Frozen In Time - Rescue
Part XIV - Escape I Plans, Co-Plans, And Counter-Plans
As Melanie and her group worked their way through a darkened tunnel, she kept one hand always connected to the wall of the train. She easily felt the first two shudders run through the train, then the third.
"Joseph is being stubborn apparently." She mumbled to herself.
But after a few more minutes past, she suddenly felt the train beginning to slow.
"Big Alice is slowing down." She told the others. "We need to get to the cold lock as fast as possible now. Bennett won't be able to keep Wilford fooled for long before he becomes suspicious there's nothing really wrong."
As the group hurried their pace through the tunnel, Melanie thought about what lay ahead. She gave a small laugh that she suddenly was equating their safety with them being outside the train. But in their current circumstances, that was the safest place for them. She already knew the cold lock housed at least three survival suits, maybe more. With a little luck, they would all be safely back on Snowpiercer within the hour. But she also knew the plan wasn't completely free of risk, and she also worried about Alex and Hes. She had been outside the train before. She knew what to expect. Even at the slower speed, the wind outside could suddenly gust on its own, making it difficult to keep one's feet firmly planted on the train's roof. Safety lines were in place, and the roof had a ladder rack system someone could utilize, so they could grab onto something with their hands and anchor their feet. But she wasn't sure how well Alex could keep her grip on the rungs or if Hes could keep hold with his injured hand if something unexpected did happen.
But it was just as hard to speculate how someone would react if they let fear get hold of them. She didn't doubt her daughter and Hes were brave enough to face being outside the train. She simply wasn't sure she was brave enough to let them do it. If Wilford got any suspicion they were outside the train and fired up Big Alice's engine, the resulting jolt as it pushed into Snowpiercer could easily be enough to knock one or all of them off the train.
Maybe there was another way, she let her mind speculate. Maybe they could use the same method to get off the train she used to get on. Through the laundry exchange.
She quickly shook the thought off. The cold lock was their best escape off the train. She knew Wilford was likely sweeping the whole of his train looking for them. Everything coming or going to Snowpiercer would be suspect. If Wilford even allowed any trade at this point.
No. According to the plan they laid out, the last place he should except them to be, especially with the trains moving, would be outside. And the minute the trains began to slow, Melanie knew that plan had a limited range of safety also.
They simply had to get to the cold lock and outside the train as quickly as possible.
On Snowpiercer, Bennett, Layton, and Jackson were already waiting for her signal to open the cold lock in the Tail. She just had to get her small party there.
Then they would be safe.
When they exited the tunnel, Melanie quickly scanned the corridor they were now in. Just down the hallway and around one corner lay their destination. 'E' had told her the pathway would be clear. There should be no more obstacles.
Waving the other two to follow, Melanie hurried out of the tunnel opening and moved quickly and quietly down the corridor.
Unlike Snowpiercer, Big Alice had few carpeted corridors. That a was a luxury reserved for the other train. The one that would shelter and house the last of humanity. Big Alice's crew would be more use to less luxury and more of the bare necessities. Melanie had designed the floors with special materials to echo steps as little as possible, but it was never a completely silent task to walk down almost any corridor on Big Alice.
Approaching the corridor to the cold lock, Melanie suddenly stopped short and quickly blocked the other two as she stepped back from the corridors intersection.
Alex leaned forward, trying to see what had stopped her mother. But Melanie quickly answered her unspoken questioning look.
"There's someone in the corridor." She whispered back to them.
Carefully peaking around the corner, Melanie assessed the situation. The guard stood directly in front of the door to the cold lock, appearing to be stationed there and not looking like he would be leaving any time soon as he paced about the corridor area in front of the cold lock door with a tazer stick in his hand. Apparently her earlier assumptions about Wilford getting suspicious were proving correct and he was already concentrating his efforts nearer to the border to stop them.
What struck Melanie about the man was he didn't seem to happy with his assignment. He paced about for a moment, stopped, then paced again. All the time looking either very nervous or very scared.
Melanie quickly pulled back, worrying what the man would be scared of in an otherwise deserted corridor, when she all but bumped into Hes standing behind her, looking over her shorter form at the man.
"Well, I guess I underestimated Joseph." She stated quietly. "He at least has some idea we might try to escape through a cold lock. He likely has guards on as many of them as he can cover."
Hes leaned down to her. "Picked a poor one to guard this cold lock." He whispered to her.
Melanie looked up at the blacksmith. "What do you mean?"
