Thomas the Tank Engine: Suspicious Cargo
Late night freight aren't particularly popular among the engines of Sodor, though there are those who don't mind and there are those who'd take those trains enthusiastically. Thomas just so happened to be one of those engines. One cold October night, Thomas and Percy had been told by Sir Topham Hatt to take a goods train from Knapford to Barrow. So, after filling up on coal and water, the two made their way to the shunting yards.
"I wonder where that train is?" Thomas wondered as he looked around.
"I think I have a good idea." Percy pointed out as he glanced over to a siding.
The two looked and saw train of six flatbeds with tarps over them as well as six tankers in between said flatbeds. At the very front of the train was a flatbed with a tall crate secured onto it.
"Looks like this is our train." Thomas said as they puffed up to it.
"What are we delivering exactly?" Percy asked.
"I... don't know." Thomas hesitantly answered. "Sir Topham Hatt said he doesn't know himself. Whatever it is, it must be confidential."
"Confi-what?" Percy said.
"Confidential; it means it's a secret." The number 1 told him. "So how are we doing this?"
"Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who pulls and who pushes?" The number 6 suggested.
"Sure!" Thomas agreed.
Both their drivers stuck their heads out the window and drew. Thomas' driver, Bob, drew scissors while Percy's, Tyler, drew paper. Bob smirked and snipped his fingers before they retracted back into their cabs.
"Come on, let's get a move on." Thomas said as they got into position.
Thomas coupled to the front and Percy, the back. The respective firemen, Greg and Wilbur, coupled them up before joining their partners back in the cabs. With that done, the two gave a blow of their whistles before they set off into the night, unaware of their train's contents.
A quarter way on their journey, they had to stop at a signal to for for Gordon to pass by with the express. To pass the time, Bob pulled out his phone to play some music. In the middle of their jam session, Percy almost jumped. He could've sworn one of the tarps was twitching.
"Did anyone else see that?" He squeaked.
"See what?" Thomas asked.
"I think one of the tarps just moved." He said.
Wilbur and Tyler peeked out of the bed and looked at one of the flatbeds. It was completely stationary.
"I think might just be seeing things." Tyler chuckled, patting Percy's tank.
Still, the thought never left Percy. Soon, Gordon thundered by, blasting his whistle as he did. The signal changed to green and the two were back on their way. Just as they did, they noticed that the clouds were starting to obscure the stars and moon. Thunder boomed faintly in the distance and lightning flashed across the sky.
"Oof, looks like the weather report was right." Thomas commented. "We better speed up."
Figuring that going a bit faster wouldn't hurt, both drivers opened the regulators a bit more. However, the more they sped up, the train swayed and shook along the line. The resulting movement caused the one of the tankers to spill some of its contents. When Percy saw the spilled liquid, he could've sworn it was glowing green. Percy gulped and tried his best to ignore it. Just when they thought it couldn't get any weirder, a low groan was heard from underneath the tarps.
"Uh, Thomas?" Percy stammered. "Did you heard that?"
"Okay, I definitely that." Thomas replied nervously.
Suddenly, there was a loud clap of thunder as lightning crackled. It wouldn't be long until the rain started to pour. So, not wanting to spend any more time with this train, the little engines picked up the pace to get to Barrow.
A few more hours into their trip, they finally made it to Barrow Station. The two were relieved and stopped as a platform, barely able to wait to get home. By now, the rain had started to pour.
"Finally, we're here." Thomas sighed in relief.
Suddenly, a man in a white lab coat ran up to the followed by two buff men, presumably his bodyguards or something.
"Finally, you two arrived." He said.
"Yes, sir. Is this cargo yours?" Percy asked as he and Thomas were uncoupled from the train
"Why yes, it is." The man replied before he looked up at the sky. "There's no time to get back to the lab, we'll just have to do it here."
"Lab? Do what here?" Thomas asked, getting increasingly nervous.
The bodyguards removed the tarps from the flat bed and their eyes went wide at what they saw. There, on the flatbeds, laid bodies cobbled together from various corpses which were hooked up via hoses to the tankers that pumped them full of the green glowing liquid. On the tankers, they were able to properly read the text on them: 'Property of Carl Frankenstein'.
"Y-you d-don't mean-" Thomas gulped.
"Yes, I am." The scientist replied, almost insanely. "As the great grandson of Victor Frankenstein, I was able to improve his process. I just need a little 'jump start', so to speak."
Suddenly, a large antenna burst from the crate and reached high into the sky. Several seconds later, later struck the antenna, sending a surge of electricity coursing through the patchwork creation. They twitched violently before they sprung to life, roaring as they did. Thomas and Percy were in horrified awe as they watched the scene unfold and as the scientist laughed at his success. Then, there was trouble. One of the monsters broke free from its restraints and ripped the hoses off its body. It then cut the Carl's laughter short by grabbing him and throwing him against a pillar, killing him instantly. Thomas, Percy and their crews screamed and booked it out of there as they rest of the monsters broke free.
"I never wanna take another late night goods train!" Thomas cried.
"Neither do I!" Percy agreed.