Chapter 7

Jeremy saw 'Jason' get up and go towards the back of the car. He waited for a little bit so that he knew Jason was outside. He then went to the front of the car and went outside as if he were going to get some air. Just as he was about to jump, he was pulled back by someone and taken to the coal car. The other Jason was also pulled back and taken to the car in the back. He made his way silently back to the front from the outside on top of the train.

"Mr. Bolt, my name is Ferris. I am a Texas Ranger. You and our other ranger won't be jumping off this train just yet. We need to stop the train before it gets to the bridge, and we need your help!"
"What kin-kind of help?" Jeremy asked suspicious that this may be a trick. We need to get this train stopped before we reach the bridge. There is some dynamite that will be tripped just as we reach the bridge! If we don't stop it everyone on board will be killed including us!" Jeremy looked at Ferris and wondered what they or he was supposed to do.

Oscar, the 'Jason' dropped down on top of the coal and slid down to where Jeremy and Ferris were.
"Hello Jeremey!" said Oscar and then proceeded to explain what they were going to do and how they were going to do it. Suddenly they felt the train going faster. Oscar was surprised. He had not expected that to happen, their plans to stop the train had suddenly vanished and then they heard a voice on top of the coal car:

"Well, isn't this a nice treat. One Bolt and two rangers. Well, I suppose we are going to have to do something to keep them from escaping. Oscar, Ferris, and Jeremy were ready for a fight. There were two men behind them with guns and there were two men above them with guns. As they were getting ready to shoot the rangers, the train lurched and kept going faster and faster. Oscar and Ferris took hold of the two behind them and were fighting ferociously. Jeremy saw that the bolts that were holding the engine and coal car were shaking. He immediately decided to pull up the bots and put the brakes on the main cars so that the engine would keep going and the rest of the train would eventually slow down. The men above had obviously been told not to harm him so instead of shooting them one of them got on one side of the coal car and the other on the other side and inched their way towards where Jeremy was loosening the bolts that held the cars and engine together, He suspected that the Engineer was dead and he was correct because the engineer of the train had been thrown off a few miles away. Jeremy had just loosened one of the bolts and was working on the other when one of the men got close enough to kick Jeremy who fell almost beneath the train wheels but was able to catch himself in time. The other one had been knocked off the train and had died instantly. Jeremy tried to crawl back up to loosen and remove the final bolt but the man who had kicked Jeremy was close enough to try to kick him again. Jeremy had to keep his body up at the same time as loosening the bolt. The other man reached out with the butt of his gun and was about to hit Jeremy when Oscar caught him and hit him. He lost his balance and fell down a steep hill. During that moment, Oscar knew that he had to get the bolt out if the train was going to stop before the dynamite was tripped.

"Jeremy, hang in there. Can you reach my hand?" Oscar said as he reached down for Jeremy's hand. Jeremy was struggling, he had one more twist to get the bolt disconnected, he almost lost his balance.

"Oscar, can you pull that bolt loose?" said Jeremy. Oscar looked, he could but then he saw that Jeremy was on the other side and once he pulled the bolt out, Jeremy would be blown up with the engine.

"I can see it, but Jeremy, how are you going to get back on the train? You are on the wrong side?" Jeremy looked around. He wasn't sure what he was going to do. At that moment, they heard a sound, the wire had been tripped, They had to get the bolt out if the train was to be saved.

Candy, Pilar, Jason, and Matilda were hidden behind small walls of wood. Each of these walls were used for target practice as there were bullet holes in all of them. There were 5 walls, only two of them contained tow victims each. They were attached to the walls in such a way as to not disclose what part of the wall they were behind. Joshua was to choose a wall and shoot it. If he chose the correct wall and killed his brother and Pilar, he still had to choose another wall until Candy and Matilda were also killed. Sheila wanted Pilar behind the wall as she was not happy that Pilar and Joshua had begun to be friends.

Sheila went to the grandstand and announced to her people that there was an event for the day, and it would start shortly. She placed herself where she could see both sides of the wall.

"Joshua, you have been given 5 walls, only two of them contain your friends and brother. If you can correctly shoot your family and friends, then I will see that you will not have to suffer, but if you continually hit and miss, then you will be tortured. OH, and don't forget, your younger brother is no more, he has probably been blown to pieces and I am sure you won't see him before you die!" Sheila then stood up and pointed the gun and shot it. Joshua did not fire right away but stood there. She waited and then decided that he should shoot something.

"Joshua, if you don't start shooting now, I will start at your feet and keep shooting something off of you until you do start shooting!"

Josh stood there, saying a prayer hoping that something would happen. He chose a wall and shot at it. He shot high just in case someone was behind the wall. The bullet hit the top of the wall. She waited for another shot. He saw a shadow, was it a shadow? He shot the end wall and the bullet hit the side of the wall as well.

"I thought you could shoot better than that Joshua!" Sheila said.

"I never learned to shoot, Sheila, of course, if I could, I would shoot you and I would not miss!" He said through his teeth and proceeded to send a bullet her way. Sheila looked at him and instead of speaking went to him and hit him with her gun. Sheila waited until he came too and said:

"If you don't kill them, I will take each one of them and skin them alive and put them on anthills! So, start killing!" Sheila said as she went back to the grandstand.

Joshua was shaking and wished he could do something; he heard a very faint sound but could not tell what it was. As he was aiming again, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he lowered the gun.