Panic on the Pinegrove Express

She struggled to open her weary eyes as the rhythmic rattling of the train attempted to lull her back to sleep. Sierra forced them open and gazed in awe at the majestic snow-capped mountains that towered above her through the window. Prickly conifers speckled the pure white terrain like constellations shooting by and an impressive river gushed through it’s deep valley. Sierra felt revived by the refreshing scenery and began to investigate the less invigorating train car. She glanced over to see rows and rows of identical brown leather seats that were devoid of any signs of ever being sat in. Besides the rattling of the train it was deafeningly silent and it filled her with that same emptiness. With a deep sigh Sierra rose from her seat, and quickly met the cold steel of the floor. She strained to turn her neck and could see that her ankles had been bound together with a thick, worn rope that she was no match for as she fought to free herself. She would have attempted to untie it but her wrists had also been bound in the same manner behind her back and had no better luck getting them free. Her chest tightened as she squirmed and liquid fear streamed down her soft, freckled cheeks. “Hello?!” She cried, searching for a savior in the silent sanctuary of the train car. The only answer she got was the hollow echo of her own voice. Endless questions raced across her mind as her consciousness began to fade. She could vaguely recall a midnight stroll in the dead of night and an unforgiving wind that was on par with the cold metal floor she now laid on.

A strong gust of wind had blown her dark, auburn locks back like a sunburst and sent her scarf soaring through the midnight air. She began to chase after it when a familiar voice spoke up from beside her. “Just leave it, you can always get another stupid scarf,” the voice jeered. A mess of unkempt, mousy hair parted to reveal the sour face of her best friend, Natalia. Sierra rolled her eyes like she always had to do with the impatient child. “No, I can’t. Joanie made me that one!”Sierra snapped. She strained her eyes to see which direction it had taken and chased after the mischievous fabric. Natalia ate her words and reluctantly trailed behind. “I’m sorry. I didn’t even know he freakin’ knitted!” Natalia said, her lips chapped from the cold. “It’s okay. You’re just jealous he never made you one!” Sierra teased. Natalia’s face turned crimson and all she could mutter was a defiant, “yeah, right” as they ran. The streets of the usually bustling downtown area of Pinegrove County had become an eerie ghost town in it’s late night hours. A thick fog suffocated the buildings and alleyways in it’s ethereal embrace as it spread through every crevice. The streetlights were faded beacons that struggled to burst through the mist and were barely capable of showing the pair what laid ahead as they ran. Breathless and exhausted, they paused for a moment to recharge their depleted energy. The scarf disappeared over the debilitated brick buildings that lined the sinister sidewalks of Ocre Street. “There! We’ll take the shortcut through the alleyway!” Sierra exclaimed. She didn’t give it a second thought as she made her way to the dreadfully narrow alleyway but something kept her from moving forward. Natalia had snatched her arm and forced her back to reality. “Are you freakin’ insane ?! Nobody goes near Ocre Street even during the day!” She took a few steps back and surveyed the unholy passage. “If you go, you’re on your own!” Natalia threatened. Sierra’s hands trembled as she stepped towards the menacing maw of the alleyway. Her heart became a drum line as she forced one foot in front of the other. Natalia watched as the darkness engulfed her friend until she was nothing. Then, she became nothing.

