A low rumbling noise made Shale bolt upwards, until she realized it was the engines snoring. She couldn't help but feel somewhat embarrassed for her overreaction and somewhat sore from the sudden movement upsetting her bruises. Since the engines were still fast asleep, she stepped off the bench and towards the door.
The ambient morning light stung her eyes and she moved her hand to shield her face. But once she adjusted, she made her way to one of the pre-cut bushes and began cutting of more branches.
She piled them alongside her before grabbing the bundles and making her way back to the cabin. Though as she reached inside, she was surprised to see Skarloey and Renneas were already awake and currently attempting to untangle themselves. She snickered to herself and both engines looked up, both flushing slightly.
"Shale, shouldn't you still be sleeping? You still need rest." Skarloey insisted.
"Nah, I'm a early riser. Good to see you are to." Shale dumped the pile of branches beside the door. "So, I guess we're heading out to the town today Renneas." She gestured to Skarloeys brother.
"Wait, me!" He pointed to himself, confused and surprised. "I mean, I apologize for my tone but why select me?"
"It's cause you and Skarloey are the most mature and the ones I trust the best to not do something dumb."
Skarloey knew what Shale meant, but he didn't exactly enjoy her wording. "To the others merit, they each have their own strengths. Our just happen to be preferable."
"I ain't denying that Scar. But it's both that and the fact that the others all respect you. So your the best voice of reason while I'm gone."
Skarloey looked back to the rest of the sleeping engines. Specifically, Edward. "But what happens if... well, you know. If Edward begins to panic again. What can I do?" His fingers began to twitch again.
"If something like that happens; then first give him some space. Wait for him to calm down, then try comfort him. If that doesn't work, then get the others to help out. Make sure to let him know he's safe, the last thing we need is him freaking out and running off into the forest."
The Eldest engine nodded and offered a firm handshake. "Thank you, Shale. I'll make sure that we'll keep Edward safe. How do you know so much about this?"
The red-head just shrugged. "Most of it's just common sense. To be honest, I've never had to deal with this.
She pulled her hand back whilst gently rubbing from the pressure. But she managed to crack a quick joke. "Heh, I'm counting on it Scarloey."
He seemed to shrink away after that comment. "O-of course, I promise Edward will be completely safe until your return."
Shale easily caught his stutter. "Scar, dude, that was a joke. But seriously, please keep him safe."
That made him relax as he followed the others to the door of the cabin. "Alright, please be safe as well Shale."
"Will do Skarloey." She saluted as she lead Renneas back towards the tree line. "C'mon, you'll watch my back."
He waved goodbye to his brother before tailing of towards her. "Thank you for believing in me, but is it alright to still be nervous?"
'Picks, I'm scared. I don't wanna get hurt.'
'Hey, that's alright Shale. I won't lie to you, but even though your gonna get hurt I know your stronger than this. I'll be there waiting, I promise.'
'Okay'
"Shale?"
"Yea, yea, it's alright to be scared. Its not good to try and repress fear, you can get over it easily." She shook her head to clear her thoughts.
"Wow, but is it really that simple."
"Give or take."
"Wow."
Renneas trailer behind her as she made her way back across the rails and towards the sheds. It was a long walk and at some points, Renneas considered picking her up and carrying her himself. She didn't seem that heavy. But he couldn't build up the courage to ask.
After what felt like an hour of walking they came across the clearing with the shed. Shale started to poke around the edge of the bushes until he realized what she was looking for. "Oh! Shale, the tunnel is over there." He gestured over to a small intent in the line of leaves.
"Huh, How did I not see that sooner?" She followed the engine to the area he pointed to, crouched, and crawled through.
"It's not your fault." He said
"Yea, still." Shale took point as she and Renneas crawled through. Even though it stung Shale to have pressure placed on the bruises layered across her legs. She just grit her teeth until the foliage opened up to the edges of the town. Shale sighed for a moment before stepping out to the sidewalk.
Mentally she began running through where they could find the thinks they needed while making her way to one of the alleys behind the stores. 'I could probably sneak some water bottles from the convince store, along with some matches. We can stop by the library. There could be something about survival or some students I could pickpocket. Gonna have to avoid the main streets. Those delivery trucks might still be open. Check those first.'
Renneas followed behind her quietly, though he was nervous about being the only one with her. He wished he had his brother or at least one of the other engines, but he could understand why she just wanted him. She didn't want to wake the other engines, or she didn't want to have to keep track of all of them as a group. He could understand that.
