Chapter 4, The Train and the Kinetics
They merged in with several others who were all heading out of the city. Skye stayed close to Selena as the animals pressed in around him.
They left the city with the flood of other animals. The huge group broke up and took their different ways. Skye looked behind him, and saw the city with its tall blue buildings.
"Smoggy today," Selena noticed as they trekked along together, away from the city.
Skye looked up at the sky and horizon. "Yeah. It almost looks dusty." As he said this, they saw something ahead. "What's that?" Selena asked.
Skye did not answer. They quickened their pace, and then stopped, seeing where all the dust was coming from.
A lot of different animals stood in patches of bushes, digging hard. Piles of carrots lay behind them.
"Animals at work," Selena meowed. "My mom will be one of them. Come on, let's move."
They walked on, passing different patches of the workers. A few of them glanced at the travelers but soon ignored them.
Selena bent down and snuck a carrot from one of the piles. She stuffed it inter her mouth.
"HEY! You stupid cat!" Snarled one worker, a leopard. He sprang out of the bushes and leaped at her. "I've been working hard all day, and I don't' need you to inconvenience me!" As he charged at them, the two turned and ran away. The leopard was to tired to chase them very far.
Selena giggled. "It's kind of fun, annoying them. Let's go."
The patches of bushes that contained workers went on for ages. It was late afternoon by the time they had gotten away from all of them.
"Well," Selena said. She looked ahead. Some animals seemed to be gathering around something. They hurried foreword to see what was happening.
Skye gasped when he saw it. There was a bunch of large wooden slats attached to wheels, all strung together. A team of four greyhounds were laced up to the front slat, and they stood panting.
"Oh…my…gosh." Selena whispered, almost mute with shock. "My father told me about these. They're called trains. It's a way to get fast transportation. What say we take one?"
"Sure!" Seeing the train load up, Skye couldn't' help but feel a rush of excitement. And the greyhounds looked so strong, standing there with muscles etched thickly into their legs.
Selena squared her shoulders and joined stalked up to what looked like a manager. "Excuse me?" She asked, "Can we have a ride on the train?"
"Fifteen Fullcarrots for a pole-to-pole trip." The manager said.
Selena looked at Skye nervously. "Um…well…we don't have any money…" Selena muttered.
"Better go get some, then," Said the manager.
"Well, when is this train leaving?" Selena asked.
"In a few minutes, but the next one is coming in three hours, you could take that."
"Ok, thanks," Selena said. She turned around and led Skye away.
"What are we going to do?" Skye asked her.
"We're going to pretend we were employed for the carrot-digging thing, and dig up carrots for money. Come on."
They raced back to the workers.
"Excuse me?" Selena asked one of them. "How much pay do you get for this?"
The worker panted and looked at her. "One Halfcarrot to a carrot dug."
"Thank you," Selena meowed and walked away.
"Alright," She said to Skye, "I did the math. We need to get thirty carrots in all. Start digging."
Skye padded to the nearest patch up bushes and fit in between some workers. One ignored him, but the other gave him a toothy smile.
Skye scratched nervously at the ground. It was hard as rock. He dug harder, and slowly made a hole in the ground. But he chewed up his pads in the process, and that hurt, a lot.
He managed to dig out four dusty carrots in one hour. He looked over at Selena. She was resting, gasping for breath in the dust. She had got seven carrots.
Skye kept going, scraping and digging and pulling out carrots. After another hour he had made ten carrots, and Selena had made fifteen.
Another half an hour. He had made twenty carrots, and Selena twenty five. He padded over to her, dragging them with him.
Selena added them together. "YES!" She yelled, "Forty five! Come on; let's give them up to a manager for money."
They wandered around the work-field, looking for someone who wasn't digging. Finally they found a snoozing lion.
"Sir?" Selena woke him.
"Hmm?" He grumbled. He looked at the carrots, then counted them, yawning all the while.
"Forty five Halfcarrots," he muttered, handing them some dirty carrots with a shield and sword branded into them. "All yours."
Selena bounded off with Skye after her. He winced as his raw pads hit the asphalt.
"We just have seven minutes until the train leaves, so let's go! Come on!" They bounded together, holding their money.