When Sierra came to again on the train she was sitting in the leather seat, her throbbing head leaning against the frigid window. Her eyes widened as she found herself face-to-face with a burly, big-nosed stranger. “About time ya woke up, lass! Ye been sleepin’ all day!” He said in a raspy voice. The stench of tobacco smoke permeated Sierra’s nostrils and she couldn’t restrain a heavy cough. “Ah! Don’t fancy my cigar, do ya?” He asked as he blew the toxic fumes straight into her terrified visage. “That be too bad. Wanna explain why ye was floppin’ on the floor like one of me marlins?” Sierra disregarded the tremors in her bound hands and mustered up the backbone to answer. “I think I’m the one that should be asking questions here!” She sternly stated as she continued to try and keep herself calm. “Where is this train going, and why am I here?!” The grizzly scoundrel grinned as he took another puff of his cigar. “Ya really wanna know, lass? I think ya be better off not knowin’. Let’s just say the life ya knew, it be gone now. I can tell ya where we be, though. We’re far away from Pinegrove. Dreadful town anyway! Ya won’t miss it, I’m sure. These be the mountains of the Wind River Range. Much better to gawk at, don’t ye think?” Sierra had to agree, the sights from the rolling scenery were breath-taking. This would have been a thrilling adventure if she wasn’t being held prisoner. “The ropes, are they really necessary? Where would I go? Out the window?” Her belligerent captor bellowed a horrible laugh. “Ye have quite the humor, miss! Alas, where would ye go? But ya see, it be more for our protection than to keep ya. Suppose ya was one of them jujitsu lasses. It wouldn’t take much”, he gave his rotund belly a good thump,”one hit and I be a human bowlin’ ball.” A boisterous rumbling interrupted them. Sierra had been so petrified by the uncertainty of her fate that she’d forgotten about the growing pains of hunger deep in her bowels. “Please don’t tell me you plan on letting me starve.” She halfway joked, still oblivious to the true intentions of her incarcerator. “That we don’t! There be bigger plans for ya, miss.” He rummaged through a tattered cloth sack that had more holes than cloth. His oil-stained hands emerged from it to reveal a repulsive, half-eaten peanut butter sandwich. “I’m not eating that!” She protested. There were only a few bites remaining. “Now miss, this here be no luxury cruise. Alas, we’ve but only so much for ya wee lasses. Now, eat yer fill!” Sierra’s stomach churned as she reluctantly widened her mouth to take a bite. He steadily held the crudely made meal to her famished lips. She could feel the peanut butter sticking to her teeth as warm, salty tears fell like the drizzling of rain on to her threadbare jeans. She contemplated whether her dear friend was also a hostage on this prison train and prayed that she was somewhere safe.

Natalia had lingered by the alleyway entrance for hours that night awaiting her comrade’s return and kept an attentive ear for any indication of peril. “Stupid Joanie,” she muttered,”stupid Joanie and his dumb, flimsy scarf! Can’t even stand a tiny gust of stupid wind! Why couldn’t he have knitted gloves, or a good pair of socks! Socks don’t fly away! Freakin’ Joanie!” She could feel tears festering in her eyes but she fought them back. She had told herself she was done crying, that Joanie wouldn’t want that. She needed to stay strong for Sierra. Natalia stared into the horrible abyss of the jet black alleyway and shuddered. The darkness had stared back. “Come on, Sierra. Get the freakin’ scarf and come the hell back!” Natalia gave herself a comforting embrace as she leaned against the decrepit brick building. The callous night air froze her to her very bones. She recalled the sweltering summer day when Sierra had first introduced her to Joanie and longed to once again basks in it’s warmth. “He-he-hell-o,” she could almost hear his trademark stutter,”I’m J-J-Joanie. It’s v-very nice to m-meet you.” The light glinted off of his braces as he presented a shining dorky smile. She was wary at first, letting a stranger into the small realm her and Sierra shared. Over time though, she had grown to admire his tenderness and loyalty to her soft-hearted friend. Sierra had finally gotten the happiness she deserved. She wished it could’ve lasted forever. “Ring! Ring!” The phone in her living room had chimed. It was the dawn of a brisk October morning and she could barely bring herself to remove the covers and slink out of bed. “Ring! Ring!” It persisted. “Oh, for the love of God! I’m coming!” She unsheathed her slender frame and stomped down the creaky oak stairs. “Ring! Rin-“, “What is it?!” She brazenly questioned. Nothing but silence. “Well!?” Muffled sobs began to fill the desolate void. “J-J-Joanie. H-He’s. Oh, God.” Sierra had let out a despondent wail from the other side of the phone. Natalia could only listen. Joanie never wanted his funeral to be a time of grief and despair, but his absence created an emptiness that could never be filled. Natalia saw his ghostly image everywhere she went and longed for the days when his visage was tangible instead of a distant memory. Sierra had become someone else and her cheerfulness had soured into a bitter discontent with life. “I just can’t go on like this, Nat. My chest feels tight. I can’t breath. I don’t want to live like this anymore. I just want to be done.” Sierra was shaking frantically, her morning cup of oolong tea leaving splashes like inkblots on the crisp linen tablecloth. Natalia took the quivering china from her hands and enfolded her trembling figure in her arms. “This sucks. I know it does. What happened to Joanie was stupid and he didn’t deserve that. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong freakin’ time. No one can change it, we just have to deal with it. I can’t make it without you.” Sierra sobbed into Natalia’s moist shoulder. She labored to get the words out and finally managed to string together a coherent sentence. “I-I-I’ll t-try to.”

