chapter 21
A tailor shop; an orthodontist practice; a tea room; a restaurant; a hairdresser salon.
Curtis strides through the cars with focused rage, without even acknowledging the front section passengers. At each section he becomes more and more impatient to move forward, and by the third posh car, since he doesn't even want to wait for Yona and Naam to open the gate, i start lasering the controls from afar so that we don't even pause.
"Open!", Yona orders at the guard at the end of the next car, and when the guard executes, quickly running away, she smiles broadly ad Curtis, expectantly.
"Seriously?", he asks, annoyed, but he gives her the kronol lumps anyway.
It is quite surprising to see that they're still demanding that shit, but when I turn to question her, she's already stuffed the lumps in her pockets.
At the following car, I start lasering the controls when a guard appears, and Curtis just pushes him away violently. Naam steps after him and pulls two lumps of kronol from Curtis' pockets. He turns back, enraged, slowing down. "Seriously? Really?", he repeats.
I step into the swimming pool section, a small walkway passing over the bright luminescent water. The luxury of these front-section cars makes me keep calculating. "There's no way this is self-sustained", I say. "The balance Mason was talking about, it can't work like this".
Curtis gives me a lazy "What?". He doesn't want to talk now.
I whisper, as if I was ashamed to tell him the truth. "The food, the storage, the space. Even when you make it to the engine and take control, it's never going to be enough for everyone on the train".
He snaps, suddenly stopping. I almost slam into his face as he turns. "Then what do you suggest, hm?".
"Well if I could test a snow sample, or... the outside atmosphere, I could come up with a chemical that cancels the effect of the CW 7 in the first pl-".
"Yeah. Oh yeah, sure, reclaim the ground", he mocks, looking out of the floor-to-ceiling window. "And where would you be running these tests, uh? Because I seem to remember that your miracle machine isn't fucking working", he snorts.
And well there isn't much I can reply to that, he's, uhm, right. The train is on a round, circular turn, so from the window we can see the whole tail of the train. I wonder where the Doctor is and I quickly search for the few windows at the rear.
"You said you didn't believe in miracles, Curtis", I say softly.
Something catches the corner of my eye while Yona, who's two steps behind me on the small walkway, suddenly stops and turns her head to the window, then ducks down.
Curtis doesn't notice her and looks at me, sighing. "Look, I know you're just trying to help. I'm sor-".
"Everybody down!" I scream, pushing Curtis to the ground as the first bullet gets deviated by the plexiglass window, missing Yona for less than an inch. He blinks, surprised, relieved, then scrambles with his hand to retrieve the gun I accidentally made him drop, meanwhile checking outside. The Front Section Passengers, who were enjoying their swimming, scream and come out of the pool, running this way and that. Sorry, not sorry.
"School", I whisper, as Curtis finds our shooter, Franco and two other guards, in the School section we left behind. And of course the swimming pool car has a floor-to-ceiling window, however, that provides little protection. Even if the guy with the atlas is long gone, I believe Franco knew exactly when to hit us. Especially because he's setting down a sniper gun.
The guards and Franco don't seem very cooperative, I see one of them trying to fix bulletholes in the window, the other being kicked down by Franco himself. "Now", I tell Curtis, passing him the gun, half ready to shoot them myself.
The train now swirls in a big circle, shaking intensely. More rifle shots hit the glass - most bouncing off and leaving ugly pock marks surrounded by spider web cracks above our heads while we're still laying flat on the floor.
Curtis rises, unafraid, his courage unstoppable now, and shoots at the faraway School Section.
Curtis and Franco square off like gunslingers in a western, firing at each other as the curvature of the train becomes more acute.
I watch as Curtis' bullet penetrates the window and hits Franco in the arm. Franco stops shooting. He looks at the blood on his arm and then across at Curtis. Curtis reloads and fires. Franco comes out of his trance and returns fire.
A snowflake gently flies into the train through a bullet hole. It flutters in the air softly, Naam is almost enchanted, looking at it. I exchange a glance with Yona as she follows her father's gaze. I was sure this guy was out of his mind, but I'm starting to feel like there's more to it than meets the eye.
It looks like time stopped for an instant, but the firing soon resumes, breaking the stillness.
Tanya's earsplitting screams overlap the gunshots.
