Chapter 36: Motion

When my body awoke, a sour taste was in my mouth, and my head hurt. Soon, the rest of the pains I felt caught up with my in a moment, and then settled on my now horizontal body. My eyes flickered like the bulbs lighting the room, and I contorted my neck to my sides and then attempted to move. I lifted my torso upwards, making the blurriness of my head more apparent. I looked to my right, and saw my arm wrapped tightly in a bandage with my new arm guard off on that side. I strained to shake my fingers on my arm for a second, and then exhaled violently when I released it. I moved my legs off the bed I was in and got up, looking around to see what happened. I was in the bed cart on the train, and we were still moving as I could see from the small, hazy windows. I limped down the cart, tripping over nothing and resting my left arm and body on the door, breathing heavily as I waited at the door to Ulysses room.

I gripped the door and grunted loudly as I opened it with my arm, now falling to the floor from my victory. I looked to my right, through the open door to see the passing environment that has changed from Louisiana. It was open here, no trees, no buildings, just brown rocks and sand. It was a Barren Wasteland, and so I decided in my head to call it just that. I un-crouched from the floor and held my wounded arm and walked through Ulysses' empty room to the engine room door. I moaned angrily as I opened the door with my good arm that is proving to be nothing of the sort. Inside, were Rilee and Lennie, standing in front of the energy engine that was humming loudly, but not loud enough to beat their voices.

"Do you know what's going to happen when they find out you left Louisiana?" Lennie yelled at her.

"Do you know what was going to happen if I stayed? You heard that guy we're all wanted by the two biggest assholes in America!" Rilee shouted.

"You could have stayed, you could have been way better off than what's been happen-" Lennie and Rilee stopped fighting to turn to me, while their angered faces turned to shock as they ran to me.

"ZOMBIE! Oh, wait, no, it's Sarah!" Lennie smiled as he patted me on the shoulder while Rilee stood behind him with her arms crossed.

"I didn't know you'd be walking!" Lennie laughed.

"I'm trying my best." I said as I smiled lightly back at them.

"I take it we're out of Louisiana?" I asked them.

"Yeah, we left." Lennie scoffed, looking disappointingly at Rilee.

"We're in Texas, I think." Rilee told me, ignoring the stare by Lennie.

"You should go to the front. I'm sure that Joe and Ulysses would want to know you didn't get your ass kicked completely." Rilee smiled as she slapped my hurt arm.

"You bitch." I winced.

"You're a tough chick, you'll get through it." Rilee smiled back as she pointed to a small door at the front of the engine room.

I walked to the door and opened it, faster than before, and walked out to an everlasting breeze that refreshed my entire body. I lumbered to the front of the train, on a little platform with a railing in front of it that Joe and Ulysses were leaning on, staring ahead at the tracks.

"And why does wearing a flag on your back help you not get shot at?" Joe asked him, turning his head back to see the back of his new duster, only to be sidetracked with the sight of me standing behind the two. Joe stared widely at me and walked forward, diverting Ulysses' attention to where he was looking. Joe's face lit up as the two walked to me and hugged me warmly.

"Surprised?" I asked them.

"Not really. You're father pulled the same prank back in the day." Joe smiled at me.

"Hey, your voice sounds different." I pointed politely at his more strained and deep voice that was covered up by his neck.

"Maybe he hit puberty." Ulysses sighed as he crossed his arms.

"Ah, dammit, he got me." Joe sighed.

"What happened to me?" I asked them.

"After you passed out, we stitched up your arm and gave you a blood transfusion. It turns out that you were right, your arm was still connected, although it didn't look like it. You made a mess in the back cart." Joe told me.

"I'm sorry about almost amputating you." Joe said afterwards.

"It's okay." I nodded.

"So who gave me the blood transfusion?" I asked them.

"It doesn't matter." Ulysses said.

"So are you saying it was neither of you?" I waited on them, putting a hand on my hip.

"Still doesn't matter." Joe shrugged.

"Why won't you tell me?" I pestered.

"Look, the only thing that matters now is that we're all okay, and we'll be in Nevada in no time. Plus, this is the only fun I'm going to have on this ride." Joe smiled as he slapped my hurt arm playfully.

"Why..." I jeered.

"My bad." Joe apologized.