“Ahhhhhh!” Natalia was snapped back to reality by a deafening screech. She had almost forgotten her post in front of the haunting alleyway waiting under the dimly lit streetlights. “Sierra?!” Natalia squealed. No answer. “Sierra!” Still nothing. She knew there was no way out of it now, she had to go in. As she penetrated the dark veil of the alley the distant clacking of a train could be heard entering Pinegrove Station. “Sierra!” She kept shouting, her frigid fingertips grazing against the roughness of the bricks as she trudged on in the darkness. Natalia made her way through the gruesome, unending passage and after what felt like an eternity she could finally see faint rays of light coming from the distance. Natalia had finally reached the illuminated streets that had been waiting on the other side. She thoroughly scanned her surroundings, searching for any clues to the whereabouts of her lost friend. She belt out one last “Sierra!”, but she found she was only shouting into the mist. In the distance she could barely make out what looked to be a waving flag of surrender caught on a streetlight. As she approached she realized it was something else entirely. “Here’s the stupid scarf, but now where’s Sierra?” As soon as she said it, Sierra appeared, but she wasn’t alone. Natalia had found herself at the steps of Pinegrove Station and the click clacking of the train was coming to a halt. She snatched up the coveted cerulean scarf and wrapped it around her own neck as she darted behind one of the proud, tall pillars in front of the station. The tapping of shoes could be heard making there way closer to her hiding spot but they abruptly stopped. “How much ye think a lass like this will land us?” A hoarse voice asked. Another less gruff voice answered, “Hmmmm, maybe five, six if we play our cards right, pal.” Natalia cautiously craned her neck around the pillar to catch a glimpse of them. Only ten feet away from her stood two very devious looking men. One of them was a short fellow with greasy dark hair and an eyepatch concealing his left eye. The other was a rotund bear of a man with a big bulbous nose, and holding the limp body of her best friend in his arms. The click clack of the train came to a complete stop and a ghastly horn sounded in it’s place. “Well, ye better get a move on. The wee lass is heavier than she looks.” Said the rotund man. The short one nodded in return and they both made their way into the station. Natalia stealthily trailed behind them. The short one caressed the pale flesh of Sierra’s sleeping face. “Ya know, Bruno? I bet ya we can get eight for such a looker! Just ya wait! All our troubles, poof! Gone.” Bruno bellowed a deep belly laugh and grinned at his jovial partner. “Mikey, ye always know how to heighten me spirits! Drinks be on me when we be back in our new lives!” Sierra’s head bobbed with every step the vile men took towards the train. Natalia evaded their line of sight and managed to sneak around to the train’s caboose. If it left without her, she knew she would never see Sierra again. Natalia hopped over the rail and tried the cold steel handle of the door. To her amazement it had been left unlocked. She swiftly crept her way through the rows and rows of brown leather seats but to her horror, she found she wasn’t alone. Each car she passed through contained at least one woman bound and unaware of the present situation. As she made her way through what must have been her thirtieth car she heard the terrifying sound of the men approaching. She darted behind one of the many seats and waited in earnest. Clink! The door opened and like magic there were the two monsters and the still sleeping Sierra. “Gotta feel bad for the lasses, ya know? Such wee things yanked away from they mothers. It be not too late to turn back, Mikey. Can’t we be finding another way?” Mikey’s face reddened. “You’re not thinkin’, ya fat lug! How we gonna return all these dames?! Where we gonna get Francisco’s money!? It’s either them or us, and I ain’t planning on takin’ the concrete dive anytime soon!” Regardless of his grandiose stature, it was clear who really wore the pants in this partnership. Feeling defeated, he gingerly laid Sierra on one of the seats and began the tedious process of binding her hands and feet. Natalia was tucked away only two seats behind them. “Ye be right”, he said somberly, “I be not thinkin straight. No more thinkin’ fer me.” After tying his last knot Bruno sat Sierra up in the seat and made sure her she was leaning against the window. “Maybe when she be awake, something beautiful be out there waitin fer her.” The train began to roll out of the station and into unknown territory. As quickly as the two men came they had left and Natalia rushed to her poor friend’s aid. “Wake up!!” She demanded. It was useless, Sierra was out like a light. Natalia gave up and returned to her spot two seats down. “I’ll freakin’ wait for you then.” She muttered impatiently. Hours had gone by and Natalia had drifted off with the rhythmic rattling of the train, unaware that Sierra had finally rose from her slumber.