Shale lead them down towards towards the back of one of the corner stores and parked behind a open garage were a short line of vans filled with crates and various supplies. She could still see someone sitting by the window so she ducked behind a dumpster and pulled Renneas down with her.
"S-Shale? What are we going to do?" He asked. He peeked over the edge of the dumpster only for Shale to pull him back down.
Shale slapped a hand over his mouth before he could protest. "Sshh, keep quiet. We can't let them know we're here." She waited for a moment, but to Renneas it didn't look like she was doing anything. But Shale was listening for the click of the door opening and the sound of the van doors opening. She heard some of the men speaking, something heavily being dropped, then a door opening. Shale wanted another moment before running over to the back of the truck. That's when Shale motioned for Renneas to follow her as she ran out towards the open van.
"Shale? Shale what are you doing?" He asked in a hushed whisper. He watched as the red-head crawled into the back of the van and began stuffing items into her bag. "We aren't supposed to steal. Please, we can get fuel some other way."
She didn't turn around, but continued to fill her bag with some packaged foods and seven water bottles before she turned back and jumped out of the van, pulling Renneas along with her.
"Shale! Wait! Please just hear me out for a moment." Even though they only stopped after at least two blocks, she did stop. Shale leaned against the wall beside her.
"Alright Renneas, what's on your mind?"
"I said that we shouldn't be stealing, it's wrong. You could get in trouble for that if you were caught."
"Right." She rolled her eyes halfway before taking in a deep breath. "Look, how long do you think I've been at this for?"
"P-pardon?"
"I said, how long do you think I've had to do stuff like this to survive?" She repeated. "I'll answer that for ya, a long time. At least a year, probably more. If you want to survive then your gonna have to get used to this Renneas."
"But, couldn't you just ask them for food? I'm sure they have some to spare?"
"Yea, and guess where that probably goes." She made a patting motion to her stomach. "Clue; not here."
"Oh." Renneas looked across the streets. It was about mid-morning and people had begun walking down the streets and they were already gaining some odd stares. It made him want to duck back into the shadows again.
Shale felt the same, but it didn't show through. "C'mon, we should go. We still need more food for the others."
"Okay, is there anything I can do?" He started to fiddle again, although instead of his hands it was his collar. He still
Renneas simply nodded and followed her as she made her way to a storefront. It was small, and the only people inside were mostly adults, some with children in their arms or held hand in hand. As they walked in, the shopkeeper seemed to perk up instantly. She just ignored the stares and started walking down one of the isles with shelves filled with canned and bagged goods. Shale waited before slipping some small packages of food into her sleeves and then kept walking. Occasionally, she'd walk into view of the storekeeper and picked something random up form a shelf before placing it back down. He seemed to relax after a while and eventually went back to leaning against his palm with his elbow pressed against the countertop.
A mother and son holding some sort of toy were the closest to the entrance and the mother imminently started to push her son away from the entrance.
"Oh, hello!" Renneas kneeled down to look at the small human boy with a playful smile. "My name is Renneas, that certainly is a splend-"
He suddenly felt very uncomfortable and when he looked up, he saw the mother glaring down at him with a obviously distasteful expression. He recoiled back at her face and the mother lead her child away. Shale expected this reaction, but helped him up anyways.
He took her hand and Shale helped to pull him up. His expression looked hurt"I-I don't get it. I was being nice, why did she look at me like that?"
"That's what people do with the ones like us. If you don't look normal, then they think won't like you." She laughed to herself in a self-deprecating manner. "Not to mention I don't exactly look like a productive member of society. You could pull it of, but the grey skins a major turn of."
"But isn't it, well, not very polite to judge someone based on their appearance. I mean, you're a nice person. Even if, uhh, what I meant is that-" Renneas tried to find a good way to word his thoughts.
"Please, nobody thinks like that these days. Doubt they ever did." Shale shrugged, making her way over to one of the back shelves.
Renneas followed behind and he'd occasionally pick something else of the shelf, squint at it for a moment, then place it back where he'd found it before trailing after Shale. After half an hour of 'shopping', Shake began to turn back to the front and kept walking with various foods being stuffed into both her jacket sleeves, shoes, shirt, but not her bag. It was uncomfortable, sure. But it was worth it when one of the other workers walked up to her with a suspicious expression.
He made a 'give it over' motion to her. "Hey, hold out your bag."
Shale didn't resist and held out the ragged black school bag to him. He zipped open the sack and pulled out some of the other water bottles and some of the bags of food - which Shale just realized were some kind of chips and biscuits - but he placed then back in and handed it back to her.
