You'd be surprised. Trains come and go at all hours of the day. How are you feeling, Naomi?"

"Ugh…got good." She moaned. She was trying not to talk, for fear of coughing uncontrollably. Her face looked even paler in the moonlight. The journey had not been easy for her; weakness often overtook her, but she had pushed on. The fever had gone up and down, but her condition had not worsened, at least. Leaning against a boxcar shakily, she confessed to the others, "Can we hurry this up? The thought of relaxing safe on a train sounds wonderful right about now."

"Don't worry; we're almost to the station. Just hang in there," Bernard said with concern.

They all rested for a moment so Naomi could gather her strength, then they were once again on the move.

Being a bright red monster, Bernard would be spotted very easily if a train worker were to walk around a corner. His size was also proving to be a problem, as it always did when raiding or sneaking. While Naomi and the sisters could crawl underneath any old boxcar to hide, he was too big to fit. He could always climb up the cars, but not very quickly. His bad leg would not help, either. The closer the gang came to the station, the more Bernard vexed over all of these problems.

"Change of plan, girls," he brought them to a halt when the building came in sight. "Becca, I think you should be the one to look for those schedules."

"What? Why? I don't even want to ride in a train! Can't we just steal a car?"

"Because Naomi is too sick, Suzie is not the best when it comes to missions like this—no offense, Suzie—and you can get in and out faster then I can."

Suzie, a little miffed at his lack of confidence in her, agreed. "Just do it, please, Becca? We've already come this far. You're as bad a complainer as Naomi, sometimes."

Here, Naomi pouted, but made no comment.

Becca sighed. "Fine, I'll go. What should I look for?"

"Not sure. Anything to tell us which train is going where. Their schedules could be on paper, on computers, maybe try eavesdropping on any engineers or conductors. Try to find a train that's heading south, no matter what."

"No pressure, Bernard." She took off her knapsack so as able to move quicker. "OK, I'll be back soon…on second thought, I'll take a pistol with me."

"No. We're not here to endanger lives! We're just trying to hitch a ride." Bernard scolded. "We've had to deal with curious people before. It didn't end well for him, in case you've forgotten. If you really need to protect yourself, use this," he pulled the frying pan from his own knapsack. "And here's a knife, only for lock-picking purposes! Understood?"

"You've got to be joking…" Becca took them, still in a bad mood.

"Be careful!" Suzie whispered as her sister moved from shadow to shadow across the gravel.

Naomi let out a few quiet coughs. Unfortunately, a small fireball came along with them. It illuminated the boxcars brightly, causing her to glance up at the tall station building for signs of life. It was three stories high; anyone could look out a window to view the entire yard.

"Better hide under the cars," Bernard squinted up at the lighted windows. "Just to be safe." He himself only hid in the shadows, standing out like a sore thumb to wait for Becca's return.

…

Not wanting to be breaking windows, Becca crept around the back of the building. There had to be a door somewhere…

Darting around, she crawled both over and under a few boxcars that were under repairs, and made her way up to the first door she saw. As capable as she was of sneaking, tonight she was too cross to do so. She had always hated trains—something about the way they vibrated and wobbled along the tracks annoyed her, and even in the Monster World, she took care to avoid them.

This infiltration would be done her way: fast, to the point, and if she had to clobber a few workers on the way, oh well! She was tough enough to take them on.

She squatted underneath a window and peeked through…the lights were on, and it looked like someone had been in recently. The room appeared to be some sort of office. It was a more rustic style then the average office, with wooden furniture and miniature train models crisscrossing the room. Papers were strewn about in a terrible mess—on the desk, floor, and posted on clipboards which hung along one wall.

"Whoever's place this is, they must be a train-obsessed nerd." Becca gazed around to be sure the room was empty. To get a clear view, she had to fully stand up. That was when she finally noticed an overweight man slumped over the desk, fast asleep. "Great. Things just got so much easier!" she whispered to herself with sarcasm.