Meanwhile, Sierra could still taste the peanut butter as the man left her behind in her seat. “Now ye be a good lass. No more floppin’ on the floor.” He disappeared behind the metal door. She looked back out the misty window to see what appeared to be a vast forest of evergreens and oaks as far as she could see. There were still some majestic mountains in the distance but not near as close as they had been when she first woke up. “Oh, God”, she cried, “Oh, God, why?” She let her tears rain down into a tumultuous storm. As she sobbed her despair was interrupted by a familiar voice. “Pssssst”, it said, “Stop crying, stupid. It’s me.” Like a bringer of salvation, Natalia emerged from behind her seat like a mystical vision. “Oh, Natalia! I was so worried!” Her tears of sorrow swiftly shifted to tears of joy as Natalia proceeded to untie her. “Yeah, yeah. Here I am. You’re welcome. Now let’s get off this stupid train!” Sierra nodded in agreement. “There are others!” Natalia exclaimed. “if we help them maybe they’ll freakin’ help us!” Sierra agreed and they made their way back towards the caboose, untying the others as they mad there way through the steel dungeon. There were all sorts of women they encountered. Tall ones that towered high over Sierra’s head as they stood to thank her, short ones that thought they were lost in a dream, ones with light golden hair that reflected the light of the now setting sun, some with short cropped hair that gave them a boyish charm. Some looked as if they had just rolled out of bed and others must have been on their way to a gala. Natalia gave each one the rundown of what she had overheard and seen of the two despicable monsters that had brought them all here. There must have been at least thirty terrified women by the time Sierra freed the last one. “This is unbelievable! My father will hear about this!” Barked a curvaceous princess as she made her debut down the aisle of seats. “These accommodations are dreadful! I simply won’t stand for it!” Her dark, silky hair swung back and forth across her shoulders as she made her way to the front of the train. “That idiot is going blow our cover!” Chimed Natalia as she chased after the spoiled duchess. “Hey, stupid! We need to think about this first! You can’t just barge in there, one of those guy is twice your freakin’ size!” Natalia seized her arm before she could proceed any further. “Hmph! No one talks to Francesca Delarosa in such a filthy manner! Unhand me, you barbarian!” Natalia was overcome with rage as she pulled Francesca’s arm and threw her against one of the windows. Instead of focusing on her defiant foe, Natalia began to take notice of the quickly moving oaks outside. They were nothing but a blur as they passed and had become unrecognizable as they whizzed by. “Look there, you idiot! We’ve got bigger problems than your ‘accommodations’!” The train began to rattle and rock like a ship caught in the stormy sea, knocking the rest of the women off their feet. “What’s happening now?!” Squealed Sierra, struggling to regain her balance. Another girl helped her to her feet as she tried not to stumble back down. “Screw a plan! These freaks must be trying to kill us! They can’t take on all of us!” Natalia screamed. They tumbled all around as the group made their way to the command center of their devious captors. Some of them had removed their shoes and readied them as weapons. Others simply said a prayer and lingered behind the cavalry. It wasn’t long before they had approached the entrance to the driver’s compartment. Mixed feelings of anticipation and terror spread across the group like a virus. The train was still rocking them around and they could faintly hear the two men arguing on the other side of the door. Natalia was at the forefront listening in. “What have ya done, ya big dummy!? We’re gonna lose this thing and the dames if ya don’t fix this!” Natalia recognized it as the voice of the short eyepatched man. “Ye be the one that broke the beast! Now we all be doomed!” She recognized this as the big bear man’s voice. “Good. They’re fighting.” She whispered to the rest of the girls. “But, it sounds like we’re all gonna freakin’ die.”