I stand up while a bullet breaks through the first pane of plexiglass coming straight at Curtis' face. I push him aside as Curtis' eyes widen, and we both take a shocked, surprised gulp as the bullet gets stopped by the second pane but remains embedded in the window just inches in front of Curtis' face.
He looks at me then plucks it from the glass, aligning his gun barrel to the hole, but the train finally straightens out from its sharp turn. Franco and Curtis grow further and further apart until the train runs on a straight track once again.
Curtis, breathing hard, drops the gun that has run out of bullets by his side and turns to me. I toss him another magazine and yank Tanya up, Grey helping her up on the other side, while Yona rises to her knees, screaming. "Coming! Three of them!".
Curtis snaps to attention and nods at me. Naamgoong starts running to the next gate to open it, while I stride back to the walkway, lasering the gate to jam it shut,
I hastily close the gate as Franco, halfway in the wagon, aims for me, and I keep struggling with the control to keep it closed. Curtis is behind me, his hand-axe drawn, Grey is watching protectively over Yona and Tanya. We hear gunshots, and a guard on the other side of the steel, protesting. "What the-", followed by more gunshots and screams.
"He won't stop at nothing", I tell Curtis, who is already pulling me back to the walkway. "Come on", he invites, grabbing my hand. We run through the section as Naam is keeping the next gate open for us to pass through, and lets it shut just as Franco gets the one I jammed open with gunfire.
We hurry past steam-bath units as we hear Franco firing on the gate behind. Without even looking, Naam sets to work on the next gate, grunting. I see him grab a crowbar from the wall above the panel. He starts attacking the controls. I crouch down to help him, while Curtis becomes worried. "Hurry!".
"Shit, what's wrong with this?", Naam says, annoyed. "Fuck...".
I feel the steam bath clients glancing at us through opaque glass doors. Grey and Tanya start opening the units, when the gunfire stops and Curtis grabs my collar to pull me away from the gate controls. I nod at Naam and he runs to hide with Yona.
The unit is small and Curtis and I are basically clinging to each other, his face just an inch from mine. I feel his breath on my skin, trying to slow down his heartbeat and breathe less loudly. We hear a door creaking, very close.
I take Curtis' hand in mine and press my fingers entwined to his. He looks down at me, without speaking, with a sad, lost gaze. He presses his forehead on mine, his lips parted. He's too wise to sigh now.
There's a thud, and immediate gunfire, instinctive. There's an instant of silence, then one of the guard protests. "You just killed a Front Section Passenger! I'm reporting you to-".
Another shot. I hear Franco recharging while the other guard prevents, "I didn't see a thing". A click. "Wait a minute, wa-". There's a commotion as Franco knocks the other guard out too.
We all spring into action as soon as we realize Franco is out of bullets. Grey jumps out of his hiding unit, hurling his dagger at Franco's neck with the dagger. He's fast, but Franco's animal-like reflexes are faster too and the dagger only catches his shoulder, but he drops his rifle.
I jump out, almost running over the soldier, and I start working on the gate again while Curtis aims at Franco but he's too intertwined with Grey in a deadly struggle and he doesnt' have a clear shot.
Franco roars as he lifts Grey and spins him in a complete circle, like a human windmill, then he throws Grey to the metal floor, knocking him out. Curtis fires as soon as Grey's body leaves Franco's shape and he drops to the ground. Close to the fallen rifle of the other guard. Shit. I didn't see it.
So what are you waiting for, child? The Doctor isn't coming, dear. Go fix this yourself.
I lose balance as the gate almost clicks open and Curtis and Franco fire at one another, hiding behid the units panels. I hear Curtis lamenting as his hand is nicked by a bullet and he loses the gun. Franco charges for Curtis. At the same time, I blink back a breath, then I turn and point the laser at Franco's gun while Tanya comes roaring out of a steam-bath unit behind Franco.
He's too fast for her, and even as she tries to stab him he quickly swirls around, pushing her to the wall, and she's stabbed instead. I run at him and he turns swiftly, shooting the side of my stomach. I double over and fall to the ground, breathless.
As I try to keep breathing - is there anyway I can control the healing, I wonder? - at the side of my field vision I see Curtis and Franco fighting, Curtis slamming the rifle away finally, but getting slammed hard against the panel. He falls to my side, knocked out, his eyes blinking slowly.