"Sorry bout that, you can go now." He turned to the back and towards another customer. Renneas sighed in relief, this caused the worker to look back. Shale didn't wait for him to say anything else and yanked on Renneas sleeve and pulled both of them out. But not before he noticed a small wooden train laying on its side by the entrance.
Shale just passed it by, but he stopped to pick up the toy and turn it over in his hands. It was painted a familiar bright red that was chipped and faded in certain areas. That's when he recalled seeing the child at the front carrying this in his arms. At the same moment he heard a child voice crying out. He turned back to see that Shale had already left the store, but he couldn't just leave. He could probably find her later, for now he followed the voice of the child.
"Mommy! Mommy I lost him!"
"Be quiet, we can just get another one when we get back." He heard her scolding.
"B-but he'll be all alone. We need to find him mommy!"
"It's just a toy, you should have been more careful. Now we're going."
"B-but d-da-addy made h-h-him f-for m-me. He's s-spec-c-cia-al."
Renneas turned the corner to see the small child rubbing his sleeves against a tear streaked face. The mother looked over him, a impatient and irritated look on her face. He hesitated, but stepped forward and held out the small train to the boy.
"Umm, pardon my interruption but I believe I have your toy, little one." Renneas knelt down and held out the little engine in his palms.
Immediately, the little boy ran forward and snatched it out and cradled it close to his chest. He took a double take as if to reassure himself that it was still there. Then he looked up with puffy red eyes and a large grin forming over his face.
"T-t-thank you s-so much m-m-mister! You fo-ound him!" He then threw himself forward and wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug. Renneas was taken aback, but continued to smile warmly. Even as the mother looked on, not knowing how to react.
"Your welcome. It was my pleasure." He gently pat his back, a motion he'd seem repeated before. So he assumed it was some sort of comforting motion.
The boy was still smiling when he looked up, though he squinted and poked Renneas in the nose. "You look like my engine! See!" He held out the little train and he noticed it had a crude face painted on the smoke box. "My daddy made him for me! It's the same engine he drives!"
Renneas was suddenly struck with emotion when his mind connected the dots. The engine the boy was holding was himself. There was even a small number two painted onto the side of the cab. "Ohh, well that's very... um, very sweet of him."
The boy then ran back to his mother but pulled something out of the basket. When he ran back to him, he thrusted a small package into his chest. "Here! My Daddy always said to pay things for-war-d. These are my fav-or-ite cookies, but you can have them! Is that okay mommy?"
The mother still looked somewhat appalled, her mouth opened to argue but a kicked puppy look from her son made her expression soften. "Alright, but you know this means you don't get your cookies for this week."
"Uh-hu. But he gave me Re-rene-as back! So that's okay!" Said engine followed behind, fidgeting with his collar again. It was nice that the boy was being so kind, but this just reminded him of his loss all over again. The changes were real, as much as he didn't want it.
Eventually they made it back to the cashier - who gave him a confused glance - Renneas watched as the mother pulled out a billfold and was then handed back the box of food from the boy again. He gave one last word of thanks before stepping outside again.
"Wow, that was certainly lucky." She watched him stepping out of the store. She couldn't help but laugh slightly when he saw him jump in surprise.
"Oh, oh hello Shale." He replaced his smile and handed the box of cookies to her. "Sorry for not following you sooner, but I had to return something first."
He handed the box to her and she continued to walk as Shale stuffed it into her bag. "Never took you for being slight of hand type. I'm impressed."
"Slight of-pardon?" He asked confused, until he realized what he was applying. "Wait, no! I didn't steal this! A nice boy gave this to me after I returned his toy!"
Shale raised an eyebrow at this as she continued to walk. "Seriously? He just gave it to you? Doubt that."
"Well, his mother did have to pay for it, but I promise you I didn't steal this!" He repeated.
Shale paused for a moment. "Alright, I can tell your being honest. Still, that's pretty lucky for ya."
"How so?"
"Like I said, people don't like what's different from them."
"May I ask why? Not everyone can be like that."
Shale just sighed. "Look, this is probably still a lot to take in, but this is just how the world works for people like us. They don't care for us, so we care for ourselves. I wish it wasn't like this, but it is. Rich or poor, most of em' just care for themselves. We just have to live with what's left."
"Oh" He didn't say much after that. It probably struck a nerve, given that Topham probably never really cared for his engines. And wasn't that a fitting metaphor.
'This is how the world works, not like it's ever gonna change.'
