Stupidity Vs Determination

Long before the Freedom Railroad or the Little Haulers arrived on the island, the only way to get goods delivered was by the McKenna Truck Company, and back then, with complete control, they could get away with whatever they wanted. Once the railroads arrived though, they had been getting into trouble, and on more than one occassion, their trucks would get smashed up by the engines.

"You stupid morons," grumbled the manager of the company, "we're losing money than ever before, and we're losing too many trucks."

"It's not our fault sir, it's those stupid good for nothing engines. They keep getting in our way, and hitting us."

"Then hit them back you idiots!" The manager slammed his fist on the desk. "I don't care how you do it, but take them out! I want money you see, and I can't get it if you dummies keep screwing up! Now get out there, and get the job done! Oh and get our trucks out of the police impound, we need them!"

The employees walked out of the office, many shaking their heads, "no way I'm going to break in to get one of those idiots out. They can sit in there, we'll find other ways of dealing with the stupid railroads."

One employee though was determined to fulfil his boss' requests, "I'll do as he asks, and then some."

Meanwhile, back on the Little Haulers, Rayne was pulling her first solo freight train to Rosie's Hallow. She was nervous at first, but her crew promised to help her out if she needed them, as long as she promised not to have another panic attack.

As she puffed along, she saw a McKenna truck driving past her, completly empty, "they look...man, er I mean sad, or is it mad?"

"It could be both," said her engineer; Brandon Peters, "they could be sad for not getting enough business, and of course mad at us. After all, Alison did smash up one of it's buddies a little while ago."

"Don't show any remorse for those fools," added Heather Potts, her fireman, "they're just like bullies, and like them, the Truck Company will be dealt with once and for all once the police get through with them."

"How will they do it?"

"Well Rayne, my husband is a police officer, and from what he's told me, they're looking into their operating history and how they act in towns. With luck, they could shut them down for good."

"No more truck company to deal with? Heather, that would be wonderful," said Brandon.

"Well it depends on what they find. The least damaging thing they can do is to give them fines for the damage they've done."

"Let's hope it's the first one, not the second."

Meanwhile, Mak was bringing more supplies to the end of the line at Betsy. She whistled to the people, except the ones at the Cocoanut Palace. As she passed them, there suddenly there came a loud bang, followed by loud thuds. Before her crew could do anything, she felt herself going sideways as her front and back wheels left the rails.

Kyle quickly applied the brakes, which brought the train to a stop.

"What happened?" she asked in surprise.

Before Kyle could look back, Tom jumped out of the cab and ran down the road, waving his fist, "you stupid idiots! You're going to pay for this, you son of a..."

"Tom!" called Kyle. He ran up beside the fireman, "what happened?"

"What do you think happened? We got attacked by one of the McKenna Trucks. They smashed into our train, derailing it."

"Tom, calm down. Let's call for help, and we'll tell Mr Harrison later about it."

Tom sighed and ran off to call for help. He was right though as the one employee from the truck company had driven his truck into the middle part of the train on purpose.

"Did the stupid engine derail?" the truck asked with a smirk.

"They're off the rails, but not on their side," groaned the Driver as he looked back to the mess. "Darn it all. I'm going to need to hit it harder than this. What I need is a more powerful truck."

"Well you got me, so I'll have to do."

But then a thought came to the Driver's head. One of the trucks in the police impound lot was one of the most modern and most powerful trucks in the fleet. If he was going to get anywhere, he was going have to take that truck.

The police however had made it clear, any of the trucks from the company that was in their impound was to stay there while an investigation was going on. However, that was just a minor setback for the employee.

When he got back to his place that night, he began making a plan.

The night guard that night never saw what hit him. One minute he was patrolling outside the gate to the impound, the next he was hit on the head and knocked out cold. The employee stole the keys, and being quiet, went into the impound. He looked around and soon found what he was looking for; the truck from Andrea's incident in the winter.

"What are you doing here?" the truck whispered.

"Got a little job for you big guy. We're going to severly damage the Little Haulers, forcing them to go out of business. So what do you say, care for a little payback?"

"I'd rather take on those Freedom jerks, but it'll be a nice start, so yes I'm in."

With that, the employee went to work getting the truck ready and after detacting the smashed up trailer, the engine was started up. This alerted a few police officers. They waved their weapons at the truck, but the employee didn't stop. Instead, he revved the engine and stomping on the gas, drove the truck away and onto the roads.

"So, who are we going after first?" the truck asked with a smirk.

"The newest one of the bunch."

Rayne was out early the next morning pushing, gondolas full of railroad supplies. She was a little sleepy, but was glad to help with the last bits of work for the Betsy section of the line.

"Almost done," she yawned to herself, "then it'll be ending."

"Complete, old girl," corrected Heather, "that would be complete." Rayne felt a little embarrassed, "don't worry, you'll get the hang of the english language in no time. At least you're a fast learner, can you imagine if you weren't?"

"I wouldn't be able to do my jobs properly."

"Excatly old..." but Heather was cut off as she saw headlights in the distance, and by the looks of it, were heading straight for the train. She grabbed the whistle chain and blew the whistle, "hopefully they hear us and clear the path."

But they didn't. The headlights as it turned out belonged to the stolen truck from the Impound lot, "alright Thumper, let's give them a piece of our minds."