No matter. If he woke up, she could just knock him out again with the frying pan. There was a strong possibility of train schedules being in an office; of that, she had no doubt. She sauntered nonchalantly up to the door and picked it open with the knife. The sudden light made her blink; the hallway brought up a flashback to the hotel infiltration back in Yellowstone Park. This train station had a similar feel, only the décor was more railroad-themed. A few doors branched off from here, but she took the first one on the left, where the sleeping office worker was. All those clipboards hanging on the wall would be her first start.

Since the door was ajar, she slipped in quietly. The man's snores were more annoying than Suzie's: loud enough to bounce off the walls! Becca held her frying pan high as a precaution and kept half an eye on him as she examined the clipboards.

Just as she thought: train schedules. All of them freights, perfect for stowing away in. Skimming the papers, Becca read many different routes, travelling all over the eastern and southern states. There were lists of all the cargo, and how many cars each engine was pulling. She soon came to realize a problem, though.

"Isn't anything bound for Louisiana?" she glanced out the window at the vast yard. There had to be dozens of trains sitting out there. "And how the hell are we supposed to find it in that? Every car looks the same!"

She grumbled in displeasure. A shuffle of papers made her turn around—the overweight office man was stirring. The first instinct was to simply knock him out, but to her disdain, a pair of booted feet was heard coming down the hall.

Yikes! Cornered! Becca saw a shadow appearing as the new stranger approached…she could've taken the frying pan to his head!...But at the last second, she changed her mind. Perhaps these people could give her some information. As the door swung open, she dove into the space between it and pressed herself against the wall.

"Frank, get up!" the new stranger said as he thumped into the room. "The car knocker finally finished repairs."

"Huh? Oh…" the dozing man jerked awake and rustled papers onto the floor. "Which engine was he fixing, again?"

"You really should stop sleeping on the job. It was the 'Hornet.' Remember?"

"Oh, right. Great! Those hogheads have been eager to get a move on. How soon can they leave?"

"Skipper said everything'll be ready in an hour, no problem…"

Becca pressed harder into the wall, trying to make sense of what she was hearing. Car knocker? Hogheads? Skipper? Must be railway lingo.

"…and the repairs really messed things up. That freight is already a day behind," the office man was saying. "Let's see…it's heading to Idaho, right? It'll never make it by Saturday."

The man with the boots sighed. "Try again, Frank. Mississippi is where they're going! You really outta tidy up this place. It's amazing you still have a job around here."

"Right, right. Just let me get organized, first…"

Becca thought a moment. Mississippi…that's only a state away from where Randall is. The freight these men were speaking of had to be parked nearby! There would be engineers around it, if it was being prepped for travel, and would be rolling out of the yard in an hour…she tried listening for more information, but nothing more useful came up. She remained as still as a board behind the door, as the men wrapped up their boring chat.

"Looks like that's everything in order, then." Concluded the sleepy office man, handing over the paperwork. "You go round up those hoggers and get ready to leave. If another shipment is late, I'm in trouble! My record is already bad enough." He said this jokingly.

The other man chuckled and left, his boots thumping noisily. Becca heard him move far out of earshot down the hall. He hadn't shut the door behind him—she went stiff upon hearing the office guy walking over to close it. She rolled her eyes at her own stupidity. I should've picked a better hiding spot…

When a fat-fingered hand gripped the door's edge, she raised the frying pan in a threatening stance. The element of surprise could really come in handy sometimes.

The man shut the door, saw the intruder behind it, and froze. His eyes went enormously wide and he made an odd girlish squeak of a scream. Before he could let out a real one, Becca grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled it tight. "OK, listen up and answer me: Where can I find the 'Hornet' train bound for Mississippi? Where is it?"

The man sputtered incoherently. Coming face to face with a green, gold-speckled, angry sea monster was not a part of his normal shift.

Becca pulled on his collar tighter. "C'mon, spit it out! I haven't got all night."

"J-just outside the warehouse. On-on-the south-facing tracks! B-big yellow engine!" he managed to stutter.

"Thanks!" she let him go and took a precise swing with the frying pan. CLANG!

…

"You did what?!" Bernard practically bellowed.

