Before I begin, the title of this chapter came from a comment from the author Azzyness. I saw it in the comment and thought, "Oh my God, that is PERFECT!" so, thank you Azzyness, and thank you to all of my dear reviewers! Now, ONWARD!
CHAPTER 9: OH SHIT, THERE'S A TRAIN
We all stood silently for a moment. Chris broke the ice: "Anybody know when the next train's due?"
"I'm not sure," Gordie, the only one with a watch, answered.
Chris said, "Why don't we go around the tracks?"
Teddy looked at Chris, shocked. "What? If you go the extra ten miles around the tracks, you gotta walk ten miles back. That could take until dark. We cross here, we could get to the same place in ten minutes."
Vern shook a bit. "Yeah, but if a train comes, there's nowhere to go."
Teddy scoffed. "Like hell there isn't; you just jump!"
Chris was shocked. "Teddy, it's 100 feet!"
I nodded fervently. "And 100 feet into a gorge! Teddy, you've pulled some stunts before, but this is plain old ridiculous!"
Teddy shook his head. "Look, you guys can do what you want. I'm crossing here. And while you four are dragging your candy asses halfway across the state and back, I will be on the other side, relaxing with my thoughts.
Gordie had an expression on his face that made him look like he was trying to figure out something really difficult. He asked Teddy, "Do you use your left hand or your right hand for that?"
Teddy smirked. "You wish," and he began crossing. Chris looked over at Gordie, Vern and me, and began following Teddy. "Oh, for the love of Pete," I muttered, and I tentatively stepped out onto the tracks. The spaces between those slats of wood were really freaking me out. What if my foot got caught in one of them and I couldn't run when and if a train came? Because of this, I would always wince when I set my foot on another slat.
We walked like this for a couple minutes, Teddy and Chris in front, me, Gordie, and Vern crawling behind pathetically. When I heard a splash all of a sudden, I whirled around expecting the worst. However, Vern was still on his hands and knees, looking up at Gordie. "I lost the comb," he whispered with tears in his voice.
Gordie sighed, "Forget it, Vern." Teddy and Chris rolled their eyes. I just couldn't stifle a giggle, but quickly shut up when Vern eyed me. I turned back around, and began walking once again. Hey, cool, I was almost halfway! And then….
"TRAAAAAIIIIIN!" I heard Gordie shriek from behind us. We all whirled around and saw a steam locomotive careening towards us. For a moment, we just stood still, frozen, not knowing what to do.
"Oh, shit," Vern said as he began to crawl like there was no tomorrow. The minute he said that, we all snapped to attention. "RUN!" Chris yelled as he and Teddy (who were already ¾ of the way there) dashed off at lightning speed. I panted as I broke into a mad dash. I could hear Gordie and Vern yelling at each other to move their asses, when my worst fear was realized: my left foot got caught in one of the spaces between the slats, and I fell. I couldn't free myself, no matter what I did. I was screaming, "GORDIE! VERN! DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME, KEEP MOVING!"
Chris then noticed me. I saw an expression of total, unadulterated fear on his face. He screamed, "JOEY!" He threw off his sleeping bag and dashed back onto the tracks. "CHRIS, GO BACK!" I yelled at him.
"NO WAY IN HELL!" he yelled back as he moved my leg every which way to try and free it. And the train was inching closer and closer…
"FORGET ABOUT ME!" I screamed one last time.
Chris looked at me with frustration and fear etched on his face. "I'M NOT QUITTING YOU!" he yelled as he finally freed my foot. Instead of letting me run, which I was in perfect shape to do, thank you very much, he lifted me up and we dashed off together, me leaning on his shoulder.
Chris sat me down on the gravel. "Johanna Susan Randall, don't EVER scare me like that again," Chris panted.
Teddy yelled, "HOLY SHIT, YOU GUYS!"
We turned back just in time to see Gordie and Vern leap off the tracks down into the gorge below.