The group collectively gasped with disbelief. All except Francesca Delarosa. “Do these buffoons even know HOW to conduct a train?! I won’t stand for this!” Francesca proceeded through the steel barrier that separated them from their captors. “Where ye come from, lass? Ye need be back in ye seat!” Said a surprised Bruno. “How’d ya get untied anyway, toots? I know Bruno here ties first-class knots! Ya won’t find better knots anywhere else!” Asked Mikey. “Hmph! I don’t appreciate such revolting treatment! Do you even know who I am?! Do you even know who my father is?! I’ve had about all I can handle and I demand that you take me home immediately, you simpletons!” Francesca had left the dubious duo stunned in bewilderment as she put a defiant arm on her plump hips. “Well, what are you waiting for, you cretins?!” Mikey was the first to crack a smile, which quickly transgressed in uncontrollable laughter. “Oh, ya be one of them funny dames! Sure, lemme turn this thing right around! Want any caviar while I massage ya disgusting feet?! What a crazy broad!” Mikey continue cackling until he heard the gentle clink of the steel door. A cacophony of eyes peered through the crack and It was soon made obvious that the ‘crazy broad’ wasn’t the only one out of her seat. “Now, now. Ye all need not be vexed with us. There be a bigger problem here, lasses.” Bruno pointed his crooked finger at the front window of the train overlooking the tracks. A wild forest flanked them on each side but all they could see was a distorted green blur. “This is the end of the line, gals! Ya don’t wanna spend ya last moments beating on a couple of down-and-out guys like us, do ya? Besides”, Mikey placed his weathered hand into his pocket which was immediately proceeded by a metallic clicking sound, “I think ya gals would be better off sittin’ in ya seats.” He removed the source of the sound to reveal a terrifying metal object. He pointed it in the girls’ direction and they soon realized what they were faced with. They were staring down the barrel of a 32 caliber semi-automatic pistol and it was pointed right between Francesca’s disapproving eyes. “There be no need for that, Mikey. Ye never said we be killin’ the wee lasses. Bloodshed be not the life for me.” Argued his hesitant counterpart. “Shut up, ya lug! It’s ya crappy knots that brought us to this! We was just suppose to drop the skirts off and be on our merry way. Now we gotta defend ourselves! It’s us or them, Bruno!” Mikey kept Francesca in his sights, but she wasn’t phased. “You really think I’m scared of your little toy!? You haven’t the gall! What if it ricochets and takes out your other eye!? I’d love to see that!” Mikey lowered his pistol, now anxious about whether he really could lose his other eye. The train rattled violently and everyone gazed in shock out the front window as they began to stray from the designated tracks. They were going off the rails. “Quick! Everyone, we need to get to the middle train cars! They’re our best bet if we want to leave this train alive!” Sierra yelled at the top of her lungs. A stampede of women raced past her followed along by the two troublemakers that started all of this. They were just lucky there were more important matters than revenge at hand. Sierra took one last look out the window as the train snaked off the tracks and plowed through the dense forest. The train was a ravenous animal ready to destroy anything unfortunate enough to meet it’s metal maw. She broke her gaze from the destruction and made her way for the center train car.

