CHAPTER 34: PLUS EST EN VOUS
Author's Note: "Plus Est En Vous." = "There is more in you."
As the kids followed Tyrone and slowly made their way through the numerous train cars up ahead,things seemed to be going mostly smooth and without any major problems halting their progress,every time they seemed to spot a guard in the distance,one of them would instantly knock them out with a tranquilizer like it was nothing,and with Tyrone, Ed and Rebecca being such good shots with their own weapons,they were practically like silent hawks with a perfect aim of when and where to snatch up their prey.
After it looked like the gang had silently taken out at least ten of the guards and entered yet another train car,they would all be left a little surprised when they ended up spotting a 4x4 Jeep tethered to the ground as Peppermint Patty enthusiastically whispered at the sight of it "Well would ya look at that,this lady even managed to get a Jeep on her train. What doesn't she have?" to which Tyrone calmly answered while he cautiously examined the car "I don't know about that,but what I do know is that we can use this as an emergency getaway if we need to." before Lucy smiled and confidently retorted in response "Which I don't think we'll even need to do,because we already have ten of those goons taken out with ease."
"Don't get too confident Lucy,I think we're getting close to the last car and I won't too be surprised if there's a trap in there." Linus rolled his eyes and quietly disagreed with Lucy's egotistical rambling before the voice of Mrs Hampton suddenly replied from up ahead "And you would be right my dear child." to which everyone gasped and fearfully tensed up while the lady and the rest of her henchmen slowly walked onto the train car,with the guards in particular aiming AK-47's at the group.
It was at this point that the group immediately tried to aim their guns and fire tranquilizers at the villains,only for the lady to halt them and sternly command beforehand "Uh-uh-uh. We greatly outnumber you in terms of sheer firepower,so I suggest that y'all just toss those toys off the train and make this easier for you….now." before the guards loaded up their guns in an attempt to intimidate the intruders which resulted in Tyrone sighing and bitterly requesting "Kids,do as she says." to which the kids reluctantly tossed their weapons overboard and left themselves completely unarmed along with Tyrone.
"Now that's better. I have to say I wasn't expecting to see y'all again,but aren't surprises just the most wonderful thing?" Mrs Hampton devilishly remarked with a malicious and sly grin on her face while she slowly walked up to a now furious and resentful Ed before she suddenly punched the kid in the stomach and brought him down to his knees,while the others could only gasp and the beagles could only whimper in fear which was followed up by the hermit meekly retorting in pain as he slowly lifted himself up "That's the thing about me miss…..I'm not exactly that easy to take down."
"We've gone through plenty of life threatening situations before,y-you're just another blip on that radar,and nothing more." Peppermint Patty nodded her head and fiercely added in agreement despite herself starting to feel a little fearful as well before Mrs Hampton glanced over at Tyrone and happily greeted him "So this is the so called detective that took out one of my men earlier,I will say,you are quite the handsome fellow." which prompted the man to roll his eyes and playfully retort while he stealthy took out a small set of pellets from his pocket "Well I would say the same to you but you ain't exactly my type,I'm not really into felons and criminals."
"Aren't we all? Now I would love to continue this conversation but I just have to keep watch of this train's route to Russia,for you see it's just about to cross the country border as we speak and I just can't have y'all be stowaways on my train." Mrs Hampton chuckled and evilly replied as she turned around and started to walk away from the crowd before she coldly commanded her henchmen "Shoot them. Throw their bodies overboard." only for Tyrone to suddenly toss the pellets he took out on the floor and immediately envelope the car in a huge cloud of smoke which prompted the lady and her men to start coughing out of nowhere as the former quickly retreated to the cars up ahead while Tyrone sternly commanded "Kids get in the Jeep! I have an idea!"
