The sun was setting on a small cave in the wilderness. The pair of passengers, who were setting up camp, had been taking it slow for the past several hours. They hadn't done much travelling since the previous day's incident.
Steve was fishing things out of his bag. He pulled out a spare jacket that could be used as a blanket, then he looked through some of Alfie's loot.
There was some canned food, the baseball bat, the tube of white beads that Robin had grabbed, and the maps.
He pulled out the tube and the map that said, "Number Car." It had illustrations of robots with wire torsos and white metal heads and legs. There were sketches of a giant metal needle-like contraption that folded out from the ceiling. Next to it was labelled "Number Giver."
Maybe we should go there and the people who gave us our numbers could un-give us our numbers. Steve thought. He flipped the page over.
The other side had a drawing of the white beads laid out in a circle with a film reel coming out of the center. It was next to a big bubble letter "CAUTION!" and a handwritten disclaimer.
"'Don't use alone. You may get stuck in your memories and won't be able to remove device to wake up.'" Steve read aloud. "Well, that's just great." He added.
Steve popped the cap off the tube. With one eye closed, he peered into it.
The small little beads weren't beads at all. They were tiny robots with legs. They started crawling out of the tube.
"Agh!" Steve said. "No. No way I'm putting those near my brain." He shook his head.
Robin took the tube from him and let them crawl on her hand. "Fine. I'll do it." She lifted them up to the top of her head where they hopped off and formed a circle. She could hardly believe herself, but what needed to be done needed to be done, no matter how gross.
"You OWE m—." Her eyes turned to white and film roll started to extrude out from the circle.
Steve grabbed and looked closely at it. Why does everything on this train have to be so nauseating, he thought.
He watched until the film reached the memory of the field. The car they woke up in.
Silently gagging, he pulled the small robots off her head.
Her eyes shot back to life. "—me big time!" She finished her sentence. "Ew." She looked down at the film on the ground.
"I don't understand." Steve was still looking at the reel. "That's it?"
"Let me see." Robin took the reel. She looked it over closely.
It was of the night prior to boarding the train:
It was getting close to 11:00 PM at the video store. It was dark out and the last customer was leaving for the night. Steve was packing up his things while Robin stayed behind the counter.
"Are you absolutely sure everything's all right?" Asked Robin. "Maybe I'm just crazy but I feel like you've been acting weird like all day."
"Just— ." Steve zipped his bag closed. "—Not looking forward to going up to my parents cottage this weekend."
"You could probably say no." Robin shrugged.
"Wish I could." He nodded his head and threw the bag onto his back. "Thanks for letting me take off early." He held open the door. "I owe you one."
Robin waved as he walked out the door. But dropped her smile when a familiar customer approached.
"Hey, you know we're like ten minutes from closing?" Steve stood in her path.
"It's okay. Let her in." Robin said from behind the counter.
Steve and Robin locked eyes. He shook his head at her in silent protest before Robin, annoyed at this point, finally mouthed "Go!"
Steve begrudgingly let the woman through. He lingered for a moment.
"Heeeey, Robin. I need that book. 'Ghost Land.' The one with the ghosts." The woman said.
Steve started to walk out the door. He was on a tight schedule and didn't want to be driving all night.
"You mean Island of the Phantasm?" Robin replied, blinking slowly.
Steve stopped himself. He recognized the name of the book. It was one he had seen many times. Actually, he had seen many of her books but this one was re-read constantly. Robin basically never left home without it.
"Yeah that. I have a book report due pretty soon and I would have taken it from your house but your mom said you'd have it." The woman continued. She held out her hand waiting for Robin to give it to her.
"Um yeah. It's whatever." Robin said. She had a twinge of sadness in her voice as she pulled the book from her bag and released it into her hands.
Steve grimaced.
"Oh. You're still here?" She said, walking past Steve and out the door.
"Bye. Amanda." He stared her down.
"Steve." She sneered back at him.
"Shit, Robin. Isn't that like your prized possession?" Asked Steve.