"Former apprentice, and not very good one." The blacksmith informed her, pointing towards where the man still nervously paced around the corridor.
Melanie looked surprised. "This man used to be on Snowpiercer?!" She asked.
Hes nodded. "This is one that laid trap for Hes. Remember he was not much of a fighter. More like scared rabbit when fight started. Found nearest corner and hid there. Now paces around like scared rabbit who knows there's a trap, but isn't sure where it is."
Melanie looked up at him. "My question is, what is he so scared of?"
Hes smiled down at her. "One way to find out."
Melanie quickly looked over the corridor again before turning back to the blacksmith.
"The only alarms are in the cold lock. If we rush him, he may get the door open before we get there and sound the alarm."
Hes pushed past her. "Rabbit that is already scared will freeze when he sees the wolf coming. No problem."
Melanie was about to try and stop the man when he bolted past her into the corridor, a metal baton he had grabbed off a guard in the last fight already raised for a strike.
Without considering the consequences, Melanie followed after him. Two against one were still better odds.
But to the surprise of all three of them, as soon as the man turned and saw them rushing down the corridor, he dropped his own weapon and held both his hands up as though to ward them off.
"Wait!"
All three quickly pulled up to a stop just a few feet from the man, who had quickly dropped to his knees.
"I'm not here to stop you." He quickly stated. "I'm here to help."
Melanie stood with Hes directly behind her, looking like a bull eager to continue the charge.
"Help how?"
"Wilford suspects you got on Big Alice by way of the cold locks. That's why he has guards stationed at each one anywhere near the border. Plus, if he suspects you're outside, he's already prepared to attempt to speed up Big Alice, hoping the friction between the two trains could be enough to knock you off."
Melanie stood considering what the man told them while Hes stood watching the him in just the way he had described it earlier. Like a wolf standing over a very scared rabbit.
The man kept his eyes focused on Hes as he spoke further to Melanie. "You can't use the cold locks to get off the train." He stated. "So forget that method."
"Then how do we get off of Big Alice?"
"The fastest and safest way. Through the border."
Melanie suddenly felt like the man was wasting their time. "That's not possible. The border is heavily guarded."
The man suddenly looked like he had been handed a bargaining chip as he pulled himself slowly back up to his feet.
Hes all but growled at the man's movement. But Melanie put a hand up. She had no doubt if this was the man who had betrayed him into getting captured by Wilford, Hes saw him as equally guilty of the injury to his hand, and not past wanting a serious amount of revenge. But the man could be useful, if only as a hostage.
"I can get you past the border safely." The man quickly offered.
Hes stepped up next to Melanie. "Is never good to bargain with a coward." He stated with a low grumble.
The man looked up at the blacksmith. "Well, excuse me for not wanting to get my brains bashed in."
Melanie brought the exchange to a swift end. It wasn't accomplishing anything but wasting their time.
"If you can get us past the border, you must want something for that. What is it?"
"The same thing you want. To get off this train."
"Why?"
The man gave her a nervous laugh. "Why? Wilford already has me labeled as a coward. And call me what you want, but I saw what that one did to Thompson and Kinsford." He quickly nodded to Hes. "Nearly killed 'em both with his bare hands." He added a quick nod to Alex. "Ask her what happens to those on Big Alice who Wilford even mildly suspects were negligent in their duties."
Melanie turned to Alex, who stared back at her mother.
"A lot of people disappeared on Big Alice." She affirmed. "Nothing was ever said, but I heard the stories around the train. It was especially well known among the guards. If a guard did something good, he was rewarded. But if Wilford suspected one of them of any sort of disloyalty, he would make the others watch as he shoved them into a cold lock and opened the outer door. After the man was gone, he told the others he would do the same to any of them that committed a similar offense." Alex paused for a moment as she turned her eyes to the frightened looking man. "He enjoyed making them stand guard near the cold lock for hours before he shoved them into it."
"And I have no doubts about my end." He added. "Heading back to Big Alice after we abducted the blacksmith, Wilford had one of the other guards taser me. Knocked me out. I was sure I was done for. He tells everyone you don't suffer traitors well. And if anyone from Big Alice is found on your train, you kill them. Shove them out a cold lock, just like he does.
But then suddenly I wake up and find myself in my bunk back on Big Alice. Head guard tells me Mr. Wilford had a change of heart." The man gave a derisive laugh. "More like a change of plans."
"Meaning?"
"An unseen lesson is a wasted lesson, Ms. Cavill." The guard explained. "Why let you do his dirty work when I can be used as a warning to the others. If I stay on Big Alice, I'm done."
