CHAPTER TWO: ON A RAIL
Not even five minutes out and things have already gone to hell. The combined efforts of Kaizu, Adam, and Maddison have barely kept the train in one piece. As it barrels down the tracks, everything seems to go wrong. Thrusters are smoking, so Kaizu climbs on the side to clean them out. The hover lifts are out of alignment, so Adam fixes them on the terminal. A fuse blows, so Maddison climbs back down into the engineering compartment to fix it.
Over the roar of the engines, the groaning of the ruined metal, and screeching of the old rails, Kaizu speaks up. “Anybody feel remotely safe in this thing?” he asks, fear warping his voice.
“Erm, maybe? I mean, we’d probably be dead faster to an army of enforcers. And whatever spooked Jack so badly,” Maddison responds, grease swathed across her face.
“Yeah, what was that about? Couldn’t have been more enforcers, right?” asks Kaizu, knowing the answer, but not quite knowing what it implies.
Adam speaks up, calmly answering, “No, and by my bets, whatever or whoever Jack saw was like nothing we’ve faced before.”
Maddison pops her head down after a small explosion sends sparks, and her, into the engineering compartment. She then quickly comes back up, continuing Adam’s sentiment, “Furthermore, I doubt we’re even facing something close to enforcers. Here’s the facts. Jack wouldn’t be afraid of enforcers no matter how many there were. Beating a million trash mobs is his whole deal. But…”
“But?” Kaizu asks expectantly.
“But that’s the thing. He was AFRAID. Jack’s by far the strongest of us all, and the only thing he’d be afraid of is someone equal in strength or stronger than he is. And that means he was right to go back there alone to face them,” she finishes, looking somewhat down now.
“He took Tammie though,” Kaizu states.
Adam speaks up again, telling Kaizu, “He just needed her for the detonators. No way he’d do that himself, she’d throw a fit.”
Maddison concurs, nodding her head, and coldly stating, “The only thing I can think of with the level of power needed to make Jack afraid, especially when taking into account only what’s on this planet, we’re talking someone at least seven or eight ranks above an enforcer.”
“Just tell me! The anxiety of whatever boogeyman is out there is killing me,” Kaizu whines.
“Lucidcorp private assassin,” Adam groans, heaving and pulling at a valve as yet more parts of the train fall apart. “Someone with the same authority as Jack had. If we’re that many ranks above enforcers, Jack and this mystery enemy is the equivalent of our commanders. One man armies.”
“Won’t them clashing aboard this train be disastrous? Anyways, it’s been ten minutes now, and we’re over twenty-five kilometers out. There’s no way they can catch us, right?” Kaizu asks, once again knowing the answer, as shown by the fear on his face.
“Kaizu, Jack wouldn’t be back there preparing for the worst if he thought we were in the clear,” Maddison tells him, sitting back down in the engineering compartment as the group goes silent. They said what they needed to. Their questions were answered. Their opinions voiced. Now all they had to do was wait, and keep the train running until they reached their destination.
As they screech down the tunnels deep below the earth, Kaizu swears he can spot faint and distant eyes in the darkness. He thinks nothing of it. Probably just some wild animals or a few stray monsters. Nothing to worry about, right? The apocalypse stone mines ran dry decades ago, so there shouldn’t be any significant monster presence.
Right?
…
Jack and Tammie stand at the back of the fourth and final car of the train. Jack stands tall, watching out through the dense fog produced by saturated monster ash in the air. Tammie leans over the railing, having put on a mask to filter out the ash in the air. Jack is wearing no such device, as he is already infected with the ash borne plague known as favillopathy. He has accepted his fate, as he and his sister both will one day die from it.
“Are you sure the others will be fine without one of these?” Tammie asks, pointing at the mask covering her entire face.
“Yeah. They’re inside, and even with how old this train is, the safety features still work. The inside areas, and especially that cabin, are extremely well ventilated and sealed tight,” Jack answers. His gaze does not shift from the dark haze behind them as they speed ever faster down the magnetic tracks. Jack continues, “You know the only reason why I brought you back here, right?”
Tammie sits down on a bench behind her and leans back against the wall, propping her feet on the railing where her chin lay moments ago. “Because I’d never forgive you for blowing this train sky high yourself?” she responds.
“Yes, that. But I also needed someone to watch my back. The person who’s after us… I know her. She’s really bad news. I needed assurance. Backup.”
“You?” Tammie scoffs, “You don’t need backup!”
Jack sighs heavily, “Maybe not, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
“Never heard that one before. Jack the guy who plays it safe? I thought it was Jack the immortal god of destruction,” Tammie says, slapping him on the back a few times.
“I’m not immortal. All I’ve got is a healing factor. Also, I needed you since those three are needed to keep this thing running, and I’ll be as safe as possible if it means giving us better odds of getting offworld. And better odds of not dying.”
“Healing factor, schmealing factor. It’s busted as hell! I’ve never once put a dent in you all the years we’ve trained,” Tammie yells, throwing her head back and hitting her head on the wall behind her. “Fuck! Ow. What I mean is, it’s quite upsetting for me to see you… afraid. If you can’t handle whatever’s coming, how am I supposed to help?”
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Jack turns to smile at her, “Honestly, you already have. Thanks for the reassurance.”
The instant Jack’s eyes avert, a large, muscular foot slams into his right cheek, knocking him to the ground. He gets back up, seeing the woman from before now perched atop the railing. It bends slightly beneath her immense figure. She perches like a hunter, but Jack is no easy prey. Tammie stands up too, readying herself to fight, but Jack puts out an arm, blocking her.
“What gives?!? Let me at her!” Tammie yells, consumed by a lust for combat and chaos.