"A signed copy. Limited edition." She gulped. "And I just watched it walk right out that door.." Robin muttered in defeat. She was worried that would be the last she ever saw of it, or the last she'd see of it in one piece.
Robin looked over to see that Steve had this look in his eyes. Don't, she thought, but she could tell the idea had already crossed his mind.
"Hey!" Steve shouted after Amanda. He started to jog to catch up to her.
"Steve!" Robin shouted after. "This is so not cool!"
Robin raced out from the counter and flipped the video store sign to "closed". She dug into her pockets and pulled out the keys. Her hands struggled with them, almost dropping them a few times, before finally fitting the right one in the keyhole. She twisted it and sprinted after Steve.
Amanda was having none of it. Pretending to not hear the racket behind her, she disappeared into a convenience store.
After she passed through the door, it changed.
A booming sound erupted in the sky and lights flashed. It sounded like the whistle of... a train?
Steve's eyes widened. He skidded, almost running right through the new entryway. The sudden stop sent Robin colliding into him. They toppled through the opening in a flash of green light.
"Shit. Leave it to Amanda to get us in this mess." Steve said.
"What do you mean?" She questioned. Robin was uncomfortable. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to hear Steve's answer.
"Maybe she's here and you're supposed to have it out with her or something. Maybe both of us. I'd sure like to." He shook his head. "What an asshole."
Robin opened her mouth but for the first time in a long time, found herself short on words. There was an uncertainty in the air. Was it her fault they were on the train and Steve was stuck here by proximity?
"She's not— It's nothing." She tried to shake away the thought. Robin looked away and fidgeted with the sleeve of her jacket. "At least you got to miss that awful family trip you didn't want to go to." Robin said with a smile.
"Yeah…" Steve trailed off. He kicked some rocks on the ground and wondered if this was somehow his fault. Maybe he should have left well enough alone. After all, they were on the train because of him, right?
They stayed silent for a moment, neither of them knowing what to do.
"Now we know you owe me two times." Robin shot a quick smile, but quickly dropped it when she saw Steve's frown.
"I'm gonna sleep on it." Robin ended the conversation.
"Good idea." Steve quickly agreed.
They finished setting up camp and laid on the various piles of clothes Steve had packed for his trip.
They didn't dare face each other, avoiding more potentially stressful conversation. Even if it was their ticket out of here, now didn't feel right. Maybe they could sort it out on their own. Somehow.
Robin looked at her hand to see her number moved up by 5.
Robin woke up to the sound of Steve rummaging through his bag.
"Guess we should keep moving." Steve looked over at her. He had pulled out the baseball bat.
She rubbed her face, hoping to feel more alive. "I'm glad we left the gun from hell behind but out of all the other weapons— you may as well have grabbed one from the stone age."
"These are reliable!" Steve made a slow swinging motion with the bat. "I should stick nails in this one, too."
"Please don't impale me!" A shrill voice shouted.
A pair of eyes shot open on the baseball bat causing an alarmed Steve to drop it.
"Ow." The baseball bat hit the ground. It rolled its face to see them. "I appreciate the rescue, but please don't use me as a weapon. I'm a pacifist."
Was there anything not weird or alarming about this train? Steve thought. The longer he spent here, the whackier it seemed. And he had been to another dimension before.
Robin grew excited again. She had been to another dimension before, and while this train was sometimes appalling, there was something whacky and wonderful about it at the same time. Who was the mind behind this? How did they come up with seemingly infinite ideas? The new environments and denizens never ceased to amaze her, especially ones that should be inanimate.
"If you could drop me off anywhere that would be great." The baseball said as Steve picked it up again to get a closer look.
Upon hearing the words, Steve set it back down.
"Not here." The baseball bat protested.
"Sorry." Steve picked it back up, hesitantly.
"Here?" Steve asked, pointing to a giant rock.
"How about here?" Robin added. She pointed at a patch of grass.
The bat repeatedly said no to their suggestions.