Not sure he knows what's happening while Franco picks up Tanya's dagger and lifts it up, hovering over Curtis to slay his throat, but I feel my strenght back and I put my hand between the dagger and Curtis's skin.
I mean, I'm growling. Try to lift up a man by the sharp edge of a dagger on which he's putting all his big oversized strenght. Not easy. Almost surprised my hand didn't just get nailed to Curtis' throat. But I manage to keep him away, and now, yeah, I'm fighting back.
Well, he lifts me up so easily that I'm probably just a bothering little thing for him, but at least I'll buy Curtis some time to recover. I'm slammed to the wall of a unit, pinned to the wall as Franco tries to turn my wrist so that the dagger points at my heart.
I push back my arm as hard as I can, trying to keep composure. No, scrap that, fuck composure. I channel the best villains I've met and, hell, I smirk. "You can't kill me". I sound hysterical. Still, he's putting all his weight on my wrist and yeah, a smirking enemy is the most annoying thing in the world, and I'm a Time Lord and I really don't think I sould, uhm, die, like this, but I probably said that to convince myself more than him. You know, being just shot. And stabbed.
Nice one, child. You learned from the best, I dare say.
I growl again in agony as my other hand tries to pull Franco's head back to make him lose balance, but he shrugs my hand off so quickly that he falls back over me, pushing the blade in while luckily letting me slip a few inches. The sharp blade cuts through my shoulder - again. seriously thinking I should wear some protective shoulder pads, like some Mad Max character - burning, and he draws it back, slicing my hand to remove it, and I collapse to the floor leaving a trail of blood behind me.
He gets ready to stab me again and finish the job and the Doctor's words come back to mind, piercing. He's right, I'm not ready to regenerate. Suddenly Grey appears like a jungle animal shadow and resumes his fight. Do I let him believe I'm dead? Or, maybe I am dying, I think as my eyelids become suddenly heavier.
The rest goes fast and all I know is that he and Grey fight a while, then he's just laying on the floor. I don't know where I dropped the laser screwdriver. I try not to blink as I watch Franco regain his breath, calculating my moves. Curtis is still laying unconscious, is he going to kill him? Will he come back and make sure everyone is dead?
Franco walks past me without looking, I see him opening another unit. A voice I don't recognize, then screams, then he's suddenly fighting with Naam, inches away from me, then there's Yona ready to stab him, and Naam that stops her from killing him, and Curtis finally catching Yona's dagger and stabbing him at the side, while Naam chokes him with the crowbar.
I allow myself to blink while Curtis attends to Tanya's last moans. "We're going to find him", he says, showing her Timmy's portrait one last time. "I promise". Then he warily lifts up and stretches his arm out to me. I sigh heavily and catch his hand, lifting myself up.
"I believe you've saved my life again", he says, respectfully.
"I'm afraid that's all I could do", I say, crouching over Grey's body, stabbed violently, his own dagger still propped up over a tattoo that says goodbye. Yona helps me lift him and we leave him sitted next to Tanya.
But there's no time to be sentimental, because even if we stopped Franco, Egg-head and other guards might still be at the back of the train. I seriously hope the Doctor stopped them, but the fact that they got to Gilliam doesn't leave me with a lot of hope. I know that Curtis feels the same, but he doesn't say a word as we keep crossing the cars.
It's like Dante's inferno, each wagon becoming increasingly lascivous and luxurious. Front-sectioners are so lost in their own clean, comfortable lives and activities that barely no one acknowledges our presence. And, see, we're armed, dressed in rags, and covered in blood. Wouldn't you notice someone like that if it walked past you in a Chelsea club?
Instead, they just let us pass by, even if in the club section, Yona and Naam jump around the tables, picking up all the kronol they can find laying around. Someone protests, screaming. "Hey that's my kronol! Give it back, I need that shit!". Yona, big innocent eyes, looks at the haute couture dresses of the partygoers curiously, smiling. When we're in the next wagon, she also has a bottle of champagne that she starts sipping playfully.
I shake my head as she offers it to me, more concerned about Curtis. We're almost at the front and his rage becomes more undeniable with each step. He's determined, and nobody speaks to him as if we're all afraid the fury would overcome him.