“No. This is my fight, and I need you to go to the second car and wait for my signal. When I draw my sword, blow everything sky high, you got it?” Jack orders.
“Explaining your plan before me, how bold,” the figure states, stepping down off the railing.
“You could already figure that from the fact she was back here at all,” Jack says calmly. He then barks, “Tammie! Do you understand the plan?”
“Yes… sir!” Tammie responds, reflexively saluting, and running back towards the front of the train.
The woman attempts to move to follow Tammie, but Jack stands in her way. “If you wanted to fight, you would’ve done it by now, isn’t that right, Mellimaine?” Jack asks rhetorically.
“Sure. Maybe I came here to talk. But let's hear you out first, shall we?” Mellimaine replies, remaining in a combat ready stance.
…
Tammie runs back to the cabin to inform the others of what has happened. She bursts through the door, slamming it behind her and removing her mask. She explains through heavy gasps, “Enemy combatant onboard. Jack’s facing her alone. Gotta wait for signal. I think it was Mellimaine.”
“Slow down,” Adam tells her, helping her to a seat beside him. “You said Mellimaine? As in the instructor of Lucidcorp’s private assassins? Guess Maddi was wrong, it was actually nine ranks above.”
“You said a signal. What does Jack want you to do?” Maddison inquires.
“I have to wait for him to draw his sword, then blow the back two cars sky high. That’s all,” Tammie explains, catching her breath.
Kaizu speaks up, “Sounds good and all, but with the state this wreck is in, how do we know we’ll still be on the tracks if we do that? We’re still about a hundred kilometers out from the sarcophagus, and I saw eyes out there in the dark. I really don’t wanna go on foot.”
“Whatever the case, all we can do now is wait. And Tammie,” Adam gestures to the door, “make sure to use the damned airlock properly next time. I don’t want us all becoming infected.”
Maddison looks away, asking Adam, “There something wrong with people like me?”
Adam sighs, turning back around, telling her, “Not what I meant and you know it. Just trying to keep as many of us as healthy as I can. I am a guardian, after all.”
“Not even in the guild yet and already picked out your class archetype, huh?” Tammie chuckles.
“Yeah,” Adam responds, “Now let me focus on getting us there.”
…
“Good job lying through your teeth back there, ey friend?” Mellimaine says. Her curly black hair covers some of her face, but not enough to obscure the sarcasm plastered there and embedded in her words.
“I said what was important. Anything I left out wasn’t,” Jack shoots back. His stance hasn’t shifted since Tammie left, both fighters still ready to lunge at a moment's notice and settle things with their fists. “Also, since when do you talk? You always prefer to let your actions speak for you.”
“Oh, sorry little man, just wanted to make sure I didn’t break you before I got out what I needed to.” Despite simply talking, their thinly veiled malice towards each other turns this conversation into a truly menacing standoff.
“Why are you here?” Jack asks.
“I’m here to help, actually,” she claims.
“Oh yeah?!?” Jack roars.
“Yes,” she responds, relaxing her posture just slightly. Despite this, Jack doesn’t move, knowing better than to press an advantage he doesn’t truly have. She continues, “Relax, kiddo. I truly am not here to fight. Lady Lucy sent me here to assist you in escaping Vale.”
“What, the ones who put a bounty on me and my friends’s heads want to help us now?” Jack wipes sweat from around the scar over his right eye, the humidity having increased dramatically in the past few minutes. Though the fighters do not notice, the walls of the cavern have slowly been replaced by breathing, glowing flesh. They are entering the hive.
“No need to keep telling that lie, she’s not in earshot anymore,” Mellimaine tells Jack, gesturing behind him. “Anyway, you need my help. You lot of slum rats know nothing of the outside world. Wouldn’t want you to end up behind bars the moment you actually make it to Centuria.”
“I’ve spent two years now in the ‘real world’. I can lead my party just fine,” Jack hisses.
“Yes, ‘lead.’ You know, you always made a better assassin than a babysitter. It’s almost disgusting, seeing how much they respect you. They should fear you. How much did it take to make them forget who you really are? Do any of them even know?”
“Yes,” Jack replies. “Sis knows.”
“Of course she knows. She’s your real family, right? Couldn’t bear to do that to her,” says Mellimaine as she turns her back on Jack, looking, as he did, out into the seemingly infinite abyss of ash and mist.
“They’re all my family,” Jack yells, just as Tammie returns, staying out of sight.
“Family you only maintain with ignorance!”
Tammie steps out at the sound of this, asking Jack, “What are you two still talking about? Fight already!”
Jack doesn’t avert his gaze from the back of his enemy, replying, “Go back to the front, Tammie, and don’t listen to her lies, it’s almost showtime.” Tammie displays a look of awkwardness and leaves.
“My lies? You manipulative bastard!” Mellimaine roars, turning back around. “Just how much do you have to lie to yourself to justify putting them in danger?”
Jack’s face tenses for a moment, a look of pain flashing for not but a second. “I did what I had to,” he states plainly.
“You did what you thought was right. You thought the five of you were ready to fulfill your ‘grand purpose’ and in her hubris, so did Lady Lucy. But know this. You’re on a rail now, one much grander than we’re riding right now. This train won’t stop at the terminus. This train won’t stop until you and Lady Lucy run this world into the ground. This universe. If you’re okay with that, keep going, but if not-” Mellimaine is cut off as a massive crocodilian beast’s mouth grabs her and drags her off of the train.
Suddenly, about a dozen small, doglike creatures climb aboard the back car, forcing Jack to reflexively draw his sword. In a moment of clarity, however, he realizes something and mutters, “Oh shit,” as the train car he is standing on explodes.