"What is it?" Charlie Brown raised an eyebrow and nervously asked as he and the kids couldn't help but cough a little due to the smoke to which Tyrone nonchalantly explained his plan while the others quickly piled into the Jeep and Snoopy yet again took the driver's seat "I saw a switch house over there to the right,if y'all can get over there and switch the tracks then we'll be moving the train AWAY from the border! We can't let her leave the country! Go quickly!" which prompted Snoopy to salute and start the Jeep while Tyrone loosened the tethers.
"Wait then what are you gonna do?" Skylar raised an eyebrow and nervously asked when it started to look like Tyrone wasn't gonna be coming with them to which the man calmly retorted "I'm gonna take care of these jokers here and then go after Mrs Hampton." before the man frantically continued when he noticed that the density of the smoke was fading away "Go! The smoke is fading!" which prompted Snoopy to slam his foot on the gas pedal and take the Jeep off the train just before it entered a tunnel while the beagle made his way towards the switch house.
However it was when Tyrone saw the Jeep leave the train and he got a good look at the kids that he was very quick to realize that one of the kids wasn't present as he gasped and angrily lamented "Wait a second! Ed's not on there!" but before he could try to process what was going on,the henchmen started to fire bullets at the man after they started to be able to see again which he was able to dodge before he started taking them on with some classic hand to hand combat skills.
Rebecca was also quick to notice that Ed wasn't in the Jeep with them as well as she fearfully exclaimed while her eyes widened out of shock "Wait,Ed isn't here! He's still on the train!" to which Charlie Brown looked behind him at the now empty train tracks and meekly wondered "Should we go back then?" only for Lucy to shake her head and sternly refuse "No! We gotta head to the switch house and change up the tracks or else that lady's gonna leave the country! We'll go back when we're done!" which prompted the blonde to glance back at the train tracks as well with a clear look of concern on her face while Snoopy continued driving. The sun was now starting to slowly make it's daily decent as Tyrone continued to fight off the rest of Mrs Hampton's henchmen and make complete mincemeat of them,every time it looked like one of them was gonna get the jump on the man,they would quickly be proven wrong by either a quick punch in the face or a sweep kick that brought them down with a loud and crashing thud.
Meanwhile Mrs Hampton had since retreated to the last car on the train aside from the engine room as she frantically tried to catch her breath due to the smoke bomb from earlier only for the voice of Ed to suddenly call out from behind "I never took you as someone who would run away from a fight." to which the woman perked up and slowly turned around to see the hermit himself angrily glaring at her before she sneered and coldly retorted "You sure have some nerve to talk to me about running away,that considering you ran away from the very orphanage you grew up in. I'd say that's hypocrisy on a completely different level than normal."
"Enough talk lady,let's finish this!" Ed scoffed and bitterly suggested in response as he put up his fists and got into a fighting position before the voice of Tyrone suddenly added while he ran onto the train car and the other two redirected their attention over to him "You can't do this alone Eddy! I'd say a job like this requires two people." to which the boy smiled and happily obliged "Sure thing Tyrone,as long as I get to take this lady down,anything goes." only for Mrs Hampton to angrily stare at the man and bitterly lament "I can't believe my most trusted men couldn't even take someone like you down,but you know what they say,if you wanna do something right,you gotta do it yourself." And just before the three of them knew it,the fight had already kicked off as Ed ran towards the lady and tried to deliver a kick to the stomach,only for the woman to quickly dodge it and try to deliver a punch to the back of his head before Tyrone suddenly smacked her across the jaw a few times before she managed to grab his balled up hand and painfully twist it before she picked up the man and tossed him on top of Ed,who was just about to try and deliver another attack.
"I'm not in the mood for games." Mrs Hampton firmly scolded Ed and Tyrone for attempting to fight her before the former chuckled and playfully retorted while he and the older man stood up "Lady,you're lucky we're gentlemen,because if we weren't we'd-" only for the boy to be interrupted when the woman scoffed and coldly demanded to know "Y'all would what? Take me back to that prison? Because I'd just find another way to break out." to which Tyrone rolled his eyes and dumbfoundedly questioned "Oh do you seriously think you're gonna go back there? We got an even more tight and secure place in mind for you."