"Relax, the man is a scatterbrain. I could tell just by listening to him." Becca twirled the pan around on one finger, very satisfied with herself. "I put him back at his desk. He'll have a splitting headache later, but he'll think it was just a dream. You know how adults are; they're not as likely to believe in monsters as the kids. I hit him pretty hard; maybe he won't even remember!"

"That was still stupid," said Suzie. "What if the engineers are searching the train for stowaways right now?"

"There hasn't been any sort of alarm. Look, they're all acting totally normal."

The group had already located the south-bound 'Hornet' and was hiding amongst the shadows. They were waiting for just the right time to sneak aboard. Yard workers and engineers scurried about from time to time, but none of them seemed worried or alarmed. Word of green sea monsters didn't seem to have spread; perhaps the office man was still unconscious.

The monsters had set their sights on a boxcar that was being loaded with mysterious wooden crates. Much of the rest of the train carried grain, and other dry goods. It would be a good opportunity to stock up on food. All they had to do was wait for the workers to face the other way. But they had been spying for a while and time was running out. With the train nearly loaded, their ride may end up leaving without them.

"We won't get aboard at all if we don't do something. Someone think up a distraction!" Becca pointed out.

Bernard was getting frustrated, too. There were at least five people to contend with, and the open door of the boxcar was never left unattended. He decided to take matters into his own hands. He rummaged in the gravel until he found a large stone. "Get ready to run," he hurled the rock as hard as he could. His strength sent it quite a ways off, and it hit the side of a metal boxcar with a loud 'GONG.' The sound rang out to grab all the workers' attentions. Thinking something was wrong with another car, a few people rushed off to see what the matter was.

"Now! Go, go!" Bernard hissed at the others. The monsters clutched their gear, making sure nothing on their backpacks would rattle or drop. To reach the boxcar, they had to cross an open patch of gravel. Their footsteps came loud and crunchy, but that really couldn't be helped. Speed was of the essence. Bernard hurled more rocks to keep the workers distracted; he was the last to climb aboard to safety.

So far, the plan was working.

The boxcar was packed full of wooden crates. Towers and walls of them formed hiding places all around, but it was incredibly dark. Naomi coughed as she asked Bernard for the flashlight, but he wouldn't hear of it. "We wait until we're really safe and this train starts moving. Everyone hide, and for goodness' sake, try not to cough, Naomi. I know it's hard, but we'll be found otherwise."

Naomi nodded and felt around in the dark until finding a tiny space in the corner. She ducked out of sight. The sisters did the same, up against another wall. From here, a shaft of moonlight beamed onto some of the crates, allowing them to read the labels. Most of them contained dry goods like sacks of flour and pounds of rice. The sisters had a feeling most of the stuff in here would not be very appetizing.

Bernard had more trouble hiding. He quickly stacked a few crates atop of one another to make a higher wall. It wasn't until the last second did he get out of sight, as the train workers came around the corner.

"Nothing," one of them complained to his coworkers. "Told you it was nothing, which is amazing, considering this engine's history! C'mon, let's get this car loaded. We're running behind again."

The hidden monsters held their breaths as several humans climbed inside to pile up more crates. As they got back to work, a rumble shuddered across the floor like a mini earthquake. Subtle vibrations began and Becca shuddered along with them; she would much rather be out stealing a car then hunkering down in this metal prison. She and her travelling companions did not move a muscle. Hopefully the workers were too rushed to notice some of the crates were in different spots then before.

"How many left?"

"That's the last of them. Sounds like the Skipper is ready to leave," someone said, commenting on the engine firing up.

"Think it'll break down again?" said another voice.

"Nah. We patched it up pretty good, but with this old train, I wouldn't be surprised."

The workers all hopped out and proceeded to slide the huge door shut. The horrible scraping sound of metal on metal had never been more welcoming to the stowaways. Bernard had a brief concern of getting the door open again when it was time to jump out. But he relaxed when he heard a set of flimsy locks slide into place. If this train was an aged one, it wouldn't be hard breaking open a boxcar door.

Everyone came out of their hiding spots once their eyes adjusted to the dark.