"Guess we'll drop you off in the next car, then." Steve rolled his eyes. He was getting fed up with the way some of the denizens acted. It's like they were trying to get on his nerves on purpose.
"I'm not picky." The bat replied.
"So how many days do you think it's been?" Robin tried to make light conversation with Steve. She knew she could only avoid the elephant in the room for so long.
"I don't want to think about it." Steve walked ahead of her, feeling a little guilty for snapping, but not enough to slow down. He glanced at his palm only to see that his number had gone up. He shoved it back in his pocket.
The trio entered the next car where it was aglow with bright neon lights. There was a giant Ferris wheel, coasters, and teas cups riding a spinning tea cup ride. The clouds were made of what looked like cotton candy.
"In there! In there!" The bat shouted. It had pointed its body toward a building that read "House of Mirrors".
Steve was pulled by the bat toward it. This is probably the worst place for a bat to be. He thought.
They entered the building and were greeted by a chrome figure inside a mirror.
"Welcome to the house of mirrors!" She shouted.
They looked behind them, thinking they'd see the owner of the reflection, but there was no one.
"To get to the door you'll have to find your way through the maze." She continued and jumped over to another mirror. "Past the mirrors of past, present, and future!" She ran across the mirrors and laughed. "Don't get lost!" Her voice carried back to them.
Robin led the way. Her reflection walked along beside her but it was younger. Steve followed, the same happening to him.
There were many possible directions in the house of mirrors. Each entry looked seemingly the same .
"There!" Robin pointed. It was to the only place her reflection looked a little bit older.
As they walked past the other options, the younger reflections laughed at them. Their eyes turned red and their faces melted into a devious smile. They kept gesturing at the two to follow them.
Steve armed his bat just waiting to strike in case any of them tried anything.
"No thank you." The bat said.
"Shut up." Steve replied. He was trying to concentrate.
Robin continued to lead them. She followed what was now her present self into a large room of three mirrors. She stopped suddenly and Steve bumped into her.
Robin's reflection waved and ran further into the mirror until she was out of sight.
The mirrors were left blank.
"What gives?" Steve asked. He looked up to see the giant blank slate.
Robin approached and touched the surface. It rippled. Suddenly, a large image was broadcast across all of the mirrors in the room. It started as herself carrying a stack of textbooks down a crowded hallway. She walked into a small room with a two beds and a desk.
"So this is the future?" Steve asked.
"College." Robin slid her hand across the mirror.
Her reflection then morphed into wearing a black uniform and holding a tray. Her foot slipped on a small puddle on the floor. The glasses from the tray fell and spilled all over the place.
"Remind me not to work in food service again." She said.
Her reflection switched to her stamping books at a library. Then it changed to a pile of bones on the ground.
"Is that me? You know what— I don't even want to know about that one." Robin turned around.
"Maybe rabies got you." Steve joked.
"That's NOT funny!" She shouted. "Your turn, dingus" Robin pushed him towards the mirror.
Steve slowly reached his hand out and lightly tapped the surface.
Nothing happened.
He then placed his whole hand on it, then both hands.
Still nothing.
"Umm hey, lady? I think your mirrors are broken." Steve shouted up into the room. He hoped the denizen would hear.
"Not broken." She appeared on a mirror behind them. "It shows potential futures."
He turned around to face her. "Then why's mine nothing? Even Robin got a death option—."
"A potential death option." She corrected him.
"You only get out what you put in." The denizen shrugged.
"I hate riddles." He rolled his eyes. He'd be lying if it didn't worry him but all he could think about was getting back home.
The door appeared in front of them.
"I changed my mind." The bat chimed in. "I don't like it here."
That makes two of us. Steve thought.
As they moved across the bridge, Robin wondered about the blank mirrors. And with the resurfaced memories and recent events she was too afraid to dig deeper and pry. She could tell he was frustrated, and for whatever reason — she wasn't sure exactly why — but she was a little frustrated with him, too.