"Well it sure is a pity I'll never get to see it then,sounds like quite the lovely place." Mrs Hampton sighed and sarcastically lamented in response before she ran towards Ed and tried to land a few punches that he thankfully managed to dodge before Tyrone grabbed the lady by the leg from behind and brought her down to the ground with a loud thud,only for the woman to quickly kick him in the face and cause him to lose his balance and fall off the side of the train,only for him to manage to stay on by holding onto some of the railing.
"Tyrone!" Ed gasped and called out in a panic before Mrs Hampton suddenly pulled out a gun and aimed it at him as she laughed and evilly stated while the boy nervously closed his eyes "Now you're next." but before the woman could even pull the trigger and finally end the fight,something had suddenly ran out onto the train car at an incredible speed and snatched it right out of her hand before it proceeded to stand in front of Ed and face the lady head on.
"And just who are you supposed to be?" Mrs Hampton gritted her teeth and angrily demanded to know the identity of the mysterious stranger who had joined the fight before Ed slowly opened his eyes to see what was going on,and once he had a complete visual on who was standing in front of him,his eye widened and his jaw dropped in shock when he saw none other than Herman standing in front of him with the gun in his mouth as he gasped and happily exclaimed "Herman! You're alive!" to which the wolf turned around to face his friend and wink with a playful little smile.
"Oh my god I'm so happy to see you!" Ed laughed and ecstatically remarked as he walked over to his friend and gave him a crushing hug that the wolf quickly joined in on,all the while Mrs Hampton merely looked at the two friends with nothing but contempt for them before Tyrone managed to climb back on board the train,much to her shock as she turned around and exclaimed in bewilderment "What?! How are you still alive?!" only for the man to refuse to answer as he looked over at the wolf and the boy's reunion and questioned to himself out of slight confusion "What the hell?"
It was at this point that Ed and Herman finally managed to put their reunion on hold as the two of them looked over at the woman while the former heroically stated "You see Mrs Hampton? You think you have won,but you have achieved nothing! All you have done is just postpone your own failure." before Tyrone suddenly joined their side and confidently added in agreement "He's right,you have done nothing but set yourself up for a crippling failure. I suggest that you stop this now before it gets even worse for you." however Mrs Hampton could only squint her eyes and firmly refuse while she got into another battle stance "No." which was followed by her vastly approaching Ed, Tyrone and the sudden new arrival that was Herman with the intent to continue the fight.
Meanwhile the kids had finally made it over to the switch house thanks to Snoopy's driving skills but there was very little time for celebrating as Sally nervously pointed out when she could spot the train coming up ahead in the distance "Look! The train!" to which Peppermint Patty sternly suggested while they all piled out of the Jeep and made their way towards the switch bar "Ok troops,on the double!" however as the kids pushed on the bar as hard as they could,it was proving to be extremely heavy and barely moving at all despite how hard they pushed as Charlie Brown pointed it out in a pained tone of voice "Good grief,this thing is so heavy!"
"Well we still gotta get it moving because the train is coming!" Lucy fiercely retorted in response when she spotted the train getting closer and closer by the second before Peppermint Patty loudly shouted in an attempt to apply some motivation "PUSH EVERYONE! PUSH!" and just before the train was about to continue heading down Mrs Hampton's predetermined route,the switch bar suddenly jolted forward and finally switched the tracks over as the train violently slammed onto the new set of tracks and began heading down a completely new route,even crashing into a wooden sign on the tracks and throwing Ed, Tyrone, Mrs Hampton and Herman around in the process due to the sudden and abrupt change.