The train car was at max capacity as she squeezed her way through the door. Sierra cleared her throat and prepared to give more instructions. “Okay, everyone! The middle cars of the train are the safest! Now we need to take a seat and make sure our backs are facing the front of the train! That way we won’t go flying forward!” Sierra grabbed Natalia and pulled her along into the one of the nearby seats. Natalia felt puzzled as she looked into Sierra’s worried eyes. “Dude, how do you freakin’ know all this?” Sierra stared down at her fleece-lined leather boots with a somber expression. “Joanie was nervous about his train ride that morning, so I did some research to make him feel better. I told him trains were one of the safest ways to travel, but I guess he had just gotten on the wrong one.” Sierra’s eyes welled up with tears as Natalia but a comforting arm around her. “Hey, we’re going to get off this train. Then, we’re gonna clobber those guys!” She motioned her head to Bruno and Mikey sitting just a few seats down. Sierra smirked and looked her friend in the eyes. “You know, I don’t care as long as we get home. Everyone must be worried sick about us! I bet we’re on the Pinegrove Report!” She chuckled at the thought. The train began to screech and squeal, warranting a check out the window. Natalia opened it and peered out the side of the unstoppable metal beast and quickly returned looking terrified. “Sierra! This thing is going off a freakin’ cliff!” Sierra could feel her chest tightening more and more but she knew she had to keep a level head. She quickly got to her feet and commanded the others in one final bout for their lives. “Everyone! We’re going to have to jump for our lives! Quickly, to the caboose!” They all raced through the remaining cars to the back of the train. Natalia opened the door to the outside world but froze in her tracks as she gazed at the moving landscape. The thought of jumping paralyzed her with fear. “Come on, Natalia! We either die with the train or take a chance and jump!” Natalia nodded and mustered her remaining courage as she approached the rail. She could here what remained of the train disappearing over the edge of the cliff and knew what she had to do. She took a deep breath and vaulted herself over the edge, tucking and rolling like a tumbleweed as she disappeared into the tree line. Sierra gulped and prepared herself to do the same. Natalia was so much braver than her and she was always the one doing the unthinkable while Sierra had remained uptight. She envied her for it and now was the perfect moment to emulate her friend and reclaim the life that she had so often taken for granted. “Here goes nothing.” The words escaped her as she leaped from the rails onto the grassy terrain. One by one the others also jumped, tucking and rolling as the train completely disappeared behind the nothingness beyond the cliff side. Even the tumultuous duo, Mikey and Bruno, were the last ones to jump and had managed to make it just in time. The women arose all around as they regained their composure from such a traumatizing journey. The men had tried their best to slink off, but there was justice yet to be delivered. “There they are!” One girl shouted, pointing a perfectly manicured digit in their direction. “Don’t let them get away! They made me miss my wedding!” Another yelled. Mikey searched his pockets for his pistol and froze when he found it to be missing. “Looking for this, you imbecile?!” Francesca chimed, pointing the pistol straight at him. “Now you listen here! This has been the worst experience I, Francesca Delarosa, has ever had! You will never have my business again! You are rubbish!” She kept them frozen in place as the other women closed in on them from all directions, ready to deliver a much deserved punishment.

Sierra searched for her beloved friend among the forest and found her face down against one of the many oak trees. “Natalia! Natalia, speak to me!” She knelt down next to her stiff frame and nudged her with all the strength she had left. “Natalia! Please, Natalia! I can’t lose you, too! Say something! Please!” All of the fear and hopelessness Sierra had bottled up inside came pouring out. She held Natalia close in her arms, rocking her back and forth like a child. A sneaky smile crept along Natalia’s face as she she lazily opened her eyes. “Ya know, I think I’ll stick around. Since you can’t lose me.” Sierra felt as if her greatest wish had been granted. She held her tightly once more and then helped her to her feet. They looked over at the angry mob of women overtaking the dastardly men that had caused such mayhem. “I don’t think they need any of our help!” Sierra joked. “Ya freakin’ right they don’t. Now, which way is home?” Sierra and Natalia made their way back through the devastation the train had wrought. “Oh! I almost forgot!” Natalia exclaimed, unwrapping the scarf from her neck. “You were looking for this.”