The next train had arrived. Skye could see it was packed.
"Here you are, sir." Selena dumped thirty Halfcarrots at the manager, and he moved aside to let them on.
There was almost no room on the wooden slat-traincars. Skye swallowed as he saw how stuffed everyone was. And, as some animals gave their money, they clambered desperately onto the train and clung to an edge.
"Ah well," Selena said and shrugged, "It'll do."
She came foreword and searched for an empty traincar. There was of course, none, but the one that had the least animals was the one right in the middle, for an odd reason. Selena braced herself then sprung onto the edge. She twisted and rolled, then yanked herself to her feet. She sat just on the edge.
Skye copied her, swallowing with nervousness. His claws hit the edge of the slat, and as he pulled himself on, a great wave of animals forced him back. He struggled to get up, and someone grabbed his scruff and heaved him on.
Skye gripped the edge with his claws. There were so many animals here, he felt like he would drown. And still more were coming, steadily too, handing their money to a manager then attempting to get onto the train.
"Why so many animals?" Skye asked Selena in a whisper.
She looked back at him, then made her voice very low. "It's a cheap way to get away from a place pretty fast. Most of these animals have performed a crime of some sort, and are escaping arrest."
"But how come the manager lets them on the train, then?" Skye asked as a party of five monkeys sprang onto their traincar.
"Well, they know that, but they kind of designed the train knowing about that. So, the train is for the bad guys."
Skye looked around at all the animals. And yes, something kind of sinister was creeping from them…
"And then the guys who didn't perform a crime, that are rich, they take an airplane. They're these big wooden things that fly." Selena said.
"Luckies," Skye growled.
There was a shrill yell. Skye looked ahead to see the greyhounds bunching their muscles. Then they sprang against the reigns. Nothing happened. Not a jerk to the train.
It's too heavy! Skye thought, feeling panic. All the animals were yelling and stomping.
The greyhounds sprung again. Nothing. Again. Nothing. Again. Yes! A jerk! As soon as the jerk happened, the greyhounds set their paws to the ground and started pulling hard, yanking the train along. Slowly, slowly it got started, swaying lazily from side to side. As it moved, animals rushed foreword and started leaping on. They were pushed back by the crowd, and they screamed in rage. Skye didn't want to look at them.
The train was packed. It picked up speed slowly, and stayed at a pace of about 45 MPH. Skye watched the asphalt below them flit past. He felt uncomfortable, sitting stuffed up beside these animals that had performed some kind of crime. When he looked over at the raven sitting next to him, he saw it fiddling with its wing, and whenever he lifted it Skye could see a small hole and some blood in it.
The train trundled on with the darkening day. As night came, the manager fought his way down the traincars, yelling out an announcement. "Entering town Tizzler! If you need to get off here, there will be a brief stop! Entering Tizzler!"
Selena turned around to face Skye. "That's cool! We get to go through a city. I mean, let's see if I can remember my geography...Oh yeah! Tizzler's pretty small, and after that is Oldstown, that's pretty small too...then Silversides...HUGE...Riverside...big...Burleyville...Harpton...yeah..."
The train was slowing down. Skye fidgeted nervously. Some animals rustled. The train came to a complete stop.
Instantly, a lot of animals surged off, overthrowing others in their haste. Skye ducked down as they got off. Soon, there was a lot more room. Selena hurried into the middle of the traincar. Now only a few people remained on the train at all.
"Most of them just get off at the closest stop, because they know they're far enough away from the police." Selena muttered to him in low tones.
Skye looked around at the few who remained. "And these animals are...?"
"They probably committed an even bigger crime, and want to get as far from the city they committed the crime in as they can." Skye stared at her in anxiousness, but he did feel safer with the lack of animals, so he curled up and the rock of the train lulled him to sleep.
XXX
Skye woke early, and saw the bright blue sky above him, the the sun burning inside it. He shot to his feet. The traincar only had Selena and one other on it. She was sleeping some yards away.
She raised her head and blinked. "Oh look!" She pointed ahead, "We're entering Silversides!" She shivered with excitement. "It's soooo big..."