The last car is full of people laying down lazily, almost naked if not for thick fur coats, and again, like a predator, Naam jumps around the people, stealing quantities of kronol, like he needs a storage full. He passes them on to Yona who fills a bag with the lumps.
Nobody flinches when we walk past the security wagon, where controllers in uniform are looking at screens and computer data. When we get past the last gate, there's the narrow bridge Gilliam mentioned.
Where are the kids? Andy? Timmy?
Curtis slows down, crossing it, walking over the loud machinery until he's at the ledge.
He looks at the big golden W engraved in the big metallic gate and sighs, closing his eyes. His hand reaches to mine. When Yona and Naam come to us, they're wearing thick fur coats too. Yona is carrying two extra coats, and it looks like she wants to give them to us, but she's still drinking and by the time she's at the ledge, she slumps to the floor, asleep or passed out.
"Open the door", Curtis whispers, his eyes still closed in front of the gate.
"Kronol first", Naam asks.
Curtis snaps. His eyes blink open, he lets go of my hand and turns menacingly to Naam. "You want kronol? Here", he hisses, and he starts pulling lumps out of his pockets, tossing them around furiously. "Open it! Open the door!", he screams then, punching the metallic wall.
"Wait, Curtis, let him-", I tell him, but he's not lucid anymore.
"What? You looking for trouble too?", he turns. Naam tries to calm him down and they start struggling. I get an involuntary punch to my face and I fall down, while they keep struggling. Curtis kicks and punches the gate while Naam tries to stop him, pulling him back.
Finally Naam pulls him harder and leans back on the gate, recovering, while Curtis' energy are overcome with frustration and he drops to the floor, sitting, leaning on the bridge banister by my side. Naam slides back on the gate until he's sitting across from us.
"You've got a problem with the gates, uh?", he says, then tosses something to Curtis. "Here, smoke a cigarette", he invites.
Curtis picks up the metallic case and lights the cigarette, slowly, leaving one last match in the book. He inhales quietly, breathing slowly. Naam finds the translator in his pocket.
"It is a great honor for you. That's the last cigarette of humanity. Go enjoy it", he suggests.
Curtis lets his head fall back, looking up, thinking, then blinks and turns his chin down, keeping his eyes on the cigarette.
"Have you ever been to the tail section?", he asks Naam, looking straight into his eyes. "Do you have any idea of what went on back there? When we boarded?".
He looks as if he's about to cry. "It was chaos", he continues, lowering his chin. "Yeah we didn't freeze to death, but we didn't have time to be thankful. Wilford's soldiers came and they took everything. It was a thousand people in an iron box. No food, no water".
He thinks about it, still fighting with himself about whether to say what he's about to say. "After a month, we ate the weak", he admits, his eyes glowing with tears. "You know what I hate about myself?", he says. "I know what... people taste like. I know that babies taste best", he adds, breaking up in tears. He strokes his short hair, trying to hold back the sobs.
"There was a woman, she was hiding with her baby, and men with knives came. They killed her, and they took her baby. And then an old man", he sniffs, "no relation, just - just an old man, he stepped forward, and said, "Give me the knife". Everyone thought he was going to kill the baby himself, but he got the knife, and... he cut his own arm. And he said "Eat this". He said "if you're so hungry, eat this, just, just leave the baby". I had never seen anything like that", he says, still bewildered. "And the men... put down their knives". He sniffs. "You probably guessed who that old man was".
He takes a deep breath before going on. "That baby was Edgar. And I- I was the man with the knife. I killed Edgar's mother. And then one by one, other people in the tail section started cutting off their arms and legs and offering them. It was like a miracle". He pauses, his hand on his arm over his scar. "I wanted to... I - I tried, I just-", he breathes hard, wiping the tears from his face. "A month later, Wilford's soldiers brought those protein blocks. We've been eating that shit ever since".
I want to hug him and comfort him. So badly. Instead I'm paralyzed realizing what all this means. Mason's words sting in my memory.
He pauses between each sentence, the words still coming slow, but sharp. "18 years I've hated Wilford. 18 years I've waited for this moment. And now I'm here". He looks up finally. "Open the gate".
Naam looks down. "Please", Curtis insists.