Melanie considered the information, but then gave the man a quick nod. "All right. You say we can leave the train by the border. How?"
"Wilford likely has about ten guards at the border."
"Twelve." Melanie quickly corrected him as she crossed her arms in front of her. Wilford had increase the number as soon as he took Alex hostage, apparently anticipating trouble.
"Four of us walked away unhurt after abducting the blacksmith." He replied. "Because others were injured and we left a mess behind, Wilford considered it a failed mission. You only fail once on Big Alice." He quickly nodded to Alex again. "Ask her. No second chances."
Alex had her stare fixed on the man, remembering what life was indeed like on Wilford's train. "He's telling the truth. Wilford always said guards were important, but expendable. And losing a few was worth the price if it taught the rest a much needed lesson about loyalty."
"The three who went on that mission and were injured are stationed at the border. Wilford intends to let the other nine kill them when this is settled."
Melanie looked skeptical. "And they would just kill their fellow guards?"
"Kill or be killed. Not doing what they were told would put them in the same light with Wilford as the other three."
"Do the three guards know what will happen to them?"
"They've seen enough to suspect. They may even be planning to try and fight if the chance comes up. That's why Wilford will likely send others for back up. And the other nine likely just see it as 'job security'. The fewer guards Wilford has, the more he needs them, the lesser their chances of being killed one day for some infraction."
"So how do those three being at the border help us?"
"If those guards have the chance to escape to Snowpiercer, they're going to take it. Even knowing the risk, they figure their chances on Snowpiercer are better than on Big Alice."
"Risk?"
"When we left after grabbing this one," He indicated Hes with nod of his head, "one of guards who had been injured in the raid ran. He possibly had a broken arm. He knew Wilford wouldn't waste resources on him. So he took his chance and made a break for Snowpiercer."
"We found him. He surrendered barely conscious to a laundry worker. He was given medical care and food. He was a big help to us in finding out what happened to Hes."
"Wilford used that event to lay the same lies he always tells between the trains. Telling the Jackboots again that anyone who deserted to Snowpiercer is killed on sight. No one ever hears from them again, so who's to say?"
"But if you never hear from anyone who escapes to Snowpiercer again, why do you want to go there so badly? Maybe what Wilford says is true? Maybe we do kill them."
"You already confirmed that isn't true, Ms. Cavill. Besides," the man gave her a sideways smile, "I know well enough it's a lie." He stated.
"How?"
The smile remained as the man answered her. "5847490...D."
Melanie stared at the man in complete surprise. "You?" She asked. "You're our last contact of the resistance group on Big Alice?"
"Wouldn't be calling us a 'resistance group', Ms. Cavill. Just a lot of people who want to stay alive. We work together. Make sure everyone has needed supplies, at least get enough food to survive. We take care of each other."
"But why didn't you just tell us that from the start?"
"Would you have believed me?"
Melanie gave the man a still skeptical look. "If you're so good at guarding your life, why offer to work for Big Alice's Resistance?"
The man gave her another lopsided smile. "Even cowards make good recognizance, Ms. Cavill."
"But you're one of Wilford's Jackboots..."
"I'm no Jackie." The man quickly corrected her. "I'm a replacement. Wilford looses Jackboots for one reason or other, he needs replacements. The Jackboots live best on Big Alice. Enough food, warm cloths...stuff like that. There's a few of us working as jackies so we can get the extra supplies to pass on to the others. It's a dangerous life, but you're alive. And if you're smart, you might stay that way."
Hes stared down at the man. "How does Wilford's guard end up in Hes' forge?"
Melanie stared up at the blacksmith, then back at the man. "That's a very good question." She stated.
"Wilford found out about the Blacksmith."
"How?" Melanie quickly asked.
"I don't know. He just did. The resistance learned of the plan being formed to abduct him. Our leader knew I was a guard. I guess the right word in the right ear got me the assignment.
Working for Wilford, at first I was just there to observe. Same reason the resistance sent me over. See if the blacksmith was as good as we had heard. But when I reported back what I saw, Wilford's plan changed."
"To kidnap Hes?"
The man nodded. "I was to lure him into the trap."
"Why didn't your leader try to stop the abduction? Why help Wilford accomplish his plan?"
The man suddenly stopped talking. But his silence spoke volumes to Melanie.
"She wanted him." Melanie reasoned out. "Get Hes over on Big Alice and then she would try to kidnap him for herself." She set a solid stare on the man. "Your noble leader was no better than Wilford."