The kids were extremely relieved and ecstatic now that their plan ended up working as Charlie Brown took a deep breath and happily stated on the verge of passing out "There! Finally!" before Rebecca chuckled and enthusiastically predicted "Looks like that lady's gonna be in for a rude awakening pretty soon." to which the rest of the kids started cheering in excitement and Snoopy, Woodstock, Andy, Olaf, Gracie and Roger began dancing in an attempt to celebrate. However admits the gang's celebration that their plan ended up working,Linus suddenly came to the realization that they didn't even know where the train was going as he looked over at the empty train tracks and wondered out of curiosity "You know,I'm starting to wonder where exactly the train's going." to which the gang stopped their celebrating at the mention and began to contemplate about where they sent the train.
"Hey as long as it's away from the border,I don't think there's anything to get worked up over." Franklin shrugged his arms and nonchalantly tried to brush the idea aside which was followed up by Marcie picking up a nearby piece of the broken sign and looked over it for a few moments before she calmly warned while she handed it over to Charlie Brown "I think that new track we sent them on isn't even finished yet." to which Charlie Brown looked at the sign to see that it read "WARNING: UNFINISHED TRACK AHEAD DO NOT CROSS."
Meanwhile back on the train that was now on a completely new track and moving away from the country border,Ed and Herman were laying down on the floor of the car after being violently thrashed around by the sudden change in the tracks while Tyrone and Mrs Hampton were going at each other's throats in a mostly tied fist fight. The two of them continued to go at it before Tyrone smacked Mrs Hampton across the jaw and caused her to spin around due to the impact before she suddenly noticed many warning signs that were telling them not to proceed further passing by,and that was all she needed to know that something was wrong as she turned around to face Tyrone and angrily wondered "What did you do?" to which the man promptly explained what he had done while he helped a slowly waking Ed and Herman off the ground "Did you ever stop and wonder where the rest of the kids are? Because they just sent you on a track that is definitely not leading to the border."
"Face it lady,it's over for you. Let's just wrap it up because I'm really tired and in the mood for some food." Ed nodded his head and calmly added in a very tired and bored tone of voice only for the woman to angrily sneer at the revelation that her plan was on the verge of failure before the voice of Charlie Brown suddenly called out while he and the others joined them on the car "Ed! Tyrone! We gotta get off this train quick!" which was followed up by Sally nervously adding in agreement "Yeah because it's heading towards a broken bridge!" However before Ed or Tyrone could muster out a response or the kids could even acknowledge that Herman was on the train with them despite them all thinking he had died,Mrs Hampton suddenly grabbed Charlie Brown by the arm and tossed him down onto the ground before she pointed her gun straight at him to which the others started panicking,Freida fearfully cried out as she got down to try and help her boyfriend up "No Charlie! Don't hurt him!" and Tyrone sternly demanded at the sight "Mrs Hampton! Step away from the boy now!"
"Oh really? Why should I?" Mrs Hampton sneered and coldly wondered their reasoning for wanting Charlie Brown to be left unharmed as Peppermint Patty balled up her fist and firmly answered "Because if you lay a single finger on him,I'll make sure you don't walk again before we take you back to prison!" before Freida nervously pleaded as tears slowly started to well up in her eyes "Please,please don't hurt him,I love him!" only for the woman to look down at the two fearful children and state with a malicious smile "Oh…..so it's love then? What an idea it is,one that can be broken apart by a single bullet if I choose."
"You're wrong!" Ed suddenly gritted his teeth and angrily disagreed with Mrs Hampton's views on love before he furiously continued while everyone turned to face him "I may still have a lot to learn about what it means to be in love and have friends,but I know what it means to spend time with them and relish in the good times that come from them. It'll take a lot more than someone like you to do away with that." to which the woman looked down at the two children again to see Freida plea once more "Please." and it was at this point that something strange yet relieving started to happen,and it was that Mrs Hampton shrugged her arms and slowly proceeded to lower her gun with a smile as Tyrone gave a sigh of relief and calmly announced "Mrs Hampton,by the power invested in me,I hereby place you under arrest for escaping from prison, theft, attempted murder, attempted child and animal cruelty and obstruction of justice. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. Do you have anything you wish to say?"