"Like you need to ask."

On his front end was a home-made metal cage meant to allow him to bump into anything that got in his way. He charged at the train and as he did, the front gondola had it's front wheels come off the tracks.

"Help!" it cried, "we're being attacked!"

Rayne stopped and looked on towards the truck. Brandon leaned out the cab, "if you know what's good for you, you'll turn back and leave this town alone. If you don't, we'll bump you off the rails! Just like we did with your pal yesterday!" called the Employee.

"They're the ones that attacked Mak," snarled Brandon.

"The Driver yes, the truck no. I remember seeing that truck back in the winter. It had been involved in that incident Andrea was in," said Heather.

"Then why is it here?"

"I bet the Driver stole it from the police impound lot. Now that's showing guts, or sheer stupidity, or maybe both."

The truck, now known as Thumper, snarled, "they're taking a long time to decide to get out of the way. Maybe we should give them a demostration of what we can do."

"You read my mind Thumper," snickered the Driver. Putting the truck into gear, they drove back a bit, then charged at the train. This time, it derailed the gondola and the one behind it. The coupling between the second and third Gondola broke, preventing the rest of the train from derailing. The Driver laughed in a wicked way, "we own this town now!"

His words reached Rayne, and in her mind, she remembered something. An incident from her days in Japan, which involved trucks there and a gang backing them up. She gritted her teeth, "no, not this time. Let's back up and give them a lesson."

"What? Attack them? But Rayne..."

"Just do it, it's the only way they'll learn."

Brandon said no more and backed the train up. The truck and Driver smirked, until they saw the train stop. Rayne shouted at the top of her lungs, "I won't let you take my home, not again! Now Brandon!" Her engineer opened the regulator and they charged. They hit Thumper hard, pushing him back a bit.

"Oh, so this engine wants to play huh? Alright then, let's play," snarled Thumper.

As the duel of train vs truck began, residants who had been woken up, came out to see what was going on. Even the owner of the Cocoanut Palace came out to see the duel.

"Oh no, I better phone the railroad manager and the police," he said out loud. And that's what he did.

At one point, the truck's wheels were slipping on the tarmac while Rayne's wheels spun on the rails. The truck called out, "find yourself a scrap yard you useless heap. The trucks rule here, and that's the way it will stay!"

Rayne's own anger rose as she remembered similar words from Japan, "not this time!"

Unknown to her crew, she put in more effort and pushed with all her might. She pushed and she pushed Thumper until he reached a series of concrete barriers. They were stuck in their position, so when Thumper hit them, he found himself being squished by the train and the barriers.

"Whoa stop! You'll break me!"

But Rayne didn't stop, she just kept pushing and nothing her crew could do could stop her. Thumper creaked and groaned, making the Driver fear for his life, "maybe this wasn't a good idea."

Before Rayne could destory the truck with one more push, another whistle was heard as Mak came running into town with Mr Harrison on board. Right behind them was the police from Big Jim's Town, Gilbert's Lane and even Betsy.

"Rayne stop!" called Mr Harrison. "I won't have you do this, not to them! They don't deserve it!"

"They won't stop, they need to be stopped! They'll kill someone Sir, just like before."

"Rayne, I don't know about murder from them, but I know that's what you'll do if you don't stop! Now please stop, you're better than this!"

At last, Rayne slowed and her crew were able to back her away from the truck. The police could now surrond Thumper and his Driver, "so you're the idiot that stole this truck huh? Well guess what buddy, you're under arrest for destruction to public property, assult and for stealing. You're going to be going away for a long time."

As the driver was hauled away and Bryce was called to take Thumper back to the yards, Mr Harrison spoke with Rayne more commonly.

"Rayne, I can't pretend to understand what you went through in Japan, but I have to say, I'm not too happy you would go so far. Defend yourself yes, but to almost kill someone. That's going too far."

"Sorry Sir," she groaned. "Maybe I'm not ready to work for now."

Mr Harrison sighed, "perhaps not. I want you to go back to the warehouse and stay there for now. When you're ready, we'll bring you back out, and maybe then, you can tell us of what happened in Japan."

"Hai Sir."

After being uncoupled, she puffed off light engine back to the warehouse, leaving Mak to help clear up the mess.

Happily, there was good news that came out of this incident. The truck company's manager was found guilty for encouraging his employees to perform acts of sabotage and was arrested for aiding them. Other employees were arrested too, and many of the trucks were impounded having been found with paperwork showing illegal deliveries or doing dangerous acts. The fate of the company was now in the air.

As for Rayne, she watched as the other engines worked their hardest. She wanted to work, but knew she couldn't, even if Mr Harrison wanted her back out. What did happen to her in Japan to cause the almost fatal outcome for the truck and driver? Well I'm afraid for you and me, that will have to wait for another time.

The End?

Yep, I left you all with a cliffhanger in the Railroad Stories. We'll return to Rayne and the Little Haulers at some point, but first there are other engines that need introductions in future volumes. Who will be next? Well you should know me by now that I won't reveal anything till the book's actual introduction. I will say though that the next engine will make Rebecca happy. See if your guesses are correct when Book 10 gets out, and remember, keep your locomotive suggestions coming as it really helps me with future installments. Till next time my friends, stay safe, keep the social distancing and keep the smiles on your faces. We will get through these difficult times.