And it was. As the train trundled through it, the buildings never seemed to end. There was a lot of commotion too, and the animals looked up as the train passed, then hurried back to whatever they were doing. Skye stood on the traincar to watch them. When the trains stopped, almost everyone else got off. The train waited, and then a little later a lot more animals got on. Soon it was packed again.
For the rest of the following days Skye slept and snoozed. He felt safer on the train then he had earlier. Occasionally he awaken, and see the ones who had gotten on or off the train. One time he saw a whole family: a mother warthog, a father hawk, and six different offspring. They got off as soon as they could.
Skye had been sleeping soundly when he awoke to find the train completely stopped. He looked around, expecting a city, but saw no buildings. Slowly he got to feet and tried to see what was happening.
Ahead, right in front of the halted greyhounds, was a huge river, a mile wide and going on in either direction forever.
"Wow..." Selena whispered beside him, "The equator!"
The greyhounds stood panting in front of the water. They spoke to the manager, and he came back along the traincars, giving instructions.
"Everyone is to grip the edge of the traincare, and swim along side it. Swim straight to the other side. Everyone get a grip, now!"
Skye was lost in the hustle of animals trying to grab an edge. He fell of the traincar. Not even Selena noticed him. She stood beside the traincar, clutching the edge happily.
"I--," Skye didn't know what to say. Nobody payed him any attention. And the greyhounds were already wading into the river. The train was moving.
Skye scrambled to his feet and raced after it. "SELENA!" He screamed.
She whirled around and saw him. "Oh, Skye! Quick, get a grip!"
Skye felt his eyes cloud with fear and shock. "I can't swim." He whispered.
"Then onto the traincar with you!" Some unknown animals swoopped down and picked him up. He flung Skye onto the traincar. The cat lay there, stunned.
Finally he raised his head. The train was being whipped downriver as the animals slowly swam into the river. Skye shuddered as his traincar entered the water. The animals started to paddle. Skye saw water flow up onto the wood. He whined with fear.
But everyone was pulling toward the other bank, and they were strong enough that the train wasn't sucked away, and it pulled itself onto the opposite side. Then it plowed on.
XXX
Skye slept soundly. They had long since gotten out of the river, and they had already gone through the town Riverside. Now he slept on his back, snoring.
Suddenly, some raised voices made him open his eyes. He slowly stared out at the dark, star-filled sky then sat up. It was very late, the large moon had already come and gone. Skye looked around. Everyone was looking ahead at something in the dark, and the train was stopped.
All of a sudden, everyone started getting off the train with shocked whispers. Skye stumbled along beside a half-asleep Selena. He stared around, what was it that everyone was so interested in?
And then he saw it. A few feet ahead of the train he had been on was the other train. It was strewn across the ground, twisted and broken. Some traincars were on their side, others on their back, and many were disconnected. All the greyhounds lay dead on the ground, basking in their own blood. The animals that had been riding were strewn around the area, some dead and some grievously wounded. Others, the survivors, were walking away from the scene slowly, their breath clouding the air.
But he had not yet seen the worst. As Skye turned his head, he saw the last four traincars. They were in flames, rolled over on their backs or sides. The smoke curdled into the air, and the fire crackled and flashed. Everything was broken and shattered.
"Selena..." He muttered.
He heard some animals behind them talking.
"Wow...that's really bad...No wonder our train drivers are making us get off...they don't want to get what happened to the other train...look at that one little lion cub...all that blood...I still wonder what got them..."
Skye turned his head away from them and stared at the burning train and all its dead passengers. He thought the dead greyhounds were the worst, but then he saw two animals, that had obviously been sleeping together, lying on the asphalt with their heads disconnected and a few feet away.
One wounded animal moved its head and looked directly at Skye, its eyes reflected by the flames. Skye stared at it in shock, until he broke away, shaking in fear and disbelief. He couldn't even believe that this could happen. He had seen this train just days earlier. He and Selena had wanted to take it. And here it was, totally broken. Burning. Twisted. Crippled.
Suddenly, voices raised in fear and shock passed along the crowd, and reached Skye.
"That's who did it! That's who beat up that train! The Kinetics!"