"Actually I do. Do any of y'all fear death?" Mrs Hampton nodded her head and devilishly confirmed that she did before she quickly lifted her gun back up and fired a bullet straight at Charlie Brown as the boy instantly gasped and felt an immense amount of pain in his chest as the rest of the kids and animals screamed, Freida and Sally started crying uncontrollably, Tyrone felt his body freeze up at the realization that he let another kid get shot, and Ed could only stare up ahead at the sight as he remained completely silent. However it was after a few more seconds of this that Ed suddenly snapped and angrily screamed at the top of his lungs as he ran right up to Mrs Hampton,climbed on top of her and started to lay the smack down on her,which was followed up by Peppermint Patty, Lucy and Snoopy joining in as well.
"Charlie! Look at me! Look at me!" Freida frantically exclaimed in a tear filled panic as she tried endlessly to help Charlie Brown in any way she could while the boy could only grunt and groan due to the pain,and pretty soon Mrs Hampton had finally managed to knock Ed, Patty, Lucy and Snoopy off and throw them towards Freida and Charlie Brown,unaware that the scuffle had caused her to drop her gun before she turned around to face Tyrone while she furiously exclaimed "Y'all will not leave this train alive!" before she suddenly felt an immense amount of pain run down her back combined with the sound of a gunshot. The woman gasped and started to try and figure out what was going on as she slowly turned around to see that Ed was holding her pistol and that smoke was coming out of the bullethole,indicating that he had shot her as she held out her hand and tried to walk towards the kids,only for her to lose her balance and fall off the side of the train into the forest abyss below. Mrs Hampton was gone for good.
However there was very little time or room for celebration as Freida looked down at Charlie Brown and somberly whimpered while tears continued to roll down her face and Snoopy joined his owner's side "Charlie….please don't die. I can't live without you." before the boy meekly mustered out while he reached under his shirt "F-Freida…...I-I think I'm gonna be fine. It just hurts a lot." to which she and the other saddened kids raised an eyebrow in confusion before Charlie Brown pulled out what appeared to be his and Freida's locket with what appeared to be a bullet hole in the golden casing.
"Our locket! It protected you!" Freida gasped and happily exclaimed at the revelation that Charlie Brown was alright to which the rest of the kids started cheering while Freida, Snoopy and Sally hugged Charlie Brown all at once before Tyrone suddenly noticed that they were running out of track from up ahead and that they were approaching the empty bridge as he perked up and firmly suggested "Ok kids we better hurry up and get off this train! We're running out of track!" to which the others nodded their heads and proceeded to follow Tyrone to the end of the train so they could all escape via the still hooked up van.
As the kids quickly ran through the train cars and gathered up the rest of the inmates so they could be loaded up,Ed started to feel like he was lagging behind due to how exhausted and tired he was feeling,and once the gang made it back to the van and quickly piled on inside,Rebecca was quick to notice that Ed wasn't there with them as she frantically exclaimed in a panic "Wait! Ed's still not here! We have to wait for him!" only for Tyrone to shake his head and regretfully disagree while he unhooked the van from the train,got in the driver's seat and proceeded to back away from the train "I'm sorry,but if we don't get our asses out of here then we're gonna be fried down there!" to which Rebecca peeked her head out of the slide open door and fearfully called out when she saw Ed jump out of the last train car and be left hanging on the edge of the bridge after the train had completely fallen off it "Ed! Come on you can make it!"
However it was right then and there that the gang would be caught off guard when a massive explosion suddenly rose up from the forestland below and violently shook the Earth before the power of its own shockwave launched Ed off the edge of the bridge and tossed him onto the train tracks as Tyrone stopped the van and allowed an opportunity for the kids to instantly get out and see if their friend was alright,all the while a massive pillar of smoke and fire continued to pierce the air while the sun was slowly setting in the horizon.
NEXT CHAPTER: A CHOICE