He thinks about it. "Your story is beautiful, Curtis", he thinks. "But I don't want to open the gate", he says, slowly.
Curtis' eyes dart up to him, confused. "You want to open the door to outside", I say, anticipating him.
Naam looks at me, nodding slowly. "That one", he points to the wall behind Yona's limp body. "We've been sentenced for 18 years. Everyone thinks it's a wall. But it's a door. To the outside. Open it and get us out of here".
Curtis frowns, looking around. "What, and freeze to death? Are you fucking crazy?", he groans.
"I know, he admits, putting the fur coat over his head. "But maybe we can survive".
"Nothing survives out there. She", he points at me, "They came from another world".
"But he might be right", I say, turning to Naam. "Because you've been studying the landscape, haven't you? At Yekaterina Bridge, and then later at the... Revolt of the seven. You've been checking the shapes. The ice is melting".
"Past Yekaterina Bridge, every new year, I check something. We see the wreckage of a plane, under the snow. For ten years, the tail could barely be seen", he pauses, "But now, I can see the fuselage and the wings. There is less and less snow and ice. It melts", he insists. "The snow is becoming more fragile. Doesn't take much to get rid of it. Recently, you know what I saw? Outside, there was...", he looks up, thinking. "Drops". He smiles longingly. "Ah, it's not worth telling it".
"You got to take it easy on that kronol. That flammable bullshit is going to fry your brain", Curtis mocks him, bitterly.
Naam looks at us seriously, emptying his pockets, shoving all the kronol out, and now I know where he's going with it.
"You don't think I'm right", he says, sternly, starting to squeeze and paste all the kronol lumps together. "Kronol is the first highly flammable chemical", he says, making an irregularly shaped cluster. "One spark, and boom".
"It's a bomb", I state. "You haven't sniffed any kronol since before the water supply section".
He pulls a wick from his pocket and places it into the kronol lump. "I not only store this to get high", he says, standing up, walking to the outside door. "But to blow that door". He says, pasting the kronol bomb on the lock. "Matches, quickly", he asks Curtis, expectantly.
"What the fuck are you doing?", Curtis jumps up, worried, stuffing the matchbook in his pockets.
"Now", Naam repeats. "Fire!".
"Wait, Naam", I say, standing up.
"Take that off the door", Curtis warns.
"Give it to me!", Naam repeats, hastily.
But then, the Wilford gate swooshes open.
Yellow Coat, who's now Golden Robe as that's what she's wearing, appears in the small opening and shoots at Naam's legs, and he falls to the ground moaning silently.
Pointing a gun at us, she walks slowly to the side door, pulls out her measuring tape and measures the kronol bomb, removing it from the lock. "Mr. Curtis Everett", she says, "I've been asked to extend a formal invitation from mr. Wilford for you and the outsider to join him for dinner".
Curtis, still short of breath, looks at me.
"After you", Yellow Coat - Golden Robe invites, waving the gun to the open gate, then she picks up the rifle from Yona's unconscious body.
I follow Curtis. As soon as we step into the big, shining engine room, he searches for my hand, without looking. He's overwhelmed. Well, I am overwhelmed myself. This is really some engineering masterpiece. I wonder what the Master would think of it.
You know, this is actually quite something.
I shake the voice off, looking around. The engine runs the whole lenght of the walls, like a giant cylinder in which the wagon space has been carved out. Metal grates elegantly hide the actual machinery, shiny and softly buzzing gracefully, almost silent. But something is weird here. it's like the engine was crying. I sense that the eternal, sacred engine would rather stop. It's not like it's buzzing vibes out like the Tardis, I don't know how I feel that, but it feels like it's aching.
You're smart, girl. Figure it out.
We're on the first level of a three-level room. I look over the first few steps and the room is beautifully furnished, with vintage chairs and woodwork cabinets on the sides.
"Curtis? Is that you?".
He squeezes my hand, as we walk over to the voice. "Curtis, dear boy. There you are. Come in. I'm afraid I didn't get your name".
Did I say these front section people looked crazy to me? They're not. Bonkers is the right word.
We walk up the steps and there's a middle-aged man, in a brocade robe, quietly cooking steaks on a hideaway electric stove in one of the side wooden cabinets.
Wilford.