"Finally, we're outta here," Naomi wheezed. She sounded awful. She took a minute to let out the coughs she had been suppressing. They sounded even more damp and painful now, and made her high-pitched voice very low. With all the wood crates in here, it was vital she try to keep her fire-breathing under control. All the walking from the previous day and all this night had truly worn her out.

Bernard pushed aside more crates to clear a space for an indoor camp of sorts. "You'd better get some rest, Naomi. This trip is being rough on you; I can tell," he dug in his knapsack for some food, and pulled out a hunk of cold venison and the last jar of Amish-made strawberry-rhubarb jam. "This won't be the biggest meal, I'm afraid, but we have to ration out our food while we're in here."

"Just how long is that going to be? I don't want to stay in this hunk of rolling metal any longer then I have to." Becca lost her balance and tumbled over as the boxcar jerked suddenly. Everyone sensed the train moving, pulling slowly out of the yard.

"You're sure this thing is headed to Mississippi?" Suzie unfolded a blanket and tried to sit comfortably on the hard floor.

"'Course I'm sure. I interrogated Office Boy quickly, but effectively, didn't I? I'd never make such a huge mistake and put us on the wrong train."

"Good. Then we'll be there in no time! Then it's only one more state to go until we find Randall."

"Right. We can try and hitch another ride, but be prepared to walk. Anything can happen," Bernard felt Naomi's forehead to check her fever. She sat miserably with her back to a crate, eating slowly like a robot. She was shivering with another spell of chills, and hugging her jacket closer around her. Every so often, she would cough up mucus much to the others' worry. Bernard furrowed his brow like a concerned parent. "You're still a little warm…I don't like this. Whatever you've got, we've got to get something to help, and soon."

Suzie wondered if Bernard had ever dealt with anything like this in the past. Surely his son had had some sort of illness like this before. It couldn't hurt to ask. "Has Nicholas ever had anything like this? Don't you know of any home remedies that might help?"

Bernard shook his head. "Nothing of this scale. He was always a healthy kid; it was rare when he caught something even simple, like a cold."

"Well, whatever's wrong with you, Princess—be it bronchitis, pneumonia, or whatever—if you're contagious, it won't be long until we're all sick."

"Very encouraging, Becca." Bernard said with a roll of his eyes.

"I'm just saying what's on everyone's mind."

"Well, stop, please. It's ruining morale," Suzie asked as politely as possible. "I know you don't like trains, but try to put up with it, OK? It's not for very long."

"But—"

"If you don't stop it, I'll tell you every corny joke I know! I will!" Suzie grinned mischievously. She knew her sister was only nervous about a potential outbreak of illness within the group. Of course tough Becca would not admit it; only mask it.

"OK, OK, I'll shut up," Becca relented. She sat down with the others to eat some rations. "…Look at us, though: Reduced to rationing, stuck in a metal box and all of us bound to get sick sooner or later. Things can't get much worse, can they?"

"Don't fret. Randall can help," Suzie was always the optimistic one. "He can find medicine, no problem. Even you admitted to that."

"Medicine that's meant for humans, remember? It may not even work."

"Girls, that's enough," Bernard was not in the mood to break up an argument. "It's been a long day and night. We should all be getting some shut-eye, so finish your dinners and save the debate for the morning."

But Suzie ignored the request and went on. "He said he'd be in the swamps outside New Orleans, didn't he? He might be hard to find…Maybe living in a tree, somewhere." She realized.

"We'll find that criminal liar," frowned Becca. "I swear, when I see him, I'm going to punch him in the face for not telling us the truth! But wherever he is, I bet he's faring way better than us."

Everyone nodded in agreement. It was obvious to them that the lizard could take care of himself. The swamps suited him; out of all places in the Human World, they were likely the only place he came close to enjoying. No one had any way of knowing he was in far worse shape than they believed…

This was a fun chapter to write; I got to research train lingo. lol. Up next: the group reunites and the next arch of the story begins. With illness or serious injuries, things aren't going to be easy. Stay tuned for more! And thanks for sticking with me for this long! Hope you're enjoying the story. :)