"We're going to be traveling for a few days, so get used to it. We're going to have to ration the rest of our gecko. Lennie's going to be in charge of that." Joe informed me.

"Rilee will be making sure the train's running, so if you have any questions, go to her. Ulysses will be working on new armor for us after what happened to you, so start searching the rest of the train for scrap parts." Joe added.

"What are you going to be doing?" I asked him.

"Me? I'm going to be seeing what happens if I spit while out here." He nodded as he walked away to the front of the train.

I turned away from Joe and nodded at Ulysses, saying, "Thanks."

"For what?" He asked me.

"I figured out what happens!" Joe shouted a few feet away from us.

"For pulling me in." I continued to speak.

"You're welcome." He nodded.

"You see? You're a good person, Ulysses. That's why you gave me that blood transfusion, right?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't give you the transfusion." Ulysses shook his head.

"Everyone on this train would have, though." He added.

"Whatever." I swayed around with my left arm as I turned away.

"Ew! I did it again and it hit my face!" Joe yelled as I walked away.

"Who was he?" Ulysses asked as I grabbed onto the door and pulled it open.

"Who?" I asked him as I held the door open for him..

"You said you knew a man while I pulled you in. Who were you talking about?" Ulysses asked me.

"It's up my nose, now!" Joe snorted as we shut the door on him.

"While I was running to the train, the man who had Rilee at gunpoint called for me by name. I know him." I said as I motioned at Rilee.

"He heard us calling for you, Sarah, not by name. That's it." Rilee told me.

"No, I know him from somewhere." I confirmed.

"I know you'd like to think you're special and all, but let me tell you something..." Rilee said, leaning into me.

"I'm way more special than you." She told me.

"If you saw what happened, then you should have seen that I was alive. You should have known that I was going after the train and you should have known that I couldn't catch up." I said at her.

"Why?" I asked after.

"Why what?" Rilee sneered.

"Why is it that Ulysses was the only person who came for me? Where was everyone else?" I asked.

"Where were you?" I asked her coldly.

"Come on, Sarah, you don't need to worry about that." Ulysses eased, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"I don't care anymore." I said, shoving the hand off of me and walking away.

"Good." Rilee grunted as she returned to the controls of the train.

I walked out of the room, leaving Ulysses and Rilee in the engine room for themselves. As I rammed open the next door, I passed out on a bed, smelling the dead bodies that once laid on it, but since my departure from my senses, have been moved away and cleansed of the impurities. I panted and screamed into the pillow out of a mix of anger and pain. Soon, I calmed down and eventually found myself sleeping on it, yet never planning to do it.

I awoke to my body's inner earthquakes signaling me to get up. The sun was down, and my energy was still out, but hunger called for action. The yellow lights in the otherwise dark cart made the atmosphere seem moody, peaceful, calm, and even...given the circumstances. I couldn't help but smiling at the yellow lanterns illuminating my footsteps as I walked to the dinner cart. I kept smiling until I opened the door, exerting my left arm's force to open the door to the group passing out small plates and half empty glasses of water to each other. I sat down, and everyone didn't seem to notice, in fact, they didn't seem to be as happy as I was.

"What's wrong?" I asked them as they silently dug into their scraps — a silence so empowering that the hums and chugs of the engine seemed oblivious to the ears.

"Are you okay?" Joe asked me.

"Yeah... I'm fine." I assured them.

"You got up in your sleep and said that you put Carrie in her coma." He told me.

"What?" I asked him.

"You said you chose over yourself to put her in a coma. That was pretty weird. You also tried to punch Ulysses in the throat. I-I don't get how those two were related." Joe said.

"My throat's fine by the way." Ulysses added.

"When?" I asked him.

"Just now." He said.

"Care to explain?" Ulysses asked me.

"Stay out of this." Joe ordered him.

"Uh, sleepwalking?" I shrugged with a light smile.

"Sarah, that's not funny. You said some weird shit, like, clown weird." Joe shook his head.

"It's not a joke, I know." I told him.

"Just forget it, what ever happened, happened." Joe said as he gave me a plate of food.

"Eat up, you need it." He added.

"So... uh, how about them... Deathclaws?" Lennie asked everyone awkwardly.

"Hate 'em." Everyone at the table said at once and continued to eat in silence.

"Nice conversation, guys." Lennie nodded awkwardly at his failed attempt at small talk as he drank the rest of his water.